War Games

by Nikita Thorn

  Seiki had a feeling he was doing the encounter all wrong. It was too difficult, and too sloppy, with too many close-calls and Disarms and explosive traps.

  Something lit up in his mind. Whether that had been the intended design, Mairin’s heal had managed to save him earlier from outside the cage.

  His cautious gaze fixed on the demon, Seiki took a deep calming breath as he made a decision. He retrieved a Polished Shell Card from his inventory and thrust it into the golden flame of the stone shrine. The ancient fire was warm and comforting on his skin as it liquefied the card into shimmering golden light.

  Card in play: Polished Shell Card of the Winter Mist

  A mysterious mist rolls in from the ocean, cloaking all players and troops in complete stealth for the next 30 seconds or until they take damage.

  A gray curtain of smoke dropped in front of his eyes. The world wavered into a subdued version of itself, with sounds muffled and colors muted. Seiki was slightly fascinated as he glanced down at his body and saw that it had faded into the faint trace of a silhouette.

  A look of surprise passed over the Demonic Spearmaster’s face for a moment as he found himself alone in an empty room, before a bout of derisive laughter broke from his throat. “So you picked stealth,” he scoffed. “You think a sneak attack will help you?” The demon spun around, swinging his spear in a wide half-circle. His weapon, naturally, found no target.

  “Ah, so you chose to hide,” said the demon. “You’re going to have to come out of it eventually.”

  The demon walked over to where the fallen Hikari was, regarding it carefully as if it was a dangerous snake. He smiled. “In fact, let me help you with that.”

  Secretly wondering whether this was what ninjas felt when they used their Camouflage, Seiki nodded toward his unit to follow him as he carefully made his way past the demon toward his Kohagane dagger. Not daring to pick it up yet, Seiki crouched down beside it. His right hand was ready on its hilt, his left arm raised in front of him as he silently signaled his unit to cluster tightly behind him.

  “Come out now.” The demon lifted his heel and kicked the Hikari toward the nearest cage wall.

  As expected, the light-forged blade glowed white as it touched the residue poison on the barbed wires, and an explosion burst out. Moving his left hand, Seiki pushed the last bit of energy through the Crimsonfire Tekko as he fully charged up the shield, which shattered into brittle phantom orange shards as soon as it negated the damage.

  Seiki slowly stood up, the dagger back in his hands. His breathing was now calm. If his plan had worked, it had worked. If not, it was over anyway, as it was impossible for him to do another five thousand points of damage in his current state.

  Sparing a glance at the location of his Hikari by the side of the cage, he sheathed his dagger.

  “There you are,” the demon said. “I suppose the stealth helped delay your death by a minute to say your prayers?” He steadied his spear. “It’s been quite entertaining, but unfortunately this will have to end soon.”

  Seiki studied his enemy. Gigantic, with five thousand health, a ridiculously powerful stun, and yet another Disarm he could utilize at any moment.

  “I hope so,” Seiki said, before casting a small glance at his friends outside the cage. The group of his friends and their NPC units made up around fifty. A quick check showed that Mairin and Ippei were missing.

  Seiki allowed himself a tiny smile as he turned back toward the demon. “Yes, this ends very soon.”

  Even before the demon had time to ponder his meaning, Seiki felt the notifications update:

  Card in play: Polished Shell Card of the Whirlpool

  Borrow the forces of the nature. All attacks deal 50% extra damage and returns 5% energy for the next minute.

  Card in play: Polished Shell Card of the Ocean Wave

  Calls forth a refreshing wave from the East Sea, cleansing poison effects from all players and troops and restores 5% health every 5 seconds for the next minute.

  The demon’s crimson eyes widened. “What’s this?”

  Seiki inhaled deeply as he felt the first wave of healing from the Card’s effect wash over him, a tiny amount at a time, but constant and reassuring. “It’s over,” he said.

  Prior to this third room, they still had two active golden tano-shrines—which Ippei and Mairin had immediately put to good use as soon as they were free to move under the effect of stealth.

