Only the Uesugi Clan, who controlled Kozuke Province and whose headquarters were in Echigo Province.
The troops of Uesugi Kenshin, who in this era claimed to be the 'reincarnation of Bishamonten'!
But regardless,
Kanbe Hikaru would not sit by and watch them destroy the fleeting place of stability he had finally managed to find in this world.
It was impossible to allow the flames of war they stirred up to affect the rare peace in this chaotic world.
Kanbe Hikaru stood up and looked toward the north.
In the twilight, a moving dark shadow was faintly visible on the horizon.
That was the silhouette of an army.
Flags, armor, spears, cavalry.
A force of a thousand men was advancing in this direction.
And their vanguard—
Had already arrived.
...
At this moment, the setting sun fell behind the mountain ridge.
At this time.
The light between heaven and earth became murky, neither bright nor dark, as if stirred up by something.
This was the Hour of the Demon.
The most dangerous moment of the day.
According to ancient legends,
The yang energy of the day would recede at this time, but the yin energy of the night had not yet fully descended; in the gap where the two intersected, the boundary between humans and demons would become blurred.
And under the illumination of the setting sun's remaining afterglow.
The soldier who had fled from the north had completely collapsed.
The blood at his severed arm had long since coagulated, but other places were still bleeding—there was a long sword wound on his ribs, and a round hole in his back where an arrow had pierced through and been pulled out.
He lay on the muddy road at the village entrance, his breathing becoming shallower and shallower.
Kaede squatted beside him, her little face full of worry, reaching out to help him.
"Don't touch him."
Kanbe Hikaru's voice came from behind.
Kaede turned to look at him.
The grey-robed, pale-haired Oni Samurai stood under the Torii, but his crimson eyes were still not looking at the soldier, but rather at the northern horizon.
"Big brother?"
"Go back, call all the villagers into the Barrier, and no one is allowed to come out."
Kaede looked at his expression and did not ask further.
She stood up, ran two steps, then stopped and looked back at him.
"Big brother, you must be careful."
"Mm."
Kaede turned and ran back into the village.
Her figure disappeared among the houses.
Kanbe Hikaru looked down at the soldier who had lost consciousness.
The Ashigaru armor was tattered, the neck guard was broken, and the scabbard at his waist was empty—whether it was lost while running or taken by someone else was unknown.
But he did not save him.
It wasn't that he didn't want to, but also because there was no need.
The other party looked seriously injured, but it actually didn't matter.
Now was even less of a time for it.
Kanbe Hikaru stood up.
His gaze crossed the village entrance, crossed the fields, and cast toward the northern mountain path, where those troops were approaching.
The last afterglow of the setting sun sprinkled over the rolling hills, dyeing all colors a dark red.
In that dark red, he also saw more things.
In this moment of sunset and dim afterglow.
What he saw was not just an army.
Behind those cavalry, along the direction they came from, several wisps of black smoke rose in the distant valleys.
That smoke was not cooking smoke.
It was too thick, too black, and carried a scent he was familiar with.
The residue left after Demonic Qi is purged.
Kanbe Hikaru's eyes narrowed.
He recognized those smoking places.
They were not human villages; they were demon settlements.
In this world, demons are not all lone wolves.
Although most demons are formed by beasts, the undead, or even skeletons attracting the murky Demonic Qi between heaven and earth due to obsession and resentment, mutating without clear self-awareness or reason, and most of the time are even unable to communicate.
But there are also some special demons that, during mutation, first 'mutated' their brains and evolved their consciousness.
They are not powerful, and in terms of strength, they are even weaker than ordinary small demons, but they are intelligent.
They also understand better how to stick together.
Although rare in number, such low-level demons often spontaneously gather to form settlements similar to human villages.
Those places hide deep in the mountain forests during the day, suppressed by pure energy, and are difficult to detect.
Only during the Hour of the Demon, when yin energy spreads, do they reveal themselves beneath the daylight scenery.
Like a thin film layered over the normal world, it is uncovered by the last ray of the setting sun.
Kanbe Hikaru had encountered such places before.
