RUSTLE! RUSTLE! RUSTLE!

Sen Hiromune rushed towards Shimoto Castle as fast as possible while resting his body in order to regain lost stamina. He had travelled straight from Asagi Village upon hearing that his beloved wife – Iwashita Seki – was taken hostage at Shimoto Castle by the Takasue Faction.

He had immediately set out as soon as he heard the news. He didn’t even have the chance to rally his troops or don on his favorite armor. Fortunately, he had notified his closest subordinate of the matter and made sure that the subordinate gathered the soldiers in his place.

Now that he thought about it…he had left home so hastily that he had forgotten to eat. Hopefully, this won’t impede him from his rescue attempt. He shook his head roughly as he focused on running and resting.

Suddenly, he heard shuffling from behind. Did his men catch up already? That was quick! He turned around just in time to see red and black. Those colors can’t be from his men. The Three Crimson Stars wore red and white! They must be from the Red Tigers…from Takasue’s army!

WHOOSH!

Out sprang two ninjas wearing black clothing and red masks. The frontmost ninja unsheathed his katana and rushed towards Sen Hiromune.

“Bastard from the Sens! Meet your doom!”

CLANG!

“What?” The first ninja’s eyes bulged as he jumped back.

He looked at his blade in shock. He was just deflected! This enemy was strong. It was of no wonder that the two samurais from before did not hold even a candle up to him. Refusing to believe that the man before him could block another attack from him coupled with the fact that he was raised with founded arrogance, the ninja dashed towards Sen Hiromune once more.

CLANG! CLANG!

The two exchanged a number of blows, each faster than the previous, but no matter which move the ninja released, he was blocked with relative ease. The ninja became frantic and disorderly. With chaos, his mind was not calm. And because of that, he subconsciously allowed an opening.

And that opening was exploited by Sen Hiromune. With a swift kick, the middle-aged warrior lashed out into the ninja’s gut, causing him to reel over. While the ninja stumbled back with a grimace on his face, Sen Hiromune slashed his katana horizontally and spilled first blood.

Without giving the ninja a chance to regroup, the samurai spun around and carried his sword towards his enemy with another horizontal slash. More blood gushed out from the second severe wound. The ninja felt his life fleeing from his mortal flesh and collapsed on both knees.

The ninja glared up at Sen Hiromune, a look of unwillingness in his piercing eyes. With whatever strength he had left, the ninja raised his sword towards the middle-aged man. “Damn you!”

PUCHI!

The ninja’s head rolled as blood sprang out from the torn neck, blinding Sen Hiromune for a second. However, that one second was it needed to distract the samurai from the second ninja’s attack.

The second ninja had originally arrived at the scene, but he did not reveal himself to help his fellow comrade. Instead, he crouched in the tall grass and waited for the perfect opportunity to strike. When Sen Hiromune was temporarily blinded by the blood fountain, the second ninja rushed out of his hiding spot.

With a mere three steps, he closed the distance between him and the samurai. The second ninja grabbed his katana with both hands and stabbed forward, aiming for Sen Hiromune’s exposed throat.

But, as a trained warrior experienced in many combat situations, the middle-aged man did not drop his guard when he had beheaded the first ninja. Rather, he was even more alert. And because of that, he heard the wind splitting from behind him.

Instead of turning around to face his enemy, Sen Hiromune chose to dive forward. By doing so, he avoided the stab attack. Nevertheless, the second ninja was no amateur either. Seeing his stab fail, the ninja adjusted his wrists and brought the blade down.

SLASH!

Though the slash was not fatal, the second ninja managed to wound the samurai’s right leg. Sen Hiromune grunted with pain as he tried to stand up. Every exertion on his right leg caused blood to flow out even more.

The middle-aged man aimed low and slashed twice – one to knock the enemy’s blade away and two to split open the enemy’s chest. Two slashes of his sword were all it took to destroy the ninja. The Red Tiger ninja coughed out some blood and collapsed face first.

After killing the two ninjas, Sen Hiromune bandaged his wounds and stumbled towards the castle. He was almost there. Just a few more meters…just…NOOO! The middle-aged samurai felt all of his strength leave him as he fell to his knees.

Sen Hiromune’s whole purpose of traveling all the way from Asagi Village to Shimoto Castle was because of his wife. The thought of seeing his wife alive and well was what drove him onward. However, all that came crashing down when he saw around ten horrendous objects hanging over the castle walls.

They were the bodies of the main leaders of the Tokihiko Faction, including his father-in-law Iwashita Tokihiko and his beloved wife Iwashita Seki! Their bodies were dusty and beaten. Their stomachs forcefully gutted and their bloody bowels spilled out onto the ground.

How could someone have such hatred for members of their own family? Iwashita Takasue that bastard! Was he even human? Sen Hiromune seethed in anger and frenzy. Ignoring the pain from his wounded leg and dizziness from his blood loss, the samurai clenched his sword in one hand and rushed towards the castle, intending on freeing his closest kin.

But fate would have it otherwise. For as soon as Sen Hiromune took another step, he was surrounded.