The champions landed hard. Most quickly scrambled to their feet. Yakamo, though, fell through a destroyed section of floor. He caught the edge with his fingers and clung precariously for a few moments before pulling himself back through.
"Fools!" Fu Leng bellowed. "My power is increased a thousandfold since the opening of the scroll! You are no more than gnats to me!"
"A gnat is difficult to slay with a katana," Toturi noted.
"Not so difficult with fire," the Evil One replied. He smiled and filled his immense lungs with hot, damp air.
Chanting, Tadaka withdrew a small pouch from his ragged sleeve and threw it toward the dragon. As it arced over the other champions' heads, Tadaka spoke a word, and the pouch exploded into a cloud of green dust.
Fu Leng roared fire at his enemies. The flames shot from his mouth in a great ball. When the burning sphere struck Tadaka's jade cloud, it turned and rebounded against its maker.
The fire danced around the evil dragon's head, green sparks stinging his iron-scaled skin. Fu Leng screamed with pain and rage. He reeled back against the crumbling throne room wall. His great horned head smashed another hole in the ceiling. Black rain poured into the room from the sky outside.
"I hope you have more tricks like that up your sleeve," Hoturi said.
"Not nearly enough, I fear," Tadaka replied.
"Don't let up!" Toturi cried. "We have to keep at him!" He rushed forward again as the jade cloud dissipated.
Kamoko and the others followed close on his heels.
Before they reached Fu Leng, though, the black dragon dwindled. "Perhaps you are right," the Evil One hissed. "My true form is too large to combat such as you in this confined space. As a man, though, I can crush you easily."
The evil kami fell back into the demolished throne room, his size diminishing by the moment. As he crossed the threshold, he transformed into a huge, black-armored samurai. His scaly face looked like that of the Hantei emperor, though infinitely more corrupt and evil.
As the Thunders followed their ancient enemy, Hitomi lingered behind, staying next to the body of her dead lord. She had rolled the last Black Scroll closed once more but still held it in her bloody hands. She looked from the scroll to her master's body and then back again. A glazed, faraway look stole over her golden eyes.
Fu Leng's wicked orbs blazed green as he peered into the rain-spattered darkness. Ethereal red energies swirled through the shattered throne room as the dark lord drew energy from the carnage in the city outside. The spines on his armor bristled, and the air crackled with power. An awful smile broke over his blackened, pustulant lips. He threw back his raven-haired head and laughed. "How fitting that I should destroy all of you here, in the very heart of the empire!"
Kamoko charged. "How fitting that in this room we should cleanse the world of your filth forever!" She swung her katana toward the dark lord's neck.
He batted the blade aside with the back of his hand and then smashed his huge fist into the side of her head.
Kamoko sailed across the room and landed hard against the wall near the shattered doorway. She crashed to the floor but then rose and charged once more.
Toturi slashed his blade across Fu Leng's shoulder, but the demon's black-scaled armor turned the blow aside. Hoturi thrust his katana at the Evil One's throat, but Fu Leng ducked away.
The master of demons twirled, kicking out with his right leg. The black-taloned foot struck the Lion and the Crane hard and sent them toppling back. Yakamo and Kamoko rushed forward to take their place.
Blood streamed down the side of Kamoko's head where Fu Leng had hit her. It leaked into her eyes, and she blinked back the pain as she ran.
"Little fool!" Fu Leng hissed at her. "Don't you have the sense to die?" Pestilent green energy blasted from his fingertips toward the Unicorn's slender body. At the last second, Hida Yakamo's tet-subo smashed Fu Leng's arm aside, deflecting the evil spell.
The deadly magic only clipped Kamoko's side, but the blast still spun the Unicorn around and threw her back across the chamber. She landed in a pile of stony rubble. Her head snapped backward onto the rocks, and she lay still.
The Hooded Ronin ran to her side and knelt to tend her wounds.
Fu Leng raked his long talons across Yakamo's chest. The Crab Thunder reeled back, bleeding profusely. The dark lord didn't finish him, though. Rather, Fu Leng turned and breathed fire toward Shinsei's descendant.
The ronin jumped away, leading Fu Leng's aim from the body of the fallen Unicorn. The evil flames burst against the wall behind Shinsei's descendant. His cloak singed with the heat of the conflagration, but the fireball missed Kamoko's prostrate form.
