The mortars fired another volley at Ichitiro, but he was moving too fast, and their shots all fell wide of the target, exploding behind him and throwing up clouds of debris.

The remaining helicopters had better luck, peppering him with fire from above and causing him to stumble slightly.

It wasn’t much, but it was enough for her to catch up to him.

Now to hope that Beth and Chuck had gotten through to the soldiers, because if not, she was likely to be cut down the second she stepped into the fray.

There was no time for second guessing, only savage action – seemingly the only communication this Ichitiro understood – so she hoped for the best and took a leap of faith.

Once more, the cool logic of battle descended upon her and she found herself considering possible strategies. There! Ichitiro’s path was going to take him past a pile of rubble.

Kisaki put on as much speed as she was able to in the debris-strewn street. Thankfully, Ichitiro’s focus still seemed to be on the soldiers. They’d apparently done more to injure him than anyone else.

It was time to remedy that.

She ran up atop the pile of rubble just as Ichitiro was passing it, using it to shield her from his view, then leapt off of it, sword held high and a cry of rage upon her lips.

Amazingly enough, the humans picked that moment to disengage. Either lucky coincidence or the others had been successful.

Now it was her turn.

Ichitiro was frighteningly quick for his size, however. In the moments it took her to descend upon him, he turned, saw her, and brought up his own sword to parry the blow.

She brought the blade of heaven down with everything she had, envisioning herself cleaving this monster in two just as he’d tried to do to her.

The strange blade of the Taiyosori met the burning ferocity of Ichitiro’s weapon. There came a squeal of metal followed by a flash of light and then Kisaki once more found herself airborne, being flung back as if by another explosion.

She managed to roll with the blow, slamming the tip of the Taiyosori into the ground so as to slow herself down. She skidded to a halt, pulled the sword free, and bounced back to her feet without further injury. Even she was half amazed at what she’d managed to do.

However, the look on her face was nothing compared to the shock on Ichitiro’s. He still held the grip of his sword, but only about three inches of burning blade remained. She’d missed in her gambit to cut him down but was willing to settle for having destroyed his weapon.

♦ ♦ ♦

This cannot be!

Not only was the wretched hanyou still alive, but she’d somehow managed to destroy his own sword, the Kaokatta. Ichitiro had no delusions about the Taiyosori being the superior weapon. It was, after all, why he’d lusted after it. But for such a low creature to not only wield it, but somehow find the strength to cleave his own blade in twain, was unthinkable.

Everything about this scenario had seemed so ideal, almost down to the last detail. The hanyou, Midnite’s offspring, had stolen the Taiyosori and come to Earth. It was a perfect opportunity for him to step in and pluck it from her corpse. Yet the blasted creature had not only refused to die, but had somehow continued to fight back, even managing to wound him.

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This hanyou was nothing more than an insect, but even insects, it seemed, could sting.

Now the humans were getting involved. He didn’t know if they’d purposely helped the hanyou or not, but that had been the result. All of the talk his siblings had wasted in the council chambers had been true. The weapons the humans now wielded were far more powerful than in eons past. Arrows, crossbows, spears, even catapults; those had been nothing. Child’s playthings to one such as he. But these new armaments were capable of hurting him. And he knew for a fact this was far from the worst they were now capable of.

His siblings would surely be aware of his absence by now, but he trusted in their fear and Reiden’s insufferable sense of bureaucracy to hold them at bay. That was a must, because he now understood that this battle wasn’t as easily won as he’d originally presumed. He was going to have to draw upon more power than he had counted on, enough for the other daimao to sense his location if they turned their eyes toward Earth.

It was a risk, but easily worth it once the Taiyosori was in his hands.

The time had come to remind the humans why they once bowed down to the daimao as gods.

♦ ♦ ♦

Bolstered by what she’d managed to do, Kisaki again sprang forward to engage her enemy. As hoped, the humans brought their weapons of war to bear again the moment she had disengaged. She allowed herself a second to be amazed. The weaponry on display was like nothing she’d read about in her studies. If anything, it seemed the humans had been paying attention to the destructive magic wielded by some demons and had been successful in harvesting it in their own way.

It made her heart proud, because it told her that this race, her people, were now capable of defending themselves against divine threats.

More explosions rocked Ichitiro, knocking him down again. It was the perfect opportunity, but she was forced to shield her eyes from the debris thrown up. The smoke from the shellfire was thick, and she found herself nearly doubled over from coughing after she inhaled a lungful of the acrid discharge.

She forced herself to continue, though. If they could knock Ichitiro down, stun him for even a few moments, she could do the impossible ... use the Taiyosori to end this.

Unfortunately, her hopes turned out to be little more than fantasy.

The smoke instantly cleared as Ichitiro threw out another wall of force, gouging the very earth in front of him and slamming into two of the trucks, sending them flying as if they were mere toys. They landed dozens of yards away with terrible squeals of rent metal. Both vehicles exploded, tearing them apart and setting the nearby buildings on fire.

Kisaki had only a moment to rue the war she’d brought to this quiet town. Soon it would be less a community and more a burning graveyard. She said a quick prayer in the hopes most of the people here had been lucky enough to flee after Ichitiro’s first attack.

Her moment abruptly ended, however, when tongues of lightning flared up around Ichitiro, a dozen or more tendrils each possessed of the deadliest of kisses. The energy whipped around him, simultaneously fending off more gunfire while lashing out at those who’d attacked him.

One bolt flared out at her, but she managed to bring the Taiyosori up to fend it off, deflecting it with the powerful weapon. Sadly, she wasn’t nearly so lucky with a second bolt. It got past her defenses and struck her on the leg.

She was thrown from her feet, scorched from thigh to knees. The only reason she didn’t immediately lose her grip on her sword was that it was as if all of her muscles seized up at once. She couldn’t have dropped it even if she wanted to.

Kisaki hit the ground hard and lay there twitching as Ichitiro continued to mount a defense against the humans.

Thank goodness for them, because otherwise, he could have simply strolled up and plucked the sword from her fingers. Kisaki said a silent curse. It seemed every time there came a shred of hope in their battle, he would do something to cut that hope to ribbons and scatter it to the wind.

After several more moments, she began to regain control of her muscles. She forced herself back to her feet, then almost fell again before catching herself, using the blade of heaven as if it were a mere walking stick.

I’d best not think that too hard. Otherwise, it might turn into one.

She chuckled to herself. It helped to distract from the injuries once again being inflicted upon her. Fortunately, though the pain from her leg was pretty bad, it was still able to hold her weight.

Kisaki steeled herself to rejoin the battle. With Ichitiro’s weapon destroyed, she needed to get in close so as to bring the fight directly to him, put him on the defensive. Only then would she have a chance of walking away from this.

Unfortunately, she saw that where she was focused on remaining upright, Ichitiro had set his aspirations much higher.

Before she could so much as take a single step, he rose from the ground. Smoky miasma gathered around him and the fingers of lightning seemed to carry him toward the sky and out of her reach.

From the air, he could rain death down upon them all, and there wouldn’t be much she could do other than accept her fate.