"Still alive, then?" Gengyo said as he rejoined Matsudaira and the rest.

"That we are, you bastard," his own father said back to him with a bloodthirsty grin.

"These rifles are monsters on this kind of terrain," Matsudaira said back, "with an open line of shot between us and the enemy, they can't get close without due sacrifices. They've hardly bothered us, even with the absence of most of our force."

"Hardly bothered us? A funny thing to say about battle," Gengyo grinned, "but I do agree with you. The soldiers sing our praises, for we are the leaders of the battlefield, but in truth, the technology we wield is what gives us the edge, and for that praise must be offered towards young Takeshi."

"Praise he might be given, but he'd never want that, I fear," Matsudaira pointed out, "he merely wants a quiet workshop where he can test his ideas, then he will be a happy man."

"Are you two really chatting so casually in the middle of battle?" Akiko asked, a little annoyed.

"We might be," Gengyo shrugged. "We have breathing room. We've dealt with their bowmen, right down to the last man. All they have left is their fire bomb-throwers and they'll never get close to cause a problem. Now we only need to wait for them to commit themselves fully to an attack and we'll wipe them out."

"You make it sound so easy," Akiko sighed.

"Oh, it won't be," Gengyo agreed, "but we've grown used to walking the line between life and death, have we not? In situations like these, our heads are level. It will be a good baptism for that child of mine inside your belly. He will come out already knowing what war is."

Akiko sighed, "I really can never win with you." She did not seem to hate that fact too much, for she was smiling there beneath her helmet, as Rin looked back and forth between them, wondering what she was missing hidden in their words.

"Carts are against the wall," Jikouji said, joining their ranks a moment later.

"They're going to open up as many holes as they can, to attack us from as many different directions as possible," Gengyo predicted, for that was what he would do. "However, I do not think that will give them enough of an advantage. We have culled their numbers enough so that their force is no longer overwhelming. Perhaps thirty thousand, or thirty-five thousand are left."

"That few?" Rin asked in shock. "This'll be easy then!"

"Easy might be too light a term for it," Gengyo said, "but they're certainly lacking something… As such, I would like to try out a new formation, if you would permit it."

"What formation?" Matsudaira asked intrigued.

"A swirling one," Gengyo said. He immediately held up his hand to stop their questions, knowing how ridiculous it sounded. It was normally accomplished by a small detachment of mounted bowmen. Small and mounted were two things his men were not.

"We'll be able to cover all our angles that way," Gengyo stated, "it'll be complicated, but our men will pick it up soon enough. With that, the enemy won't make it close."

"I don't know, Nii-san… That sounds kinda dumb. Won't we get dizzy?" Rin asked.

"It does sound it," Gengyo admitted, "but we'll constantly be changing directing, not simply spinning in a circle, so we won't get dizzy. I don't really know if it'll give us an advantage, but I've been considering employing it, and now is a chance to see it in action."

"We'll do it then, Miura-dono," Matsudaira said resolutely. "I understand what you are aiming for. I've seen it done with the mounted bowmen of other clans. It's more of a spiral than a spinning circle. We create a rotation that forces men who have emptied their rifles into the centre, towards safety, whilst those with loaded weapons are on the outside. If perfected, it would be monstrous."

"Exactly!" Gengyo grinned excitedly, pleased that Matsudaira understood him. The only problem was applying it. It seemed like the sort of thing that would take weeks of drilling to get right. Not something one should try in the middle of battle, especially when they were so heavily outnumbered.

BOOM!

The ground shook as the first of the gunpowder carts was lit on fire. A huge chunk was torn in the wall, right at the front again, just beside the original hole. The blast made the wall look like it was made of paper rather than stone.

This time, it hardly affected them. Gengyo's men were stationed firmly in the centre of the courtyard, a respectable distance away from the wall and from the disorientating effects of such a blast.

"Here we go then," Gengyo said.

"I can get your little swirling formation to work," Jikouji said quickly.

Gengyo looked to him in surprise. "Are you sure...?"

"I am. Give me control of the troops, I'll get them moving the right way," the old man said as they watched the rest of the Hojo carts roll past the holes in the wall, onto new locations.

"You've got them," Gengyo said without hesitation, "do what you need to."

Jikouji gave him a stern nod, before he hardened his vocal cords and gave his orders to the men. "DRAGON SQUADRON! CIRCLE FORMATION! AROUND ME!"

At his words, a portion of the troops broke off from the rest and began to form a circle with Jikouji as their centre. He stood there as it happened, his face serious and determined.

BOOM!

But a moment later, another blast went off and a hole was torn int the wall nearest them. The Hojo would be attacking at any moment, Gengyo noted.

"TIGER SQUADRON! CIRCLE FORMATION! QUICK MARCH! JOIN FORCES!"

With those commands that the soldiers already knew, another portion of the troops joined that encirclement, not merely as an extra ring, but as part of a spiral, marching all the while. Those closest to the centre were marching too, slowly filtering their way outwards before coming back inside again.

"It's working…" Gengyo realized with a start.