Sei stood half a step behind his brother, silently digesting this cold and decisive plan. Replace the old, untamable force with a new, completely obedient army.
The idea was simple and straightforward, even crude, but it truly matched his brother's usual style—not wasting time trying to reform stubborn stones, but directly replacing the foundation.
However, how easy was it to form such an army? Qualified personnel, loyalty guarantees, training time, and maintenance resources... each task was a complex challenge.
At that moment, Genji moved.
He no longer looked at the grim scene outside the door, but slowly raised his right hand, five fingers spread, palm facing down, aimed at the darkest corner of the hall.
No incantations, no complex hand seals, not even any obvious surge of cursed energy.
"Sei, watch."
As the words fell, the shadow he aimed at boiled and expanded with violent force, like a pool of ink struck by a boulder! A dense darkness surged from it, seemingly absorbing all light, rapidly compressing and taking shape.
The first silhouette emerged—a robust, slightly short body, covered in matte, dark gray armor that fit snugly, with flexible chainmail structures at the joints. The face was covered by an evil spirit mask resembling a Hannya, revealing only two points of cold red light.
It wore two short swords crossed on its back and a pouch of shurikens at its waist. It knelt on one knee, head deeply bowed, its posture one of absolute obedience and waiting for orders, like a lifeless statue, yet exuding a sharp aura of concealment and one-hit-kill.
Then, a second, a third... Ten identical black shadow ninjas "rose" from the boiling shadows, one after another, and simultaneously knelt on one knee, neatly lined up before Genji. Their movements were precise and uniform, silent, only the soft, teeth-grinding sound of metal armor scraping.
But this was not the end.
Shadows from the other side also began to churn. This time, the condensed silhouettes were taller and straighter. They were clad in dark, heavy armor with a simple form and large coverage, thick armor plates, smooth arcs along the edges, and simple embossed indigo cloud patterns on the chest.
Inside closed helmets, the faceplate was solid black, featureless, only two thin, dark blue slits in the eye area. From their waists hung massive long-field swords, their hands resting on their knees, kneeling in the standard samurai posture.
Even kneeling, they still projected a calm, powerful, front-line impact contained within their bodies.
Five samurai black shadows, kneeling on the other side.
Fifteen shadow soldiers in total, like silhouettes carved from the deepest night, silently knelt before the god in the indigo hunting robes.
They had no breath, no body temperature, no cursed energy leakage, only a cold, pure "presence," existing to execute orders.
The temperature in the hall seemed to drop several degrees.
Sei's pupils sharply contracted. For the first time, a flicker of shock, fleeting but undeniable, appeared on his always calm face.
He stepped forward, his sharp gaze like a massive blade, carefully examining these sudden creations—neither living nor dead.
"...What is this?" Sei's voice was filled with incredulous inquiry. He couldn't perceive any soul fluctuations from these "soldiers," nor did he feel they had any independent consciousness.
They resembled the most sophisticated cursed energy puppets, but the complexity of their construction, the condensation of energy, and the naturalness of their movements far surpassed any shikigami or doll he had ever seen.
"A new type of shikigami," Genji lowered his hand, looking with satisfaction at the soldiers he had "created," his tone as matter-of-fact as if he were presenting a newly fired piece of pottery. "More precisely, mass-produced, standardized 'Shadow Soldiers.'"
He walked over to a shadow ninja, extended his index finger, and lightly tapped its helmet. The fingertip glowed with flickering light, and the complex cursed energy circuits and "core" structure inside the shadow soldier's body were instantly projected into the air as a light and shadow model.
The structure was precise, efficient, and maximally modular. Each rune pursued clear functions, without unnecessary embellishment, filled with a cold, practicality-first aesthetic.
"Using the cursed energy absorption barrier that covers the entire country," Genji pointed to several key nodes in the structure, where an extremely fine but steady stream of cursed energy seemed to flow, extracted, purified, and channeled from the void. "Part of the cursed energy absorbed and precipitated by the barrier network is used to maintain the barrier itself, part for research and daily life, and the rest..."
"Can be used almost limitlessly for their generation and maintenance."
"As long as the barrier is not broken and the cycle of cursed energy is inexhaustible, they..." Genji paused, his voice resolute. "Will be continuously generated."
Sei stared at the dizzyingly complex structural projection, especially the module about "receiving and executing instructions." This module was encapsulated in layer upon layer of barrier locks and loyalty seals, and at its core existed only one unwavering law.
"They will only execute my orders," Genji's voice grew quieter, a look of absolute control in his deep indigo eyes. "No hesitation, no fear, no selfish desires, no questions, no willingness to put their own desires above the rules, like those wretches outside. They are the perfect soldiers and the purest tools."
He waved away the projection, his gaze sweeping over the fifteen silent shadow soldiers before him, as if seeing thousands, tens of thousands of shadow soldiers flooding like a tide in the future.
"Ninjas excel at reconnaissance, assassination, infiltration, and logistical sabotage. Samurai are for frontal assault, holding positions, and battlefield cleanup. Other types of troops can be developed in the future—archers, cavalry, engineers, medical units..."
There was a rare, almost fanatical planner's determination in Genji's voice. "They are more than enough to fill the combat power vacuum created by cleaning out the corruption. Use them to flawlessly execute the most dangerous, tedious, and discipline-demanding tasks. Use them as the foundation to guide and train newcomers who have only just learned the techniques, quickly forming combat effectiveness."
He turned around and looked again at the forest of crosses outside the temple, which was gradually falling silent under the scorching sun. The corners of his mouth curved into a cold, cruel arc.
"When my army is formed, the training takes shape, and they are deployed everywhere..."
Genji's voice was not loud, but it was like a cold winter wind sweeping through the empty hall, penetrating the depths of Eriri's trembling consciousness.
"Those wretches who still fantasize about saving themselves by being 'indispensable'..."
He slowly spat out the final words, each one like a solidified ice pick, nailed to the pillar of reality:
"Just wait to die."
---
The dream shattered.
"Hah—!"
Eriri woke up again with a sharp intake of breath. This time, even her fingertips were trembling uncontrollably.
It wasn't fear of the blood, but an instinctive shudder at an absolutely rational, absolutely efficient, and merciless system of power.
She slowly turned her head and looked again at the corner of the room.
Genji still floated there, eyes closed, resting. In the moonlight, his face was quiet and gentle, a stark contrast to the "god" from her dream who had coldly laid out plans for war and casually decreed destruction.
The Switch still lay on the bedside table next to the half-finished bottle of sports drink.
Everything was incredibly calm.
But Eriri knew that something had changed.
Finally, she had seen what life was like beneath the calm and curious, sometimes sharp-tongued exterior, beneath the gentleness that was willing to patiently teach the younger generation.
It was the true existence of heaven and earth, unique and alone.
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