"Did we win?"
A man asked, as the looked at the backs of the enemy, fleeing. Their bow ashigaru had fled without even a fight – 50 men in total. A few yari ashigaru had managed to escape, but their numbers were insignificant. The men that were left could pose no trouble. It was an overwhelming victory.
"Aye! We won!"
Gengyo announced. They had defeated the enemy in more ways than one. Not only had they beaten them on the battlefield, but they had also crushed Oda's fear tactics before they could propagate. Now, when tales were told of how 50 of the men had sliced their own throats, they would not feel fear, but instead scorn! For that army had fallen to a lesser force.
"REJOICE, MEN! FOR YOU HAVE FACED THE DEMONS OF HELL, AND LIVED TO TELL THE TALE. LET YOU FEAR NOTHING FOR THE REST OF YOUR DAYS, AND LET THE WORLD, INSTEAD, FEAR YOU!"
He raised his sword high in the sky. He was lost amongst a crowd of men, so not many could see him. But all knew who it was that spoke, and as they raised their weapons skyward, they let out cheers filled with pride.
"YEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
"F.U.C.K THOSE BASTARDS!"
"VICTORY TO THE UNITED ARMY!"
"AWOOOOOOOOO!"
A man that had gazed upon the depths of hell, and felt the chilling grip of fear around his heart, yet shook it off, and using his cold, hard steel, and fiery heart, cut his way to freedom. Now that was a man that could look upon himself with pride. There was a man who had experienced the truest sense of himself.
And all 300 of them had. Whether dead or alive. They had looked upon the monster that Nobunaga had conjured, and recognized their fear, before promptly telling it to f.u.c.k off, and crushing it to pieces.
A complete reversal. The enemy forces had banked their victory entirely upon the fear created, and had thrown themselves with all their might at the united army. But in the end, that had been their downfall. They ran headfirst into a brick wall, one that instead of moving backwards, moved forwards.
Due to the strategy employed - putting Gosankyo's forces upon the left-wing – their victory had been swift, and the losses were minimal. Only two men had fallen from the Special Forces unit, 10 from Nakatane's unit, and 11 from Gosankyo's.
If considered purely from the standpoint of numbers, the battle had not been close in the least – they had completely crushed the numerically superior force. But only those who were not present would dare to say such a thing. They had teetered right upon the edge of defeat – and their defeat would have been an absolute one. They would have been massacred, unable to defend themselves.
It was a gamble that Oda had employed, but a terrifying one. It was to the point where Gengyo could not take too much heart in their victory, for if Nobunaga had been present, and able to direct his units in the midst of battle, then he was unsure whether they could have gained the upper hand.
He did not share such doubts with the others, and instead smiled as they congratulated each other on the victory.
"It was truly an honour to fight by your side, Niwa-san!"
Gosankyo announced, placed a firm hand upon Nakatane's shoulder as he looked the man in the eye. His arm was still quivering, as his body was in shock. It seemed the adrenaline had still not worn off, nor had the fear, but the joy of victory overwhelmed the two, and he did not hold back.
"Aye, you did well, Gosankyo-san. I could not think of a better man for your role."
Nakatane returned genuinely. His fight was greatly helped by Gosankyo's swift assistance.
"You give me too much honour – I could certainly think of a better man."
He turned his gaze toward Gengyo, who was still in thought.
"Miura-san, it is to my eternal fortune that it is you who directed us today. That… That sight, of men… slitting their own throats. It shames me to admit, I lost the stomach to fight after I saw that…"
The young man smiled lightly in return.
"I think we all did. It was indeed a monstrous ploy – but we destroyed it. You and your men should take solace in that, and not allow anything to stand in your way in future."
"Aye… Aye! I will... Thank you."
He nodded rolling the words inside his head, suddenly feeling the need to thank the young man. Gengyo for his part, raised an eyebrow, surprised, but he made no comment as the Gosankyo bowed and returned to his men.
SLAP
An old hand made it's way to his shoulder, and he turned around.
"Jikouji-san."
He noted, identifying the man behind him.
"Well done today, lad. I can see that you have not slacked off in your learning of strategy. You've been reading the scrolls Nakatane sent you?"
"Yeah, they're pretty interesting."
"He still flipped out a bit today, though, eh? I think that might be the first time I've seen you, angry lad."
