As dawn gave way to noon, the fighting intensified across every battlefield surrounding Kankoku Pass.
On the Zhao front, Hyou Ren's calculated offensive had already begun to pressure Keisha's army.
On the Wei front, Gouhoumei continued his relentless siege against the defenders atop the pass.
At the Yan front, Ordo's mountain warriors clashed fiercely against Ou Sen's disciplined formations.
But among all the battlefields...
One confrontation had captured the attention of every commander.
The clash between the two strongest men in China.
Mou Bu.
Kan Mei.
Both armies stood facing one another across the vast plains.
Neither side moved.
The air itself felt unbearably heavy, as though the heavens were waiting for the first strike.
Within the Qin formation, tens of thousands of soldiers stood silently behind the towering figure of their commander.
Mounted upon his warhorse, Mou Bu slowly closed his eyes.
The wind swept across the battlefield, causing his cloak to flutter.
Then...
He inhaled deeply.
His enormous chest expanded as though he intended to draw in the very air of heaven and earth.
Every soldier instinctively turned toward him.
The battlefield fell completely silent.
Even the Chu soldiers unconsciously stopped speaking.
Then...
Mou Bu opened his eyes.
His terrifying gaze pierced through the battlefield until it settled upon the distant Chu headquarters.
Although separated by thousands of soldiers...
There was only one man he was looking at.
Kan Mei.
His voice exploded across the plains like thunder.
"I..."
"...am Mou Bu."
The declaration echoed across the battlefield.
No title.
No introduction.
Only a name.
Yet that single name carried enough weight to silence over a hundred thousand men.
His aura surged outward.
"I am..."
"...the strongest man in all of China!"
The Qin soldiers felt goosebumps spread throughout their bodies.
Many had heard those words countless times.
Yet every single time Mou Bu declared them...
No one could doubt their truth.
He slowly lifted his colossal mace before pointing it directly toward Kan Mei's headquarters.
His killing intent became almost tangible.
"There is no one beneath these heavens..."
"...capable of stopping me."
His voice grew even louder.
"O Chu Commander..."
"KAN MEI!!"
The entire battlefield trembled.
Mou Bu's eyes burned with absolute confidence.
"I..."
"...Mou Bu..."
"...will personally smash your head into a pulp!"
His words were not a challenge.
Nor were they a boast.
They were simply...
A statement of fact.
He raised his mace high into the sky.
"The army led by the strongest man beneath heaven..."
"...is also the strongest army beneath heaven!"
Every Qin soldier gripped their weapons tighter.
Their breathing became heavier.
Blood boiled throughout the army.
Then Mou Bu roared with every ounce of strength in his body.
"THE MOU BU ARMY..."
"...IS INVINCIBLE!!"
For one brief instant...
The battlefield remained completely silent.
Then…
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
An earth-shattering roar erupted from the Qin ranks.
The soldiers pounded their weapons against their shields.
Spears struck the ground.
Horsemen raised their halberds.
Thousands upon thousands of voices merged into one.
"INVINCIBLE!!"
"INVINCIBLE!!"
"INVINCIBLE!!"
The morale of the Mou Bu Army exploded like a volcano.
Even veteran officers who had fought alongside Mou Bu for years found themselves grinning.
One officer laughed loudly.
"Who needs strategy when our commander stands at the front!"
Another slammed his spear against the ground.
"Today, we'll crush Chu!"
Behind them, the cavalry repeatedly shouted Mou Bu's name.
"MOU BU!"
"MOU BU!"
"MOU BU!"
The atmosphere became so overwhelming that even neighboring Qin armies could hear their cries.
At the Chu Headquarters
The thunderous cheers reached the Chu command tent.
General Beiman calmly watched the advancing Qin soldiers.
"They've completely seized the momentum."
He folded his arms.
"After hearing that speech..."
"Our soldiers will struggle to halt their advance for some time."
Beside him stood the strategist Ji Nou.
His sharp eyes carefully observed the Qin formation.
"What exactly does Mou Bu hope to accomplish?"
"He cannot seriously believe morale alone can break through our entire army."
General Goumasho narrowed his eyes.
"No..."
"It isn't the speech that concerns me."
He stared toward the advancing Qin formations.
"The speech was merely the spark."
"The real attack begins now."
The three men instinctively turned toward Kan Mei.
The Chu commander stood silently with both arms crossed.
His massive frame resembled an immovable mountain.
A grin slowly spread across his face.
"So..."
"That fool has finally decided to stop talking."
His eyes gleamed with excitement.
"Come then, Mou Bu."
The drums of Qin thundered across the battlefield.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Mou Bu lowered his mace.
His command was simple.
"Advance."
The Mou Bu Army surged forward.
However...
They did not charge in one solid line.
Instead...
Their assault force divided into multiple staggered formations.
Each unit advanced slightly behind another, creating a diagonal wave stretching across the battlefield.
Ji Nou immediately noticed the unusual arrangement.
"...An echelon?"
Beiman narrowed his eyes.
"So that's his opening move."
The distance rapidly disappeared.
Three hundred paces.
Two hundred.
One hundred.
"BRACE!!"
