"Lord Maruge!" A Soukai Nation soldier shouts. "The remaining enemies have begun running away!"

Kahei looked to his commander, "It appears they were given the order to retreat."

Maruge sighed in relief. "So they gave up... Phew..."

"Lord Maruge!" Kahei then whispers into his ear. "There's something to do before we can relax."

"R-Right!"

Jumping in surprise, Maruge soon cleared his throat. Putting one step onto a boulder, he raised his fist up into the air. With a rallying cry, and a shout to the top of his lungs.

"The enemy has fled!"

"We are victorious!" Kahei rallies.

The Soukai soldiers cheer and leer in excitement. "Yeah!"

'We all survived this thanks to him!' Maruge thought, looking at Hisame's stoic expression.

--:  9 | Fog of War :--

The next day, the Tenrou army suffered defeat and retreated from Shiranui Fortress. The Soukai Nation had successfully avoided an attack by the Tenrou.

Now, Maruge had his platoons of foot soldiers and captains lined up in a line. It was time for him to announce the rewards.

"Everyone. Good job following my instructions during the battle. I will now distribute your pay. But for those who did particularly outstanding world... I have a special reward prepared for you," he smirked. "First, from Yaenami Village–Hinowa!"

"Yes, sir!" Instantly, the red-haired girl stood at attention.

"When we were suddenly attacked, you conducted yourself with a level head. You spoke loud enough to be heard by all to keep them from panicking. I heard it too. For this, I promote you to Captain."

Hinowa's eyes lit up in happiness. Just after her first battle, she had attained the rank her mother was when she participated in war. She couldn't help but feel like she was growing closer to her.

"You also cut down many an enemy. I'm counting on you in the next battle too."

"Thank you very much, Lord Maruge!"

The crowd erupts into a slight murmur.

"Amazing. And she's still only a kid."

"Yeah, but I can see why. That girl saved my life."

Fumio had erupted into tears. 'I knew she could do it...!'

Maruge cleared his throat so the soldiers could silence themselves. "Also from Yaenami Village–Hisame." The young man walked forward at the call of his name, "Your actions to hold off the enemy's main forces were admirable. I promote you to Captain as well!" He excitedly announces.

Kahei walks up to the young man and hands him quite the hefty coin purse. With a slight blush, Maruge puts a hand on Hisame's shoulder.

"Please join us in the next fight as well."

"I will," Hisame replies stoically.

"Continuing with those from Yaenami Village," Maruge says, "Tobari. Suzumaru. Kumehachi. For your achievements in taking out so many enemies, you'll be compensated even more."

Hearing the reward wasn't to Tobari's liking. With a large, aggravated pout plastered all over her face, as she wished to have been promoted into Captain as well, she begrudgingly opens her hand out. A Soukai Nation soldier sweat dropped upon walking up to her, placing the slightly more abundant sack of coins into the girl's hands, who took it away with a "hmph".

Tobari clicked her tongue in annoyance, "Tch! What, I don't get a promotion?"

"Ah! Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, you idiot!" Kumehachi whispers in a scolding tone.

"Tobari, smile. Smile!" Suzumaru laughed nervously, smiling apologetically at the man.

The crowd of older soldiers soon erupted in murmurs.

"Whoa, whoa. Yaenami Village again?"

"And they're all so young... What gives?"

The wise old man held a grin. "They must have quite the master."

---

Soon after, the soldiers were left to their own before they began to pack up and head back.

Down by the small river, the red-haired girl knelt over on her knees, cleaning her face of the blood and grime. Whilst she was deeply saddened by the fact that she never conquered the killer of her mother and aunt, she was still proud of herself. Already, in her first battle, she was able to quickly obtain the rank her mother had achieved. Not only that, she knew that this skirmish had given had considerable amount of growth to her strength and an opportunity to learn from this. Knowing that the next time she engaged Yomihime, she swears that she will be the victor.

"Captain Hinowa!" A voice soon calls out to her. Looking up from the river and turning her head, Hinowa sees it was Fumio. "In the next battle, please put me in your unit."

"Fumio-san..." She was at a loss for words.

"Hey," a gruff voice spoke. "Can we be in your unit next time too?" A buff man asked.

"I need to pay you back for saving my life," a man in an eye patch agrees.

The wise old man raised his hand. "Same here!"

Tears of joy prickled at Hinowa's eyes, "G...Guys." She then nodded with a smile. "You got it! Let's start introducing ourselves first! Then let's get to know each other and be a great team!"

"Wow... She's passionate," the first man marveled.

"I see. So that's who she is," the eye patched man says.

"Yep! This is who I am!"

The three men couldn't but beam out such a smile, amazed at Hinowa's cheery nature. It was almost breathtaking for them, different from the hard and gritty nature of the bloody battlefield.

