I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"You are Tokugawa Yoshinobu?"

Saito Hajime couldn't help but look Tokugawa Yoshinobu up and down, a look of surprise appearing on his face.

Even he, who was usually calm and collected, couldn't help but be astonished at catching such a big fish.

When Tokugawa Yoshinobu uttered the words "I surrender," his loyal followers around him seemed to have lost their souls, collapsing to the ground with lifeless eyes...

……

……

"Mr. Howell! Over here!"

"Huff...! Huff...! Huff...! Huff...!"

"Have you...shaken off your pursuers?"

Howell and Sadao, under the protection of several British soldiers, fled in a panic.

In order to survive, they all performed beyond their usual limits, demonstrating unprecedented speed and endurance.

However, a person's two legs can never outrun a horse's four hooves.

Da da da da da da da!

A cavalry unit led by Yamanami Keisuke and Todo Heisuke suddenly arrived.

In the blink of an eye, they caught up with and surrounded Howell and his men.

Seeing the blade so close at hand and feeling the murderous aura rushing towards them, Howell and the others were dominated by intense despair. Their legs went weak with fear, and they couldn't even stand up.

Just as the knights were about to swarm forward and send Howell and the others to meet their maker, Yamanami Keisuke preemptively stopped them:

"Wait, don't kill them."

As he spoke, he pointed at Howell and Sadaoyi.

"These two look like important figures in the British army. Letting them live might prove useful in the future."

Toudo Heisuke asked in confusion:

"What use could it be?"

Yamanami Keisuke smiled:

"These two are excellent witnesses to expose the ugly face of the British government's unauthorized interference in the internal affairs of other countries."

……

……

The camp where Qingdeng and Yamata no Orochi were located—

Qing Deng ignored the greeting from the Yamata no Orochi and quickly turned his gaze to scan the inside of the tent.

Apart from him and the Yamata no Orochi, there were no other living creatures at the scene.

Not far from the Yamata no Orochi, there lay the corpse of an old woman.

The old woman was kneeling on the ground in a standard posture, her hands tightly gripping a wakizashi that was deeply embedded in her heart, her upper body leaning forward due to the excruciating pain.

Judging from his age and appearance, this person must be Tamamo-no-Mae, who is in charge of intelligence work for the Fazhu Party.

As the Fa-Zhu Party was on the verge of destruction, she did not choose to live on, but instead stabbed herself in the heart with a knife to accompany it in death... Tamamo-no-Mae's fierceness made Aoto's heart tremble.

Suddenly, a violent coughing fit rang out, drawing Qingdeng's attention.

"Cough! Cough! Cough!!"

The Yamata no Orochi raised its hands, tightly covering its mouth and nose, coughing violently until its shoulders trembled, and drops of blood seeped from between its fingers.

Qing Deng withdrew his gaze from Tamamo-no-Mae and turned his attention to the Yamata no Orochi in front of him.

"...You're quite ill."

"Yes, it's an old ailment that's incurable... Even if you don't kill me today, I won't live much longer..."

Having said that, the Yamata no Orochi lowered its hands, raised its gaze again, and stared at Qing Deng, letting the thick blood smear all over its mouth and nose.

"Yamata no Orochi, I've always wanted to have a talk with you. Since you're already nearing your end, let's just be frank with each other."

Orochi nodded readily.

"Sure, I was just thinking of having a chat with you."

Qingdeng gets straight to the point:

"For a long time, I have been very curious about what exactly your Fa-killing Party is trying to achieve by causing chaos everywhere?"

The Yamata no Orochi smiled slightly.

"Our motives are very simple. We just want to cause trouble."

"destroy?"

"That's right, it's destruction."

Orochi adopted a more relaxed and unhurried tone, speaking eloquently.

"Most members of the Party that punishes the law have tragic pasts and have experienced pain and malice."

"At my call, they gathered together with deep grief and indignation, which ultimately led to the birth of the Law-Slaying Party."

