Kusahara Plain

Yasuke had had a head start from Wuppo and with his more agile movements he dodged and jumped his way through the chaos as nimbly as his armor would allow him to. However even though he made no unnecessary halts the strides of Wuppo were closing in on him and hearing the 'bashing machine' on the lose behind him he decided to skip right and circle around from another direction as to avoid having a dead horse or the likes rammed into him from Wuppo's raging through the tumultuous battle zone.

Suddenly though from his left a soldier went for Yasuke stabbing towards him with his naginata and it was a combination of luck and intuition that kept Yasuke from being skewered and allowed him to dodge sideways. The man had overdone it and Yasuke was able to grab hold of the handle and drag him violently towards himself as Yasuke swung his head and upper body towards the incoming soldier greeting him 'head on' with the top of his helmet towards the opponent's face the collision instantly dropping his adversary to the ground as Yasuke shrugged off the pain and continued on as adrenaline soared through him. It was first a few seconds after he realized it had indeed been a Hizashi samurai he had downed - but on the battlefield anyone pointing his weapon towards you were your enemy and he did not hesitate a moment as he skipped forwards - not even giving it a thought whether it was an accident or not...

"Kojurooo...!" Yasuke yelled although as he raised the spear to throw it at Kojuro's opponent a familiar hand had just grabbed the guy and was waving him around like a flag as the guy was squeezed tightly in Wuppo's clenched fist. Yasuke blew a bit of wind out of his nose and quickly ran to Kojuro.

"Are you alright?!?" Yasuke exclaimed as he sat down besides Kojuro offering to help him up. "I just wanted to let you know that I would have skewered the bastard before he could have harmed you! I'm your personal guard after all right?" Yasuke said and grinned seeing that Kojuro was apparently not too badly wounded. Something that couldn't be said for his adversary if Wuppo was allowed to continue squeezing him and waving him around like that.

"Who in the hell did you meet that was able to bring you to that state..?" Yasuke asked Kojuro muted. "Or did you just forget all the dirty tricks I've taught you?" Yasuke chuckled.

Yasuke gave Suezo a reluctant sidelong glance as Wuppo finally stopped shaking him. Was that really the top general of the bunch? Perhaps Mad Dog Ebizou had been more interesting, but Yasuke had to say that if Kojuro had used tricks and still lost, he might have been able fight quite decently. But dangling from Wuppo's fist he looked like the squirrel Yasuke had once used as a mace to fend off four bandits in the forest. Yasuke had almost made a friend in the squirrel, but what were you going to do when you needed a weapon?
"You don't look like much, are you really the general?" Yasuke asked and frowned as he turned to Kojuro. "He looks a little 'shaken', how about we offer him some tea?" Yasuke said with a grin, the 'tea' part being a particular nasty form of boiling water torture.

Watching the two generals locked together at the point of death, Renzo found his mind drawn back to a night in The Snake Pit. Teiko Yakumo, back then his employer, had insisted he watch a barefist fight between two combattants and try to find the art in it. Then, he had failed to see the appeal, but there was definitely some kind of poetry in this. Renzo had given his opinion “The weak are meat, the strong eat,” the artist was the winner, the loser became the art, but in Yakumo’s view, “Everyone has some kind of ideal or morality that helps them separate themselves from the art and the canvas. For some it's beauty or loyality and to others it's justice and the more you keep strictly to these principles the better you shield yourself from the art trying to devour you.” Self-delusion, Renzo had called it.

If Renzo was right, why didn’t Suezo just kill Hizashi? This wasn’t merely a battle of strength but a battle of ideals. Loyalty and honour, or justice and wisdom. Hizashi’s underlings were right, this really was more interesting than fighting him. It’s all ridiculous, he thought to himself, sneering. But in the end, he couldn’t look away.

My eyes are open and I serve anyway, for far less reason than Oguro Suezo does, Renzo considered, sharing his thoughts with the spirit of the mask that burned brightly somewhere within, and yet apart from, his own consciousness. He had agreed to do the Shogun’s bidding for a large quantity of gold, and quite some status as a favoured hunting dog, and no principle meant as much to a hired mercenary as a contract. Yet Yakumo-san had talked of changing the fate of Tawakoshi. It was something he had scoffed at, at the time. But now, perhaps the tides were turning. A victory for the Hizashi would mean a change of the nation’s fate, and one change was often the catalyst for others. The voice of Fenghuang rose like a pillar of fire in his mind. Under a new regime, you can get justice for the Takenouchi and restoration for Matasaburo! Is that not what you truly want? Renzo pressed his lips into a thin line. Although he wanted to deny it he found himself somewhat rooting for the Hizashi.

