The Raiden Shogun — Baal, ruler of Inazuma, guardian of Eternity. Purple arcs of electricity coiled around her, and her naginata, Musou no Hitotachi, hummed in her grasp, a living manifestation of thunder itself. Her gaze was hollow yet majestic, like an unchanging law of the ages.

 

“Warrior from afar… your bravery is admirable,” the Raiden Shogun spoke, her voice rolling like distant thunder across the sky. “But to trespass in Tenshukaku and covet Eternity… only oblivion awaits.”

 

Honda Tadakatsu gripped his beloved spear, Tonbokiri, its tip glinting coldly in the lightning light. He wore black nanban-style armor, and the deer-horn ornaments on his helmet trembled faintly in the wind.

 

“I come under the order of Tokugawa Ieyasu,” Tadakatsu said steadily. “To unify the realm under heaven. Even Inazuma is no exception.”

 

Before his voice faded, the Raiden Shogun lunged like a bolt of lightning. Her naginata sliced through the air with world-splitting power. Tadakatsu raised his spear to meet it, and the two divine weapons clashed, unleashing a deafening roar.

 

From the first exchange to the tenth, Honda Tadakatsu barely held on. Every strike from the Shogun carried the weight of thunder, numbing his wrists. Though his spear technique was peerless, he could not break through her impenetrable wall of lightning.

 

“Boring,” the Shogun murmured. Her naginata suddenly accelerated, carving an eerie arc through the air.

 

From the eleventh to the twentieth exchange, Tadakatsu began to bleed. A bolt of lightning grazed his pauldron, leaving a blackened burn. Another strike nearly tore off his helmet; he barely twisted aside, but his topknot was severed, and his graying hair whipped wildly in the wind.

 

“Is this the power of a god?” Tadakatsu panted, yet a smile tugged at his lips. “At last… I have met a foe worthy of my blade!”

 

He roared, his muscles tensing, and Tonbokiri became a storm of spear flashes, pouring down upon the Raiden Shogun like rain. This was his secret technique, Thousand Bird Thrust — every strike aimed precisely for her vital points.

 

From the twenty-first to the twenty-fifth exchange, Tadakatsu actually pushed the Raiden Shogun back. His spear tip grazed her armor multiple times, leaving faint scratches. But the Shogun’s expression remained cold, as if all of this was within her calculations.

 

“The limit of mortals… is this,” she said suddenly.

 

On the twenty-sixth exchange, lightning erupted around her, engulfing the entire rooftop of Tenshukaku in purple light. She raised her naginata high, and the storm clouds above answered her call, converging into a massive pillar of thunder.

 

“Musou no Hitotachi.”

 

Time seemed to freeze. Tadakatsu watched the bolt of lightning streak toward him, death closing in. He lifted Tonbokiri with all his strength, ready to meet the fatal strike.

 

At that critical moment, a scarlet figure leaped onto the rooftop like a shooting star.

 

“Lord Tadakatsu! Ii Naomasa has come to aid you!”

 

The Red Devil of Ii — Ii Naomasa, clad in his iconic red armor, wielding his crimson spear Akakiyomaru, burst onto the battlefield like a living flame. He stepped precisely in front of Tadakatsu, and his spear clashed with the naginata, bursting with blinding light.

 

“Red Devil…” Tadakatsu gasped. “Perfect timing.”

 

Ii Naomasa grinned. “I heard you were enjoying a duel with a god. How could I miss this?”

 

The Raiden Shogun frowned slightly. “Another insect… then perish together.”

 

From the thirty-first to the fiftieth exchange, Honda Tadakatsu and Ii Naomasa fought as one. Black and red figures weaved around the Shogun, their spears moving in perfect harmony — one attacking, one defending, one advancing, one retreating.

 

Tadakatsu’s spearwork was steady and seasoned, unshakable as a boulder. Naomasa’s assaults were fierce and fiery, aggressive as a wildfire. The two vastly different styles complemented each other perfectly, gradually overwhelming the Raiden Shogun.

 

“Interesting,” the Shogun said, showing genuine focus for the first time. “Then let you witness true divine power.”

 

She gripped her naginata with both hands, and lightning around her coalesced into countless swords of thunder, floating in midair.

 

“Ten Thousand Thunders Return to Silence.”

 

Thousands of lightning swords rained down upon the two warriors. Back to back, Tadakatsu and Naomasa spun their spears in an unbroken barrier, shattering every incoming blade. But there were too many. Cracks appeared in their armor, and blood oozed from their wounds.

 

From the fifty-first to the seventieth exchange, the battle reached its climax. Roof tiles shattered, eaves crumbled, and beams snapped under the fury of combat. The three figures darted through the ruined structure, every clash of weapons echoing like thunder.

