Horizon:Volume 9A Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Singer from the East

Never let out even the slightest response

Never forget even the smallest thing

Point Allocation (The Secret to Getting Excited)

●

I have no words, thought Kousaka.

Because the power of the enemy-devouring black wind was overwhelming.

After all, the black wolf was not running on the snowy ground.

She was in the trees. The forest’s plentiful trees were her footing. And…

…She isn’t even using the branches!

It all happened so fast it took Kousaka a moment to notice, but the wolf had her body oriented nearly parallel to the ground as she ran through the trees. She used her powerful legs and muscles to essentially climb the tree trunks like stairs.

Kousaka had heard this technique relied on quick bursts of speed.

The black wolf ran as if gravity had been shifted by 90 degrees.

She held her silver crosses in her hands and her white scarf rippled behind her.

“Lu, la, la.”

The wolf devoured the attacking ninjas in the air.

The poor footing meant nothing to her. She used light twists of the ankle to drum on the trees and create loud vibrations.

Her strikes raced out. To them – no, to the enemy, it was a counterattack in every possible way. But Kasuya simply had to launch herself toward the closest enemy and swing her claws.

In an instant, more than ten ninjas were scattered through the air. Only then did the rest realize what was happening.

“Kasuya Takenori!”

I already said that. And I guess this means the enemy didn’t expect her to come back. But, thought Kousaka.

…That’s not how it works with a wolf.

Kasuya hadn’t gone ahead to reach the Shibata Team more quickly.

…She was checking on the footing for a counterattack!

Wolves were careful hunters. In an unfamiliar place, they would repeatedly investigate, check on locations their prey could escape to, locate escape routes in case they were pursued themselves, and only then use that place as their hunting ground.

During the Kantou Liberation, the Reine des Garous had surrounded herself with her own territory, but this was the same idea. At her level, she could rewrite any location into her own hunting ground. And in Kasuya’s case…

“La, la, lu.”

Her short, choppy howls sounded a lot like a song.

She raced through the air and the darkness while simply hunting.

Kousaka knew the ninjas were not the most dangerous thing in the dark forest of this battlefield.

There was something in this world much more frightening and much more suited to this place.

“Lu, la.”

Kasuya raised a wolf’s howl as she raced through the trees.

●

Kasuya ran.

It took her mere moments to cross the space covered by the enemy.

She would have continued right on past them, but…

…Now I turn!

She was essentially standing on the sides of the trees, climbing the trunks like stairs.

She turned in the same way. Instead of continuing in a straight line, she only had to choose a trunk that was “above” from her perspective. That allowed her hunt to reach the tail end of the enemies on the left slope.

Of course, all of them were skating. Enemy and ally alike were on the move toward the clearing where the fortress wall of ships waited.

She hurried to keep up.

She still hadn’t turned things around. Her attack had not fully eliminated the enemy on the right slope. She had only hunted down the ones soaring through the air. That was only two or so. There were plenty more where that came from. And…

“Kasuya Takenori!”

The enemy had located her.

From her perspective after making a midair U-turn by kicking off the trees, the enemy line descending from the east slope was dead ahead. And they were ready for her. They aimed their kunais and guns her way.

“I can see you!”

She could see it all from her position.

But there was a good distance between them. Her initial momentum had forced her turn into a wide turn. The enemy had plenty of time to attack before she could get close. And…

“Surround her!”

The enemy’s quickly skated around to try and form another circle. They hoped to surround her.

Meanwhile, she picked up speed. She hurried to beat out the enemy’s attacks and encirclement.

“Stay!!” she shouted loud.

●

The Takigawa Unit didn’t understand what she had said to them.

…Stay!?

What? As in, stay where they were? They all ended up looking to each other to see if anyone else knew.

But the enemy responded. They ducked down low even while skating.

The battle wasn’t over yet. And this battle was primarily being fought with projectiles. So had that been a signal to go on the defensive? But…

“That makes them sitting ducks.”

Kasuya sped up, but it wasn’t enough to reach them. Not even a leap fueled by Loup-Garou strength could reach them when they were skating. That distance wasn’t so easily covered. So…

“Attack!”

