A foreigner's journey

Tsuruga Camouflage is not her real name, but 'inheritance', the inheritance of the master of Santu Shrine.

She is the daughter of the captain of the second division of the Izumo Guardian Third Company. She has followed her father since she was a child to learn the "Sento-ryu" that has been passed down from generation to generation in her family.

[Sento-ryu] is actually not a style of fighting with swords. In a sense, Sentou-ryu and Virtual Sword-ryu are very similar. It's just that in the Xuto style, one's own hands, feet, and even all parts of the body are used as swords, that is, "this person is a sword." The Sentou style is to ‘attack the enemy with the enemy’s sword’. To the Sentou style, the sword is just a consumable and a prop. The more chaotic and huge the battlefield, the more powerful it is.

[Thousand Sword Style] is the strongest swordsmanship, she has thought so since she was sensible.

But twenty years ago, the Oshu Rebellion swept across Japan, and Izumo was not immune to the disaster. Izumo, which was supposed to be the sacred and majestic residence of the gods, has turned into a miserable situation that cannot be described with pen and ink. From various perspectives, it can be called a "Hell Scroll".

Simply because Hida Takahiro was returning to Hida Castle after conquering the Dark City in Kyushu and wanted to avoid the sight of the shogunate, so he 'passed by' Izumo.

Passing by is war. No, if you think about it carefully, a one-sided war can only be called a one-sided killing.

With only two of them, Izumo's third guardian company was wiped out.

Her father died, the disciples of the Sento-ryu Dojo died, and even her home and dojo were burned down. Only she, who could not go to the battlefield, survived.

She became one of thousands of war orphans, helpless. Gradually, she became depraved. She used the Sento-ryu she had learned to attack and kill travelers who came to visit Izumo, fight with bandits, and rob wealthy households... She did evil deeds numbly, without feeling anything.

How many people has she killed in thirteen years? I can't remember it at all, and I don't want to remember it.

I heard that there is a group of bandits entrenched in Mount Rakaki of Izumo. The leader of the bandits there will pass down one of the legendary twelve variant swords [Thousand Swords·铩] from generation to generation. So, she joined the bandits again and fell further and further. What happened after that was not even worth remembering for her.

At some point, she became the leader of that group of bandits and inherited the [Thousand Swords·Thunder].

It was not her duty as the leader to go to Santu Shrine to investigate. It was just a sudden inspiration. She killed all the priests in Santu Shrine, including Tsuruga Camouflage. The Santo Shrine at that time was not an armed shrine, and the priests did not carry swords, so she did not kill them with Sento-ryu.

Instead, they grabbed their necks one by one and strangled them to death.

Why? Why use such a primitive and cruel method? Probably, it’s because [I can’t forgive].

She heard about the origin of Santu Shrine and knew that it was a sanatorium for cowardly women, so she asked in her heart - why didn't you come to save me?

Isn’t it because he can save even hopeless people like himself that he can be called God?

Tsuruga Camouflage was the last one to be killed. She knelt down on Camouflage's body on the dark brown floor in the hall and pinched Camouflage's neck hard.

Camouflage's lips moved, and she thought the other person was begging for mercy.

【please forgive……】

It's boring. I'm tired of hearing this kind of begging for mercy.

[Please forgive me...for not being able to save you. 】

She froze.

[But please...please forgive those girls...they are not guilty of anything. 】

These are the last words of Tsuruga Camouflage.

The hall fell into deathly silence. After a long time, she returned to the bandit's base and killed forty-three of her companions.

Then I took [Thousand Swords·Thunder] as [Tsuruga Camouflage] and came to Santu Shrine.

This is the birth of the Armed Shrine Santo Shrine, and this is the birth of the new Tsuruga camouflage.

At this moment, there were dark clouds outside the hall, and the strong wind was blowing the fallen leaves. The two stood in the square, facing each other.

God will not come to save himself, nor will he come to save them, Tsuruga Camouflage has long understood this. Now, Tsuruga Camouflage only believes in [self-rescue].

Thousand Swords and Thousand Blades cannot be let out under any circumstances. Not only can it use the sword poison as medicine to keep the hearts of those girls from collapsing, but more importantly, it is the foundation for the self-protection of Santu Shrine, an armed shrine.

