Hana wasted no time starting her onslaught. She recovered from our fall quickly, brandishing her Mythical Weapon and slashing at me with those same aura slashes that Futakuchi-Onna used. They weren’t nearly as destructive, and I managed to dodge them relatively easily, but that didn’t make them any less threatening. At the end of the day, Okita Hana was still the descendant of Futakuchi-Onna, and she fought just like her ancestor.
Considering the level gap between Hana and me, I needed to be mindful of how I used [REINFORCE]. If I used it, I’d be able to temporarily fight like I was Level 90, but keeping it active would drain my [VITALITY] just like it had against Futakuchi-Onna and the Jikininki King. I needed to refine my approach. Instead of keeping the Skill active, I’d activate it right before my attacks connected to get the most out of it. I’d still be more vulnerable should she attack me during that brief window, but what other choice did I have?
She kicked off of a nearby rock formation, charging her sword with aura and slashing at me with enough force to split the ground between us. I cast [REINFORCE] at the last second, catching the sword between my palms and kicking her in the stomach, sending her flying through the city’s perimeter wall. I chased after, dodging more aura slashes while she taunted me for being “too weak”.
I closed the distance and launched a [WRAITH STRIKE] at her. She swung her sword at me at the same time, causing our attacks to collide. Aura pulsated at the point of impact, the minor explosion strong enough to send us both back a few steps. I recovered first, closing the distance to strike Hana with a few buffed [WRAITH STRIKES] strong enough to disorient her. She gathered herself quickly, but I wasn’t letting up. I blocked an incoming swipe and disarmed her, hoping to use her sword myself. Unfortunately, the blade burned my hands with each second, likely due to Futakuchi-Onna’s interference, so I was forced to toss it back toward the Tiger Lily.
Despite the battle slowly tipping in my favor, Okita Hana wasn’t a slouch. Shuten Douji warned us that Futakuchi-Onna primarily fights with poison, and Hana showed that she has access to her ancestors' skills. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, then, when a cloud of purple formed from nothing and engulfed me, sending me to my knees. I hacked at the acrid, bitter taste of the poison, and Hana capitalized on my momentary slip by grabbing my wrist and using that drain ability that her “grandmother” had used on me earlier. Fighting through dizziness I charged a [WRAITH STRIKE] in my feet and snap-kicked her head, dashing back to escape the poison cloud and escape her grip. Despite having escaped the poison cloud, I still felt the disorienting, debilitating effects of it on my body. It didn’t drain me so thoroughly as Futakuchi-Onna’s had, but it made [REINFORCE] impossible to cast.
Interestingly, Hana hadn’t moved to chase after my last attack. Instead, she stood still, rage evident on her face as she stared deep into my eyes.
“Why do you care so much?!” Hana shouted. “My life is not yours to judge!”
I wasn’t normally one to break out in conversation mid-fight, but this was an opportunity to reorient. Or, she was buying time for something I couldn’t understand. I decided to be brief out of caution.
“Ignore my judgments, then. Is ‘Shogun Hana’ the woman you’ve always envisioned yourself being?”
Hana looked away from me for a split second before returning my gaze once again with a scowl. “I am who I am for my family! Stay out of our lives!”
She gathered aura with that last word, charging at me like a raging bull. Unable to use [REINFORCE], I was left with no choice but to sidestep the attack. Hana must’ve expected me to do that because she didn’t adjust her path to track onto me. It didn’t take long for me to understand why; I hadn’t been her target. She ended that bull rush when she was in front of the sword I’d discarded. As soon she picked it up, she launched far more powerful aura slashes at a much faster rate than earlier.
I evaded them as well as I could, but with the poison slowly chipping at my [VITALITY] and stiffening my muscles, I inevitably got hit by a few of them. I’d managed to close the distance regardless, but that was when Hana pulled another of Futakuchi-Onna’s tricks out of her hat. She’d begun shapeshifting, turning into animals like snakes and bats just before my attack landed. In my confusion she’d reform behind me, striking me faster than I could dodge or parry her. To add insult to injury, she’d spew poison at me while in these shapeshifted forms. She’d even bit me as a snake, which combined with that leech ability of hers made for a devastating attack.
If this battle continued in this direction, I’d be forced to [SACRIFICE] something. Just when I’d started to consider what my options were, though, Hana started talking to me again.
