Chapter 63: Hojo Akitoki Stepping Onto the New World

"My Lord, Akechi implores you to think on this once more!"

Leading his army to the outskirts of Maple Village once again, Hojo Akitoki ignored the villagers who had no idea why the Hojo forces were marching upon them. At this moment, the anxious Lady Kaede also saw her request for an audience to inquire about the situation rejected.

Hojo Akitoki, accompanied by Akechi Mitsuhide, Tsubaki, and others, walked up the hillside to the Bone-Eating Well next to which Kagome had crossed into another world.

Having mulled it over and over again all the way here, still feeling that this was improper, Akechi Mitsuhide—who had already offered dissuasion many times—renewed his advice.

After all, as the grand curtain on the Hojo clan's bid to conquer the realm was slowly being drawn back, this was precisely a time when a thousand threads intertwined. Every single administrative process was waiting for Hojo Akitoki's final approval; for their lord to go off and fulfill some mission entrusted by the spirit of the Era Tree at a juncture like this—wasn't that utterly absurd?

Moreover, heaven alone knew what schemes that so-called Era Tree spirit was harboring! Should My Lord never return, what would become of the entire Hojo clan?

Hearing this, Hojo Akitoki gazed at the fiercely loyal Akechi Mitsuhide. Had Hojo Akitoki not considered the very problems that Akechi was weighing?

Yet time and tide wait for no man. As a great man in history once said, some matters cannot brook haste, while others cannot be delayed.

Crisis, crisis. Danger always breeds opportunity!

"Tsubaki, Yunya, and Tsubaki—have you finished your inspections?"

His mind already made up, unwilling to merely remain a mortal king, Hojo Akitoki signaled for Akechi Mitsuhide to remain calm and composed. He turned to question the three elite transcendents of his faction who were currently inspecting the Bone-Eating Well.

After a considerable stretch of time, the three of them—having fully comprehended the monumental responsibility resting upon their shoulders—concluded their meticulous examination. They whispered among themselves in low voices for a long while before finally pushing Tsubaki forward to report to Hojo Akitoki.

"Lord Akitoki, forgive the three of us for our meager abilities. In our view, this Bone-Eating Well..."

Bow deeply to Hojo Akitoki, Tsubaki spoke with a hesitation that was palpable to everyone.

"This well appears utterly unremarkable. We could not discover the reason behind the villagers' legends that it devours the bones of demons."

"As for what the spirit of the Era Tree claimed—that this well can transport My Lord to other worlds..."

"We... we simply cannot be certain!"

Having said this, Tsubaki seemed to feel that giving such an answer regarding a matter of such paramount importance was completely inexcusable. She immediately retreated a step and lowered her head.

"My Lord, look at this!"

Instantly reinvigorated, Akechi Mitsuhide pressed his remonstrance with even greater righteousness.

"Understood."

Nodding, Hojo Akitoki did not censure the three of them; after all, they had done their utmost. The Bone-Eating Well—that wondrous object running throughout the original Inuyasha world—was indeed not something the three of them could easily analyze.

In doing this, he had merely been holding onto a one-in-a-million chance. To attain it was his fortune; to lose it was his fate.

"My Lord!"

Seeing that Hojo Akitoki remained stubborn in his own course, Akechi Mitsuhide stepped closer and cried out loudly.

"The Hojo clan cannot survive without your leadership!"

"Mitsuhide."

A voice, neither too loud nor too soft, rang out. Hojo Akitoki's words instantly quieted the emotionally agitated Akechi Mitsuhide.

Gazing at Mitsuhide’s flushed face, as well as Tsubaki and the others who were listening intently, Hojo Akitoki slowly voiced his perspective.

"Unifying the realm under the sword is no banquet; it is not a peaceful and amicable affair."

"The battlefield is a place of flashing blades, where every single step harbors mortal peril."

"To purge the scourge of demons for all the people under heaven is a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering enterprise unlike anything since the dawn of time."

"Given all of this, which task has ever been easy?"

"This..."

Deeply pondering Hojo Akitoki's words, everyone present was left completely speechless. Just as their lord had said, every single one of these undertakings carried immense risks; no one dared to boast that they could complete them smoothly and without obstruction.

"The grand enterprise of the Hojo clan has been forged by the sweat and blood of every single one of its members. As we have walked this path to the present day, how many have fallen along the way?"

Raising a hand to pat Mitsuhide on the shoulder, Hojo Akitoki continued.

