Aozawa looked at the girl's serious expression and felt like jokingly suggesting a romantic commitment, but considering the customs of this era, such a joke might be taken seriously by her.

He shook his head and said, "It's all right, we're all working for the Shogunate."

After speaking, Aozawa turned his head toward the corridor, where the shadow restraints suddenly transformed into sharp blades.

Puff, puff.

The sound of blades piercing flesh echoed, and apart from Kondo Isami and Okita Soji, all the Xenophobic Patriots perished here.

Including the people downstairs.

The shadows on the ground quickly retracted, returning to Aozawa's feet.

Okita Soji, freed from the shadow's restraints, regained his mobility. He sheathed his sword and looked at Aozawa, who was standing beside Yukimura Tsuruko, lowering his eyes and saying nothing.

Even flattering requires status.

With his current status, he was not qualified to praise Aozawa's abilities.

Kondo Isami sheathed his sword, his face full of admiration, and said, "Lord Aozawa, it's thanks to your intervention that we were saved this time.

Otherwise, our Shinsengumi would have suffered heavy losses."

"Chief Kondo, you don't need to be modest. The Shinsengumi performed well in this operation, and I will mention it to Tokugawa."

Aozawa's words left Kondo Isami with his mouth open, unsure of how to respond.

To him, directly addressing Tokugawa by the surname felt very disrespectful.

But the other's strength was formidable, and the relationship with the Shogunate's Conquer Barbarian General was something Kondo Isami couldn't grasp, so he didn't dare to easily defend the General's reputation.

"Katsura Kogoro is not among them."

"The intelligence said he would meet at Ikedaya, yet he is nowhere to be found."

Kondo Isami's eyes flashed with perplexity.

During the fierce battle earlier, he had no time to think, but now he realized the Choshu prodigy wasn't here.

"We can't let him continue living."

Aozawa used Schrodinger's Cat, his body gradually becoming semi-transparent and disappearing from the sight of the three.

Although history is made by the people, within the grand scope of history, specific people and organizations are always needed to accomplish those deeds.

Therefore, at certain times, choices made by some individuals could advance or delay the course of history.

Undoubtedly, Katsura Kogoro was such a person who could advance history.

...

Due to the implementation of a curfew, not many people could be seen on the streets of Kyoto at night.

Katsura Kogoro clearly knew that he was already late.

Yet he still didn't quicken his pace towards Ikedaya.

On one hand, there was the grand dream; on the other, personal morality. The two tangled in his heart, leaving Katsura Kogoro truly unsure of what decision to make.

He belonged to the cautious faction, believing that reform should not be overly radical and must be done slowly, advising others to abandon such radical notions.

Sadly, those people did not take his advice seriously.

From top to bottom of the Xenophobic faction, the radicals always had the upper hand.

Their idea was simple: just capture the Emperor to Choshu, and everything would get better.

But in Katsura Kogoro's eyes, capturing the Emperor to Choshu was just the first step.

More importantly, how to make the Emperor understand their painstaking efforts.

"Alas."

Katsura Kogoro gently sighed.

A sudden rush of footsteps echoed from the street ahead, and a familiar-looking ronin appeared at the corner, "Yamada, what's going on?"

"Mr. Katsura, something terrible has happened; the Shinsengumi has raided Ikedaya!"

"What?!"

Katsura Kogoro's face showed shock, but then he breathed a sigh of relief.

Perhaps this was not too good for those fellow comrades against the foreign encroachment.

But he no longer needed to be torn between morality and dreams.

With those incompetent teammates gone, he decisively chose the dream, speaking calmly, "We can't go back. Quickly, hide now."

Katsura Kogoro understood well that while plotting in the shadows wasn't an issue, exposure would surely lead to Shogunate suppression.

He must preserve his useful self to plan for the greater cause.

"Yes."

Yamada nodded heavily; suddenly, a shadow blade rose from the ground, piercing directly through Katsura Kogoro's chest. He lowered his head, looking at the blood-stained black shadow blade, feeling the warmth rapidly leaving his body.

He was about to die.

But the Shogunate, the Emperor, the people, the Western powers...

