by Nikita Thorn
“Get Mimura down here,” Taka barked, pointing with the crescent glaive in his hand. The crowd in the inn had now gone silent as they observed the development. Seiki then realized the man did not recognize him, but was talking to Fuyu, who did not seem at all flustered.
“Unfortunately, Mimura-sama is not in,” she said. “Perhaps come back another time, ninja-san?”
“I know he’s here,” said Taka. “And I know he has something that belongs to the Shadow Manor.”
Fuyu pretended to think. “Hmm… I wonder what that could be.”
Seiki wondered the same thing, but he had guessed that whatever the ninja was after was in that box he had just delivered to Mimura.
Fuyu cocked her head. “I really can’t think of anything, ninja-san. You might have to come back later and ask Mimura-sama himself if he has something of yours.”
Everyone could tell she was just teasing him.
“I challenge the Ichikeya!” cried Taka furiously.
The crowd gasped and buzzed alive. Seiki did not know what it meant but he knew it was important.
“Oh, you’re that serious, ninja-san?” said Fuyu, a mysterious expression playing on her lips. “I accept the challenge on behalf of Ichikeya.”
The crowd whooped in approval of a brewing spectacle. People started to get up from the tables as they cleared out of the middle of the room.
Taka scoffed. “You’re not even—”
“You forget that I have this young man with me.” Fuyu interrupted, nodding toward Seiki. “Together, I believe both our levels combined are good enough to accept your challenge?”
Seiki just remembered that he was still in a group with Fuyu. “Wait—”
Taka of the Shadow Manor [Level 19] has challenged the Ichikeya territory.
Fuyu has nominated you and Fuyu [Level 15] to accept the challenge on behalf of the territory. If victorious, the challenger claims the right to enter the territory for the next 15 minutes.
Seiki looked at the challenger.
Taka of the Shadow Manor [Level 19]. HP 2852/2852.
“This is impossible,” whispered Seiki.
At the very best, his special ability dealt 55 damage, and he was certain any move from the ninja would immediately rid him of his meager 120 HP. Fuyu herself had less than half the opponent’s health, and he had no idea how she would fare alone against the man.
All of a sudden, Fuyu turned to Seiki in alarm, her little hands clutched tightly to his sleeves, her eyes widened in fear. “You wouldn’t expect me to deal with this man all alone, would you, Seiki-san?”
“No, of course not,” said Seiki before he realized what he just did.
You and Fuyu [Level 15] have accepted the challenge on behalf of the Ichikeya territory.
Fuyu giggled and let go of him. Her demeanor changed again as she turned back to face Taka. Seiki wanted to kick himself for falling for her act.
“Now, ninja-san,” she said, pouting, her hands waving the tails of her obi up and down. “You wouldn’t expect Fuyu-chan to duel you in this dress, would you?”
Taka grunted. “Fine! Put on your gear!”
Claps and whistles burst from the crowd in support of Fuyu, who seemed to know her well. Seiki had no idea why they were getting so excited.
“Thank you, ninja-san.” Fuyu gave a little bow to Taka, then added, “Don’t kill my helper here while I change.”
Before Seiki could say a word, she disappeared upstairs.
The crowd now had gathered tightly around the edge of the room, leaving an open space in the middle. More people were looking in through the window. Seiki felt like he was in a fighting ring again, but this time a hopeless one.
Taka was staring at him, in an expression of slight confusion, as if he too thought it was a ridiculous set up. “Are you their new recruit or something?”
“No.”
“Then why are you mixed up in this?”
Seiki sighed as he made a solemn decision. “I might have played a part in the whole thing,” he said. Even when he did not know who was right or wrong or how the game was supposed to be played, he felt like he could not simply pretend to be an innocent bystander.
“What?”
“I delivered the box to Mimura,” said Seiki.
Taka’s eyes narrowed. “You’re Kage’s friend?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“He asked me to.”
Taka scoffed. “Don’t think I won’t kill you.”
“Don’t think I’ll let you kill him that easily,” said Fuyu, who had reappeared at the top of the stairs. She had changed into a set of matching dark purple leather, complete with a black veil that covered the lower half of her face. A thin sheathed blade was thrust through her obi. Seiki realized then that she was also a ninja.
