As it happened, Hojo Akitoshi had successfully used a tradition he had learned at Tōdai.
With black dogs, roosters, and cattle, he had detected Yura of the Hair's approach in advance.
It proved that, at times, certain fundamental truths held across worlds.
But this was still Japan, and some things were different.
For instance, according to certain ideas taught at Tōdai, an army was a place brimming with vigorous blood and vitality.
Demons with physical bodies, such as Dog Demons or Spider Demons, could certainly charge into one, provided they could suppress their discomfort.
But demons like Yura of the Hair, born of resentment and closer to ghosts, should never dare provoke such a force.
Forget charging an army head-on. Even from far away, the murderous blood energy it fostered would probably batter them until they could barely hold their souls together...
"Perhaps that demon has a physical body, too?"
Hojo Akitoshi muttered to himself as he tossed Roasted Soybeans into his mouth, watching his men prepare to counter Yura of the Hair.
Bands of Hatamoto Samurai poured incendiary oil into the trenches outside the camp, then set it alight.
An odd smell instantly spread around the camp beneath the night sky.
More precisely, it was the acrid stink of scorched human hair.
Beyond the wall of fire burning in the trenches, something invisible seemed to surge like a tide, its presence plainly apparent.
The roaring flames held it outside.
But even blocked by the flames, that invisible tide continued to batter the fiery wall, wave after wave.
The flames rose and fell unpredictably as the two sides reached a stalemate, and the scorched smell in the air grew stronger.
"My hair?"
Hidden somewhere outside, Yura of the Hair stared in surprise as her Hair Sea was held back.
Ever since she had been born of resentment, her unique nature had served her well against her enemies, even if she could not claim to be invincible.
Apart from those famous Great Demons and the Demon Second-Generation scions of illustrious families,
even when she could not win, she could still escape unscathed. Her specialty, manipulating hair, could even catch ignorant opponents off guard and send them to a bitter defeat in their first encounter.
If it worked so well against demons, using it against humans was child's play.
Yet she had never imagined that an army composed of mere humans would first use those animals to detect her surprise attack.
And now, by these means, they had stopped her hair from even getting close?
Pink shadow adorned her eyes, and her lovely pink irises flickered. She had the appearance of a young woman as alluring as a flame.
Yura of the Hair, a demon with the sweet, delicate face of a cute young girl, was utterly astonished.
"It's only ordinary human fire. Thinking it can stop my Hair Sea is far too naive."
Fair-skinned and beautiful, with long legs and a seductive, curvaceous figure, Yura of the Hair lightly raised her small hand to her lips.
There was no hurry. She truly was in no hurry.
Ordinary fire might stop her Hair Sea for a moment, but could it stop it forever?
Not only did her Hair Sea seem boundless, the heat of those flames could only scorch it for a short while.
Once her Hair Sea kept surging forward, it would smother the flames in the trenches outside the human army's camp!
At that thought, the red ribbon tied in Yura of the Hair's ear-length hair swayed in the night.
Her body, clad in a skimpy, revealing black ninja outfit with a distinctly modern look, trembled with excitement.
She rubbed her hands haphazardly over her face and body, unable to suppress her longing for the blood-red lotuses that would bloom once her Hair Sea breached the trench fires and swept into the camp.
"Ah!"
Her crimson lips parted, and Yura of the Hair was already lost in rapture.
Her expectations were perfectly reasonable, however. Based on her past encounters with human samurai, there was nothing wrong with them.
The problem was that the army she faced today was no ordinary force of human samurai.
It was the Hojo Army led by Hojo Akitoshi, and it carried gifts originally intended for the Takeda and Imagawa.
"My lord, the flames aren't hot enough."
On the command platform, Akechi Mitsuhide watched the wall of fire seemingly being pressed down. After a careful assessment, he realized something.
Unless they acted soon, this barrier holding back the demon's attack might be breached.
"Mm."
Hojo Akitoshi nodded, toying with the Roasted Soybeans in his hand. His eyes gleamed with the confidence of a man who still had the situation under control.
"Have the Hatamoto Samurai throw the packages in. Also, over there."
Raising his hand, Hojo Akitoshi pointed out a spot.
"Don't throw any there. Let a small amount of those things, which are probably hair, come through."
"Then see whether the measures we've prepared can reveal those invisible things."
"Once they're visible, have the samurai try cutting them down with weapons smeared with dog blood or other defiling substances, or blades bearing cinnabar and baleful blood energy."
"Yes!"
Akechi Mitsuhide answered loudly with an emphatic nod. Judging by the smell permeating the air, he thoroughly agreed with his lord Hojo Akitoshi's assessment.
The things attacking them were very likely something resembling hair.
Then, filled with admiration for his lord Hojo Akitoshi, Akechi Mitsuhide methodically issued orders to the samurai below the command platform.
Upon receiving those orders, the Hatamoto Samurai stationed beside the trenches within the camp moved.
Together, they threw the specially prepared paper packets they carried into the weakening flames.
At the same time, some of the Hatamoto Samurai poured more incendiary oil into the trenches to strengthen the fire.
Watching the human samurai's desperate struggles from afar, Yura of the Hair gave another disdainful chuckle.
"You're only ants trying to stop a cart. My Hair Sea won't lose to you!"
Yet one moment Yura of the Hair was mocking the human samurai's actions, and the next her beautiful eyes flew wide in uncontrollable shock.
"Impossible. Why is this happening?"
Before Yura of the Hair's eyes, what had seemed to be wavering on the verge of collapse beneath her Hair Sea,
the flames in the trenches outside the human camp, suddenly blazed with renewed vigor, standing firm.
Naturally, Yura of the Hair's Hair Sea, surging toward those flames, melted away like snow in the warmth of spring.
The fire destroyed her hair far faster than Yura of the Hair could drive her Hair Sea forward.
"What
is causing this? Are there human monks or Onmyoji in the camp?"
Shocked, Yura of the Hair hurried to act. Through the information relayed by her Hair Sea, she discovered with astonishment that the fire the human samurai had lit
burned at a temperature higher than anything she had ever encountered.
If it could astonish a demon like Yura of the Hair, there was no need to mention the human samurai within the camp. One after another, they turned to stare.
As for the Hatamoto Samurai beside the flames, they would already have retreated if strict military discipline had not held them in place.
Even Akechi Mitsuhide, standing on the command platform a considerable distance from the flames, felt the surging waves of heat.
"My lord!"
He looked in astonishment at Hojo Akitoshi beside him, who wore a faint smile, utterly assured.
He desperately wanted to ask how his lord had created such a miracle.
"Have the samurai fall back a little and stay somewhere with good airflow."
"The flames will produce a small amount of toxic gas."
Smiling, Hojo Akitoshi surveyed the spectacle he had created with approval. This was the overwhelming advantage that memories of the modern world gave him.
Gasoline mixed with white sugar could reach temperatures of 4,000 degrees Celsius within a small area.
Even though he had no gasoline and was using the incendiary oil of this era instead, it was more than enough to deal with the hair of a mere Japanese demon like Yura of the Hair.
And if it was not enough, white sugar was hardly the only thing he had!
All that remained was to see whether their blades could damage her hair.
And, in turn, pose a threat to the enemy's true body...
With an inscrutable smile, Hojo Akitoshi's lips curved into a cold arc.
"Bastards."
Yura of the Hair glared fixedly at the flames, which stood like an impassable chasm, her eyes blazing with malice.
Her shifting gaze then turned toward Kaede's Village. There were plenty of villagers there!
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