"It has already closed."
Valentine throws the bloodstained cloth aside, her eyes examining the wound Onigawa left on your chest. It is a testament to the strength of the aura Weiss has gifted you with, that you can recover so swiftly from injuries that would take weeks if not months otherwise to heal.
Just as well, you'll have to fight again soon and against foes much deadlier than Onigawa.
As Valentine turns around to fetch a set of clean bandages from her medical bag, you turn your gaze from her shapely body to the armor-clad form of Morena standing by the door. Aside from Valentine and yourself, Morena and Blake are the only other ones currently inside the room. Blake is currently crouched behind the chair you are seated on, glaring at the shek woman with hostility. It is only your fingers idly threading through her silky hair that keeps her calm and tame.
"Morena, report," you order.
"Mercenaries did as you commanded," she states. "They've barricaded the main entrance and put someone with a crossbow on all the windows. All servants have been armed as well."
You nod.
Honestly, you didn't expect the mercenaries to fall in line so easily yet it seems they are smart enough to understand that their only chance of survival lies with you. That said you have no illusions about their reliability as any one of them would sell everyone else out if presented with a chance to save themselves.
Though at the very least, mercenaries know how to fight. Servants, on the other hand, are just fodder. Many of them barely even know how to hold a weapon let alone fight. As it is they are just extra bodies to be thrown at the enemy.
But, you need every single hand capable of holding a weapon armed and ready.
You lean forward to allow Valentine to wrap fresh bandages around your chest. The blue-haired medic works swiftly and it takes only a couple of seconds before she is finished.
"All done," she says, allowing you to lean back.
"Thanks," you say before turning your thoughts back again to your current situation. "We need to break out, find out where Weiss is and rescue her."
"What makes you so sure that she is still alive?" Valentine asks.
You clench your fist, the idea of Weiss dying picking at an old wound in your heart, a wound that runs deep. You do your best to strangle that sliver of doubt and fear, unwilling to distract yourself with such possibilities. Instead, you muster all your confidence and tell her, "I know she is still alive."
Much to your relief, Valentine does not challenge your words.
You eye the two merc leaders before you.
Three of you are seated around a small wooden table in the dining hall. Jezka looks rather calm and carefree as she lounges on her chair with a bottle of wine she has probably liberated from the manor's own stock. Noff in comparison is haggard and grim, with a look on his face you have seen on prisoners slated for execution who have accepted their own deaths.
"Where is Markov?" you ask.
Jezka scoffs. "Dead."
"We're breaking out once the night falls," you tell the two without missing a beat.
"Wouldn't it be better to hole up?" Noff asks, sounding tired. "We've enough food and the manor is easy to defend."
"No. Staying here will only delay death." Not to mention you have zero intention leave Weiss in the hands of whoever orchestrated this whole thing any longer than necessary.
Jezka takes a swig from the bottle in her hands. "I don't want to die like trapped rats either. But it won't be easy to break through the blockade the samurai set up. They outnumber us ten to one and have multiple squads of bowmen watching the building."
"Get your men to fashion shields out of the wooden furniture."
"That might work on approach but we will still be outnumbered in melee," Noff comments.
You shrug. "I'll lead the charge. You and your men only need to keep up."
"Cocky bastard," Jezka says before taking another swig from her bottle. After swallowing she turns to you again. "So after we break through the encirclement, then what?"
"We fight our way to the nearest city gate," you tell her as if that wasn't obvious.
"And after that?" she asks.
"We go our separate ways."
And with that, you leave the table.
As far as you are concerned, mercenaries don't need to know your plans beyond getting out of this damned city. Though all in all, the plan itself is pretty simple. You need to secure Blake's safety first. Then you have to find out where Weiss is and rescue her.
After that… Well, you'll cross that bridge once you have Weiss back, safe and sound.
In the next following hours, you try to organize the servants and prepare them for the coming bloodshed in hopes that they don't scatter and run the moment killing starts. You teach them the bare basics of combat, give out advice, and share some words of encouragement.
With only an hour left before the breakout attempt, you head to the basement to check on Valentine and see if she made progress on the special task you gave her.
You find her in the process of cleaning her tools.