 

Honda Tadakatsu’s Tonbokiri finally found an opening, piercing the Raiden Shogun’s left shoulder. Almost at the same time, Ii Naomasa’s spear sliced a deep, bone-deep wound across her right leg.

 

The Raiden Shogun let out a pained grunt for the first time. Purple divine blood flowed from her wounds, dripping onto broken tiles with a hissing sound.

 

“Mortals… have wounded me so deeply…” For the first time, emotion flickered in her eyes — rage.

 

From the seventy-first to the eightieth exchange, the Raiden Shogun unleashed her power without restraint. Lightning from all over Inazuma City converged on her, forming a massive electric field atop Tenshukaku. Tadakatsu and Naomasa’s hair stood on end from static, and breathing grew difficult.

 

“We can’t keep this up!” Ii Naomasa shouted. “We must end this in one strike!”

 

Tadakatsu nodded. “Use that technique, Red Devil.”

 

The two veterans moved as one, stepping back in unison. Tadakatsu held Tonbokiri horizontally before him; Naomasa raised Akakiyomaru high above his head. They channeled every ounce of their strength, and the spears began to hum.

 

“Secret Technique: Twin Dragon Break!”

 

Tadakatsu’s spear became a black dragon, Naomasa’s a red dragon. The two serpentine forms intertwined and surged toward the Raiden Shogun with a deafening roar. This was the culmination of their lifelong martial skill, holding the power to annihilate all in its path.

 

The Raiden Shogun gathered all her lightning as well, pointing her naginata forward.

 

“Finality: Oblivion Lightning.”

 

The three forces collided violently on the rooftop, and the shockwave tore away what remained of the roof. Blinding light turned all of Inazuma City as bright as day, and the explosion left everyone temporarily deaf.

 

When the light faded, all three still stood — but in vastly different condition.

 

Honda Tadakatsu and Ii Naomasa’s armor was shattered, their bodies soaked in blood, barely upright by leaning on their spears. The Raiden Shogun’s Musou no Hitotachi had snapped in two. And her Vision, the purple gem that symbolized her divine authority, bore a clear, deep crack.

 

“No… impossible…” The Raiden Shogun stared at her broken Vision in disbelief. “Eternity… broken by mortals…”

 

The crack spread rapidly across the Vision until it shattered completely. The lifeless gem fragments fell like purple teardrops.

 

With the Vision destroyed, the Raiden Shogun’s power drained away in an instant. She fell to her knees, her long purple hair falling forward to cover her face.

 

Honda Tadakatsu stumbled forward and picked up a shard of the Vision. “So even gods bleed… even gods can be defeated.”

 

Ii Naomasa wiped blood from his mouth. “Shogun… your Eternity has ended.”

 

Deprived of her divine power, the Raiden Shogun was locked in a specially forged cage. As she was escorted down from Tenshukaku, the people of Inazuma stared in terror — their once godlike ruler, now a prisoner.

 

Meanwhile, the main Tokugawa army launched a full-scale assault on Inazuma City. Without the Shogun’s command, the Shogunate forces descended into chaos. Kujou Takayuki, the Yashiro Commissioner, attempted to organize resistance, but his efforts were futile against the elite Tokugawa musket teams and disciplined infantry.

 

On the hundredth exchange, the banner of the Tokugawa clan was planted atop Tenshukaku. Inazuma City, once proud and unyielding, had fallen beneath the Tokugawa boot.

 

Honda Tadakatsu and Ii Naomasa stood on the ruined rooftop, overlooking the conquered city. In the distance, the thunderstorm slowly cleared, and a long-lost ray of sunlight broke through the clouds, shining over the rubble.

 

“We defeated a god,” Ii Naomasa muttered.

 

Honda Tadakatsu traced the scars on Tonbokiri. “No. We only proved that even gods can fall to the will of mortals.”

 

In the streets below, Tokugawa soldiers mopped up remaining resistance. The roar of muskets, the clash of swords, and cheers of victory intertwined, marking the end of an era.

 

The Raiden Shogun sat in her cage, watching it all through a small window. Stripped of her divinity, she felt mortal helplessness for the first time. She touched her chest, where the Vision once rested — now only emptiness remained.

 

“Eternity… so fragile after all…”

 

Far away at the Grand Narukami Shrine, the Sacred Cherry Blossom petals fell without wind, as if mourning for Inazuma, now without its ruler.

 

Honda Tadakatsu turned and left, his shadow stretching long in the sunset. The battle between man and god was over… but Tokugawa Ieyasu’s ambition to unify the world had only just begun.

 

Ii Naomasa fell into step beside him. “Where to next?”

 

Honda Tadakatsu gazed into the distance. “Our next target… the great empire to the west — Liyue.”

 

The two warriors vanished down the stairs, leaving only the broken Tenshukaku and conquered Inazuma behind, witnessing a turning point in history beneath the fading twilight.