Nakatane commented, joining in the conversation.
"Aye… I did get a little fired up. But it seems it was no different for you, Niwa-san."
"True. I got a bit pissed off. For the same reason as you, I think?"
"Oda?"
"Right, Oda. It pissed me off to think we'd lose to a man who wasn't even on the field."
Nakatane confirmed his thoughts to be similar to that of Gengyo.
"Aye. The men were pretty terrified. But it will do them good. I doubt we'll have to worry about routing any time in the future."
"How do you know it was ordered by Oda? They could have had a commander among them."
Almost at the same time, Nakatane and Gengyo refuted Jikouji's suggestion.
"No, the Elite guard-"
"No, they were too-"
They spoke over the top of each other.
"You go first, Niwa-san."
The man nodded.
"They had to be men of extraordinary discipline to take their lives for their master. It had to be a member of the Oda's elite guard."
Gengyo nodded, agreeing. And soon Jikouji was nodding his understanding, wondering why he had not seen that beforehand.
"I suppose with age, I grow slower."
He muttered, a little unhappy.
"I wouldn't worry about it, Jikouji-san. It was just a guess."
Gengyo said, attempting to comfort him. But in the eyes of the older man, it was worse been comforted by someone so young.
"You better go and speak to your men lad, no doubt they're eager to get some rest."
Agreeing with what the old man said, he bowed, and made his way toward where his men were waiting, sharing excited conversation of the battle.
"And here he is! The man that scares those runts so much that they'd rather fight demons than deal with his anger!"
Rokkaku shouted boisterously waving his spear to get Gengyo's attention.
"I don't think they were frightened of me…"
The young man protested, though he was smiling for he knew the big man to be joking. He was almost double his age – being somewhere in his late thirities - and yet he was so child-like and playful in his mannerisms that it was impossible to dislike him.
"I was! Hahaha!"
He said, laughing loudly.
"Me too!"
Sasaki shouted, joining in.
"Alright! Well, another job well done today, fellas. I'm proud of you."
"Y'know, I'm his dad? Crazy, right?"
Morohira said loudly in Rokkaku's ear almost rendering Gengyo's praise null. He shook his head lightly at their humour, but still smiled in amus.e.m.e.nt, as he lead them back to where the Imagawa army was camped, and helped them unload and set up the tents.
It was only as he worked on setting up camp that he realized how tired he was. Dark had already fallen, but he rarely grew so tired, and had always been used to living only on the smallest amount of sleep. But today's battle had drained him to the point where it was a little unsettling, and he ended up retiring to his tent before his men.
He sat there, contemplating fiercely. This was the first taste he had of Nobunaga's might, and it left him unsettled how off guard he had been caught.
'…I will not allow this to happen again.'
It was an obvious conclusion, and a simplistic one, especially for a man of his intelligence. But it was all he could say to comfort himself. He would remain cautious as they journeyed forward, and should the unexpected ever happen once more, he would not allow himself to be rattled, and would deal with it step by step, until the problem crumbled before him.
His men did not know of their commander's thoughts – they celebrated without reserve long into the night, as their leader proved once again that he was a man they could rely on.
…
…
The two fallen were honoured the next day in a funeral with the rest of the force's fallen comrades. Gosankyo joined them in honouring the departed. He was a respectable man, and he and Nakatane seemed to be getting on rather well.
The new closeness of the two armies was something that Gengyo took comfort in, as it in his eyes, it effectively doubled the number of men in which they had.
Imagawa sent them a chest of coin for their troubles, though it was delivered through the hands of one of his men. Inside, there was revealed to be 500 coins, which was split evenly amongst the two units. Again, Gengyo was given his share, and again he shared it amongst his men.
No one else amongst the twelve thousand strong army seemed to care what had occurred on the field that day, nor did any of the men tell them of it. They had come perilously close to complete annihilation – yet the rest acted as if their victory was guaranteed. They could only laugh at their ignorance.
It was a tale that they would share amongst themselves for a very long time, and one that they would use to draw strength from in their moments of weakness. And as the army awoke in the morning and began its march deeper in Owari, those 300 did so as different men. More than anyone else, they were ready for whatever chaos Oda Nobunaga had in store for them. And chaos, he would bring.
//Author's Note
I hope you enjoyed today's mass release. Thanks for reading :)