Uesugi Kenshin.
The Dragon of Echigo.
The God of War.
In this warring age of chaos, all three of these titles pointed to a single person.
Kōbe Hikaru had known a fair amount about the legends surrounding her even before he crossed over.
In the history books of later ages, Uesugi Kenshin was described as a warrior who never married in her entire life.
Her true names were Nagao Kagetora and Uesugi Masatora; "Kenshin," in fact, was a Buddhist dharma name she took for herself after coming to worship Bishamonten of the Buddhist faith.
She marched to war on every front with righteousness as her banner, and was hailed as the strongest tactician of the Warring States era.
And at this very moment—
Kōbe Hikaru knew that the one who had come was none other than her.
The girl standing beyond the torii of Kaede Village.
She simply stood there outside the torii, the moonlight stretching her shadow long, extending it across the flagstones of the village road.
No army. No banners.
Not even an attendant.
One person.
She had just walked over, like that.
This was the part that genuinely caught Kōbe Hikaru off guard.
Not that she had come—he had long since anticipated that the Uesugi would come.
Nor even that she had come in person; given the temperament of the legendary "God of War," appearing at the front lines herself was nothing out of the ordinary.
But rather—
She had come utterly alone.
She had come without so much as a single bodyguard.
Kōbe Hikaru dropped down from the ridge of the roof, his gray robes and pale hair snapping in the night wind, a crimson oni mask covering his face.
He stood on this side of the torii, less than ten paces from the girl.
Blood mist spread thin across the ground between them, like a layer of transparent red gauze.
"Uesugi Kenshin."
Kōbe Hikaru spoke, calling out her name directly—not as a question.
He truly could be certain of her identity, without the slightest doubt, and for no other reason than this.
That power radiating from within her—he knew it all too well.
What Kakizaki Kageie had carried was a fragment.
What Yamagata Masakage had carried was also a fragment.
But this person before him—what she carried was the source.
Setting aside the fact that Yamagata Masakage served under Takeda Shingen and had nothing to do with Uesugi Kenshin, if one spoke only of Kakizaki Kageie as a "divine artifact," then that thing within her called the power of a divine artifact had absolutely flowed out from this woman here.
If Kakizaki Kageie was a tributary of the river, then Uesugi Kenshin was the river's very source.
More than that—she herself was that river.
The power within her was pure to the utmost extreme.
Clean, lofty, remote—not belonging to the mortal world.
It was purer even than Kikyō's most consummate spiritual power, only entirely different in nature—spiritual power was the condensation of clear energy, whereas the thing within her was more like the crystallized product of faith in gods and Buddhas itself, given concrete form.
And its character was exactly as Kōbe Hikaru had sensed earlier.
Heavy. Heavy.
Heavy enough to bear down on all things from on high, suppressing everything.
And upon hearing Kōbe Hikaru's words, the girl simply looked toward the pair of crimson eyes beneath the oni mask.
"You know me."
She spoke.
Her voice was cool and calm, without inflection, detached yet somehow giving the impression that this was precisely how she was meant to speak.
Meant to be this lofty, this vast.
As aloof as if she stood apart from the mortal world.
Kōbe Hikaru laughed.
"That power is far too obvious."
"Your subordinates carry only fragments, while what you carry is complete. In the direction behind you, there is only one person who could possibly give off an aura like this."
The girl tilted her head slightly.
There was a trace of curiosity in the motion, yet it was quickly pressed back down by that almost inorganic, indifferent expression of hers.
"You killed Kageie."
She said.
It was not an interrogation, nor an accusation.
It was merely a confirmation.
And Kōbe Hikaru had even less reason to deny it.
He only narrowed his crimson oni eyes and gave a slight nod—though he was somewhat puzzled by the utter absence of anger in her tone, he truly did not fear in the slightest that she had come to his door.
And yet.
"But it doesn't matter."
She nodded, as good as acknowledging the point.
"Kageie was the reincarnation of a divine artifact, the embodiment of a vessel bearing the power of a deity. Her death is nothing more than a return to Takamagahara."
"Only, she was, after all, my divine artifact. You cut her down. You defeated her."
"So I have come. I had to come."
She looked at Kōbe Hikaru.
In those eyes, like ancient wells, there was finally a ripple.
Still not the faintest trace of anger.
What there was, was nothing but brimming interest.
"In this age, to slay a 'divine artifact' with power that is not absolute—that is a rare thing."
"At the very least, among the yōkai of this land, it is nearly unheard of."
That divine power of gods and Buddhas, which suppressed all that was extraordinary and transcendent, was in itself nearly "invincible among its peers."
Those who could accomplish such a feat were indeed exceedingly few.
Compared to that maiden warrior named Kakizaki Kageie, Kōbe Hikaru in fact had no real gap in raw power.
An ordinary Six Mutations humanoid yōkai could actually be caught up to by a pure mortal!
It was only a pity that Kōbe Hikaru was no ordinary yōkai.
Nor did he immediately take up her words.
He was waiting.
Waiting for her to state her true purpose.
The other party had come alone, and it seemed she had not come simply to make an enemy of him—though even if she truly meant to be his enemy, he was not afraid.
Uesugi Kenshin, for her part, did not beat around the bush.
"I have come because I wish to win you over."
She said it plainly.
So plainly that Kōbe Hikaru found it somewhat unreal, even a little dazing.
Imagawa Yoshimoto wanted him to be a guardian deity. Hōjō Ujiyasu wanted to repay him a favor.
And Uesugi Kenshin—was actually pulling the same thing?
This time Kōbe Hikaru was genuinely surprised, taken aback.
The look beneath the crimson oni mask tightened slightly; the figure, seemingly ferocious and fearsome, nevertheless kept its composure, and only said:
"Imagawa Yoshimoto said much the same thing."
"She doesn't have anything you can give me."
"What can you give me?"
Uesugi Kenshin did not answer the question.
She only gazed at him quietly.
In those eyes, like ancient wells, was reflected the moonlight, the outline of the torii, the patterns upon his crimson oni mask.
"You are strong."
She said, "But I can sense that on the path of the yōkai, you have not, in fact, walked so very far. You are not so mighty a yōkai. Your yōkai aura is insufficient, and your yōkai power falls even shorter."
"You are only one step away from a certain threshold—the metamorphosis and sublimation into a stronger yōkai. But that one step, you cannot cross on your own."
Kōbe Hikaru's pupils contracted.
She had seen through it?
With nothing but observation from ten paces away, she had seen through his state at the critical point of transformation?
"If you become mine—become my divine artifact, then."
Uesugi Kenshin's voice remained flat, and yet full of confidence: "I can help you cross that step. I can help you become stronger."
Kōbe Hikaru did not answer.
He only stood in the moonlight, watching, through the slits of the oni mask, this girl who had come alone.
The God of War of Echigo.
The incarnation of Bishamonten.
Alone, in the dead of night, she had walked into a yōkai's domain.
Bringing no soldiers, no generals, not even a weapon in hand.
She had simply walked over like this.
Either her confidence was absolute.
Or she truly had no intention of fighting.
From the look of things now, it seemed the latter was more likely?
And besides—to become a divine artifact...
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Wasn't that a reincarnation?
Could he, too, become that sort of thing that could be won over?
Kōbe Hikaru was truly baffled by this, and asked it outright.
____
Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 10 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