He had even been inside.
That was shortly after he had transmigrated, when he was still wandering around.
He had once stumbled into such a demon settlement, where more than a dozen low-level demons lived.
There were small demons selling tofu, spider spirits weaving cloth, and even a one-eyed Nyudo setting up a stall at the crossroads to tell fortunes.
It was like a human market, a true ghost market.
They saw him and were startled.
He saw them and was also startled.
But in the end, they remained at peace.
Ultimately, Kanbe Hikaru was not entirely on the side of humans, it was just that humans were generally capable of communication, while demons capable of communication were few and far between; most demons were severely affected by Demonic Qi, and once they met, they could only fight—regardless of whether one was a human or a demon, it was the same.
Ultimately.
What he was hostile toward was never a specific race, but rather the individuals within them.
Killing people, slaying demons—it was all the same.
One, two, three.
Within his field of vision, there were three locations.
Within a twenty-mile radius, there were only three small demon settlements.
But at this moment, that army from Echigo was sweeping from north to south.
It also seemed that they were clearing away all existences carrying Demonic Qi along the way.
At this moment—they were even heading straight toward Kaede Village.
The sound of hooves grew closer and closer.
The cavalry at the very front had already crested the final hillside, appearing at the edge of the fields.
They were closing in.
Their iron armor reflected the setting sun, and their banners unfurled in the wind.
A large banner with blue characters on a white background.
The character "Bi" became even more distinct.
Bishamonten.
Kanbe Hikaru was certainly no stranger to this word, this name, although he was more familiar with its other moniker.
That was none other than one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Buddhism, the guardian deity of the North.
The deity who governs war and wealth.
And as mentioned before, if he remembered correctly, in the records of later generations, there was also a person in this era who claimed to be the incarnation of Bishamonten.
That person was closely related to the origin of these troops.
She was the sovereign of the Echigo Province region behind them.
The head of the Uesugi Clan.
The person known as the God of War... Uesugi Kenshin.
Beneath that banner, the cavalry formation was spreading out, flanking from both sides and sealing off the exits of Kaede Village one by one.
It looked like they were definitely not just passing through.
Nor were they there by mistake.
It was a siege.
A purposeful siege.
They... had sensed the Demonic Qi here.
They had sensed the existence of Kanbe Hikaru!
Kanbe Hikaru stood at the village entrance, his grey clothes fluttering in the evening breeze.
A crimson demon mask already covered his face, and his long, pale hair whipped behind him.
His left hand rested on the hilt of his Muramasa, his right hand hung by his side, and purple electric arcs occasionally crackled across his fingertips.
The cavalry came to a halt.
Not because of hesitation.
But because—someone was blocking the road ahead.
One person.
One monster.
Blocking the path of an army of thousands.
In the center of the cavalry formation, a single rider emerged.
It was a woman.
Young, looking about seventeen or eighteen years old.
She wore a set of dark silver armor; the armor was thin yet exquisite, the curve of the breastplate conforming to her figure.
A head of silver-grey long hair draped over her armor, fluttering backward in the evening breeze.
In her hand, she held a katana, with Sanskrit engraved on the scabbard.
Her face was delicate, yet her features carried a sharp intensity.
It was not the opulence of Imagawa Yoshimoto, nor the unwillingness to submit to others like Hojo Ujiyasu.
It was pure sharpness.
Like a drawn blade.
Her gaze fell upon Kanbe Hikaru.
"Monster."
She spoke.
Her voice was clear and bright, neither high nor low, but possessing immense penetrating power.
"In the name of Bishamonten."
She raised the katana in her hand, the tip pointing toward Kanbe Hikaru.
"Eliminate it."
Exorcism?
Kanbe Hikaru did not speak.
He simply stood there, watching this woman, watching the thousand fully armed soldiers behind her.
On the armor of those soldiers, the same Sanskrit symbols were engraved.
This was no ordinary army; it seemed to be an army operating under the banner of "exorcism."
And their goal—was never just the monster settlements along the way.
It also included him.
The monster of Kaede Village.
Kanbe Hikaru.
"Interesting."
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