From a nearby tree, Hisame, Suzumaru, Kumehachi, and Tobari were watching the young girl interact with her new squad members.

Kumehachi laughed. "Hinowa wasted no time winning over the masses."

"People are naturally drawn to her," Suzumaru says with closed eyes. "That's what makes her a good leader."

"I was promoted too, so how come nobody's coming to me?" Hisame then asked them.

Kumehachi and Suzumaru looked at each other before they grinned, Kumehachi's more teasing and smug while Suzumaru's was quite happy and endeared toward Hisame's stoic and blunt confusion. This confusion only increased when Tobari patted his shoulder.

"It's because you have such a forgettable face, Hisame. And you're not sensitive to situations."

She soon walked off to head toward Hinowa, Hisame beginning to think deeply about Tobari's response to his question. Was he really that of a forgettable face? And was he really not that sensitive to situations? He could only ponder such a thing as he wondered if he would be able to recruit some soldiers for his unit once the upcoming battle had arisen. Nonetheless, the troops couldn't help but celebrate.

It was the year 222, Houjyu, the Tenrou Nation had attempted to invade the nation of Soukai. However, that attempt had been proved futile as their attempt of a surprise attack had been successfully blocked by the Soukai troops. This event would later be called "The Battle of Mt. Kageboushi."

Hinowa's first campaign.

---

A few days later, in the Tenrou Nation, Zuou was displeased at the failure. Surprisingly, however, Yomihime and Akira weren't punished for their efforts, knowing that his Ten Star pupil would rise up to the occasion and succeed the next time.

But Akira didn't care for anything of Zuou's praise. Most of his efforts had been devoting his resources to finding out any leads regarding his wife and child. So far, he hadn't been getting anything, his leads on the red-eyed woman and the pink-haired girl haven't surfaced back to him yet. To say he was devastated was an understatement, but that didn't mean he didn't give up. Of course, Yomihime was doing her best, but was rather forgoing and holding her tongue upon the information she had learned a few days prior. The red-eyed woman she had battled when attempting to take the fortress was in fact the wife Akira had told her about. There was no doubt about it. Now that the appearance of hers has flashed in her mind and now made a lasting impression on her, she feared the worst of what her cousin would think of her the moment he found out that she had attempted on slaying her. It would obviously spell bad news for her and an opportunity in rupturing and ruining the relationship they currently have.

However, to raise his spirits, Akira was able to see Chelsea around. From what he was told, Zuou had attempted to make her one of his concubines, but thanks to Yomihime's negotiation, and being a prized pupil of his, she was able to make the auburn-haired girl a servant of hers. Well, something like that, as he would see the girl wandering around their home in a maid outfit. While Chelsea seemed to dislike it, especially since she knew Akira was enjoying a great time giving her orders and such, it didn't seem to bother her a whole deal. According to her, she was a maid before during her time working briefly for a corrupt official in the Empire.

In any case, because of the failure, the Tenrou Nation had to up their attempts in order to seize control of the Soukai Nation because it was vital to their plans of conquering the whole island nation and unifying it. A plot for such a thing was now brewing.

In a rather fancy looking establishment of a home, and with grotesque and horrifying features due to the colorful looking decorations of human body parts, two men furrowed their brow. They were looking up at a man who held quite the crazed look, knowing this man had come up with an ambitious plan.

"And that concludes my ten-part secret plan for taking Shiranui Fortress," the man concluded. "With that, I should be able to attack the Soukai Nation."

This home of establishment belonged to the Tenrou Commander, Kyoukotsu. A man with sleek, light hair with loose clothing, his shirt being unbuttoned. Known for being a cruel and twisted man, he created art using human bodies, something that Zuou had taken a liking too. To add onto this, he was very impulsive and aggressive, being ambitious with high dreams to be a part of the elite soldiers that Zuou personally led. However, what made him cunning was his rather creative strategies he was able to concoct. A truly terrifying man to be a part of a cruel and unjust nation that would cause havoc for the sake of their goals.

One of the men nervously spoke, sweating profusely, "If... If I may be so bold, Kyoukotsu-sama... Every point of your secret plan lacks certainty."

A look of irritation and displease crosses his face. The man continued.

"Shiranui Fortress is the gate of the Soukai Nation. It's their lifeline and stronghold! Several commanders have failed to bring it down already. Even you, Kyoukotsu-sama, cannot do it if you keep up how you have been."

He sighed... Which didn't look to be a good one. "Our Lord wants that country. Right?"

Before the man could respond, he coughed, blood exiting his oral cavern. With a step forward, Kyoukotsu rammed a blade through both of his men, killing them instantly. A crazed and bloodshot look was on his face.