Their kunais and rifles were aimed at the enemy forces and Kasuya. But just then…

“Huh?”

They saw a pair of colors.

The blue and white appeared suddenly. While Kasuya kicked off the trees to pursue them, a great wall pushed in from behind her. It almost appeared to be formed from scattering moonlight.

The cascade of moonlight arrived with a sound of a rolling stone and the ring of chilly air. It was actually…

“The Azuchi’s cushion wind!”

●

Sakuma felt and saw it from Genbu’s shoulder.

The action itself had been simple. The Azuchi had descended.

While the giant ship suddenly lowered its position while exchanging cannon fire in the moonlight.

It had a reason for doing so. Its positions above the mountains meant it was higher up than the Shibata Team’s formation, giving it a poorer angle of fire.

So it lowered.

But there was an obstacle below: an area of thick, tall woods. The conifer forest, with its pointed trees stretching toward the sky, looked dark in the moonlight. It covered well over 50 square meters.

What happened when the ship descended below that?

Sakuma saw the answer for herself.

“Did you deactivate the cushioning spell!?”

When a ship that large flew, it used a cushioning spell to eliminate the noise and atmospheric disturbance. All large ships were obligated to do so. Failing to do so would lead to criticism from the other nations.

But what if it was done within their own territory? And out in the mountains where no one lived?

“Deactivating the atmospheric cushioning and descending sends great wind pressure across the forest.”

That wind pressure exploded below them.

Sakuma heard the roaring wind. She also heard snapping trees and crashing impacts from below the ship. The snow on the ground and broken tree branches rose into view from between the ships.

She also saw a white wave race out to the Azuchi’s surroundings.

A tsunami of sound whipped up the snow and spread through the forest night with intensity approaching that of a shockwave.

“Hold on, Hachisuka! Is your Kasuya okay down there!?”

“Probably,” Hachisuka replied from within Genbu.

The Takigawa Team definitely took the brunt of that, thought Sakuma.

●

One member of the Takigawa Team was still standing.

It was all over before they even noticed something was happening. Their knowledge of and experience in the mountains told them this was some kind of avalanche, but they were slow to react because none of that knowledge or experience told them about an avalanche arriving horizontally.

It hit them all the worse because they had taken attack stances against the crouching Kasuya Unit and Kasuya herself.

The snowy gale had hit them head on and a few were even swept away.

And by the time the wind had blown through, this one member found himself all alone.

Around him, the remnants of the snow were blowing down toward the foot of the mountain as no more than wind.

Most likely, he was still within that wind. The place was still lit up white thanks to the two full moons in the sky above. And…

…I don’t hear anything.

He was familiar with the concept of a whiteout.

He couldn’t see anything in any direction and the snow on the ground kept him from gleaning anything from the terrain either.

Everything had been erased by the white. And then he spoke out loud.

“Is it over?”

The Takigawa Team’s program and exhibition had to be over now. That may have been why.

…Ohh.

Looking around, he spotted the enemy at a distant point behind him.

But not because the white was clearing away. He could only see some crouching shadows in the distance toward the mountain, where the wind was blowing from. The ten or so figures had their backs to the snowy wind, but they seemed to be glaring his way. They were all aiming rifles his way as well.

“I see.”

Those were the first of the Kasuya Unit they had knocked out of the fight.

They had definitely been defeated. But they hadn’t “retired” from the battlefield yet.

“I see,” he said again.

Or maybe he only thought it. Because his body was frozen and wouldn’t move when he told it to. But…

“So you were the same.”

Once he said that, he heard a sound.

How far away was it coming from? A moment later, he felt an impact and collapsed into the snow.

Only then did he realize the sound had been innumerable gunshots.

●

Kasuya sensed that the battle was moving on.

During her turn, she had noticed her supposedly defeated people preparing an attack far behind them. She had heard the Azuchi’s descent and the gentle wind preceding it had carried the scent of them readying their guns.

Either Kousaka or Inada must have given them the order. From what she could see, some had intentionally joined that group.

…Which means none of them were “missing” from the battlefield.

“Oh.”

She landed, finding the snowy ground harder than she expected.