She stands before a wooden crate on which you spot several bloodied scalpels. As you watch, she picks one of them The white surgical apron she wears has been stained red with blood. Behind her stands a large wooden table of the same make as the ones in the dining hall and on it lies the body of the ninja you took prisoner, strapped to the table's surface with thick ropes.
Blood oozes from the many cuts, each one surgically precise, covering the prisoner's body, dripping down between the wooden planks that make the table's surface and into a pool that has grown large enough that there is no way the man to be still alive.
"What have you learned?"
"Not much," Valentine answers without looking at you. "All I could get from him is that they are sent by imperial decree to kill you."
"Me?" you question, caught off-guard by her answer.
"You," she confirms as she wipes the last of her tools, a scalpel, with a piece of cloth that smells sharply of antiseptics before placing it in a holster inside her bag. Then she glances at you over her shoulder and says, "It seems the word of your accomplishments has spread to the ears of the nobles."
You take a moment to digest that and then another to gather your courage to ask the one question that has been eating at you. "Anything about Weiss?"
"He wasn't told much," Valentine tells you as she closes her bag. Affixing it to her belt she then turns to face you. "Only that she has to be taken alive."
Despite the current situation you are in and the dangerous odds you are about to face, you breathe a lot easier after hearing that.
Weiss is still alive.
That means you can save her…
And you will save her, whatever it takes.
It's the middle of the night yet as you step out from the entrance to the manor, you find no cover from darkness.
There are many torches placed among the barricades erected by the samurai yet it is not their paltry light that robs you of a such crucial advantage but the two spotlights installed on nearby buildings. The two electric-powered suns cast their gazes on you as you take your second step, bathing you in their blinding light.
"HALT!" you hear someone shout from ahead. "THROW DOWN YOUR WEAPON AND SURRENDER!"
You see a squad of conscripts standing at the barricades, all armed with polearms. At their back are archers, their crossbows already leveled at you. The speaker is a samurai, an elite by the look of his armor.
"THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING! SURRENDER OR DIE!"
You feel the eyes of every single soldier manning the surrounding barricades watching you, waiting for your response. For a minute, there is only silence in the air.
Then you finish counting, and the spotlights targeting you are blinded by simultaneous shots barely a moment later.
By the time the samurai open fire, you have already begun moving.
To give imperials their due, they respond swiftly.
Yet they also make a mistake by shooting at you immediately without waiting for you to close the range first. As such their first volley is very inaccurate with half the bolts missing you by a mile. The ones that strike you bounce off your armor or are deflected by your cloak. Only one lucky bolt manages to punch through a weakened part of your plate armor but loses most of its momentum in the process.
You idly note that they are using rangers and toothpicks which you know are terrible against heavy armor. Whoever is in command has definitely underestimated you, another mistake that you are happy to benefit from.
As you near the barricades, dozens of crossbows launch the bolts loaded into them in unison once again. Yet, this time none of them land near you. Instead, you hear the sound of crossbow bolts striking hardwood mixed in with a scream of pain. It seems the officer in charge of the crossbow squads has decided that you are the lesser threat.
And you are very eager to educate him on the gravity of that last mistake.
A squad of conscripts armed with simple polearms bar the path through barricades. They lower their weapons, forming a haphazard and sloppy spear wall.
You step through the gaps between their weapons with ease and by the time they react, it is already too late.
They are within your blade's reach.
You carve open the first one's ribcage, slicing through the shoddy breastplate he wears. Next one, you split open from hip to shoulder. The third one manages to avoid death by a hair's breadth as he scrambles backward in fear, your nodachi simply leaving a shallow cut on his chest.
One of his braver comrades tries to spear your side. You bat aside his weapon and slash his leg with one stroke. The remaining conscripts all thrust their weapons at you in an attempt to take advantage of a perceived opening.
Three of them drop dead the next moment, your sword having carved a red line through. The fourth one keeps his life only by virtue of being the slowest one among his squad, being only half a step behind others when you swung your sword.
He stares at you in shock before his eyes go to the bodies of his comrades. Then he throws down his weapon and runs, clutching at the shallow wound you dealt him.
