The Goblin hurried towards Saito while the soldiers did the same. The soldiers won't get another chance like this and they know it. If they could kill him, then they could kill off these Goblins.
Suddenly, Saito's katana started to glow brighter and brighter that it blinded both the parties. A beautiful fox women in shrine maiden attire appeared before them. Her silky silver hair and her huge racks coupled with her appearance got everyone in a trance that they forgot about what was going on.
She slowly opened her eyes and said, "You insolence fools! You dared to lift your weapons against my master? None of you shall leave this place alive for I shall be you opponent!". Her words brought them back to reality and they remembered what was happening. Looking at the beauty's face filled with rage, their body started to tremble.
Nirashi waved her hand and wind blew heavily like a typhoon. Everything became quiet after the typhoon ended. The soldiers stood there with their face pale as ghosts. One by one, the soldiers dropped their weapons on the ground and something unbelievable happened.
The soldiers body fell on the ground into thousands of pieces and the same thing happened to the trees behind them. It was as if someone plowed the field with carpet bombs but in this case, there was no explosives used. It as if a mass deforestation took place.
Nirashi hurried to Saito's side and said, "Master! Master! Don't give in!". Saito had long lost his consciousness and everything was deep dark.
When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was standing in a pure white dimension like space. He looked around and saw everywhere in this place is pure white, except one thing.
A shadow stood before him with it's eyes glowing in red. "Why did you stop me?" the shadow asked. Saito got confused but he was still on his guard, "I stopped you? When? From what?" he asked.
The shadow replied, "When I ordered those soldiers to be killed you stopped me, why?". Saito became even more confused as he asked, "What do you...wait! Every time I get excited when fighting I feel like losing myself in the flow, was that you?".
The shadow calmly replied, "I only help you when ever you are put in a difficult situation in a fight by possessing you or if you let me out yourself". "Let you out myself? When the heck did I ever do that!? I never even met you or know you even exist! How could I let you out if I don't even know that you exist!?" Saito asked with his voice raised a bit.
The shadow simply said, "I do not know". Saito didn't know what to do with this guy and just asked, "Ok then why are you here?". The shadow replied, "I got the duty to protect the descendent of the Araya clan and I am doing so".
"Duty to protect? Who ordered you to do so?" Saito asked. The shadow said, "Dai Daimyo of Western Nippon, the one who united Shimazu, Otomo, Mori, Amago and Miyoshi provinces, Araya Renji".
The first thought that came to Saito's mind was, 'Who the FUCK is that?'. He then asked, "Wait, if what you are saying is true then does that mean you are someone from Sengoku period?". To be honest, the history he learned was very different and plus, he never even heard of the guy.
The shadow just stood there silently and Saito couldn't tell if it shook it's head or not. He finally remembered the important question and asked, "Who are you by the way? Are you one of his retainers or something?".
The shadow said, "I'm not his retainer, I'm just someone who took the duty to guard the lineage or more accurate, the descendants". Saito then pushed on, "Yea? Then who really are you?".
"Do you really want to know?" the shadow asked a weird question. Saito felt like he shouldn't ask but he still nodded his head. The shadow figure closed his eyes and the shadow around him started to dissuade. "I was once called a great warlord, my name, is Oda Nobunaga". A black samurai came out of the shadow and stood before Saito with his eyes glowing red as rose.
Saito was stupefied, "Oda Nobunaga? "The" Oda Nobunaga? Seriously? Are you really him!?". The Samurai nodded his head in acceptance. Saito's thought echoed in the whole space, "OH MY FUCKING GOD!".
"If you are really the great warlord in the history of Nippon, why are you guarding the Araya line? Aren't you supposed to protect yours?" Saito asked the question that's been bugging him. Nobunaga folded his hands and said, "It's because you got both clans blood in your veins".
"Somehow, I feel like not asking about it anymore" Saito waved his hand. He took a while to process the details he just received such as he got the soul of one of the greatest warlord in the history of Japan inside his mind and the blood lineage of the clan he never even heard of and the clan he heard so much about.
He then decided to ask, "Can you come out of this place? I mean isn't it just boring to be here for centuries?". Nobunaga replied, "To be honest, it is way more boring and I would be able to come out if you had the strength to protect yourself and if you don't, I would stay here to guard you".