The wind on her back extended the distance and time of her leap.

She traveled through the white void of enemies, below the pale moonlight, and between the dark trees.

“Everyone, after me this time!”

●

Kousaka followed Kasuya.

…This time, huh?

But Kasuya had actually said something this time.

When she had gone on ahead without a word before, Kousaka had known she would be back.

The leader of a wolf pack only left without saying anything to hunt without alerting the prey. When that happened, the rest of the pack had to make sure the prey did not notice their leader’s presence.

That was exactly what they had done.

The wolf leader had returned and now the hunt was over. So…

“Let’s go, everyone!”

Kousaka didn’t know if they could all keep up. A black wind led the way. The Loup-Garou equipped with a silver cross on each arm kicked off the snow with no concern for the white wind still blowing in from the north.

And she sang.

The black wolf sang while pursuing the white wind and scattering chalk dust.

“I reveal the darkness without facing it.”

The wind carried her voice.

“I am Loup-Garou.”

Fallen twigs snapped below her feet.

“I bite at human fear from the abyss.”

She touched the leafy branches.

“Hear me, Loup-Garou children.”

She demonstrated a series of acceleration and running that linked together like a dance through the forest.

Kousaka hurried after her and urged the others to do the same, but…

“Eh?

Kasuya’s song should have been over. And yet…

…It isn’t?

That didn’t make any sense.

That was an old Loup-Garou song. They were a rare species nowadays, but back when they were still numerous in Europe, they would apparently sing that sing while gathering in the night to dance and play.

In Kousaka’s birthplace, the same song was passed down with altered lyrics to make it a human song. The song had ancient roots and the lyrics ended with that call to the children, so it was thought it had been created by Loup-Garou royalty. But…

“–––––––”

Out ahead, Kasuya’s words continued. Kousaka couldn’t actually hear it, but she could see the white breaths leaving Kasuya’s scarf.

Kasuya was still singing.

●

The Reine des Garous heard a familiar song in a familiar place.

She was at her candy house in the forest night.

Her daughter’s class had enjoyed a training camp here until the previous morning.

If the reports she had heard were accurate, they had gone on to squash Kyou and were about to visit Honnouji, but…

“Nate should be resting right now.”

She was simply walking around outside the house to clean up.

Those “outsiders” living here had added a new scent to her divine protections. That was probably thanks to her daughter’s presence. The candy house had recognized her daughter and her daughter’s king as its master, which had messed with the divine protections around the house.

So she was walking around and fixing the forest protections and the spirits that were in an awkward in-between state.

She walked.

But that didn’t seem like enough.

Wolves were mischievous.

So she occasionally touched the trees, let the wind wash through her hair, and made audible footsteps. The sound of the leaves she touched, the scent of the wind, and the firmness of the ground were all corrected to the way she liked it. She did not reject the touch added by her daughter, her daughter’s king, and their friends, so it all piled up like fallen leaves, giving the place a richer scent.

This is perfect. When the moon was out at night, it was a wolf’s time. But today, he was here too. So instead of howling, she approached the lights of the house and simply sang.

“I reveal the darkness without facing it.”

The wind carried her voice.

“I am Loup-Garou.”

Fallen twigs snapped below her feet.

“I bite at human fear from the abyss.”

She touched the leafy branches.

“Hear me, Loup-Garou children.”

She walked. She sang. But the song did not end there.

“I travel the night without challenge.”

She smiled a little.

“I am queen.”

She passed by the shed.

“I dance in the moonlight and the deep shadows.”

She arrived in front of the house.

“I am queen of the Loup-Garous.”

The door in front of her opened and her husband emerged in his pajamas.

“Mrs. Loup-Garou, was that the song you used to sing?”

“Hee hee. I haven’t sung it much since we left. Partially because I realized what it means.”

“Do you think Nate remembers it?”

“She should. She will be the next queen after all. That second part is passed down by the Reine des Garous, mother to daughter. The first part should be known to pretty much any Loup-Garou.”

She added a “however” and looked northeast.

They were out here because they were concerned about the east.

Yes, the east.

