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Kespian Army Camp:

A lioness stormed through the camp, heading towards the biggest tent there. The most elite will be there, including herself. Most elite knights, strategists, Forest Darkbows, and even the most elite foot soldiers.

While she walking through, the many smiths were either maintaining or creating new equipment made of metal, fletchers were crafting new arrow and bolt shafts, tailors maintained the gambeson of the foot soldiers, and said foot soldiers were practicing with wasters (wooden weapons used for practice) against their comrades.

She would say that she felt the ground give way beneath her feet, but that just isn't true since she couldn't feel at all.

The lioness was joined by a male hyena. This hyena was the most insane person she has ever known. What was the King thinking when he thought that this hyena deserved to be in the elite?

"Isa!" He exclaimed after his most insane laugh yet, and that's hard to judge.

"Dolsen. Going to the tent?" She replied calmly, not wanting to get into a conversation.

Dolsen nodded vigorously, to the point where Isa was concerned that he might damage what's left of his brain. But then, his emotion changed from excited to concerned in the space of a blink.

"Isa, you do know that you don't need to be so cold?" Dolsen asked, his voice changing from half-childish to sophisticated.

Damn. She got into a conversation.

"It helps me deal if I am cold." Isa answered, glancing at the hyena.

"There will be a time where you wished you weren't. Another matter is when you will wish that."

Isa knew her eyes widened, and she looked back at Dolsen. They all knew the rumour, that he came from a land further east than Uslijan, a place known for sages, but they never knew if it was true or not nor how much knowledge he had, since he was usually too insane to give advice.

Time for her to change.

"Eloquently put, Dolsen." She complimented, earning her a shocked then overjoyed look from Dolsen.

And while they were walking up to the tent, they had a conversation.

It was nice to change.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Uslijan Army Camp:

A greyhound stared over the camp of the army he commands. In his left paw, in its scabbard, was a tsurugi (a short straight double-edged sword). Although his armour was highly reminiscent of the armours of past Shoguns, his was much lighter. His retainers once criticised him for such a choice, so he punched one of them to put them back into place. Not that he liked doing something like that anyways. Still gave him a bloody muzzle though.

He had no idea why he was defending a daimy?, who has no respect for the greyhound, and his province, stopping the Kespian Army from encroaching any further into Uslijan. However, it was then that he remembered that this daimy?'s province is a part of Uslijan, a country that he swore upon his father's Sending that he'd protect.

A lion, clad in silks from the land east of Uslijan, and ally of said county, walked up beside the greyhound.

"Shogun Amano Masamoto." This lion said. (Masamoto is the given name)

The greyhound nodded back. "Emperor Ào Shizi." (Same deal with Shizi)

"The reinforcements are here, waiting for orders." Shizi announced.

Masamoto turned around sharply. "They'll have to wait, and you know how your men fight. You will give your men your orders while I give my orders to my men."

Masamoto began to walk away, talking to himself. "This battle, along with those in the past and the future, will decide Uslijan's fate."

When he made it to his tent, a sigh of relief left him. But the relief was short lived.

"Amano-gimi!" A messenger yelled.

Masamoto turned, seeing the messenger. He took the messages, a smaller one and a note from one of his retainers who decided to stay behind, saying that what he wanted was done. He dismissed the messenger and placed the smaller message, the one he requested, somewhere that he can always see it.

Now this war can end in the one way he hoped it would.

He peeked outside the tent, seeing the sun right above the no-man's-land.

The time for the battle is about to begin.

____________________________________________________________________________________

With Isa:

Isa stood out from the front lines, her war scythe planted on the ground. As per the near norm, the left shoulder of her steel plate was more protected than her right.She's been like this for about ten minutes now, hearing the shuffling of the men and women behind her. Uslijan's army was in a similar condition, about a kilometre in front of her. The battlefield between them was empty for now, soon to be littered with corpses for the looters and scavenging birds.

She couldn't shake a certain feeling about half an hour ago, so she placed something for the quartermaster to give to Dolsen should the worst happen.

Her left paw didn't have any protection on it, which wasn't normal for her to do. No gauntlet, no chainmail and no glove. That was so that she could stare at a visible sign of an old disease that raged within her.

The skin looked both cracked and burnt. And it was the same all the way up her arm and over her heart.

It was known as the Numbing Decay. That's the thing that also doesn't allow her to know the sensation of touch anymore. She remembered that she always wasn't like this, but that memory's a time she wants to forget. The signs didn't hurt, as per the main symptom. Everyone she knew all those years ago died from this same disease. No one knew how it came to be, if it was natural or not, but it did kill. And grievously so.

