KADAINA LED THE TROOPS onto the battlefield in the small Aotoshi town of Bianjing, with Ite and Yukan following close behind him. After making it to their designated spot, Kadaina held up his left hand before balling all of his fingers into a fist except the ring and pinky fingers. When they saw this, all the troops scattered onto one of two forested areas sandwiching the path they had trod upon. Yukan, Kadaina, and Ite jumped into the same spot and gave each other a reassuring nod, as the plan was going incredibly well.

"This advantage point is great for hiding," Kadaina explained before marching out, pointing to a specific spot on the map. "The natural formation of the hill leaves a huge blind spot."

"We're hiding?" Zenpan responded, baffled by what the mage was suggesting. "Like children?"

"Yes," the strategist answered, "we're going to ambush them here. They will be expecting us to come from their twelve, but we're going to be hiding so they won't see us until we're attacking from their six."

At the current time, the Aotoshi troops were marching past Akuni's well-hid army. Despite their excellent hiding spots, beads of sweat still dripped down the soldier's faces, for they still believed it possible for them to be found.

"Once we have them in front of us," Kadaina continued during the explanation, "we will ambush them from behind. We will also have the higher ground, making it easier for our archers."

"NOW!" Kadaina shouted in the present as the Aotoshi troops had passed roughly five hundred feet of them. Arrows began to rain from above onto the unsuspecting enemy as terror filled their eyes.

"They're behind us?!" Shirei shouted in complete disbelief. "How?!" Boulders began to drop from the top of the hill and the already disheveled army's condition had grown even worse.

"They will be confused as soon as we start the assault," Kadaina carried on while telling the plan. "We need to use this to our advantage by taking out as many as we can. Once they regroup a little, they will retaliate. Our goal isn't to wipe them out, but to get them to retreat for the time being. I don't think Kunshu will show up to this battle based on the last one's results. He's planning something and, to him, this is a waste of time."

Returning to current events, a large number of troops on both sides have fallen, but Aotoshi has still sustained far more. Yukan is carving a canyon through the troops as Ite stays near the top of the hill raining hell from above. Kadaina is healing as many people as he can at the fastest speed possible, while also shouting out commands to each troop. Shirei and Zero lock eyes before approaching one another, surrounded by an absolute storm of dust from the chaos amidst them.

"You're nothing but a bunch of cowards hiding in hills!" Aotoshi's commander yelled to his opposite.

"Last time I checked," Zenpan retorted, "you guys faked a horn of honor and you ran like a bunch of chickens last time."

"You truly are annoying," Shirei snapped.

"As I recall, you weren't that tolerable either."

Rage boiled inside of Shirei. His anger was getting ready to explode out and take out anything within the blast radius, not worrying whether or not his men would be caught in collateral. As he charged toward Zenpan, he unsheathed his broadsword, ready to make a devastating strike. Luckily for Akuni's commander, he caught sight of this and hastily took out his claymore, barely clearing leather just in time to block the blow.

In a state of fear, Zenpan drew out his revolver and fired three desperate shots into Shirei. One bullet connected with his left arm, one went into his right thigh, and the other made an impact with the lower-right area of his abdomen. Shirei slid back with a grunt as the dust storm built in a great crescendo to the point that one could easily mistake it for a tornado. However, he was completely unphased by this. Aotoshi's tankish commander adjusted his grip on his broadsword before charging in once more. The sword had made an impact on Zenpan, slicing his right arm. Shirei passed through, preparing for a finishing blow, but Zenpan managed to snag his blade, locking it between his modified claymore and his revolver. The two continued to glare at one another, with the mental fight becoming more vicious as the physical one was held in a stalemate. They tore at one another's souls during this ruthless psychological combat with one another.

Suddenly, a fairly large rock hit Shirei on the left side of his face. The impact caused Shirei to stumble backward and lose his footing. The dust cloud began to quiet down.

"What the-," Shirei remarked, holding a hand over his now blackened eye.

"You're vastly outnumbered, Shirei," Kadaina smugly said, with roughly five more rocks floating around him, each one about the size of a baseball. "You'd best retreat and keep what few troops you have."

Shirei, still breathing very heavily, gazed upon the carnage around him. His fleet, which was once seven hundred fifty strong, had been weakened to maybe ninety-six at maximum. He grunted an obscenity out, before standing up straight and throwing his hands to the side in defeat.

"Troops!" he called out in defeat. "Fall back." Aotoshi's troops reassembled and hurried themselves out.

Akuni's army began to gather with one another and celebrated their victory. However, they still knew that their forces had been weakened rather spectacularly, with their six hundred men being whittled down to one hundred twenty. This was not on their minds, however, as they had triumphantly celebrated what could be considered their first victory. Kadaina placed one leg up on a boulder, standing in a conqueror pose with his trusty staff, Brildinjr, pointed toward the sky. As Kadaina boasted, Zenpan went behind him and patted him on the back, nearly knocking the mage off balance. They both laughed at the occurrence before packing up to head to their base.

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Kunshu sat in his throne room, listening to Schubert's 14th String Quartet in D Minor and letting the music take over all of the noise in the room. Shirei opened the door and entered, trying to hide the injury he'd sustained from the blow to the face of Kadaina's rock.

"Looks like someone had fun with the toy army," Kunshu greeted him rudely, seeing the black eye.

"Things would have turned out a lot different if you'd joined the fun, my liege," Shirei said, feeling a sense of guilt for letting his leader down. Although Kunshu had often treated him wrong, he put up with it, seeing him as a figure that demanded respect merely by presence alone.

"Victory cannot be grasped until baby Yukan is isolated from everyone," the king answered.

"It's impossible to get him away from the rest," Shirei protested. "He's always surrounded by that wretched general and his two toddler friends. He is one of the most protected members of the Akuni army."

"I almost lured him out in our first battle. He was ready to face me by himself, but that girlfriend of his held him back. And that general, he went right after the foolish boy as soon as he broke rank."

"How are we going to get him by himself? It has proven to be a challenging task."

"There is one thing that you aren't accounting for, Shirei. Yukan is but a mere teenage boy. Teenagers tend to act impulsively and are rash compared to adults. They think they are invincible at that age and fall for the simplest of traps. A teenager's impulses can be easily manipulated. He will bend to my will whether he realizes it or not."

There was a pause as Shirei was confused. Then the idea dawned on him.

"That's just diabolical," he answered, "I applaud you. I expected nothing less from you, my liege. You've delivered the greatest plan any man has thought of yet."

Shirei then bows to his leader before taking his leave. Kunshu cackled in delight, knowing that Yukan would soon be his and his goals were to be fulfilled. The laughter increased in volume until one could hear it throughout the palace, finishing his crowing as the first movement's last chord rang out.