Chapter 1 The Beginning

Almost at the same time as the Time Master died, the Sengoku Team members acted.

Apart from Oda Ai, the other four surrounded Xiao Tan at top speed and adopted a battle stance.

Clearly, Mitsuhide Nobunaga's earlier "preparation" was referring to this...

"Oh?" Xiao Tan warily scanned his surroundings, muttering, "I thought you'd wait a bit longer before coming."

"No choice, you're too fast," Uesugi Jin immediately replied.

"Yeah..." Takeda Tomoya added with narrowed eyes, "You think we didn't want to rest longer? We were just afraid you'd run."

After the three exchanged a few words, Oda Ai's expression changed slightly, and she looked at her teammates in confusion, "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Heh..." Xiao Tan gave a wry smile, "This kind of stance... is already obvious, right? Can't you see it?"

"Ai," Mitsuhide Nobunaga looked at Oda Ai at this moment, saying, "Don't forget, this is a match... he's an opponent."

Upon hearing this, a complicated look flashed across Oda Ai's eyes; however... after a few seconds of hesitation, the confusion in her eyes quickly disappeared.

"Right." Her hand gripped the hilt of her sword firmly once more, "This is a match..." Her gaze also locked onto Xiao Tan again, "Even though you saved us just now, that doesn't change the hostile relationship between our two teams."

"Yeah..." Sasaki Mei also drawled, saying grimly, "Even if we're called 'ungrateful'... there's nothing we can do about it. A match is a match, so we can only apologize."

"No need to apologize." Unexpectedly, Xiao Tan seemed very relaxed at this moment, "I came to 'assassinate the god,' not to 'save you.' It's just that my actions happened to help you... you don't need to thank me for it, let alone feel ashamed or guilty at a time like this."

"Hmph..." Mitsuhide Nobunaga snorted coldly, "Wang Jun, you're truly understanding..." At this point, she had already given her teammates the signal to attack with her eyes, and her own hand was also on the hilt of her sword, "In that case, we won't be polite..."

Unexpectedly, just as she was about to finish her sentence, a furry hand... landed on her shoulder.

In that instant, Mitsuhide Nobunaga instinctively wanted to turn around and attack.

However, she was surprised to find... that she couldn't move at all.

"Chomp chomp—chomp chomp chomp—" Immediately afterward, a series of smacking sounds came from her ear.

The next second, Mitsuhide Nobunaga mechanically turned her head and saw... a Rabbit-Rabbit person.

This rabbit had gray fur all over, except for its abdomen, chin, and limbs, which were white; it had two long, erect ears, a pair of clever eyes, and a pair of cute buck teeth.

At this moment, his right hand was on Mitsuhide Nobunaga's shoulder, and his left hand was holding a carrot, chewing it unhurriedly.

When Mitsuhide Nobunaga's eyes met his, he even said in a very casual tone, "What's up, doc?"

"This is... Bugs Bunny?" The moment he saw the NPC's appearance, Takeda Tomoya, who was standing on the other side, blurted out.

"Mm..." Sasaki Mei's face also became even more unsightly, "The pressure of this scene is so great that my stomach is starting to hurt..."

"Relax, everyone, don't be nervous." Bugs Bunny looked at the few people around him with a teasing look, saying, "Let me introduce myself... I'm Barney, Bugs Bugs Bunny."

"What do you want?" Mitsuhide Nobunaga spent a few seconds regaining her composure and looked at Barney, asking.

"Tsk tsk tsk..." Barney finished chewing the last bit of carrot and rubbed his fingers together, "Obviously, I want to stop you from hurting my friend Wang... uh..." He looked up at Xiao Tan, "What's your name again?"

"Wang Tanzhi," Xiao Tan replied.

"Whatever." Barney got his answer, but waved his hand at Xiao Tan dismissively, and then continued to say to Mitsuhide Nobunaga, "Anyway, for various reasons, I have to help him."

"You guys..." Oda Ai was standing very close to Bugs Bunny, but she hadn't noticed how the other party had gotten close at all, and only now did she belatedly ask, "...where did you come from?"

