"Damn that Shogunate Army! They've killed so many of our brothers!"
"This time, we will settle all the old and new grudges. They must pay for their crimes with blood!"
"Pay for their crimes with blood!"
Sangonomiya Kokomi and Gorou had just arrived at the army camp when they heard the angry shouts. The events on Yashiori Island had already spread through the army.
Sangonomiya Kokomi and Gorou hurriedly quickened their pace and appeared before the soldiers of Watatsumi Island.
"Everyone, please quiet down for a moment. Her Excellency Sangonomiya has something to say!"
Hearing Gorou's voice, the soldiers slightly suppressed their inner emotions.
"Her Excellency Sangonomiya, you aren't going to ask us to endure it again this time, are you?!"
"The Shogunate Army has gone too far this time. We absolutely cannot let this slide. Blood debts must be repaid with blood!"
"That's right! Let them pay for their crimes with blood!"
As soon as he spoke, he immediately received the support of countless people.
Then the soldiers turned their gaze to Sangonomiya Kokomi. If she were to compromise again this time, they absolutely would not agree!
"Rest assured, everyone. I have already made arrangements in this matter!"
"Earlier, I dispatched a small squad to Yashiori Island to scout the size of the Shogunate Army. Everyone needs to be prepared to fight a hard battle in advance."
"The Shogunate Army's numbers are more than five times our own. This war will be anything but easy. Do not underestimate the enemy!"
The soldiers, who had been emotionally charged, suddenly felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over their heads after hearing Sangonomiya Kokomi's words. They calmed down instantly.
Previously, Sangonomiya Kokomi had done her utmost to stop the war from continuing, leaving everyone dissatisfied.
However, now that she intended to start the war, everyone felt somewhat panicked by the vast disparity in strength.
Someone couldn't help but ask Sangonomiya Kokomi with some trepidation.
"H-Her Excellency Sangonomiya, how could the Shogunate Army be so numerous? Is there something wrong with our intelligence?"
Sangonomiya Kokomi shook her head and explained.
"Previously, Kujou Sara was still responsible for the Vision Hunt Decree and suppressing internal chaos, which tied up a lot of manpower."
"Now that these issues are gone, the number of participating troops will naturally increase several-fold once war breaks out."
"In any case, Gorou will be in charge of logistics for the time being. It will take about four to five days, so everyone should prepare well before then."
If Sangonomiya Kokomi hadn't pointed out the vast difference in strength between the two sides, many people might have questioned this timeframe. But now, everyone was thinking about the military disparity and had no time to consider anything else.
As the soldiers returned to their daily training, Sangonomiya Kokomi knew her delay tactic had succeeded and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Beside her, Gorou was filled with admiration for her methods.
Indeed, guiding is better than blocking. If she had tried to suppress them directly, it would have caused major problems.
What they needed to do now was to contact Kujou Sara as quickly as possible during this interval, and then everything would be revealed. Sangonomiya Kokomi hadn't lied in her previous words; she had indeed sent out personnel.
However, the primary mission was to establish contact with Kujou Sara; reconnaissance was merely secondary.
"Her Excellency Sangonomiya, should we wait for the results now?"
Hearing Gorou's question, Sangonomiya Kokomi snapped out of her deep thoughts.
"Order the people exploring Enkanomiya to return as well. I have a bad feeling about this."
"The soldiers of Watatsumi Island are brave and skilled in battle. Even if they were ambushed, they shouldn't have been defeated so thoroughly."
"Besides, apart from the Shogunate Army, what other force in Inazuma possesses such overwhelming combat power?"
"Yes, I will arrange it immediately!"
Gorou hurried away after receiving the order. Sangonomiya Kokomi watched his departing figure and sighed deeply after a long moment.
I feel things won't go as smoothly as I hope.
If this truly were a conspiracy against Watatsumi Island, wouldn't the mastermind have anticipated that she might contact Kujou Sara directly to confirm this matter?
With that thought, Sangonomiya Kokomi decided to dispatch another team to take a detour and establish contact with the Kamisato Clan.
Meanwhile on Yashiori Island, Kujou Sara stared absently at the mangled corpses on the ground clad in Watatsumi Island attire, letting the heavy rain soak her.
Only when a nearby general held an oil-paper umbrella over her, shielding her from the cascading curtain of rain, did she finally react.
"Lady Kujou Sara, please take care of your health so you don't catch a cold!"
