He couldn't help but feel a little out of place, and he remembered the former director of the Shinsengumi, Isamu Kondo.

Come to think of it, Mr. Kondo also has an inexplicable attachment to "Toru Toru...... For fifty gold, I bought an apparently fake Tiger Che in a knife shop. Not only did he stubbornly believe that it was the real Torato, but after the Battle of Ikedaya, he specially hired a swordsmith because of the sturdiness of the fake Toraki, and rewarded him with an extra five taels......

In this way, the young woman in front of her is indeed in a strange way and has a certain style of painting with their new selection group director...... Close, huh?

For some reason, this thought made him suddenly soften his expression.

He didn't point out in any other seriousness, "No, this 'Ichijo Ichijo' must be a fake, because the real 'Ichijo' was already dedicated to His Majesty by the Owari Tokugawa family in the third year of Bunhisa, and now it is an imperial artifact, so how can you get it."

After thinking about it, he finally said only ambiguously: "...... Is it. ”

Before he could figure out what to say next, he heard the sound of bullets whizzing from the enemy in the distance, as if they had received some order for a moment.

Immediately, the direction in which the Pure Righteous Team was supposed to be guarding became chaotic. The shouts of people, the sound of footsteps, the sound of swishing bullets flying by, it is almost impossible to imagine a scene of hell on earth just by those sounds.

Moreover, the monsters that descend from the sky will not wait for their opponents to prepare themselves before attacking.

Blood-red-eyed, tall, and black-clad monsters roared and swarmed in, all rushing towards the side of the Nyoraitang.

And from their actions, Liu Quan finally determined the goal of the time-traced march this time.

They're not going to help the exhausted Shinsengumi and Aizu clan turn around and win that incredible victory—they're going to hasten the process of the Shinsengumi and Aizu clans disappearing! Tonight alone, they want to make the Shinsengumi's key figure, the leader of the Genmiban group leader and the current leader of the Aizu Shinsengumi, Saito Ichi, die here, contrary to the truth of history!

She didn't have time to elaborate on her reasoning, so she could only hold the "one issue and one vibration" in her hand, and shouted: "Three days and moons! Everyone follow me!" and then jumped out of the trench.

Saito didn't have time to ask why she had just beckoned the men she had brought with her to fight the monsters, and watched as she—along with the two handsome youths and the three baby-faced boys—leaped up almost simultaneously and rushed towards the monsters that were several times larger than them.

The sound of the shiny blades humming when metal collided, the sound of wind and sand from the battle, and the roars and pains of the monsters in the sky resounded in the wilderness in front of Saito.

Even, the sounds of those battles once drowned out the chaotic gunfire and noise coming from the direction of the retreat of the Pure Righteous Army, as well as the sound of rushing water from the direction of the Crab River.

Saito knew that he should now calmly assign garrison tasks to the few remaining Shinsengumi soldiers here in Nyoraido, send someone to pick up the soldiers who had retreated from the direction of the Junyi team, and he had sent to support the soldiers he had sent there earlier, and then send someone to the Kanegawa side to see how much time he had left to attack the Satsuma infantry on this side regardless of the Nagafu Gunkoku team who crossed the river...... And then send a few people to meet the front of the Satsuma soldiers-

Before his thoughts were fully formed, he was stunned!

He noticed that with each monster she and the men she had brought with her, the large orange-red hole in the sky would heal. And the dozen or so monsters, although they have an advantage in numbers, don't seem to be their opponents, and the big holes in the sky are gradually disappearing one by one-

Suddenly, a monster that was so tall from Saito's point of view that it almost obscured the sky suddenly appeared from the other side of a small mound very close to him—something he didn't notice at first.

The monster may have landed on the other side of the mound, which was not the main direction of their attack, so the young woman who called herself "Kazuo Shinoda" didn't pay attention to it.

And Saito's attention was partly on her battle situation, so when the huge black shadow suddenly revealed its full form behind his side, the first thing he noticed was a surging murderous aura that suddenly attacked from behind!

Before Saito could look back, his body subconsciously reacted like a conditioned reflex - he swooped down in the trench and rolled on the spot, and the moment he bent down, a fierce sword wind swept over his head!

