Filial piety: the supreme emperor

“Woohoo…”

Faced with the attacks of these mechanical warriors, Okita Souji couldn't even resist. The severe pain in her chest made it impossible for her to stand up.

"I can't just... fall down like this..."

Stand up, you must stand up!

Souji Okita struggled to get up, but fell heavily to the ground, almost falling into the void from the floating stairs of Ikeda House.

"Tooth thrust three-stroke!"

In an instant, laser sword light flashed behind the approaching enemy, and several humanoid robot heads disintegrated instantly, and the ejected energy stream splashed all over Okita Souji's body.

"Thank you, Saito-san."

Okita Souji did not complain. She was no longer a naive girl. As a member of the Shinsengumi, this kind of battle was normal for her. She felt lucky to be alive.

"Be careful, Okita. As the captain, you must always pay attention to your own condition."

The one who rescued Okita Souji was Saito Hajime, the captain of the Shinsengumi's third squad. He nodded to Okita and then threw himself into the fierce battle with the Kyushu robots.

...

"Wait, Katabei-kun, you mean Ikeda-ya?!"

Mu Yi's pupils contracted. He knew the history of the Shinsengumi because of Okita Souji, and of course he knew about the Ikedaya Incident, which was an interstellar war that almost wiped out the Choshu clan's high-ranking officials.

"Didn't they say the meeting was going to be held at a certain interstellar restaurant? Why did they suddenly change it to Ikeda-ya?"

Mu Yi paced back and forth in the virtual space, feeling anxious. Now it seems that the Ikedaya incident may be the key to the trial mission. If the Choshu clan could avoid this disaster, the history of the Meiji Restoration might end early.

From this perspective, it does fit Kenshin Himura's pursuit of a new era.

"hateful!"

Mu Yi punched the wall hard, missing such a crucial moment due to a moment of negligence. When he first came here last year, Katsura Kogoro had invited him to a secret meeting, and he thought it would be held at the same place this year, so he didn't ask any more questions. If he had known it was at Ikeda-ya, he would have persuaded Katsura Kogoro not to go.

By the way, Katsura Kogoro...

"Brother Katabe, where is Mr. Gui?!"

Mu Yi remembered that according to history, Katsura Kogoro should be the only surviving high-ranking member of the Restoration in Beijing. He raised his head quickly, shaking Katabei, who was full of self-blame, expecting to hear good news.

"Mr. Katsura had originally gone to Ikeda-ya, but as it was still early, he went to the Tsushima Domain to handle some business. He took a short rest there and just happened to escape the disaster!"

Although Katabei said this, there was no joy on his face. He bit his lips until they bled.

“But Mr. Minoru, Mr. Miyabe, and the other participants are trapped in Ikeda-ya…!!”

“There is still hope!”

Mu Yi tightly grasped the energy knife at his waist and tried to rush out the door, but was stopped by Iizuka.

"It's too late. The Shinsengumi has surrounded Ikedaya. It's too late for you to go there now. Brother Katabei just said that the shogunate's 3,000 mecha troops have also been dispatched. A head-on confrontation will only make Choshu's situation worse!"

Iizuka also wants to rescue Ikedaya, but reality does not allow him to be impulsive and let Kenshin Himura take risks.

"No, before the Shogunate mecha arrives, the people of Ikedaya still have a chance. Get out of the way, Iizuka brother, trust me!"

Mu Yi raised his head and looked at Iizuka firmly. He was different from other people in the tide of the times. He knew that at this moment in Ikeda-ya, the Shinsengumi had not yet reached the point of suppressing the Choshu clan because of its scattered forces.

The key is to stop another Shinsengumi led by Hijikata Toshizo!

As long as Hijikata Toshizo's team cannot provide timely support, the Choshu clan's high-ranking officials in Ikedaya will have the opportunity to break through the team led by Okita Souji and Kondo Isami before the arrival of the shogunate mecha.

However, the only Choshu forces in Kyoto might be him, Iizuka and Katakabe, so Mu Yi understood that this might be a crazy decision.

——He has to fight against Hijikata Toshizo and the Shinsengumi he leads alone!

"you!"

