The Tigers of Chi-Ha-Tan ReRise Volume 0: The Veil Before Glory

And Destiny Will be Waiting For You

Sengoku Period 1583

Hot flames lick into the night air, seeming to rise as high as they could to touch the night sky, as they were being fueled to burn ever brighter on this late summer night. These fires were many, seeming to spread over a large area with impunity, though what also rose into the night sky was not just the fire, but something equally dreadful and nightmarish. It was the sound of war, the sound of a castle being sacked by an angry army.

That was the combined army of the Shimada and Nishizumi, who had broken free into the main castle of the Kawahara clan, the very siege itself having only lasted a week, before these fierce warriors whose might was too much to hold back had finally broken through the defenses, with the spoils before them. Yet unlike many armies who would enjoy these spoils of food, drink, and women as their rewards for risking their lives for everything.

These men care only for vengeance on the Kawahara clan soldiers, any civilian they found they push past, every woman was left untouched, any spoils in homes were left alone. All they care about was the castle, to raise it to the ground to avenge the past aggressions and settle a debt that was to be paid by blood and fury. Their unstoppable advance was like a rushing dam, crushing any remaining opposition under their onslaught while many Kawahara men began to lay down their arms, not wanting to be part of the body count that was rising steadily for their side that had proved how hopeless this all was.

Finally, the warriors of both clans found the last gate to the main castle, not needing it to be broken down by them, as the Kawahara army in their haste to flee or surrender had left the gate open and unguarded. This allow the Nishizumi and Shimada warriors to pour in, their bloodlust washing over them as they hunger to be done with this war, as now they began to climb the steps to the doors of the main castle and into its halls itself.

They were met with what remained of the loyal Kawahara samurai, who did their best to stand their ground as their foes poor into their castle halls. They knew the end was here for them, their ambition snuff out by this surprise invasion that had surged through their lands like a hurricane that they could not be stopped and now this very destructive force was pouring into their very castle, and like their army who had been crush by it in the field a month earlier, they too were to be blown away by its force.

As the battle inside the castle raged on, in the Lord's Hall, the Kawahara lord himself was sitting on his knees on a cushioned seat. Lord Hirotaka was in a state of disbelief, having not even some months ago, had cemented his alliance with the Nishizumi Lord Mashiko by marrying his sister to him so that their combined armies could end the Shimada for good to sate his need to destroy the family that had humiliated him because of the withdrawn marriage proposal.

Now said clans were fighting his men in his very own halls, killing them with no mercy, to which he was to be next. All that remained of his guard were a handful of loyal retainers who even with the end in sight would do their duty as warriors to him. Yet for all their bravery, Hirotaka had none left in him, all he wanted to do was live, he had only missed his chance to escape when his men drag him into the hall to make their final stand instead of allowing him to escape through a secret entrance that would lead out of the castle.

Their reasoning was that his late father would have stayed to the end, but Hirotaka care little for that, he wanted to save his own skin, there was too much left in this world he wanted to do for it to be snuff out now. To die without ever really making a name for himself, history would forget him, which scared him just as much as death itself.

Suddenly the noise of the fighting could be heard just outside the sliding door, making the Kawahara guard now ready their swords for the coming fight that would be thrust upon them. Hitoroka though didn't make a grab for his own katana, instead, his hands clenched in his lap so tight the knuckles turn white, his jaw began to tremble at the thought of dying, and his body began to shake. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and only to face this death head-on like any warrior must if he could.