As soon as we pushed towards the inner camp, where the Lady resided, a hundred-or-so footmen immediately charged us from all sides, though before we were set upon, two hundred-or-more Vermilion footmen and Samurai surged up through the way we’d cleared, distracting the Azure fighters and letting us slip past the frantic skirmish and into the confines of the square, roofless tent that perfectly matched Lord Suzaku’s except for the difference in what banners made up its walls.
The Lady lounged in a chair before us, her longbow leaned against its side, and Hayato kneeling before her.
“Hayato. Deal with them.”
“Gyoi!” Hayato responded[1]and arose, pulling his Shinobigatana from its horizontal scabbard across his lower back.
The music in the background grew in intensity and the four of us charged straight for the Lady, who remained seated for now. Before we could even get close, Hayato sprang towards us with a flurry of quick-and-efficient stabs and slashes of his blade. Verdugo attempted to strike the Shinobi, but I could tell he was more on guard, perhaps due to lacking a shield, and his cautious movements meant that not only did he fail to skewer Hayato with his spear, but he was also cut all along his exposed left arm. As he fell back, Fury got in Hayato’s face, their blades clashing though none of them managing to strike each other.
I seized the opportunity to charge for the Lady, but Hayato immediately disengaged from his fight and sent three dart-like shuriken my way, all of which found their marks in the weak points of my cuirass, though thankfully didn’t pierce through the Katabira jacket beneath. I pulled the projectiles from the fabric just in time to see the Lady rise and aim the wicked, white bow in my direction. Time seemed to slow as she pulled a petal from the string made of intertwined Tsukikusa and it formed itself into an arrow of golden light. She nocked the magical arrow on the string and just as she pulled back, I yelled something to my team who were busy trying to kill Hayato, while I ran in the opposite direction, hoping to draw her attention with me.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Lady lift the bow towards the sky and let it loose, sending that golden arrow far into the air, before it suddenly stopped and started falling rapidly, splitting into what seemed like an endless amount of flechettes that obscured the dark rainy clouds above with their bright splendour. I briefly looked around me for anything to use as cover and saw that the ground was filled with tiny golden rings that seemed to touch everywhere except for a handful of places. Simply because I had no better idea, I ran to one of the few places where there were no rings on the ground, and not even a second later, the golden rain of arrows descended and I was blinded by the explosion of light. I heard a terrified scream from somewhere, and immediately recognised it as Ismail’s.
The light faded shortly thereafter, leaving behind a world that seemed much darker than before. I saw the Lady smile her vicious smile, and then she lifted her hand, and closed it into a fist. My eyes immediately flew to where Ismail was cowering somewhere in the other side of the roofless tent, and I witnessed the horror on his face as the tiny golden arrow lodged in his shoulder suddenly surged into his body and blew all light from his eyes.
Fury and Verdugo were still fending off Hayato, who, despite both of them seeming to know his attack patterns, were giving them a hard time. I abandoned my plan of attacking the Lady while the Shinobi Master was occupied, and instead ran to where Ismail had fallen. My first thought was that he’d died, but then I felt how warm his skin still was and felt his shallow breath tickle the tiny hairs on my hand, as I tried to lift him to a sitting position. I tilted his head back and with my other hand pulled open my inventory and withdrew a ‘Modest Healing Potion’. I had the feeling that a Weak one wouldn’t cut it, and, since I had two, I didn’t consider it a waste, besides, this was his only chance of survival. After pulling free the cork stopper with my teeth I brought the lip of the flask to his mouth and made sure he drank the entire thing. A sputter and a few coughs ensued, but I felt the life return to him almost instantaneously.
Ismail coughed a few more times, but then started rising on his own, using his Yari spear to lean on, while the last dregs of the potion healed his body. “Thank you,” he said, shame and guilt evident on his face. I wondered if he regretted being rude to me earlier.
“Don’t make me do it twice,” I replied, mimicking Verdugo’s words.
A moment later, I saw Verdugo spear Hayato through his throat, right above his Adam’s Apple, followed by Fury digging his shortsword up under his ribs, likely piercing one of the Shinobi’s lungs, perhaps even his heart.
They pulled their weapons free and the Azure Shinobi Master collapsed to the ground, the sight of which was almost too much for me to bear. I’d already seen him die once before, and, as with Lord Mitsui, I felt shameful that I hadn’t been the one to deliver the killing blow.
“Your service has not yet ended,” the Lady suddenly announced, and Verdugo, Fury, and I ran towards her, just as she drew another magical arrow and fired it into the corpse of Hayato. Fury skidded to a halt and turned around, running back towards the man he’d just slain.
“Ismail and I will deal with the Shinobi, you two stop the Lady!” Fury ordered.
