Early June, the 10th year of Tensho.

  Standing amidst the charred ruins of Honno-ji, Mitsuhide Akechi was possessed not by the exhilaration of conquering the realm, but by a bone-chilling dread.

  "The head... Has Nobunaga’s head still not been found!?"

  Mitsuhide’s roar echoed hollowly through the ash-strewn grounds. No matter how many times they dug up the temple or scoured the depths of the wells, Nobunaga Oda’s remains were never discovered.

  It is impossible for him to be alive. No one could have escaped that inferno...

  Mitsuhide told himself this repeatedly. However, the fact that he did not possess the head remained in his chest as the "uncertain factor" he feared most. Even in death, Nobunaga bound Mitsuhide with a corpse that did not exist.

  To fill this fatal void of the "missing head," Mitsuhide began to move like a man possessed. Unless he could prove the legitimacy of his rule, he would be buried in history as nothing more than a common "Lord-slayer."

  Mitsuhide first headed for Azuchi Castle. His intent was to seize the gold and treasures within and distribute them among his vassals, forcibly crafting his image as the "New Lord."

  However, Kagetaka Yamaoka, the lord of Seta Castle and a former vassal of Nobunaga, refused to align with Mitsuhide. He burned down the Seta Karahashi Bridge—a vital strategic point on the road to Azuchi—to obstruct Mitsuhide’s advance.

  Mitsuhide was forced to spend three days repairing the bridge. This three-day delay was the first omen that destiny had begun to abandon him.

  Finally, Mitsuhide occupied Azuchi Castle. While bestowing rewards upon his subordinates, he also sent vast sums of money to the court nobles in Kyoto, desperate to establish contact with the Imperial Court.

  "I did not strike Nobunaga to cast the realm into chaos. I did so to correct his tyranny and restore peace to Japan..."

  On June 9th, Mitsuhide finally received an imperial envoy ordering him to maintain order in Kyoto. Formally, he had become a "General of Justice." Sitting in the magnificent hall of Azuchi, bathed in the congratulations of the nobles, Mitsuhide was able, for a fleeting moment, to forget the terror of the missing head.

  (Look, Fujitaka. Even without Nobunaga’s head, the Court has recognized me. The world has begun to revolve around me.)

  But the first and sharpest crack appeared in that seemingly rock-solid fiction.

  The news of reinforcement from his most anticipated ally, Fujitaka Hosokawa, as well as Ukon Takayama and Kiyohide Nakagawa of Settsu, failed to arrive.

  Fujitaka, in particular, was the father-in-law of Mitsuhide’s daughter; they were supposed to be bound by a tie stronger than any other.

  "Fujitaka is a cautious man. He must be waiting to ensure I have firmly grasped the realm... Or is he waiting for Hideyoshi from the West?"

  Mitsuhide had heard rumors of Hashiba approaching from the West. A report stated, "Chikuzen has made peace with the Mori and is heading this way." Upon hearing this, Mitsuhide, relying on his own strategic intellect, judged it to be "favorable."

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  Mitsuhide was certain. In a past secret meeting with Fujitaka, they had discussed a plan to bring Hideyoshi under their umbrella should an uprising occur at Honno-ji. Fujitaka had nodded deeply at the time.

  "Hideyoshi is a man sensitive to profit. With Nobunaga gone, he will surely submit to me and rush here as 'reinforcements'..."

  In Mitsuhide’s mind, Hideyoshi was pictured as a defeated general, his rear threatened by the Mori, desperately seeking salvation from him. Mitsuhide’s pride as a master strategist had distorted his perception of the terrifying Hideyoshi into "a being that should prostrate himself before me."

  However, on June 10th, Mitsuhide’s scouts captured a suspicious messenger near Amagasaki. The man carried a secret letter, stamped with Hideyoshi Hashiba’s seal, addressed to the various lords of Settsu.

  "A letter from Hideyoshi...? Bring it. Let us see what the fool is braying about."