Katsura Kogoro desperately wanted to regain the warmth slipping away, when Yamada's shout came to his ears, "Mr. Katsura!"

Yamada, full of grief and anger, drew his sword and slashed at the shadow, only for the shadow to suddenly turn into a scythe and slice backward.

With a flash of dark light, heads flew like straw, and blood instantly spurted out.

A lot of it landed on Katsura Kogoro's back, but he couldn't feel the heat; he collapsed on the ground, still trying to struggle forward.

After just a couple of steps, he could no longer crawl and fell to the ground completely.

As one of the Three Great Nobles of the Meiji Restoration, Katsura Kogoro died just like that on the streets of Kyoto.

In the history of this parallel world, there would likely be no mention of Katsura Kogoro.

Aozawa thought, heading back to Ikedaya.

There were still things he needed to explain before moving on to the Kinmon incident and wiping out the entire Meiji family.

...

The strong smell of blood drifted through Ikedaya as Okita Soji followed Kondo Isami to the first floor.

The ground was covered with bodies, and the blood flowing from their wounds merged into a red lake that appeared before them.

Nagakura Shinpachi sheathed his katana and asked in confusion, "Chief, what's going on here?"

"Lord Aozawa sent by the Shogunate is not simple at all."

Kondo Isami sighed with emotion, "I never expected the Shogunate to have such a hidden trump card."

"Indeed."

Okita Soji nodded, deeply agreeing, "It's fortunate we are on the side of the Shogunate."

While Okita Soji believed that as long as someone was Kondo Isami's enemy, he must wield his sword to eliminate them.

However, towards someone like Aozawa, he felt that his sword was somewhat blunt.

It's a relief not having to clash with that person.

This was the first time in Okita Soji's life that he felt the urge to avoid a certain enemy. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Nagakura Shinpachi's face was filled with astonishment; he never thought it would be the work of that gilded playboy.

"Where is he?"

"I am here."

Aozawa suddenly chimed in, nearly making Nagakura Shinpachi's heart leap out of his chest. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and he stood frozen in place.

"Haha." Aozawa let out a light laugh and shook his head, "You don't need to be so nervous.

For this Ikedaya incident, just report honestly to those above, then pass a message to Tokugawa for me.

I have some other things to do for the time being.

See you next month."

"Yes."

Kondo Isami quickly nodded in agreement, without asking what he intended to do.

Aozawa walked up to Okita Soji, placed a hand on his shoulder, and then used his superpower of marvelous resurgence, lifting upward.

The lung disease that had plagued Okita Soji transformed into black mist and was extracted.

Nagakura Shinpachi and Kondo Isami gripped their sword hilts, already showing great restraint by not immediately striking.

He said sternly, "Lord Aozawa, what is going on here?"

Kondo Isami was willing to serve the Shogunate but would not stand by and watch the upper echelons of the Shogunate arbitrarily take the lives of his samurai, especially Okita Soji.

This was a child he had watched grow up, like father and son!

"It's okay, the black mist was the hidden lung disease in his body."

Aozawa temporarily kept the black qi, smiled and said, "You are all serving the Shogunate, so naturally, I want to keep you alive."

Okita Soji took a deep breath, and the lungs that previously felt a bit congested suddenly became refreshed, his body felt extremely comfortable.

Only those who have been ill can truly understand how precious a healthy body is.

Kondo Isami saw the expression on Okita Soji's face and also believed the explanation; he released the hilt in his hand and bowed, "Lord Aozawa, your great kindness will surely be remembered by the Shinsengumi."

"No problem."

Aozawa waved his hand and left from there.

Outside, his phone vibrated, and he wanted to see who had sent a message.

Ikedaya returned to being a group of five.

Yukimura Tsuruko was full of emotion, "Lord Aozawa really is a god-like figure who comes and goes like the wind."

"Indeed."

Kondo Isami nodded, then put his arm around Okita Soji's shoulder, smiling, "Tonight we must celebrate well.

However, Soji, let's not do this again."

"Yes."

Okita Soji nodded, sincerely grateful to Aozawa for allowing him to continue fighting for Kondo Isami.