108

 

108.  To Slay the Light

 

"Sabine!"

 

Caleb screamed as he watched his ally fall backwards onto the grass of the forest. Blood splurted out from her chest, and pieces of her rapier clinked to the ground. Caleb instantly reached for the trident strapped to his back, while Kamo put a knowing hand on his pupil's shoulder.

 

Shinsengumi Captain Tani Sanjuro snickered and stared down at the sprawled body of his foe. The wound had been a shallow one, thanks to Sabine's psynergy barrier, but it still had been enough to send her sprawling. "Do you know how many swords I've cleaved so far? I can turn anything into a blade – including my psynergy itself."

 

Sabine stared up listlessly. "Finished yet?"

 

Tani's face warped into a scowl. "No, as a matter of fact, I'm not, you–"

 

"I wasn't talking to you," Sabine cut in roughly. "Volundr! Are you finished yet?"

 

"Data analysis 95% complete," a digitized voice piped up from Sabine's side. "Gimme a break."

 

"Give me a break. I'm the one with a goddamn hole in my chest," Sabine grunted. "Just hurry it up, will you?"

 

"Analysis complete." Volundr responded instantly.

 

Tani Sanjuro watched the strange exchange with mild confusion, but that was all Sabine needed. A burst of breezy psynergy erupted from the woman as she returned her hilt of her broken sword to its damask sheath, and she kicked off his shins, sending herself flipping back over a fallen tree.

 

After a beat, Sabine stood and unsheathed her hilt, revealing an entirely new blade: a thin spire of metal that rose up to a point so small that it was nearly invisible to the naked eye. Sabine wielded the weapon with ease, and her confident smirk had returned to her face.

 

"How?" Tani asked. "How did you materialize a new sword out of thin air?"

 

"Only a dumbass reveals their abilities to their opponent." Sabine laughed.

 

"It's the honorable thing to do." Tani frowned. "The fair thing to do in a battle between true warriors."

 

"But this isn't a fair fight, is it?" Sabine crouched a bit as she prepared a leap. "Not a big, strong man like you against an inferior woman like me."  

 

With a blast, the two of them were off – Sabine's pin of a blade versus Tani's pillar of a spear. Caleb and Kamo watched the battle with unblinking eyes, both poised and ready to jump in at any moment.

 

Sabine darted around the trees, then spotted an opening behind the captain and sliced out toward the man's neck. Tani caught on to the woman's presence just before she struck, but couldn't avoid the attack completely. While he saved himself from being decapitated, the Shinsengumi was left with a nasty gash between his neck and shoulder, one of the few spots on his body that wasn't armored.

 

Tani Sanjuro cursed and placed a hand to his neck as Sabine retreated to the trees once more. His fury was escalating, and his aura had risen so much that it had begun to cloud his eyes.

 

With a roar, the spearman released a wave of psynergy from both hands. His power rushed through the wood, demolishing tree and flora as if he had just thrown out a hundred blades. But Sabine was much too fast, and Tani's rage only succeeded in giving the forest a closer shave.

 

"Seems like you don't wish to fight me face to face," Tani boomed. "I suppose that's to be expected...you're no man, after all. But hiding won't do you any good. I'm not a hot-blooded youth like many of my fellows. I've lived through the endless cycles of mistakes, wars, and death, and I've learned a lot from them – at least, more than all you kids think you know."

 

The 7th Shinsengumi Captain closed his eyes and searched for Sabine's aura.

 

"Yes, chasing you now would only tire me out, as would mindlessly firing blast after blast into the forest in the hope of hitting something. But all I need here is a little creativity, a little inspiration from my years of experience and wisdom. Allow me to show you."

 

Tani clapped his hands together and stretched them out, forming a rectangle of psynergy between his fingers. Then, with the flick of his wrist, the spearman opened his eyes and launched the shape in Sabine's direction.

 

In the trees, Sabine crouched and prepared to leap out of the way. As the psynergy continued on its trajectory, it sliced through the trunk of a tree, which began to glow with the vestiges of Tani's psynergy, transforming into a massive blade. The same went for every single leaf and branch it slammed into as it crashed into the forest, and sharp, glowing fragments filled the vicinity. Most of them flew off in random directions, but a few went zooming straight toward Sabine's perch.

 

Sabine merely stepped out of the way as the tiny blades went flying past, following them with her eyes. In the next moment, each piece of foliage went slicing through the leaves of another tree, adding another fluttering mess of tiny green blades to the chaos.

 

Sabine's eyes widened and she turned back around. The other pieces of tree had gone off in different directions, but they hadn't missed the many other trees that filled the dense forest. Before she knew it, Sabine was caught under a canopy of falling psynergy blades that could seemingly cut through anything. And if even one of them hit the branch that she was standing on, it too would instantly transform into a deathtrap.

 

Left without any other choice, Sabine leapt into the air and hardened her body with psynergy. With both legs and arms, she struck out at each cluster of blades, hoping to dissipate them with her own power before they could do any damage. But there were simply too many, and soon she was hit again.