However, he had already made a dodge move to the ground, and although the trench was extremely narrow and constrained his retreat, he was still able to turn his back to the sky after a roll, and thus saw clearly the source of the sword wind just now—

A tall monster that seemed to be wearing a straw hat with a low brim pressed so that it could not see its face clearly, holding a large sword in his hand, the blade of which came sideways, and at that moment it hovered above the trench in the air. The blade of the great sword glowed ominously black, and as if sensing that he had dodged the blow, the monster let out a low, angry roar in its throat, and then raised the knife in both hands!

In this posture, it was obviously impossible for Saito to raise his sword to fight it, but the trenches were narrow, blocking his way to continue to roll and dodge. Let's put it this way—he's almost trapped in this shallow, rudimentary trench now, and unless someone jumps out now to grab the other man's sword, to buy him a precious little time, to give him a chance to roll over and jump out of the trench to fight him, he'll have to wait for his death.

A strong wave of anger and unwillingness suddenly surged into Saito's heart. However, he didn't have time to think more deeply.

The battle-hardened body reacts before the brain. He scooped up the love knife that had fallen beside him because of the tumbling just now, and had already been cut in many places, raised it horizontally in front of him, and poured almost all the strength of his body into his hands, waiting for the condescending heavy blow of the monster holding the big sword in front of him-

Swish!

All he waited for was the sound of metal breaking through the air.

A short knife pierced the dreary air and flew straight towards the monster with the great sword! In an instant, no one could see how the change had happened, and no one had time to react, and the short knife had already stabbed into the monster's right shoulder with a thud!

Although this was not enough to kill the monster, the knife in the shoulder did delay the monster's movement for a moment. It raised its horned head and let out a roar of offended rage.

...... But the next moment, the roar was interrupted!

Because, along with the short knife that flew over, there was also a figure!

The young woman named "Shinoda Kazuo" dragged her sword, which was called "one period and one vibration", lowered her body and rushed forward as hard as possible, and her whole person was tense like an arrow off the string. Saito fell on her back in the trench, and before she could even see how she moved, she saw the side of her field of vision, which was cut off by the shape of the trench, and her figure suddenly appeared in mid-air!

Although all this happened in a moment, from Saito's point of view, Shinoda's series of movements suddenly slowed down as if it were a slowly turning shadow on a marquee.

She jumped up from the edge of the trench and jumped over the top of the trench, holding the handle of the knife with her right hand while in the air, and her left hand quickly moved to the end of the handle, and the palm of her hand was against the end, and she changed her grip to push, aiming the tip of the knife at the monster's chest, using the momentum of the forward rush, depressing her upper body, and pressing almost the weight of her entire body on the sword in her hand - the next moment, with a bang, the knife went straight through the monster's chest!

Saito: !!

The monster let out a louder scream, and then, like the other stabbed monsters, turned into a cloud of black smoke and dissipated into the night.

There was a click, the sound of her footsteps landing lightly on the other side of the trench.

Saito lay on her back on the dirt beneath the trench, listening as she seemed to pick up the dagger that flew over and stabbed the monster in the right shoulder as she seemed to land, and shouted, "Thanks, Hakata!", and then seemed to throw the dagger back to someone not far away.

Immediately, a vigorous juvenile voice—with a distinctly Kyushu accent—rose somewhere above his head.

"Wow-you, you've increased your man's strength by fifty points!"

Saito: "......"

Ah, what is this little boy with a Kyushu accent who seems to be about to change his voice?

He felt a slight confusion in his mind, and at this time, because of the fact that others were walking around the top of the trench, some of the untamed muck at the entrance of the cave fell in a row, and he subconsciously closed his eyes in order not to be dazzled by the sand.

Immediately, a slightly panting, but still smiling voice, gently raised above his head.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Saito opened his eyes and saw Shinoda Kazuo half-kneeling on the edge of the trench, looking down at him with his head down.

Seeing that his eyes were open, and there was no pain in his expression, she seemed relieved, grinned, and quite naturally leaned her upper body lower, and stretched out a hand towards him, as if intending to help him pull him up from the bottom of the trench.

However, Saito just kept his eyes open, staring at the right hand that was reaching out to him from above him, and for a moment he did not move.

The five fingers of the hand were open, and there was a new blood mark on the back of the hand. Saito lay on his back at the bottom of the trench, watching Shinoda Kazuo lean over to pull him in on almost half of his vision, and now in the second half of the night, the moonlight seemed to be brighter, and the bright moonlight cast from behind her, with a thin silver trim on her silhouette.

