The battlefield outside Kanyou had become a sea of steel and blood.
Smoke drifted across the plains as thousands of soldiers continued to struggle for every inch of ground. Broken spears and shattered banners littered the earth, while the cries of the wounded blended with the deafening roar of battle.
The State of Ai had committed nearly every capable soldier it possessed to this rebellion.
For them, there could be no retreat.
Only victory...
Or death.
At the center of the battlefield, the Hi Shin Unit pressed relentlessly against the heart of General Shoukaku's army.
"Push forward!"
"Break their formation!"
The Qin infantry advanced behind walls of shields while archers rained arrows over their heads.
Every step forward was paid for in blood, yet the momentum of the Hi Shin Unit refused to slow.
General Shoukaku stood atop a small rise overlooking the battlefield, surrounded by hundreds of elite guards clad in black armor.
His face twisted with anger as another messenger stumbled toward him.
"General! Our right wing has collapsed!"
"What?"
"The Hi Shin Unit has broken through again! Their commander Kyoukai is cutting straight toward headquarters!"
Shoukaku slammed the shaft of his glaive into the ground.
"Idiots!"
"I told those fools to surround her! Why does no one stop that woman?"
Before the messenger could answer…
A scream erupted from the front lines.
"She's here!"
"Kyoukai has broken through!"
Panic spread through the headquarters like wildfire.
Far ahead of the Qin army...
One figure danced through the battlefield.
Kyoukai.
Her breathing remained calm.
Every movement flowed as naturally as water.
Every swing of her sword claimed another life.
An Ai officer rushed toward her with a roar.
"DIE!"
His spear thrust forward.
Kyoukai tilted her body ever so slightly.
The spear grazed empty air.
Before the officer even realized he had missed…
Slash.
His head tumbled from his shoulders.
Without slowing her pace, Kyoukai stepped between two charging cavalrymen.
One slash.
Another.
Both riders collapsed from their horses before their bodies struck the ground.
Wherever she walked...
Soldiers fell.
The elite guards surrounding Shoukaku began to hesitate.
"Monster..."
"She isn't human..."
"No one can stop her!"
Their morale, already shaken by the collapse of the center, crumbled before the silent assassin advancing toward them.
Back at the Hi Shin Unit mobile headquarters, Karyo Ten stood upon her horse, her eyes never leaving the battlefield.
Her her bow in hand.
Maps and reports were unnecessary now.
Everything she needed to know lay before her.
She watched Kyoukai's advance carefully.
"...Twenty more paces."
One of her officers looked confused.
"My lady?"
Karyo Ten smiled faintly.
"The enemy headquarters is about to fall."
Almost as if answering her prediction…
"The enemy headquarters is wavering!"
"Their guards are collapsing!"
The officer's eyes widened.
"You knew?"
Karyo Ten nodded.
"Kyoukai never attacks until she's already won."
She raised her hand.
"Signal the center!"
"Advance another three hundred paces!"
"The moment their headquarters collapses..."
"...the entire Shoukaku Army will lose its backbone."
Trumpets sounded throughout the Hi Shin Unit.
The formation immediately surged forward.
Within the Ai headquarters, Shoukaku clenched his glaive tightly.
"So..."
"You've finally come."
His guards stepped forward.
"Protect the General!"
Nearly five hundred elite soldiers formed a living wall before their commander.
Kyoukai finally stopped.
She quietly observed the formation.
Five hundred soldiers.
Ordinarily, such a force would have been enough to halt almost any general on the battlefield.
But today...
They stood before one of Qin's deadliest warriors.
She slowly raised her sword.
Her eyes became completely still.
The surrounding soldiers instinctively took a step backward.
One guard whispered,
"What... is this pressure?"
Another gripped his spear so tightly his hands began to shake.
"I can't breathe..."
Without warning…
Kyoukai disappeared.
"No!"
A gust of wind swept through the formation.
Bodies fell.
One.
Three.
Seven.
Ten.
The elite guards were cut down before they even saw her blade.
She moved like a ghost between them, striking only once before appearing somewhere else entirely.
Every strike was fatal.
Every movement precise.
The wall protecting Shoukaku rapidly dissolved.
"Impossible!"
Shoukaku roared as he swung his massive glaive.
The heavy weapon crashed into the ground with tremendous force.
The earth exploded upward.
But Kyoukai had already vanished.
Behind him.
Shoukaku's eyes widened.
"When!?"
A silver flash.
SHING!
For a brief moment...
Nothing happened.
Then a thin crimson line appeared across Shoukaku's neck.
His glaive slipped from his hands.
His body slowly collapsed from horseback.
His severed head spun high into the air before crashing upon the blood-soaked earth.
Silence.
Only for a heartbeat.
Then….
