FALL SEVEN TIMES
by Ulquiorra9000
Chapter 15
Fireworks? Okay, Higure's lost his mind... wait!
Mizuki read the characters printed on the box's surface and she grinned. The fireworks were enchanted with red and white mana! Normally, that would allow them to make a bigger boom for fireworks shows. But she got the feeling that Higure had a different show in mind!
With renewed vigor, Mizuki leaped and sprinted across the rooftops with Higure and Azrael, and she prayed for the forest samurai to hold out just a little longer. To be fair, Tai-sa Kokuda's men had slain many Phyrexian soldiers and were still taking them down, but every minute, another samurai fell, and they couldn't afford the losses like the Phyrexians could. The budoka monks in their kami suits helped bolster Kokuda's defenses, but they were clearly tiring.
This had gone on long enough.
"Watch out!" Azrael suddenly shouted.
Akuta-Ne had taken notice of Higure's squad. The towering demon roared and threw down an open plam, intending to crush the three humans. Mizuki and the others leaped onto a new rooftop, and Mizuki watched as Akuta-Ne's hand demolished the small scroll shop she had been standing on.
At the same time, Phyrexian kitsune were leaping onto the rooftops, holding short swords or sais in their oily, chrome-armored hands. They screeched and wailed, their glowing blue eyes fixed on the three humans.
"Allow me." Azrael whirled in place and fired up his blue-black mana, allowing it to flow onto his bracers' flames. Thick ribbons of red-blue-black mana snaked through the air and blasted away the cyborg kitsune, charring their bodies into useless junk.
Azrael's knees buckled and he held a hand to his heart, his face pale. "I can't keep this up," he panted as more cyborg kitsune and humans emerged to defend their master. "My mana..."
Higure grunted the affirmative, and then leaped into action despite his injured shin bone. He delivered a swift kick that took off a Phyrexian samurai's head, then drew an enchanted kunai knife and slashed apart a kitsune. Then, just before two samurai could attack Higure from behind, Mizuki pointed her short sword and channeled its red-white mana onto the blade. She felt her clothes and hair ripple from the mana pressure.
The familiar helix of red-white mana caught one cyborg samurai on his left flank, and the spell plowed on like a beast and blew away the other samurai as well. Just as the helix vanished, though, Mizuki saw her sword's enchantment flicker and dim.
"This thing's runnin' out of mana!" Mizuki cried as yet more Phyrexians moved in for the kill.
Azrael wiped his brow. "It will recharge after a few hours. We've got incoming!"
But Azrael wobbled in place, his natural man and the bracers' flame spell both exhausted. He edged closer to Higure. "I may not be able to stop them," he warned the ninja.
"How about me?" came another voice.
The tai-cho, or samurai captain from earlier, had emerged with five of his men, green-mana katanas held at the ready.
"You!" Mizuki blurted.
"I can see what you're trying to do," the tai-cho said. "Let me cover for you. Higure, the Still Wind wouldn't get this close to Akuta-Ne without good reason."
Meanwhile, the cyborg demon in question stared down at the assembled humans and drew back a fist to obliterate them.
"I am tai-cho Yashido of the forest!" the tai-cho roared in defiance. "I am proud to serve under tai-sa Kokuda for the safety of the Jukai, this town, and all its denizens!" He gave a war cry, and the other samurai did the same as the Phyrexians closed in.
Higure nodded. "Let's go, Mizuki, Azrael."
Mizuki followed Higure and Azrael onto another rooftop just as Akuta-Ne threw its massive punch. Its fist smashed the building that tai-cho Yashido and his men stood on, and the samurai found themselves standing in the rubble on the ground, surrounded by many more Phyrexians. The samurai started swinging with their enchanted katanas, clashing with Phyrexian claws and teeth.
They wouldn't last long.
Mizuki escorted Higure right into Akuta-Ne's shadow, near its left knee. But the demon easily spotted them with its four glowing eyes, and it raised its clawed left foot. Its stomp attack crushed the building that Mizuki's squad occupied, and Mizuki felt a thrill in her stomach as she fell amid the cascading rubble. No!
