We were already moving down the hall once more. Most of us still bruised and bloody from our last encounter.

There was only a small stretch left to walk. Soon we would be faced with the great hall and all the many samurai that were in it. If I recalled correctly, the stairs to the second story were on the far side of the great hall, meaning it would be closer to us since we were entering from the back.

"I'll be damned if we run into another ember wielder," Anzen muttered as he clutched to his broken nose. We had forcibly put it back into place, but his nose would surely still be sore for a time.

I shook my head as I peered around the corner. "I wouldn't damn myself so easily if I were you. There's a high chance they'll have more ember wielders protecting the Doctor and Shogun, if not one watching every floor."

Lee spoke up as he moved along through his bruises. "How many stories are there anyways?"

"Four, if you count the balcony on the roof. The two we're looking for are paranoid. They wouldn't risk being on the balcony and vulnerable to archers. We most likely will find them on the third floor."

Hayato looked through the open doors into the many rooms of the palace. "Which rooms are on the third floor?"

"Closets, baths, bedrooms, and the master bedroom. The floors get smaller the higher they are, so there's only so many places for them to be on the third story. And if I had to guess, I'd bet the Doctor took the master bedroom."

Sora replied. "A logical assumption."

We turned a corner and heard whispers. Light shone through the paper walls. We had started to reach closer to the center, which meant there were more samurai than we could dream of dealing with. Stealth was our only option moving forwards.

As whispers became shushed conversation, I knew our skills in stealth and hiding were about to be put to the test.

The two guards held their lanterns as they marched down the corridors. Before we became illuminated and obvious, I opened the nearest door that didn't harbor any more samurai and urged my companions to follow me in.

As I gathered my dark surroundings, I realized which room we had stepped into. "Oh no."

As we waited for the guards to pass, the others walked around the room and inspected the amateur woodblock paintings and poorly rendered sculptures of animals, the forest, Amaterasu, and myself.

Hayato commented. "Are these yours or..."

"Mine."

Sora leaned toward one of the paintings and glared at it. "You are... As skilled as I had expected."

I had a feeling that wasn't a compliment. "Yeah, well. Art is good for keeping your mind sharp... Besides, all those are older than Lee."

As I mentioned Lee, he lifted himself from the squat he was in and pointed towards a large wooden chest with a metal latch keeping all without a key from opening it. "What's in this one?"

Oh, thank heavens she locked it. "Nothing. Come on, we need to get moving."

Knowing that the guards must have already past, I opened the sliding door and walked back into the hall.

As we went farther down, the noises coming from the rooms beside us became much louder and more abundant. They must have picked the lounge to house their samurai, as it was the only room that could hold all their men. And if that was true, we were farther along than expected. And with what had to be the regular samurai off for the night, that also made me realize it was much later than I had thought.

What time was it? Had it really become time for the soldiers to sleep? With the lack of the sun, one had to keep track of time in the back of their mind, but since I had passed out I no longer knew what hour it was.

In any case, I didn't have the time to contemplate. If that room really was the lounge, we wouldn't be far from the great hall.

There were only so many rooms. So many samurai. Soon all would be exhausted and only myself and my objective would be left.

Finally, we reached the large wooden doors that separated the many corridors to the great hall. As I got closer, I pressed my ear against the cold wood and listened. There had to be guards, but as to whether they were regular samurai or ember wielders was still to be determined.

A metallic and echoey voice spoke. "I know, but I still feel uneasy about all this. I feel like the Shogun is manipulating the young emperor."

A softer voice responded. "Whatever the reasoning behind the decision, it doesn't matter. The emperor chose us for this mission, and the bushido laws state that we comply. The code above all else."

A sigh echoed out of what must have been a metal helmet of some sort. "I suppose you're right. Although it seems like that damn code is all you talk about."

After a long pause, the soft voice responded. "Have I shown you this scar? I got it duri-"

"Yes, you've shown me that scar. We've exchanged scars and battle stories so many times I doubt there are any I haven't shown you... Well, there was this interesting one on my arm, but you cut that off."

"And that lost arm is all you seem to talk about. It worked out in the end, didn't it?"

A metal foot clanked as it tapped the stone floor. "Mmm... Fine. I can't show it but I can at least tell you about the scar. It was at the-"

"You already told me about that one."

"...We need more hobbies."

I pushed myself off the door and looked to my companions, who were staring curiously at me for listening so long. "Two voices. One seemingly cut the other's arm off, so he's most likely skilled. The other sounded like he was in some sort of heavy armor. Both seem to be sent by the emperor personally, so they're most likely ember wielders."

