Nakajou finds
himself at the end of Battousai's blade.
Battousai gives him a choice of either taking
him to Tomoe or dying, but Nakajou chooses
neither. Instead, Nakajou fires a crossbow
bolt into Battousai's right shoulder. Just
when Nakajou thinks Battousai is no longer
a worthy opponent due to his intuition being
taken away from the forest, Battousai pulls
out the bolt and throws it away. With one
swipe, he cuts off Nakajou's arms elbow
high. In fear, Nakajou quickly flees to
a nearby cave.
Inside the
cave, Nakajou believes he's lost Battousai,
but the hitokiri is right behind him. Battousai
gives Nakajou only one choice this time,
to tell him the location of Tomoe and suffer
an easy death. Nakajou gives the directions,
but promises to hinder Battousai by becoming
a barrier himself. Pulling a rope with his
toes, Nakajou sets off the explosion of
two barrels.
Battousai
manages to escape the cave before being
eradicated with Nakajou. However, Nakajou
was true to his word - he became a barrier.
Battousai realizes that his hearing is a
bit distorted thanks to the explosion. As
he follows Nakajou's directions in hopes
of reaching Tomoe in time, Battousai meets
up with Sumita, wielding a large, long-handled
ax. Sumita charges forward, cutting four
large trees up. The bodies of the trees
are sent flying at Battousai. Battousai
manages to evade, but behind one of the
flying trees appears Yatsume. With his sights
set on Battousai, Yatsume attempts to slash
his target. He misses, but cuts one of the
flying trees in half, demonstrating his
strength. It's a two-on-one fight, though
Battousai sees it as killing two birds with
one stone.