“...... Mr. Shannan...... As early as the second year of the Yuan Dynasty, he was no longer alive. ”

He said abruptly.

She seemed to be slightly stunned, and a layer of confusion seemed to float between her facial features, which were not so distinct because of the backlight.

Saito continued, "But Mr. Hijikata is still there. He went to Sendai. ”

At this, he took a deep breath, and instead of reaching out to reach her hand that was reaching out to him, he said quietly, "...... Go find him. He's the one who helped you in Osaka...... If you want to repay the favor, you should also look for him......"

Kazuo Shinoda seemed to have a look of surprise on his face when he suddenly mentioned the names of these two people. Then, before his eyes, the color of surprise gradually turned into melancholy, and finally into intangible.

"I see what you mean. She kept her hand out of her hand to him and said, "You want me to get out of here and go to Mr. Hijikata because he's safer there, right?"

Saito didn't speak.

It's as if Shinoda wasn't going to get any answers from him. The corners of her lips hooked slightly, and a puzzling smile appeared on her face.

"I can't go to him. ...... I can't get there, Mr. Hijikata......" she whispered.

“...... So, I can only repay you. Just take it as soon as possible. The hint of melancholy in her eyes quickly vanished, and she looked up at the night, then turned back to look in the direction where the Pure Righteous had been supposed to be guarding, and finally turned her gaze back to his face condescendingly.

“...... Because if you don't accept it quickly, the enemy will be killed soon. When the time comes, you don't want to accept it, and you can't help it. There was a hint of a ghostly smile in her voice.

Saito sighed, finally got up slightly, reached out to her, grabbed her outstretched hand, and stood up with the strength of her hand.

Then he heard her smile rather happily.

"Good. ...... You, the man's strength has increased by fifty points. ”

Saito: "......"

Ah, isn't this plagiarizing the lines of the Kyushu boy just now? However, what "manhood" was, and what she meant by it, for some reason, he didn't want to know at all.

Saito used Shinoda Kazuo to pull his force, and at the same time pressed his left hand on the edge of the trench, and rolled over and jumped onto the ground.

But the moment he stood firm on the ground, there seemed to be a loud noise in the distance.

There was a buzz, an ominous sound in the air pierced the darkness, and a flash of fire exploded not too far from them.

The powerful flames rolled up a turbulent air current, instantly lifting up the sand, dust, and trees on the ground, and bursting into a huge shockwave that almost toppled the people around the firelight.

In fact, the explosion point of the fire was still a little distance away from the position on the side of the Nyorado, but the air flow was set off in an instant, and Saito and the others were unsteady on their feet, and they stumbled a few times.

Saito subconsciously held Shinoda Kazuo's arm and stabilized the center of gravity of her body in time.

The impact point of this shell was very imprecise, but Saito immediately became extremely vigilant.

This may just be a test shot by the enemy. After two or three shells, they found their position, and if they came to the hall, they might be in a sea of fire.

In any case, when the shells hit, it is better to hide in the trench than to stand on the ground as a target, and Saito immediately shouted, "All people! Retreat into the trench and hide!"

Immediately, he grabbed Shinoda Kazuo's wrist, rolled back again, and jumped back into the trench. Almost at the same time, a cannonball whizzed in their direction—

Fortunately, the shell swept over the hall and landed in the woods on the hillside behind. The mountains shook with a thud, and the sound of trees creaking and falling down was very harsh.

Saito heard a cough from Kazuo Shinoda beside him, choking on the ashes. She choked and asked, "What's ......?"

"Yasuke Cannon. Saito replied succinctly, reaching to the bottom of the trench, groping for a moment, grabbing one of the rifles that had been left there, carefully poking out half of his face and placing the rifle on the edge of the trench.

Kazuo Shinoda seemed to have finally managed to calm his breath, and just as he was about to speak, a person next to him trotted over.

"Captain! Shuntaro may not be able to do it......"

It was the same young man who had previously stopped this line of so-called "suspicious people" with a rifle, Arai.

He is also gray at the moment, and he doesn't know where his hat has been blown away by the air current, his face is black, but there is a white vertical line under his eyes. As he got closer, Saito realized that the vertical line was actually his tears that had washed away the dirt and dirt that covered his face.

"I can't find that guy Ikeda. They were all on the side of the Pure Righteous just now......" Arai's young voice carried a hint of crying.

Saito sighed slightly in his heart.

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