“We do not share the ambition of ‘rebuilding the world’ like the Great Salt Party.”

"Our goal has always been very simple: to cause destruction."

"The reason for focusing on the Edo Shogunate is simply because the Edo Shogunate was the most powerful force in Japan at that time."

"If the Edo Shogunate falls, then we will turn our guns on Satsuma and Choshu."

"If even the Sa and Chang are destroyed, we will not stop here. We will keep searching for the next target."

"If there are no suitable targets domestically, then we will head overseas."

"Destroy, destroy, and destroy again, keep destroying until death, until annihilation."

"In short, we are the embodiment of 'anger,' and only by turning the world into hell can the endless rage in our hearts be calmed."

After listening, Qing Deng concluded his remarks with calm words.

“I understand. Simply put, you are a bunch of twisted lunatics who are obsessed with cruel and immoral acts.”

Orochi chuckled to himself.

“King Ren, don’t you understand? Our existence is merely a response to the times.”

“The dark and chaotic world breeds ‘great good’ like the Great Salt Party, but it also breeds ‘extreme evil’ like us.”

"Therefore, as long as the world remains in chaos, the principle of 'punishing the party with the law' will never disappear."

“Your Majesty, remember what I just said—we are the embodiment of 'wrath'.”

"Since it is an incarnation, there will always be a possibility of it reappearing."

"So, you mustn't let your guard down."

"Perhaps ten years from now, or even tomorrow, a new 'Fighting Party' will appear before you."

After saying that, the Yamata no Orochi chuckled sinisterly a few times.

Qingdeng lowered his eyelids, as if deep in thought.

After a moment, he asked in a deep voice:

"You just said that most members of the Extermination Party have tragic pasts. So, are you one of them?"

The Yamata no Orochi fell silent.

When he spoke again, his tone became more profound.

"...I once had a son and a daughter."

"When my daughter was ten years old, she was abused to death by a government official."

"My fourteen-year-old son was furious and ran to Edo to report the magistrate's misdeeds to the Yashu Toshiyaku-yaku (Eight Provinces Governor).

"When I found him in the wild, he had been mauled beyond recognition by the vicious dogs kept by the magistrate."

[Note: Daikan: A low-ranking official in the Edo Shogunate, the type of official most frequently encountered by farmers during the Edo period.]

[Note: The Eight Provinces Control Officer was in charge of maintaining order, exercising administrative oversight, judicial power, and certain military command authority over the eight provinces of Bando (Musashi, Sagami, Awa, Kazusa, Shimosa, Hitachi, Shimotsuke, and Ueno).]

"That concludes my past."

The Yamata no Orochi paused for a moment, then curled the corners of its mouth into a meaningful smile.

“Niou, you may think that my past is nothing special.”

"But for ordinary people, such a tragic experience, which is not 'rare', is enough to turn even the most virtuous and gentlemen into heartless and tearless demons."

After saying that, he burst into loud laughter, as if he were mocking something.

The next moment, his laughter turned into coughing without any warning.

"Cough cough cough cough! Cough cough cough cough cough!!"

His cough this time was particularly violent, as if he were about to vomit out his lungs, and gushes of fresh blood spurted from his mouth.

It took him quite a while to gradually recover.

"Niou... is there anything else... you want to ask...?"

"That's all. I've asked everything I wanted to ask."

"Heh...I see...Very well...That's perfect...I don't have the energy to continue chatting now...What are you planning to do next...? Are you going to capture me alive...and then behead me and display my head to the public...?"

"You are already a candle flickering in the wind; even if we capture you alive, it will be meaningless."

As Qingdeng spoke, he raised the Vairocana sword in his palm, the tip of which pointed diagonally at the eight-headed serpent.

"If you could just stick your head out obediently, it would be much easier for both of us."

"Hehehe... stick your head out...? Who do you take me for..."

Orochi shrugged, a helpless expression on its face.

"I didn't expect... you to forget... what I just said so quickly..."