Sadakore's squad reaches the mountain summit, but they find a threatening Kojiro, who has been running and fighting for days without sleep, food nor drink. The squad follows the plan and Sadakore stays to fight Kojiro. Sadakore dominates the fight with his manrikigusari, disarms Kojiro and takes his sword. Kojiro seems to be escaping, but he returns with his left arm wrapped in fabric, which he uses to block Sadakore's sword swings. Eventually the fabric unwraps, revealing that Kojiro was concealing a dagger. Kojiro kills Sadakore. However, the rest of Sadakore's squad has returned. Koun, the squad's strongest, fights Kojiro so vehemently that he breaks Kojiro's sword. Unarmed, Kojiro starts to fight Ichizo instead; he throws him and picks a sword behind him. Ichizo hesitates for too long and Kojiro kills him, to the dismay of his brother Shinjiro who can't fight due to his wound in his left leg. Kojiro renews his fight with Koun. The two are in top physical form and even become faster over the course of the battle. Both have a few close calls. In a final clash, Kojiro kills Koun. The story implies that Shinjiro, the last of Sadakore's squad, dies alone in the mountain's summit.
