107

 

107.  Sneer of the Spear

 

In mid-air, Ravi delivered a lightning-fast kick into Shimada Kai's stomach, causing him to shrink back. Aura pulsating, he sprouted brightly-colored, feathered wings from his sides, then popped a monkey's tail out from his behind and whipped it around toward his foe.

 

Ravi spun around as best as she could in the air, but the tail still slid nicely around her body, rendering her immobile. As the two continued to fall, she decided to flex her aura and simply burst through the tail instead.

 

"Muladhara...I release you!" the woman shouted, then spun Shimada around at the last moment and made him take the brunt of the fall.

 

"Yeowch! That hurt." Shimada said, lifting his bloody face out of the ground with a smile. "Not that I would expect anything less from a fellow A-class..."

 

Ravi dug her knees into Shimada's back and put her hands around his neck. "What do you

 

*************

 

mean, B-class?" Kamo asked.

 

"Psynergy is ranked B on a scale of E to SSS," Tani Sanjuro answered, while fiddling with what looked like a digital watch attached to his forearm. "According to my calculations, you are a B-class, while your two companions here are C-classes."

 

Caleb raised an eyebrow at the man's odd diagnosis. "You're measuring our auras?"

 

"I wouldn't expect you barbarians to completely understand the high-level technology we've developed in Neo-Edo," the mustachioed man continued, sneering all the way. "But I'll try to explain it in simple terms. This machine on my arm can calculate the current density of a target's aura. Through this, the strong can be adequately separated from the weak."

 

Kamo laughed. "And let me guess, you're, what? An SSS-class?"

 

"Preposterous." Tani scoffed. "An aura with that much psynergy would be capable of destroying worlds. No SSS-class exists in our databases, as far as I know. I, however, am an A-class, which means the three of you are no match for me."

 

"We'll see about that." The dreadlocked archer stepped forward with a smirk. "The weakest pup always barks the loudest."

 

"Wait, Captain," Caleb said, as he moved up. "Let me take him."

"Why?" Sabine spoke up from the side. "So you can waste time and run away again when the going gets tough?"

Caleb grit his teeth in embarrassment, but failed to respond. Since his defeat at the tournament, and the tragic aftermath, Sabine had been taking every opportunity to make sure he never forgot what happened.

 

Sabine snorted as she watched Caleb balk, then pushed in front of both her allies. "He's mine."

"A woman?!" the Yamatoan scoffed. "Yes, I suppose there is purpose in offing the weakest first."

 

Kamo furrowed his brow. "You know, I'd usually argue, but honestly...I'd love to see you make mincemeat outta this guy."

 

"Thank you," Sabine said with a malicious smile, as she placed her hand on the hilt of her rapier and stepped forward. "I'm glad we feel the same way."

 

The lithe woman was almost the same height as the armored man, and her eyes burned with irritation. Tani inched his fingers toward the spear on his back, slid his left foot backwards and pointed its toes to the side. Right foot firmly planted in the ground, he raised the spear above his head, dexterously balancing it with both hands. Although Sabine wasn't very familiar with spearmanship, it was easy to see that Tani was a trained professional.

 

"Such a tiny sword..." Tani shook his head. "I have a feeling I'm going to remember this battle, regardless of its length."

 

"Shut the fuck up," Sabine spat, then ripped her rapier out from its sheath and leapt toward the man.

 

Tani swung his long spear around and parried Sabine's thrust with so much force that it blew her backwards. If the woman had blinked, she would have missed Tani dashing around to take advantage of her left side, which was currently wide open.

 

Sabine desperately brought her rapier up as the hulking swordsman swiped at her. She blocked the blow just in time and was knocked away, but Sabine purposefully allowed the force to knock her away. After soaring backwards, she kicked off the side of a tree and flipped into the air. High above her foe, Sabine fired out two lime-colored psynergy blasts from her hands.

 

Tani only had to flex his own aura to block the weak orbs, but soon realized that Sabine had fired the psynergy not to damage him, but to change her own trajectory.