Splintered wood scratched Mizuki all over, and she fired up the last of her green-black mana to protect herself from the worst of it. Her ears were filled with the roar of the collapsing building, rubble falling everywhere she could see. A large rafter pinned her down in place, and it didn't crush her only because other rubble propped it up a little bit. Still, Mizuki couldn't squirm free from the rafter's immense weight.
Akuta-Ne snarled and snapped high overhead and Mizuki felt a chill. Was that thing going to crush all of Yamai-no-Zenju?! Miost likely, the town's location, rather than the actual buildings, was what allowed this place to serve as a spiritual hub around the Jukai Forest. Knocking down buildings that humans had worked hard to build, that was just collatoral.
Mizuki scraped together the last of her Fiora sword's enchantment.
Smoke curled from the rafter as Mizuki squirmed into position to press her blade against the wood. She coughed and her eyes stung, but she kept it up, gradually cutting through the rafter with whatever mana she had left. She felt a thrill of panic as the enchantment dimmed nearly to nothing, its arcane hum nearly silent and sputtering. Not yet!
All the while, Mizuki heard the metallic, awkward footsteps of Phyrexian warriors making their way toward her, and she held her breath, willing her short sword to hurry the hell up!
The rafter split into with a shower of sparks and smoke.
Mizuki immediately wrenched herself free and got to her feet. She held up her sword to a defensive position, its enchantment 100% drained. Only the mundane steel blade separated her from the oily, cyborg humans, kitsune, and a few ogres that shuffled toward her.
A strong hand clamped on her shoulder and spun her around.
"Forget them!" Higure hissed, his eyes stern through his cowl's eye slit. "We are close now! Help me carry the box."
Azrael joined them, and they all helped the tiring Higure carry the box of fireworks to Akuta-Ne's clawed feet. The demon took a step back and threw down another open-palm attack to crush them.
This time, Higure not only avoided the blunt attack, but he stepped onto the back of Akuta-Ne's hand. Mizuki and Azrael joined him, and the three of them fearlessly ran up Akuta-Ne's thick arm, the box heavy between the three of them.
Mizuki grimaced at the noxious vapors that composed Akuta-Ne's breath, but she didn't dare stop. She stood with Higure and Azarel on its shoulder, but even now, she saw Akuta-Ne's other arm come around to swat them off.
"No!" Azrael threw a punch, and his blue-black-red mana jet knocked away Akuta-Ne's hand for a few precious seconds. Then Azrael sank to his knees, and he nearly fell off until Mizuki took his hand to steady him.
"I can take it from here." Higure grunted in effort and held the fireworks under his arm, pried open the lid, and used a match from his utility belt. The fireworks started sizzling.
The ninja leaped and hung onto Akuta-Ne's lower jaw with his free hand, and with a colossal effort, heaved the box of live fireworks down the demon's oily throat.
Akuta-Ne impuslively swallowed the box as Higure leaped down and rolled to a halt on a rooftop. Following his head, Mizuki took Azrael's hand and helped him join Higure, the two of them landing heavily by Higure's side.
Then the box went off.
Akuta-Ne howled and stumbled back as its chest expanded and glowed red from the rapid explosions inside. Flame and colorful sparks issued from its mouth, and the demon coughed and scrabbled at its throat.
"Did we kill it?" Mizuki blurted.
Akuta-Ne yowled in agony, its chest charring from the continuing firework explosions. Then, with its body smoking, it bowed its head and scampered off. Which was saying a lot, given its size. The great obsidian-skinned beast paid no attention to what it stepped on as it sprinted away, still coughing and hacking.
"Where... is it going?" Azrael asked tightly.
"I cannot say." Higure shook his head. "I had hoped to kill it. I suppose that driving it away from Yamai-no-Zenju is victory enough for today."