Murmurs rose in the crowd and Seiki noticed everyone had their eyes on her, including Taka. It took Seiki another second to grasp they were all admiring her gear. He followed suit and focused his attention.
Enchanted Black Cloth Veil. +44 defense. + 2% HP
Silver-Threaded Leather Body Guard. +69 defense. + 3% HP
Tetsumori Obi. +33 defense. +3% energy regeneration
Silver Dagger. +55 attack. +1% HP recovery
Seiki only got that far before Fuyu spoke again, still addressing Taka. “Always keen to pick on weaklings, aren’t you? You know he won’t even survive a single hit. How much honor is that going to give you, ninja-san? I’m sure you’ll really be proud of yourself.”
“Fuyu-san,” Seiki interrupted her, stepping forward. Fuyu looked at him in surprise. Seiki knew she was only trying to provoke the man into attacking her and leaving him alone, but that somehow made him uncomfortable. “I had a hand in this, so it’s only fair if he wants to kill me.”
Taka stared at Seiki in equal mixes of disdain, disbelief and amusement. Then he scoffed. “Don’t worry. I will.”
Fuyu burst out laughing, her voice ringing clear. “Very well, then.” She turned to Seiki with a wink. “Watch and learn, Seiki-san.”
Chapter 06
As soon as she finished her sentence, Fuyu made a quick dash toward Taka, her decorative purple sleeves fluttering. However, right before she reached him, she vanished into thin air.
She was now behind her target. “This is our first ability, Shadow Strike.”
Taka had anticipated the move and he spun around, lifting his glaive to counter her. Obviously, Fuyu had also expected this counterstrike and she made no attempt to hit him—she just leapt backward.
She added, “Which we get when we make the pledge at the ninjas’ Shrine of Shadows, replacing Focused Strike. Then after that we get our area ability…”
Her left hand shot out.
“Shurikens,” she announced, and small metal stars flew out from her sleeves. “Not very strong, but has a decent range and can hit multiple targets.”
Taka dodged the projectiles, which buried themselves into the floor. The man then spun around and threw his silver glaive at her. The weapon flew out of his hand like a bird of prey.
“And this is the Spinning Blade, as to be expected,” said Fuyu, ducking low as the circular blade whisked over her through the air in a curved trajectory.
Seiki jumped out of the way as the glaive clipped the edge of a wooden pillar at the beginning of the staircase, sending splinters flying in every direction.
“Just like how it looks, it’s quite lethal,” Fuyu said. “But it uses up a lot of energy. We’ll be sure to see a lot more of it, since it is this particular ninja-san’s favorite move.”
Seiki knew she was calling out the ability names so he could look them up if he needed to, and demonstrating the whole repertoire of what ninja abilities he would need to look out for, but at the same time she was also trying to annoy Taka, which apparently was working rather well.
“Be quiet!” Taka cried in anger. With his weapon still whirling in the air,
he flung a hail of shurikens at Fuyu, who flipped a table over with a kick and dived behind it.
Fuyu’s voice could still be heard over the loud noises of the shurikens digging into the wood. “Then…”
She bounded from behind the table. “Poison Dart,” she cried, her right hand shooting forward.
The glaive had flown around the room like a boomerang and had now returned to Taka, who quickly caught it and raised it to block her dart. The clank of metal against metal rang clear and the projectile dropped to the floor. Seiki realized, almost at the same time as Taka did, that it was not a dart but a single shuriken.
“Ooops,” Fuyu giggled. By this time, her left hand had already tossed out the real Poison Dart, which struck Taka on the shoulder.
“Now that’s the right one,” said Fuyu. “How silly of Fuyu-chan!” she said, innocently.
Taka of the Shadow Manor [Level 19]. HP 2850/2852. Poisoned. Energy 762/1512.
Taka pulled out the dart and tossed it onto the floor. With a roar, he dashed toward Fuyu, his glaive slashing forward. Fuyu jumped onto a table. “Don’t move too much, ninja-san! That will only help the poison spread faster!”
