A FEW MINUTES EARLIER
Honor Guards poured out from behind the Tiger Lily following Futakuchi-Onna’s retreat. I wasn’t sure exactly how many there were, but if I had to guess I’d say it was at least fifty. Yugo guessed that these were all the Honor Guards that were in the city. Shuten Douji agreed, saying that most of them lived in the nearby “Onna Castle”.
Ultimately, the fact that we were outnumbered ended up mattering very little. Their numbers went down quickly. Yugo wasted no time, blasting about half of them away with that aura-bomb attack of his. Somnia pounced on a chunk herself, beating the poor men senseless with those brass knuckles she bought earlier. Archie had blasted another chunk of them away with this water-hose-like attack he called “High-Pressure Blast”, saying he didn’t want to waste any of his “buffs”... whatever that meant.
When it was inevitably my turn to fight, I was pursued by a group slightly larger than those that’d chased after Somnia and Archie. After fighting against Futakuchi-Onna and her descendant Hana, I’d almost instinctively activated [REINFORCE], but after knocking a man out with a single kick I realized that wouldn’t be necessary. It was almost comically easy how fast I’d defeated the men, leaving them to the mercy of the Oni. I was reminded by Fallen Star that I’d Leveled up to 53, so I decided to take advantage of this brief lull in combat to go over my new stats.
LEVEL INCREASED
45 > 53
UTILIZATION PERCENTAGE: APPROXIMATELY (10.6% of 500)
HP: 70
STR: 50
STM: 50
A-STR: 48
A-STM: 48
“Futakuchi-Onna’s licking her wounds,” Yugo began. He sat atop a pile of unconscious Honor Guards with his cheek resting on his fist. “So I say we use this time to prepare. My pride won’t let me get caught off-guard twice.”
Shuten Douji stepped closer, motioning for us to form a circle. “She’ll be bringing her Honor Guard; every last one. For her, this is a war for Saikou and she won’t be pulling any punches. Luckily for us, the strongest Honor Guard she has is Manzo Masamura; the man Yugo defeated earlier today. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t have any heavy hitters, though. More importantly, she has numbers. About two-hundred twenty-seven according to our most recent infiltration reports.”
“You really were ready for war,” Somnia mused.
“You four were our last hope. If you’d declined or failed this mission, we would have infiltrated the Castle and absorbed Saikou into Oni Prefecture. That would’ve been a political nightmare, though, so thankfully this mission has been going as well as it has.”
“Don’t celebrate just yet. We can still fail,” Yugo noted.
”Don’t jinx it then!” Shuten Douji groaned.
“You seriously believe in that? I’m more of a what’s-meant-to-be-will-be kind of–”
“I have an idea,” Archie interrupted. “How about we talk about what we’re all gonna be doing? We realistically can’t stick together while two hundred Honor Guards are combing through the city looking for us. How are we doing this?”
“I say we split up around the perimeter of the city. Let’s keep the fighting away from the people.” Somnia mused.
“Not sure that’ll work this time,” Yugo responded. “There’re plenty of teleporter beacons throughout the city. Our best bet is to cut them off where they appear.”
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“We didn’t tell you that,” Shuten Douji said. “How’d you know?”
Yugo smiled. “I had a loose-lipped tour guide show me them earlier. People tend to talk a lot when you spoil them with gifts.” He turned to Somnia. “Most of them are in populated areas; in corners where most people wouldn’t notice, behind unassuming buildings, or inside of residential buildings. They have a max capacity of ten and a cooldown of ten minutes, so if we meet them at the teleporter beacons that gives us better odds than if we let them group up in the city and attack us in groups of fifty.” He paused, considering. “Shuten Douji and I will take those larger groups outside of the city.”
Shuten Douji frowned. “And what about Futakuchi-Onna?”
“I’ll take care of her myself,” I said, speaking for the first time.
“You sure?” Archie asked. “She’s over Level 300. I’ll admit, you’re pretty impressive, but Level 50s aren’t killing Level 300s.”