The samurai probably shared that sentiment. Without Akuta-Ne to support them, the Phyrexians' fighting prowess dipped. Even they were vulnerable to morale losses, it seemed, and tai-cho Kokuda's men and the budoka monks finally finished the last of them.
Tentatively, Mizuki, Higure, and Azrael joined the tai-cho in the town square, surrounded by injured samurai. The whole town square glowed with pulsing green light as the samurai and monks healed themselves with green mana. The few present kami lent their own mana, sealing the worst injuries smoothly.
"I'll be damned," the gray-haired tai-cho said as he removed his helmet, showing his top-knot. Gratitude flickered in his steely eyes. "Never thought I'd see Akuta-Ne, the Iron Skin scamper off like a beaten cur."
"Every problem has a solution," Higure said staunchly. "A twist of thought is what's needed to find it."
"Ninjas..." one samurai muttered.
Tai-cho Kokuda held up a gloved hand for silence. "This has been a well-earned victory, and a grim reminder of what's at stake. Yamai-no-Zenju may find itself under siege again soon, or failing that, another place. These 'Phyrexians', as some call them, are more tancious than an ogre in a blood feud."
"Wh-what about Yashido?" Mizuki asked breathlessly.
"We're scouting the area now for a damage report," tai-sa Kokuda said. "Stay here, and we'll lend you our healing magic."
Mizuki, Azrael, and Higure were still exhausted half an hour later, but at least all their injuries were mended, most of all Higure's shin bone. Lady Ayano joined them and threw her arms around Higure in a tight hug.
"I saw Akuta-Ne suffering from the fireworks, and I knew that only you would devise such a clever solution," the noble girl said fondly.
Higure patted Ayano's back. "Of course."
Tai-sa Kokuda's scouts came back and confirmed the death of tai-cho Yashido and his men. Overall, only twenty-four samurai, and the three budoka monks and their kami partners, were still alive. Forty-five samurai had launched the counter-attack to save Yamai-no-Zenju. Only these were left.
But they were veterans of the Phyrexians, too.
Tai-sa Kokuda thumped a fist to his heart. He put his horned helmet back on. "Lady Ayano, you may tell daimyo Hiroshi Kirinji that the forest's defenders are sworn to his cause. The Phyrexians dared to attempt conquering the Jukai Forest! They will regret that."
Ayano beamed. "Thank you, tai-sa."
Higure glanced at Ayano. "Perhaps I should stay and -"
Ayano shook her head. "I'm fine, Higure. You deserve some rest. Go back to the clan's castle and help my father and Osamu better prepare their defenses against Akuta-Ne and other Phyrexian leaders. I'm sure that tai-sa Kokuda here will appreciate my father's help."
Higure nodded, then held two fingers up to his face to concentrate his blue mana. In a puff of blue mana, he was gone.
"He can teleport?" Mizuki asked.
"Only among fixed points," Ayano explained. "The Kirinji clan's castle, plus wherever I activate my scroll. But my scroll will need time to recharge."
"Higure did a lot for us. Now we should find our own way to counter the Phyrexians," Azrael said doggedly. "Ayano, your father's coalition is growing large, and must have many scouts. Perhaps they've found -"
"We're all exhausted," tai-sa Kokuda said. "Give it until tomorrow, red-haired stranger -"
"Azrael," the man explained.
"Azrael," Kokuda said. "Exhausting ourselves through haste will not save Kamigawa. Lady Ayano knows best. My men will sweep the forest's fronteir for any Phyrexian stragglers, then rendezvous with the Kirinji clan's coalition at large. There's a town further down the road, probably beneath the Phyrexians' notice. Take the time to rest."
"Yeah, Azrael," Mizuki said with a grin, still giddy from the tentative victory. "Time to visit another ryokan inn! I know how much you love them..."
Ayano giggled as Azrael sighed.
"Then let's get going," Azrael said with a shrug.
Mizuki felt ominous thoughts threaten to re-emerge in her mind, and she pushed them away for now. They had won. She'd save the dread of the Phyrexians for tomorrow.