Iizuka's eyes widened, but Mu Yi refused to give in. After a moment, he smiled bitterly and made way for the door.

Mu Yi nodded and rushed out quickly.

Iizuka looked at Mu Yi's back, made his hands into a trumpet shape and shouted loudly.

"Himurai, you must come back! Choshu can't live without you, Mr. Katsura can't live without you, and the new era can't live without you!"

...

"Stop!"

Hijikata Toshizo, who was walking in the front, drew out his energy sword and stared into the dark alley ahead. Although he was eager to provide support, he would not ignore such an obvious hostile aura.

Really perceptive, worthy of being the vice-captain of the Shinsengumi.

Mu Yi lowered his eyes, but did not show up because of Hijikata Toshizo's pause. His goal was not to kill the enemy, but to delay time.

and...

Mu Yi had never seen Hijikata Toshizo before, and Kenshin Himura did not provide any clues. He was able to recognize him because his sturdy appearance was exactly the same as Hijikata Toshizo in FGO, the Fate series.

Is it a coincidence? Or...

"Delaying time...? Hmph, it seems Kondo and Okita are in a tough battle."

As the think tank of the Shinsengumi, Hijikata Toshizo quickly understood the truth.

"Hey, leave this to me, you guys go to Ikeda House to provide support!"

Hijikata Toshizo swung his sword, and a powerful energy slash hit the ground, and gravel rained down on the shadows in the alley.

"Dragon Hammer Flash!"

Mu Yi pulled up a piece of tattered black cloth to protect his face, jumped out, adjusted his body posture in the air, ignored Hijikata Toshizo, and suddenly attacked the Shinsengumi members who were trying to leave.

"As long as I'm here, you'll never be able to stop the Shinsengumi from moving forward!"

Hijikata Toshizo stomped the ground hard and rushed to the front of Mu Yi in an instant. His powerful force caused the ground to crack. The two energy swords collided, and with a crisp sound, Hijikata Toshizo took a step back and bounced Mu Yi away.

“Buzz…”

Even though it was bounced away, the energy sword in Mu Yi's hand continued to hum, and his arm began to tremble.

Is this really the power that ordinary humans should have?

"Oh, did you use the quantum teleportation sword technique?"

Hijikata Toshizo turned the mechanical shoulder armor with interest, his eyes penetrating the darkness, staring at the nano goggles covering Mu Yi's face and the sheathed photon knife in his hand.

"..."

Mu Yi was speechless. He put his hand on the hilt of the knife again, responding to Hijikata Toshizo's guess with silent movements.

"So that's it, you are the 'Quantum Slayer'!"

Hijikata Toshizo let out an electronic roar, and before he finished speaking, he had already launched a surprise attack on Mu Yi like a superluminal particle. Before he even got close, Mu Yi could already feel the murderous aura coming towards him, like the polar wind in deep winter.

Faced with the pressure from Hijikata Toshizo, Mu Yi did not retreat, but instead accelerated forward.

"Light Wing Slash!"

The moment the two figures crossed each other, Mu Yi twisted his waist and almost stuck to the edge of Hijikata Toshizo's beam sword to avoid the fatal blow. Then he instantly ejected the photon knife from his waist, and the handle hit Hijikata Toshizo's energy shield.

However, Mu Yi's attack was not over yet. Before he even landed on the ground, he sheathed the photon knife at an incredible speed.

At the same time, he rolled his body sideways, pushed off the ground with one foot, and used the reaction force to turn around and counterattack at a speed faster than Hijikata Toshizo had just sprinted.

This is his newly developed sword combo, which combines quantum teleportation sword skills with high-speed sword-collecting skills, supplemented by two consecutive photon slashes, to weave a fatal blow - "Double Light Wing Slash".

However, at this moment, Mu Yi felt a strong sense of crisis. His visual scan showed that Hijikata Toshizo had switched the long sword to his left hand and held a black particle gun in his right hand.

"If you have time, I'd love to fight the 'Quantum Slasher' with swords. But if you stand in my way now, you'll die!"

Wait, that's not a stick, it's clearly a particle gun!

Without time to think, Mu Yi quickly pulled out the photon knife based on his intuition.

"boom!"

