"Remember the words of the head of the house: Speed is paramount in warfare. If there are any fleeing patients on the island, show no mercy. Lure them to the ferry crossing and sink their ship midway. If questioned, claim it was the work of the rebels, lest the minor 'Tatarigami' disrupt His Excellency the Shogun's domain."
"If any accidents occur, the Kannazuka cannon may be used. Absolutely no witnesses are to be spared."
"Remember, this must not be leaked."
"Glory to the Shogun!"
The bonfire that had been the source of the refugees' joy just hours before now became the officer's best tool for destroying evidence.
Watching the envelope turn to ash, the officer took a deep breath.
"Signal them."
At his command, a person beside him fired a signal flare into the sky.
Seeing this, the soldiers on the ferry exchanged glances and entered the previously sealed cabins.
Inside the cabins, besides the piles of sand and rocks that had been loaded earlier, there was also a group of bare-chested, muscular men.
Upon receiving the signal, they began to pick up their tools and chisel at the ship's hull.
This "thump-thump" sound was impossible to hide from the refugees on board, but they paid it no mind.
Because the madmen on the first deck had already picked up the various tools the Shogunate army had prepared for them in their rooms and were randomly chiseling and smashing things. To those on the upper decks, this noise probably just sounded like the madmen having another episode.
In addition, a soldier armed with a sword came to the door of Bai Luo's room on the top deck.
"Knock knock..."
With his hand on his sword, a vicious glint appeared in the soldier's eyes.
He had been instructed by his superiors that the people staying here were not refugees, so there was no need to torture them too much. Just send them on their way as quickly as possible.
To spare them an overly painful death.
The unspoken meaning... they had paid extra.
The door opened, and a smiling Bai Luo appeared at the doorway.
He didn't seem surprised that a soldier would come looking for him.
He was tossing a fruit up and down in his hand and offered it to the young soldier.
"Sunsettia, sweet. Want one?"
The Shogunate soldier didn't even look at the Sunsettia. He immediately drew his weapon and, with a ferocious expression, slashed at Bai Luo.
The oil-paper umbrella that was tucked into Bai Luo's belt instantly transformed into a weapon.
Bai Luo easily blocked the soldier's sharp blade.
"You..."
Looking at the reverse-blade sword in Bai Luo's hand, the Shogunate soldier seemed to recall something. If their intelligence was correct, the legendary Battousai was said to wield a reverse-blade sword.
But Bai Luo clearly had no intention of wasting time talking to him. He struck the man on the neck, knocking him unconscious, and then walked out of the room alone.
Behind him, Tatyana had already used the power of water to restrain the Shogunate soldier.
Bai Luo wasted no time either. He leaped directly from the top deck and landed steadily on the main deck.
The effect of the One-Winged Angel made him completely immune to fall damage.
After landing, he quickly got his bearings and, following a route he had already scouted, arrived at the hatch leading down below.
The door was sealed, but it couldn't stop Bai Luo.
With a single slash, the wooden hatch broke open, revealing a group of bare-chested, muscular men inside.
Water was already beginning to seep into the bottom of the ship. In some places, the water was almost over their shoes. With the weight of the sand and rocks, the ship was sinking at an extremely fast rate.
"Stop him!"
These Shogunate soldiers weren't stupid. Seeing this, they pretty much understood what was happening.
Several men who were close by had already grabbed their weapons and charged forward.
It had to be said, these soldiers who had been on the battlefield were different. With fierce expressions and sharp blades in hand, they looked like demons returned from hell.
Their murderous aura condensed together, almost forming a physical entity.
Death-sworn soldiers are not terrifying, because in a sense, they are just cannon fodder.
But death-sworn soldiers who can survive a war are a different story.
This proved that they had survived life-threatening situations multiple times. Not only were they not afraid of death, but their own strength was definitely not weak.
"Clang—"
The clash of swords, the heavy force was even stronger than the Kairagi Bai Luo had fought before.
