Bantō Honkan
A large number of soldiers rushed in, and the hall was silent. There were many corpses stacked on top of each other. They were all from the Sakato family. From afar, one could hear the moans of the wounded who could not escape. The floor was covered with black blood stains, bullet shells, bullet holes, and ashes.
"This is the last trace left behind in this world by those who brought down the curtain." Kitagawa Tatsuya also closed his eyes. As a samurai, he could sense the source of the ashes and how terrifying they were.
"This kind of curse technique cuts off all hope. They can never be resurrected, even now."
"Yamada Shinji must die!" Kitaoka Tatsuya thought to himself and ordered his subordinates, "Kill everyone in the dojo."
"All teams maintain a visible distance from each other. If there's an attack, support each other!"
As a modern person, Kitaoka Tatsuya didn't want to kill innocent people. This was because the present was different from the past. Many of the service staff weren't retainers of the Sakato family. They were just ordinary employees working for their salaries.
Therefore, even when they attacked the Sakado Main Hall, the order was that only those who resisted would be killed. But now, they had lost half of their people, and they were furious.
However, this order wasn't just out of anger. It was because the traitors couldn't be considered living people after all. After killing everyone in the dojo, the remaining lives were exposed to their senses.
Whether it was killing Yamada Shinichi or sinking Harutori Hime into the Yellow Springs, both were relatively easy.
"Also, we can't let people use cannons!"
The Banto Main Hall was actually built according to a fortress, and its defense was very strong.
If there was no internal strife that would result in a great loss of strength, they would have to pay a huge price to attack.
However, Takashi Kitagaki also knew that the dojo had a trump card — the cannons.
The cannon, which was preserved under the guise of being a cultural relic, was very primitive and required many hands to operate. However, its power was still terrifying. If it could be used, the Revolutionary Army would not have been able to reach the Banto headquarters so easily.
Because the rebellion was too sudden, the cannon had been destroyed at the first moment. However, Takashi Kitaoka could not be sure that there was only one cannon in the Sakato headquarters.
Takeda Seiichiro's status was not considered high, so it was very possible that he did not know anything else!
That was why Kitaoka Tatsuya had sent out teams to search for Sakato Genko and to check if there were any other weapons in the Sakato Main Dojo.
Originally, he thought it was only a matter of time, but he didn't expect that Nakata Shinichi of the Sakaguchi Headquarters was so terrifying that he killed so many people alone.
"I thought that killing Yamada Shinji in this domain would increase our strength, but I didn't want to make a mistake."
"If that's the case, then let me bear the blood of the innocent!" Takashi Kitagawa thought about it too. His face darkened as he looked around. He saw that the soldiers had already rushed in and were about to rush up the corridor and stairs.
Just then, a few barrels fell to the ground on the second floor.
In an instant, the liquid poured down like raindrops, enveloping Tatsuya Kitaoka and the others.
Before the Tobaku could understand, Takeshi Kitaoka smelled a familiar, pungent smell. His expression changed drastically as he shouted, "Oh no, it's gasoline!"
"Dodge!"
Tatsuya Kitaoka shouted as he leaped and rolled to the corner.
But in the next moment, a torch was thrown down. With a loud "boom", the hall was engulfed in flames in less than two breaths.
Not only was gasoline the most flammable and explosive, but once it was ignited, the temperature would reach a thousand degrees in a very short period of time. Under such circumstances, the twenty to thirty people in the hall were immediately ignited and turned into flaming people. Miserable screams came from their mouths.
These people screamed as they rolled on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames on their bodies. However, the gasoline that had been poured onto the ground did not extinguish the flames on their bodies. Instead, the flames on their bodies grew bigger and bigger.
The scariest thing was that as the flames burned, some of the soldiers finally revealed their true nature. Even though they were being burned, they continued to roll on the ground instead of dying as quickly as ordinary people.
Tatsuya Kitaoka, who had dodged the attack in the corner, was shocked when he saw this scene. "Damn it, you used such a despicable method!"
At this moment, Pei Zi Yun jumped down from the second floor. At the door, a soldier who had only been splashed by the flames raised his gun and took aim. Even though the hall was filled with the screams of his comrades, his hands did not tremble in the slightest.
"This is a soldier who has been through hundreds of battles." Just based on this point, one could tell that this was a pure soldier. Once in battle, he could disregard life and death with a single command. Even if his comrades were to fall in front of him, he would not hesitate or retreat.
"Pa!" The sound of a gunshot rang out. The bullet flew out. The target was the head. As long as it hit, even if Pei Zi Yun was a warrior, he would still die.
But at this moment, Pei Zi Yun tilted his head slightly. The bullet barely grazed his ear. There was no second shot. He had already landed. The wooden sword slashed across, and the soldier was split in half.
Following that, Pei Zi Yun lowered his body and skimmed across the ground. He looked like a swallow cutting through the water. This was the martial arts technique of the Great Xu Dynasty. Indeed, two more bullets flew past, hitting nothing but air.
In the next moment, Pei Zi Yun rushed into the group that had yet to enter the hall. With a slash of his wooden sword, there was a soft "pu" sound. Black blood splattered, and two heads flew out.
The remaining two only saw a black shadow flash in front of them. They instinctively dodged to the left and right, and immediately raised their spears. But they only heard two "chi chi" sounds as the sword slashed across their chests.
