She swallowed the strange-tasting liquids with great difficulty, and a grunt swallow sounded in her throat.

After a few seconds of anxious waiting, an indescribable sensation - like a stream of water, sometimes warm, then cold - flowed through the limbs of her body, tumbling, and finally wrapped around her flesh, like a thin thread, tightly wrapped around her blood, and then slowly immersed in it, ambushed into the deepest part of her body, like an □□, and then lurked in her body, not knowing when it would rerise, and under unknown circumstances it would suddenly explode.

But, strangely, at the same time, all the pain in the scar that had been bothering her in her lower left abdomen gradually disappeared. and the blood was no more. Her vitality, which had been taken away by a large amount of blood loss, seemed to be brought back to her body by something. The feeling of weakness and floatation faded away from her, and the sunlight became less dazzling—

Then, the torrent of heat and cold that mingled in her body gradually turned into something as sharp as a blade, running through her veins, stabbing and churning her flesh mercilessly. There was a savage impulse that crumbled in her mind, shouting for her to hurt others in order to alleviate this unprovoked tyranny and bloodthirsty affection.

She suddenly rolled over and fell face down to her knees, confronting the madness that was about to overwhelm her sanity. Her hands seemed to be about to break free of her control, so she dug her fingers deep into the dirt on the ground, and used all her strength to fight them as they were about to move.

No...... Can't get hands-on...... Can't give in......

No matter how painful it is, it can't hurt others......

In this tug-of-war between sanity and madness, the scene of Shannan drinking the water and jumping up to her neck flashed blankly in her mind.

Then...... Is that so painful, Mr. Sannan......

After that scene flashed by, the next picture that emerged was actually in Sendai, Hijikata held the hand of Yamanan Heisuke, who was dying, and then the bodies of those two people turned into cyan ashes, pouring down from Hijikata's fingers, and floating into the air in an instant.

Liu Quan's teeth were clenched, and his whole body was tense, and he trembled from too much force.

To survive...... This is the price that must be paid......

It turns out that Mr. Shannan and Heping Zhujun also chose to become a Rakshasa with such a mood?

Because I don't want to admit defeat and lose the meaning of life in vain...... There are still a lot of important things that have not been done and the ability to continue to complete them has been lost, which is really ...... It's really unwilling......

She didn't want to die like that...... However, the kind of hypothesis mentioned in those historical popularization posts ...... Is it true?!

The bullet really came from behind......

Fortunately...... Thankfully, because of this, her disguise was completely successful...... Because the other party can't see her face from behind, he must really think of her as Hijikata himself......

Ezo is such a place...... Really...... Don't you even want to give it a chance to die heroically?!

Blood was churning through her body. Blood gushed up her throat and she forced her to swallow it.

There was a savage and ferocious impulse rolling in his body, wanting to tear apart the man who had betrayed him, and the villains who were going to take his life.

But if you continue like this, you will lose your life like Mr. Shannan......

The cruel face that Shannan approached her after drinking the water and was about to strangle her, and the calm face that lay on the ground in Sendai's last moments, looking at her tenderly and saying "Thank you for always believing that I am a good person" appeared alternately in her almost crazy consciousness.

Mr. Shannan...... I have something I want to get even if I risk my life......

Even if you fight for life, you want to live...... I want to live to achieve my mission goals one after another, and I want to live and watch this world continue safely.

I want to know that every bit of effort and dedication I have made in the long years, and the pain and strength accumulated in the continuous gathering and parting, are all worth it.

That's why I drank the water.

So, I must not lose.

We must not allow all our sacrifices to become a joke -

Liu Quan's whole body tensed, his shoulder blades bulging back slightly from the exertion, and his ten fingers completely sank into the dirt beneath the ground, and his finger bones seemed to break through the thin layer of skin on the back of his hand.

"Snow Leaves!"

A familiar voice called out to her beside her—

In the midst of great pain and endless darkness, the voice was like a ray of light, piercing through all confusion and blood mist, splitting her almost chaotic consciousness and reaching her heart.

"Listen to me!"