  Mitsuhide spread the letter with feigned composure. But the moment he read the words written there, the color drained from his face.

  "Our Lord (Nobunaga) is safe. He is currently recovering from his wounds at Zeze. We, the Hashiba forces, shall henceforth strike down the traitor, Mitsuhide. We shall arrive at Amagasaki on June 11th. Lords, join us at once."

  "Absurd... Nobunaga is alive? T-Traitor? What? Strike me down?"

  Mitsuhide was violently shaken. The Hashiba army, which he had assumed would be his reinforcements, was in fact an execution force coming to purge him as a "traitor."

  Furthermore, the eerie vacuum created by the missing head gave this lie of "Nobunaga’s survival" a curse-like credibility.

  "Do not speak such falsehoods! This is but a bluff by Hideyoshi! Nobunaga is not alive! To reach Amagasaki by the 11th... that defies all reason!"

  Mitsuhide flew into a rage and tore the letter to pieces. Yet, his fingers would not stop trembling. A single scrap of paper bearing the word "Zeze" fell to the floor, and even there, it seemed to glare back at Mitsuhide.

  (Zeze, you say?)

  In the depths of Mitsuhide’s mind, a vision formed: Nobunaga, drenched in blood, rising slowly from the deep shadows of Zeze and beginning to walk toward Azuchi.

  "He would do it. Even in those flames, he might have survived, laughing like the God of Death..."

  Mitsuhide shuddered, clutching his own shoulders. Every time the wind howled outside, it sounded to his ears like the footfalls of Nobunaga’s army.

  The news that arrived that night was cruel, as if to compound Mitsuhide’s terror.

  Ukon Takayama, Kiyohide Nakagawa, and even Tsuneoki Ikeda—the very men he had counted on—had rejected Mitsuhide’s invitation and joined Hideyoshi’s forces.

  Mitsuhide felt a simultaneous surge of terror at the possibility of Nobunaga being alive, rage toward Hideyoshi and Fujitaka Hosokawa, and devastating disappointment at the betrayal of the Settsu lords.

  Though his mind had been frayed by Nobunaga’s previous harsh treatment, he lamented his own foolishness for being lured by the sweet words of a "Coalition Army."

  (Fujitaka... Did you intend to sell me out from the very beginning? What 'Coalition of sixty thousand'! That nod back then, that smile—was it all a trap to drag me into this quagmire!?)

  The coldness of betrayal froze his spine. Fujitaka’s silence, and Hideyoshi’s impossible marching speed. The moment everything connected into a single line, the ground gave way beneath Mitsuhide’s feet.

  "I thought... I thought they were reinforcements... Such a disgrace... I cannot even tell Toshimitsu of this..."

  The dust clouds approaching from the West were not a wind sent to save him. They were the breath of the God of Death, coming to grind him, his clan, and his justice into nothingness.

  While Mitsuhide had been admiring treasures at Azuchi and escaping into formal negotiations, Kanbe'e had used "information" as a weapon to turn the world around Mitsuhide into a perfect "vacuum."

  "Curse you... Hideyoshi! To treat me as such a fool...!"

  For the first time, Mitsuhide’s eyes held not "intellectual pride," but raw, naked hatred. However, he did not yet know that even this hatred was already part of Kanbe'e’s calculations.

  June 11th. In Mitsuhide’s vision, a cloud of dust filled the western sky.

  They were not reinforcements. An "execution force" of forty thousand was there.

  With trembling hands, Mitsuhide ordered the war drums to be struck.

  "To Yamazaki! Block the exit of Yamazaki! Do not let a single man through!"

  But his voice was already withered, devoid of power.

  Mitsuhide did not yet know that the "Cage" designed by Kanbe'e was already waiting for him at Yamazaki, its maw wide open.

  The era began to systematically dismantle the fading dream known as Mitsuhide.

  Produced and written by a Japanese author, rooted in authentic Japanese history. Translated with the assistance of Gemini (AI).