The general was dead. Flesh and blood flew. The corpse fell and was quickly buried by the blood mist and wind-blown dust.
This shocking scene plunged the previously fierce Echigo army into dead silence.
The surviving soldiers at the front stared blankly at the demon warrior standing in the open ground. His crimson demon mask, under the night, seed like a true nightmare.
They were not afraid of death.
As elites of the Uesugi clan, many among them were of the samurai class. Raised with such teachings, they possessed the resolve to sacrifice themselves for 'righteousness.'
But facing a monster who could single-handedly break through a thousand-man army, slay their general with one stroke, and erge completely unscathed, that primal fear overwheld their military discipline.
They knew well how powerful their general was.
She had reached the limit of human physical ability, capable of slaying demons!
And now, she was dead.
Cut down from her horse with one strike.
One strike, beheaded.
"Withdraw… retreat!" Soone shouted first.
With the command core lost, the remaining force of fewer than a thousand began to waver.
The rear cavalry turned their horses. The infantry began to slowly fall back, keeping a wary eye on that motionless figure.
Shinji did not pursue.
He just stood there, letting the blood mist slowly retract into his body, letting the bone spurs withdraw beneath his skin.
Killing all thousand would consu enormous demonic aura and ti, and it would be aningless
What he wanted was deterrence.
Now that the general had been slain, news of this would quickly reach Echigo.
That was enough.
As the sound of hooves faded, the tumultuous battlefield returned to silence. The air still carried the stench of blood and the scorched sll of burned things.
The scattered corpses disappeared at a visible rate, using the necromantic talent brought by the cat demon's paw he carried, Shinji controlled the underground remains to drag them down and bury them on the spot.
The sun sank, the moon rose.
Shinji turned.
His gaze fell on the soldier still lying at the village entrance.
That Hōjō ashigaru who had fled all the way from the north to bring warning.
Now, the soldier was struggling to get up from the ground.
Having seen Shinji repel the powerful enemy, though there was still fear in his eyes, there was also the excitent of surviving a disaster.
"We… we won… they retreated!" He leaned on a roadside stone. The pain from his severed arm seed to have gone numb. "Thank you, my lord… thank you for saving my life!"
He tried to kneel and bow, but his body was too stiff to obey.
"I have to go… I have to go to Odawara Castle… to tell the lord…" He muttered, taking a step southward.
But after just one step, he found Shinji blocking his way.
"My lord?" The soldier was startled, looking fearfully at the demon mask. "You… are you stopping ?"
"I'm not stopping you." Shinji's voice was flat, calm. The eyes beneath the mask were cold.
Like… looking at a dead man. "You can't go yourself."
"Can't go?" The soldier looked down at his legs. "I'm injured, but I can still run. I have to deliver the news—"
"You won't make it." Shinji cut him off.
"Look down again. Carefully."
The soldier instinctively looked down.
By the unusually bright moonlight, he saw it. He saw his own chest. His chest armor had long been shattered.
Beneath it was a massive hole.
No blood flowed out.
Because the blood had long since dried up.
That wound pierced through his heart. Through the hole, he could even see the grass behind him.
The soldier's expression froze.
From confusion, to shock, to an indescribable panic and despair.
mories ca flooding back like a burst dam.
The northern outpost. That 'Bi' banner.
The cavalry surged like a tide.
He had been pierced through the chest by a spear and fallen in a pool of blood.
He had watched his comrades fall one by one, watched the outpost go up in flas.
He wanted to run, to warn others.
That strong obsession had made him 'stand' up, had made him run desperately, even forgetting the pain, forgetting… the fact that he was already dead.
But he was clearly… already dead.
"I'm… dead?" He raised his intact hand with a tremor and touched the hole.
Cold.
No heartbeat.
"So… I'm already dead."
He slumped to the ground, the light in his eyes quickly dimming. The obsession that had sustained his existence was fading.
"My lord…" He looked up at Shinji.
"I know you are a demon… but you protected this village behind you, didn't you… Without you, this village would now have fallen to the enemy, to Echigo…"
"Can you help ? Bring the news… to my lord…"
Shinji looked at him.
This ordinary ashigaru, even dead, even turned into a lingering spirit, still rembered his duty.
In this chaotic age, human life was as cheap as grass.
But even grass had its persistence.
To this, however, Shinji gave no response.
He just looked at him.
Watched as the man, upon knowing the truth of his own death, slowly stiffened, returning to his proper state.
In the end, only a broken corpse remained, lying quietly by the roadside.
Shinji watched this scene in silence.
As a demon warrior, he was no stranger to death.
He remained entirely calm throughout… neither agreeing to nor refusing the man's request.
Nor did he imdiately turn away.
Because there were others.
From the surrounding grass, from behind the trees, ca a rustling sound.
Demonic aura.
Jumbled, very faint, even with a hint of cowering, very faint demonic aura.
Shinji turned.
Under the moonlight, various grotesque figures poked out their heads.
A one-eyed little monk holding a broken umbrella, A little girl with fox ears, A kappa like a lump of mud, A giant rat with a broken leg.
They looked very haggard, carrying burns and sword wounds, their eyes full of fear.
Shinji could see at a glance, could feel, these were the 'villagers' of the demon settlents that the Echigo army had burned.
The survivors of those demon villages that had been destroyed.
They had no great power, no intention to harm. They had only huddled together for warmth in the cracks of this chaotic world.
But because they were 'not human,' because of that banner of 'slaying demons and exorcising evil,' they had lost their hos and had been hunted here as evil spirits.
And the Echigo army had pursued them all the way here.
Yes.
They had been chasing them here.
And that was why the female general, Kakizaki Kageie, had assud Shinji was the demon leader of this area.
Those demons had co seeking his protection.
"L-Lord…" A slightly braver tanuki spirit ca forward, still holding a lotus leaf it had used to shield itself from the sun.
It looked at Shinji, its legs trembling.
They had all seen the battle just now.
This demon-god-like man was an existence even more terrifying than those human armies.
But at this mont, they had nowhere else to go.
"We… we an no harm…" The tanuki stamred. "We just… want to live."
Shinji looked at these aged, weak, sick, and crippled beings.
Demons and monsters.
Good and evil.
In this era, the line was so blurred, yet so cruel.
Humans killing demons was natural.
Demons killing humans was also instinct.
But there were always so beings caught in the middle, with no place to belong.
Just like these little demons.
Like… his forr self.
Shinji's gaze swept over them.
There was no disgust, no pity. Just calm.
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Read advance chapters on [email protected]/Lost_moon
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