He doesn't get far.
The last conscript escapes towards the squad of samurai waiting at the second line. He must have thought that he would be safe once he reached them.
The poor man doesn't even get a warning before the sharp edge of a katana suddenly slices his throat open.
Eyes wide open, he stares at his killer in shock. His hand goes to his throat and becomes covered by his own lifeblood pouring out rapidly from the fatal wound. His mouth opens yet instead of words, blood is all that comes out.
A moment later, the conscript's strength fails him. His legs give out, forcing him first to his knees, then to the ground all the while he desperately struggles to breathe as he chokes on his own blood.
"Cowardly trash!" The samurai sneers at the dying man before joining the rest of his comrades who all step forward to face you.
You stare at the samurai squad blocking your path. Five-man strong, armed, and armored with the United Cities standard. They hold themselves with confidence and pride yet in actuality, they are little better than the conscripts they disdain.
"Not a single step more, ronin," the sergeant leading the group calls out. "You might have won against the chaff, but you face imperial samurai now."
If it was any other time, you would have found their arrogance amusing. Except now, Weiss is missing and the few people that you care about are all in danger.
And for those that stand in your path, you feel nothing but a desire to kill.
That desire is given physical form in your next action as you take another step and bring yourself into the range of the enemy's own blades. Two of your opponents are fast on the draw and they aim their strikes so that dodging one would drive you into the path of the other.
For a moment, you are reminded of the times you fought alongside Jin. You remember the times two of you used that same tactic to deadly success.
Unfortunately for the two samurai before you, their strikes are just too feeble and slow. One of the swords misses you completely while the other simply grazes your side as you take your second step, your nodachi pulled back for a sweeping strike.
Then the next instant, you swing…
And MAIM all the foes standing before you.
Against your blade, the armor the samurai wear is like paper instead of iron. Your sword carves a singular path through their bodies, slicing through their limbs and torso with ease. It's as if you are cutting paper dolls instead of men.
Except, paper dolls don't scream.
They don't step back in fear and reel from the pain.
They don't bleed.
And they don't stare at you with eyes filled with terror, finding their own death staring back at them.
You draw your sword back into position, the blade completely painted red with blood.
Yet, there remains no need for a second swing. Of the five men who opposed you, two of them immediately turn tail and run. Another follows after them, hobbling on a maimed foot.
The fourth member of the samurai squad has fallen to the ground. He screams in pain, clutching his maimed leg. Your strike has cut deep enough to sever the femoral artery on his leg and you guess that he has a minute, two at most, before he bleeds out.
The sergeant leading the squad lies face down in a growing pool of his own blood, still and silent.
You walk past the two dying men and towards the last obstacle standing in your path, a squad of elite samurai who have watched you dispatch their comrades in a single swing. They all drew their weapons at your approach, yet you can see their fear. It is written in their postures and the way they refuse to step forward to meet you as their comrades did.
As you near them, one of your foes' grip on his weapon starts shaking. Another takes a step backward, unwilling to let the distance between you and him be reduced any further.
Noticing this, their captain harshly barks at them, "Steady yourselves! A true samurai doesn't flinch from a foe!"
A true samurai… To set any such standard for United Cities' warrior caste is ignorant and foolish as there is a very big variance in skill, courage, and discipline among the warrior caste of the Empire. Especially the so-called "elite" of the samurai who are all recruited from the ranks of mercenaries and sellswords.
And as the captain shortly finds out, such people do not care about the ideals of a true samurai.
You lunge at the Captain, sword pointed at her chest.
Among her squad, she is the one that stands out the most. She has the posture and the feel of a veteran warrior. As such, you designate her as the biggest threat and move to kill her first.
She tries to deflect your blade but you simply turn the motion into a slash aimed at her opposite side. Your sword rends through the plate but fails to cut through the chain vest your foe wears under it. Your follow-up strike catches the captain before she can recover her footing and manages to pierce through all the layers of armor, scoring a deep but non-fatal cut on her side.
Her subordinate intercedes before you can deal the killing blow, attacking with a ferocity that catches you off-guard. Taking advantage of the opening, the captain also thrusts her sword, aiming it at your throat. Her timing and angle are precise enough that you are forced to take the blow from her subordinate in order to deflect the more lethal strike.