"I'm saying I'm going to give everything I've got to take it, so... You shouldn't be a wet blanket about it. Right!?" The deceased men didn't respond, Kyoukotsu continuing to prattle on, "I'm impregnable, you say? Fine with me. I've won every tough battle I've ever come up against! You're listening, right!? Right!?"

---

Akira let out a deep sigh, "Do we really have to talk with this guy?"

"Yes, dear cousin," Yomihime replied sharply. "He requested an audience with us."

"Pretty sure he requested an audience with you," he pointed out, giving her an annoyed glare. "Might I remind you that I was doing some important business?"

"I understand, Akira," she said with a sigh. "But you have to remember that information takes time for it to travel up the brass. It isn't a one way ticket up there."

He clenched his teeth. "I know... But... Every day that passes by, I'm worried for them."

Yomihime was silent for a moment. "And, I, as well."

With nothing else to be said, the two walked up to Kyoukotsu's sliding doors. Putting one hand on the screen door, Yomihime slides it open, immediately met with Kyoukotsu's cheerful grin.

"Hey, there, Mi—Gyah!?"

Just narrowly, an icy knife flew past his face and embedded itself into the wall. With an arm extended, an annoyed and deadpan expression on Akira's face, he was met with a livid commander yelling at his face.

"What the hell was that for, you damn idiot!? Don't you know who I fucking am!? I am—"

"Yeah, yeah, we fucking get it already," Akira interrupts. "Just get to the point already."

Kyoukotsu clicked his tongue. "Tch! Hey, Yomihime! Put a leash on your lapdog, you hear?"

Yomihime remained stern. "Enough prattling, Kyoukotsu. Anyway, what is that?"

"Oh, you like?" He held up his disgusting, put together, human contraption. "Check it out. It's like a cabinet to keep my sweets in—"

"Weren't those your men?" She looked disgusted, as did Akira.

Kyoukotsu waved it off, "They were super disrespectful, so I cut them down."

She sighed in annoyance, beginning to walk past him. "No matter how much the Lord may favor you, if you keep that up, people are going to stop following you."

With a small laugh, Kyoukotsu undid the hair tie that was on the back of his head. He soon stopped the dark-haired woman, a vein popping on his head as a rather agitated expression erupted onto his face as he stood in front of her.

"They'll have no choice but to follow me after I've destroyed the Soukai Nation and become one of the Ten Stars. Right?"

"You mean to go to war then," Yomihime replied, rather bluntly.

Akira scoffed. "Are you asking to get killed because of how incompetent you are?"

Kyoukotsu ignored the remark from Akira's mouth, surprisingly. Going into his gross human cabinet, he fished out a small sugar cube and placed it into Yomihime's hand as some sort of bribe.

"Deploy your own army, too, Miss Yomihime.That's your forte. In fact, go ahead and deploy your lapdog, as well."

"You picking a fight, asshole?"

"I'll give you sweets."

Yomihime tossed it into her mouth. "What's your winning strategy?"

'Seriously...!?' A tick mark appeared on Akira's head. His cousin was just like Akame, knowing you can bribe her with meat.

"Well, I have several," Kyoukotsu began, standing up as he headed for the tatami room. "I just didn't tell them because I thought they'd complain. Look. I've got this prepared."

Heading to the sliding door, he opens it to the tatami room. Heavy and labored breathing could be heard, along with moans and groans of pain, small murmurs of people begging to be released. Akira hid his disgust as he held a neutral look, staring into the room as he was reminded of the atrocities that occurred back in the Capital. What a sick place it was, and this grotesque nature didn't seem to escape him no matter where he went.

Yomihime, on the other hand, wasn't surprised by the stunt Kyoukotsu pulled. This was quite normal for him to do. His eyes looked dark and hollow, almost like he was threatening them. But Kyoukotsu knew he couldn't threaten them, rather using this look of his to try to sell this proposal onto them.

"If anybody will understand, it'll be you. Right?"

"...Well, as much as I don't want to work with this guy," Akira muttered to his cousin, "it all comes down to you, Yomihime."

She placed a thumb onto her chin, pondering the idea. She sighed, turning around on her heels.

"Fine. Getting possession of the Soukai Nation is the Lord's wish. We might as well do what we can."

"I knew you'd understand!" Kyoukotsu exclaimed in pure excitement. "You have to do whatever it takes to get what you want!"

The crazed commander soon stared up at the tatami room's ceiling with pride, admiring his work. His work consisted of the shown faces of his many men, all of them seemingly still alive, a look of despair and desperation on their faces as they wished to be freed from this nightmare. Feeling invigorated, Kyoukotsu shook with glee.

"These old fogies were too cautious and are living at a standstill. But we need to keep advancing!"

A fog of uncertainty would soon walk onto the battlefield to come. The next battle ahead was to be much harder than the last.