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“Who do you think you are to judge me?! I’m doing this out of love for my city! Our last Shogun was nothing but a slob who lived like a king while we suffered! If I wasn’t here with Grandmother, the city would be worse off!”
Again, I wasn’t the type to talk this much during a serious fight, but Hana was starting to slip. The strength gap wouldn’t be crossed without the use of [SACRIFICE], but if I could put off using that then I would.
“That’s just an excuse. I know you’ve seen how much fear you and your Grandmother strike into the hearts of the people. Do you think they’re happy knowing that a war with the Oni is imminent?”
Hana gritted her teeth but didn’t say anything.
Just a little more…
“Do you think they love your Grandmother or do they fear her? The only stories I’ve heard of her from the locals are negative. If you love Saikou and your family as much as you say you do, you won’t perpetuate that fear.”
My assessment had been correct. Okita Hana indeed was slipping, caught between reluctant acknowledgment of my words and her love and loyalty to Futakuchi-Onna. The good news was that I likely wouldn’t need to [SACRIFICE] anything for now, though I imagined I wouldn’t be ending the night without using it at least once. The bad news was that her fragile emotional state made her far more dangerous than she’d been when this fight began.
Hana roared, gathering a blistering amount of aura in what looked like a purple hurricane surrounding her body. When she used those aura slashes now, they indeed split the ground just like Futakuchi-Onna’s did. Hana didn’t let up, though her attacks missed the mark by a fairly wide margin as well.
“Stop… pressuring me!” Hana said through her onslaught. “This was so much easier to… ignore… without you!”
Hana’s reckless barrage, while simple to dodge, was entirely unrelenting. Her poison had worn off, and while [REINFORCE] was active I needed to be sure this next attack was the last. A buffed [WRAITH STRIKE] was likely all I needed now. Hana was likely buffed though, and there was no guarantee that even a Level 90 attack would be enough to bring her down.
Hey. I’ve leveled during this fight, right?
“YES, YOU HAVE. YOU ARE CURRENTLY LEVEL 53. SHOULD YOU USE [REINFORCE], YOU WILL TEMPORARILY FIGHT WITH THE POWER OF A LEVEL 106 FIGHTER.”
Guess that’s gotta work.
I closed the distance between the two of us one last time. She looked down at me with a look I couldn’t quite describe as I launched my boosted [WRAITH STRIKE] into her stomach. She fell with the attack, dropping her sword to the grass as her aura quickly dissipated. The fight was over, and we both knew it.
She sat up and looked up at me, tears starting to form in her eyes.
“I–”
“When you start a fight, I expect you to finish it,” A familiar voice called. Hana turned to find it, but doing that revealed to us both who the speaker had been. Futakuchi-Onna, talking out of a mouth on Hana’s neck, spoke in that same venomous tone I’d come to expect from her.
“Grandmother! I–”
“I’m disappointed in you, Hana. This fight should have been a breeze for someone as strong as you.”
“I… I don’t…”
“If you want me dead so bad, why don’t you kill me?” I challenged.
Futakuchi-Onna laughed. “If that’s your wish…”
Hana’s entire body stiffened, black hair slowly turning white like fire on paper. It was then that, finally, the others came pouring out of the Tiger Lily. They’d each been dressed in their night robes, save for Lochness of course, but they all had aura gathered and stared daggers at Hana’s shifting form.
She turned to me with a fearful expression, even as her Grandmother now took half of her face over. Hana turned towards the approaching Seekers, then back at me as she seemed to be turning something over in her head.
“I’m sorry!” Hana shouted suddenly.
Suddenly, she grabbed my wrist and pulled. Somnia reached the two of us first, reaching down for Hana and me, but she was too late. Before I knew it, my vision was completely black. When it returned, I found myself somewhere completely new. The walls were painted with floral murals similar to the one in my room at the Tiger Lily. They had wooden scaffolding that led to a luxurious blue and gold painted ceiling. I knelt on tatami floors across from Hana, who stared straight ahead with a look of tangible fear. I followed her gaze to find a Futakuchi-Onna dressed in black and gold robes with a black conical hat on her head.
“So this is what you've chosen, girl?" Futakuchi-Onna let out a heavy sigh. "So be it."