Then the two immediately step back, your retaliation strike missing them by a hair's breadth.
It is then the captain becomes aware of the fact that her other two subordinates have not moved in to engage you. She glances over her shoulder at the two.
"FIGHT, YOU COWARDS!" she screams at them.
The two samurai look at their commanding officer, then at you before turning their gazes back to her again. One of them responds, "FUCK THAT!" and then two of them turn around and beat a hasty retreat, leaving their captain and the other comrade to deal with you alone.
The captain barely gets a chance to curse at the fleeing duo before you lunge at her once again. To his credit, her remaining subordinate does his best to cover her but it is not enough. You power through his attempted interception and plunge your sword deep into his superior's guts.
Through the slits in her helm, you see the eyes of the captain widen in shock while his remaining subordinate shouts in dismay. You twist your blade and rip it free just in time to block to downward slash from the furious samurai, leaving the captain to fall.
You and the last samurai exchange blows. Driven by anger, your foe tries to batter your guard down with a flurry of strikes. But the difference in strength between the two of you is too great for such a tactic to work, and you parry and deflect each strike and return it twofold.
Pain seems to return some measure of clarity back into the man facing you. And that clarity allows him to notice that his captain has fallen silent and still. He turns to look at her corpse, giving you an opening for a killing blow…
You don't take it.
"I…" your foe tries to speak but the words themselves seem to get stuck in his throat.
You let out a sigh. "Just take her body and leave."
The man nods before throwing down his sword and rushing to the side of his fallen captain. He swiftly gathers her in his arms and carries her off the battlefield.
And like that, the way out of the encirclement is left open.
The group of mercenaries and the servants catch up to you a few seconds later.
Past them, along the lines of wooden barricades encircling the mansion, you can see multiple squads of samurai and conscripts moving toward the breach you have created. Yet, they are simply too far away to reach you in time.
Already, the people under your command have begun throwing down their makeshift shields and charging through the path that leads to the main road. By the time the samurai squads from the other sides arrive, you will be halfway to the southern gate.
That said, you have no doubt they along with every other samurai in the city will give chase, expecting the gate garrison to hold you off long enough.
They will simply be wasting their breaths.
"Master!" Morena calls out to you. As she approaches, Blake darts out from her side and immediately glues herself to yours. You let out a sigh in relief at seeing the two unhurt and give Blake a scratch behind her ear. Val is nowhere to be seen but by this point, you have come to know that is simply how she operates and you have full faith in her and her capabilities.
She can take care of herself. Protecting Blake and Morena is your main concern at the moment.
"Let's go," you say to them.
Then the three of you join the escaping mercenaries.
Even with Morena slowing you down, you are able to keep pace with the main group.
Alarms have been ringing all over the city for a while yet your group hasn't encountered any samurai. You would bet every single cat you possess on the samurai response being slowed by the incompetence endemic to the imperial military. As it is, the cannibals residing in the ruins of Deadcat had been swifter in their response compared to the samurai of Sho-battai.
Just as well, if someone actually competent had been in charge, breaking through the encirclement wouldn't have been so easy.
"THE GATES! WE ARE ALMOST THERE!" comes a shout from the front
Indeed, you can see the massive gatehouse up ahead. The metal portcullis is down, blocking the way out of the city and the samurai below are in the process of retreating up the walls. It is clear they intend to defend the gatehouse from above rather than facing you on open ground.
A smart decision.
City walls are wide enough for only two people to stand side by side. Any numbers advantage the mercenaries have would be nullified when fighting atop them, allowing the gate garrison to stall until the rest of the samurai in the city fall upon your group's rear.
You have zero intention of allowing that.
"Blake, stick with Morena," you tell the catgirl at your side. Her face scrunches up, her dislike for the shek surfacing but you don't have the time to argue with her. "I want you two to wait below. As soon as the portcullis is raised, leave."
Morena nods and you turn your attention back to the front.
