by Nikita Thorn
“Okay, that must have been a trick question,” said Yamura. He was now looking into his half-empty quiver, shaking it in his hand.
“What?” Seiki had been lost in his own thoughts.
“Red or blue. Must have been a trick question,” said Yamura, as he started to pick himself up. “Like, what if you answer green or something?”
“That would be an insta-death.” A person stepped out of the shadows. “Speaking from experience, of course.”
Gin [Level 11] was all dressed in black and green. It was too dark to really see his face, but it was clear he had an arrow nocked in his bow, pointing straight at them. Seiki knew how to recognize a ryoushi now.
“You have to choose either red or blue,” said Gin. “Pick your poison, as they say.”
Behind him, Chika [Level 9] appeared, half her face covered behind black cloth, a short blade in her obi. Although there were no other obvious signs, Seiki was quite sure she was a ninja.
“Now kindly step away from the dead body, please,” said Gin.
Yamura stared as it became clear what they were after. “Have you people got no shame?” he cried. “We killed it.”
“Haven’t you heard of the East City bandits?” said Gin. “Of course, we’ve got no shame. Or, you can loot it right now, and we kill you and take the loot from you. That’s perfectly fine.”
“Your choice,” said Chika, giggling.
“Just walk out of range and there will be no more bloodshed tonight,” said Gin. “All right, folks?”
Seiki’s health had recovered to about a third, and he judged he could now take at least one blow from Chika. He was not sure if he or Yamura could survive a direct shot from Gin.
“Oh, you wish!” cried Yamura. “After all we did, you expect us to just walk away? And after I gave up Shogun reps for this?”
Gin drew his bowstring tighter. “I know you two gentlemen are just buying time here.” He flexed his eyebrows up and down. “But I’m sure you understand that I cannot afford to wait for your life to recover.”
Yamura was still talking. “Yeah, yeah, charismatic robbers. That’s your whole shtick, isn’t it? Okay, don’t tell me you rob the rich to give to the poor too.”
“You’ve got to the count of five,” Chika chirped in.
“One,” said Gin.
Seiki glanced at Yamura. Although he did not know exactly what Yamura was thinking, from his expression it was clear that he was not giving up so easily.
“Two.”
Yamura was looking at the two self-proclaimed bandits, as if weighing his options.
“Three.”
Yamura screamed as he pointed to the ground. “Holy crap, it’s not dead!”
In the split second it took for the two bandits to react, Seiki threw the bamboo sword at Gin. The man instinctively flinched, offering Seiki an opening.
Seiki leapt at him and they both crashed onto the ground, almost on top of the dead Aka Manto. Chika unsheathed her weapon. Almost at the same time, two normal arrows came flying from Yamura’s bow, one of which she blocked with her knife. The second arrow struck her on the arm.
Seiki grabbed hold of Gin’s wrist and tried to slam it to the ground to have the ryoushi let go of his bow. Gin tossed out a trap on top of him and Seiki had to roll off to avoid it as it snapped shut noisily.
From the corner of his eyes, Seiki could see Yamura finishing drinking from a small bottle, which he then cast aside, shattering it into a puff of smoke as it hit the ground. His health was again full. He grabbed an arrow and shot at Gin.
Gin [Level 11], HP 402/496, still lying in the dirt, nocked an arrow to return fire. Seiki grabbed his arm again to throw off his aim. A hail of shurikens landed around them, two striking Seiki in the back for moderate damage.
“Whoa,” said Gin as a few hit him as well, but he must have been in the same group as Chika, since his health took no damage.
Out of nowhere, a man’s voice yelled, “Brawl!”
Chika’s blade started flying in the air in a circle, and Seiki remembered the Spinning Blade. The dagger slashed Yamura on his side as he shot two more arrows at her. Gin had placed another trap and Seiki rolled off again, grabbing the bamboo sword which was now within reach.
As Seiki and Gin both scrambled to their feet, Chika tossed out another hail of shurikens, which Seiki jumped over. He rushed at her and used his Focused Strike. She managed to partially block with her dagger, but she still fell backward from the force of the impact.