But now wasn't the time to think on such times.

Isa stopped looking at her paw. She looked towards the skies, seeing an arrow, tipped with blue fire, being launched towards the Uslijan army, imagining herself hearing the heavy thunk of the bowstring of..... a particular marksman... as he loosed an Arrow of Clashes. She lifted her left paw up and threw it forwards, yelling a war cry that was repeated by the many foot soldiers behind her, all of them running charging past her like she was a rock in the stream. After they went, she picked up her war scythe, looking to see if she did grab it and if she was holding it tight enough, and ran after them. Their cavalry clashed with Uslijan's own, foot soldiers with foot soldiers. Although Kespian's cavalry knocked most of Uslijan's off of their horses with their lances due to the many tournaments that was held to keep them prepared for such an occasion.

Not five minutes after the initial clash did someone on the right yell something. Not sure what it was, but it was something. It was there that half of the right flank disengaged to fight yet another charge of cavalry. But something was off about them.

They didn't wear armour associated with Uslijan.

The weapon they were using was chained to their forearm, not of Uslijan either.

And they were not stopping.

Isa broke off from the front and charged towards these cavalry.

They will taste the might of Kespian steel.

____________________________________________________________________________________

With Masamoto:

He kept his gaze over the armies and the clash. He saw a part of Shizi's reinforcements ride in, their guan dao's being swung around on their chains. He saw the Kespian army react very quickly to the new threat, and took them a bit longer than expected for them to deal with the new threat.

However, Masamoto spotted a lioness and her dealing with Shizi's cavalry alongside the foot soldiers. Not quite single-handedly, though. It was there that she spotted him, and yelled something at the soldiers in the clash.

He raised his right paw, since his left held his tsurugi. The archers behind him nocked an arrow and lifted their yumi's to the appropriate position. They then drew back, waiting for the Shogun to give their final command quickly. He pointed towards the skies, and a hail of arrows rained down upon the vanguard of the Kespian army. Some fell, but most survived.

A horrid way of defence, but the necessary way at this moment.

Masamoto spotted that the Kespian army has broken through on one flank, so he ordered a few troops to take care of them. When he looked back to see how his troops fared, but saw the lioness from before was leading the break.

He took the five retainers he had with him and charged the break. When he was getting close, he saw that this particular lioness was both a fighter and a motivational figure to this break.

He and his retainers began to hold the break back, although the break kept pushing the six back ever so slowly, but something was lost when his konabo wielding retainer gained a debilitating cut to one of her arms. That foot soldier from the Kespian army was cut down by another retainer while the injured one was dragged away to be treated for her wounds.

Masamoto just pulled his tsurugi out of one of the foot soldiers' leg, ending them with a stab to the neck, and sheathing the sword once more. When he turned his head, he saw the lioness looking back at him. Neither backed down, instead charging at the other. When they were to clash weapons, one of his retainers used his yari shaft to stop the lioness' polearm, the blade of hers cleanly cutting through the wood which tried to block it, while another tackled the Shogun out of harm's way. That was where a third retainer took his tant? and stabbed the lioness' side.

What they saw shocked all four of them to the very core.

Not only did she not react to the pain itself, but pulled the blade out calmly like any other would an item of clothing. She looked at the blade, coated in her blood, and the wound, blood already flowing out.

'What devilry is this?', 'How-', and 'By the-' were the various vocal responses his retainers made at the sight of what this lioness did.

She casually threw the tant? to the blood-stained dirt. She looked at her paws on her polearm, as if making sure that they were still attached. Her left paw was unarmoured, but looked cracked and burnt, but that type of skin hasn't reached her face.

"For my King and His family, I will face you, Shogun!" She yelled, proclaiming her challenge.

It was there that his three remaining retainers all made a barricade between him and the lioness.

"You will not touch the Shogun!" The serpentine dragon retainer proclaimed.

Masamoto shoved the retainers out of the way, coming to the front.

"Amano-gimi?" Each of the retainers asked shockingly as he moved past them.

He saw the lioness smile, possibly thinking that her time of either honour or ending the war is now upon her.

"What do you call yourself?" Masamoto asked.

"I am Isa the Numb. This war shall end, and the Prince will be rescued from your clutches!" The lioness responded.

It was there that all conversation died.

Both combatants charged at each other, a war cry being bellowed from their muzzles.

Two flashes of steel met in the middle, signalling the start of the duel to the death.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Much later:

Masamoto, as well as one of his two shinobi retainers and the only shinobi retainer with him on the warfront, the fox Mita Kaira, walked along the no-man's-land between their camps. Masamoto didn't have his tsurugi with him, but Kaira had his katana, the grip white, strapped on his back just in case.

