FALL SEVEN TIMES
by Ulquiorra9000
Chapter 7
"Hisoka sensei!"
Minamo Academy shuddered yet again, and Hisoka held down everything on his desk to keep them from falling off. Around him, the hanging wall scrolls in his office swung back and forth, and his decorative vases and statues had long since fallen over and shattered on the polished wood floor.
And now the same instructor had burst into his office again, with the same news.
"We won't last much longer against these... invaders!" the teacher cried, wringing his hands. He was barely twenty-five, one of the newest members of the legendary school's staff, recruited from a town in the Araba Plains. He wore the white sleeveless haori jacket and blue robes of a junior professor.
Hisoka's patience finally snapped and he rose to his feet, considerably taller than the simpering junior teacher. His billowing sapphire-blue robes, with their curly gold patterns and protective enchantments, gave the old man a proper air of power and authority. He needed it now more than ever.
"Calm yourself, Reitaro!" Hisoka thundered, and his tone instantly silenced the frightened Reitaro.
Hisoka ignored another quake as he strode from behind his wide desk and across the large office's floor, withered hands clasped behind his back. "How long has this school stood at the water's edge, Reitaro? Do you remember what I told you?"
"Y... yes, sensei!" Reitaro dipped his head. "Three thousand years."
"Has any hostile force ever claimed it?"
"No, sensei."
Hisoka stroked his long white beard. "What leads you to believe that this siege shall be any different? Do you think it is the first? Or merely your first?"
Reitaro licked his lips and sank to his knees, bowing an apology. "Sensei, I... I thought only of myself. I realize how foolish I have been."
"I am not Minamo Academy's first headmaster to face an external threat," Hisoka boomed, looming over Reitaro's humble form. "The barriers will hold. And help is on the way. I trust my security staff to keep the siege force at bay until then. Do you also trust them?"
Reitaro seemed close to tears. "Yes, sensei! I do!"
"Then stand up, Reitaro." Hisoka didn't offer a hand; he stood there, his most severe look on his face, as Reitaro slowly stood.
"I... I only panicked, sensei, because the enemies' numbers seem to grow, and the waterfall has become dark."
"I know." Hisoka sighed and motioned for Reitaro to join him at one of the windows. From here, both men could see the inner layers of the school's massive blue mana barriers, and those arcane defenses constantly flickered, sputtered, and threw out sparks from the pressure of the invading horde. Hisoka was sure that the enchantments had been more rigorously tested in these last five days than ever in Kamigawa's history.
But the invaders... Hisoka didn't dare show it, but even he felt a tremor of dread at the sight. Bizarre beings of chrome, sickly flesh, and mishappen body parts had massed around the school's barriers and hammered on them relentlessly. Over thirty defenders, human and soratami (moonfolk) alike constantly threw out blue mana from their open palms to keep the barriers intact.
The soratami... Hisoka had been hailed as a genius to convince even a handful of them to descend from Oboro, Palace in the Clouds to work for him as a gesture of goodwill. Was that all that kept Minamo safe?
And the water... Reitaro was right: three massive, wide-mouthed creatures sat at the cliffside, steadily vomiting what looked like dark oil into the waterfall's once-pure currents. Each beast must have been two hundred feet long, tube-like and scaly, supported on spider-like legs. They looked like oversized leeches, except that they gave off fluids rather than drink them.
Just what was being fed into that sacred waterfall?
Would it taint the rest of Kamigawa?
Would Hisoka's distress call be answered in time?
Hisoka gestured for Reitaro to leave, then turned and studied the long row of inkbrush drawings of Minamo's former headmasters, each with their name written in ornate characters underneath. Hisoka would be damned if he was Minamo's last... but he found himself wishing he could ask the old headmasters for help.
*o*o*o*o*
"Okay, there's some more. For sure."
Mizuki crouched atop a hill and scoped out the lanscape with a collapsible telescope that Azrael had bought for her in the last town. A light wind picked up as the evening sun sank below the many tree-dotted hills, and cawing birds flew past overhead. It would have been a pleasant evening, but the last few evenings since Juka-no-Nadachi had proven otherwise. Like this one.
Through the lenses, Mizuki spotted them: two Phyrexian golems. There was no mistaking those hulking cyborg bodies plated in chrome and oily flesh, or their eyeless, toothy heads, or the oversized needle machinery on their wrists. Mizuki felt a chill snake its way down her spine as she watched the vile golems stride across Kamigawa soil, pointing and barking orders at their minions. Corrupted humans, partially plated in chrome and wearing tattered leather clothing, lurched around as though looking for something. Maybe more victims?
Then Mizuki saw it: a creek that ran black with Phyrexian oil. As she watched in horror, several Phyrexian humans tinkered with the knobs and gears on a machine that sat by the creekside, then moved on. Mizuki could clearly see two nozzles on the machine that pumped oil right into the creek.
Mizuki lowered her telescope and handed it over. She swallowed. "See for yourself. More oil machines. By sources of water."
Azrael was crouched on one knee, his blue cape swathed around him as he scanned the scene through the telescope. He grunted to himself, then handed it back. "It seems that our working theory is nearly proven. The blue Phyrexians spread their influence through oily water. Those human down there... they're native, unlike those who attacked us at Juka-no-Nadachi. I can tell from the remains of their clothes."
Mizuki's breath caught in her throat. "What... huh?"
"And their mechanical components look newer, almost improvised," Azrael added darkly. "I remember the ones that invaded Ezig Natum. I saw a few of them up close while I fled for shelter with my sister. Those Phyrexian humans had uniform appearances, but these don't. Check again."
