The crimson sun disappeared beyond the western horizon.
As darkness settled over the battlefield, the sounds of clashing steel were replaced by cheers, laughter, and the crackling of campfires stretching across the Qin encampment.
The first day of battle had come to an end.
Messengers rode throughout the camps, delivering reports from every front.
Inside the Hyou Ren Army headquarters...
A scout knelt before Hyou Ren.
"Report!"
"General Rinbunkun of Chu has fallen in battle. He was slain by General Tou."
Silence filled the tent.
Ri Yue smiled faintly.
"So even one of Chu's famed commanders has been claimed."
Hyou Ren slowly nodded.
"Then Chu has lost one of the pillars supporting Kanmei."
He looked toward the battlefield outside.
"The coalition has tasted its first true defeat."
Elsewhere...
The Hi Shin Unit had finally returned after an exhausting day of fighting.
Shin had just retired to his tent with Kyou Kai and Karyo Ten to enjoy a rare moment of peace after the brutal battle…
Shin lay back on the furs inside the tent, his cock already hard and throbbing as Kyoukai straddled his hips.
She gripped his shaft, lined it up with her wet pussy, and sank down in one smooth motion. Her walls clenched around him, hot and tight, taking every inch until her ass rested on his thighs.
Karyo Ten knelt beside them, her mouth finding Shin's. She kissed him deep, tongue sliding against his while her hand cupped Kyoukai's breast, thumb rubbing the stiff nipple.
Kyoukai moaned into the air and started riding, lifting and dropping her hips in steady strokes that made wet sounds fill the tent.
Karyo Ten broke the kiss and moved lower. She licked along Shin's neck, then down to where his cock disappeared inside Kyoukai. Her tongue flicked over Kyoukai's clit with each downward thrust, tasting both of them.
Kyoukai gasped and rode faster, her pussy squeezing Shin's cock harder.
Shin reached up and grabbed Karyo Ten's ass, pulling her closer. She swung a leg over his face and lowered her dripping pussy onto his mouth. He licked her folds, sucked her clit, and pushed his tongue inside while Kyoukai kept bouncing on his cock.
Karyo Ten leaned forward and kissed Kyoukai hard. Their tongues met above Shin's body as Kyoukai's hips rolled and Karyo Ten ground against his face.
Shin thrust up into Kyoukai, meeting every drop of her hips with a deep stroke that made her cry out.
Karyo Ten pulled back just enough to speak. "Fuck her harder," she said, voice rough.
She reached down and rubbed Kyoukai's clit while Shin drove upward.
Kyoukai's thighs shook. Her pussy fluttered around his cock, then clenched tight as she came, juices coating his shaft and dripping down onto his balls.
Shin kept thrusting through her orgasm. Karyo Ten climbed off his face and moved behind Kyoukai. She pressed two fingers into Kyoukai's ass, working them in and out while Shin's cock filled her pussy. Kyoukai moaned louder, caught between the two sensations.
Shin sat up, still buried inside Kyoukai. He flipped her onto her back without pulling out and started pounding her deep.
Karyo Ten straddled Kyoukai's face, lowering her pussy onto the other woman's mouth. Kyoukai licked and sucked while Shin fucked her, his cock driving in and out with wet slaps.
Karyo Ten leaned down and took one of Kyoukai's nipples into her mouth, sucking hard. Shin reached between them and rubbed Karyo Ten's clit. All three moved together, bodies slick with sweat, the tent filled with the sounds of fucking and moaning.
Shin pulled out of Kyoukai and guided his cock into Karyo Ten from behind. He thrust into her while she stayed on Kyoukai's face.
Kyoukai licked both of them where they joined, tongue sliding over Shin's cock and Karyo Ten's clit. Karyo Ten came first, her pussy pulsing around Shin's shaft. He kept fucking her through it until he pulled out, stroked his cock twice, and shot thick ropes of cum across Karyo Ten's ass and Kyoukai's stomach.