Masamoto reverently held the corpse of Isa the Numb in his arms, her face peaceful in spite of the duel that raged before between them, the small note Masamoto requested clutched in her paws. It was a good duel, Masamoto gaining a new deep and jagged scar over his muzzle and nearly having his throat slit, evidenced by the many small scars now scattered around his neck. Isa had just as many small scars and one large one, evidenced by the scar that ran over her nose. The killing blow was actually under her left armpit, where Masamoto was lucky enough to stab through. Kaira held Isa's war scythe in his paws, cleaned of all of the blood that stained the blade and haft.

In Uslijan, they had a saying about Kespiens. Their steel is strong, but their will is stronger than their steel. And Isa, even though deluded by the information, was a perfect fit to that saying.

"Are you sure this will work, Amano-gimi?" Kaira asked, obviously concerned.

"In what way?" Masamoto replied, confused.

"The way you want to." Kaira answered.

"Kespian's King went to war to save his son. I'm beyond certain that he'll do this." Masamoto responded.

When they got to the outskirts of Kespian's camp, he knelt and laid down Isa's body on the ground, Kaira placing the war scythe next to her.

He still remembered her final words.

'Tell Dolsen to open the thing I left for him.'

With that done, Masamoto stood back up, along with Kaira. A group of Kespian's warriors came down to them. Kaira placed his paw on the grip of his katana, but Masamoto stopped him from exciting the wrath of the overwhelming odds.

"Which one of you goes by the name of Dolsen?!" Masamoto yelled.

The group parted to reveal a hyena. He stepped forward only one step until he saw who the corpse is. He quickly snatched another soldier's spear and began to charge. Kaira quickly looked at Masamoto, who mouthed 'not lethal' to the shinobi, and began to pull the katana off of his back.

Everything stopped when the hyena was roughly pulled by yet another soldier, making him drop the spear he snatched, and the hyena was restrained. Seeing this, Kaira placed the katana, which was a quarter unsheathed, back fully into the scabbard.

"Dolsen, calm yourself!" This soldier ordered.

Dolsen let out an insane laugh. "You think I can, Silas?! Because I cannot!" He replied, sounding angered and insane.

"If you want to hear Isa's final request, then calm yourself." Masamoto said.

Upon hearing this, Dolsen seemed to have calmed down enough. The restraining soldier, who must be Silas, slowly unrestrained Dolsen, unsure if the hyena was acting or being genuine.

"What were they?" Dolsen asked, his voice completely different.

"She said for you to open the thing she left for you." Masamoto repeated.

Dolsen's expression changed to melancholy. He slowly shook his head from side to side. He was slowly being led aside by another, who both could only guess is a strategist.

Not that it helped anyways. Kespiens were good at jumping over the line between being primarily a soldier or primarily a strategist.

Silas stepped forwards. He was a tall bull, his horns sawn off, wore a dull green cloak that covered the majority of his body and the dark leather armour mixed in with small metal plates, the hood resting against the rest of the material, a dagger and falchion near hidden by the cloak, the hilts of both looking as if made out of horns, and a massive grey longbow was slung across his back. How can he shoot an arrow? Or a better question is can the string be pulled back at all? They know that Kespian bows have differing draw weights, but that must be impossible to draw, even among the strongest.

Even for a Darkbow like him.

"We'll prepare a Pyre for Isa. Don't you worry." Silas told Masamoto.

He looked down, and finally the note in her paws was seen. Silas picked it up and read it, slowly turning back to the rest.

"Someone fetch a messenger and have this sent to the King immediately!" He ordered, handing the message on to a foot soldier.

"But He is on his way to-" The foot soldier tried to argue.

"I know where He is going! Send a messenger there and get this to the King NOW!" The bull archer ordered. This foot soldier, scared out of their wits, stumbled away as quickly as they can for a messenger.

He turned back to Masamoto. "You can leave now. We'll try our best to maintain a ceasefire. An arrow of fire will be the signal for what's going to happen."

Masamoto nodded and began to walk back to camp, the Kespiens doing the same.

"Amano-gimi, I hope your plan would work." Kaira said, obviously concerned.

"I hope so too, Oni. I hope so too." Masamoto replied, using the nickname that was given to Kaira.

____________________________________________________________________________________

At the Shogun's Palace:

A vixen retainer was running through the halls, the some of the floorboards creaking as her foot landed on them. A purposeful feature from a bakufu before this one. A katana was slung over her back, the sister sword to the one her brother has in the exact same position, except her's has a grip of red rather than white.