Anzen nodded and Hayato drew his sword. Lee closed his eyes in concentration while Sora drew his bow. Lee's eyes opened as he spoke. "There's just the two. One has a really long sword while the other is in more armor than I've ever seen anyone in. It was all steel and covered him from head to toe." Curious. Full body armor was never something broadly used. Katanas were popularized only in the past hundred years. Before katanas were much longer swords. Either that samurai was very old, or had a family history intertwined with the emperor and military service so old that it was an heirloom. And with how his voice sounded, I assumed the latter option correct.

Lee leaned over to Sora and helped him direct his shot. Once I was given a nod from my companions, I flung the door open, and in the split-second that we saw the two ember wielders before they saw us, I noted that how Lee described them was true.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

The one with the long sword was draped in a grey cloak, the imperial households pin keeping it together. The other was in some sort of armor I had never seen before. Shining iron covered every inch of his body, except for his left arm which was entirely made of the metal itself.

Lee's arrow shot towards the man out of armor, but before it hit its mark the armored man jumped forward and raised his metal arm. The metal shifted and moved into something akin to a shield, blocking the arrow from the other samurai.

The arrow may have missed, but it at least told us what this samurai's ember was. Metal manipulation, although I was still unsure if it was his suit or any metal he chose, so we would still have to approach with caution.

With my sword held tightly, I entered the large room. Everyone in this situation didn't wish to fight in the cramped hallways for our different reasons, so as we entered the two samurai slowly backed up. They most likely wanted space for the longer sworded samurai to swing comfortably, while we didn't want to be stuck with the metal-bender able to let loose with all of us cramped together.

I nodded to Hayato and Anzen towards the back. They knew that I wanted a moment to take on the samurai whose ember wasn't known, so they opened a portal below the armored samurai and kept him busy flying from foggy gateway to foggy gateway.

Once the armored samurai was caught in their loop of infinite momentum, I charged for the other one. As I got within range, I quickly jumped back, trying to bait out an attack.

He still stood there in his stance. This one was patient.

With some footwork, I got back in range and kept my sword held defensively. We continued to slowly circle one another as we glared at each other. The samurai knew that I was the one he hunted. In my anger and determination, I didn't care to hide the scars on my arms from losing my ember which made me a dead giveaway, but I hadn't the slightest care about it. In his eyes, I saw relentless training and dogmatic loyalty. No way to reason or bargain with this one.

After I had seemed vulnerable enough for his liking, the samurai swung his large sword. The way such a hefty sword had to be swung made it extremely easy to block. The sword came down, my sword rose, and it bounced off like I had expected. What I didn't expect was a flash of orange light to slice through the air in the opposite direction. Once the light faded away, I was left with a shallow cut up my chest, knicking my jaw as well.

The samurai cursed. "Shit."

That flash of light had to have been his ember, and luckily he was too shallow. I had a minor cut and new knowledge on how the traditionalist samurai's ember worked.

Jumping back, I shouted to the others. "Multiple strikes simultaneously!"

I had confidence they understood what I meant. Moving back, I glanced at how Hayato and Anzen were handling the armored samurai.

He went in one portal to be thrown into the large wooden front doors, and before he could recuperate he was thrown into yet another portal.

The armor seemed to keep him protected from the blunt force, so Anzen and Hayato increased the velocity. The metal manipulating samurai went in one portal and spat out another high in the air, falling into another portal the had created just below it. He quickly started gaining speed, soon too much for his armor to handle if they released him. The sound of the armored samurai's steel plating made a terrible amount of sound, but luckily we had moved far enough from the makeshift barracks that our battle would hopefully be unheard.

In a brief moment, the armor around the samurai all shot off his body and formed into a large hook connected to his metal arm. Once it found purchase in the ground, he threw himself out of the portal and back onto solid ground. Impressive manipulative skills.

With his armor off, I was able to get a good look at the gruff and unkempt man. He was older than the other, but it didn't seem that it was by much. He shouted to his friend. "Don't get caught in the portals, Hasami!"

Once I had seen his range of power and had a vision of his face, I put my attention back to the traditional samurai called Hasami.

He jumped forward, his eyes darting back and forth from the group of us sword wielders to Sora aiming his bow apart from us near the hall. He had almost got shot once, and I doubt he'd let himself be unprepared for a second time.

I still hadn't completely gotten back to the rest, and the multiple striking Hasami had caught up to me.

Dodging would be my friend in this battle since blocking was fruitless. The samurai Hasami was patient, which made dodging a difficult task as well. No matter what the case, I wouldn't be getting away very easily.

Hasami jumped forward and took his chance while I was still turning to face him. His sword came down, which would have been a predictable block if not for the invisible second strike, so I had to come up with a different plan.

