Horizon:Volume 9B Chapter 30

Study: Diagrams of the Battle of Shizugatake and the Honnouji Incident

Toori: Sis! Sis! There’s not much space, but can you explain the shape of the two battlefields to me?

Kimi: Heh heh heh. Space brother, let’s take a quick look, shall we? First, Shizugatake.

Top right of map: Shizugatake

1. North Clearing

2. North-South Passage

3. South Clearing

4. Kitanosho Castle

• Surrounded by forest

Kimi: Outside the fortress line of ships, Kasuya and her nonhuman unit are battling Maeda Toshiie in the north clearing and Kiyomasa is battling Niwa in the south clearing. Kani is battling Fuwa inside the formation.

Top right of map: Honnouji

1. Honnouji

2. Central Stage

3. Front Path

4. Surrounding Forest

5. Honnouji Landports

Kimi: That’s what Honnouji looks like. It has an open-air three-layer structure surrounded by an outer wall and gate and has a large stage inside, but it’s also emitting an ether pillar into the sky above. We’ll be arriving from the surrounding forest and using the front path which isn’t quite a kilometer long.

Toori: Huh, that’s surprisingly simple, but I just know it’s going to get more complicated soon enough.

Kimi: Heh heh. There’s no helping that. But I want to go see what Nobunaga looks like regardless!

Chapter 30: Runner on Unsure Footing

What am I looking at?

Where are they?

How many are they?

Point Allocation (Two)

●

“Something strange is happening.”

It began a few minutes ago when Fukushima saw a giant knife slicing through the sky.

…I recognize that.

It was the Azuchi. She had been aboard that massive aerial warship until about a month ago. It could achieve all sorts of maneuvers using its gravitational acceleration.

Earlier, the ship had sliced northward through the night sky.

“But why!?” she asked.

She was fairly certain she was close to the Shibata Team’s formation. Or maybe not. I might not be. She wasn’t actually all that certain because of…

“Deer-dono!”

She asked a question of the deer she was riding to hasten her travel.

“Thou are taking me toward Shibata-sama, aren’t thou!?”

●

The deer did not understand what the human on his back was saying.

That was to be expected because deer could not understand human language. They survived by eating grass and leaf buds.

It was known to his species that it would improve their species’ standing among humans if they occasionally gave a human a ride to an arbitrary location if the human appeared to be in trouble or important.

Deer had gods too.

So when he found this human looking lost after failing to take a shortcut through the mountains, he had known now was the time to improve his species’ standing.

Plus, he recalled this human expanding their mountaintop watering hole and giving him food. Yes, he had gorged himself on the bagged food inside her tent while she was out. He hadn’t known what kind of food it was, but he remembered the pattern on the bag was shaped like this: Horse Meat Curry. Not that I know what that means. Cause I’m a deer.

When she had encountered his herd, her desperation had been a sight to behold.

“––––! ––––! …!”

Why don’t you get we don’t understand you? And that you’re being too loud? You’ll wake the wolves and bears. But I could tell she needed help. And the herd’s elder spoke to me.

“Hey, go dump her somewhere. She’s too noisy.”

I couldn’t have agreed more, but I also wanted to help her if I could.

And that’s why I’m running as fast as I can. Yes, I know where I’m going. This must be where she wants to go. Deer heaven is located far to the south of here. There, humans serve deer, give us food, and worship us.

I believe that land is called Nara. Not that I know that that means. Cause I’m a deer.

●

“Deer-dono!? Deer-dono!? If I am not mistaken, thou are running south! If thou do not mind, I ask that thou turn 90 degrees eastward! Can thou do that!? Please!?”

●

In the Azuchi’s dining hall, Takenaka found it odd that they still couldn’t contact Fukushima.

…This could be bad.

Fukushima really should have been back already.

For one, she had apparently contacted Kani on the way.

And now Kani was being held hostage by the Shibata Team and Takenaka couldn’t reach her either.

For now, Fukushima was missing. That meant Takenaka couldn’t count on her in this battle.

If she made her plans on the assumption Fukushima would be a no-show, her absence wouldn’t cause any damage. But…

“Everyone low-key believes she’ll be back…”

So what happened if she didn’t return?