Taka shot another wild bout of shurikens. Fuyu leapt aside, but could not manage to avoid all seven, and one grazed her leg as it flew past. The wound did not seem serious, although it still did significant damage.
Fuyu of Ichikeya [Level 15]. HP 1349/1432. Energy 112/676.
Now both ninjas were running low on energy for special moves. Fuyu fled from the attacks, jumping from table to table. Taka’s circular blade slashed at her, gradually destroying the furniture along the way.
Taka of the Shadow Manor [Level 19]. HP 2792/2852. Poisoned. Energy 595/1512.
The poison seemed to slow Taka’s movements somewhat, but his health was dropping much too slowly for it to even be a close match. Seiki was sure that one direct hit from Taka would take at least half of Fuyu’s remaining health.
The ninja girl was still talking casually. “Then after that, we have Camouflage, which can drop you out of combat but is useless in such a tight space like this, so I guess we can count that out.”
They had run in a complete circle, and Fuyu teetered on the edge of a table for a moment before she leapt down and—turning the opposite direction—dashed past Taka. She threw another shuriken at him, which he blocked again with his glaive.
“After that comes Sense,” Fuyu was saying. “Which is why people like having ninjas in dungeons. Ninja-san, I know you have modified yours into Hypnosis, but how unfortunate that it only works against monsters, so we can count that one out too.”
Seiki was not sure how she knew all this. Taka seemed surprised too, and it appeared to greatly bother him. The ninja cursed at her and launched his glaive again with Spinning Blade, sending the weapon whisking in a large oval in the air.
Taka of the Shadow Manor [Level 19]. HP 2724/2852. Poisoned. Energy 449/1512.
Fuyu threw herself flat on a bench to dodge the spinning sword. At this time, Taka lunged forward. He had unsheathed his secondary weapon, a dagger, and was now holding it high in a precise aim at her chest.
Seiki rushed at the ninja and used his Focused Strike, which connected on Taka’s hip. It did very little damage, but threw him off his target, giving Fuyu enough time to spin around and land a strike on Taka’s wrist. The dagger flew out of his hand.
Taka’s leg kicked out, and Seiki—not daring to take a hit—rolled to the other side. Fuyu leapt down from the bench at Taka, her palm ready to strike down on his throat.
The glaive which had been flying through the air had made a complete circle and Taka reached out to catch it. With the blade once again in his grasp, and faster than Fuyu could reach him, he made a slash at her. Fuyu had just come down from the table. There was no way she could avoid the vicious attack in time.
Seiki spun and landed another Focused Strike on Taka’s weapon arm. That was sufficient to delay the slicing motion, and Fuyu could flip herself in a mid-air somersault before landing in safety a few feet away.
At first, Taka had paid Seiki no attention. But after two consecutive disruptions, he glared at him and cried out in annoyance, “You bastard!” He brought his silver glaive down on Seiki’s head.
Fuyu’s energy had recharged enough for her to throw a single shuriken. A clang sounded as metal hit metal again, giving Seiki just enough time to scramble to his feet. Another shuriken hit Taka’s side.
Before Taka could react, Fuyu kicked out at him again. The man rolled behind a chair. Giving him no respite, Fuyu flew forward and kicked the chair at him. As Taka blocked with his arm, she disappeared with her Shadow Strike. She popped up again behind Taka, landing a palm on his back.
Taka of the Shadow Manor [Level 19]. HP 2409/2852. Poisoned. Energy 613/1512.
Taka staggered, but turned his disequilibrium into a spin. The ninja was about to use another special move when Seiki threw himself at him again. At Level 6, Seiki’s energy allowed almost three consecutive special abilities. Which meant that he could use another Focused Strike now. It only did about 30 damage, but Seiki had a plan.
As soon as the hit landed, derailing Taka’s aim, Seiki twisted around and held on tight to Taka’s lower body. The ninja struggled, unable to free himself. His foot bumped into Seiki’s leg. It was a feeble hit that would have been completely negligible in the real world but, because of their large difference in levels, Seiki felt a strong numbing impact as if it had been a full-blown blow. His HP instantly dropped by a third.
Seiki did not let go.