Tadaka stepped away from Kachiko, who had been supporting him. With each step he took into the stone-walled room, more strength flowed into his frame. The rocks whispered to him, restoring a measure of his vast power. He threw his borrowed staff to the Hooded Ronin, saying, "Take this. I don't need it any longer."
The Master of Earth drew a jade tipped arrow from his quiver and chanted power into it as he strung it to his bow. He took aim at Fu Leng's head and fired. The arrow shot straight and true.
At the last second, Fu Leng sensed the danger. He turned his demonic head, and the shaft exploded against the horns of his helmet. The horns shattered, and the evil kami roared with rage. Fu Leng spun, batting aside the Lion, the Crane, and the Crab.
"So, Tadaka," he said. "You would seek to slay me? Don't you realize that you could never harm your master?" Even as the dark lord spoke, the destroyed portion of his helmet regrew.
"You are not my master," Tadaka replied, fitting another arrow to his bow.
"Your body is racked with taint," Fu Leng said. "Thus, you are mine!" He reached out his clawed hand and twisted it into a fist.
Tadaka's body jerked, and he gasped as though his skin were on fire. His limbs stiffened and refused to obey his mind's commands. His bow slipped from his hand, and his jade arrows clattered uselessly to the floor. He fell to his knees and sank to the ground, his charred body racked with pain. The green veins of taint on his skin glowed with unholy light.
"So, 'Master of Stone,'" Fu Leng said, "how does it feel to have met your match?" As he gloated, the other three Thunders recovered and sprang to the attack once more.
Yakamo and Hoturi struck simultaneously, katana and tet-subo pounding into the evil kami's ribs.
Fu Leng shrugged off the attacks and flung his massive arms to either side, smashing his fists into his opponents. The blows sent the Crab and the Crane sprawling backward, their heads reeling.
Toturi gripped the sword of Matsu Tsuko with both hands and brought it down, intending to split Fu Leng's rotting skull.
The dark lord's hands flashed up, and he caught the blade of the katana between his palms. "This is a good blade, a powerful blade, filled with anger and pride. Perhaps it might even cause me harm." Fu Leng laughed and, twisting, wrenched the sword from Toturi's hands. The Lion's katana sailed through the air and landed near the Hooded Ronin, who was tending Kamoko's wounds once again.
As quick as lightning, Fu Leng grabbed Toturi by the chest and lifted him up off the floor.
The Lion felt the heat of the dark lord's grip, smelled the foulness of his breath. He reached for his wakizashi, but the dark lord scratched his hand with stinging talons.
"Yju are the leader of this annoying rebellion," Fu Leng said. "Thus, it will be my pleasure to kill you first."
Kachiko ran forward. She threw her body against the massive form of the man who had been her imperial husband and clawed at his eyes with her sharp fingernails.
The dark lord threw Toturi against the far wall of the chamber and turned to his lovely wife. "So, Kachiko, you finally show your true colors. I always knew you were weak inside. You could have sat at my feet, ruling over this miserable world. Instead, you'll die like the others. In fact, I've changed my mind about killing Toturi first. I think I'll kill you first."
Kachiko opened her mouth to reply,
but the dark lord's gaze froze her where she stood. She watched in horror as Fu Leng's taloned hand reached for her white throat.
He grasped her gently, almost lovingly, and slowly lifted her from the floor. Kachiko choked as the monster who had been her husband applied pressure to her long, slender neck. The dark lord raised her face to his and licked her cheek with his rotten tongue.
"Now, my loving wife," Fu Leng hissed, "a final kiss before you die."
THE POWER OF FU LENG
Mirumoto Hitomi watched her daimyo's blood leaking out between her fingers. The deep, red liquid ran in fiery rivers down Hitomi's arm and dripped onto the splintered floor. The blood of her lord became her blood as well, and Hitomi felt the Dragon's soul burning within her chest.
The sights of a thousand years stretched out before her. She saw the world through her dead lord's eyes: clans rising and falling, forests and cities growing and then burning and returning to dust, the never-changing arcs of the sun, the stars, and the moon. She witnessed herself being born, growing to womanhood, becoming samurai.
She saw the world as a kami saw it—small, temporary, impermanent, easily damaged. She understood, then, why Togashi had acted in such subtle, cautious ways. To do otherwise was to risk destroying everything. It was a risk she now shared.
