Outside of Danberu's fortress the battle to exterminate the bakeneko continued. Danberu pushed forward with his tanuki soldiers and Avar. Renya joined them with all the tanuki she roused to battle. Danberu was surprised to see the strange severe maid back him up.

When Danberu first saw Renya the night before the battle he thought he was dealing with Fubuki's flunky. Renya appeared to be a maid from her clothing, though he thought it was strange that she wore armor as well.

Renya was all demands. It was as if she were talking to an animal.

"The battle will begin at dawn."

"Everyone will assemble."

"We'll all move out in one group."

All of those demands were high demands for tanuki. They didn't like war, until they did, which would happen every so often, and when the tanuki were done with battle they turned to whatever else caught their interest. Danberu had responded unfavorably to Renya at the time.

"Who are you, and why are you even talking to me?"

And that was when Renya slammed him into the ground.

Danberu soured on the girl as his giant body hit the ground. She must be related to a tengu, or be that sort of being that has no patience with 'lesser beings'. Although she appeared to be a young human girl, to Danberu as a tanuki it was natural to change appearance to suit the situation.

Danberu learned to take maids seriously in that moment.

Danberu decided to obey Renya's orders. No doubt she was Ichi's envoy, there to threaten Danberu into submission. Danberu had already seen first hand what Ichi's ability was like when he fought Avar. The current situation of his fortres was dire anyways with only a trickle of supplies coming in from the strange ninja girl's tunnel. Renya didn't need to be that rough with him. Danberu wondered why Ichi would send a maid to pressure him into helping him, especially since now he saw the incredible power of Ichi's troops.

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It was all for a show of force. Danberu couldn't think of any other reason.

That thinking was turned on it's head when Renya showed up. She cut Avar's cage apart and ordered him around like he was her soldier to combat. What surprised Danberu is how quietly he obeyed. Danberu thought Avar the strong type, and yet here he was obeying a lowly maid!

Now, Renya fought at the front of his tanuki troop, urging tanuki forward into battle with hits of the flat of her blade on their backs like a slave master as she cut bakeneko down with unnatural speed. Danberu was already tired of seeing the excellence of Ichi's maids.

When Danberu looked at his own goofy fat subordinates stumbling into herds of cats he wondered why he sought to rule them in the first place.

Danberu spent the fight thinking of what to do next. He admired how Renya was able to turn his tanuki into a decent fighting force.

Maybe it would be better to attach himself to Ichi like a barnacle would to a whale. He had already conspired with the fox spirit rebels who claimed to be allied with Tamano no Mae. Danberu thought the foxes were insane, but if they weren't lying Danberu thought he had far too much to gain. Danberu even agreed to house some strange prisoners for them.

However, when he happened to get a glance at those prisoners, he regretted his decision.

Their faces and clothing were unmistakable. They appeared to be the twin sisters of Dai Tengu, the leader of the tengu. When Danberu was in the Tengu Empire traveling many years ago, he heard a sensational news story. Dai Tengu would be sending two of his children to earth to prevent a fracturing of his kingdom. The picture in the newspaper of the mother of Dai Tengu children looked the spitting image of the prisoner called Syon.

He had no moves but forward. It reminded him of his old days when he was an enterprising tanuki thinking of making a name for himself. Indeed, as the battle continued on Renya even came to his side and urged him into battle.

Danberu had no choice but to go all out. He transformed into his phoenix tiger form and ran into a pack of bakeneko, setting them aflame with his wings. Were he younger, he might challenge Renya himself even if it meant death. So tiresome to be so old. Danberu thought himself a coward as he ran from the maid and into battle, burning bakeneko to crisps quaking on the ground.