It wouldn’t be a problem as long as they won. Fukushima could regroup with them afterwards. And even if she didn’t, she just had to make it to Honnouji in time. And if she didn’t do that… I probably shouldn’t think about that. Plans there are TBD.

But what if they lost?

…I really don’t want the situation to gradually deteriorate while we wait for a “hope” that isn’t coming.

She wanted to consider an early withdrawal or regrouping, but she wanted to avoid winding up in a situation where that wasn’t possible.

Unfortunately, the situation continued to grow more concerning.

Nearly every one of her fighters had run into an enemy.

Kasuya, Yoshiaki, and Angie had run into Maeda’s ghost warriors at the northern face of the fortress line of ships.

Kiyomasa had run into Niwa in the southern clearing.

And Shibata hadn’t even shown himself yet.

“And I thought everything was going so well when we defeated Sakuma-san, took out the Takigawa Team, and cleared a path.”

“Takenaka-senpai! It’s high damage! This is high damage!”

Katagiri was weirdly excited, hopping up and down in front of her, so she held out her palms and responded.

“There hasn’t been any major damage yet, so it doesn’t count. We need to stick to meaningful definitions, Katagiri-kun.”

“Wow! You’re no fun at all!”

Not right now anyway, she thought, checking a lernen figur and confirming the lack of any major damage.

…But we are still in trouble.

She knew that from the bottom of her heart.

●

Takenaka wanted to avoid exhaustion and losses if at all possible.

With “damage”, she could accept it and rework her plans. But the chaotic melee to the north and the nearly single combat to the south both scared her.

Their main ground forces were fighting a melee on the north front. They were likely working to regroup on the scene. But if this continued, all of those fighters would be exhausted and might even be unusable even if they won here and rushed to Honnouji.

Meanwhile, the battle on the south front was single combat, so the only damage would be to Kiyomasa. But Takenaka didn’t want to lose her or have to send a rescue team for her. Because if Fukushima really didn’t return, then Kiyomasa was effectively the leader of the Ten Spears.

Losing Kiyomasa would hinder their battle at Honnouji.

…I can’t believe this.

Takenaka was seriously considering having everyone fall back and regroup.

She listed up all the personnel in her deck, rearranged them with her finger, and considered how the battle could play out.

“We’re still not hurting too badly.”

“What do you mean!?” asked Katagiri.

Takenaka only straightened up and brought a hand to her chin. But she knew what she had to say.

“For now, they need to move inside. Otherwise, this stalemate will only continue to increase the risk. So…”

She considered which way would be easier as she spoke.

“Kasuya Team. Kiyomasa Team. Listen up.”

Her instructions were simple. Very simple. Anyone could understand them.

“Break through the enemy in front of you. It all begins once you do that.”

●

“That’s easier said than done, you know!?”

Kasuya was battling on what couldn’t quite be called the front line.

She was on a kilometer-long gentle slope just outside Shibata’s fortress line of ships. Shortly after they had secured the clearing that acted as the north entrance, they had arrived.

Maeda Toshiie’s Kaga Millionen Geist.

The ghost warriors endlessly emerged from the ground, preventing Kasuya’s team from establishing a safe zone.

Next to her, Kousaka was fighting and shattering the enemy just like her.

“Can’t we use spells against them!?” shouted Kousaka.

Hashiba was part of the M.H.R.R. Catholics. Tsirhc requiem and exorcism spells could eliminate ghosts with little in the way of restrictions. But someone shouted their way from the warriors who had fallen back into the forest.

“It doesn’t work!”

They too were versed in spells. In fact, they were a unit sent here to do exactly that. But…

“Maeda-sama’s spell is stronger, so we can’t fully resist it!”

As if to prove that true, light scattered from all around. The spell unit’s requiem field spell split through the ghost skeletons emerging from underground, turning them into simple ether light.

Maeda’s necromancy spell was indeed quite high level for a spell. And Maeda himself was quite high level as a spellcaster. Furthermore…

AnG: “I think we’re in trouble. There’s no end to them.”