“Positive. I’ll be fine. She’s fighting Hana in her Mindspace and she’ll be fighting me on the outside. I know how she fights. I want to fight her, and I can beat her.” A bit more awkwardly, I added, “Plus, I promised Hana I’d help her fight Futakuchi-Onna. It’s probably why she pulled me into her Mindspace.”
”Aww,” Archie and Yugo intoned simultaneously. I urged them that they were misinterpreting the situation, but they weren’t listening.
Following our meeting behind the Tiger Lily, we returned to the Tiger Lily and mapped out our routes in one of the empty rooms on the ground floor. It was identical to the one I’d briefly slept in, except the bed was replaced by a long table with a massive map of the entire Saikou Prefecture marked by the Silent Hand. It told us where Onna Castle was, where every notable person in the city lived, where every black market salesman operated, and even where their “Underground Tunnel Network” ran beneath the city. I knew the Silent Hand were spies, but it was downright unsettling how much data they had on these people. If it’d come to war, Futakuchi-Onna didn’t stand a chance.
As we’d established, Yugo and Shuten Douji would be parked outside of the northern entrance of the city where the largest groups would pursue them. Archie and Somnia, meanwhile, were stationed in the most populated sections of the city. Somnia would be responsible for the entirety of the Red-Light District while Archie was responsible for the Fashion and Culinary Districts. Shuten Douji said that he had capable Oni coming to secure the rest of the city, leaving only me in the Tiger Lily to fight Futakuchi-Onna. While we didn’t know she’d come here for certain, it seemed the safest bet since we’d fought here twice now. Since we were all connected by phone, I was told to expect a message if someone spotted Futakuchi-Onna away from my location.
With our planning done and all of us ready to split up, Shuten Douji stopped us and had us change into these “hakama” outfits. They were these flowy skirt-pants that went over our kimonos from earlier. When Yugo asked why he wanted us to wear them, Shuten Douji admitted it was specifically for me to wear – but he didn’t want the others to feel left out. He noted that a previous iteration of his had been rivals with Shuten Douji, and since he wasn’t able to fight her himself this time around he wanted to be there “in spirit”. I obliged, for no other reason than it gave me better mobility than the kimono alone.
We finally dispersed after changing our clothes, leaving me in the ruined garden of the Tiger Lily Hotel. I stared straight ahead, through the destroyed wall onto the damaged, rocky horizon and the unconscious Honor Guards that dotted it. This was the first time in a while that I’d truly been by myself. Since joining the Seekers, they’d always been nearby. Now, though, it was just me. Like it’d been since I left the Perrow family behind. No, that wasn’t totally accurate. It wasn’t just me. It was me, and Fallen Star. As adrenaline built in anticipation of the difficult fight that awaited me, I recalled Fallen Star’s words about… everything, really. Wanting the things I want, fighting alongside me, wanting to make me stronger… For the longest time, Fallen Star had scared me if I was being honest with myself. Now, though? It still did, but that fear was starting to fade. I wasn’t sure what was replacing it. Necessity, perhaps? Resignation?
“UNDERSTANDING. WE ARE LINKED TO ONE ANOTHER, RUI PAYNE. I AM NOT YOUR ENEMY. I NEVER HAVE BEEN.”
“I can… admit that I blamed you for things Ares and the Horsemen did to me,” I said. I gripped the hilt of the sword at my waist. “But you’ve hurt me in the past. You hurt me every time I use your power. And no matter what you say to me, it was your power that was used to kill my mother. I know Ares drew it out and Zelos forced me to do it, but I can’t mentally separate you from that moment.”
Fallen Star began to respond, but I noticed a beam of light appear from the sky straight ahead of me. It was gone as soon as it appeared, leaving behind a familiar woman in its absence. Futakuchi-Onna stood in full Shogun regalia, the same outfit she wore in her Mindspace, with her Mythical Weapon sheathed at her hip.
Even if I don’t like you, we need to work together if we’re going to defeat Futakuchi-Onna. Are you ready?
“OF COURSE I’M READY. MY DESIRES ARE YOURS.”