I fell to the floor, just barely missing his real sword but easily dodging the vertical flash of light. I pulled my legs up and pushed against the smooth tile flooring, sliding out of Hasami's range.

Keeping my momentum, I rolled backward and swiftly onto my feet. Taking note of my stiff back and that I was not nearly as young as I once was.

As I finally backed into the twins and Lee, I had a thought. Lee's stomach was weak after seeing what had happened to Amaterasu, but I had just found a plan to victory, and he was at the center stage of it all.

I grabbed Lee by the shoulder and nodded at him. There wasn't much time, so I was curt. "Keep the multiple striking samurai busy. Use your ember." Turning to the twins, I gave them their instructions. "When I call you, create a portal to wherever he's vulnerable. Leave the other end anywhere easily accessible."

With an anxious expression, Lee nodded as we all separated.

I approached the heavily armored samurai. He was going to give a surely unusual fight, but my objective was clear-cut. He jumped forward with an extra spring in his step. It seemed he could manipulate even the slightest things like making his boots aid him in movement.

As he was in the air, he reached back and pulled the metal from his backplate and turned it into a large sword. He swung the thing like it was weightless, but as I held my sword up to defend I realized it was very much not weightless. Before I could recuperate, he quickly reintegrated all that iron into his metal arm and punched me with it. With such force, I was lifted off my feet and thrown onto the ground a ways away.

I quickly began to shuffle back onto my feet. Nothing felt broken, but if it was I wouldn't care. All that mattered was getting up the stairs, killing the old bastard and getting her back.

As the armored samurai put his suit back the way it usually was and walked towards me, I glanced over at Lee. As I had suspected, he countered the samurai called Hasami well. Lee would close his eyes and open them just as Hasami swung his sword. With his foresight, Lee easily dodged both attacks and got a swing in himself. He was still afraid, though. Afraid of blood. Afraid of hurting even when it was for his own life. Every cut on Hasami was shallow and intentionally weak.

Lee's skittishness wasn't good but he was still keeping Hasami at bay, and that was all I needed.

The armored samurai jumped forward once more, but this time I dodged instead of defending. His metal arm shifted into a giant spike and stabbed at me, but I kept my wits about me and ducked under his arm.

I could see his exposed back. It seemed that he indeed could only manipulate the metal in his arm and suit of armor, meaning that if he wanted to use more in one place another would be exposed.

Stabbing into his back worked, but he was so quick that I barely punctured him. As he turned, I could see his shoulders heaving for breath. It had to be fatiguing to fight with such a powerful ember, which meant that he would most likely start over encumbering himself to end it before he ran out of stamina.

My hypothesis was proved correct as more of the plates on his back shifted to his sides. His metal arm became pointed and sharp as did the armor over his good arm. The metal from the plating on his back started to solidify at his sides, turning into two more sharp arms.

A four-armed metal man. I hadn't seen that before.

He jumped forward and started swinging rapidly. I was backing up to dodge all his attacks, but the large wooden entrance to the great hall was getting ever closer. If my plan didn't succeed before I reached the wall, then I doubted I'd be coming out of it alive.

Once I had finally shifted his position to where I wanted it, I let out a short and exasperated whistle with all the breath my lungs had left. Hayato and Anzen opened a portal behind the now exposed samurai. One end towards his back, another in the center of the room like I had instructed. As soon as the opportunity showed itself, Sora let an arrow loose through the portal. It came out the other end and deep into his flesh.

The armored samurai stiffened as he felt the arrow. Once he was stunned, I took my chance and found one of the rare creases in his armor and stabbed him through it, making sure he wouldn't recover.

Now with an arrow in his back and a stab wound in his neck, the armored samurai stumbled backward. With his last ounce of energy, the samurai raised his hand and shouted. "Hasami! End this!"

All the metal surrounding the samurai shot off his body and flew towards Hasami. Lee jumped backward as the pieces formed around him as armor. As the no longer armored samurai fell, Hasami immediately slouched down due to the weight of the metal. He may not have been as swift as the armored samurai, but he was then just as impenetrable.

Only one more, and even with the armor of his friend the multiple striking samurai surely couldn't take us all.

Or, that was what I had thought before Hasami yelled, now with a metal overtone. Lee closed his eyes to dodge his attack, but as soon as he did he jumped backward with an extremely surprised expression.

Hasami's sword swung towards where Lee was, but instead of one flash of light a thousand shone. So many swings happened at once it was like he was surrounded in a ball of orange light. Every single possible angle he could have swung in, he did.

Shit. That wasn't in the plan.