The sound of cold particle gunfire rang out, and Mu Yi was pushed to the corner of the wall with his sword by the huge impact. Hijikata Toshizo glanced at the direction where Mu Yi was flying backwards, but did not chase him, but quickly disappeared into the darkness. For him, supporting the members of Ikedaya was more important than eliminating the obstacle in front of him.

“…failed.”

The photon knife in Mu Yi's hand was broken by the impact. He smiled bitterly at the energy bomb that was cut in half beside him. Even if he wanted to continue fighting, he was powerless. At this moment, he leaned against the wall and couldn't even stand up. He was no longer a 15-year-old boy. Cutting off the energy bomb was a high-intensity operation that was beyond his limit.

...

On June 5th of the first year of Genji, the Ikedaya Incident broke out and the Shinsengumi returned victoriously.

Overnight, the tide of the times reversed.

The tragedy at Ikedaya was exaggerated, and the Choshu clan was furious, marching 3,000 soldiers toward Kyoto. The total strength of the shogunate army reached 20,000, and the outcome was decided before the battle began.

On July 18th of the first year of Yuanzhi, during the Jinmen Incident, Mu Yi once again participated in the battle, but his personal strength was insignificant in the tide of history and he failed to change the overall situation.

...

“So, you just want me to experience what it was like to support Ikedaya that night?”

Mu Yi sat cross-legged in the dark virtual space, staring at Kenshin Himura in front of him. Kenshin Himura was transmitting energy to him. Mu Yi didn't say much about the end of the trial, but he had to ask something.

"Hmm, that's probably it."

Kenshin Himura scratched his messy hair, looking very easygoing. "I've always wanted to try and see how the results would be different if I had gone there that night. But I've never met Hijikata Toshizo and the others, and the results were all the templates in your memory, causing the Choshu clan to be defeated faster than in history—"

“You’re lying to me.”

Mu Yi pointed at the cross-shaped scar on Kenshin's face, suppressing his anger.

"Uh, what did you say?"

Kenshin touched the cross scar, looking confused.

"At the time I was there, there was only one scar. The other one came later, right? No, let's talk about it. That scar was left by Tomoe Yukishiro, right?"

Mu Yi had sensed the breath of fate from Tomoe Yukishiro a long time ago. He thought that rescuing Ikedaya was just a part of the trial, and he couldn't avoid Tomoe Yukishiro in the end. He didn't expect Kenshin Himura to let him go like this. To be honest, Kenshin Himura's withdrawal halfway surprised him.

"I just, just..."

Kenshin Himura opened his mouth to speak, but in the end his expression became gloomy and he sat down dejectedly.

"You're right, that scar was... no, it was left by Tomoe."

Kenshin Himura lowered his eyes and drew out the photon knife from his waist. Mu Yi noticed that it was a reverse blade design, but he did not speak, waiting for Kenshin Himura to give the complete story.

"After Mr. Gui lost power, Tomoe and I lived in seclusion in the fields. Until one day, Tomoe disappeared from my life, and I followed a small note with clues about Tomoe to the 'Boundary Forest'."

Having said that, Kenshin Himura glanced at Mu Yi and continued his story.

"The gravity field there was chaotic, and my senses as a swordsman were completely blocked. It was snowing that day, and my speed advantage was gone. All my chances of winning were secretly taken away by the leader An Nobu, and there was no other way except to die together. At that time, I thought that I could no longer keep the agreement with Aba."

Kenshin Himura raised the photon sword in his hand, his eyes full of memories.

"At that time, I closed my eyes and blocked all my senses to make a final struggle. But when I used all my strength to perform the 'Light Wing Slash', what I smelled was not the smell of blood, but the fragrance of white plums on Aba's body..."

At this point, tears rolled down Kenshin Himura's eyes.

"My senses were dulled at the time, and I didn't know where she came from. She stabbed the energy knife deep into the chest of the Annowu leader, but I slashed her. The energy knife slipped from her hand and left these two scars on my face."

"..."

Mu Yi was silent. After meeting Tomoe Yukishiro and Kenshin Himura, he understood the sadness contained in them.

“So, I interrupted the trial because I felt that my intuition was not enough.