Kasuya had also noted the extreme number of them.

A platoon level field spell was not enough to stop Maeda’s skill combined with such endless quantity. More and more ghosts emerged to replace any that were lost. Any field they set up was overwhelmed in no time.

New lights scattered here and there. The fields were shattering and the fighters were being pushed back.

…Are we outmatched in quantity and quality!?

Just as Kasuya thought that, a great form appeared in front of her.

The large ghost skeleton stood more than 10m tall and was equipped with a mobile shell. What would happen if it pulled off ordinary movements like that?

Its attack speed was about five times a human’s. It broke the sound barrier when it swung its sword.

“…”

It stepped forward and swung its sword down from overhead at about the same moment.

●

AnG: “Take’s deeeeead!”

Kimee: “Cause of death: carelessness. What a terrifying battlefield.”

Kuro-Take: “Um, um, could you not stress me out for no reason!?”

Black Wolf: “I am not dead!”

●

“Oh?” said Yoshiaki as she descended toward the forest and saw the result.

Kasuya had smashed two forces.

The first was the large skeleton’s swung-down sword. The other was the large skeleton’s leg itself.

For the sword, she sent out a right chop that seemed to swing her body upwards. For the leg, she kept her right arm moving after smashing the giant sword and more or less tackled it with her fist out front.

The raised right foot dropped at about the same moment as her outstretched fist struck the leg of the large skeleton’s mobile shell.

…Neat.

Yoshiaki had thought Kasuya generally attacked with rapid combos using Argent Clou. But she’s changed a lot.

Yoshiaki had heard Kasuya had defeated a ton of dragons during the training camp, but she hadn’t expected her to have progressed this far.

She hadn’t even looked up at the blade swinging down toward her and her strikes had been swift. She hadn’t lingered in her follow-through and had immediately moved on to the next attack.

She continued on now.

“Lu, la.”

She howled while swinging her right fist through.

Her stomping foot sounded loud and the force of her blow broke right through the mobile shell’s armor.

The attack had her weight behind it and it shattered the metal leg armor below the scattering fragments of the blade.

The armor broke away from the frame and the frame broke before it could bend. The power system’s components scattered behind the leg and the oil and ether fuel splattered along with them. And…

“One down!” shouted Kasuya, placing her right knee and lower leg on the back of the large skeleton collapsing without the support of its leg.

One down? I like that confidence, thought Yoshiaki. Because that felt like announcing her intent to destroy a second and a third.

How much would those words mean on this dangerous field?

…Also…

“All ordinary warriors, ready your weapons and charge into the forest! Open a path with an offensive retreat!”

Kasuya’s nonhuman unit gave more detailed instructions.

They would be falling back into the forest too, but telling the ordinary warriors to “charge into the forest” was probably the right move.

Kimee: “The ghost warriors seem to have a hard time entering the forest. Maybe it’s the phase of the land.”

AnG: “Some are coming in, but I think they’re the ones that grew close to the edge?”

6: “Are they a crop?”

It seemed a lot like it, yes.

But once they were in the forest, this was Yoshiaki and Angie’s job.

First, she displayed Magie Figurs at a set interval. But these were not for spells. They simply displayed arrows showing where to turn.

That would get the warriors lined up behind the Technohexen once they returned to the forest.

…Looks like they did their movement training.

They appeared calm enough to give priority to the right side first. Which left…

“Angie, let’s end this.”

●

Kasuya destroyed a second large skeleton.

That said, she was primarily just breaking their legs. Once they fell, her people could crush them.

She had learned how to distribute tasks during the summer training camp in Aki.

You did what you could do.

And, if possible, you did what the others could not.

If everyone understood that, the battle would run automatically.

That was happening here. Her job was toppling the large skeletons. She would deal with the human and big ape ones if she came across them in between the large ones, but those were for the others to deal with. As for all of her allies…

“Clear a path for our leader!”

They eliminated the enemies blocking her path.

And as a whole…

“Charge into the forest to temporarily withdraw!”

At various places across the battlefield, they would gather up the few who had already withdrawn to form larger groups they could use to charge into the forest.