There are sixty to seventy meters left between you and the gate by your estimates. Breaking into a sprint, you swiftly overtake the rest of the group. The plan is the same as before…
Get to the gatehouse, kill everyone on top, raise the portcullis, and then leave.
You grunt as a crossbow bolt strikes you in the shoulder followed by another that hits you in the chest. Both of the bolts punch through the armor only to be halted by your aura which saves your flesh from their sharpened tips.
Without missing a step or stumbling, you continue your run.
Looking up, you see four of the samurai stationed on top of the gate hurriedly trying to reload their crossbows. By the time they finish, you are already at the foot of the ramp that leads up the walls.
You swiftly scale it and climb atop the city walls, coming to face a samurai squad of seven. Their sergeant, a Greenlander woman, steps forth and points her sword at you in an open challenge.
"Ronin, you shall not pass these gates!"
The tip of your sword lowers as you stare at those hazel-colored eyes, set in a face framed by messy bangs with the color of straw… A face that is very familiar to you.
"Zena?"
The woman's eyes widen in shock as she recognizes your voice. Taking your left hand off the hilt of your blade, you bring it up to your helmet and remove its faceplate.
"C-captain?"
You hang the faceplate on your belt, your sword no longer pointed at the samurai standing before you. The men in question give you and their sergeant confused looks, but their stances remain firm and they stand ready for combat to your silent approval.
Your former junior seems to have trained her men well.
"It's been a long time, Zena." Despite your current circumstances, you can't help but smile at the sight of the girl staring at you in utter disbelief.
"C-captain… What are you doing here?" Zena asks you after finally gathering her wits. Then her gaze hardens. "Are you the ronin leading the insurrectionists?"
You can't help but shake your head at that before you respond to her with derision clear in your voice, "Insurrectionists? Is that what they told you?"
At her nod, you let out a snort before turning toward the city. The others have reached the gates only to come to a stop upon seeing you talking with the samurai. With your free hand, you gesture at them.
"There is no insurrection here, Zena. It's the nobles, playing their fucking games," you tell her.
She looks at the group gathered below the gates, a mix of armed mercenaries and the servants from Weiss's manor. Then she turns back to you.
"We were told that a treasonous noble attempted a coup."
You scoff. " She did no such thing."
"Captain, you-"
That is when you notice. In the distance, behind the set of buildings blocking the horizon, you see a glow coming from multiple directions. 'Torches' you realize, which means that your pursuers are closing in.
"I'd love to explain everything," you cut her off. A note of urgency creeps into your tone as you continue, "But we don't have the time. I need this gate opened right now or else a lot of people are going to die."
For a moment, Zena stares at you silently.
You are aware that what you are asking from her is a great sacrifice. If she allows you passage, it would be a betrayal of her duty as a samurai. She would become a fugitive, a deserter, in the Empire, and from that point on if she is ever caught, she would either be sold into slavery or executed.
The fact that you are asking her for so much makes you ashamed… But it is better than having to fight her for as things stand, you are not sure you would able to subdue her non-lethally in time.
Fortunately for you, the bonds of camaraderie and trust between a student and her mentor prevail.
"Men, open the gates," Zena commands.
The samurai under her command, however, prove hesitant.
"Sergeant," one of the samurai speak up. "If we do that, we would all be tried and executed as traitors."
"Not if you were betrayed by me and knocked out."
"S-sergeant-"
"It's either an involuntary nap or desertion."
In the end, all six of them choose to take a nap. You and Zena swiftly oblige them before raising the portcullis for the crowd waiting below. As the servants and mercenaries start to leave, Valentine joins you on the wall and you put your hand on top of the hilt of Zena's sword just in time to prevent her from drawing it.
"Get going," Valentine orders you, ignoring Zena's presence entirely, before stepping up to the mechanism that controls the gate. "I'll set up a little surprise for our pursuers then be right behind you."
You nod and head to the ramp with Zena in tow. You meet up with Morena and Blake below and soon after Valentine rejoins you. The five of you are the last ones to leave the city. Not long after you hear an explosion and the sound of iron chains snapping coming from atop the gate followed by a thunderous impact as the portcullis falls back down, closing the exit behind you.
After one last glance back, you begin your trek towards the dunes of the Great Desert.