Chapter 109: The Four Heavenly Kings of Takeda
Fūrinkazan.
The four characters seemed to writhe upon the crimson banner, their black strokes threatening to burn straight through the fabric. The flag had not been raised on the main battlefield; it had been planted behind the Imagawa clan's military formation, high on the ridgeline of the western hills.
Every warrior present understood the chilling implication.
The Imagawa clan's path of retreat had been severed.
"Takeda—!"
The smile froze on Imagawa Yoshimoto's lips. All traces of triumphant excitement vanished from her fine features, replaced by a stark gravity she rarely ever showed. She spun around, the silken hem of her jūnihitoe sweeping a wide arc across the blood-soaked ground.
Her gaze shot past the rear of her own army, locking onto the western hills.
Silhouettes of cavalry were cresting the ridgeline. There weren't many—perhaps three or four hundred riders at most.
But these were no ordinary mounts. They were warbeasts, significantly larger than the steeds of the Imagawa or Hojo. Iron chanfrons shielded their faces and thick plates of steel covered their chests. Their riders were clad in equally ponderous armor that drank the light of the setting sun, reflecting only a dull, menacing glint.
This was heavy cavalry.
It was the trademark of the Takeda clan of Kai Province. The most terrifying assault unit of the era—Takeda's famed Akazonae, the Red Devils. In this age of cold steel, only the domain of Kai could field such a force.
Their numbers were few, but they were an absolute trump card, a lethal weapon capable of seizing victory through shock and awe.
"How is this possible…?" Imagawa Yoshimoto gritted her teeth.
The Takeda clan's main force was supposed to be locked in a standoff at the border between Kai and the far side of Suruga. She had personally confirmed the intelligence before marching; Takeda Shingen had shown no signs of mobilizing his troops.
So where in the hells did these four hundred riders spring from?
"My lady! We are under attack from the rear!" a messenger screamed, stumbling forward and practically crawling to her feet. "The enemy cavalry has already broken through our rearguard! The lines are collapsing!"
Imagawa Yoshimoto's expression darkened completely.
She wasn't afraid of a direct confrontation. Even now, the Imagawa still had two thousand soldiers, while the Takeda force numbered only four hundred at most. The problem wasn't the numbers—it was the terrain. She was deep inside Hojo territory, with no friendly castles to fall back to and no reinforcements to call upon.
And just ahead, Hojo Ujiyasu's fifteen hundred men remained, watching like tigers stalking their prey.
She was caught between two enemies. This was the one scenario she had desperately wanted to avoid.
"All units, turn about! Secure the rear first!" Imagawa Yoshimoto's voice cracked like a whip, her usual leisurely cadence gone. "Cavalry, intercept! Infantry, form ranks—!"
Before she could finish her command, a cataclysmic roar erupted from the rear. It wasn't the dull thunder of hooves, but a sound far more violent, as if a mountain had been dropped onto the earth.
Imagawa Yoshimoto's head snapped toward the sound.
She saw a single rider break away from the center of the Takeda cavalry formation.
It was a woman—a Princess Warrior.
She rode a colossal, pitch-black warhorse that wore no armor, for it needed none. The beast itself was a moving fortress, its muscles bulging with a power that seemed to defy biology.
The woman astride it was equally startling.
She wore a suit of deep crimson armor, but it was neither the boxy Ō-yoroi nor the common Dō-maru of the era. This armor was sleek, almost modern, and disturbingly form-fitting. The crimson steel of her breastplate was molded to the generous curve of her bust, while the faulds cinched tight at her waist before flaring out dramatically over her hips. The tassets protecting her thighs parted with her riding posture, revealing the dark chainmail beneath.
Her figure could only be described with a single word: exaggerated. It was an overwhelming, eye-watering display of raw power and femininity.
Her hair was the same deep crimson as her armor, tied back in a thick ponytail that whipped wildly in the wind of her charge. Her face was young, perhaps seventeen or eighteen, with features that held a feral, untamed beauty. The corners of her mouth were naturally upturned, as if she were perpetually smiling.
But there was no gentleness in that smile. It was the grin of a predator that had just cornered its prey.