 

"You really think keeping your distance from me is a good idea?" Tani laughed, then raised his left arm and summoned up a handful of sharp, tin-colored psynergy.

 

"Wagiri!"

 

The 7th Captain of the Shinsengumi chopped his palm down and released a tall, paper-thin slash of psynergy. It sliced forward through the earth, cleaving dirt and everything else it touched as it continued through the forest.

 

Caleb's eyes were pulled from Sabine's acrobatics for the first time as he watched Tani's psynergy chop through the earth. He bit down on his lip as he turned his eyes back to Sabine, who still looked confident as she darted around her opponent.

 

"I can keep this up all day if you like!" Tani twirled his spear acrobatically and shot out swipe after swipe of blade-like psynergy, causing trees to fall one after another as the forest was sheared.

 

Sabine dodged the flying wood with ease, but Tani wasted no time in chasing her down. Soon, she was backed up against a mound of leaf and pine, and had no choice but to tighten her guard as the distance between the two of them disappeared. Tani was powerful, but Sabine showed no fear.

 

A cloud of splinters exploded in Sabine's face as Tani slammed his spear down on Sabine's rapier. It was heavy, but the young woman pumped psynergy through her taut muscles and stood her ground.

 

"Nice effort..." Tani smirked through gritted teeth as he pushed harder.  "But giving you any more hope of winning would just be too cruel."

 

Suddenly, the side of Tani's spear transformed into a sharp blade and sliced straight through Sabine's rapier. The strange weapon had already cut into the woman's flesh before her broken sword fell to the ground, along with a wide splatter of

 

*************

 

black blood exploded across the plains as the Royal Guard engaged the yokai. On the front lines, a rampaging ogre swung its spiked club and mauled three men right where they stood. Not more than a second later, a claw carved out of stone exploded through the beast's skull from behind. A royal guardsman pulled back the claw by its chain and wasted no time in turning to another foe.

 

It was an all-out-war, and Reijiro was right in the thick of it. He slayed his foes one after another with the Onikoroshi, a steel katana passed down through generations in the Onizawa house.

 

Nothing could stop him. The moment he saw the beasts, he had transformed himself into a mindless killing machine. He relished the hot warmth of his enemies' blood as he went through the steps of his dance of death, numb to every nick and scratch.

 

Oni... Reijiro thought, as he gutted another of the beasts. I remember seeing these ogres in the picture scrolls my father sent to me. They're grunts...the foot soldiers of the netherworld.

 

The bloodshed continued, and soon Reijiro found himself surrounded by his more and more of his comrades. Azuka's team of Yamatoan women supported them from the hills, sniping the ogres that managed to break through. Some of them fired psynergy-laced arrows, while others simply rained down psynergy blasts. One of the oldest women of the group, Ota Tomoyo, knelt on the ground and held a giant bow made out of light blue psynergy. She had very short hair and broad shoulders, and her younger sister Hanayo stood next to her, steadying her body while she crafted a massive psynergy arrow. When Tomoyo let the massive arrow go, it flew through an entire line of oni, devastating them.

 

In time, the demons were no more. There had been a number of casualties, but they had decimated the horde in a matter of minutes.

 

The men threw down their weapons and started celebrating. They raised their arms up into the sky and screamed triumphantly. Reijiro, however, was focused on the forest at the other end of the field.

 

Azuka watched it all from the edge of a cliff with her ten chosen. "Don't let your guard down!" she called out. "Deliver medical assistance to the downed and the injured. All who are able-bodied must march into the Akeogi Forest to aid the others!"

 

The men had just begun to crowd together when a bloodcurdling scream erupted from the left side of the mob. One by one, bodies began to crumple, and Azuka could see nothing but splashes of viscera in the mass of kimono.

 

Reijiro desperately tried to push through his allies to see what was happening. Within seconds, the crowd dissipated – some men fleeing for their lives, and others too slashed up to move. Reijiro looked around frantically for the invisible assassin, and found nothing but the exploding guts of his friends.

 

Then, in the back of his mind, he felt it. Blipping in and out, soft and barely noticeable, was a dim, ghostly aura. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate, only to find it drawing ever closer.