Once the black witches lose the force protection of Shikisaki Kiki's modified sword, they will be unable to fight against the shogunate's arrest.

Sekiro, you said you have a way to solve this problem, then show it to me.

Standing on the stone floor of the square, the one-armed ronin raised his head and closed his eyes, feeling the water vapor in the wind, which was a sign of the coming storm.

After a long time, he opened his eyes and looked at the Tsuruga camouflage opposite, his empty sleeves dancing in the wind:

"Master Camouflage Hall, the poison from the sword is just poison to quench thirst. It is in their best interest to remove the poison from the Thousand Swords before they are not swordsmen and have not been too poisoned."

"That's it? Is this your solution?"

Tsuruga Camouflage didn't have any weapons in her hands, but her momentum was rising steadily.

If this is just this ridiculous 'solution', then Tsuruga Camouflage will have to choose another path - defeat all enemies with Sentoru and Sentoryu, and protect the Santu Shrine and the Thousand Blacks with its own strength. Miko.

"Without Thousand Swordsman, the shogunate will have no reason to demand the sword from you."

Heather put the tattered long sword with its scabbard on her left waist, and placed the fingers of her left hand on the hilt of the sword and stroked it gently:

"Thousand swords are the source of all disasters, don't you understand?"

Tsuruga Camouflage sneered: "Without the Thousand Swords, how can these black mikos face the endless arresting troops from the shogunate?"

"So, my solution is to let the shogunate that rules Japan collapse, so that it will naturally have no time to take care of you."

Heather made shocking remarks in an understatement.

"It's falling apart...ha, hahaha!"

Tsuruga Camouflage laughed out of anger: "Sekiro, you turned out to be just a whimsical guy."

"What? Is it difficult?" Heather tilted her head.

"Do you know how many troops there are in the shogunate? Yes, one hundred and fifty years ago, Uren Kinkaku did use the 'Zanto: Blunt' to kill more than ten thousand people. Hida Takahito and Soho Black Key also accomplished similar feats. Killing record. But the shogunate’s army is more than 100,000! The human wave tactics alone can kill you alive, how many subordinates do you have to command?"

Tsuruga Camouflage slowly shook his head:

"Even Hida Takahito was defeated by the shogunate's army. You... are really too arrogant."

The wind was blowing faster and faster, and dark clouds formed a whirlpool overhead, as if a severe rainstorm was about to come.

Heather was not wearing a hat, letting her slightly curly black hair dance like flames in the wind. He rubbed his stubble-covered chin and smiled:

"Would you know if you have this ability? Come over and try it yourself."

He raised his chin in the direction of Tsuruga's camouflage feet: "How about using the original version of [Thousand Swords?]?"

"What……"

Tsuruga Camouflage looked surprised.

There was indeed a sword buried under her feet, it was the one originally forged by [Thousand Swords·铩].

Thousand Swordsman, one of the twelve complete variant swords forged with the characteristic of "overwhelming quantity". Take it as you go, replace it as soon as it wears out, there is no quantity limit, and there are endless spares.

For swordsmen, even knives forged by the same knifemaker will have a completely different feel. Once the knife is changed, there will be a longer or shorter period of weakness due to unfamiliarity. Qian Dao Chu, on the other hand, has no such concerns at all.

Each one is identical in terms of sharpness, weight, length and thickness.

However, even if there are one thousand Thousand Swordsmen that are exactly the same and even feel exactly the same, there will still be the original one, which is the prototype of all the Thousand Swordsmen.

It was the one buried under the feet of Tsuruga's camouflage.

"Why do you know..." Tsuruga Camouflage looked to the opposite side in disbelief. How did he know there was a knife here? And we also know that this is the original version of Thousand Blades.

"It's simple, because it told me."

Heather smiled and pointed at the camouflage feet:

"I once told some idiot, and I'll tell you again - the knife can't choose the person to kill, but it can choose its own master. Well, I'll give you time to dig it out."

With her fingers on the hilt of the sword at her waist, Heather smiled brightly:

"Then, I will show you what [the power to destroy the shogunate] is."