The sound of Hijikata rang very close to her ears. It was only then that she realized that he had been by her side the whole time she had been struggling face down to control herself from being dominated by madness, his hands clasping her shoulders tightly from behind her, as if in doing so he would be able to transfer all his strength to her and defeat the madness of the rakshasa.

"You won't lose, you'll live......" His voice sounded very clear, and his tone was calm and calm, in stark contrast to her manic state of mind at this time.

"Even if you become a rakshasa, I will not give up on you. It doesn't matter how scary you look...... I'm going to stay with you and face whatever you look like. Because the most unbearable pain for me is not what you have become, but that you will never stand by my side again...... Do you understand?!Do you understand?!"

Liu Quan's body trembled violently, and a muffled pain snorted from his throat, as if he was gritting his teeth against the heart-rending pain.

After a few minutes, the trembling of her body gradually disappeared, and her deeply lowered face suddenly and slowly lifted up, and slowly turned around like a puppet.

The blood-red eyes stared straight at the earthwork without expression.

After a moment of silence, she spoke, her voice hoarse, barely like her own.

"That kind of thing...... I know. ”

The earthwork shook slightly.

"If you don't know...... Why should I come to Ezo......

The blood-red eyes suddenly narrowed slightly, as if with a very shallow smile.

"From before...... I knew that Mr. Hijikata was also a gentle person. ”

"Always keep the hardest, most painful things to yourself. Although he scolded us harshly every day, it was Mr. Hijikata who took care of us. ”

"The time Ikedaya, Mr. Hijikata put me in his own team because he was worried that if I met with the awkward head secretary, both of them would feel hard, and if there was another conflict, there would be no chance of reconciliation, right?"

Hijikata seemed to be stunned, and it took a long time for him to let out a "Ha?!", as if he couldn't believe what he had heard.

In his eyes, Kiyohara Yukiha looked very miserable, haggard and tired, and the oversized coat on his body was stained with blood and the dirt and leaves that had been stained when he fell from his horse.

But she was smiling.

"Thanks to Mr. Hijikata, some things that should have been tragic have all turned out to be good memories...... "She laughed softly, as if she were really happy.

In that low, soft laugh, her short snow-white hair gradually turned black. The blood-red eyes also returned to their normal appearance.

"So, this time, it must be like this......" Her dark eyes were dyed with a gentle and hazy look, and she slowly straightened up, and sat on the ground instead, looking up at him with a surprised expression.

"This time, what should have been tragic will surely become a good memory in the end. She said in a confident tone, and the empty bottle that had turned like water rolled down to the ground next to her body.

...... I had seen with my own eyes how terrible the mad rakshasa was......

...... Obviously, he once fought to the death with the runaway Rakshasa with his own hands......

...... Obviously, I once watched the people I respected and looked up to turn into that kind of monster......

...... Obviously, I once watched that person disappear in front of him because of the exhaustion of his life-

Seeing this qiē, why can she still smile so much, with a confident attitude, and say such affirmative words?!

"Really...... I've really lost to you......" He smiled wryly, and suddenly leaned forward and hugged her tightly into his arms.

"It's time to say such courageous things...... What a strong mental power you possess as a woman......"

Even a wise and powerful person like Shannan will be tortured by the water to become a different person. But she didn't seem to have changed at all, as if the fact that she had become a rakshasa didn't hit her at all.

She was still like that, always able to see the good in things, always stubbornly believing that she could go with him, that it didn't matter if her life was shortened, her face was distorted, it would become uglier and uglier, and she clutched his hand desperately, as if she were grasping a belief that would never disappear -

The shadow of the sun had already set to the west, and the brilliant sunlight before dusk still shone brightly, casting countless golden points of light in the forest, as if gently flickering on the top of her hair.

Passing through this forest, you will find the direction of Bentendaiba. However, there seems to be no more intense gunfire and shouting of killing.

Before leaving Goryokaku, the latest news he received was that the new government forces had crossed the sea at night last night, climbed Mt. Hakodate, and occupied it after a fierce battle. The last retreat he had originally designed for the Shinsengumi, Bentendaiba, has now become the place where the Shinsengumi will survive and die.

After getting the news, he seemed to understand something in an instant.