I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"Hijikata-kun!"

As he wiped the sweat from his cheeks, Yamanami Keisuke shouted to Hijikata Toshizo beside him.

"Tachibana-kun and Okita-kun have gone into battle!"

Upon hearing this, Hijikata Toshizo immediately stopped what he was doing and looked in the direction Yamanami Keisuke was looking.

Upon seeing Aoto and Souji standing at the front lines, he grinned, revealing an amusing expression that seemed to be both annoyed and pleased.

"Hmph, as expected of them, they turned the tide of the battle with just the two of them."

Nagakura Shinpachi, standing to the side, said in a deep voice:

"Hijikata-kun, Tachibana-san and Okita-kun have both shown up, shouldn't we make our move too?"

Tu Fang nodded three times.

"Well, let's go!"

……

Click! Click! Click...

Find a target, swing the sword, find the next target, swing the sword again... Qingdeng kept repeating this series of steps.

No one could keep up with the speed of his sword.

His sword truly lived up to its name of "one swing, one kill"—with each swing, a pile of broken porcelain shards would inevitably appear on the ground.

He had lost count of how many porcelain bowls he had smashed. Whenever he saw someone with a red cloth band tied around their head, he would simply swing his sword at the porcelain bowl on their forehead.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a sword blade behind him.

He turned his head slightly and glanced behind him out of the corner of his eye—only to see a bamboo sword suddenly rushing towards him!

At this critical moment, he did not hesitate to swing his sword in retaliation.

Snapped!

The bamboo swords clashed, producing a dull thud.

"Well……!"

Unable to withstand the immense force transmitted back along the sword, Inoue Genzaburo staggered back several steps, clutching the bamboo sword that had been thrown back.

Without a moment's respite, the second bamboo sword struck Qingdeng.

Qingdeng suddenly dodged and hid in a safe area... or rather, a relatively safe area for this second.

The next second, two bamboo swords came slashing down—Saito Hajime and Nagakura Shinpachi blocked Aoto's retreat from the left and right.

At the same time, Hijikata Toshizo, who had just missed his attack, and Inoue Genzaburo, who had recovered, joined forces with Nagakura and Saito to pounce on Aoto again.

Qing Deng's sharp gaze swept across the faces of Hijikata and the others along the sword's edge.

In the blink of an eye, people saw Qingdeng's body nimbly flash by.

He dodged again and again—retreating to outside the attack range of Hijikata and the others.

A flash, then a flash—the bamboo sword in his hand flashed twice.

The first sword strike forced Hijikata Toshizo and Saito Hajime to retreat.

The second sword strike forced Nagakura Shinpachi and Inoue Genzaburo to retreat.

Taking advantage of this opening, he retreated rapidly in the direction of Souji, creating distance between himself and Hijikata and the others.

On the other side, Souji found himself in a similar predicament.

Yamanami Keisuke, Todo Heisuke, and Harada Sanosuke formed a simple yet effective "anti-Sōji encirclement network."

The strongest fighter, Keisuke Yamanami, was responsible for the direct confrontation.

Heisuke Todo, who was slightly less capable, was responsible for assisting from the side.

Harada Sanosuke, who wields a short gun and has the widest attack range, is responsible for standing on the outermost edge, occasionally poking Souji to disrupt his movements.

It possesses all three functions: main attack, secondary attack, and support.

The commander is not good at fighting against multiple opponents.

When fighting against multiple opponents, the amount of information the brain needs to receive and process increases exponentially.

Souji happens to be the kind of person who isn't very bright and isn't good at calculations—she still always gets addition and subtraction within 100 wrong.

Therefore, once she gets caught in a chaotic battle surrounded by enemies, she often can't analyze the situation in time, which affects her ability to perform.

However... if the difference in strength between us and the enemy is too great, then that's a different story.

Souji took a deep breath and began to build momentum in the middle section—

Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!

Three muffled thuds were heard.

The first sound was the sound of Yamanami Keisuke's attack being blocked.

The second sound was the sound of Todo Heisuke's bamboo sword being flicked away.

The third shot was the sound of Harada Sanosuke's spear tip being parried.

Without lingering in the fight, Souji decisively leaped out of the currently chaotic "anti-Souji encirclement."

As if it had been pre-arranged, Souji also retreated in the direction where Aoto was.

After they met up, they turned around quickly and in perfect unison to find their backs—their waists and spines were pressed tightly together.

Although they were both dressed, Qing Deng's skin still felt that extremely familiar body temperature that made him feel incredibly safe.

"Xiao Si, you smell so good."

Qing Deng joked in a serious tone, at a volume that only he and the Souji could hear.

The chieftain said coquettishly:

"Tachibana-kun, a competition is underway right now."

"You smell so good during this competition."

The commander-in-chief stopped responding.

However, a faint blush appeared on her cheeks, and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.

Hijikata and the others, unaware of the young couple's flirting, closed in on them.

Hijikata and Yamanami Keisuke, along with Nagakura, Saito, Inoue, Todo, and Harada, surrounded Aoto and Souji from different directions.

"Two against seven... I guess it turned out like this."

As he spoke, a smile of excitement curved Qingdeng's lips.

"Everyone has gotten so much stronger!"

His words were not flattering at all, but rather a heartfelt expression of emotion.

The people at Shieikan... including Kondo Isami, who is currently sitting on the high platform, are many times stronger than when Aoto first met them.

That's normal.

Although Kondo, Hijikata, and others are not as talented in martial arts as he and Souji, they are all exceptionally talented individuals!

Hijikata grinned:

"Thank you for the compliment. However, we won't go easy on you just because of your praise."

At this moment, Nagakura Shinpachi, who had the loudest voice, tilted his head back, took a deep breath, and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Now's the time! Quickly take the head of the White general!!"

"Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh!"

The fierce roar swept through the red team's formation like a whirlwind.

They bypassed Aoto and Souji, who were surrounded by Hijikata and the others, and advanced in a swarm.

Without Qing Deng and Zong Si taking the lead, the White side's offensive momentum immediately came to a halt.

Faced with the advancing Red Army soldiers, they hurriedly launched a counterattack.

The high-level combat forces of both sides are currently locked in a standoff.

Therefore, those who currently have the capacity to launch a counterattack are only their respective core combat forces.

Without the invincible Aoto and Souji, as well as the formidable Hijikata and others charging into battle, the battle lines were no longer pushing and pulling as rapidly as before, but it was clear to anyone with eyes to see that the Red team had a slight advantage.

Judging from the current situation, given enough time, the Red Army soldiers have a very high probability of breaking into the White Army's main camp and taking off Sato Hikogoro's "head".

Upon seeing this, Qing Deng nodded slightly:

"I see... So you're going to hold me and Okita back, and then leave the important task of taking the general's head to the other soldiers..."

Yamanami Keisuke said softly:

"In terms of core combat strength, we have the advantage. Therefore, as long as we can hold you and the commander back and restrict your movements, we will have the greatest chance of winning."

Upon hearing this, the commander revealed a playful smile.

"But is this really a good idea? Are the only seven of you responsible for holding me and Tachibana-kun back?"

Hijikata curled his lip:

"Besides the seven of us, who else on our side has the ability to hold you off?"

Qingdeng chuckled to himself:

"The success of your plan depends entirely on whether you can effectively stall me and Okita-kun, isn't it? Are you really that confident?"

Nagakura Shinpachi shouted in an eager tone:

"How will you know if it will work if you don't try?"

A charming smile graced Qingdeng's face.

"If you can do it, then go ahead and give it a try."

After saying that, he and the commander exchanged a smile.

The next breath—