They got here fast.
Shiraishi had not even finished a cup of tea when he sensed the Reiatsu of a Shinigami entering the underground.
He had not expected the Shinigami to discover the underground passage so quickly.
"What a pain." Shiraishi let out a breath, reached over and knocked Nemu Kurotsuchi unconscious. He swiftly hoisted her onto his back and ran to the hot spring where Oda Nobunaga was.
Kichō heard the rush of air and turned around, raising a hand to greet him.
Shiraishi spoke first. "The Shinigami have already infiltrated the passage. We should split up. If you're still alive at the end of May, we'll keep making money together. If you're dead, I'll burn some paper money for you."
"Good luck. Goodbye."
Without giving either of them a chance to reply, he took off.
When you were out in the world, the most important thing was to run faster than your teammates.
It was not that he was disloyal. Their relationship was simply nowhere near close enough for him to risk his life to save them. At most, he would lend a hand when it did not endanger him.
The situation was clearly dangerous. Leaving aside Soi Fon and Kenpachi Zaraki, he could not even beat Shunsui Kyōraku alone.
If all three came at him together, he would be one hundred percent dead if he showed himself. If he did not run now, he might not get away.
"Bastard!" Kichō stamped her foot in anger, her face full of regret. "I never should have brought him here."
"Let's go." Oda Nobunaga did not blame Kichō. He understood perfectly well that even if she had not brought Shiraishi here, as long as he had remained in West District Ten-
The Shinigami would have discovered the underground passage anyway.
The situation was not so bad now. At least they had learned that the Shinigami were in the passage ahead of time, rather than finding out when they met them.
Oda Nobunaga ignored the torment of the searing heat. Pain was better than death.
He stepped out from beneath the hot spring waterfall, his body covered in horrific burns left by the flames, with only a loincloth preserving the last of his dignity as a man.
"Hiss."
Oda Nobunaga drew a sharp breath. His body grew scorching hot, and the sight of Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto swinging his sword flashed through his mind once more.
"Lord Nobunaga, please go." Kichō hurried to speak. Her Spiritual Power was so weak that she could not help at all at a time like this.
"Shut up! What kind of husband abandons his wife?!"
Oda Nobunaga suffered under the torment of the searing heat and roared fiercely, but his movements were exceedingly gentle as he lifted her onto his back. Holding his sword in one hand and supporting her legs with the other, he gritted his teeth and said, "Hold tight around my neck."
"Yes." Kichō offered no further refusal and obediently wrapped her arms around his neck. His skin did not feel pleasant; it was pitted and uneven.
She did not mind at all. Instead, she nuzzled him affectionately, tears of joy streaming down her face.
Perhaps neither the time nor the place was right, but she felt so happy at that moment that she would have no regrets even if she died.
Oda Nobunaga had no leisure to think about such things. Gritting his teeth, he raced forward. Before leaving, he did not forget to ring the bell and alert his subordinates to evacuate.
As for how many could escape, that depended entirely on their individual strength and luck.
The present crisis was no less dire than the Honnō-ji Incident. Even he could not be sure he would leave the underground alive.
The Shinigami were powerful, and their captains were monsters among monsters.
In his current condition, if he ran into them, he would most likely be killed.
Oda Nobunaga ran barefoot across the cold ground, yet he felt no chill. Instead, he grew hotter and hotter, as though a fire were burning outward from inside his body.
His vision blurred.
He bit the tip of his tongue, forcing himself to stay conscious.
"Lord Nobunaga." Some of his guards ran out from a fork in the passage. There were only six of them.
"We'll cover the rear. Please, hurry!"
"Good. I'm entrusting my life to you, Nagata." Oda Nobunaga remembered the name of every subordinate in the Owari Group so that, at critical moments, he could call them by name and make them fight with all their might.
"Yes!" Greatly encouraged, Nagata vowed to repay the favor of having his worth recognized, even at the cost of his life.
Oda Nobunaga continued forward. Along the short passage, more than a dozen others gathered around him, and he made it out of the underground without incident.
He had no mind for the long-awaited sunlight or the fragrance of grass and trees. He kept running.
As sunlight fell on his burned skin, he felt as though his whole body were on fire. He looked from side to side, but there were no flames burning on him.
It was all an illusion caused by the searing heat.
Oda Nobunaga repeatedly reminded himself of that as he ran on over mountains and ridges without stopping.
As he ran, he began to pant heavily. The heat inside him was like wearing a padded coat in forty-degree summer weather while standing next to a boiler heated to over a thousand degrees.
Oda Nobunaga bit down until his mouth was full of blood, but he could not detect even a trace of its metallic taste. His sense of taste had long since been burned away.
"Lord Nobunaga, should we rest for a moment?"
Kichō could hardly bear to watch him suffer, her words trailing away in the rushing wind.
Oda Nobunaga did not take her advice.
They had not gone nearly far enough to be safe.
Just as he had thought, the Shinigami were closing the distance.
Fortunately, Oda Nobunaga had suffered from the searing heat for years, so his Reiatsu signature was not very strong. Besides, the three captains were mainly looking for Shiraishi and had not come after him themselves.
The Shinigami who caught up were all ordinary division members.
Whoosh.
A Shakkahō streaked past from behind, trailing a long flare of light, and landed at the rear of the group.
With a thunderous explosion, flames engulfed the surrounding trees. Several Owari Group members who had fallen behind were caught in the blast and fell to the ground, wailing.
"Lord Nobunaga, go fir-"
Before the man could finish, his head drooped and he collapsed limply in the mountain forest. Blood poured from the place where Byakurai had pierced his chest.
Oda Nobunaga did not look back or slow down. He ran with all his might.
He ran through dense mountain woods, across a stretch of flat grassland, and plunged into another forest.
The voices of his subordinates behind him grew fewer and fewer until, at last, they vanished altogether.
Oda Nobunaga stopped and looked up.
A figure leaped down from above, his face broad and fleshy, his eyes filled with a thirst for blood and battle.
The 11th Division.
Even without any insignia, he could tell which division the man belonged to. Only someone from the 11th Division would have such eyes and such a face.
Oda Nobunaga strained to twist aside from the sword coming down at his head, then slashed open the Shinigami's abdomen. Blood and intestines spilled out.
The next instant, several Shinigami closed in around him, some slashing with their swords, others throwing punches.
It's over... Oda Nobunaga smiled bitterly. He had never imagined that he would survive Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto only to be killed by a few nameless nobodies.
A fierce flash of steel swept past, and several Shinigami fell to the ground.
Kichō, still clinging to his back, was stunned. She had been ready to accompany Lord Nobunaga to the afterlife. Who had intervened?
She looked around in bewilderment and saw a mysterious figure beneath a tree, his whole body shrouded in black robes.
Oda Nobunaga saw him too. With a complicated expression, he said, "After all these years, you've saved my life again."
"The more allies, the better."
The mysterious figure answered warmly.
"Heh." Oda Nobunaga smiled, a hint of wariness in his gaze. "You didn't lure the Shinigami here, did you?"
"How could I? I didn't want you exposed so early. It was all an accident, an accident caused by Shiraishi."
As the mysterious figure spoke, he gently pushed up the frames of his glasses. "He seems to have an affinity for accidents. He always manages to bring me pleasant surprises."