Beneath the cover of her white silk fan, the fox demon made a gesture to the swordswoman beside her.
"Who?" Shinbei feigned a bewildered expression, then promptly burst into laughter. "Oh, you mean that samurai from Tosa Domain."
He patted his belly. "In here! Shame I haven't eaten my fill yet... Only when Kyoto has been burned to ashes can I truly savor this sweetness—"
"One Step, Beyond Sound."
The instant the words rang out, the cherry-blossom-colored swordswoman had crossed dozens of meters.
A long gale howled in, sweeping up the flying snow that filled August's skies.
"Two Steps, No Interval."
Okita Sōji drew her wakizashi and pierced Shinbei's throat. Her blade flashed like a flying swallow, weaving and turning across his body.
The young swordswoman's voice thundered through the surroundings.
"Three Steps, Blade's End!"
Tanaka Shinbei's torch-bearing arm was severed in an instant.
His eyes widened. Though his throat had already been pierced, he still laughed joyfully. "Hahaha, good! You're a manslayer too. Manslayers are beasts, and beasts are wolves—you are me."
Tanaka Shinbei gazed at Okita Sōji in wild delight.
So long as the young swordswoman met his gaze, that chaotic flame would take root within Okita Sōji's heart.
For a long time afterward, the young swordswoman would not notice the alien emotion that had appeared in the depths of her heart.
But as long as she became disappointed in this world, as long as she felt even a fleeting urge to take revenge against all things, as long as she harbored the intent to destroy... "Tanaka Shinbei" would be reborn from the flames.
The sword light continued to roam over the manslayer's body. As life gradually drained from him, he remembered that his name had not truly been Shinbei.
In the great fire of Shimabara Castle in