With Suezo seized in the grasp of the ogre, Renzo stood and looked around. Down below, the Hizashi were gaining ground on the Shogun’s troops. He turned back and listened to Hizashi give his ultimatum. A contract means nothing, if the one who signed it is dead. The thought came from neither Fenghuang nor himself, but from both. What use was the power of the mask if it was tied down to the ravings of a madman? He felt the mask’s fiery power flow through him once more. He knew what he had to do, and it was not to fight and die on the losing side. Nor was it to surrender and be taken captive like a common criminal. He stepped out, trailing flame and sparks from the sides of the mask. “I am not yours to command, General Oguro. Only one person currently has that privilege, and not for long. Perhaps I will see you in the capital, Lord Hizashi.” Renzo gave a bow to both, and then, with renewed speed, he was gone in flash, leaping over and between the combatants and the melee until he disappeared in the direction of the capital city.

Kojuro shook his head once to Yasuke’s suggestions. There was no need to do anything else to the man once Wuppo had had hold of him. He listened to Suezo’s words seriously, accepting his surrender with a nod as he resheathed his sword. “May the gods strike down either of us if we fail to keep our word today.” Kojuro looked to Wuppo, noticing the burns on the ogre’s arms that held the general – it seemed that no one was unscathed – and met his gaze with a small smile. “Put him down now, Wuppo.”

One person, however, was not content with taking an order to surrender and Kojuro turned as Oguro was addressed. A strange man with flames and sparks spitting around him, dressed in crimson red with long black hair. This was the one that he had seen earlier flying around the battle with ease, on his way to engaging Wuppo. Now he had a clear view of this magic wielder, there was something that reminded him a little of Kaen. But as mysteriously as he had appeared he was gone, and now was not the time to concern himself with one man.

Oguro gave the order to surrender and soon his men were gathered up by the Hizashi rearguard forces, and the headquarters camp reassembled from its disarray. The Hizashi clan’s doctors saw to Oguro’s injuries, as well as sewing up the long and freely bleeding cut along Kojuro’s jaw, and patching up any wounded who could fight on once their injuries were tended. Wuppo would be encouraged to let them bandage his arms, though not to the point where a medic would be squashed into the ground if the ogre refused to vehemently. One of Goda Sanzaemon’s men even found Kojuro’s helmet and replaced the straps that Oguro’s sword had sliced through. It was a few brief moments of respite before they would be fighting again, as Kojuro watched the main Hizashi army below force what was left of the Shogun’s men back towards the city.

The flaming arrow only meant one thing. Homura was at the gates. From the command centre, he had seen the gates open, let a few men through, and close. Now it was clear why the rest of the Shogun’s army hadn’t followed. The capital city was ready for them, and it seemed as though the Hizashi army were not far from victory. “Onward to the City Gates!” he commanded. “And from there to the Shogun’s Palace.” The whole of the Hizashi rearguard and command centre save the wounded and those who were needed to guard the surrendered Shogunate forces would make their way down to the main site of the battle to join Ikeda Katsutora, Tsuru and Urabe Shogo to put a decisive end to the battle of Kusahara and move on into the city.

If it was possible, Wuppo somehow seemed more confused than enraged as Kojuro’s voice came to him telling him not to kill the general. The ogre was fatigued, injured, and running on simple gruesome instinct to accomplish his goal; to protect his friends. Wuppo wheeled around, and let out another fearsome bellow as his attention darted erratically from one person or group to the next, all the while keeping his crushing grasp on the man he held in his right hand. The ogre breathed heavily, and took the occasional guarded swipe at the few soldiers that might be foolish enough to come close enough to him to get his attention. It was unclear initially if the emotionally compromised Wuppo was capable of processing speech, but eventually Kojuro’s words began to seep through the thick fog of battle rage and confusion. Soon enough, Wuppo was mentally present enough to simply hold the general as Kojuro had asked, rather than waving him around like a ragdoll. When asked, Wuppo would put general Oguro down - though he didn’t understand why.

When Wuppo had first received the wounds from both Joji and Renzo, they didn’t seem to phase the ogre even slightly. He’d kept fighting as if he didn’t even feel the cut of Joji’s blade or the burning of Renzo’s chain, and stopping him would have likely taken killing the ogre outright. But now without the help of the adrenaline-fueled berserker rage, he was beginning to favor his right arm. Wuppo allowed one of the Hizashi clan’s medics to tie up the wound on his tricep, but the chain that was now partially buried in his skin would be too painful and cause too much damage to remove without something like healing magics. The chain would have to stay until the war was won.

Wuppo spent what precious little time there was to rest, and drank buckets of water - most of which he spilled down his front which was a welcome cooling feeling in his heavy armor. When Kojuro gave the order, Wuppo once again took up his tetsubo (in his left hand), and fell in at Kojuro’s side. The ogre would see the remainder of the fighting through with his friend.