It was an absolute mess, and suddenly Kikuo [Level 15] was in the mix, with his curved sword which he swung at Chika. Seiki felt something behind him and he ducked as Hitomi [Level 12] flashed by in fox form. Gin was firing multiple arrows at once, at everybody, which must have been Rapid Shots.
“Run!” cried Yamura, and Seiki dashed out of there, avoiding a familiar sword swipe that he recognized as the Sweeping Blade.
They ran out of the alley as more people rushed in. Seiki was surprised many of them tried to throw out a casual attack at them as they ran past, but paid no more attention after missing and continued to head toward the brawl.
“Got potions?” yelled Yamura, as they were still making their exit.
Seiki did. But as he reached into the cloth pouch, he felt three rapid gentle bursts of healing on him, then another bout, filling up his HP.
“What?” asked Yamura, as Seiki slowed down to look around. There was no one in sight but those who were running down the alley.
Seiki shook his head. “Not sure.”
Next thing they knew, they had to throw themselves to both sides to avoid Minamoto [Level 16] who rode by on a white horse and tried to take a swipe at them. The man grunted as it missed, but kept on riding.
“Let’s go,” said Yamura. “There’s a right turn we can take over there.”
As the ryoushi turned to run forward again, he stopped dead in his tracks and cursed. His gaze was fixed in the distance.
“What is it?” asked Seiki. They were in a long alley. He could still hear the fight going on behind him, but there was nothing ahead except darkness.
Yamura cursed again.
“I can’t see anything,” said Seiki.
“Zoom. Ryoushi’s perk,” said Yamura absently, glancing back behind him. “Okay, we’ve gotta go back.”
He turned around and started running back down the alley. “Come on!” he shouted.
Seiki decided to just trust him. As they raced back, Seiki took a look behind him and saw two riders galloping in. One rider, in white, was on a black horse. The other was all gray, both horse and rider. With a lump in his throat, Seiki recognized the gigantic blade on the first rider’s back: the Oni Cleaver.
Seiki understood now that Yamura was planning to slip away in the chaos of the mass fighting, which he could now discern right ahead. The two riders caught up with them when they were almost at the edge of the fray. At first, the riders did not seem to recognize them. But as their horses galloped past, one of them turned around and, with a word, they veered their horses to an abrupt stop.
“Look what we’ve got here,” said Suguru of the Rogami Clan [Level 23].
Kojiro of the Rogami Clan [Level 22] reached behind him and grabbed his Oni Cleaver. A delighted smile appeared on his lips. “Two lambs, to the slaughter.”
Chapter 09
Seiki knew right then he was going to die. The alley was straight and narrow, and although he could spot a tiny lane that broke off to the right, the two Rogami members were directly blocking it. The brawl further behind was too distant to be taken into consideration. They could run, but he doubted they would get very far before the riders caught up on their mounts. With that kind of level disparity, a single touch from any of them would mean instant death.
Seiki made a resolution to do the only thing he could, which was to die swinging for the fences. He tightened his grip on the bamboo sword, strangely curious as to whether he would be able to
get a single hit in before they slaughtered him.
Yamura seemed ready to bolt at any moment but, as he noticed Seiki readying himself, he took a deep breath and prepared to take a stand too.
“Not running?” asked Kojiro. His giant weapon swooshed through the air as he brandished it in a large figure-eight loop. The Oni Cleaver was a rectangular blade at least four feet in length and two across. The blunt end had a series of holes pierced in it, each with its own golden ring. The hilt was thick and wrapped in leather. Seiki guessed this weapon was most likely what had been responsible for Eisuke’s large wound across the chest.
“Nothing to say either?” said Suguru, mockingly. Seiki’s observation had been right before: neither the man nor his horse cast a shadow under the moonlight. And in such a shade of gray, they seemed like an apparition. “Too scared now that you’ve stepped outside of the nursery?”