 

With all the bodies and blood flying about, it was almost impossible for Reijiro to tell what was going on. The only thing he could grasp was that the combo of murders had slowly shifted from the left side of the battlefield to the right, drawing unnervingly close to their camp, where many of the wounded men had already taken refuge.

 

Reijiro watched in dumbfounded amazement as the heads of three men went flying into the air within seconds of each other. After such a clean victory, how can this be possible? Are the gods of nature angry with us?

 

Then, he saw it. To his immediate left, standing face to face with him, was Shimabukuro Koki, a stout young man who had joined the Royal Guard two years ago. His knees shook, and whimpers of fear and disbelief escaped his quivering lips. The katana he held dropped to the ground as he wrenched his pudgy neck around to stare at what had stabbed him in the back.

 

Peering out from behind Koki's shoulder was a man in a black kimono with a straw hat pulled down over his eyes. Reijiro could see no feet standing behind Kouki – the assassin was only 'there,' as if hanging, suspended in space. Slowly, the shadowy man inched his katana toward Koki's ample stomach, face devoid of emotion.

 

"No!" Reijiro ran forward as the pitch-black blade began to slash inward. "Stop!"

 

The entrails of Shimabukuro Koki splattered out onto the blood-encrusted grass, a gory spectacle glistening in the noontime sun. Koki fell forward immediately, splattering into his own guts. And as quickly as it had all happened, the murderer disappeared.

 

He's coming for me, Reijiro realized. I can feel it.

 

The leader of the Royal Guard reached for his katana and unsheathed it, only to watch as a blade shot out from in between his legs and cleanly sliced off his right wrist. Fear and pain overtook the leader's mind, and his psynergy aura exploded, desperately trying to create a last defense. The assassin's hand and sword retracted to wherever they had come from, and Reijiro merely stood there, staring at the jetstream of blood that squirted out from his severed arteries.

 

"Get down!" Azuka's voice chimed out as she dashed across the bloody field. "He's behind you!"

 

Reijiro lurched forward as quickly as he possibly could. At that moment, he thought of nothing but of Kyo, his homeland, and how he had failed to protect his people.

 

Azuka charged up her wooden blade as she watched an arm rise up from below Reijiro's bent body. Believing her aim to be true, the Empress slashed outwards. She should have cut through the killer's arm, dropping both his hand and his blade to the ground, but for some reason, it didn't happen. Instead of hitting the assailant, who had disappeared entirely, Azuka's sword slammed into Reijiro's back and knocked him to the ground.

 

Azuka swore and hastily retracted her weapon. Moments after victory, the remnants of the Royal Guard had been slain, and she had been able to do nothing.

 

To her right, the murder continued. The assassin was apparently circling his way around the encampment, and the only people left were those who had managed to run inside the main tent.

 

The Empress desperately raced toward the place of refuge. While it looked plain and unassuming, it actually hid the entrance to the caves that currently sheltered the Emperor. Thoughts of her father ran through her head.

 

She charged through the door to the hall, sending a single pillar of light into the dark space. The inside was only softly illuminated by tiny cracks where the tops of the tent met the wall panels. Deeper within, where wood met the stone of the mountain, she could hear the moans of the wounded.

 

Azuka flared up her aura as her eyes adjusted to the darkness and tried to sense out her foe. She felt a flickering. Then, deep within the shadows, she thought she saw a figure.

 

As quickly as it had appeared, it disappeared once more, then reappeared in an opposite corner of the room. The body of the assassin flickered in and out just like his aura, as if he was phasing in and out of reality.

 

"Who are you?" Azuka growled.

 

"Yamazaki Susumu." The killer's dark form reappeared directly in front of her. He was short, and barely reached the woman's chin. "Spy of the Shinsengumi."

 

The empress' wooden shinai lashed out in a split-second, but by then, the man had already retreated to the shadows.

 

"I'm Azuka Ingram," she said calmly. "Daughter of the Emperor."

 

In a flash, Yamazaki was behind Azuka, and she could feel his cold steel on her skin. "You're nothing now."

Next: To Slay the Light