Having received the assurance from His Highness, Ahonda finally smiled reassuringly. He turned to his trusted samurai and said with a smile,
"The Lake Region put forth all its might to assemble the strong Chapala Legion, yet it dispersed entirely within a few quarters! Thirty thousand men fled like cheetahs, crying out like a flock of birds. If not a single Marshal perished here, how could the samurai face the elders in their hometown?"
The trusted samurai bowed their heads in shame. Some drew obsidian daggers and cut their own cheeks, even laying the blades across their necks.
"The Kingdom has waged war year after year, dominating for a century. Facing the advance of the Mexica, every marshal either surrendered or fled; how could this be justified? Even though the people of the lake failed, they should not be belittled by the world. There must be a Commander-in-Chief who dies here in battle! Although I am not a Marshal, as the ’Sky’ Family Head of the honored family, I am willing to take on this responsibility!"
Ahonda laughed heartily. He looked around at the samurai and finally gave his decisive order,
"Preserve bodies that are still of use. Assist my eldest son well. And take back from ’Feathers’ what happened today!"
The family samurai wept bitterly, dropping their weapons and bowing in unison to the Family Head. The Mexica samurai also showed respect, waiting for the flower to bloom and fade.
Noticing his opponent’s resolve to die, Xiulote no longer spoke. He gazed at the ’Sky’ Family Head before him, with an equally solemn wait.
Ahonda undid his blood-stained sky-blue war clothes, revealing a chest full of scars. He looked at old scars while recalling the years of campaigning, a sincere smile emerging on his face. Then, he drew the sacrificial obsidian dagger, pressing it against his heaving chest, aiming at the soul-harboring heart.
The ’Sky’ Family Head looked up at the deep and vast sky. The sky, so deep and vast, had given him a lofty name and would soon accept his departing soul.
"Takuro Plains, the place of life’s cessation, where birds fall from the sky. The birds fly away noisily, and thus I smile in knowledge: what falls here is not a narrow feather, but the expansive sky!"
With his final poem, Ahonda suddenly exerted force with the dagger in his hand, the sharp blade piercing his soft body, deeply stabbing into the beating life. Unspeakable pain surged violently. The ’Sky’ Family Head’s pupils dilated sharply, then quickly dissipated. Within a few breaths, he lost all his strength and fell to the ground with a ’thump’.
In his last moments close to the Earth Mother Goddess’s embrace, feeling the sunlight from the Father Sun. The ’Sky’ Family Head whispered silently, yet no one could hear anymore.
"Oh, it hurts… The soul flies from the heart… Great Gods above, I do not wish to go to the cold sky…returning...to the homeland..."
The bright red blood flowed rapidly. Soon, the ’Sky’ Family Head lost all sound and became a solid symbol under the sky. In front of tens of thousands of samurai, he demonstrated his fearlessness, calmly embracing death.
Watching this scene, Olosh grinned and exclaimed loudly.
"What a brave Great General who went to his death! There are indeed real heroes among the Tarasco people!"
Hearing this, ’Monkey’ Kuluka turned slightly and looked towards the distance, murmuring softly.
In the direction of Kuluka’s gaze, Ezpan bowed his head, concealing his body within the spear formation, gripping his weapon tightly.
Meanwhile, the Divine Blessing Legion’s Natali closed his eyes. He stretched out his blood-covered right hand, grasping the amulet symbolizing the Chief Divine, and prayed solemnly.
Xiulote stood silently for a moment, then slowly bowed. Afterward, he straightened his back and surveyed the blood-soaked battlefield in the sunset. The Mexica main legion was largely intact, over two thousand elite enemy forces lay surrendering on the ground, and more than ten thousand of the Chapala Militia still fleeing. At this moment, boundless passion burned fiercely in his chest like a flame!
"Conquering the north, marching south to the Capital City. This battle has finally ended!!"