This kind of injury would not kill them immediately. But when the black blood met with the white light, it was like fire meeting oil. It started to burn.
Once he had hit his target, he did not stop. He rushed into the group once again. The speed of his sword was too fast. All that could be heard was a series of "pu pu pu pu" sounds. These sounds were almost continuous, and four to five people fell down like grass being cut.
In the blink of an eye, more than half of the people who had stopped outside were dead. The remaining three were filled with killing intent. With a loud roar, they raised their spears and stabbed forward. This was the Stabbing Technique.
The Stabbing Technique was very simple, and very practical. The spear stabbed forward, but the remaining three had no way to resist. With a split second, the three of them fell to the ground.
Pei Zi Yun panted heavily. It had only been three minutes, but he had used up a lot of his energy. After panting for a while, he entered the hall. Because he had used up the petrol, the fire was much smaller.
"I'll send you on your way!" Pei Zi Yun's wooden sword stabbed forward, towards a person who was covered in flames, but refused to die. He was rolling on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames. With a "pu" sound, the wooden sword pierced through the person's heart. Fresh blood splattered everywhere.
At this moment, the person who was covered in flames had a look of relief in his eyes when his heart was pierced. He was in too much pain now. The sword had freed him, and in the blink of an eye, he had turned into ashes.
Of course, Pei Zi Yun did not care about this. After killing one person, he did not stop. He quickly followed up with another. His face was cold, and he did not seem to feel any discomfort.
"Stop!" Those who were burned to death by the flames could be revived. But those who were killed by the wooden sword immediately turned into ashes. Seeing this scene, Kitagawa Toshiya's eyes widened.
Yamada Shinji had such profound martial arts skills, yet he still used such crafty tricks to weaken his own fighting strength. He did not have a shred of dignity as a swordsman, and attacked the defenseless people on the ground.
Kitagawa Toshiya roared in anger and pounced forward, using all his strength to stab with his fastest sword. But then, he felt a sharp pain in his body. The sword had cut him from his shoulder to his chest, and fresh blood splattered everywhere.
However, Kitagawa Toshiya was still alive, and was not incinerated.
Pei Zi Yun leaned to the side and continued to stab the people on the ground.
Of course, Pei Zi Yun understood that at this moment, what he had to do was to kill as many of the defenseless people as possible. Otherwise, if something unexpected happened, he would have to put in more effort.
In the blink of an eye, Pei Zi Yun had killed all the people lying on the ground. At this point, one of the lightly injured soldiers suddenly knelt on the ground, "Spare me, spare me!"
He hissed and begged for mercy.
"Interesting, I thought that all of you who have died before would have no fear of death."
"I don't think there are still people who betray us."
"That's right, those who have committed suicide would never do it again."
"Now that we've cut off the publicity, will the soldiers who charged forward be able to do it again?"
Seeing that there were people like this, the remaining three or four people begged for mercy and crawled out of the door. Pei Zi Yun looked on coldly from the side, not daring to kill them.
Three or four of them crawled out of the door and into the rain outside. Only then did they reveal expressions of relief. Suddenly, they turned into ashes. They opened their mouths, but could not speak. Then, they turned into stiff corpses.
"What a joke, how can people who betray their ideals live on?"
"Don't forget, who gave you life!" Kitagi Tatsuya's chest was stained with blood. His breathing was heavy, and his entire body was convulsing. He spat out a mouthful of blood. Surprisingly, he laughed as he crawled and reached for his blade.
"A warrior dedicates his life to his country. It is part of his duty."
As Kitagi Tatsuya spoke, he bit the blade in his mouth and reached for his clothes with both hands. At this point, Pei Zi Yun, who was about to step forward, paused. He suddenly understood what Kitagi Tatsuya was about to do. He let go of his wooden blade and bent over to catch his breath, recovering his strength.
Kitagi Tatsuya revealed himself and held the blade in his hand. He pointed it at his abdomen, bit his lips and stabbed it down, creating a semicircle wound.
Kitagi Tatsuya gritted his teeth and continued to cut the wound. The sound of the blade cutting through flesh was deafening. He had completed a full moon.
This was the most orthodox way of cutting the abdomen. Pei Zi Yun threw the wooden blade away and picked up a long blade.
After cutting the abdomen, it was time for Kaikaku (decapitation).
The famous Japanese writer Ishikawa Hitoshi (Note 1) had cut the abdomen, causing his intestines to bleed profusely. He cried out in pain, and finally panicked. He cut the neck five times, but the head did not fall off. Finally, he used a small knife to cut his scalp.
Matsuno Takeshi was a Lieutenant General (Note 2). He had committed suicide by cutting the abdomen, and it was not a mistake. He had bled to death after 15 hours. It was a tragic death. Hence, there had to be a Kaikaku to avoid prolonged pain.
Interestingly, in modern Japanese law, a Kaikaku would be sentenced to four to six years in prison.
"Go on your way, Kitagi Tatsuya!" Pei Zi Yun waved his long blade, and Kitagi Tatsuya's neck was cut by two thirds. Blood spurted out, and his corpse fell heavily to the ground.
At this point, the entire hall was silent. The rain seemed to be getting heavier as it fell with pitter-pattering sounds. The flames in the hall had been suppressed, but were not extinguished.
Note 1, Note 2: These are the aliases of real people.
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