M.H.R.R. was there, but Kyou was past that. Once her daughter’s class completed the Honnouji Incident, attention would turn to this region near the provisional border. But…

“Mrs. Loup-Garou, the soup is ready! Nate’s king left the recipe for us.”

“That he even left a stock for us to use makes him seem a little overly eager to please.

“But that’s fine” she added, gently embracing her husband and entering the house.

A song reached her ears even as the door closed. Someone was singing somewhere far to the east.

“What is it?”

“Well,” she said to him, looking up into the sky through the cracked-open door. How should I put this? she thought, aware of her smile as she closed the door. “I can hear the song that only you and Nate should know.”

“I don’t hear anything.”

Of course he didn’t, but it pleased her that he placed the two of them on the same level like that.

Maybe he was just being nice, but tonight was the full moon. And she knew exactly how to get herself to forget about all this:

“Let’s have lots of furry fun in my beast form tonight.”

●

Kasuya approached the forest’s exit.

The rest of her people were keeping up with her. She hadn’t slowed any. She hadn’t been using her bursts of speed because that would eat away at her stamina, but…

“How about this!?”

Kousaka and the others were plenty fast.

They hadn’t been able to keep up with her original skating because that had been her full speed, but they were keeping up well enough. But one thing worried her.

“Are you all keeping your breath!?”

Our primary mission is to clear a path to the line of ships,” said Kousaka and the rest agreed.

A few moved out ahead and raised their arms.

“We can last that long, even if we run into a fight in the clearing first!”

“Ha ha. I heard you gasping for breath when we were climbing the slope earlier.”

“And we’re descending the slope now! It’s completely different!”

Everyone laughed, but they were right.

The rest of the way to the clearing below was downhill.

The fortress wall of ships at Shibata’s main formation was set up on a gentler part of the downward slope and a moat filled with melted snow water had been dug around it.

They had measured the size of the clearing when the Azuchi made its side flip.

It was a kilometer front to back and about the same wide. And…

“The Shibata Team’s mobile shell unit is 10 thousand strong!”

The enemy’s interception unit would be waiting for them when they emerged from the forest.

And that was what they found in that moonlit clearing.

●

The Shibata Team’s interception unit did not hold back.

It was comprised of the mobile shell unit.

They took a defense formation four layers thick in the center and three thick on either side. A single formation generally meant at least a thousand troops, but these were mobile shells.

And they were already facing the forest entrance, waiting.

From the clearing, the entrance of the mountain forest was dark and uncertain. It was only a tree-covered passage traveling through a shallow valley created by snowmelt.

A rough, frigid wind blew from there, as if preceding the enemy.

Not long before, gunfire and other sounds of battle had come from there.

The snow expelled from the forest now coated the clearing. There should have been green grass growing there, but tonight only the snow and the shadows of mobile shells could be seen there.

Then the enemy arrived.

Figures appeared from the depths of the forest.

The sight spells on the inside of the mobile shells’ helmets outlined the enemy’s shapes in red.

There were nearly 170 of them. They had heard there were about 200 to begin with, but…

“The Takigawa Team must have done it!”

And after some praise of “great job” and replies of “testament”…

“Fire!”

The gunfire was made by the gunner units on the second layer of the left and right formations. They borrowed the shoulders of the spearmen kneeling in front of them to stabilize their stances and fired on the still-unseen enemy.

They continued firing. They used muzzle-loaded weapons to comply with the history recreation, but they still fired as rapidly as that would allow.

Their mobile shell arms fully stopped the recoil of firing. And by providing the firing program to the mobile shell’s OS as a program…

“All gunners, synchronize your shots!”

They sent out waves of bullets with the perfectly-managed and precise movements of a machine.

Their unified gunshots rang through the night as loud as artillery fire.

And figures burst out ahead of them all.

That was the enemy.

The bullets were already flying. But the gunners did not stop. Their muzzle-loaded chambers were empty after the previous volley. The internal spring automatically ejected the previous cartridges into the air while they all loaded their next rounds.

They synced their programs again while aiming for the enemy visible past the still-flying bullets.

The rifles and the powerful bullets were both aimed toward the people who had emerged into the moonlight.

A line of silver entered their chambers.