The action turned their backs to Shibata’s fortress line of ships and moved away from it.

That meant they were in fact retreating.

But this wasn’t just a semantic issue. Ghost warriors continued to appear across the clearing, so they had to attack even as they withdrew.

So instead of just retreating into the safety of the forest, they were attacking as they moved into the forest. The ghost warriors couldn’t manage any particularly skilled attacks, so they just had to avoid getting caught by them. That meant a powerful charge was the best option.

Alone, they would be in danger, so they moved in groups of at least four. Kousaka, Inada, and the other nonhumans rescued and gathered those caught by and being pushed back by the ghost warriors.

“C’mon! Ready your weapon and charge! Thataway!”

They chose a direction that wouldn’t obstruct the other groups and sent them off.

The distribution of tasks had already begun and, surprisingly, the defenders were going around eliminating the enemy while the attackers used that opening to rescue the ordinary warriors and instruct them to charge.

…They’re combining the synchronization of a charge with a zone of defense.

The attackers had the instincts needed to quickly rescue their allies and immediately determine where they could charge.

Conversely, the defenders had the instincts needed to buy the time and create the safe zone needed for that.

In that sense, they were performing optimally here. And…

“How much more!?” asked Kasuya.

“We’re almost done!” replied Kousaka as Kasuya defeated her third large skeleton. “The clearing will be clear after another 5 or 6 groups!”

Kousaka and Inada were commanding and creating the overall flow of withdrawal.

Kasuya had to admit she was simply leaving this in their hands. But she was doing what she had to do and those two had taken control of what they needed to do.

She appreciated it.

…They would honestly be better team leaders than me.

But that would definitely slow the nonhuman unit’s charging speed.

She had the greatest speed, but she was far faster when letting the others follow her charge than when being given an order to charge.

She did what she could and achieved a maximum no one else could reach. If she saw that as the reason she was leader, perhaps it made those two her advisers.

She felt like she was just trying to make herself look better, but she had gotten used to this during the summer training camp.

When battling those dream Terrestrial Dragons made of ether, detailed instructions and strategies hadn’t worked.

If you could go for it, you had to go and make it count while the others did their thing behind you.

Kasuya did the same here. And she heard her allies behind her.

“The last group is out!”

She responded by accelerating toward the next large skeleton. With a burst of speed, she cleared the last dozen or two meters in only three steps.

She went.

●

Kasuya detected the enemy’s reaction as she raced south toward the ghosts.

…So the ghosts can make decisions on their own!

Maybe it was in response to her defeating multiple large skeletons in a row, but the big ape skeletons – which were essentially the ghosts’ 2nd form – were chasing after her now.

Based on the footsteps she could hear, there were at least 20 of them. They rushed in from behind, from the front, and from the sides. Conversely, the human ones used their mobile shells to rush in as a solid wall from beyond the destroyed gate ship.

Had they decided they just needed to defeat her?

“But I’ve never been afraid of ghosts.”

It’s not my style. That’s more of a Shrine Maiden Hirano thing.

Loup-Garous were a spirit species, so they had a lot in common with ghosts. Presumably, these were only attacking her because the Kaga Millionen Geist were Landsknechte.

And they were commanded by…

“Maeda-senpai!”

Kasuya raised her voice and looked far into the distance. He stood past the gate ship on the main path down the center of the Shibata Team’s formation.

He looked like he was dancing the way he snapped his thumbs to scatter silver coins from the coin roll swords at his hips. His hair fluttered side to side, back and forth, as he took rhythmic steps and scattered coins.

AnG: “He’s having a blast.”

Kimee: “ ‘Azuchi’, if I give you range data, can you shoot him?”

Azuchi: “Oh, sorry. The angle is too shallow for my high-angle weaponry. Shaja.”

…So everyone sees him the same way.

But Kasuya had to focus on the battle. She ran toward a fourth large skeleton coming from the south.

“Lu.”

She reached it with a single accelerated step.

●

Toshiie had no intention of letting his guard down.

…That’s Kasuya-kun, isn’t it?

She already had a major accomplishment under her belt.

“She defeated Takigawa-senpai.”

