FALL SEVEN TIMES
by Ulquiorra9000
Chapter 13
Mizuki took the lead; she lowered her head and sprinted down Yamai-no-Zenju's abandoned streets with Azrael and Ayano behind her, rushing past shops, ryokan inns, and empty theaters alike. She kicked up loose dust and pebbles on the dirt road, praying that she didn't trip. She was still in Akuta-Ne's shadow, and wouldn't rest until that thing was out of her sight!
But she could still hear it.
Lumbering footsteps shuddered the whole town as the cyborg demon stepped closer, and its shadow extended as it kept pace with Mizuki's party. At the same time, Mizuki heard the thudding sound of Phyrexians jumping off Akuta-Ne's skin and onto rooftops. Odd cries and chatter in a horrible language echoed across the town.
"What do they want with this place?" Azrael huffed.
"Yamai-no-Zenju is a gateway to the Jukai Forest," Ayano told him breathlessly as the party took a left toward the nearest city gate. "From here, the Phyrexians can easily spread throughout the region. The kami blessed this town; travelers here can easily get to other towns and shrines around here."
It wasn't enough that the Phyrexians spread their taint through Kamigawa's water supply, was it?
"No!" Mizuki skidded to a halt as a squad of Phyrexians cut her off. Two golems led the party, the eyeless beasts brandishing their hypodermic needle weapons and leering. Two dozen oily, cyborg humans and kitsune drew their own crooked swords and maces, preparing to attack.
"Looks like we're not leaving Yamai-no-Zenju without a fight," Azrael commented darkly. He fired up his brass bracers' enchantments, and flames coated the weapons. "I suppose this is another chance to test these bracers."
Ayano drew her katana, a high-quality one, and stared at Azrael's bracers. "Where did you get those, again? Such an odd design..."
"A plane called Fiora," Azrael explained quickly as the Phyrexian squad approached. "From the armory of a wealthy friend, now deceased. Now, let's -"
Before either group could strike a blow, sudden shouts drew the Phyrexians' attention. Human voices!
Samurai in mossy, wooden armor vaulted over a ryokan's rooftop and leaped onto the unsuspecting Phyrexians. The newcomers' blades danced through the air, and half of the cyborg humans and kitsune fell at once, split cleanly apart. The rest yowled and swung their own weapons.
Then, a burly budoka monk emerged, hands clapped together with strong green mana. He opened his palms, then slammed them onto the dirt road. At once, thick, leafy vines emerged from the road and coalesced around the monk.
Then Mizuki saw the sacred orbs of mana floating around the monk and his vines. Did he just summon a kami?!
Azrael let loose a furious roar and sprang. His blue-black mana combined with the bracers' red mana to form three-color punches that blasted away the Phyrexians with impunity. A cyborg kitsune rasped dryly and swung its katana, until Azrael easily caught the sharp blade in one mana-infused hand. Then he tugged, and wrenched the sword (and the arm holding it) free. The one-armed cyborg kitsune stumbled back, until Azrael vaporized it with a heavy blow from his other fist.
"Hell yeah!" Mizuki cheered. She drew her own Fiora weapon, the enchanted short sword, and activated its power with a mental command. Just in time; one of the two golems snarled and bore down on her, raising its needle assembly to impale her. Its toothy, chrome-plated face sneered at her.
Mizuki narrowly evaded the quick blow, and dirt was kicked up as the heavy needle stabbed the ground. For a few precious seconds, the golem was stuck in place as it tried to wrench its needle free. Mizuki took this chance to bring her sword's red-white blade down on the golem's flank.
Tough, oily muscle and chrome plating boiled away under the sword's pressure, and the golem roared in pain. Then, it finally tore its needle arm free and swung it like a blunt instrument.
Mizuki nimbly jumped high to avoid the needle, and she landed a glancing blow on the golem's head. Her enchanted sword dug a deep, charred scar into its chrome plating.
With another aggravated snarl, the golem whirled around and seized Mizuki's leg with its other arm. It threw her onto the hard dirt road, and Mizuki grunted in pain, trying to roll with the impact. But she already saw the wounded golem towering over her, preparing to impale her.
Ayano swiftly placed herself between the two combatants, her left hand holding the golem's needle in place. Her silky hair billowed from the waves of green-white mana radiating from her body, and her left arm's skin was tough like rock. The golem couldn't force its way through her defenses at all.
Ayano impaled the golem with her enchanted katana right in its center of mass, and the Phyrexian beast howled. Then, it swung a fist and knocked Ayano aside. The noble girl tumbled and sprang into a crouched position, but she was too far to stop the golem from lunging at Mizuki again.
This time, Mizuki took matters into her own hands. "Thanks for the help, Ayano!" she said, then stabbed her enchanted short sword into the stab wound that Ayano had created. She bared her teeth as she willed her sword to pump even more red-white power into the blade, and the golem glowed white-hot from the inside. Then it exploded.
"Whoa!" Mizuki threw her arms up to shield her face from the blast. She hastily jumped back, not wanting to get seared.
Ayano stepped over. "Well done," she said. "Those golems.. they are tougher than I thought."
"Y-yeah," Mizuki said shakily. She stared at the charred crater where the golem had stood. "I saw some when the Phyrexians sent a squad to Juka-no-Nadachi. They're the Phyrexian team leaders, I think. We oughta tell those samurai to take 'em out first in other squads. Maybe the other Phyrexians will scatter?"
