Author: Have more Dais.

Disclaimer: I don't think that RW would have had endured even more executive meddling if I had been the one writing it.

Chapter 6

Tokyo was a sprawling, crowded city and Dais decided that it was potentially hazardous to his health to go everywhere on foot. However, there were more than just trains as means of travel, so he decided to work out the bus system as well. It would give him a ground-level view of the city and was also slightly cheaper.

He found a bus station, waited in line, convinced the driver he had paid, and found an innocuous seat in a back corner, the seat slightly elevated, which allowed him unobstructed view of the passengers.

The bus traveled only slower than the train (although not by much), which meant he was given more time to observe Tokyo.

Store fronts were brightly lit, the names of the products and the store itself flowing through colored panes. Placards cluttered the sidewalks, advertising menus, services, and entertainment; giant images were plastered to windows, and some fluctuated and glittered across buildings. Foreign stores wedged themselves into the cityscape, and lights tenuously suspended midair directed the traffic of both humans and machines.

Dais was in the human world in an attempt to slow his mind down from its frantic processing of all the trouble that was streaming continuously in from his spies' reports. Since he couldn't get any sleep from how much he had to do, he figured that removing himself from the source of stress might help replenish his dangerously low reserves.

The bus' interior was quiet, most conversations either short or quiet (sometimes both), so his shoulders were relaxing from around his ears. The jostling of the bus and his lack of understanding of modern Japanese were both strangely soothing. He wasn't going to fall asleep, not when surrounded by strangers, but it was relaxing in its own way, and that was what he needed.

Since his encounter with the naito who could control the Wood element, his existence had been pure insanity. Along with the woman he had fought, there were eight other naito, which was a headache in and of itself. He had only himself and Kayura as mystical warriors, since he didn't know where his two fellow warlords were, to combat nine, and from preliminary reports and both his and Kayura's first hand experiences, each naito could control an elemental energy.

The Army and the foreign power that they had allied themselves with had made their move.

I suppose they got tired of waiting for me to make mine, Dais thought idly as he watched humans race about their small, pathetic, meaningless daily lives.

Still, the foreigners had shown their hand, which had the potential to be a fatal oversight. Now that the naito were an active presence, they could be countered.

Dais propped his chin in his hand as the bus made its jerky circuit through the city.

Maybe I can enlist the help of the Ronin, he thought, the prospect oddly amusing. I might be able to appeal to them to protect the Human World. That's their job anyway, protecting humanity and the Human World. How to find them and convince them that I'm on their side, though…? While I was on their side during the final battle against Talpa, who's to say that I just took his place in the scheme of taking over the world?

Dais was drawn out of his lazy ponderings when a particularly boisterous voice boarded the bus. Dais instinctively looked over, mildly annoyed by the intrusion.

It was a testament to his exhaustion that he immediately recognized and dismissed the presence of the person whom he had encountered every time he was in Tokyo. While it appeared that something was pushing him towards interacting with the young man, Dais wanted nothing to do with him. He had more than enough problems as it was, he didn't need the Human World throwing one at him, too.

He returned to looking out the window.

However, the young man seemed to have noticed his presence as well and to have other ideas regarding their interaction, given how he sat deliberately next to Dais—yes, the bus was crowded, but there were other seats.

Dais looked over after readjusting his sunglasses.

A hostile silence filled the space between them, the young man obviously struggling to find the right words and Dais wanting to be left alone. Just as the young man opened his mouth to speak, the bus came to a sudden stop, and Dais turned to find Army soldiers surrounding the vehicle.

And, of course, I can't access my armor, Dais groused. He drained the armor of its energy by wearing it, and he had never encountered anything that he would have needed it for in the human world previously, so he had left it, carefully concealed and guarded, in his rooms at the Castle.

That didn't mean he was helpless, and he managed to escape the bus with little effort; it was harder to escape the press of humanity that was being herded towards the gate not far away. An idea dawned on him as he wove his way against the tide, dodging spears and swords as well as frantically flailing humans.

This will take me deep into Army territory, maybe even to one of their strongholds. I don't have my armor and look like nothing other than another modern human. This is…a priceless opportunity, even if I do risk being killed.

Dais allowed himself to be pushed along, and caught the briefest glimpse of the energy that he recognized as belonging to Halo's special move before the doors of the gate were slammed shut.

It was immediately dissimilar from where the Dynasty had herded humans, since they had simply wanted the energy that human despair generated. The surroundings were still meant to intimidate, but it seemed like a mimicry of a cattle-shoot. They were forcefully guided down different forks, and Dais was amused to find that he had somehow been guided into a group comprised primarily of human elders.

