Chapter 9

Sure enough, as Masahiro Date had predicted, the situation changed once again. Ueno Taro, surrounded by seven men, fought with ease, earning Masahiro Date's admiration. When he saw his subordinates gradually losing the upper hand, he realized that if he didn't change the tide, his defeat was inevitable.

With a clear and sharp clash of metal, Ueno Taro's spear struck the katana of a samurai with unmatched force, forcing the samurai to step back, leaving his chest exposed.

"Die!" Ueno Taro's eyes flashed with a murderous intent. He thrust his spear forward, risking a slash to his body to kill the samurai, breaking through the encirclement. Wounded but victorious, Ueno Taro staggered two steps, his bloodshot eyes like those of a hungry wolf, focusing on Nakayama Noritoshi, who was shouting commands. He charged forward with his spear.

Nakayama Noritoshi, like a frightened quail, fell silent, holding his katana and retreating step by step.

In both military battles and street fights, the key is momentum. The brave win in close combat. Nakayama Noritoshi's fear before the fight was a grave mistake on the battlefield. He no longer had the courage of his younger days, and his age had dulled his spirit.

Before a peasant soldier could react, Ueno Taro attacked, piercing his thin thigh with his spear. The soldier, now crippled, fainted from the pain.

Now, Ueno Taro's eyes were fixed on Nakayama Noritoshi. The samurais, seeing the peasant soldier fall, charged again. Ueno Taro was less than two yards from Nakayama Noritoshi, who stumbled and fell, saved only by the timely arrival of the samurais.

The failure to kill the enemy commander while wounded was a blow to morale. Ueno Taro finally went berserk. Despite being outnumbered, one after another, the enemy fell to his spear. Unable to bear it any longer, he fought with a fearless spirit, engaging the samurais in a life-or-death struggle.

Trapped with no way out, Ueno Taro fought with all his might, each spear thrust taking a life, even as he was wounded. Nakayama Noritoshi, crawling and scrambling, finally escaped to a safer position. He shouted hoarsely, "Whoever kills this bandit leader will be the lord of Kagerou Castle! Kill him! Kill him! If anyone lets him escape, they will be executed!"

Enraged by the fighting, Nakayama Noritoshi ignored the approaching Date army and committed all his forces to the battle.

With this order, the samurais, who had begun to retreat, charged forward like rabid dogs. Even the peasant soldiers accelerated their attacks, hoping to become samurais through their efforts.

The Copper Mountain bandits began to break ranks, especially when their leader was surrounded. Whether samurais, peasant soldiers, or the laborers of the Copper Mountain, the sight of their comrades dying before them was too much to bear. Even a well-trained army would have crumbled under such a brutal assault.

Some, trembling, threw down their weapons and fled toward the other side of the Koyama River, shouting, "No more fighting! No more fighting! Everyone, run!" The panic spread like a plague, and everyone began to retreat, fleeing toward the Sazanami River.

The samurais commanding the peasant soldiers, no longer concerned with pursuing the fleeing enemies, turned their spears toward Ueno Taro. The lure of becoming the lord of the castle was too great to ignore.

No one noticed a group of people appearing on the hillside where the ambush had been set, watching with cold, mocking eyes.

A cold light shone in the single eye of Masahiro Date. He stood up, ignoring the enemy, and looked at his eager men. The area fell silent, filled with a deadly atmosphere, the only sounds being the shouts from below and the heavy, excited breathing around him.

Masahiro Date shouted, "Raise the Date family banner, and follow me down the hill!"

A banner with the red bamboo leaf and two flying cranes emblem appeared on the hillside, inscribed with "The Date family of Bitchu will always be victorious."

"Kill!" Masahiro Date shouted, leading the charge down the hill, shouting, "Nakayama, the villain! Masahiro Date is here! Prepare to die!" His spear, glinting coldly, pierced the head of a startled samurai, who fell dead. Yoshimasa Yama and his men also charged, the fresh troops breaking the stalemate.

The Nakayama army was defeated! The moment the Date family joined the battle, the already tense nerves of the peasant soldiers snapped, and fear spread among them. No one had the courage to fight anymore. Some took a small step back, and more followed.

If this retreat was not stopped, it would turn into a full-scale rout, and the rout would turn into a massacre.

Nakayama Noritoshi was now terrified. Ueno Taro's fierce fighting had already shattered his courage, and the ferocity of the Date family was too much to bear. The samurais, still surrounding the struggling Ueno Taro, had not yet realized the need to stop the peasant soldiers.

The peasant soldiers, from retreating, became restless, looking around in panic for an escape route. Peasant soldiers were always far from elite. They were useful in easy battles but hesitated in tough ones and fled at the first sign of a losing battle.

Under the fierce charge of the Date family, the peasant soldiers began to run. Some ronin samurais, despite the lure of becoming the lord, chose to save their lives and joined the fleeing masses.

Defeat came swiftly.

"Do not chase them, kill Nakayama Noritoshi! Do not let him escape."

Once Nakayama Noritoshi was dead, the Nakayama army would collapse. Just as in the Battle of Okehazama, when the great leader of the Imagawa clan, Yoshimoto Imagawa, was killed, the Imagawa army immediately disintegrated and fled in disarray.

Masahiro Date, ignoring the others, focused on Nakayama Noritoshi, who was being protected by two samurais and trying to escape. He charged through the desperate resistance of the Nakayama family members, who were the foundation of the clan, much like Yoshimasa Yama and Shigehiro Nijō were to the Date family.

Each spear thrust was a release of Masahiro Date's boiling blood and a familiarization with his spear, overcoming the unfamiliarity. He thrust his spear into a samurai who was desperately blocking his path, twisting and pulling it out. The samurai's ashen face showed a look of relief.

Masahiro Date, not caring about the samurai's thoughts, charged toward Nakayama Noritoshi. The two samurais, protecting Nakayama Noritoshi, fled toward the Sazanami River. Unbeknownst to them, Masahiro Date had already noticed their movements. He ran a few steps, then threw his spear at Nakayama Noritoshi. Like a black lightning bolt, it drew a deadly arc in the air, piercing the chest of a samurai protecting Nakayama Noritoshi.

The weight of the spear, combined with the momentum of the throw, was devastating. Even if they were wearing armor, it would have pierced them. The samurai, seeing the spear tip protruding from his back, fell forward, pushed by inertia toward Nakayama Noritoshi.

Nakayama Noritoshi, unable to avoid the spear, was fortunate that the spear had lost its force after piercing the samurai. It hit his side rather than his back, and he did not die immediately. Unfortunately, he was crushed under the weight of his fallen protector, the spear standing upright and swaying, a testament to its power.

From the moment Nakayama Noritoshi started to flee to the moment he fell, only a few seconds had passed. But those few seconds decided the battle. The Nakayama family, except for a few loyalists, fled, leaving a trail of dead and wounded on the ground.

Ueno Taro, seeing Masahiro Date charging toward him, smiled bitterly. He knew what had happened. He had been the mantis, but not the sparrow.

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