 

Kamo watched as Sabine went falling into the bushes yet again. "Dammit!"

 

"This is getting too dangerous," Caleb insisted. "It's not like we can just throw her into a Regeneration Tank out here, Captain. We need to help her!"

 

"If we're always running to her aid, she'll never get any stronger," Kamo said coldly. "And it'll destroy her pride, to boot."

 

Tani heard this and scoffed. "Trust me, if she's got half a brain, she's learned her lesson by now. Better prepare yourself, darkie..." He pointed to Kamo. "You're up next."

 

Bloodied and battered, Sabine struggled

 

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

 

to stay on his feet midst the circle of corpses on the battlefield. Onizawa Reijiro was a leader, and his men had been slain. Even if it meant death, he would see the killer's head meet his blade. The stump where his right hand had once been burned, and the pain only filled his body with greater anger.

 

"Men... your sacrifices have not been in vain..."

 

Reaching his left hand down, Reijiro lightly caressed the black, gnarled hilt of the Onikoroshi. The moment his fingers touched the weapon, howls and screams erupted through his mind. His eyes flew up as wails swirled through his eardrums, filling his soul with voices of the dead.

 

Onizawa Reijiro bent inwards, gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, and prepared to unsheathe his power.

 

"Hyak–"

"Rei!"

 

Onizawa Chiaki's shrill voice burst through the death throes in her older brother's mind and yanked him back into reality. Exhausted, Reijiro collapsed into the crimson dirt.

 

"No, Rei..." Chiaki knelt down by her sibling's trembling body. "You can't. Not here!"

 

The girl spotted Reijiro's bleeding stump of an arm, but did not allow the grisly sight to shake her composure. "Chigusa," she called to one of her allies. "Find his hand and reattach it, please."

 

Yakushiji Chigusa was a petite girl with a short bob cut as sharp as the thick bangs that lay just above her thin eyebrows. She had a small, round face, and it remained calm as she skittered over the dead bodies and searched for Reijiro's missing appendage.

 

Luckily, the severed flesh had not made it far from the man's body. Chigusa recovered the arm, set it down next to Reijiro's shoulder, then sat down cross-legged in the bloody grass. She focused her small eyes on her patient and raised her hands.

 

In the next moment, a psynergy-illuminated hologram filled with multicolored blocks and shapes appeared over the man's body. Chigusa quickly flicked her fingers around the puzzle, putting everything back in order.

 

Reijiro moaned as his body was retooled. "In the hall...the empress went after him..."

 

"Let's go!" Chiaki commanded. In a flash, she was off, and other women ran down toward the tent from the cliffs. Before they could enter, it exploded.

 

The women braced themselves as wood and mud shot outwards, followed by a wave of iridescent psynergy emanating from the injured Azuka. She stood in the middle of the debris, basking in the sunlight as blood dripped out from the back of her kimono. After taking a deep breath, she turned to face the women behind her.

 

"Bastard tried to stab me..." she muttered. "I thought I got him, but..."

 

Slowly, Azuka passed her eyes over the battlefield, then looked at the entrance to the caves, now unmasked midst the debris.

 

"The emperor..." Her eyes widened. "He's after the emperor!"

 

Ignoring the shallow wound in her back as best she could, Azuka shot off toward the mouth

 

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

 

of the mountain cave disappeared behind Yamazaki Susumu as he wove through the darkness.

 

Since when does the emperor have a daughter?

 

Yamazaki was a professional, and he never failed. Before he took on a mission, he always made preparations and did the necessary research to ensure the highest rate of success, so the foreign woman's words had thrown him off a great deal. He was so shaken, in fact, that his hand had flinched when he moved to plunge his blade into her spine. She had chosen that moment to demonstrate her staggering power, which certainly made her strange declaration seem more convincing.

 

She'd caused him to flee, and she was behind him now, burning brightly. But Yamazaki could sense the presence of the emperor ahead of him, glowing with equal radiance. His distinct, iridescent aura was precisely why the emperor's line had come to be known as the Exalted Light.

 

As he raced toward his goal, the spy recalled his last meeting with his superior: the Vice Commander of the Shinsengumi, Hijikata Toshizo.

 

As usual, Yamazaki had just finished his patrol around the city and had gone to report his findings to the man. Shieikan, the Shinsengumi headquarters, was built like a maze, with dozens of nondescript corridors colored in only white and brown, coupled with unlabeled doors and dead ends. Obviously, this was meant to deter intruders, but it also kept low-level troops out from where their noses didn't belong. Captains were required to know the layout by heart, and as of now, Yamazaki could navigate the entire citadel with his eyes closed.

 

Vice Commander Hijikata was a tall, handsome man. Whenever he walked, whether it was within the headquarters or the streets of Neo-Edo, his path was always clear. No man, not even Commander Kondo Isami, dared to stand in the vice's way. While the commander was the official leader of the group, most knew it was Hijikata who dictated the army's true path. Kondo decreed the orders, but Hijikata was the one who crafted them. He was a master at delegating and organization, had drafted the entire system that now protected Neo-Edo, the new capital of Yamato, and made sure every soldier always had a job to do.