Netherworld soldiers aren't the brightest, Dais thought dryly.

Dais slipped away from the guards, his natural abilities augmented by being back in the Netherworld. While he was too far away to call his armor to him, it was closer at hand than in the Mortal world. Anyway, if everything fell apart, he could still escape into the Human World.

He ambushed one of the Netherworld soldiers and strapped on the empty armor—it was a little large, but not by much. He wasn't looking to fight in it, anyway. It was a disguise, and nothing more. He kept watch where he had killed the guard until he was relieved, whereupon he walked in the opposite direction that his relief had come from—it only made sense.

His surroundings were not dissimilar from what he was used to. Of course, such shouldn't be otherwise, given that he was still in the Dynasty and Army soldiers were kin to Dynasty ones, if what he had observed and fought was anything to go off of. He came to what he assumed was his next post and relieved the guard there. Behind him, modern day humans were being stripped of their clothes and shoved into often ill-fitting armor, handed a weapon, and then shoved out into another hallway. All the humans' ages seemed to range from young teens to probably in late thirties, the general span of time that most would consider a person to be in prime fighting shape. Still, it was odd that no human was killed—they were all simply given different kinds of work to do.

Dais patrolled all the holding areas, growing increasingly annoyed.

Surely some warrior has to come and gloat or congratulate himself on a job well done, Dais thought. He knew that he would likely get nowhere being marked as a grunt, so figured out what ranks colors or badges denoted, and granted himself a promotion that would allow him to walk about more easily and with less suspicion.

Deeper in from where the humans were being processed, it became obvious that two forces were uneasily mingling. While those guarding the humans had been obviously Netherworld make, he began to see foreigners. Their armor was plain, and their human nature was obvious.

I wonder, then, what rationale they are given to condone the use of modern humans as canon-fodder or bait.

There were a thousand reasons that Dais could think of off-cuff, but discarded those musings for a later time.

Wherever he was had nightingale floors, which was grating under the stomping of so many armored feet.

He turned a corner, and reflexively stepped back and against the wall, and mimicked the salute he had been given—respectfully by the Netherworld soldiers, insolently by the foreigners.

It was the best way that he could think of to hide the mixture of emotions that roiled through him.

The naito who commanded darkness gave him an absent nod, but it was the figure walking beside him that had Dais' stomach knotted.

He can't be alive, Dais thought as he watched Anubis walk down the hallway. He watched the person until his form was no longer discernable.

Anyone can mimic another's appearance, Dais chided himself. But that face, combined with the armor he was wearing…

For although it had been Anubis' appearance, the armor he wore was unmistakably Talpa's.

We never did know what happened to either of their bodies. Dais cursed his oversight and his stride had a subdued urgency.

He exited the structure and immediately looked up. The Netherworld had a semi-twilight that never fully became night nor day, and the stars were always out enough for Dais to determine where he was.

Dais' jaw clenched when he finally figured out his place in the Netherworld. This place must be hidden. Now that I know where it is, though…

Dais returned to the building, found a blind corner, and stepped back through into the Human World. He tossed off his stolen armor, still in his human clothing, and melted into the populace. He heard frantic whispers, which said that the attack on Tokyo was new, but not unheard of.

I don't care if they don't trust me, I'm finding the Ronin, Dais thought grimly. He found his way to where a portal would drop him into the Castle, stepped through, and immediately called on his armor. He gestured, and Sachi lighted on his forearm.

"I know that the Army is attacking the Human world," he told the tengu. "I want you, Marisa, and Kotoku to map out the Netherworld for me. My maps are obviously incomplete, since there is an Army base uncomfortably close to the Capital and I didn't know it until now. You can see through the invisibility and can go places where people can't or daren't. Go."

Sachi cawed and pushed off Dais' armored forearm, and Dais finished stalking his way to the War Room. He opened the doors to find Yami, Kayura, and Thalus heatedly debating, tactics, mostly, from a first guess, the naitos' abilities.

Dais took a look at the pile of reports on a nearby table, then at the three before him.

"It is time we made our move," Dais said more calmly than he felt.

The three heads whipped around to face him.

"Sire?" Yami asked tentatively. Yami knew what Dais was capable of when he was pushed to offensive action.

"There is an Army holding just to the south of the Kuroyama on the western plains. It is there that they are capturing and processing humans that they steal from the mortal world—or, at least, one place where they are doing so. Kurosuke has troops there that are itching for a battle. He can lead them into battle there. I want everyone there dead, everything burned to the ground, I don't care if I'm losing intelligence. This attack is to prove a point, not to gather important resources."