Ayano smiled. "Very good. I'll tell them."
With Azrael's help, the green-mana samurai dispatched the rest of the Phyrexian squad, including the other golem. Two samurai had taken serious blows to the stomach, but they were already mending those wounds with green mana. And the budoka monk now stood in a two-legged tangle of vines and roots that formed a rough human shape, complete with the sacred orbs.
The monk and samurai bowed their heads to Ayano. "You are a noblewoman, yes?" a samurai asked.
"Yes. I am Ayano Hatsumoto Kirinji," Ayano explained. "My companions are Mizuki and Azrael. Please tell us: what can we do to help?"
The samurai team's captain, their tai-cho, glared up at the massive Akuta-Ne. "Our kitsune scout squads confirmed that Akuta-Ne, the Iron Skin was coming this way. No doubt to capture this town and use it to spread his Takenuma friends throughout the region. We can't let the town fall."
"They're Phyrexians," Mizuki blurted out.
The tai-cho narrowed his eyes. "They're what?"
Mizuki lowered her sword but didn't power down its red-white enchantment. "I've heard of Akuta-Ne. He's from the Takenuma Swamp, I know, but invaders called the Phyrexians must have captured him and sent him on this mission. These things we fought, they were Phyrexians, too. They're all over Kamigawa."
The samurai and the monk muttered among themselves. "Look, girl," the tai-cho said, "we appreciate the help. But I've never heard of Phyrexians."
"Believe her," Azrael said darkly, his eyes glinting like steel. "I've fought them before. You have never faced a greater threat."
"They convert our people into their own," Ayano added hastily. "If we don't destroy the sources of the Phyrexian invasion, it will never end! And we'll continue to face our own beloved people, family and friends, on the battlefield."
The tai-cho huffed. "Look, all I know is that tai-sa Kokuda ordered this town abandoned so his squads could ambush the invaders and surround Akuta-Ne, with no civilian losses. Hear them?"
Mizuki did hear them: more samurai squads throughout Yamai-no-Zenju fighting other platoons of Phyrexians. Maybe the samurai could handle cyborg natives, but the golems were tough... and what about Akuta-Ne himself? Mizuki voiced these concerns.
The tai-cho shrugged. "I'm responsible for my squad, kid -"
"It's Mizuki!"
"Fine. Mizuki. But tai-sa Kokuda knows what he's doing. We'll deal with these Takenuma Phyrexian freaks and -"
He froze when he held out a small medallion in his hand. It was enchanted, and a green light turned to orange.
"What does that mean?" Azreal asked tightly.
"Tai-sa Kokuda's in trouble," the tai-cho said, going pale. "I can't believe it... we planned this perfectly! No one has ever foiled him before!"
But as he spoke, the massive Akuta-Ne, the Iron Skin roared and started smashing buildings and stomping all around him. On samurai, maybe? And all the while, more cyborg humans and kitsune kept emerging from the holes in its skin.
"Lady Ayano, you and your vassals may come with us if you wish," the tai-cho said. "But my squad is moving out to reinforce tai-sa Kokuda's squad no matter what!"
With that, the tai-cho and his men leaped nimbly onto a rooftop and hopped their way toward the town's center. The budoka monk gave Mizuki and the others a polite bow, then commanded his kami mount to follow the tai-cho's squad.
Mizuki made a face. "We're not vassals..."
"We ought to help them," Azrael said. "Think how useful a bunch of grateful samurai would be for our coalition! And you both saw their healing prowess..."
"The bushi samurai of the Jukai Forest are some of Kamigawa's finest warriors," Ayano said, "but I don't think they can take down Akuta-Ne, the Iron Skin alone. I agree: we do a favor for their favor. Shall we go?"
It was a pretty good point, so despite having to deal with that horrible cyborg demon, Mizuki joined her fellows as they raced through the city streets, heading in the same direction the samurai had gone. A few odd cyborg samurai or kitsune got in the way, but Azrael's fire bracers charred them into harmless ash.
Then Mizuki found herself in the town square, where nearty forty wood-armored, green mana-enhanced samurai stood in a wide formation. Three budoka monks in vine-like kami stood with them, and in the formation's center was an older samurai seated on an oversized wolf. His helmet's horns were long and curved like a crescent moon, and he held a bamboo pole with a green flag on the end. The character for "nature" was painted in gold on the banner.
Was that the colonel? Tai-sa Kokuda?
What looked like three hundred cyborg Phyrexians surrounded the samurai, along with at least twelve golems, plus oily, blade-covered machine beasts with glowing blue eyes.
And worst of all, Akuta-Ne towered over the battlefield, only a few tall buildings separating it from the battlefield at waist height.
Akuta-Ne let out a roar.
The Phyrexians charged.
"Here comes the hard part," Mizuki commented darkly, holding up her enchanted short sword to the ready position.
"I can make it a little easier." Ayano drew a scroll from her robes, unrolled it, and pressed her finger on the paper's markings. The inkbrush characters glowed blue-white.
Azrael stared. "Ayano, is that -"
Ayano nodded. "Higure's scroll. Let's hope he'll come up with a good plan. He usually does."
"Usually?" Mizuki squeaked as Akuta-Ne took another earth-shuddering step closer.
Ayano was pale, but her face was set in a determined mask. "We'll find out when he gets here."