The next second.
Bone Spikes emerged from the blood mist.
Not just one.
But over a dozen.
From the ground, from the air, from both sides of the trajectory where the lightning had passed—the white Bone Spikes seemed to have eyes, directly piercing the necks of horses, tossing the riders from their backs, and then landing among the field of Bone Spikes, bringing forth another spray of blood.
Mercilessly, men and horses were overturned.
Screams of agony merged into one.
But that purple lightning showed no intention of stopping.
It tore through the cavalry ranks, through the infantry squares, through the archers' firing lines.
Wherever it passed, spears snapped, iron armor shattered, and warhorses fell neighing to the ground.
The lightning raged, electrocuting nearby soldiers until their bodies went into spasms, unable to even hold their weapons.
The blood mist pervaded, stripping everyone of their vision, leaving them unable to even distinguish where the enemy was.
Kanbe Hikaru moved as if through an uninhabited land.
His body was the ultimate weapon.
Muramasa didn't even leave its sheath again; relying solely on Bone Spikes and lightning, relying solely on that body which—under the dual enhancement of Sharp Body Transformation and Thunder Muscle—was as hard as any armor—
The thousand-man army formation was pierced through by him alone.
From north to south.
A straight line.
Clean and efficient.
He carved a path of blood through the thousands of men and horses.
Pointing directly at Kakizaki Kageie in the center of the army formation.
Kakizaki Kageie watched that bolt of lightning drawing closer and closer.
She saw it very clearly.
Too clearly.
The thousand elites she took so much pride in were like paper dolls before that monster.
It wasn't that her soldiers were incompetent.
It was that thing—it was too absurd.
"Bishamonten be praised!"
She no longer held back.
The power of the artifact within her body burned to its end, and the golden light on her tachi surged to its limit, transforming into a massive blade of light.
This strike gathered all her energy, spirit, and soul, even borrowing the 'momentum' of the army behind her.
'Momentum', or one could say, human presence.
It was a different kind of 'Awe'—the reverence that humans within a group feel for their leader.
The momentum of a thousand men condensed into a single strike, attached to the power of the artifact.
"Evil-Bane!"
She slashed down toward that bolt of lightning.
The golden light blade was a full thirty feet long, splitting the blood mist and cleaving the earth, crashing toward the purple lightning with a pressure that seemed almost holy.
It was enough to cleave a mountain.
And Kanbe Hikaru—
Finally drew his blade once more.
Not because he had no choice but to draw it.
But because the light of that strike was truly beautiful, worthy of him responding in kind.
Muramasa unsheathed without any wasted movement.
Simply and purely, a single upward flick.
Blade light collided with golden radiance.
There was no stalemate, not even a process of confrontation.
Only the soft sound of silk being torn.
That thirty-foot-long golden light blade was split in two from the middle.
The golden light shattered, turning into a sky full of light fragments that drifted away.
Yet the momentum of Muramasa's blade did not diminish. Following the crack in the shattered light blade and carrying a layer of purple lightning, it fell straight onto Kakizaki Kageie.
The two crossed paths.
Finally, Kanbe Hikaru landed, Muramasa pointing diagonally at the ground. There wasn't even a drop of blood on the blade—because the lightning from that strike had instantly cauterized and sealed the cut.
Behind him.
Kakizaki Kageie maintained her striking posture. Her dark silver armor split open from the shoulder, extending all the way to her waist.
That delicate face wore an expression of shock and incomprehension.
"This... how is it possible..."
She had lost.
And, she was dead.
When two armies clash and the enemy comes aggressively with killing intent, Kanbe Hikaru naturally had no reason to hold back his strength.
Even if the opponent was a conquerable 'Artifact'!
...
At the same time.
Hundreds of miles away.
In the mountains at the border of Echigo and Musashi, inside a brightly lit military tent.
A young girl dressed in armor with white gauze on her head—though silver-white, smooth long hair spilled out from beneath the veil, framing an exquisite yet heroic face—suddenly snapped her eyes open.
There, a pitch-black phantom appeared.
It was a long blade.
But the blade... was cracked.
And then, it shattered.
"Kakizaki Kageie's soul..."
"Has it returned to Takamagahara?"
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