"To ensure that the sacrifices of those who came before us are not in vain, I must become a king who knows no fear."

"To merely let my subordinates and followers make all the sacrifices and dedications—that is not my path of a king!"

"Furthermore, I trust Tsubaki and the others. On the path of cultivation, they are undoubtedly the pioneers."

"Since they have all stated that the spirit of the Era Tree has not planted any hidden malevolence within me, and since the spirit of the Era Tree represents a certain will of this world..."

"Then, as children of this heaven and earth, why not try to trust it?"

"Do not forget, what is it that our Hojo clan currently enshrines in our shrines? It is none other than Heaven and Earth itself!"

"My Lord!"

At these words, Akechi Mitsuhide, Tsubaki, and the others were profoundly moved. With a rustle, everyone present involuntarily dropped to their knees. They were moved by Hojo Akitoki's resolve, and by the boundless trust their lord placed in them.

"Very well, Mitsuhide."

"Did not the spirit of the Era Tree say that the power of time would lose its effect upon me?"

"Perhaps the very moment I step into this well, I shall reappear before you all in the next second?"

"After all, time has no power over me, does it?"

When he said this, Hojo Akitoki had his own calculations. Kagome could use the well to traverse time and worlds, and his trip seemed to operate on the same principle. Moreover, his treatment was even better than Kagome's; the spirit of the Era Tree had explicitly stated that he was unaffected by time.

Thus, when traveling to another world, the flow of time in this world surely would not be too fast. At any rate, he was a transmigrator after all, and he even bore the title of an anomaly amidst time.

Surely he deserved at least that much plot armor and welfare?

Seeing that matters had reached this point, Akechi Mitsuhide suppressed the myriad thoughts churning in his heart, nodded heavily, and ceased his obstruction. He offered his blessing for the unification of the realm to his lord, hoping that he would return smoothly with victory in hand.

On the other side, Tsubaki and the others also offered their respective magical artifacts imbued with spiritual energy, doing their utmost to help Hojo Akitoki lay waste to whatever foreign world he entered.

Looking with a smile upon the dazzling array of magical artifacts he now carried, Hojo Akitoki felt confident that, simply with his existing equipment—even in a Lord God world filled with infinite dangers—this opening hand could only be described as an absolute god-tier start!

He had brought so many treasures with him; unless he blundered into an inescapable, ten-death-zero-life absolute death world, no matter what...

The next phrase almost flashed into his mind, and Hojo Akitoki hurriedly used a tremendous force of will to suppress the words that followed.

One must never utter the Headmaster's curse at a time like this!

For no other reason—it was simply too inauspicious!

Without further ado, Hojo Akitoki arranged a few final related matters and walked toward the unremarkable Bone-Eating Well.

"Oh, right, where are Kagome and the others right now?"

Just as he reached the edge of the well, Hojo Akitoki suddenly turned back to ask.

"According to a report from Kohaku, they seem to have encountered a little fox demon and even clashed with the Thunder Beast brothers among the demons."

Stepping forward, Sango—who had recently taken on the concurrent duties of a maid and bodyguard, a girl whose presence had hitherto been understated—replied respectfully.

"I see."

Hojo Akitoki nodded in realization. It seemed that if he moved fast enough, he could still catch up with a crucial plot node. He certainly did not want to miss Kikyo's resurrection.

"Wait for my return, my friends."

Leaving behind these words, Hojo Akitoki truly stepped into the Bone-Eating Well.

The onlookers saw a blinding flash of light erupt from the well, and then the figure of their lord, Hojo Akitoki, vanished without a trace.

"Tsubaki, you guys really!"

Seeing their lord disappear, Akechi Mitsuhide spun around, wanting to lecture this group of people. In his heart of hearts, he still felt uneasy about letting Hojo Akitoki go off to fulfill some mission entrusted by the Era Tree spirit. Of course, this was also Hojo Akitoki's fault for not explaining the details—such as information regarding being an anomaly in time—fully to them.

"We..."

As they retorted to dispute the point, Tsubaki and the others found it awkward to bicker head-on with Akechi Mitsuhide.

However, the dark miko Tsubaki possessed no such psychological burden whatsoever. Just as she was about to engage in a tongue battle of three hundred rounds with Akechi Mitsuhide, the Bone-Eating Well—which had just flashed once—lit up once more.

And this time, amidst the radiance, apart from their own lord...

There were several other figures as well!