With shaking hands, Mizuki brought the telescope's eyepiece to her face and gave the oily cyborg humans another, closer look. Azrael was right; they were irregular in design, and Mizuki recognized the armor style some of them wore. The same armor as freelance warriors of this plane! And some even had chrome-enhanced katanas or wakizashi swords at their belts. There was no mistake.
"Kami protect us..." Mizuki lowered the telescope again and collapsed it against her open palm. "So, the Phyrexians are already turning my own people against us!"
"And I'm certain that the process will accelerate and feed on itself," Azrael added. "More compleat humans means that more oil-spreading machines are installed, therefore corrupting more people, and so on. And I'm sure that the other races will soon be affected: kitsune, orochi, akki goblins, even the ogres."
Mizuki felt numb. Two days after the scuffle at Juka-no-Nadachi, she and Azrael had taken a horse-dawn carriage across Kamigawa to scout for Phyrexians like these. At first, few had appeared... and then they were everywhere! How could the Phyrexians spread so fast?! She and Azrael had been forced to travel on foot during the following three days and hide regularly to keep a low profile and evade compleat humans and their golem masters.
"Just how much time do we have left?" Mizuki breathed.
"Enough to keep searching for a solution," Azrael said firmly. "Now, did you say that a powerful daimyo lives around here?"
"Yeah. Lord Hiroshi Ryugan Kirinji." Mizuki tried to remember what she could about him. "His castle is, um... just three hours' walk from here in that direction." She pointed. "It's huge, and lots of farmers and tradesmen work on those lands in exchange for protection by Lord Kirinji's samurai army. He's even got ninjas on his payroll as not only assassins, but scouts and spies. The legendary Higure, the Still Wind is their current captain. Lord Kirinji paid a crazy price to get Higure on his personal staff."
Azrael nodded. "Impressive. When I visited this plane a few months back with Rohkan, searching for a possible Sphaera Vitae shard, I heard stories of ninjas. I dismissed them at the time, but..."
"You ain't gonna dismiss them now," Mizuki said earnestly. "Seriously, ninjas have stolen secrets and killed people when those missions were considered impossible for anyone else. And Higure... he's probably the best of the best! We need him and Lord Kirinji's army to fight back against the Phyrexians and buy us time to find a better solution to this mess."
Azrael brushed a lock of reddish hair from his face, his brown eyes thoughtful. "Convincing him to risk his men's lives to fight for our cause should be an interesting challenge. So far, we have only seen scouting parties or task parties of Phyrexians, not a proper army. Would this Lord Kirinji mobilize his samurai forces for that?"
Mizuki faltered. This wasn't her strong suit, but who else appreciated the looming problem besides her and Azrael? She took a deep breath. "Higure's ninja squads are bound to have seen more than us. Maybe they've found a developing Phyrexian army that's worth fighting? If so, we could join and persuade Lord Kirinji to expand his operations to other areas, too. Anywhere where you and I find Phyrexians, not just Lord Kirinji's private lands."
"Well, how about that." Azrael smiled. "Mizuki, you underestimate yourself. You make valid points, and you clearly have the people's best interests at heart. How could any daimyo refuse your request?"
Mizuki felt her face warm. "Hey, I'm just thinking on my feet."
"The people of Kamigawa are lucky to have you looking out for them," Azrael said fondly. "Now, let's find the optimal route to this Lord Kirinji's castle, and -"
"- how about we show you a route?" came a new voice.
Mizuki slowly turned around.
Four horse-mounted samurai towered over her and Azrael, two with swords drawn, the other two with bows and arrows ready to fire. Their armor was painted gold and green, the official colors of the noble Kirinji house. More to the point, one samurai carried a banner wit the house Kirinji name and logo on it. No doubt now!
Mizuki held her hands up in surrender. "H-hey there, fellas."
"Identify yourselves!" the banner carrier barked.
Azrael also turned, his face and voice calm. "I am Azrael, a freelance agent. I mean Lord Kirinji and his subjects no harm."
"I'm Mizuki. Just a traveler," Mizuki said earnestly. "Look, we weren't spying! Well, not on Lord Kirinji's people! On the invaders. You've seen them too, right? We're trying to figure out how to stop them."
Mizuki tried to hide her growing panic. She could draw her enchanted short sword, but it wouldn't save her against these armed samurai. Especially since they were activating green-white enchantments on their weapons.
"If you try to fight or run, we will strike you down," the same samurai declared. "You are suspicious agents on the border of Lord Kirinji's lands!"
Azrael stiffened. "We are not in league with the invaders."
"How do we know that? Lord Kirinji understands the value of spies," the samurai countered. "We'll leave that for our security staff to decide. Come with us, or lose your heads." As he spoke, he and another samurai pointed their enchanted katanas at Mizuki and Azrael. The green-white enchantments hummed and glowed in the gathering twilight, the glare forcing Mizuki to narrow her aching eyes.
"Okay... okay," she admitted. "We'll show you that we're not your enemies."
The samurai scoffed. "That's to be determined." He gave a hand signal, and one of his fellows put away his bow and arrow and clasped metal wrist cuffs on Mizuki's and Azrael's arms, the cuffs held closely together with blue-white mana. Mizuki was positioned on the rear of one samurai's saddle while Azrael was set up on another horse. Mizuki knew better than to try and jump off once the horses got into motion; what good would that do? She didn't want an unnecessary fight, and besides, she and Azrael really were innocent, and she wanted a chance to prove that in his court.
Without another word of complaint, Mizuki sat still as the four samurai set their horses into motion and rode across the hills as the first stars gathered overhead.
