The battlefield had fallen into despair.
Smoke drifted across the blood-soaked valley.
Broken banners littered the ground.
Thousands of Qin soldiers fought not to win...
...but simply to survive.
At the center of it all, the legendary Great General of Qin stood drenched in blood.
Ouki.
His body swayed atop his warhorse.
The wound driven into his chest by Houken had stolen much of his strength, yet his eyes had not lost their brilliance.
Across from him, Houken lowered his glaive once more.
His expression remained devoid of emotion.
"You still stand..."
Ouki laughed.
"Kokokoko..."
"So this is the Bushin who has wandered these lands seeking an answer."
He slowly raised his glaive.
"Come then."
"Let us continue."
BOOOM!!
Steel collided once more.
The shockwave forced nearby soldiers from both armies onto their knees.
"General Ouki!!"
"Tou-sama!!"
No one could approach.
The duel between monsters swallowed everyone who came near.
Several meters away...
A Zhao signal officer suddenly frowned.
"...Hm?"
The earth beneath his horse trembled.
At first, it was faint.
Then...
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
His eyes widened.
"...Horse hooves?"
He turned toward the northern hills.
Dust.
An impossible amount of dust.
"W-What is that...?"
The dust cloud grew larger.
Larger.
Larger still.
Until countless banners emerged from within.
The officer's face lost all color.
"...Impossible..."
The symbol embroidered upon those banners...
He had never expected to see it.
HYOU
HYOU
HYOU
His scream tore through the battlefield.
"THE REAR!!"
"THE REAR HAS BEEN BREACHED!!"
"AN ENEMY ARMY HAS APPEARED!!"
Every Zhao commander instinctively turned.
"What?"
"Where?!"
Then they saw them.
A sea of crimson surged over the ridge.
Not five thousand.
Not ten thousand.
An entire army.
Seventy-five thousand soldiers descended like a collapsing mountain.
At their front...
A lone rider.
His crimson cloak snapped violently in the wind.
One hand rested calmly upon the hilt of his sword.
His expression remained terrifyingly composed.
Hyou Ren.
He looked upon Riboku's perfect encirclement only once.
"So, this is the cage Zhao made."
His golden eyes narrowed.
"Then let us shatter it."
He slowly raised his sword.
No grand speech.
No dramatic declaration.
Only one word.
"Advance."
For a heartbeat...
The world stood still.
Then…
"CHAAAAAAAAARGE!!"
Seventy-five thousand throats roared as one.
The valley itself seemed to shake.
The Hyou Army exploded forward.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!
The Zhao rear line collapsed almost instantly.
Spears shattered.
Shields splintered.
Entire formations disappeared beneath the charging cavalry before they could even lower their weapons.
"W-WE CAN'T STOP THEM!!"
"They're too fast!"
"They've broken through!"
The Qin banners carved a crimson path straight through Zhao's rear guard.
Inside the Zhao headquarters...
An officer burst into the command tent.
"RIBOKU-SAMA!!"
"The rear!"
"Our rear has fallen!"
Another officer rushed in moments later.
"An unknown Qin army numbering over seventy thousand has struck from behind!"
Only then did Riboku slowly lift his eyes.
"...Unknown?"
The scout swallowed.
"...Their banners bear the name Hyou."
Silence filled the tent.
Kaine's expression changed.
"...Hyou Ren?"
Riboku remained calm.
"So..."
"...he has finally arrived."
There was neither panic nor anger.
Only quiet admiration.
"I underestimated his speed."
He stepped outside the headquarters.
From atop the hill, he watched the Hyou Army tear apart the rear of his carefully crafted encirclement.
Dust and screams filled the horizon.
"...Magnificent."
For the first time that day...
The flawless formation devised by Zhao's greatest strategist had begun to crack.
Elsewhere...
Tou's eyes widened.
"...The rear..."
One glance was enough.
He recognized those banners instantly.
A faint smile appeared beneath his mustache.
"Hyou Ren..."
"You truly came."
The confusion spreading through the Zhao ranks created something priceless.
A single opening.
"Tou Army!"
His voice echoed across the battlefield.
"Break through!"
"YES SIR!!"
The elite officers of the Tou Army surged forward.
Rokuomi laughed wildly.
"Hahaha! Finally!"
Kanou lowered his glaive.