Hitomi felt her emotions burning away. Love, hate, sorrow, fear, it all meant nothing. Such feelings were as impermanent as the leaves on the trees, and of similar consequence. Duty and honor mattered, nothing else. Togashi had completed his duty to the world of Rokugan. Now, that duty was hers.
Beyond the shattered entrance to the throne room, the Dragon saw the other Thunders battling the hideous kami. She watched calmly as Fu Leng beat her comrades back, wounding and perhaps killing them.
Was this what it felt like to be Togashi? Was the whole world just a play unfolding before his timeless eyes? Was there no love, no hate, no emotion at all?
There is another way! something hissed.
She looked at the Black Scroll in her hands. Even in her transcendent state, she could feel the power in the wizened silk.
Read me! the scroll murmured. Use me as you will! The world is within your grasp if you will take it! Use the power as a kami is meant to!
In her mind's eye, Hitomi saw fire and battle and blood running in the streets. Lightning flashed overhead, and black rain fell. People bowed down, pressing their faces in the mud, and prayed—prayed to their new lord, prayed to Hitomi. Her benign and twisted countenance hung in the clouds, overseeing all that she had wrought. The whole rotten world belonged to her alone.
Then, the words of Togashi echoed in her skull. Do not read it!
Your power will be great! the scroll whispered.
"Yes," Hitomi said slowly. "But I would be truly damned." She smiled, "My brothers, I've passed the kami's test."
She stuffed the black silk inside her armor, next to her ribs. The scroll felt both hot and cold against her skin. The feeling didn't matter. It was transient, inconsequential.
Though she was beyond such mortal concerns, she wondered how the batde against her brother, Fu Leng, would turn out. Surely there could be no harm in seeing. Hitomi took a deep breath and walked calmly toward the shattered throne room.
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Fu Leng pressed his decaying muzzle closer to Kachiko's lovely face. She felt the dark warmth of his lips so close to hers. Her body trembled as he slowly sucked the breath out of her. She struggled, to no avail.
"What's the matter, Empress?" Fu Leng asked. "Are you so terrified of dying?" His rasplike tongue darted out and licked her soft cheek. Savoring the taste of her flesh, the monster relaxed his grip on the Mother of Scorpions ever so slightly.
With a last surge of strength, Kachiko reached up and withdrew the long daggers concealed in her hairpins.
In a flash, she plunged the hairpins into Fu Leng's face. Her left blade punctured one of his glowing eyes. The right traced a long, black scar down his rotting cheek.
Fu Leng screamed and tossed Kachiko against the far wall of the room. Light exploded within her head as her body struck the moldering whitewashed stone.
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Black ichor and green fire spurted from Fu Leng's wounds. Uncomprehending, he clutched his gore-covered face, pulled his hands away, and gazed at bloodstained palms. "How? She does not have the power! None of you do! I am a god!"
The Hooded Ronin laughed. "You've forgotten something, master of demons. Though your power is complete, it is not the body of an immortal kami that you inhabit. It is the body of the Hantei Emperor."
As the ronin spoke, Hitomi appeared in the shattered doorway. Her hands were dark with her lord's blood. "The boy was mortal," she said, her golden eyes blazing, "and now, so are you"
"And you face Seven Thunders once again," Doji Hoturi added. "Just as you did the first time you were slain!" The Crane was only a few steps away from the shocked dark lord. He closed the distance in an instant. He slashed his katana at the Evil One's chest.
Fu Leng turned aside, and Hoturi's katana merely shattered a rib plate of the dark lord's black armor. The Crane's blade traced a long gash down the monster's festering side. The wound glowed with sickly green fire.
The evil kami spun and smashed his huge hand into Doji Hoturi's chest. The demon's iron-thewed fingers crushed ribs and sinews. His long claws ripped gaping holes through the Crane's guts. Fu Leng's talons emerged from Hoturi's back, spraying the room with blood. The dark lord yanked his hand back out of the Crane's chest.
Hoturi gasped.
The evil kami brought his fingers to his festering lips and licked them clean.
The Crane daimyo staggered back, his face pale with shock and horror. Blood gushed from the huge wound below his breastbone. His sword slipped from his hand and dropped slowly to the floor. A hollow clatter rang in Hoturi's ears as the blade slid across the charred and splintered wood. The katana spun three times and came to rest near the rubble-strewn entry.
