Sunset at the horizon, smell of flesh and blood, corpses covering the tall grasses and groaning of those dying, waiting for the reaper whom would soon ease their pain. This became an everyday sight for her. Only now she got the meaning of the words-

“Honor, loyalty, duty were just spices for the Feast of Crows… huh.” she says as she looked at the red sunset.  

Crows and wild dogs were already started their feast on the dead and the dying. Unable to even swat the black birds, she saw a man groaning in pain nearby as two crows fought after plucking out his eyes.

Many of them died fighting for different reasons, for family, for money, for the gods, for honor, for their lord, for wanderlust, for the country and for power. But she knew that all is equal in the eyes of Death, no matter the cause of your end.

But maybe, Death will become irritated in seeing an increased number of souls he had to gather. Her country had become a hotbed for death and violence.

Yamato once was a land of peace and prosperity; all enjoyed such luxury under the reign of the emperors. Trade flourish, population grew into millions, roads became safe to travel, starvation and famine became absent in several centuries.

But as history kept on telling, too much peace becomes a poison to the minds of men. And as thus as always, the death of a peaceful overlord becomes the spark for the greedy and their desires. Powerful aristocrats and people that vied for power slowly appears on the stage.

The emperor died without a strong heir to carry the burden of ruling the vast empire. As such it began the series of conflicts between the powerful families and lords to take seat of the emperor. Some claimed to be a distant relatives and blood of the emperor, some claimed to be his illegitimate children, but all were the same, hungry for the crown with the great powers that comes with it.

Warlords soon ruled the empire, dividing the once, united country. Slowly the regional lords declared their independence and fought to dominate others. Anarchy erupted as the innocents and the powerless became the subject of abuse and maltreatment. Villages were plundered and raided, farms were burned, and families were raped or butchered. Then sickles and hoes were replaced with blades and swords. The green rich lands of the continent became saturated with blood and flesh.

Order had already crumbled. The former millions of people who lived in the country were reduced almost to half of its former numbers. Then it came to the point where the warlords had been desperate to increase their armies that they forced women and children to fight.

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One of them was Mizuki, a daughter of the current head of Izuchirikuzen Clan and one of the powerful warlords of the Eastern part of the empire. Her father ruled the vast lands of Hakazen. But their peaceful lands were also not spared from the wars that are raging on the mainland. Their strong neighbors and former allies turned against them as new head replaced the former peaceful lords.

Her father still wanted to remain neutral in all this war. He refused to take part in any sides. As thus some greedy lords, took it as a form of weakness. Their lands were scorched, their men were killed on the spot, children dying of hunger were thrown into the sea and some were enslaved along with women were raped and violated, elderly were buried alive. Raids continued for several years while the lord still tried to control the fires.

But finally, her father was forced to take a side on the war.

Her father mobilized his entire standing army, all fifteen thousand and marched towards the territory of his nearest enemy. And it should’ve been a male heir who would’ve been with her father on the battlefield but Mizuki is no normal girl. Ever since she was discovered with extremely high skill and talent in art of war and martial might, her father taught her the way of the blade.

Thus her exceptional talents with the blade made her father decide to let her take part in the battles. And in the very first battle and at such a young age of 15, she showed both her allies and enemies of how she is one of the deadliest assets in the battlefield.

 In every victory her father had gained, so is her reputation increased.

Soon, her reputation soared that she was feared by the enemies and allies alike. Then she became famously known as the “Onikiri”, the famous trump card of the Izuchirikuzen Clan.

And right now, they have won another decisive battle against the powerful Kuzumori Clan. The final enemy which blocked her clan’s overall dominance in their region and this victory put the nail on the coffins of their enemies.

‘Still no interesting opponent…’ she mused.

Almost twenty thousand corpses littered the battlefield, casualties from both sides combined. In her bloody right hand was the heads of three enemy commanders, including the head of the son of the current head of Kuzumori Clan.

The smell of blood took back her senses.

“I should get back and give these to father.” She whistled to call her horse, Roukomi.

While waiting for her horse, only now she realized that her entire upper body was covered in blood and pieces of flesh. Unlike the rumors of her, she doesn’t like to be covered by blood, it stinks and sticky. And was hard to remove from her favorite armor.

“Well, it’s unavoidable to be showered in blood after beheading four people.” She tied the heads on the saddle of her horse before mounting.

Then she suddenly heard a familiar sound of a horn, it was a signal to regroup at the main camp.

“Let’s go Roukomi.” she took one last look to the sunset before galloping towards the hill.