Upward slash, diagonal chop, downward cut...
These Shogunate soldiers didn't know many techniques, just the most basic tachi moves, like the ones Bai Luo had taught Teppei.
But the effectiveness of these moves depended on who was using them.
Unlike Teppei, every one of these death-sworn soldiers' strikes aimed for a vital point, and their moves were wide and powerful, with no finesse to speak of.
There is a saying: one force can overcome ten skills.
Even some famous swordsmen, if they were to fight these death-sworn soldiers, might be utterly defeated by this "fool's swordsmanship."
Unfortunately... they had encountered Bai Luo.
The Battousai class was positioned as a burst assassin, seemingly a single-target class.
In reality, besides the ultimate ability, every single one of the Battousai's skills... was an area-of-effect attack!
"Tzinn—"
Bai Luo sheathed his sword, causing all the surrounding death-sworn soldiers to freeze in place and cover their ears in pain.
Dragon Cry Flash.
This was a technique opposite to the drawing of the sword. It involved sheathing the sword at an extremely high speed to create an ultrasonic wave that interfered with the opponent's moves.
With the system's enhancement, this technique even had the ability to interrupt the transmission of elements, achieving a silencing effect.
For a master, a single moment's opportunity could be enough to turn defeat into victory.
Taking advantage of the moment they were affected by the Dragon Cry Flash, Bai Luo drew his sword and charged forward.
In a flurry of sword and shadow, none of his movements were wasted. Even a seemingly small trick of sheathing his sword was perfectly timed to stab a death-sworn soldier who was trying to sneak attack him from behind.
This was the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū, a killing art created specifically for the purpose of killing.
[A/N: Check the description of the move at the end of the chapter]
A special style that had turned killing into an art form.
Except for the initial Dragon Cry Flash, he didn't use any of the system's built-in skills, simply using the techniques he had learned from the Battousai class.
Therefore, every one of his moves could be considered a basic attack.
And the power of each basic attack was comparable to a skill.
However, the moves executed in this way did not have the special effects of the system skills.
Such as silence, accuracy reduction, knock-up, etc.
In the already flooding ship's hold, muscular men lay scattered about, groaning in pain.
Their bodies were covered in sword cuts, but none were life-threatening.
After his rampage, Bai Luo glanced at them, sheathed his sword, and began to walk up the stairs of the ship's hold.
There should be some carpenters among the refugees. They would probably be more than willing to come and repair the ship's hold.
But he didn't notice a muscular man, enduring the pain, follow him out of the hold and take out a signal flare.
"Swoosh—Bang!"
Under the starry sky, the light of the signal flare was not very conspicuous, but it was enough for the people at the pier to see.
The officer sighed. He understood that some kind of mishap must have occurred on the ship.
He glanced at the person beside him and nodded slightly.
The subordinate swallowed and lit the beacon beside him.
In an instant, countless beacons were lit around Tatarasuna, even obscuring the starlight in the sky.
The oil cloth imprinted with the Electro Mitsudomoe emblem was also lifted, revealing the dark, gaping muzzles of the cannons beneath.
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[Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū is an ancient kenjutsu from the Sengoku Jidai, developed to allow a single samurai to defeat numerous foes single-handedly, created by Hiko Seijūrō I. Rooted in the concept of ichi no tachi, or to strike in a single blow, practitioners of this style use a combination of immense speed and agility, battōjutsu, and acquired, observation-based pseudo-clairvoyance that permits a practitioner to anticipate an opponent's moves. Both offensive and defensive maneuvers are executed with minimal movement to increase a practitioner's ability to counterattack and conserve energy. As such, made with efficiency and spareness of exertion in the face of warfare scale battles yet with powerful and coordinated movements to easily fell threats in long and undetermined periods, it is among one of the strongest and oldest kenjutsu styles in Japan, once known as the signature style that defined Hiko Seijūrō I as The Man Who Could Cut One Hundred in One Stroke.]
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