"Protect General Ouki!"
The Tou Army crashed into the distracted Zhao soldiers like a sharpened blade.
Houken noticed it immediately.
His gaze shifted toward the collapsing rear.
The slightest hesitation.
Just one heartbeat.
That was enough.
"Tou!"
Without looking back, Ouki called his lieutenant's name.
"I understand."
Tou answered before the words had fully left Ouki's mouth.
His horse exploded forward.
CLANG!!
Tou's sword intercepted Houken's descending glaive.
The impact split the earth beneath them.
Houken's emotionless eyes shifted toward the newcomer.
Tou calmly met his gaze.
"...Your opponent is me not General Ouki."
For the first time...
Houken frowned.
"Tou-sama!!"
The Tou Army flooded between the two monsters.
Wave after wave of elite Qin soldiers threw themselves at Houken.
Not to defeat him.
Only to delay him.
"General Ouki!"
A young voice echoed from behind.
Shin.
He forced his horse through the chaos until he reached Ouki's side.
The moment he saw the wound...
His face froze.
"...General..."
Blood continued to pour from Ouki's chest.
Yet Ouki simply smiled.
"Kokokoko..."
"You wear quite the face."
Shin clenched his teeth.
"We have to get you out of here!"
Ouki looked toward his faithful warhorse.
Then back at Shin.
"...Boy."
Shin looked up.
"My body can no longer guide this old companion."
Ouki slowly loosened the reins.
"You will."
Shin's eyes widened.
"...Me?"
"Take the reins."
"But—"
"That..."
Ouki smiled.
"...is an order."
Shin's hands trembled.
"...Yes!"
He climbed onto the horse behind Ouki, grabbing the bloodstained reins with shaking hands.
The horse snorted.
Almost as if recognizing its new guide.
"Let's go!"
The mighty warhorse charged toward the opening created by the Tou Army.
Far away...
Moubu had just crushed another Zhao formation beneath his mace when a messenger reached him.
"GENERAL MOUBU!!"
Moubu turned.
"What."
"...General Ouki..."
"He has been gravely wounded!"
Silence.
The battlefield itself seemed to stop.
"...Say that again."
The messenger fell to his knees.
"...General Ouki is wounded..."
For a moment...
No one moved.
Then Moubu slowly looked toward the distant battlefield where Ouki's banner struggled to remain standing.
His enormous hand tightened around his mace.
The wooden shaft groaned.
Veins bulged across his arms.
His breathing became heavier.
Around him, every Qin soldier instinctively stepped backward.
They had seen Moubu angry.
They had seen him enraged.
But this...
...was something else.
"...Move."
His voice was barely above a whisper.
The soldiers before him froze.
"I said..."
He lowered his body.
Muscles coiled like a beast preparing to pounce.
"MOVE!!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
Moubu's horse erupted forward.
Everything before him ceased to exist.
Men.
Spears.
Shields.
Horses.
Entire Zhao formations were blasted apart by his charge.
One officer screamed,
"STOP HIM!!"
Another shouted,
"IT'S MOUBU!!"
"HE'S GONE MAD!!"
"He isn't breaking through..."
A Zhao commander stared in horror as thousands of soldiers were swept aside like dry leaves.
"...He's bulldozing the entire battlefield."
Like an avalanche unleashed from the heavens, Moubu carved a road of blood directly toward Ouki.
Behind him, forty thousand Qin soldiers raised their weapons.
"FOLLOW THE GENERAL!!"
"BREAK THE ENCIRCLEMENT!!"
The earth shook beneath their charge.
For the first time since Riboku's trap had closed...
The Qin army was no longer fighting to survive.
It was fighting to bring its Great General home.
And from atop a distant ridge...
Hyou Ren watched the unstoppable advance of Moubu with narrowed eyes.
"...Good."
He slowly raised his sword once more.
"All armies."
"Drive deeper."
"We will rip this cage apart."
Seventy-five thousand Hyou soldiers answered with a thunderous roar.
"OOOHHHHHHHHHH!!"
Across the battlefield, Zhao's once-perfect encirclement began to collapse from both front and rear.
And standing atop the hill, Riboku quietly watched as the battle slipped beyond even his calculations.
For the first time...
The strategist smiled.
"...Qin."
"...it is truly are a remarkable nation."