The commander died, flesh and blood flew, and as that corpse hit the ground, it was immediately buried by the blood mist and wind-blown sand.
This shocking scene caused the originally murderous Echigo army to fall into a dead silence instantly.
The remaining soldiers in the front row stared blankly at the Oni Samurai standing in the clearing. That crimson oni mask was like a true nightmare in the night.
They were not afraid of death.
As elites of the Uesugi Clan, there was no lack of the samurai class among them. Under the influence of the education they had received since childhood, they had the resolve to sacrifice themselves for 'Righteousness'.
But facing a monster that could single-handedly break through a thousand-man army, kill their general with one strike, and remain completely unscathed, the instinctive fear still overwhelmed their military discipline.
They were very aware of how powerful their general was.
She was an existence who had reached the limits of the human body, capable of slaying demons on the battlefield!
And now, she was dead.
Cut down from her horse in a single strike.
One strike, decapitated.
"Re... Retreat!"
Someone shouted first, though it was unclear who.
Having lost their command core, the remaining army of less than a thousand began to break formation.
The cavalry in the rear turned their horses around, and the infantry began to slowly retreat, warily eyeing that motionless figure.
Kanbe Hikaru did not give chase.
He just stood there, allowing the blood mist to slowly recede into his body and the Bone Spikes to retract beneath his skin.
Killing all these nearly thousand people would cost him a huge amount of demonic power and time, and it was meaningless—
What he wanted was deterrence.
Since that general had been slain, the news here would quickly reach Echigo.
That was enough.
As the sound of hooves gradually faded, the noisy battlefield returned to peace. The air still held the lingering scent of blood and the scorched stench of fire, and the corpses everywhere disappeared at a visible rate—dragged down by the undead talent Kanbe Hikaru possessed via the Nekomata's claw, which controlled corpses underground to bury them on the spot.
The sun sank, and the moonlight rose.
Kanbe Hikaru turned around.
His gaze fell on the soldier still lying on the ground at the village entrance.
The Hojo Clan Ashigaru who had fled all the way from the north to deliver the message.
At this moment, the soldier was struggling to crawl up from the ground.
Probably because he had seen the scene of Kanbe Hikaru repelling the powerful enemy, although there was still fear in his eyes, there was more of the excitement of surviving a disaster.
"Won... We won... They retreated!"
He leaned against a rock by the road, the pain in his severed arm seemingly numbed: "Thank you, My Lord... Thank you for saving my life!"
He wanted to kneel and kowtow, but his body was too stiff to obey.
"I have to go... I have to go to Odawara Castle... to tell my Lord..."
He muttered, taking a step to walk south.
But after just one step, he found Kanbe Hikaru blocking his path.
"My Lord?"
The soldier froze for a moment, looking at that oni mask with some fear: "Are... are you going to stop me?"
"I am not stopping you."
Kanbe Hikaru's voice was very flat and calm, and the eyes beneath the oni mask appeared even more indifferent.
It was as if... he was looking at a dead man: "It is that you yourself can no longer go."
"Can't go?"
The soldier looked down at his legs: "Although I'm injured, I can still run. I must deliver the news..."
"You won't deliver it."
Kanbe Hikaru interrupted him.
"Look down more carefully."
The soldier subconsciously looked down.
By the light of the exceptionally bright moon tonight, he saw it. He saw that at his chest, his breastplate had long since shattered.
Beneath it was a massive hole.
No blood was flowing out.
Because the blood had long since run dry.
That wound had pierced through his heart; through that hole, one could even see the grass behind him.
The soldier's expression froze.
From confusion to shock, and then to an unspeakable panic and despair.
Memories flooded out like a bursting dam.
It was the northern outpost, and that great flag with the character 'Bi'.
The cavalry surging in like a tide.
The image of himself being pierced through the chest by a spear and falling into a pool of blood.
It was also the scene of him watching his companions fall one by one, watching the outpost being set on fire.
He wanted to run, wanted to report the news.
That powerful obsession had supported him to'stand' up and run all the way, even forgetting the pain, forgetting... the fact that he was already dead.
But he, clearly... was already dead.
"I... am dead?"
He tremblingly raised his intact hand and touched that hole.
Cold.
No heartbeat.
"So... I'm already dead."
He sat down dejectedly on the ground, the light in his eyes fading rapidly as the obsession that supported his existence dissipated.
"My Lord..."
He raised his head, looking at Kanbe Hikaru.
"I know you are a demon... but you protected this village behind you, didn't you... If not for you, this village would have already fallen into the hands of the enemy country, Echigo..."
"Can you help me? Bring the news... to my lord..."
Kanbe Hikaru looked at him.
This ordinary Ashigaru, even in death, even as a wraith, still remembered his duty.
In these chaotic times, human life is as cheap as grass.
But even blades of grass have their own persistence.
Yet, Kanbe Hikaru did not respond.
He just looked at him.
Watching as the other party realized the truth of his own death, his physical body gradually stiffened, returning to its proper state.
Finally, only a broken corpse remained, lying quietly by the roadside.
Kanbe Hikaru watched this scene in silence.
As an Oni Samurai, he was no stranger to death.
He remained calm throughout... neither agreeing to nor refusing the other's request.
He didn't turn around and leave immediately either.
Because there were still 'others' present.
From the surrounding grass and behind the trees came a rustling sound.
Demonic Qi.
It was chaotic, weak, and even carried a hint of cowering—an extremely faint Demonic Qi.
Kanbe Hikaru turned his head.
Under the moonlight, several strange figures poked their heads out.
There was a Hitotsume-kozo wearing a tattered umbrella, a little girl with fox ears, a Kappa that looked like a lump of mud, and a Giant Rat with a broken leg.
They looked miserable, covered in burns and sword wounds, their eyes filled with terror.
Kanbe Hikaru could tell at a glance, sensing that these were the 'villagers' of the demon village burned by that Echigo army earlier.
They were the survivors of those destroyed demon settlements.
They didn't have great power or malicious intent; they were just huddling together for warmth in the cracks of these chaotic times.
But because they were 'non-human' and because of that banner of'slaying demons and exorcising evil,' they lost their homes and were hunted here as wicked spirits.
And the Echigo army had pursued them all the way here.
Yes.
They had come here while hunting them down.
And that Hime-musha, Kakizaki Kageie, had also assumed Kanbe Hikaru was the lord of the demons in this vicinity for that reason.
Those demons had come to seek his protection.
"Lo... Lord..."
A slightly braver Tanuki Spirit stepped out, holding a lotus leaf in its hand as if to block the sun.
It looked at Kanbe Hikaru, its legs trembling.
They had witnessed the battle just now.
This man, like a god or ghost, was an existence even more terrifying than those human armies.
But at this moment, they had nowhere else to go except to him.
"We... we mean no harm..."
The Tanuki Spirit stammered, "We just... want to live."
Kanbe Hikaru looked at these elderly, weak, sick, and disabled.
Demons and monsters.
Good and evil.
In this era, the boundaries were so blurred, yet so cruel.
Humans killing demons was seen as natural and right.
Demons killing humans was also driven by nature.
But there were always some existences caught in the middle with no place to belong.
Just like these small demons.
And just like... his former self.
Kanbe Hikaru's gaze swept over them, without disgust or pity, just very calm.
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