  The Spearmaster let out a dismayed growl, and Seiki wasted no more time. As long as he had energy, he was never helpless. There was stuff that was beyond his reach that he would trust others to aid him with, but in the realm of things he could do, there was still a lot left.

  The first thing to take care of was the spear.

  The thirty seconds of stealth had allowed his unit’s energy to charge back up to full, giving him two consecutive formation abilities. Seiki broke out in a Slide towards the edge of the cage, swerving to pick up his Hikari before rushing back toward the demon. Commanding his unit to run from the side, Seiki dragged a line of Parry in the air against the incoming spear as the demon struck again. The blade hit the invisible shield and pushed his unit backward from the force of the impact. This gave Seiki a chance to dash in close, aim, and thrust his Hikari horizontally through the complicated spearhead, twisting to lock it against the jagged blades.

  His own sword could not cut him. So, taking that fact into consideration, Seiki grabbed the bare blade of his Hikari with his left hand, turning his sword into a handle bar, before lifting his feet off the floor to use his full body weight to drag the weapon down low.

  The demon, unwilling to let go, was pulled forward off his balance. And in that split second, Seiki quickly drew his Kohagane to demonstrate a quick Sweeping Blade to his troops.

  Having gone through the confirmation process several times now, Seiki could do it in a flash. Out of unconscious habit, he named the formation the same way he did. “Stun!” he shouted. His unit closed in and unleashed their Sweeping Blade at the demon’s chest to push him away from his weapon.

  Seiki returned his grip to his Hikari and pulled with all his might as the formation connected. The Spearmaster’s grip loosened around his weapon as the extra power from the formation slot helped propel him backward. And Seiki yanked the spear from his hand, before flinging it away as he freed his Hikari from the spearhead.

  The demon screeched in rage. Now that he was without a weapon, all he was left with was his last throwing knife, which Seiki traded health to Upslash without trouble.

  At this point, he knew it was truly over.

  Small gentle bouts of health continued to well up in him, like endless spring water, giving him a sense of complete freedom. Seiki finally got to explore what he needed to do to connect all his moves into one, single long flow.

  Pushing energy down his limbs in controlled bouts, knowing he would get more, he slashed at the demon, freely spending and trading all his health and energy as needed. Blood Rush felt warm and cold as his two resources fluctuated within him, as he kept both at a low but safe level.

  Using his unit to push the demon from the sides whenever their energy recharged, Seiki continued to press with attacks, slowly forcing the demon to retreat against the cage. There had been once a time when the minutes between the ringing bells existed for him in perfect clarity, where he knew exactly what he was capable of, and Seiki had never thought he would ever feel it again.

  His Sweeping Blade propelled the demon into the barbs on the side of the cage. Seiki stepped back, traded a small amount of health for more energy, just enough for him to let loose a close-range Slide that plunged his Focused Strike deep into the demon’s ribcage.

  Outside and all around, his friends were shouting, but Seiki could barely hear them. Above the chaos, in a moment like this, there was always another plane of silence. His Hikari was heavy. He loved how it was heavy, and he knew exactly what it could do.

  Seiki drew
back his sword, and the enemy finally crumbled into a large pile of broken black leather. His heart was pounding in his chest, but from exertion, not panic. When he finally lowered his blade, Seiki recognized that in that moment he had gotten something back that he had thought had been forever lost.

  Demonic Spearmaster slain. 1735 XP gained.

  Like always, the world rolled back into realistic chaos as his brain finally registered what had happened. And like always, it was a little disconcerting to realize how tired he was. Relieved, and with the joy of victory starting to sink in, Seiki slowly turned towards his friends.

  Ippei and Mairin had rejoined the group. Seiki was not sure when that had happened, but for some reason he was suddenly hoping they had seen the whole thing.

  The samurai had a pleased grin on his face. “So, that’s what Infinite Blood Rush can do. I have high hopes for your war career now.” Then he shook his head. “I can’t say I’ve ever seen a Disarm like that.”

  Seiki returned an exhausted smile. “Thanks for the Cards. They were just in time.”

