-Kei Ki, Eastern battlefield-

In similar fashion, the battle between Kei Ki and the Zhao general of the eastern battlefield would be decided this day. Since the day Kei Ki had entered the eastern forest, he knew his plan. In short, he disappeared completely and his army scattered, each going their own way. Where he established his command tent was anyone's guess, even Ouki could not find him. And if Ouki could not find him, what were the odds the enemy could?

The Eastern Zhao general scratched his head while looking at the map before him. He was an old general, skilled in tactics and warfare. He was nearly as old as Abhdan if one would like a comparison. He was fragile and bent over with time weighing on his back.

The map before him had the best guess of the terrain on the western battlefield as drawn by his scouts. The entire area was forest, but there were a few landmarks that could be used. A great pillar of stone here, a hill there, a trench here, the lumber yard there. Thanks to the landmarks his army was able to situate itself in the difficult terrain, but also because of the forest, it was no normal battle. While the battle for Matsubi had been one of holding a passage, and the battle for Moubu had been two large armies clashing a great many men on open terrain, the battle against Kei Ki would be of tactical warfare with two tacticians dancing around each other. Knowing where the enemy was would be half of the battle as you commanded the units to surround and slaughter them. Every unit was hidden in the forest, and it became a battle of a hundred skirmishes as opposed to open battle.

The Zhao general clicked his tongue in annoyance. The reports that came back by the hour showed a war of nearly uncontrolled chaos. The Qin units moved and attacked in such a way he found it almost impossible to predict. He struggled to find the big picture in Kei Ki's tactics. When a Qin unit was found, the Zhao units would be instructed to surround and kill it, only to find the Qin unit had disappeared. At the same time all of the other Qin units would disappear and reappear elsewhere fighting a Zhao unit before disengaging again.

It was maddening, and to make it all worse, he had no clear idea of where Kei Ki had set up his command structure. By the very nature of leadership, the general knew Kei Ki would have to set up his command somewhere from where he could give out orders to the Qin units under his command.

This form of warfare would go on without any clear victor. The general did not sense he was winning, nor did he feel he was losing. Perhaps that was not entirely accurate, as the general did sense he was perhaps on the losing end. His inability to grasp the mind of Kei Ki from the movements of his men, despite having many times more men than him, made him feel the Qin commander was skilled and had a great plan in mind.

This continued on for the first day. The second day a cart arrived at the barricade of the Zhao command by Zhao escort. The cart was presented to the general, and the general could only gape. The men howled in fury and anger.

Kei Ki had sent him an arch-like structure of limbs sown together, an arch from which heads hung, and carried on a wooden cart. The cart was also filled with sacks of ears, eyes, and many other organs. One organ was to each sack. From the number of eyes and ears passed to the general as a gift, there were a great many bodies the Qin had mutilated, many more than could all of their organs put in the cart. It was only the smallest organs that were put in sacks and sent as a gift.

Seeing the gift had a profound impact on the Zhao. Their fury increased tenfold until they vowed they would not eat before each taking the life of a Qin.

The general looked on the map with renewed purpose. In a way, he knew now a part of the mind of Kei Ki. Kei Ki had sent the gift to taunt him, to force him to make a mistake, to stir up anger in him until he was blinded by it. But the general vowed he would not be stirred up as his men were, and he forced his mind to calm. He looked over the map once more until a revelation came to him.

The Qin units were all seen in large area, and this area was thoroughly examined and no command structure of Qin had been found there. But there was one area of the battlefield, in an alcove, where no Qin unit was found near, so the Zhao did not go there either. If Kei Ki wanted to truly hide, one possibility was that he could hide in a place completely separate from his army. And this alcove in question was near enough that orders could be sent by riders through a mountain pass behind it, while being far enough to be out of the way.

"Here! Send our reserves here and take the Qin's head!" He touched the point on the map.

Immediately the reserves made their way to this area. Zhao left until the command was nearly empty, save for a hundred men and the general. The Zhao made their way to the alcove to make war, and they found the Qin command.

However... the command was empty. The tents were there, the flags were there, the barricades were there, the horses were there, even the food was there. But there was not a soul.

One of the Zhao general's bodyguards sat by him, and casually put his arm around the General's shoulders. The general found this behaviour barbaric and told him off, only to be struck silent as he looked at the man's face beneath the helmet.

"Yo-you aren't-"

"No. I'm not." Kei Ki replied. The Qin commander removed his helmet to openly reveal his face.

The Zhao general looked around to see all of his other bodyguards remove their helmets as well, and not a single one he recognized. The servants, who wore no armour, bore no weapon, and had no helmet, he recognized and were his... but the hundred bodyguards who had stayed were not. He had been infiltrated. He had been defeated.

"I don't know who this guy was..." Kei Ki casually made small talk as he gazed into the eyes of the helmet he had worn. "But he squealed like such a pig!" He laughed. "Swear, I haven't heard a man make such a high tune in freakin' ages!"

His men laughed.

"Course, I had his toes to a fire. Might be why."

"How...?" The general asked. He knew he was dead. Of this there was no doubt. But oddly enough his instinct was not to beg for mercy, nor to yell out profanities against Qin, but to satisfy his curiosity. He had been defeated. His last wish was to know how.

"Think about it a moment. I sent you such an obvious gift after all. I'm sure if you try the answer will come to you." Kei Ki reached out, grabbed a bit of fruit off the general's table, and ate it.

The Zhao general's eyes widened. "You were the ones who brought the cart... It wasn't Zhao soldiers who escorted the cart. It was you! You killed the men, made that construct out of them, put on their armour, and walked in!"

"Got it in one!" Kei Ki clapped. "Not bad for an old man."

"But your army... how did you..." The general struggled to grasp his tactics. "How did you command them from afar! What incredible strategy did you convey to them, that you could leave them to it and hide yourself in my company?"

"Now, see. That one I can get if you don't understand." Kei Ki smiled widely. Kei Ki was cheery, having someone to talk to who was smart enough to get it, to ask the right questions, to try to understand. "There was no strategy."

"Huh?"

"I know! That's the beauty of it! There was no strategy! I took all of my units aside and I told them, 'Do as you will! Operate on your own devices. Fight by your own schemes. Fight, flee, dance, piss, whatever you want. Only know this: If you flee from the battlefield I will kill you for treason. If you want to avoid battle, avoid it. If you want to fight battle, fight it. Only do not stop.' I told them this so each unit would devise its own plan. I told them this because I did not want them to win. I did not want them to lose. I only wanted them... to play." Kei Ki smiled. "To keep the gaming going endlessly. The longer the game went, the more frustrated the Zhao would be. The sooner you would seize the opportunity. I also helped in this with a gift, and as I expected, you exposed your neck in an attempt to reach me... when all along I was right here. Waiting. Anticipating. Ever. So. Patiently." As he spoke, Kei Ki put his arm around the General's shoulders, and put a knife to his neck.

"I see..." The general said.

Kei Ki the Beheader beheaded the eastern Zhao general.

Kei Ki sighed, looked up, and relished the moment. This general understood, at least a little bit, and so Kei Ki would hold a special place for him in his heart. "Kill the rest. Spare no one, unless you wish to take them as a prize."

The servants and slaves were killed or enslaved at the Qin's leisure or fancy, but minutes later Kei Kei and his men disappeared into the forest. The Zhao command was in flames and lifeless.