Fuyu was trying to stomp the glaive out of Taka’s hand when the ninja struck out at her, forcing her to retreat. She was obviously aware of the level difference and dared not take direct hits. As she was still low in energy, she could only use normal attacks. And for a moment, she could not get close.
Taka thrashed about as he tried to break free, but his legs were trapped. Seiki had now positioned himself at an angle safe from his blows.
Suddenly, the man disappeared from underneath Seiki. A cold realization hit him that the ninja had used his Shadow Strike. In the split second available to him, Seiki used his arm to push himself to one side as hard as he could. At the same time, the ninja’s body reappeared above him, his palm striking down, missing Seiki by a hair’s breadth.
“Shurikens!” cried Fuyu, and both Seiki and Taka rolled out of the way.
Seiki was not sure if her projectiles could hurt him, but he could not take any chances now.
It turned out to be a bluff and no shurikens came, but it saved Seiki from a tight spot. Having just used his Shadow Strike to escape from Seiki’s grasp, Taka was again out of energy. He could only swing his glaive at Fuyu who, after managing to land a quick kick on his thigh, had leapt up onto another table.
Taka of the Shadow Manor [Level 19]. HP 2013/2852. Poisoned. Energy 613/1512.
Fuyu of Ichikeya [Level 15]. HP 1389/1432. Energy 317/676.
Seiki was starting to understand what Fuyu was doing. She had been very careful with the selection of her gear and had put on a mixture of pieces that gave her extra health, health recovery and energy regeneration. After the initial show of the special moves, she had been saving up her energy.
Being poisoned, Taka was slowly losing health. Although it was not a significant amount, it was starting to add up. Out of nowhere, Taka let out a yell and the air seemed to shimmer around him.
Taka of the Shadow Manor [Level 19]. HP 1892/2852. Energy 1/1512.
“Purifying Will,” breathed Fuyu, seemingly genuinely surprised. “I didn’t know you had that.”
Seiki thought she sounded a little worried, but he was not sure for what reason. Seiki took a quick glance.
Purifying Will [Ability Information]: trade all remaining energy to cleanse effects of poisons, curses and hypnoses. Only usable when the user’s remaining energy is more than or equal to half the total yet-to-be-applied damage from said poisons, curses
or hypnoses, or when the time required to generate that amount of energy is less than or equal to half the remaining time left on the poisons, curses or hypnoses, whichever applies.
Wrapping his mind around it, Seiki quickly concluded that you could trade one point of energy to save two points of health, but it was always a total drain. So Taka had been right in waiting for his energy to get this low before using it.
At this point, even when Taka had no energy left, his remaining health was still more than Seiki’s and Fuyu’s combined. Without the slowing effect from the poison, a single hit from him would have dire consequences.
Fuyu was obviously aware of this as she kept moving around. It would be a while until Taka could use his special abilities, but he did not even need one to kill Seiki. That must have been Taka’s thought as well, as he changed his target.
No longer hampered, the man was quick on his feet. Seiki had to do everything to avoid the circular blade as the silver glaive cleaved a nearby bench in half. He rolled into a run and kicked another bench backward at the pursuing ninja. Taka blocked with his glaive. The bench shattered, but did no damage.
Taka of the Shadow Manor [Level 19]. HP 1893/2852. Energy 47/1512.
Seiki glanced in direction of Fuyu, but she was nowhere to be found. Seiki knew that once Taka had zeroed in on him, his hope was slim. All he could do was give Fuyu a chance to attack for as long as he could.
Unfortunately, he could not keep running from the ninja forever. The tables and benches, which had to this point served as decent protection, had almost all been wrecked. Once it was level ground, there would be no way to avoid taking any damage, especially once Taka’s energy allowed for another Shurikens or Spinning Blade.
Since he could not afford even a single hit, Seiki did not know what to do except to risk it all. Going for broke, Seiki spun around and slid onto the ground. In a flash, Taka was above him, slashing down with his glaive.
Seiki had already been aiming for the man’s elbow. His left hand shot up in a wide sweep, knocking the weapon arm aside. This would have been a perfect block if their level had been equal, but Seiki felt numbing pain spreading up his whole arm, and his life dipped to the low twenties. Still, that was his bet: that he would be able to survive this move.