Verdugo and I didn’t argue and continued towards the Lady, who threw aside her wicked bow and with a foot kicked the Naginata at her feet into the air, where she grabbed it deftly, as though she’d practiced the move a thousand times. The Naginata’s blade glowed in the light of the setting sun as it spun in her hands, and though she wore only her elaborate kimono, she seemed formidable.
Verdugo leapt at her with a jab of his spear, but in one quick swing of her Naginata it was deflected and the Lady stepped forward in that same moment, hammering the butt of her polearm into the side of his head, knocking him to the ground. I moved in-between the two of them, before she had the chance to strike him, and fired off a Quick Draw that forced her back. I immediately followed it up with a Piercing Thrust, but she was surprisingly nimble on her feet and sidestepped it, while swiping the polearm at my legs. I leapt over the blade and pushed in closer, but she immediately jumped back, thrusting her Naginata at my chest, which, although it only scraped against the blacksteel uselessly, pushed me off-balance.
I heard a cry of triumph from Ismail as he struck the killing blow on Hayato for a second time, and the Lady, who’d been prepared to cleave off my head, suddenly sprang towards her bow that lay a few metres away. Once in hand, she fired off an arrow towards the fallen Shinobi, just as she’d done before, but this time I reached her before she was able to grab hold of the Naginata. I sent forth another Piercing Thrust, but she blocked it with the wide limb of her wicked bow and then grabbed the short end and swung it at me like a club. As I backed away, she quickly pulled three large arrows from within the recesses of her kimono and fired them in a quick succession towards me. Two slammed against my cuirass, punching me backwards, and the last struck me in the right thigh, just below my waist. I gasped in pain, and I knew that moving was impossible, while it remained lodged within my flesh, siphoning blood in a thick stream. The Lady grabbed her Naginata and just before she was able to cut me into bits, Fury went for her, managing to bury one of his blades into her side, while she was still focused on me. In return the Lady slammed the butt of her weapon into his stomach with tremendous force, sending him flying backwards into the wooden banner-covered wall behind him.
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By the time she looked to me again, I’d secured my grip on the shaft of the arrow and tore it from my leg with a loud, furious yell of agony, immediately chasing it with one of the ‘Weak Healing Potions’ attached to my sash and tossing the empty flask at her, trying to buy myself enough time for the healing to take effect. The Lady caught the flask in her free hand and let it drop to the ground harmlessly, then leapt for me with a thrust of her Naginata, leaving me no choice but to drop awkwardly to the side, while the healing continued to do its thing.
I saw Ismail fighting off Hayato in the background, though he was losing ground and receiving a lot of hits, though none resulted in serious injury. The Lady stood above me, spun the polearm in her hands, and then aimed a stab right at my neck.
The head of her polearm froze bare centimetres from me, and I quickly crawled backwards out of the way as I took in what had happened. Blood was spilling from her stomach where the blade of Fury’s second sword had pierced through her. I saw her move even then, with both of Fury’s weapons resting inside her, and I quickly stumbled upright and charged my Quick Draw, just as I saw her twist around towards him, and then I stepped forward as I let it loose, achieving maximum range and watching my ‘Passing Breeze’ carve its way through the air and falling raindrops, before connecting with the nape of her neck and splitting the skin without resistance, then continuing onwards through her flesh, muscles, arteries, and windpipe, and releasing her head from her body in a scatter of blood and long strands of ebony hair that were severed in the process.
A cry sounded from Hayato, like a dying shriek and a raging demon combined into one, and he took off towards me, the killer of his Master, but made it only two steps before Verdugo suddenly caught him by the hollow of his neck with his spearpoint, which buried itself deep thanks to the Shinobi’s momentum. A flicker of bronze and Hayato’s artery was opened and sprayed a crimson mist into the air. As he fell, he reached a hand out towards her headless body.
When nothing moved, neither Lady nor Master Shinobi, we all collapsed exhaustedly onto the ground.
“Did we make it?” Fury asked, perhaps too scared to check for himself.
I looked to the sky, the sun was gone and dusk had settled on the battlefield. Suddenly, I noticed all the torches that had been lit around the camp, as well as the Vermilion base in the distance. I wondered if this mass grave looked pretty from the edge of the forest, far away from the acrid stench of iron, blood, and death.
“Barely,” I replied, as I watched Verdugo down another potion, while trying to steady himself.
“Thank the Gods,” Ismail sighed, relief in his voice.
“What happens next?” I asked.
“We bring Seiryū’s head to Suzaku,” Fury answered.
“Didn’t he just want a lock of hair?”
“That’s the whole point of this, we bring him her head instead of her hair, as solid proof that she is dead and will never return to life.”
“Why?”
“Yeah, why?” Ismail chimed in.