The general by her side urged, but Kujou Sara seemed as if she hadn't heard him at all.
At this moment, a soldier rushed over from the distance, arriving before Kujou Sara after passing through multiple checkpoints.
"Lady Kujou Sara, we've found that Watatsumi Army unit!"
"The force consists of around one hundred soldiers, and they are currently preparing to evacuate from the Flat Beach in the south!"
Upon hearing this, Kujou Sara's eyes regained their luster, and she immediately issued orders to the entire army.
"All forces, heed my command! Target: the Flat Beach in the south of Yashiori Island! Advance immediately!"
Leaving a portion of her troops to clean up this temporary Watatsumi Army outpost, Kujou Sara's body crackled with lightning. She left the main force behind and sped toward the destination with black raven wings faintly appearing behind her.
Though Kujou Sara had moved as fast as she could, the Watatsumi Army had already boarded their ships and completed their retreat.
Before departing, they had even slaughtered the Shogunate Army that dared to intercept them, leaving the survivors completely broken and terrified.
Though they were retreating, their morale was far higher than that of the Shogunate Army sent to stop them, allowing them to inflict significant casualties in a short amount of time.
"Lady Kujou Sara..."
The commander of this force looked at her with a face full of shame.
He had about two thousand soldiers under his command, well-equipped and including many skilled fighters, yet they had been utterly terrified by this Watatsumi Army force of barely one hundred men. To just watch them board their ships and escape was the greatest disgrace of his entire military career!
Kujou Sara did not reply to him immediately. Instead, she drew her bow to full strength, then aimed at one of the ships and fired an arrow imbued with Electro Elemental Power.
Although the Watatsumi Army on the ship noticed the commotion and rushed forward with their weapons to block the arrow, it pierced through both their weapons and bodies. It finally struck the deck, unleashing countless arcs of electricity that struck nearly half the people on board.
"Excellent!"
Kujou Sara's action undoubtedly gave a huge boost to the soldiers' morale, and the admiration in their eyes as they looked at her was obvious.
At this moment, the soldiers also reacted and began firing arrows at the ships sailing away, but the effect was not significant.
Just then, Kujou Sara again drew her bow into a full moon, and the second arrow pointed straight at the largest ship.
Flames burst out, and a Watatsumi soldier with a Pyro Element Vision intercepted the arrow, but he himself was sent flying by the massive impact, finally falling into the sea.
Kujou Sara readied a third arrow, but after seeing the barriers raised by the ships, she lowered it again.
"Clear the battlefield!"
At Kujou Sara's command, the battlefield was soon cleaned up.
The Shogunate Army had 237 dead and 134 wounded, while the enemy's casualties did not exceed 40.
To have achieved such a result on the open battlefield despite having an absolute advantage in numbers was simply surreal.
Besides that, there was also a bigger problem.
"You said the bodies disappeared?!"
"Not only did they disappear, but I heard that they didn't even bleed when wounded."
After hesitating for a moment, the commander uttered words that even he found unbelievable.
"Moreover, those Watatsumi soldiers could keep fighting even after their hearts were pierced."
"According to the men, they felt that what they were fighting against wasn't human at all, but more like ghosts!"
As he spoke, a trace of terror surfaced on the commander's own face; after all, the current situation was simply too bizarre.
After hearing this, Kujou Sara's expression remained calm.
In fact, she had already discovered it when she attacked before; the Watatsumi soldiers she had hit didn't seem to have bodies of flesh and blood, but they were definitely not ghosts either. Those people clearly had physical forms.
This situation was obviously unusual. Coupled with her earlier discovery of the Watatsumi soldiers' corpses in the camp, the stench of a conspiracy was growing stronger.
We must get in touch with Sangonomiya Kokomi as soon as possible!
At this thought, Kujou Sara immediately arranged for men to board a Waverider and head toward Watatsumi Island.
At the same time, Kujou Sara also ordered her men to keep a constant watch for ships coming from Watatsumi Island, both to guard against those Watatsumi soldiers returning, and to receive any potential messages from Sangonomiya Kokomi.
Kujou Sara suspected that those Watatsumi soldiers might have fallen at the hands of the "Shogunate Army," and that Sangonomiya Kokomi would have learned of this by now.
Someone was playing the parts of both the Shogunate and Watatsumi armies, attempting to incite a war between them.
Kujou Sara also believed Sangonomiya Kokomi must have seen through this and was currently trying to find a way to contact her.