Seiki glanced at Kojiro’s weapon. The Oni Cleaver was slow. The amount of damage it could deliver did not matter, since any weapon, or even a bare-hand strike from Kojiro would be more than enough to kill him.
Beside him on his right, Yamura shifted as if unsure whether he should reach for his bow or not.
Kojiro was getting impatient. “Guess so,” he said. He looked at Seiki, then at Yamura, then back at Seiki again, a satisfied smile appearing on his lips. “Let me introduce the Oni Cleaver. I’m sure you’ll remember it.”
With these words, the man urged his horse to charge forward at Seiki, the gigantic blade in his right hand raised high. Seiki did not doubt its range, its power, or the fact that the man was going for a literal overkill with this.
The alley was narrow, both a curse and a blessing. It meant there was very little room to dodge, but at the same time it also left very little room for Kojiro to be flexible in his attack. Seiki knew he only had one shot.
As Kojiro closed in, Seiki slid down low right in front of the horse and braced himself, betting on a realistic reaction from the beast. The horse, true to its instincts, jumped over him.
Yamura yelled, “Hit the horse!”
Seiki launched a Focused Strike with his bamboo sword. He managed a glancing hit on the mount’s belly, before having to twist his own body to avoid its hind legs as the animal neighed and threw off its rider.
From Kojiro’s reaction, it was not the first time this had happened, and the man landed easily on his feet. Completely unruffled and ignoring his horse, which was already galloping away, he turned around, the Oni Cleaver in his grip still in a striking stance.
Seiki was getting to his feet when something that felt like a cold hand wrapped itself around his heart, spreading frozen chills through his body. He gasped and dropped back down to his knees as icy paralysis took over him from the neck down. As it reached his wrist, his hand went numb and the bamboo sword slid from his fingers.
From the corner of his eyes, he could see Yamura frozen with his bow half-drawn, his eyes wide with surprise. Seiki struggled, but he could not get his body to move.
Kojiro breathed out loudly and lowered his blade. He seemed a little disappointed as his gaze switched from Seiki to his clan mate. “I didn’t know your Freeze had a Disarm.”
From behind him, Seiki could hear Suguru’s reply. “It’s new. I thought I would try it out. Too bad time’s up.” His voice grew chilly at the end with a sneer.
Kojiro walked toward Seiki. The rings on the back of the Oni Cleaver clinked like agitated chain mail as he raised the blade high for the execution. “Too bad indeed,” the man said, grinning as Seiki met his eyes.
Suddenly, someone yelled, “Patrols!”
At that very moment, the coldness unraveled around Seiki. That was all he needed. Seiki threw himself aside, just in time to dodge Kojiro’s falling blade. The Oni Cleaver was a heavy weapon, and it slammed into the ground in a burst of thick dust. Seiki grabbed the bamboo sword as he hurried to his feet. Without wasting a single second, he struck out with Sweeping Blade, which did practically no damage to Kojiro, but still managed to push the man back a few inches.
He took a quick glance and saw that a stray shuriken from somewhere had hit Suguru, who flicked it off him with an annoyed expression.
Surprised by the attack, Kojiro raised his blade again. Shouts were already rising from behind as people started to flee from the patrols. Naoko [Level 18] dashed past them, without so much as a glance, followed by two more people—one on foot and one on horseback.
In the chaos, Yamura could be heard shouting “Go!” Seiki made a mad dash past Kojiro into the stream of people that were rushing out as Kojiro tried to swing the blade at him. He heard curses in his back as the giant weapon presumably hit someone else instead, then more curses and gallops as the elite patrols caught up with some of the brawlers and zapped them away.
“This way!” Yamura cried, as he turned into the tiny lane on the right, which was barely wide enough to run through.
Seiki followed him. For a very brief moment, he felt a different kind of sickening coldness wrapping around him again, but as he dived into the safety of the little lane it dispersed like a phantom fog. Seiki shivered. The sensation was completely gone now, as if it had not happened at all, leaving him mysteriously at half health.