Karyo Ten rolled off Kyoukai. Shin lay between them, breathing hard. Kyoukai turned and licked the cum from Karyo Ten's skin, then kissed Shin so he could taste it on her tongue. Karyo Ten's hand found his softening cock and stroked it slowly, already coaxing it back to hardness for another round.
They were enjoying the moment when suddenly…
"OI! SHIN!"
A familiar booming voice echoed through the camp.
"Duke Hyou wants you!"
Shin let out an exhausted groan.
"Seriously...? Tell the Duke I'll be there in a little while!"
The messenger laughed.
"I'll tell him."
Not long afterward...
Shin made his way toward Duke Hyou's enormous campfire.
Several large jars of liquor surrounded the old Great General.
Already seated were Hyou Ren and Ri Yue.
Duke Hyou waved him over.
"You're late!"
Shin scratched the back of his head.
"I came as fast as I could."
"Hahaha! Sit!"
Without another word, Duke Hyou tossed Shin a massive wooden cup.
"The night after victory..."
"...is for drowning yourself in the wine of victory."
"That..."
"...is what it means to be a man of the battlefield!"
The veterans around the fire roared in agreement.
Shin sighed as he accepted the cup.
"Heh... I was already drowning in something else before getting interrupted."
Karyo Ten rolled her eyes while Kyou Kai quietly looked away, pretending not to hear.
Duke Hyou barked with laughter.
"Less talking!"
"Drink!"
Shin shrugged.
"Alright!"
He took a huge gulp.
The moment the liquor reached his throat…
"GHHK!"
His eyes nearly popped out.
"What is THIS?!"
"It burns!!"
He immediately burst into a fit of coughing.
"COUGH!COUGH!"
Everyone around the fire erupted into laughter.
Even Ri Yue chuckled.
Hyou Ren raised his own cup.
"Our liquor is quite remarkable, is it not?"
"It was once strong enough to make even Great General Ou Ki blink in astonishment."
Shin stared at the cup in disbelief.
"How is this even considered a drink?!"
Ri Yue calmly sipped hers without the slightest change in expression.
"It becomes easier after the tenth cup."
"The tenth?!"
The laughter gradually died down.
The fire crackled quietly beneath the night sky.
Duke Hyou's cheerful expression slowly became serious.
He gazed into the dancing flames.
"Warfare..."
"...is a living thing."
Everyone became silent.
"It is impossible to tell anything until the battle begins."
"The plans."
"The formations."
"The numbers."
"They are only kindling."
He pointed toward the fire.
"There is only one thing of importance."
"Whether or not..."
"...the firestarter can arrive at the place where a fire can truly be ignited."
His sharp eyes turned toward Shin.
"When that happens..."
"The battlefield awakens."
"And everything changes."
Shin quietly absorbed every word.
Hyou Ren nodded in agreement.
"That is why battles between Great Generals are never decided solely by strategy."
"They are decided by those capable of creating that decisive spark."
He looked directly at Shin.
"Shin."
"You possess the qualities of a man who can ignite such fires."
"But potential alone is not enough."
"You must continue evolving through great wars."
"Only by standing amidst countless battlefields..."
"...can new power rise from within you."
Ri Yue added calmly,
"The old era is reaching its twilight."
"If Qin is to unite China..."
"...new stars must rise."
Shin tightened his grip on the wooden cup.
He remembered every battlefield.
Every comrade who had fallen.
Every impossible victory.
Then, with unwavering determination, he looked at the three veterans before him.
"I don't know about becoming some firestarter..."
"But I'll keep fighting."
"I'll become a Great General under the Heavens."
"No matter how many wars it takes."
For a brief moment, Duke Hyou grinned.
There was something in Shin's eyes that reminded him of another man from long ago.
A man who had once carried the same unrelenting fire.
Duke Hyou raised his cup high.
"Then drink!"
The laughter around the campfire echoed into the night as the victorious Qin armies rested.