The vixen came to the door she's been searching for. It took way too long for...... him..... to be admitted with all the complications. The vixen slid the door across, entered and slid it closed behind her.

The vixen immediately went onto both knees and placed her paws onto the floorboards in front of her, bending her arms so that her eyes stared straight at the ground.

"Amano-hime." She said, gaining the attention of the only other inhabitant in the room.

A young female greyhound turned around to face the vixen, the primarily black kimono she wore was most likely cumbersome. But it was a ceremonial garb, so it was meant to be that way.

"Mita Taka. I take it that he is here?" The greyhound asked.

"Hai, Amano-hime." Taka answered.

"Good. Take me to him."

Taka bowed once more before standing up. Taka led Amano-hime to where she wanted to go. Any other time, they would be talking, as they were good friends, but now it's different. The Shogun placed Amano-hime in charge, and that drastically changed the dynamic between the two.

Taka opened the door and the greyhound stepped just inside the threshold, ordering Taka to remain outside, which the vixen did. She heard Amano-hime take a deep breath and continue forwards. Taka knew the greyhound wouldn't be harmed....

... But that didn't stop her worrying about her friend.

Taka heard footsteps running in the halls. She sniffed, recognising the scent immediately.

One of the genin (the lowest rank of ninja), most likely coming to her to report. And, sure enough, it was.

"Chunin Kaida." The genin said, using a nickname that those within the Shogun's province call her, handing Taka the message.

"Thank you." Taka replied.

The genin bowed and ran, most likely going back to wherever they came from.

The vixen read the message, shocked at the contents.

Those who's loyalty to the Shogun has waned have began to gather an army around Yamahara, which isn't a good sign.

A serious cause for concern which should be sent straight to the Shogun.

Taka motioned for a servant which was walking the halls, ordering for the message to be sent to the Shogun with all due haste.

The message never left the palace grounds.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Within the room:

After she took the deep breath, she began to walk towards the 25-odd year old jackal who's wounds have been tended to. Bandages were wrapped around his bare chest, where the skin clung to the ribs. In fact, the majority of his skin clung so close to his bones that it was unsettling to think about what he went through. His shirt was placed beside him, within arm's reach, the face of a stitched-on purple six-pointed wavy star pointing upwards towards the roof.

The jackal looked at her, squinting his eyes. "Who are you? And where am I now?" He asked, his voice still carrying regal weight after so long of being nowhere near such a place for his standing.

The greyhound bowed slightly. "You are in Shogun Amano Masamoto's palace, a safe place. I am Amano Hanako, the Shogun's daughter." She answered in a just as sophisticated way.

The jackal began to sit up, prompting Hanako to jog as fast as she could over to him to stop him, placing her paw onto his bandages.

"Please, do not harm yourself more. My father's on the warfront, just waiting for the chance to-"

"War?!" The jackal loudly interrupted, confused in every sense of the word. He began to push up further, causing Hanako to push down further.

Hanako nodded. "Prince Adair, your father tried to invade Uslijan to find you. My father is protecting our home while he was trying to find you as well. The war has been going on for six years."

"But..... my captors. They said that the Shogun ordered my capture." Adair said, still confused.

Hanako shook her head. "Despite my father's position, some daimy?s have either little or no loyalty to him. You were captured by one such daimy?, who must've concocted a fake story for your ears to hear, maybe even for your father himself. My father issued no such order since he didn't know about you being in Uslijan at the time. And you know that our countries' history of warring with the other has affected our relations immensely."

Adair began to lie back down and Hanako's paw was lifted off of his bandages.

"The people here won't try to kill me?" He asked.

Hanako shook her head once again, even giggling slightly. "If they do, they have to answer to my father. And he will not be happy with them, as it will go against the order that they were given."

Adair nodded, satisfied with the answers. With all of that, Hanako turned and left the room. When he was sure that Hanako left, he turned his head to the side, seeing his shirt right there, the purple estoile (the proper name for the wavy star) facing upwards. He rolled over onto his side and begun to reach a paw over to it. He realised that his stretching wasn't harming him, so he continued to reach over. He laid his paw onto the estoile, tears coming to his eyes.

The jackal took a shaky breath. "After all I've been through, father, this noble heart of mine hasn't faded." Adair said, sadly. "But I fear that it may break, for those you sent to protect me have failed in their duty and have perished."

Tears soaked the fur beneath his eyes. But as quickly as the tears came, they disappeared. Adair lightly gripped the estoile, his eyes determined.

"But I will hold the strong will of Kespian's people. For you, them, and our people."