They loaded silver bullets.

“Center line, charge! Hurry!”

The captains leading the right and left gunner groups shouted as one. An acoustic spell played a trumpet sound while they raised their voices, their eyes on the group of nearly 170 that had burst from the forest.

“They’re a nonhuman unit!!”

●

Kasuya stepped on the snowy ground.

Until now, it had felt like running across floating stones. Like she was stepping on the forest ground through the hardened stone.

But not now.

There were no trees or leaves overhead. Only the dark and cloudless sky. And the full moons.

On the ground were the partially-melted snow and summer grass starting to decline some in the late summer.

The surrounding air carried the scents of people, metal, and oil instead of the deep green.

This was a battlefield.

But her feet stood on solid ground. The surface stopping her toes was much firmer than the Azuchi’s deck, the snow, or the tree trunks.

And her sight spell showed her bright lights.

They were bullets.

There were six gunner groups on the left and right. Each group appeared to have 100 gunners firing, but that meant each chamber was launching eight bullets for an attack wave of approximately 4800 bullets. The bullets really did whiz by to the left, right, top, and bottom.

“A smart choice. They couldn’t hit us if they tried to aim at us.”

“We made that mistake earlier, dammit.”

Kousaka and more were coming up behind her.

And the rest were there too.

The beast reached the battlefield before the bullets arrived.

Directly ahead, a defense formation of a thousand charged from directly ahead.

They used their mobile shell thrusters to form a great pressure following after the bullets. Long ago, an entire formation charging in perfect synchronization would have been impossible, but Mitsunari had come up with a way at Nördlingen.

The mobile shells’ movements were controlled to move them all as a single whole.

It said a lot about Shibata that he was already making use of that method here.

“Now.”

With that, Kasuya accelerated on the very next step.

She was on the battlefield instead of in the forest, so she could now let the speed take over.

●

The charging mobile shell unit confirmed that their speed had surpassed 200km/h. All their armor was positioned in preparation for a collision and they were aware they were playing the role of the ram.

Their sight spells told them where the enemy was and how they were moving. Everything was being managed by a single program, but the overall feedback from each individual’s reactions was taken into consideration.

That showed just how well Ishida Mitsunari, who was now their enemy, had done creating the program.

Those on the front row of the 1000 saw something.

It was a dot.

They thought it must have been a wolf to begin with.

But the first step she took outside the forest, she suddenly became a dot.

They were supposedly a kilometer apart. They should have covered only half the distance. But the dot leaped as if swinging to the side while gradually approaching. There was a pause between each swing, and…

“She’s dodging the bullets!”

No, it was more than that. She was also closing in on them.

“She’s coming! Dead ahead!”

Everyone reacted to the front row’s shouted prediction.

The program responded to the general feedback by shifting the density toward the center, giving the entire group an arrowhead shape.

The program decided what they would do about the fast approaching dot.

“Break through with all 1000 of us!”

The result was immediately seen.

They saw a wolf’s hair and back ahead of them.

She had swung her entire body around for a tornado attack. And from unexpectedly close to the ground.

“La, la.”

She sang as she repeatedly accelerated through the air, leaving a chain of steam explosions in her wake.

Then both sides collided.

●

Kasuya did not feel fear.

A thousand people charged at her like a solid wall.

The arrowhead formation was made up of mobile shells.

So what was she to do? She knew what, thanks to the summer training camp.

…I hit plenty of Terrestrial Dragons with counterattacks!

She did the same here. There was just one thing to do: charge straight in, low to the ground, and strike upwards. If she solidified her body as a single axis, she could withstand the return force.

She knew what weapon to use.

She used her speed and, more than that, the Argent Clou silver crosses on her arms.

“Drill Bunker!”

She launched a drill of silver ether from each arm. She instantly pulled herself left and poured acceleration into her entire body.

“Lu, la la!”

She sang while sending a right punch into the remaining wave of people.

●

It hit. The impact lifted the first enemy from the ground, but the drill didn’t let him go there.

The pile bunker raced out, accelerating as it pushed the airborne enemy into the others behind him. But the wolf used her great strength to push on through. A few more were lifted from the ground, hitting even more behind them.

