The Beauty Of The West

Chapter 24:The Battle Begins

Nobunaga and Oichi talked for a few moments, before he pointed his gun at her. She wasn't scared in the least. But... his own sister?? I was someone he had kidnapped and didn't care about, but this man was going to shoot his own flesh and blood. I had to do something. Just when Nobunaga put his finger on the trigger and shoot his sister, I shot the gun out of his hand. Immediately, I ran to Oichi's aid and stood in front of her. Kanbe stayed behind though.

I tried to remember what Uncle Toshi had taught me about keeping a level head. But I was so angry! He had no heart, no remorse for his actions. I guess that's why he was called the Demon King.

"The Toyotomi girl.." Nobunaga sneered. "I remember you. Your father wouldn't pay a single zenni for your return..how pathetic. You and your miserable family."

Was that supposed to make me feel bad? By telling me something I already knew about my family, was that supposed to somehow bring me down and depress me? I smirked in response.

"Yeah...they were pretty horrible. I however have come to kill you, so that you may never hurt another." I pointed my gun at him.

"Brother....is it true...?" Oichi asked. She then glared at him, as if being pushed over the edge. Like it was the last thing that got her to snap. Not minding that her own life was threatened just moments before. "After Nagamasa, I had lost my meaning in life...You killed the only one I loved and I forgave you for that..." she took her slow creepy steps to stand beside me. "I have finally found a new meaning...a reason I am still here...and that reason is to drag you down...down so far that you I'll never again hurt another....The world doesn't need you here to terrorize it."

I was almost creeped out by the way she spoke. I didn't really understand what she meant when she said that she was going to drag him down.

"Your way then." Nobunaga grinned and jumped at us, trying to slash with his sword but was Blocked by Oichi. I jumped to the side and started shooting him, but he blocked with his sword. I couldn't even believe he was doing that.

No matter. I had many different ideas on bringing him down. Shooting was one of them.

Oichi grabbed him with those creepy shadow arms, and I shot him in the head. He fell over, lifeless.

"That was...way too easy." I mentioned. I looked around for Kanbe  and couldn't find him. So I just stood there for a moment to reflect on what we had accomplished. The funny thing was, I didn't feel satisfied.

I holstered my gun and began to walk towards the ledge to climb back up. That's when I saw one of the towers with the black and red flames emit the light and shoot it towards Nobunaga's corpse. There were several orbs of red light that spiraled down, and entered his body through his mouth. I was horrified at the sight, once I figured out what happened; Nobunaga used the souls of the men at those camps to revive himself. Should he die. With that, he slowly rose to his feet by an unknown force, without the use of his hands or feet. I looked at him, wide eyed. Could we not kill him after all?

"I will not willingly return to hell until every living thing on this planet has perished." He stated confidently as the aura from the souls he had consumed surrounded his body.

I looked around and noticed that one of the towers were dark, with no fire left in it. So I came to the conclusion that every time he came back, he exhausted a tower. There were only 6 left to go.

I once again held my gun pointed at him. "If I must kill you a hundred times, so be it!" I shouted, and ran at him. He paid me no mind, and acted as if I were just an nothing mosquito, the way he stood there without looking at me when I tried to attack him. I didn't know why, but I kept missing, even though my aim was accurate. When he finally did look at me, he picked me up by my collar and threw me into the air. Obviously, it wasn't his own strength that did it. He definitely had some kind of demonic aid.

I wasn't scared though. I still kept my eyes on him as I fell. I kept trying to shoot him, and hoped to be successful before hitting the ground. I wasn't. But I didn't hit the ground. Oichi caught me in her shadow arms.

"That is enough brother!" She stated in a soft yell. It wasn't much louder than her gentle whispering, but it was loud enough to be heard.

It was clear that I would have to work together with Oichi, which I was willing to do for the destruction of Honno-Ji.
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I was glad that I brought as much ammo as I did. However, I had begun to tire after a few hours of dodging and retaliating, which didn't seem to tire him at all. Oichi kept me from falling over and protected me a lot though.

"Do not fall, pretty butterfly, I need your joy to fight my brother..." she told me. I guess that was her way of saying that she needed me? But what did she mean by my "joy"?

Nobunaga was harder to catch this time. No matter how hard Oichi tried to grab him, he slipped away. I tried to distract him by shooting him, but that failed. I tried to lure him into Oichi's grasp, but that also failed.

I was in my element against Nobunaga. Sensei trained me to think on my feet. I stayed near Oichi to watch her back, and because I knew she would watch mine.

He shot at us, alot I deflected by matching my bullets with his, like Sensei had taught me. But somehow, he shot one that I didn't see, and it hit Ochi's thigh.

She screamed in pain.

"Oichi!" I yelled and rushed to her aid. I lifted her to her feet and reached in my pocket to throw some smoke bombs. Smoke filled the area, and I was able to get Oichi out by helping her climb up the ledge. I took her to a camp, and hid behind a boulder. "Are you alright??"

"I will live...for now..." she explained as I tore a piece of my clothing to wrap around her leg.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I belong here...no more than he does. I should have disappeared long ago, when my Nagamasa was taken from me..." she looked up at the sky, at the blood red moon. "Tell me, Butterfly...do you have someone you can't live without?"

"...I have many." I said, as I finished wrapping her leg. "What do we do now? Will he follow us?"

"I am unsure....we must defeat him...I must take him back to hell."

"Okay, well, what's the plan?? We can't get near him!"

"We cannot, alone. We need more....others..."

Great. Kanbe took off so we could count him out. I wished I had a way to contact the faction. Then this would be easy.

"Do not worry...we can keep him busy...until help arrives. Do not worry about me. Let's go find him."

Everything about that sounded like a bad idea. We were worn out, she was hurt, and Nobunaga wasn't slowing down!

"Stay here." I ordered her. I worked better alone anyway.

"He is my brother. I won't stay..."

"Then, go get help." I reloaded my handgun and took a naginata from a nearby corpse. "Maybe I wasn't close enough..." I muttered to myself. I was going to try closer combat.

"I will stay here with you...I must be the one who sends my brother to hell."

I sighed, and helped her back up.
I was a little sad that she wouldn't be staying long. She was going to give up her life so others could live in peace. I felt like we could have been good friends if we spent more time together.