"General Shoukaku has fallen!"
"General Shoukaku has been slain!!"
The cry echoed across the battlefield.
Every Ai soldier who heard it froze.
Their commander...
Was dead.
The effect was immediate.
Entire formations halted.
Officers shouted conflicting orders.
Some demanded a retreat.
Others ordered an advance.
No one listened.
The chain of command had completely collapsed.
The once disciplined Shoukaku Army rapidly descended into utter confusion.
Karyo Ten watched the chaos unfold.
"...Now."
She raised her hand once more.
"The enemy center has collapsed!"
"Advance all companies!"
"Do not allow them time to reorganize!"
The Hi Shin Unit answered with a thunderous roar.
"OOOOOOOOHHHHHH!!"
Thousands of Qin soldiers charged into the disordered enemy ranks.
What had moments before been a fierce struggle quickly became a rout.
Amid the retreating Ai soldiers, several surviving officers desperately attempted to restore order.
"Hold your positions!"
"The General may be dead, but the battle isn't over!"
"We still outnumber"
Thwip!
An arrow pierced the officer's throat.
He collapsed without finishing his sentence.
Another officer pointed toward the Qin army.
"Regroup around me"
Thwip!
A second arrow struck him directly through the eye.
Panic spread even faster.
Mounted behind the advancing infantry, Karyo Ten calmly lowered her bow before drawing another arrow.
Unlike many strategists who commanded from distant headquarters, she rode alongside the Hi Shin Unit, directing the battle while personally supporting her soldiers.
Her sharp eyes scanned the battlefield.
Every officer attempting to restore order became her target.
Thwip!
Another captain fell.
Thwip!
A cavalry commander was thrown from his horse.
Thwip!
A standard bearer collapsed, sending his banner crashing into the mud.
One of the Hi Shin officers stared in amazement.
"My lady..."
"You've completely broken their command."
Karyo Ten gave a small nod.
"An army without officers is already defeated."
"Keep advancing."
"Leave none of Shoukaku's forces the opportunity to regroup."
The Qin soldiers roared their acknowledgement.
Within less than an hour, what had once been the mighty Shoukaku Army had ceased to exist as an organized fighting force.
Some soldiers fled.
Others threw down their weapons and surrendered.
The remainder fought desperately in isolated pockets before being overwhelmed one by one.
Standing upon a small hill overlooking the battlefield, Kyoukai wiped the blood from her sword before returning it to its sheath.
"The center is ours."
Karyo Ten rode up beside her.
"That leaves only Duke Juuko."
Kyoukai turned toward the western horizon.
Beyond the smoke and dust, another massive army could be seen.
Unlike Shoukaku's shattered force, Duke Juuko's soldiers still fought with discipline, holding back repeated assaults from the Qin right wing.
"They're still intact."
"They'll become the backbone of the rebellion if we leave them alone," Karyo Ten said.
She unfolded her map briefly before looking toward the distant battlefield.
"We'll reposition immediately."
"The Hi Shin Unit will strike Duke Juuko's while the rest of Qin keeps him occupied."
The officers quickly acknowledged the order.
"Move!"
"Reform the columns!"
"Forward!"
Thousands of soldiers began marching toward their new objective.
Dust rose once again over the battlefield.
Neither Karyo Ten nor Kyoukai noticed that, far beyond the horizon...
A new cloud of dust was rising.
Far larger.
Far denser.
The ground itself began to tremble beneath countless marching feet.
At first, only a few veterans noticed.
One Qin soldier paused.
"...Do you feel that?"
Another frowned.
"The earth..."
"It's shaking."
An Ai cavalryman looked into the distance.
"What is that?"
Slowly...
A dark line appeared upon the horizon.
Growing larger with every passing heartbeat.
Then…
A deep war horn echoed across the plains.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
Every soldier, Qin and Ai alike, instinctively turned toward the sound.
The battlefield fell strangely quiet.
Another horn answered the first.
Then another.
The mighty calls rolled across the fields like thunder, carrying with them the unmistakable sound of an army on the march.
From beyond the horizon, thousands of crimson black banners began to emerge through the dust.
At their forefront rode a lone commander beneath the banner of the Duke of Northeast.
One veteran of Qin dropped to his knees in disbelief.
"...That banner..."
"It can't be..."
Another soldier's face lit up with hope.
"They've come..."
The wind swept aside the dust, revealing an endless sea of armored soldiers advancing in perfect formation.
Fifty thousand men.
Fresh.
Disciplined.
Ready for battle.
And at their head...
Duke Hyou Ren.
His gaze remained fixed upon the battlefield before Kanyou.
Without uttering a single word, he slowly drew his sword and pointed it toward the enemy.
The decisive battle for Qin...
Was about to enter its final stage.