“…!”

The drill rotated. The pile bunker accelerated. It was still only partially ejected.

Then the wolf pushed her ankle out ahead. She put her hips into it. With her lower body situated, she was ready to swing her upper body. And the enemy hit even more of their own behind them.

The impact led to destruction. In a chain reaction, armor broke and ether fuel leaked but turned to spray from the force of the blow.

Light scattered. Armor fragments were illuminated as they too scattered.

Above it all, the wolf rotated her upper body.

Without any hesitation, the pile bunker reached the limit of its ejection. The drill pushed through while spinning everything around.

The wolf sang. None of them realized she was keeping the beat.

But the wolf’s arm swung in time with that beat.

She pushed on and broke a new enemy.

“La.”

She launched them up.

She kept moving.

While solidifying herself in place, she used the relative speed of the attack to strike the enemy diagonally upwards. But the center of the enemy group kept their momentum intact and poured all their movement into overcoming her attack.

“Gah!”

Like something catching on the tip of a branch and being thrown backwards, the wolf launched the center of the 1000-man group into the night sky.

In that instant, the wolf raced below the scattering group. She switched arms, bringing her right arm to bear.

“Argent Clou!”

The second blow struck the enemies coming up behind the others.

●

The Shibata Unit did not overlook the second strike splitting the 1000-man group.

They had been prepared for their vanguard to be blown away.

The first shot at the enemy came with certain risks. And…

“Well done!”

The second formation charged toward where the first formation had been blasted into the air.

Their comrades in the first formation had been defeated but not in vain. Because…

“They stopped the #8 Spear’s charge!”

No, she hadn’t actually stopped. That was true even when she crouched low to attack with her two-arm combo.

But breaking through a thousand people required a fair amount of control.

“You’re sorely mistaken if you think that doesn’t leave you vulnerable!”

The first formation had revealed the force and angle of the enemy’s impact. Their programs were not made to deal with something like this, but they could make up for that with their experience. If they let that experience guide their actions, it would provide the program with the general feedback it needed.

So for now, they passed through the gate crated by the airborne first formation.

“Got you now!”

The instant they charged in, their view suddenly opened up.

“Huh?” Their confusion wasn’t surprising. Most of their view had been obscured by the first formation’s collapse and launch, but that had suddenly gone.

What this meant soon became clear. Their sight spells told them.

A new figure had charged in on either side of the #8 Spear as she ran in and prepared to make her third attack. They were…

“Tigers!?”

No, those were people.

They had thrown out their sight spell visors to let the moonlight reflect off their eyes.

“Are they transforming nonhumans!?”

●

Kousaka and Inada commanded their people.

“Throw out your sight spells!”

There was a good reason for that.

The sight spell visors were great at detecting ether and distinguishing between moving and stationary objects, but because they were made of ether themselves, they were somewhat affected by ether currents and could even be blocked by them.

On the night of a full moon, the light reflected off the moon made of spirit stone would carry ether down from the sky. That was why moonlight energized nonhumans and increased the effectiveness of spells.

When they removed their visors below the full moons, the moonlight entered their eyes.

Then they could no longer stop the thing they had been subconsciously suppressing. That is…

“The nonhuman unit’s beast transformations!”

Their running bodies scattered an ether mist as they transformed. They took on forms based on a human skeletal structure but that displayed more animal traits.

●

The nearly 170 members of the nonhuman unit transformed as they ran.

Their running grew to a sprint as they poured onto the battlefield.

They had all been chosen for being high-speed predators like tigers, lions, black dogs, wildcats, etc.

With the wolf in the lead, the pack of dots all ran in their own ways. The wolf out front had displayed the path through the bullets, so now it was up to their effort and skill.

“How about that!?”

“We lost 5!”

They did well enough. They had already arrived at the enemy’s collapsed first formation.

That enemy was in the way.

After scattering the airborne enemy to the sides, they accelerated.

Their captain was in the center, performing her follow through after her attack. After seeing the previous two attacks, it was obvious she needed that follow through to avoid putting too great a strain on her body.

She had demonstrated her strength with this adlibbed attack.