  The group quickly confirmed what they had done. With more speed, Mairin had run down the corridor to use the tano-shrine before the second room, while Ippei had used the latest one they found just before the sharp bend in the corridor.

  “How did you even know he wanted you to use those specific two Cards?” said Koharu to Mairin.

  “We kinda have a psychic thing going on with Seiki.” She giggled and turned back to him. “At first, I was wondering if we should do the extended stun card. But with that minute-long lockout on your spike, we figured the attack power was better.”

  “Oh, there’s no contest there,” Ippei said. “Always burn attack power over everything else.”

  Kiku smiled. “Hime-sama always says that, too.”

  “Why?” said Koharu.

  “Because it feels good,” said Seiki with a laugh. He had been too focused to truly appreciate it during the time, but now thinking back, seeing each of his attacks doing extra damage was strangely addictive.

  “I believe delicious is the official word,” said Ippei.

  Seiki nodded.

  “You people really worry me sometimes,” said Kentaro.

  “Well, anyway, I don’t know how they can expect you to do eight thousand damage on your own,” said the samurai. “Maybe the grouping made numbers a bit out of whack, with Kiku above Level 20. Or maybe it’s tuned to your Infinite Blood Rush.”

  Seiki ran a hand through his hair as something dawned on him. If he had had more than one formation slot for his unit, Blood Rush would perhaps also have been available to them as a source of energy, and that would have made things a lot more controllable. Seiki suddenly felt uneasy as he realized how risky the encounter had been. “That was actually really close, wasn’t it?” He was glad his friend had said nothing at the time.

  As things stood, his unit only had one very powerful move they could use, but basically nothing else. He should not have been able to do the challenge at all, and the only thing that saved him from failing was finding a way to burn all three Cards. The more he thought about it, the more he understood how dangerous this was, and why troops needed more balanced upgrades.

  “Man, this unlabeled quest dungeon war thing really pushes you hard,” Yamura said.

  Seiki glanced towards his troops. Having also benefited from the card’s effect, they were now at full health and in very high spirits.

  “Well done,” he said, his voice hoarser than he had expected, which made him aware how desperately thirsty he was.

  They visibly beamed and grinned back at him.

  “You know, Chief,” said Rumi in the most serious voice she could manage through a smile. “I think it’s time to invest in a bit more defense.”

  “Yeah, Chief,” said Saburo. “And having more than one formation at a time would be great.”

  Not having expected advice, Seiki laughed. Again, he wondered if his troops were giving him hints or were simply voicing his own thoughts out loud. “Don’t worry. I completely agree, and you’re getting more sensible upgrades as soon as we get more Tokens.”

  His friends outside the cage had now turned their attention on how they were going to get him out of the confinement, since the door chain had already been destroyed. Eventually, they simply decided to break him out with non-light-forged weapons, and Seiki, too tired for anything else, let them take care of it. The cage, now that the encounter was over, gave way surprisingly easily, and soon the whole left side of the structure collapsed in a noisy crash. The sight somehow gave Seiki a strange sense of satisfaction.

  “So what have we got?” said Yamura.

  Seiki had completely forgotten about loot. Realizing that his friends were waiting for him, he turned to the dead demon. As to be expected, three more shiny white cards lay on the ground after the body dispersed.

  Yamura let out a sigh as he spotted the pile. “Okay, does anyone else feel that the instance is a bit low on things that matter in the long run? You know, like gold? No, I’m serious. They make you work so hard for this and you’re not getting anything except instance items that will disappear when you leave.”

  Seiki picked up the items and stored them in his inventory, and the group reached out to take their own copies out to study.

  Polished Shell Card of the Calling Gull [Instance Item] – Seagulls cry above the roaring waves, signaling distress to the Shinshioka Army and calling them to aid players in combat with twentyfold the number of original total troop members.

  Polished Shell Card of the White Pearl [Instance Item] – The ancient white pearl sparkles with purifying light. Light-forged weapons and light-infused abilities no longer set off Obora poison but instead cleanse it.