That was why the Takigawa Unit had gone out ahead and launched a surprise attack on her. She had deflected their skill and their feelings to reach this point.

On the feelings front, Toshiie knew he had been an outsider from Takigawa’s perspective. They hadn’t spent much time together and they had both enjoyed themselves during the brutal Warring States period and Thirty Years’ War within the standard hierarchy of upperclassman and underclassman.

But the times were changing.

The people from the latter half of the Warring States period and the Thirty Years’ War were rising up from below.

So there was only one choice left: lose yourself in the memories or enjoy it with the newcomers.

“That’s right.”

He had inherited Maeda Toshiie’s name, which gave him one advantage over the other commanders and daimyo from that generation.

“I get to see the end of the Warring States period and I reach the entrance to the next era.”

He would live long enough to see Hashiba unite the Far East and to see the Battle of Sekigahara. So…

…Yeah, this is tricky.

It had occurred to him after he arrived here.

He was here to be with Shibata, a powerful upperclassman, during his big goodbye.

But in the same way, Toshiie himself was an upperclassman to the underclassmen serving Hashiba. And he was an upperclassman who would not meet his end here or during the Warring States period at all.

Kasuya before him now had defeated Takigawa.

Takigawa had been an important upperclassman to him, but…

“What will you do?”

He waved an arm as a command. His gestures told the ghost warriors what they should do.

“Crush that wolf.”

Now, then.

“What will you do?”

He was in the middle of the balance now. He perceived himself at the center. Words rose from deep in his throat as he considered that.

“Will you accept me as your upperclassman even though battling you like this is all I can do?”

As soon as he asked the question, he saw a rushing multitude.

The target was Kasuya and the multitude was the ghost warriors, primarily the ape ones.

Kasuya had just dashed toward a fourth large skeleton and she briefly ducked down.

…Preparing for an attack?

She would likely destroy the large skeleton the very next moment. But the wolf paused in that moment. To secure her footing.

The ghost apes chose that moment to charge in.

“Now, what will you do?”

Would she attack to the front, just like when she blew away the thousand mobile shells? But the large skeleton was swinging its sword down at her and the apes created far more pressure than the humans and mobile shells had.

So what would she do?

…Let’s watch.

Just as Toshiie thought that, she made her next move

The wolf stepped forward. And as soon as he saw that…

“…Huh?”

He saw the result before him.

The black wolf made another burst of acceleration.

This one took her between the large skeleton’s legs instead of attacking it.

“She missed!?”

●

…No, wait.

That doesn’t make sense, thought Toshiie. Because…

“You’re supposed to attack there!”

But the black wolf hadn’t done so. She had used a burst of acceleration to pass between the large skeleton’s legs and kept low to the ground. Her stance was nearly like a sliding baseball player.

“Stayyyyy!!” howled the wolf.

In that moment, two things happened on the other side of the gate.

First, the nonhuman unit fighting in the clearing suddenly got down on the ground.

And second…

“That’s what you were after!?”

A cannon blast split the sky.

Someone in the forest had fired a blast on the level of an anti-ship cannon toward the clearing. It must have been…

“One of the Technohexen!!” he shouted just before light exploded in the clearing.

The witch’s homing diffusion shot was a flash of light that exploded at extreme low altitude.

●

Yoshiaki had a single target.

She had summoned Weiss Fürstin in the forest and put it in anti-ship cannon mode. And she had fired…

“A homing diffusion shot meant for use against mechanical phoenixes and aerial gods of war. But…”

Her target was a fairly difficult one.

“I’ve never set the homing to target any kinetic readings more than a meter off the ground before.”

But the shell had flown.

…Did it work!?

The clearing was on a downwards slope. A horizontal shot would have caused the shell to explode too high up and the diffusion wouldn’t cover the area evenly. So she had given the shell itself guidance, but it was a fairly fast shell. The slightest mistake and it would miss the clearing altogether.

So what would she do?

“That one’s decently tall.”

She meant a large skeleton.

It was raising its sword to swing it down at Kasuya.