The three stared at him. Dais knew that it was uncharacteristic, such a bold move, but he wanted to find out just what Talpa could do, if he was indeed inhabiting the corpse of Anubis. Even if he had left by the time they attacked, the naito of darkness might still be there.

"Kayura," he said, and Kayura's attention focused entirely on him. "The naito of darkness might still be there if you move quickly."

If Kayura was a cat, her fur would be standing on end, and her expression grew murderous. "I'm going to spearhead this attack, Warlord," she said, acid dripping from her voice. "Send Kurosuke and Yuuka after me."

Kayura pointed to a small troop of Dynasty soldiers not too far south from where the Army holding was. "She'll listen to your orders if you send one of your tengu. She finds them funny."

Kayura walked quickly out of the War Room, and Dais did as Kayura asked, sending another of the tengu flock he held sway over to the position that Kayura indicated on the map.

"Sire, if I may…?" Thalus started, anxiety evident in how he intently examined one of the figurines.

Dais' silence was prompting.

"Why Kurosuke?"

The unspoken question was 'Why not me?'

Dais felt there was no need for deception in this matter, not with a general he knew would remain his and another who needed to understand who he served.

"I need him dead."

They stared at him.

"A glorious death in battle would not be suspicious," Yami murmured thoughtfully.

Thalus looked uneasy, but Dais knew the man had enough ambition to really not care if Kurosuke died. "I can have one of my men finish him off if he is not killed in battle," he offered.

"No, a foreigner or an enemy needs to kill him for there to be any effect," Dais replied. Silence fell as Dais examined the map. "Thalus."

"Yes, sire?"

"When I send you out into the field, I need you to capture one of the foreigners. Don't try for a naito, but the higher in rank the better. Do you know how their ranking system works?"

"We've been given a rough idea," Yami said and gestured towards the reports. "But some of those were…undecipherable. If my lord could look them over and decode them, our offensive would greatly benefit."

Dais smiled tightly inside his helm.

"Thalus, be prepared to move out. Yami, send out a messenger to Mayuri, tell her to return to the Capital."

Both generals saluted to him and Dais sighed softly.

Wonderful, he thought darkly and gathered up the undeciphered reports in his arms before walking briskly to his quarters. Hopefully a report from Tano will be in these. I need more than what I briefly saw.

Dais returned his armor to it rack, dragged out his code-keys, and sat down.

Another long night in a series of long nights, he thought bitterly as he turned his attention to the reports left for him.

—

Dais stood on top of one of the high-rises in Tokyo, arms crossed as he waited for the Army to make its move.

He had been grimly pleased by the initial results of his offensive. While Talpa hadn't been in the stronghold that Kayura attacked, she had a revenge of sorts on the naito of darkness, severely injuring him. They had released all the humans and shoved them back into their world, and Kayura seemed to have taken great pleasure in razing the area.

Kurosuke, unfortunately, had survived. However, based on a report from his spy in Kurosuke's personal guard, Dais' suspicions were not unfounded. His general was having second thoughts about his service to Dais and the Dynasty. He needed to be disposed of, but it couldn't be a task obviously meant to kill him.

Dais closed his eyes and tried to focus on the currents of energy that were the barrier between the human and netherworld, waiting for the tear that would tell him where the Army was making its move.

Dais had decided, after intense internal debate, that he would petition the Ronin for help, and there was no way they wouldn't show up if the Army did; it was their job to protect humanity, after all.

He felt a fluctuation in the boundary between the Netherworld and Human World and latched onto the energy barrier. He scowled when he felt the opening on the opposite side of the city, and quickly leapt between rooftops, the smallest of illusions keeping him from observation. He reached his destination quickly and looked over the ledge. Hundreds of Army soldiers were shepherding humans towards a familiar gateway.

Dais jumped off the ledge.

The impact with the ground would sting, yes, but he hoped to catch three goons to break his fall. He knew that, when they appeared, the Ronin wouldn't immediately trust him, but it wasn't as if he had shown up lately, and he would be happily tearing through the ranks as well—not with the same kind of efficiency as they, but he wasn't an offensive fighter.

Dais managed to land on four goons, and immediately lashed out with his flail, clearing some space for himself. He unhitched his scythes and raked those in front of him, sending the energy powering the soldiers back into nothingness. He embedded each scythe in the ground and the sticky webbing shot out, binding those around him, which allowed him to cloak himself and vanish into the crowd.

Fighting against spirits was harder than fighting against humanoid opponents, since they didn't have the same manners of perception. Still, most of the soldiers in the Dynasty were spirits in some manner, so he had learned how to influence their perception as well.