Hoturi reeled away from the dark lord, pressing his hand to his wounded chest. He tried to stanch the flow of blood, but it seeped between his fingers and poured onto the floorboards.
The Crane stumbled toward the doorway. He tripped over some fallen stones and collapsed next to Kachiko's dazed and bloody form. He looked up at the Mother of Scorpions, fear and longing in his brown eyes. She raised her bruised face, and her eyes met his. Hoturi saw green flecks dance in Kachiko's black orbs. Then his world went dark.
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Even as Hoturi fell, Toturi and Yakamo charged Fu Leng. The Hooded Ronin retrieved Matsu Tsuko's blade and tossed it to the Lion. Toturi caught the sword on the run. A curse on his lips, he swung the lion-headed katana at Fu Leng's scaly neck. The dark lord opened his mouth and threw his arms wide.
Black, pestilent wind blasted from the dark lord's maw. The evil gale assaulted Lion and Crab, lifting them off their feet and tossing them across the room.
Toturi landed atop the Hooded Ronin, and both fell hard to the floor. They lay there, stunned. Nearby, Yakamo rolled to his feet and charged once more.
Fu Leng spoke a word of power, and iron chains sprang up through the floor in front of the Crab Thunder. Yakamo smashed the chains with his tetsubo, but the enchanted shackles danced around him like metal serpents. They bobbed and struck, avoiding his blows but bruising the Crab's mighty body.
"Curse you!" Yakamo cried to Fu Leng. "Fight like a man!"
"But I am not a man," Fu Leng hissed. "I am a god!"
A thick link smashed into Yakamo's jaw, and he reeled back. He regained his senses, but too late. The iron chains wrapped around his muscular frame like snakes around an infant. He fought their power, but they wrestled him to the floor. The Crab Thunder lay there, struggling futilely as the enchanted bonds wound ever tighter around him. Iron entwined Yakamo's entire body, smothering his cries for vengeance.
Fu Leng laughed and turned back to the Lion. Toturi lay insensate atop a pile of rubble. Beside the Lion, the
Hooded Ronin rose. Leaning heavily on his staff, Shinsei's descendant struggled to his feet.
"You will not take him," the ronin said, stepping unsteadily toward the dark lord. "Not while I live."
"Then die, both of you!" Fu Leqg growled. He spread out his hands, and red lightning blasted forth from his fingertips.
The Hooded Ronin twirled his staff in the air, whispering a prayer to Amaterasu. The long wooden stick blurred into a circle, like a transparent shield. The flute carved into the weapon howled, filling the air with a mournful wail. Fu Leng's evil spell crashed against the whirling staff. Crimson lightning rebounded, shot high into the air, and struck the throne room's ceiling. Beams shuddered and then cracked.
The Hooded Ronin looked up as tons of debris fell on him. When the dust cleared, all that remained of him was a corner of his long green cloak, poking out from beneath the rubble.
Fu Leng laughed and turned toward the only Thunder still standing. The kami's remaining eye blazed with malevolent power, but Hitomi, standing in the doorway, did not shrink from his gaze.
"Will you not fight me, little Dragon?" Fu Leng hissed sweetly.
Hitomi shook her head. "To what end? You have already defeated the dragon within me. I see no point in battling further."
"Are you afraid to die?" Fu Leng asked.
Again, Hitomi shook her head. "I have seen death, and I do not fear it. Nor do I seek it. My duty is to my clan. My duty is to survive. This is a battle for mortals; I have done my part."
"What's to keep me from simply killing you, then?"
A wry smile crept over Hitomi's hard face. "I'm not what I was earlier. Now, I am far more. If you seek to kill me, you will pay a terrible price." She gazed into his blazing eye, showing neither weakness nor fear.
Fu Leng blinked.
Hitomi nodded, turned, and walked away.
The dark lord's rotting face drew into a hideous mask of hatred. Flames licked from the corners of his mouth, and his remaining eye blazed with green fire. He pressed his sharp talons into the palm of his right hand. Black blood leaked forth. The demon ichor burned as it hit the air. Fu Leng chanted power into the blood, and it turned into a flaming sword.
L5r - scroll 07 - The Lion Page 23