The first Qin assault slammed into the Chu frontline.
BOOOOOOOOM!!
The collision shook the battlefield.
Rows of Chu infantry staggered backward.
But something unusual happened.
The impact didn't simply stop where the collision occurred.
Instead...
The force traveled diagonally through the Chu formation.
The soldiers directly struck stumbled backward three full steps.
The men standing beside them were shoved two steps sideways.
Further down the line, others instinctively shifted four steps to maintain formation.
Like ripples spreading across a lake...
The movement passed from soldier to soldier.
Entire sections of the Chu line shifted ever so slightly.
Individually...
The movements were insignificant.
A single misplaced step.
A shield raised a heartbeat too late.
A spear no longer aligned with the man beside it.
Yet across thousands of soldiers...
Those tiny movements accumulated into something far greater.
Small openings appeared.
Shield walls became uneven.
Spearmen lost their spacing.
Cohesion...
Began to disappear.
Ji Nou's eyes widened.
"So that's it..."
"They're transmitting disorder through our ranks."
Before the Chu soldiers could restore formation…
The second echelon arrived.
BOOOOOOM!!
Another tremendous impact.
Again the shockwave spread diagonally.
Again the formation shifted.
Again the gaps widened.
Officers desperately shouted.
"Close ranks!"
"Restore formation!"
"Hold the line!"
But before the soldiers could react…
The third echelon struck.
BOOOOOOOM!!
Wave after wave.
Impact after impact.
Each collision amplified the disruption caused by the previous one.
The Chu frontline slowly lost the discipline that had made it so formidable.
Goumasho clenched his fist.
"An incredibly simple tactic..."
"...yet terrifyingly effective."
Beiman nodded.
"Every time we stabilize..."
"...another wave arrives."
Ji Nou continued watching.
"The enemy isn't trying to destroy us with one overwhelming blow."
"They're gradually unraveling our formation."
"And once our cohesion completely collapses..."
"Mou Bu himself will strike."
Almost as if answering those words…
Mou Bu burst through the center of the battlefield.
His horse charged directly into the thickest concentration of Chu soldiers.
He swung his massive mace once.
CRAAAAASH!!
The impact shattered shields.
Armor crumpled like paper.
Men were launched through the air as though struck by a siege ram.
No technique.
No elegance.
Only overwhelming power.
Every swing carved a bloody path through the battlefield.
The Chu soldiers stared at him in horror.
"...Monster..."
The Second Chu Army Moves
While Mou Bu shattered the Chu frontline...
Another battlefield erupted into motion.
General Tou calmly watched the opposing Chu Second Army.
His expression remained composed.
"They're finally moving."
Standing beside him, Rokuomi grinned.
"Took them long enough."
Kanou tightened his grip around his glaive.
"I've been waiting for this."
Across the battlefield...
A thunderous rumble echoed across the plains.
A massive wall of dust suddenly rose into the sky.
Within it...
Rows of Chu war chariots emerged.
Their wheels pounded against the earth.
"HYAAAAAAAH!!"
The charioteers cracked their whips.
The dust cloud continued growing larger and larger.
Kanou frowned.
"...Strange."
Rokuomi also narrowed his eyes.
"There aren't enough chariots to produce that much dust."
Kanou nodded.
"They're hiding something."
Tou quietly observed the battlefield.
His sharp eyes remained fixed upon the expanding dust cloud.
He simply said…
"Meet them."
Rokuomi laughed.
"As you command!"
The Rokuomi Army charged.
Beside them, the Kanou Army advanced shoulder to shoulder.
The two armies thundered toward the approaching chariots.
The distance rapidly closed.
Five hundred paces.
Three hundred.
One hundred.
Then…
The impossible happened.
The Chu chariots suddenly turned sharply to the left.
"What?!"
Rokuomi's eyes widened.
The wall of dust continued charging forward even after the chariots had cleared away.
For a brief moment...
Nothing could be seen.
Then...
THOOM!!
The earth shook.
Another step.
THOOM!!
Then another.
THOOOOOM!!
Massive shadows slowly emerged from the dust.
The Qin horses immediately began panicking.
Some refused to move.
Others reared onto their hind legs.
Veteran cavalrymen struggled desperately to control them.
The dust finally cleared.
Dozens of enormous beasts burst onto the battlefield.
Each stood several times taller than a warhorse.
Their thick gray hides were covered in heavy armor.
Gigantic ivory tusks gleamed beneath the sunlight, reinforced with sharpened steel blades.
Towering wooden platforms sat upon their backs, carrying Chu soldiers armed with bows and long spears.
Every step they took caused the ground to tremble.
The front ranks of Qin froze in complete disbelief.
Many had never seen such creatures.
Some thought they were demons.
Others believed mountains themselves had come alive.
The beasts let out deafening trumpeting cries before charging straight toward the Qin lines.
THOOOOOOOOOM!!
The earth shook violently.
Rokuomi's confident grin completely disappeared.
His eyes widened in utter disbelief.
"...What..."
He stared at the gigantic monsters bearing down upon his army.
"...What the hell are these beasts?!"
The armored elephants lowered their tusks…
And crashed toward the stunned Qin soldiers.