In her right hand, she gripped a short-handled maul. The head of the weapon wasn't forged from metal, but carved from a massive piece of stone. It was a sphere of polished rock, its surface etched with Sanskrit characters from which a dark, ominous glimmer seeped.
A colossal pressure radiated from her body, an aura of pure, physical might.
Hikaru was familiar with this pressure. It was the same type of power that dwelled within the Princess Warrior named Kakizaki Kageie.
But this was thicker. Denser. An entire level beyond.
"Out of the way—!" the red-haired woman roared. The sound that tore from her throat was inhuman, carrying a low-frequency resonance that vibrated the very bones of those who heard it.
Then, she swung the hammer.
The stone head slammed into the ground.
A shockwave ripped through the earth, erupting outwards. Imagawa ashigaru within a radius of several yards were flung into the air like dolls, their armor offering no protection. Dirt and rock churned as the ground itself cracked and shattered under the force. The aftershock rippled all the way to the Bone Forest, causing the ground beneath Hikaru's own feet to tremble.
"What in the world is that…?" Imagawa Yoshimoto's face had gone pale.
The woman before her was not Takeda Shingen. She knew the Tiger of Kai. This was one of his subordinates.
But what a subordinate.
"My lord! That's one of the Takeda Four Heavenly Kings…" a vassal beside her stammered, his voice trembling with terror. "Yamagata Masakage!"
Yamagata Masakage. Commander of the Takeda clan's Akazonae cavalry. A Princess Warrior known as the 'Raging Bull of Takeda.' Rumors from Kai Province claimed she possessed herculean strength, capable of bending the iron bolts of castle gates with her bare hands.
But rumors were only rumors. Until you saw it with your own eyes, you could never truly believe.
Now, they saw. And they believed.
Imagawa Yoshimoto knew that several of Takeda Shingen's retainers were 'abnormal' existences. The woman before her was undoubtedly one of them.
The red-haired warrior charged into the Imagawa ranks. Her hammer rose and fell, each impact leaving a spiderweb of cracks in the earth. The Imagawa ashigaru were tossed aside like scraps of paper. A squad of cavalrymen tried to intercept her, but the massive black horse didn't even slow, plowing directly into two of their warhorses in an explosion of flesh and blood.
Yamagata Masakage's path was brutally clear. She wasn't killing at random.
She was making a beeline for Imagawa Yoshimoto.
Crushing every obstacle in her way, she charged straight for the great banner bearing the Imagawa family crest.
"Stop her!"
Imagawa Yoshimoto took an involuntary step back as the armored samurai of her personal guard closed ranks in front of her. These were elite, high-ranking warriors, the best her domain had to offer. Yet, as they gathered before Yamagata Masakage, they couldn't even withstand a single exchange.
One hammer strike sent two samurai flying.
Another strike shattered three spears into splinters, their iron heads snapping clean in two.
The red-haired woman sat high atop her steed, looking down at Imagawa Yoshimoto with eyes blazing with battle lust. Her smile grew wider, predatory.
"Found you—the Imagawa General!"
She raised her hammer.
Imagawa Yoshimoto's pupils contracted into pinpricks.
Hikaru, however, could only feel a sense of weary resignation. His luck was truly abysmal.
Because, at this precise moment, he happened to be standing directly between the two women.
In the eyes of that blood-crazed Takeda general, the man in the demon mask wreathed in Yao Qi was clearly a bodyguard summoned by Imagawa Yoshimoto.
Therefore, her target included him. This next strike was meant for him as well.
But he didn't retreat.
It wasn't to save Imagawa Yoshimoto. Nor was it simply because the attack had already locked onto his presence.
It was because of the notification that had just appeared in his vision.
[Conquest Target Detected]
'Another one,'he thought, a flicker of interest cutting through his annoyance.'First the Uesugi clan's avatar of Bishamonten, and now the Takeda have one of these so-called 'Divine Vessels' too?'
Interesting.
Hikaru's hand came to rest on the hilt of his tachi.
Since she had delivered herself right to his doorstep, he might as well see if this so-called immovable Fudō Myō-ō could, in fact, be moved.
[Thunder Muscle] activated to its absolute limit.
In an instant, violent arcs of purple lightning exploded from his body, clashing with the oppressive crimson aura rolling off the charging warrior.
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