"Hey, I'm a rabbit, of course I came out of a hole." Barney turned his head and replied, "Don't believe me, look..." As he said that, he raised his hand and pointed behind him with his thumb.

Oda Ai looked in the direction he was pointing, and she really saw a "hole"—a circular, black hole suspended in mid-air, a very common thing in the cartoons of Ah Hua and Ah Na...

"See." Before Oda Ai could respond, Barney interjected, "I didn't lie to you, did I? Otherwise, how do you think we got to the Time Domain?"

"'You'?" Mitsuhide Nobunaga keenly noticed something when she heard that word.

"Yeah." Xiao Tan shrugged from a few meters away at this moment, "I also came here through that kind of 'cartoon dimensional hole.'" Speaking of this, he seemed to have suddenly remembered something, and pointed behind Oda Ai, "Oh, and... he is too."

This sentence made the Sengoku Team members' hearts skip a beat again.

If Xiao Tan hadn't reminded them, they really wouldn't have noticed... that in addition to Bugs Bunny, there was another figure they hadn't noticed, who had quietly arrived behind Oda Ai.

"Hey~ I've been working hard to hide my presence." The next second, a Rabbit-Rabbit person wearing a sailor's short shirt, work pants, and a red scarf suddenly appeared in everyone's sight, complaining to Xiao Tan, "I originally wanted to suddenly jump out and scare them."

"Puh-hah—" Before the rabbit could finish speaking, Sasaki Mei in the distance suddenly bent over and spat out a mouthful of old blood on his own.

"Hey... what are you doing again?" Takeda Tomoya was shocked by the gloomy man's reaction.

"Haa... haa... I'm... I'm sorry..." Sasaki Mei replied, panting, "Too... too much pressure... haa... stomach bleeding... woo..."

"Mm..." Uesugi Jin frowned and pondered when he heard this, "Is this the legendary Tochi physique..."

"What kind of physique is that!" Takeda Tomoya really couldn't help but complain, her white-haired, pink-armored loli image and voice were indeed very suitable for the job of a tsukkomi (straight man).

"I say..." Mitsuhide Nobunaga closed her eyes and shook her head, sighing, "If you guys are done with your clowning, can you consider..." Her eyes narrowed, "...helping me chop these guys up!"

Chi ying—

Chi ying—

Whoosh—

Boom—

The moment her voice fell, the sound of four weapons being unsheathed almost overlapped.

The Sengoku Team members, who seemed to be playing with comedic routines carelessly... were actually always in a state of nervous tension. They were just using this trick to cover up their own psychological fluctuations and make their opponents lower their guard.

Along with Mitsuhide Nobunaga's order...

Murderous intent rose, and a chaotic battle began.

In the blink of an eye! Oda Ai flashed to Barney's side, and her sword... was as fast as lightning.

[Iai. Nue Cry] (Iai. Nightjar Cry)

[Skill Card Attributes: Active Skill, Permanently Mastered]

[Skill Category: Combat]

[Effect: Unleashes an extremely powerful and fast Iai slash once (one-hour cooldown, can only be activated if equipped with a sword-type weapon and sheathed)]

[Consumption: Stamina 1000, Spirit Energy 100]

[Learning Conditions: Combat Specialization A]

[Remarks: One of the Iai techniques created by the "Demon Sword Master," the move contains the power of the five elements and eight directions, and is brutal and violent.]

The Time Master was dead, and the Silence Domain was naturally lifted; therefore, Oda Ai could now use her skills at will.

By the way... in order to use this move, Oda Ai had deliberately sheathed the already unsheathed katana, which showed that she had great confidence in the reliability and lethality of this skill.

Hiss—

Sure enough, in the blink of an eye, the blade cut through Barney's body, splitting him in half at the waist.

But...

"Oh! My goodness!" Barney looked at his separated lower body, exclaimed in surprise, and covered his face with his hands.

Then... he quickly pulled up his lower body like he was pulling up his pants, and reattached it to his waist...

Throughout the entire process, he didn't shed a drop of blood. The part of his body that was cut open... only showed a touch of black, and no internal organs could be seen at the wound.

All in all, after taking a Grade A skill at close range, Barney... was unscathed.