The samurai camp was woken up by a man shouting. He was one of their own who joined the Remens, now being used as a messenger.

"One of you sent a shinobi to kill the Remen commander! As an act of mercy, he is giving you one last chance to join him! You have until morning before he attacks the camp!"

This samurai would say his piece and then ride away as fast as he could, to evade any arrows shot his way.

People in the camp woke up. Some ran out right away to the Remens. Others prepared for battle in their camp. Meanwhile, the samurai at the head of everything gathered in their tent for one last meeting.

The atmosphere was heavy as if everyone was carrying a sack of boulders. Still, all those present handled it with stoic expressions. However, there were numerous emotions hidden behind their masks.

"Which one of you idiots sent a ninja after the Remen leader?" Masahide didn't bother being polite.

Silence overtook the room. Masahide placed a hand on his forehead and rubbed it.

"Why did you think this would make things better? We're lucky that the Stratgos or whatever the Remens call him is in a good mood, or we'd all have been killed in our sleep," Masahide said, his voice increasingly agitated. "We wouldn't have even had a chance to draw our swords."

No one dared speak. None had seen Masahide like this before, no matter how bad things got. But now, there was a burning wildfire in his eyes, barely suppressed by being beaten by a sheet.

When no one spoke for another moment, Masahide stood up with pure fury on his face.

"Tell me now, or I will cut you all down where you stand!" he shouted.

"It was me," Tomonori spoke up.

Masahide turned to him, fists clenched.

"What were you thinking?" he asked.

"I could not stand to see our people go over to barbarians," Tomonori answered. "It would be better to die than to submit to their rule."

Masahide felt like drawing his tachi and cutting Tomonori down on the spot.

"How would you have us die? In our sleep, cut down by whatever assassins the Remens have? Or just overwhelmed by sheer numbers? And what if they decided to torture us to death for killing one of their generals?" Masahide asked.

"I did not," Tomonori answered. "But I still believe your worst scenario is better than the alternative."

He then stood up. Tomonori placed his hand on his sword. His gaze was sharp.

"If anyone here intends to join the Remen Empire, I will cut you down. Then, I will command our forces and lead them to an honorable death," Tomonori said.

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Jirou spoke up.

"Tomonori-san, do you honestly still think that after we fled from our homeland? If you had any honor, you'd have died with your lord long ago," he stated.

Tomonori's tachi flashed. Jirou ducked back, narrowly avoiding getting his throat slashed open. Then, the entire camp erupted into a mess of blood and death.

As dawn rose the next day, the Remen army prepared for battle. They gathered weapons, put on armor, and entered formation. A good portion of the army were horse archers, both Remen warriors and samurai that joined them.

The Remens saw a group of samurai and civilians heading towards them. None of them had drawn weapons. Everyone, except for a few of the children, had some sort of injury on their body. Masahide was at their head. One of his arms was gone.

Demetrius rode to the front of the Remen forces. He wore metal lamellar with mail under it and a gambeson under that. One of his hands pointed forward, a finger extended.

"Are you here to join us?" he asked. "This is your last chance."

Masahide leaped forward and stopped, bowing as deeply as he possibly could. He spoke what little Grekken he knew.

"Join, yes," Masahide answered.

Demetrius nodded.

"Good," he said.

The Stratigos turned to the Remen soldiers.

"Some of you, escort them into the camp. Make sure their injuries are cared for. The rest of you, into the samurai camp," Demetrius commanded.

Masahide couldn't understand most of what Demetrius said, but he could figure it out from the theme warriors' actions. A pained grimace crossed his face.

"I do not know the words to tell them, but they will find nothing in the camp. At least, not what they're looking for. It is a shame. Only samurai should have had to fight to the death, but others did too. Perhaps we had more honor left than any of us believed?" he thought.

What the Theme warriors saw in the camp would have made most men throw up. They were fortunate, or perhaps, unfortunate enough to have been long since hardened to horrific sights.

Blood stained the sand. Bodies covered the ground. Arrows stuck out of corpses. Bodies of noncombatants, even a few children, were spread out on the ground. Most of them had been felled by arrows, caught in the crossfire. A few were cut down with spears or swords.

The stench of death was high in the air. Some of the flesh had started to rot, and many of the deceased relieved themselves as they perished. There were few sounds, save for the flapping of vultures high overhead. They were the sole thing keeping the camp from falling into an eerie silence.

Demetrius' expression remained cold as he rode through the camp. Ganzaya was next to him, surveying the area. Tents and other buildings were damaged by arrow and spear strikes, some were even hit by sword blows.

A warrior's body lay on the ground, his intestines spread out over the sand. The man's spear was buried up to his hands in an opponent. Demetrius saw one of the warrior women, pinned to a wall by a hail of arrows.

The Stratigos stopped his horse in its tracks. He turned to his men, holding down the nausea that welled up in him. Demetrius almost threw up when he saw a bird fly off with someone's eye in its beak.

"This is the first time I've seen anything like this. I knew I'd see something like this sooner or later, I might even order a massacre someday, but...why did it have to be today?" he thought before speaking. "Search the camp. Find any survivors. Gather any corpses together. We'll bring them back to our camp and have the samurai bury them by their customs."

Despite his words, Demetrius doubted they'd find anyone. Only one of the samurai leaders had shown up. If even most of them were dead, that did not bode well.

"Ganzaya, search that tent," Demetrius ordered, pointing to something he guessed was purchased by a high-ranking samurai on their trip over there.

The Ulv did as commanded, dismounting from his horse and looking through the tent. After a few moments, he left it.

"There is no one inside," Ganzaya said.

"I will see for myself. Stay outside and make sure no one enters while I search," Demetrius ordered.

He dismounted and went inside the tent. The moment Demetrus was sure no one could see him, he let himself throw up.