  Polished Shell Card of the Watery Depths [Instance Item] – Mysterious water rises from the deep, making players immune to Obora poison for the next minute and increasing all player and troops total health by 200% as well as wash away all camouflage effects from enemies and reveal all hidden traps and containers.

  “What are you complaining about?” Kentaro said. “It’s Seiki’s instance and he did all the work on that last one.”

  Yamura shrugged. “Yeah, well, then at least drop something useful for him. But still, imagine if we fail at any of the rooms, we go out with zero loot. Isn’t that a bit harsh? At least give us honor points or something. Oh, wait…” The ryoushi had noticed the description on the last card. “All hidden traps and containers? Containers!” Yamura let out a delighted cry. “Are you kidding me? That’s our loot. That’s where the unique weapon is.”

  Kiku laughed. “I don’t think it works that way.”

  “It’s not going to be a unique,” said Ippei again. “Even if we clear the instance, and even if we’re in the correct instance, where are you going to even start looking in a place this size?”

  “Okay, let’s concentrate on clearing the instance first. It’s always been three cards and an extra item,” said Kiku. “Where’s the extra item?”

  Apart from the shell cards, there was nothing else on the ground.

  “I think it’s just this key,” said Seiki, holding up the simply-labeled Key to the Underground [Instance Item].

  Mairin took a deep breath. “The final boss’s lair, then?”

  “I honestly don’t know if I can do another boss,” said Seiki. It was almost true, and he felt like he had really given his all and would like nothing better than a hot shower and a long sleep.

  Ippei eyed him very seriously. “What’s this talk, soldier? How are we going to do the second stage of Amato Pass, where, if you don’t have five hours, you don’t even try?”

  “I might need a break,” Seiki said with a slight laugh. “And a drink…”

  A ceramic cup filled with Kombucha Tea [Level 18 food] instantly appeared in front of him, handed to him by Kentaro. “To help with that lockout,” said the houshi with a smile.

  Having used Blood Rush m
ultiple times in the last fight, Seiki’s health regeneration had pretty much slowed to a complete stop and would only resume once the lockout—which now sat at 32 minutes—expired.

  Seiki thanked his friend. “You happen to have this on you?” he said as he studied the clear orange-brown liquid in the cup. Any food that was of a higher level than he was had to be very good.

  “Always be prepared,” said Kentaro with a hint of pride.

  Seiki took a gulp and immediately sputtered on the cold, sour and strangely fizzy substance. “It says tea.” He winced.

  The houshi laughed. “It is tea. I’ve been waiting for someone to try that.”

  Sighing, Seiki finished the drink, which was not exactly terrible once he knew what to expect. Perhaps to offset its rather dubious taste, the tea was surprisingly powerful and gave him a few random points in either health or energy every five seconds for the next half an hour. “This thing is better than I thought,” he said in slight amazement.

  “It’s Level 18,” said Kentaro, since no one had commented on the fact. “And requires both Cooking and Medicine to make.”

  “The level’s a little low, I’d say,” said Mairin with a straight face.

  The houshi shot her a slightly indignant look. “Those aren’t even my main Trade Skill,” he said. “My Tailoring is Level 29, mind you, so I’m this close to being able to start making legendary items.”

  “Too bad you’re about a year late and someone else has already maxed out a Trade Skill,” said Ippei. “I would have liked to see a Shogun festival in your honor.”

  Yamura frowned. “How did you even get a Trade Skill that high?”

  “All his XP is from making collectable things like a kimono in every pattern and color,” Mairin said, giggling. “He’s a recipe hoarder, you know.”

  “Got a few Achievements for that,” Kentaro said. “But, no, all my experience is actually from repeatedly fixing clothes for all these terribly violent people, who keep ruining them with terribly violent activities.” He sighed as he gave Seiki’s chest armor a wary look. It had taken a nasty cut from the Spearmaster’s blade earlier that had only half-repaired itself, and the fact that Seiki had bled meant that the two inner cloth layers might need repairing as well.