Dais' scythes latched into the shoulders of two goons, and as he knelt he pulled them over his shoulders, sending them into the soldiers behind him. A swipe of his flail caught the legs of a few others, making them sprawl into those near them. Dais sprang up from his hunch and his nunchaku knocked more than a few heads off.

Dais tried to stay in constant motion as he hindered the movement of his opponents with his illusions and webbing—if he was moving, they couldn't get as good a hold on him, regardless of how large his armor was.

He worked his way slowly through the throng and was brought up short only by the appearance of Hardrock—or, rather, a warrior who he supposed was Hardrock. The armor was drastically different, but he would recognize the obnoxious orange anywhere, and the crest was the same.

"Dais?! What are—" Hardrock began, and Dais lashed out with his flail, hitting the soldier that had been creeping up on Hardrock.

"We will talk later, Ronin," Dais sneered. "We have a battle to win."

They were joined by a warrior who Dais eventually decided was Torrent—there was no one else he could be, regardless of the new and different armor that he wore; Sekhmet had bitched about Torrent's signature move often enough for Dais to be able to recognize it.

The battle, such as it were, was over relatively quickly once the Ronin decided to throw in their abilities alongside Dais; Dais would ensnare the soldiers, and then Hardrock or Torrent would take them out for him. It was wonderfully efficient, and Dais mused at just how easy victory would be if the Warlords and Ronin teamed up against the Army—or any enemy, really. There would be no contest, even with the addition of the foreigners. Their abilities simply complimented each other far too well.

It would be nice to have them on his side in the Netherworld, but it would be a hard sell to have them abandon the human world to get involved in Netherworld politics. Such was why he wasn't planning on trying.

Once the last Army soldier had been sent back to the Netherworld, the humans returned, and the portal closed, the two Ronin looked at Dais, and the warlord could almost feel the mistrust oozing from them.

"Those soldiers weren't from the Dynasty," Dais said as he hooked the scythes back on his back.

"Funny, looked that way to me," Hardrock riposted.

Dais crossed his arms. "I'm not surprised you're unable to differentiate," he drawled. "But, I'm not here to pick a fight with you. I need your help."

Both Hardrock and Torrent stared at him.

"With what?" Torrent asked slowly.

"The Netherworld is at war," Dais replied. "Those soldiers you fought off are from the Army of the Rising Sun, which is seeking Netherworld domination. They are making forays into the Human World to…dragoon humans into their service, as both slaves and soldiers. It is in both my interest and yours that you take care of any incursions the Army might make. You are protecting humanity and you are giving me one less headache."

"I thought that the Dynasty was the Netherworld," Hardrock said.

"You are wrong," Dais said smoothly. "I am busy with a war right now to ensure continued Dynasty supremacy, and I cannot have the Army getting soldiers from multiple sources. You have seen that I'm not lying, so if you would be so kind as to protect humanity…?"

Dais waited patiently for his request to sink in before Torrent said: "Multiple sources?"

"I'm too busy to worry about both the Human and Netherworlds," Dais drawled. "Their emotions already generate Netherworld soldiers and spirits—keeping humans out of it will be to both our benefit."

Surprisingly, it was Hardrock who sheathed his weapon. "We do our job, you do yours."

"Precisely," Dais affirmed.

"Where are Sekhmet and Kale?" Torrent asked.

"Are you going to help me—no, help humanity—or not?" Dais asked, ignoring Torrent's question.

Hardrock scowled at him, and there was something familiar in the expression, something that made him smirk. "Answer before the humans return."

"Of course we're going to help humanity," Hardrock snapped. "That we're helping you, too, is just lucky for you."

Dais shook his head derisively. "See that you keep your humans safe, Hardrock, Torrent."

Dais turned and cloaked himself, taking only a few steps away, wanting to see the two Ronin's reactions.

There was a long silence before Hardrock sighed gustily. "He hasn't changed a bit," Hardrock groused.

"He's a Warlord of the Dynasty," Torrent replied with a shrug. "They don't seem the kind of people to change easily."

Dais nearly lost control of his illusion when the two Ronin transformed out of their armor.

Well, shit, Dais thought as he saw the young man whom he had encountered every single time he was in the human world revealed from beneath the armor of Hardrock.

He's grown up nicely, Dais mused. Physically, at least.

"Think he was lyin'?" Hardrock asked.

Torrent shrugged. "Not sure, but I don't think so. The armor of the goons was slightly different, and he did help us."

"He's the Warlord of Illusion. He could be playin' us!"

