User blog:Seieireppa/God Eater ∂: Those Who Change History, chapter 5

The atmosphere seemed to undergo a sudden change when Hideyoshi unsheathed his blade. As the steel exited its scabbard, it seemed to vibrate in tune with the Aragami before it, a peculiar resonance suffusing the air. The surface of the blade seemed even to shift and warp, though when the onlookers blinked or took a moment to gather themselves, it was plainly obvious that no such change had occurred…

…or had it?

The most noticeable difference between before and after Hideyoshi unsheathed his blade was that the Aragami had halted in their tracks. None of them dared move in the face of this overwhelming presence.

Whatever this blade was, it was no mere hunk of steel—

—a suspicion that was immediately proven as Hideyoshi lunged at the nearest Kakyūrō, his blade held aloft. With a single swift motion, Hideyoshi swung his blade down, cleaving through the Kakyūrō’s left front leg like a knife tearing through rice paper. Without missing a beat, Hideyoshi altered the trajectory of his swing mid-slash, whirling around and slicing upwards at an angle, severing the entire front half of the beast’s body from the rest of it.

With one down, Hideyoshi turned his attention to the rest of the crowd of Aragami, which were all still frozen — whether this was out of fear or out of deference to their leader, the Kōkanrō, no one could tell — save for a single Kakyūrō, which elected to charge at Hideyoshi —

—a mistake, as the lone Kamigui agent dodged to the side while simultaneously slashing forward horizontally, slicing the beast’s mouth in half and continuing down the length of its body, emerging above its hind legs as both halves of the Kakyūrō crumpled to the ground.

At this point, the Kōkanrō at the head of the pack roared a mighty cry, a crackling red aura erupting from around it as the commanding sound of its roar spurred the remaining two Kakyūrō into action, the massive wolves charging straight for Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi, however, responded by stabbing his sword into the ground and using it to vault upwards into the air, pulling the sword out behind him and impaling it through the skull of the Kakyūrō on the right before landing, pulling the blade out, and effortlessly decapitating the one on the left.

Now, all that was left was the Kōkanrō. It stared Hideyoshi down, its fierce eyes locking onto him as it readied itself for a charge. However, it never got the chance, as Hideyoshi braced himself and readied his blade for a stab before thrusting it forward—

—where it transformed.

Warping and twisting like something not of this world, Hideyoshi’s blade took on the shape of the massive head of a violent beast, erupting forward and clamping its jaws down on the skull of the Kōkanrō, killing it instantly. As the blade proceeded to actually eat the corpses of its fallen prey, Nobunaga could only look on in awe.

“This…” he began, a wicked grin on his lips. “This is true power!”

With Hideyoshi at his right hand, Nobunaga would certainly be able to dominate Shingen and unify Japan…

…however, at the same time in Shingen’s camp…

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TO BE CONTINUED