Yoshiaki aimed for the very start of the swing. The mobile shell gave it decent speed, but it still had to come to a stop after raising its arm. If she launched her shell then, it would hit the center of the skeleton’s chest as it swung the sword down.

Kasuya had done a great job of luring it into place.

With an enemy rushing toward the large skeleton, Yoshiaki wasn’t going to miss.

She fired her first attack.

The shell slammed into the chest of the large skeleton wearing a mobile shell.

In that instant, the shell’s diffusion and homing commands scrolled rapidly by on the Magie Figur by her face.

“Pierce those dead souls. May they rest in peace. Nema.”

Hundreds of coins shot down from the sky as a scattershot blast.

●

Toshiie saw it all happen.

When the shell hit the large skeleton, its upper body literally shattered. The ghost warriors behind it – the human ones and the ape ones – were all shattered too.

The rapid-moving scattershot split the air into countless pieces, producing mist and a powerful wind on the north half of the clearing.

The colorless white of the sudden wind contrasted the dark shadows of the forest disturbed by the moonlight and wind.

And behind that misty wind, light ascended into the sky. The countless sparkles of ether light were the shattered ghosts finding peace.

The Technohexen sang a requiem. One of the reasons Technohexen were hunted in Tsirhc history was because accepting the Technohexen’s indigenous spells would have prevented the church from making money off of funerals and inheritance.

But the Technohexen’s song permeated all, regardless of religion. Maybe that was why.

“Are you going?”

After that attack, the ghost warriors in the clearing between the shattered large skeleton and Toshiie began to move forward.

“…!”

They all raised voiceless groans and rushed toward Kasuya who stood in front of the shattered large skeleton.

But Toshiie realized something and raised his voice.

He scattered coins and gave a command to them all.

“Wait!”

There was a reason they all had to stop.

“There’s another Technohexen!”

Just as he thought a second shot was coming…

“Open fire!” howled the wolf.

At the same time, a shell tore a hole in the waves of mist washing over the clearing slope.

This one was not homing.

It simply flew by over Kasuya’s head and released an unguided and non-homing scattershot toward the rushing ghost warriors.

The force of the blast struck everything from the center area of the clearing to the entrance.

●

…That was wayyyyy too close!

Angie confirmed the attack hit using her Magie Figur rather than doing it visually.

Mist was still swirling before her, so she couldn’t see to the center of the clearing. And yet…

“I know I did it, but firing a non-homing diffusion shot toward Take based on numerical readings alone is super dangerous, Kime-chan!”

“Don’t worry. Too low and it would have hit the remains of the large skeleton and failed. Too high and it would have flown above everything. Either way, the stress goes to Takenaka and we can just laugh it off.”

Kuro-Take: “C-could you please stop giving me reasons to stress after everything actually went well!? Please!?”

Is she trying to convince us to keep teasing her? wondered Angie, but that was hardly new.

But her Magie Figur showed the shell arrive 10m in front of Kasuya before explosively fanning out across 120 degrees out ahead.

The only question left was how much damage it would do, but…

Black Wolf: “Go!”

A voice rescinded the “stay” command. The mist was broken through and the wind pierced by…

“Lu…ah, oh!”

The war cry sounded a lot like a wolf’s howl. And it was answered by the many silhouettes of the nonhuman unit standing back up in the mist.

“Get ready!”

Others formed ranks once more in the forest behind.

The approximately 7000 members of the ordinary warriors who had arrived on Takenaka’s orders roughly re-formed defense formations in the forest. The commanders at the far sides and the center played trumpet sounds from spell circles.

“Charge!”

●

Kousaka smashed the blinded ape ghost warriors in the mist.

The ghosts appeared to sense ether, but this mist was created from the fragments of a spell shell and the shattered ghost warriors.

Ether sensing was meaningless within that cloud of chaff blowing just off the ground.

…So now we can hunt to our heart’s content!

The nonhuman unit hunted the apes and ignored the human ones. Because they wanted to…

“Clear a path!”

The seven 1000-man defense formations moved slowly – ploddingly even – as they came in from behind, but they cleared their own path by smashing the ghost warriors who continued to rise from the ground.

“Warriors, secure the north gate!!”

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