Torrent hesitated. "It was suspicious when none of the Warlords showed up when the soldiers were attacking, right? And none of them made any mention regarding Talpa, or the warlords. And he is a Warlord—do you think he would honestly ask a Ronin Warrior for help unless he had no other option? Especially him?"

"It's not like we were gonna do otherwise anyway," Hardrock grumbled.

"But it does clear up a few things," Torrent pointed out. "We should tell the guys."

"Yeah, yeah," Hardrock said dismissively.

Dais followed them silently as they walked away, towards a train station.

"How long has it been since we saw any of them?" Torrent mused.

Hardrock shrugged. "Not long enough for me to forget how much of an ass Dais was. Is." Hardrock scratched the back of his neck.

"It was still strange."

"Yeah. I haven't thought about him, them, since we defeated Talpa."

Because you don't think much to start with, Dais thought.

When the conversation turned mundane and riddled with pop culture references that Dais didn't get, Dais slunk away and returned to the Dynasty.

Dais entered his chambers and sent his armor onto the rack that waited for it in the corner.

Hopefully that will stem the tide of grunt labor, Dais thought as he picked up the report that sat on his desk. With my recent luck, it will likely do little.

Still, Dais had won battles where he was drastically outnumbered and (to borrow a modern saying) outgunned. As he had done then, so he would do in the present circumstance.

And this is when Sekhmet and Kale would have been incredibly useful, he thought bitterly as he slowly worked through the code. Speaking of the morons…

Dais tugged on a particular mental line and what appeared to be a human stood just inside his doorway. Sanosuke was his most human-looking spy, and one that he had used on multiple occasions when Talpa was planning his return to the Human World. Sanosuke could speak most of the major human languages, and had charisma in spades.

He was also second to none in tracking capabilities.

"I need you to find Kale and Sekhmet for me," Dais told him. "They will return to the Netherworld, and you are allowed to knock them unconscious and drag them back here if necessary—just make sure that they're intact. I need them to be able to fight."

Sanosuke's lips twitched in a hint of a smile. "Yes, sire."

Dais conjured a portal for him and it snapped shut behind Sanosuke. Those two have had their fun long enough. It's time they stopped being children and started being the murderous bastards they actually are.

Dais took a deep breath and returned to the missive before him. As he read, his eyebrow slowly rose.

Well, well, well. Look at that.

Tano had finally scraped together enough information to send him a decent report, and what was contained within was fascinating.

Upon the reveal of the naito's presence, they had become a pervasive and visible force in the Army's forces. Admittedly, not everyone was pleased by such a state of affairs, but the naito were powerful enough that the Army's generals kept quiet.

"There are a few soldiers here who would happily defect to the Dynasty if they knew that they would get that far—fear of the Army keeps them all on a tight leash."

Tano also provided him with more details on the naito than he had managed to gather from his and Kayura's encounters with them.

They all, indeed, commanded a different element: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Wood, Metal, Dark, Light and "Spirit—I'll give you more details on what that means once I've figured it out."

Air, wood, and fire were female—the rest were men. Their armors were stylized, yes, but it seemed that it was the colors that distinguished them more than the armor structure.

Fire had, predictably, a red color scheme; wood had been green; earth was obviously brown; water was blue; metal was silver-white; air was a pale yellow; light was gold; dark was black; and the last element was purple. Each naito had a name, but they were clumsy to Tano, who did her best to reproduce them phonetically, so Dais decided to refer to the naito by their element instead of by name. The armors themselves were named after their element, anyway, so it wouldn't be unusual.

Spirit seemed to be the leader among them; there was contention within the ranks, the most bitter being between wind and earth. Darkness and light were twins; water and wood were romantically involved, etc.

Tano is, if anything, thorough. Gossip is as useful to her as empirical evidence, Dais mused.

The addition of their personalities had actually made it easier for Tano to hide, and she provided a comprehensive sketch of how the foreigners organized their military ("They have been referred to as kuruseida, although I wouldn't put money on that name").

Dais finished translating the report, then rolled it up and put it in a secret compartment, where he kept all his most sensitive material that he had yet to memorize.

Dais let out a long, low sigh, finally allowing himself to ponder the realization that the young man he had been "flirting" with was none other than Kento of Hardrock.

It was, perhaps, less distressing and more entertaining. To think that, even after years, he was still somehow entangled with the Ronin Warriors, more specifically him.

It was still strange that he met Hardrock every time.

It will be hilarious if he ever discovers who I am, Dais thought as he penned orders to other lieutenants and commanders that he had in the field. Now that he was moving soldiers and resources aggressively, he would attempt to put continuous pressure on these kuruseida and the Army.

I hope Yami gets me my captive soon. I look forward to the discussion.