 

Hijikata never moved to others' quarters – they came to his. So before departing for his mission, Yamazaki had traveled into Hijikata's dim chamber to speak with him briefly.

 

"It's Yamazaki. I've finished my patrol, sir."

 

"Come in," a deep voice murmured.

 

The spy got on his knees, slid himself inside, then shut the screen quietly. There was little light inside, but this was no problem for either of the parties present.

 

"Tomorrow," the vice began, "an army will be deployed from Kyo to pursue the fleeing emperor and the remains of the Royal Guard."

 

"I hear the old capital has been fully subjugated."

 

"Entirely. I am instilling Tani in charge of the assault on the Royal Guard, as he's the least reliable of the captains stationed there." The vice abruptly changed the subject. "Let me ask you something, Yamazaki. What do you think about our government at this moment? About Koga, about the emperor? Answer me honestly."

 

Despite hearing that, Yamazaki knew he still had to choose his words wisely. "I think just like any other man of the Shinsengumi, sir. The royal family's special status is archaic, and no longer vital to the service of the new regime. We asked them to merely cooperate with us, and they rebelled, lusting for their previous period of dominance. And since it is the job of the Shinsengumi to keep order, that makes them our enemies now. It's all for the greater good. This has been decreed by Commander Kondo, and I would be a traitor not to believe it."

 

"And yet you'd also be a fool to believe it," Toshizo murmured, with traces of dark snickers. "These sorts of brainwashing tactics are perfect for controlling the masses – people of lesser intelligence. But you're smart, aren't you? You and I, we're gifted. We can see that right and wrong isn't always cut and clear, that it's just varied shades of grey. Do you understand what I mean?"

 

Yamazaki was startled, but he answered. "Yes, sir."

 

"All that talk about the greater good of the nation, the emperor, it's all bullshit. You go out there and ask one random person on the street who the emperor is, and they'll say he is the son of Heaven, or God's child. And that's fine. They can believe what they want. But it doesn't matter to me, and it shouldn't matter to you, either. All I care about is making the Shinsengumi into the strongest force of warriors this universe has ever seen. Our position working for the government allows us to do that. That's why I'm on this side. Understand?"

 

"Yes, sir."

 

"If it wasn't Koga Suzunosuke in the seat of shogun, it'd just be some other fat old man. He too will bow to our might in time, or he will die. The emperor chose wrongly, so he must be made into an example."

 

Yamazaki was shocked at what he was hearing, but knew better than to ask for clarification. Instead, he repeated what he believed was the safest response at the time. "Yes, sir."

 

"You will accompany Tani on his campaign, but let him take care of the fighting while you infiltrate the enemy camp. Feel free to take along Shimada if you feel it'll allow you easier access. Kill the emperor, and then get out of there immediately. Without him, the Royal Guard should fall apart. Remember, the outer domain of Sacchu should be mobilizing soon, and we still have the Iga clan to deal with. We're going to conquer them all, Yamazaki, and then...our true journey to new worlds beyond this will finally begin."

 

"Understood, sir." Yamazaki nodded. "Consider it done."

 

Yamazaki cut off his memories and steadied himself as he rocketed through the dark catacombs of the cave. He was about to kill the emperor, the being to whom all citizens of Yamato looked up to as a descendant of divinity.

 

Even now, the government manipulated the people into thinking that it was the Royal Guard who had turned violent and kidnapped the emperor at ransom in order to try to extort money from the rising government. Despite the Shinsengumi's rout of Kyo, the old capital, and their destruction of the emperor's royal palace, every common man and woman believed that since the royal family was Yamato's link to righteousness, it would be allowed to live on, under supervision of the government. In reality, Koga planned to instill a completely separate, obedient family in as the new royal line after the massacre was complete.

 

The truth had been turned inside out so many times by now that Yamazaki himself wasn't quite sure about what he believed. But deep down in his heart, he could feel some sort of instilled belief tugging at him. The emperor had always been something untouchable, yet now, he had to die. Failure meant death in the Shinsengumi – it was one of the methods Hijikata used to keep his units bound together. They fought for their lives with every mission, and this was no exception.

 

Yamazaki respected the vice-commander so much that he had no qualms about changing the very cornerstones of his beliefs and killing his humanity. Above all else, Yamazaki Susumu was loyal. That was what it meant to be a Shinsengumi.

 

As he reached the Emperor's hiding place in the cavern, Yamazaki quickly dispatched the lookouts and slid past the chamber maids. Then, he felt it. Mere steps ahead of him lay the emperor, tucked under a blanket on a bundle of straw, with two servant boys next to him.

 

"Run or die," Yamazaki spat out, but the two boys stood still. They unsheathed the short daggers attached to their hips and moved in front of their god. Neither of them could have been older than ten.

 

Yamazaki let out a sigh. Once, he too had been a boy like this. But he had chosen to run.

 

After only a second of hesitation, Yamazaki swung his blade down.

Next: Blackout