“Seriously, have you not noticed?”
“Noticed what?”
“Suzaku and Seiryū love each other, or they used to at least.”
“…Seriously?” Verdugo replied sceptically from the side-lines.
“Why else would they have kept the war going for this long? They could’ve killed each other years ago and ended the struggle then. Plus, Suzaku didn’t want Seiryū dead, he just wanted a lock of her hair. There are limits to her magic, and he knows it. If she is killed and decapitated during dusk, she cannot revive herself. We could’ve killed her before the sun set and then decapitated her during dusk, but I think this’ll work as well. The most important thing is just that we wait here until dawn, to make sure. Once dawn comes, we return to Suzaku with her severed head and that will trigger the actual Alt-Mode.”
“Do you know his moveset for that?” Ismail asked.
“Nope. I wasn’t able to find anyone in the Village who knew.”
“That means you’ll be able to make a killing off of selling this information,” Ismail said, excited but also visibly envious.
Fury smiled. “I’m counting on that, but maybe I’ll tell you guys a bit about how I discovered the Alt-Mode after we’re done with this Stage.”
Both Ismail and Verdugo seemed quite interested in that.
While I was sitting on the ground next to the Lady’s corpse and letting my stamina replenish, I noticed a floating wisp above her beheaded body. I got up and poked my hand through it, seeing the reward she’d dropped. For some reason I couldn’t take it.
“What is it?” Ismail asked eagerly from where he lounged in the Lady’s chair. Insolent brat! I could imagine the Lady rebuking his behaviour.
“It’s her bow,” I responded.
“Oh,” was all he said.
“Does anyone mind if I take it?” I asked.
Fury came over and held his hand above the wisp, then, after reading through the tooltip, said, “Go for it.”
Ismail shrugged and Verdugo seemed completely uninterested. It seemed bows weren’t very popular, which, considering the difficulty Sunflower had with hers, made sense. It’s one thing knowing how to use a bow, but it’s a wholly different beast putting it to effective use in as dynamic a setting as live combat.
I stuck my hand inside the wisp again, and read its name to myself:
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‘Tsukikusa Longbow’
-Ranged Weapon-
Bow > Longbow > Japanese
“Seiryū Ran was said to be as dainty as a dayflower, but after the death of her father and the long bloody years of the War, her colour faded and shrivelled like her namesake flower after dusk has settled.”
Trait(s):
‘Dayflower’
‘Greater Precision’
‘Unbreakable’
Equip
Discard
Weight: 1.4 kilos
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The traits read: “This bow can only be fired during the day”; “Arrows fired from this bow can fly twice the distance of normal longbows”; and “This weapon cannot be destroyed”. Though I was no expert, I could tell that it was a powerful bow, but the fact that it could only be used when the sun was out might become an issue.
The information in its flavour text was interesting, I thought, because it mentioned the Lady’s first name, Ran[2], which, up until this point, hadn’t been revealed.
I contemplated whether or not I wanted to start learning how to use a bow, since I’d been looking for some variety in how I fought. It weighed 1.4 kgs, so it would push me out of my current weight-class and lower my movement speed, which I wasn’t sure I liked. Unlike the first time I’d looked at the item, I was now able to loot it, as though the go-ahead from my teammates had removed the restriction.
Just to test it out, I decided to equip the bow, and immediately it materialised on my back, along with a quiver on my lower back that was attached to my grey-blue sash. I twisted around to look at the quiver, and saw that it was made from the same kind of twisted, pale wood as the bow, and was stuffed to the brim with long, thin arrows also fashioned from that gnarled tree. The bow itself, with its uneven, thick limbs hung from my back on some kind of hook that had appeared on my cuirass and was hidden under the ‘Raven-Black Cloak’, which spilled over it like a thick shadowy veil. I pulled it from its hook and felt the odd and slightly misshapen handle fit snugly into my palm. It was a lot lighter than it looked, which made me think the wooden limbs were hollow on the inside. Though I wanted to test-fire it, its string was gone, courtesy of the magical properties tied to its ‘Dayflower’ trait. Maybe I’d try it out in the fight against Lord Suzaku, though I had no clue how it’d go, especially considering how weird the weight felt in my hand, compared to the weight of my ‘Passing Breeze’, which was like an extension of my arm. Regardless, I didn’t unequip it, just so I’d get more used to lugging around the extra weight. I wasn’t sure how I was going to like fighting with a movement speed that was now only ‘Modest’, down from ‘High’, but having the ability to use a ranged weapon in concert with my sword, meant that I could perhaps save myself from a lot of injuries by approaching fights in a more strategical way.
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[1] Japanese for: “As you wish” or “Your will be done”.
[2] Written as 藍 in Japanese, meaning “Indigo”.