Saito asked confusedly, "What strength? Is it like the power or becoming strong myself?". Nobunaga said, "More like that, but the "strength" I mean is something that you find yourself and it should make you an existence that should not be trifled with".
Saito's eyes glowed as he asked, "How can I find it!?". Nobunaga got annoyed and scowled, "Are you an idiot!? I just said it's something you should find "yourself"! Why the heck are you asking me that!?.
Saito awkwardly smiled and said, "Sorry sorry, I forgot that part". "Hmph, forgetting something so important and yet you are still standing here! Get out of here and find it yourself!".
Saito then said with a decisive smile, "Then I shall find my own "strength" and I will have you come out and stand at my side!". "Heh, I'll see if you can do what your mouth spouts" Nobunaga said with a smirk on his face but the black armor with the shadow over his face hid it. Truth is, he was leading Saito to this topic right from the start because he was bored to death staying in here and now Saito got caught in his bait and should find his own strength, things will have a turn now.
"So.....how do I return to the real world?" Saito finally asked the important question. Nobunaga said while looking at him, "I can send you back". Saito looked back at him and asked, "How?".
Nobunaga's eyes glowed and he disappeared from his view. Saito felt danger coming at him and just his sensor said it did. Nobunaga appeared before him out of nowhere and threw a punch towards his face and the impact blew his head to blitz.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!" Saito suddenly woke up and started to touch his head to see if it was still there. "Great! It's still there" he said.
"Master! Your back!" a sweet voice of a women said that and what followed was a tight hug. Saito could feel two big blossoms pressing hard against his back very well and hot flustered, "Wha- wha- what are you doing!?!?!?!?". "I'm glad! I'm glad that master is not injured anywhere!" Nirashi said while trying to hold her tears back.
Saito then said, "Don't worry like that, I just went to have a little chat with an old man". "Old....man?" Nirashi looked at him with puppy eyes. Saito immediately shifted his gaze and said, "Let's not talk about it". He then looked at the Goblins standing before him without knowing what to say and asked, "What is the situation? What happened after I passed out?".
"Yes!" A Goblin came forward and reported, "The remaining enemy soldiers got cut into thousands of pieces by that fox lady, sir!". "Is....that so? Then how do we clear it?" Saito asked.
The supposed to be leader Goblin came forward and said, "I think it's wise to leave their remaining as it is, the wild beasts will surely smell the blood in the air and come eat them and thus hiding the evidence...but I'm not sure about this...." his gaze shifted to the side. Saito also looked over where he looked and was shocked. There was a plain where a forest should be. The trees were not only cut down into thousand pieces, but also the roots were plucked out.
"What....happened?" Saito asked. "Well.....that fox lady came out of nowhere and started saying stuff like "I won't let you hurt my master and I shall be your opponent" and used some kind of high level magic and not only did she wipe out the remaining enemy but also a part of the forest like nothing! We just stayed away from her and you in case she would kill us all".
"I'm sorry master! I know I went a bit overboard but they were going to kill you! I didn't have much choice but to come out!" Nirashi bowed her head. "A bit huh? I don't really want to see your "real" overboard but you did that to protect me right? Then I guess it's fine" Saito said. "Mas.....ter? Are you really going to forgive me for it?" Nirashi asked confusedly.
"What good would it do if I were to punish you? Let's just forget it, this kind of things happen more than once in battle so it's completely normal" Saito said as he got up. 'Completely normal huh?' the Goblins thought to themselves.
"Where are the elves?" Saito asked. "They are here, captain" a Goblin said. The Goblin hunters escorted the elves out of the hide and brought them over. The male elf on the front immediately went on his knees and said, "We are extremely thankful for your act of saving us! We heard from our two companions that they promised to come with you to the fort nearby and answer your questions, can we accompany them as well?".
Saito looked at the sky and it was already evening. He looked at the elf on the ground and said, "Very well, as long as I can get the answers I am looking for, I don't care if you come with us or not". He then looked at the Goblins and said, "We will move out once we secure the enemies supplies and equipments! Get ready!". "Yes sir!" the Goblins firmly said and started to gather stuff while five of the hunter and five more from the Iron Guard guarded the elves.
Saito looked at Nirashi and said, "Nirashi, you don't have to turn into a katana for now, I'll tell you to do so later when the time comes". "Yes master" Nirashi nodded he head.
The scavenging work finished within an hour and the troops assembled with the supplies and equipments.
"Men! Let's head back!".