It was a little shortcut and they very soon emerged on the other side to find themselves once again in a long alley. From the parallel road they had just escaped from, chaotic shouts could still be heard. Yamura looked carefully to the right, then grimaced. Seiki still could not make out anything apart from the shadowy darkness, and he secretly wondered how far ahead the ryoushi could see.
Yamura turned to look the other way, squinting. “Oh, come on!” he cried in dismay. He then decided to take his chances straight ahead.
“Patrols?” Seiki asked as he followed him.
“Lots of them,” said Yamura, sounding very unhappy.
To be perfectly honest, Seiki was relieved that it was not the Rogami clan. Between the two unknowns, prison sounded by far a better option than death.
“They stop chasing you after ten minutes, but there’s one coming down this way, so we’re gonna get trapped soon,” said Yamura. “Look for a building we could go in.”
The buildings on both sides of the alley seemed completely abandoned. They found a few doors, but they were all tightly locked. The bamboo fences were high enough that scaling them was out of the question.
“Remind me to pick up lock-picking!” Yamura grunted as he shook one of the doors.
Seiki tried a nearby low window, but it would not budge. Glancing into the darkness behind, he could now make out a rider slowly coming into view. Yamura rushed ahead and tried another door in front, which also remained locked.
To their right, a ground-floor window slid open, and Amaya [Level 14] leaned out. “Trouble with the law?”
Yamura jumped.
From her open window, Seiki could see that the inside of her room was brightly lit, and the light fell on the dark alley in a large square. Something was slightly off about the scene, but he could not tell what. “Ten gold for an invite,” she said, sweetly.
“That’s ridiculous!” cried Yamura.
Seiki glanced behind him again. The rider was gaining ground, and he could hear the horses’ hooves on the ground now.
Yamura whispered, “Hey, how much gold do you have on you?”
Seiki remembered keeping some on him. “Not sure.”
“Got five?”
“I think so.”
The rider had come into full view, indeed a City Patrol [Level 30 Elite]. The officer gave a start as he spotted them. “Stop right there!” shouted the officer, urging his horse faster. “In the name of the Shogun!”
“Five for two invites!” cried Yamura.
The City Patrol yelled. “Do not resist arrest!”
The girl stalled. “Well…”
“Come on! Please!” cried Yamura, banging on her door desperately. The patrol officer had now raised hi
s right hand in preparation.
Amaya giggled. “All right. Deal.”
Amaya invites you to a group.
“Accept, accept, accept!” Yamura yelled, either to accept the group invitation or to tell Seiki to do so.
You are now in a group with Amaya [Level 14] and Yamura [Level 8].
A door slid open and Seiki dashed in after Yamura, just about when the City Patrol reached them, and Amaya immediately slammed the door shut.
You have entered Amaya’s private territory. Custom combat rules apply. PVP status: disabled.
Outside, the City Patrol’s horse ran past the door without slowing down, and its gallops soon faded further and further away, confirming Seiki’s guess that the patrols really let you off the hook once you entered a private territory. He noticed then that his heart was beating fast and he could not help admitting that there was some childish joy to be had in running from the law. Perhaps this was why everyone seemed so enthusiastic about brawls. It made sense now why it would be advantageous to have access to multiple territories throughout the city, especially East and West City, which were PVP zones.
Amaya’s place was a moderate-sized room with a narrow wood hallway that was only as wide as the door. On the right was a raised tatami platform about eight mats in size, with colorful floor cushions strewn haphazardly around. Against the far wall was a large ornate cabinet, on which sat a flower vase. The other wall opposite the window was full of painting and calligraphy art. It was not large, but had a rather homey, lived-in feel to it.
Seeing the possibility of what could be, Seiki understood now why Yamura was so distraught when he had to move back to the starting territory in Yanagi Alley. “Nice place,” he said.
Amaya was a youngish-looking girl in a bright red kimono with white and yellow flower patterns, with a wide cream-colored obi, and a beaded hairpin in a matching red in her hair. There was also some other-worldly quality about her that Seiki could not quite describe. She held out her hand. “Five gold.”