When they had received word of her slaying more than 100 Terrestrial Dragons during her summer break training camp, they had laughed it off as a joke, but none of them thought that now.

“Good enough!”

Nonhumans lived in human society, but they never lost their respect for the strong and powerful.

She was a leader.

The black-haired Loup-Garou was part human. That wasn’t a problem.

They were all outcasts. M.H.R.R. was a Catholic nation. Thanks to the Technohexen hunt, nonhumans were generally seen as outsiders, so most of them had joined the guards, the night guard, or other enforcement roles.

Most of them were originally from Hexagone Française or Scandinavia.

They had heard the Shibata Team treated their kind well. But a nonhuman unit had been necessary for the M.H.R.R. Catholics to fight here. Shibata himself was intimidating enough from his appearance alone.

They had been taken in by Hashiba. And she had given them a role to play.

They were messengers.

They were distinct from ninjas. They would visit different lands and check them out, but they would not infiltrate as deep as a spy. They were more like the ones who gathered up the information collected by the ninjas and took it back home.

Their survival rate was much higher than the human one. Which was what made it a mission for nonhumans.

And this linked back to a certain history recreation.

The Great Return after the attack on Mouri. Someone had to visit different lands and confirm certain information and make deals there.

In the worst case, the other nations would forcibly intervene in that part of the history recreation. Because if they captured the messengers, they could restrict Hashiba’s future.

Thus, the use of nonhumans, who carried the greatest battle strength within a person-sized package.

Kousaka and Inada were both messengers related to the Honnouji Incident.

They knew Hashiba wanted to ensure the Honnouji Incident and the related history recreations went through without a hitch.

But there was a reason for them to take part in the Battle of Shizugatake along with that.

Their presence here would make sure the Honnouji Incident happened tonight.

And what happened after that?

The Battles of Yamazaki, Shizugatake, Komaki Nagakute, and Sekigahara, as well as the Osaka Campaign. The conflict between Hashiba and Matsudaira would continue, but…

“The Genesis Project.”

“To end it but not to let it end.”

“So at what point will they not need us anymore?”

Most nonhuman species respected strength.

They had been given a place to live and a role. That seemed like enough, but at the same time…

“There’s more we can do!”

So they would do that here.

They all emerged into the ether moonlight with their visors removed. They pursued their strongest leader. She was still young. But if she could race out ahead of them, that was reason enough to respect her. They would all show off their strength, but this was something none of them could do.

So they passed by her on either side to…

“Protect her!”

They opened defense barriers as they ran to block the gunfire the enemy was launching from either side, not worrying about the possibility of friendly fire. These human spells were honestly the best way to stop silver bullets.

But as the bullets shattered the ether shields and were shattered by the shields, a thought occurred to the nonhumans.

“Humans are so stupid.”

“They should have known we’d fight back if they gave us shields like this.”

They really were stupid. They rarely considered the possibility of being betrayed. But…

“These are perfect for protecting our leader!”

The group that had moved ahead formed a wall on the left and right. All while they ran. Beasts had no time to stop and wait.

The rest ran through the center. All at once. They ran toward…

“The second formation! We can officially blow off some steam against these humans! Don’t hold back!”

Their leader had attacked first. Now it was their turn.

“We’ll clear the way!”

They weren’t as strong as their leader, but they could hit hard and, more importantly, they had numbers. Plus, nonhumans had something simple animals did not.

“We know how humans fight, what weapons they use, how they view nonhumans, and what tactics they use. We know it all from the other end!”

They roared and clashed head on with the enemy.

●

“Hurry!” shouted Kasuya as she threw her body into an immediate run after completing her follow through.

She was worried about the group running along on the sides with defense barriers open. They were protecting the group as a whole, but having their arms occupied was inconvenient when running.

They needed to hurry. Because…

“Look in the sky!”

A pillar of light rose into the sky near the twin circles of the full moons.

It was southeast of here, near Lake Biwa Azuchi.

Light was passing through that sky. It was thin and still, but it extended far into the sky, its tip vanishing out of sight. It was all colored the bluish-white of ether light.

But its position was a problem. Because below that light…

“Honnouji is opening!?”

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