But if she reasoned this way, one point still didn't make sense. The opposition playing the Watatsumi Army, aside from being overwhelmingly powerful, was too similar to the real thing in every other respect. How could a group of people impersonate them so perfectly?
Was her reasoning flawed?
After thinking for a while, Kujou Sara shook her head and temporarily set the matter aside.
"I must inform the Almighty Shogun of this immediately."
Kujou Sara had no intention of playing the hero. Upon discovering the abnormal situation, she unhesitatingly sent men to report the day's events to the Raiden Shogun.
After doing so, Kujou Sara once again ordered the soldiers to thoroughly search Yashiori Island for any traces and see if new clues could be found.
However, the final result was somewhat disappointing for her, as no useful clues were found.
Since Yashiori Island was now severely polluted by the Tatarigami, Kujou Sara had to lead everyone to temporarily withdraw and camp in the wild at Nazuchi Beach to prevent people's bodies from developing problems after staying too long.
Late at night, except for the patrolling soldiers, almost everyone else had already fallen asleep. The events they had encountered today made them sleep extremely fitfully, and many even had nightmares.
Kujou Sara went to the target standing in the distance, repeatedly drawing the bowstring to its fullest, and then firing out arrow after arrow with full power.
Although the arrows were not infused with the power of Lightning, each one easily pierced the target, becoming firmly embedded in its body.
At this moment, Kujou Sara felt a sense of frustration in her chest, the feeling of unease in her heart was growing stronger and stronger, and she couldn't fall asleep at all, only being able to vent her remaining energy through this method.
Gradually, Kujou Sara began to think about the problem that had been bothering her before.
First, it could be confirmed that none of those Watatsumi Island soldiers had bodies of flesh and blood.
Second, the possibility that the Watatsumi Army was disguised by other forces was very low; their distinct fighting style was almost certainly that of the people from Watatsumi Island.
So there were two hypotheses. The first was that the radical faction within the Watatsumi Army had obtained some kind of special ability that allowed them to lose their bodies of flesh and blood in exchange for powerful strength, and perhaps some other special ability.
And the second possibility was that those Watatsumi Island soldiers were actually the spirits of the dead from the past, who had obtained bodies similar to flesh for some reason; they might not even have realized they were already dead, and were still carrying out their previous mission to surprise attack the Shogunate Army.
If it were the first hypothesis, it would still be fine. All they would need to do was join forces with Sangonomiya Kokomi to find those people.
But if it were the second possibility, the situation would be severe.
Especially after she saw the scene at that Watatsumi Army camp with her own eyes, it was even more impossible to deceive herself into believing it was the first possibility.
Pffft—
A dull sound seemed to echo from the distance, which was exceptionally clear in the night. The place it came from seemed to be very far away, yet it also gave Kujou Sara a familiar feeling.
Kujou Sara thought for a moment and finally remembered what was making that sound, her expression instantly changing drastically!
Boom—
The deafening sound of an explosion filled Kujou Sara's ears. In her field of vision, a massive flash of lightning and fire erupted at the Shogunate Army's camp. A hurricane-like shockwave expanded from the center of the explosion, tearing everything around it to shreds!
"Enemy attack—"
Desperate cries and piercing alarms pierced the night sky. Countless soldiers had already awakened from the earlier blast, but their heads were still ringing, and it was only upon hearing this warning that they finally snapped out of it, hurriedly throwing on their clothes and rushing out of their tents. Then, a shell imbued with incredibly violent Electro power appeared in their field of vision, hurtling toward them at blinding speed.
Boom——
Another deafening explosion roared.
Dozens of people in the direct impact zone were instantly evaporated by the unimaginable heat, leaving no trace of their remains. Even the ground was scorched by the intense heat, turning into crystalline grains.
They were unfortunate, yet fortunate to die without any pain.
Soldiers located slightly further from the shell felt the explosive heat rushing toward them and immediately let out agonized screams. Their skin gradually melted like wax under intense heat.
Searing arcs of electricity erupted, instantly turning anyone touched by them into blackened husks. Within seconds, they collapsed to the ground, twitching.
The scene struck terror into countless hearts, and unimaginable dread filled their minds.
Someone recognized the weapon that fired the shell: it was Inazuma's divine artifact—the Kamuijima Cannon of Kannazuka.
Yet they never imagined that one day, such a weapon of mass destruction would be used against them...