Taro's bodyguards quickly brought him down, while the scientist’s scream swelled with unbridled hysteria. The wall behind them crumbled into oblivion. Regrettably, the suspicious painting had managed to inch away, and thus Alicia's premonition was confirmed.

The warrior in the guise of a portrait impelled himself into the tangible world, whirling around with his katana. Its flashing blade nearly beheaded the scientist had another katana hovering with hilt forward not pushed him away. It bounced from the scientist's chest, rotated mid-air, and embedded itself into the wooden plank flooring as a warning border. When the disguised warrior turned around, he could see one of Hashomon's sword mountings had lost its blade.

All the guards of each clan suddenly flung their clothes aloft, and now they stood out as masked shinobis in purple attires and armour. Their flailing blades meant to serve their masters now hungered for their hearts and throats. Several individuals clad identically fell from the roof in a wanton fit with forearms unsheathing three sharp blades and making a tornado-like whirlwind towards the duo Alicia and Wisesa. But the lass' trained reflex saved them both by the manifestation of the Arcane Dome, which sent the shinobis flying again with their arsenal fractured.

And as if the unfolding spectacle lacked surprise, another mysterious ambusher burst out of the sand garden, brandishing a ninjato at point-blank range to Taro’s forehead. Wisesa spotted the malefactor in action among the chaos, and he bellowed, "Barong!"

The tangible energy loomed up from his spine and brought its colossal fist down on the enemy's shoulder back to the sandy ground. Nenexoh, in defence of his elder, screamed like a banshee. The spectacle caught the Tamoanchese elder by surprise too; it almost stopped his heart cold. But in spite of the Patron of Lands' electrifying appearance, two other shinobis managed to slip around and snatch at Wisesa's brown beskap, plunging him into a tumble-and-roll skirmish.

While the fellow shinobis were engaged with the meeting attendees, the other four gave chase to the scientist. A shuriken throw tore a ligament in the back of his knee, but Alicia swiftly leveraged an Arcane tendril to pull him aside and smashed two enemies’ heads with the raging Orb.

"Shit! Shit! It's high time! They're going to kill me! They're going to kill me!"

"Sir! Sir, rouse yerself! Please move!" Alicia shook his body; to no avail, until Orb's spell did its work. The scientist, eyes wide with terror, began to exchange glances with the bespectacled lass' ruby ones. Seeing that terrified face was akin to stabbing her own heart. This expression of fear of death had once been hers, and perhaps still was.

"Look out!" the scientist shouted again. Alicia's hands danced to gather Arcane might and threw the two remaining shinobis towards their comrades who were fighting with the Kazanoka clan's daimyo.

"Sir! You should join the shogun and flee!" Alicia urged.

"I can't... I can't walk!"

The quartet of shinobis advanced once more. Izel came up behind Alicia and blackened their bruises with a vicious bounce of her blunt staff.

"Emerging like rats from tiny crevices, aren’t you? That's what your people are like! But do you know what Tamoanchanese do to rodent vermin?" Izel's hand sparked with sudden intensity. "We burn them!"

The heat, however, teased Nenexoch's senses. "Izel! Don't use fire magic here!"

A sword slash nearly awarded a lasting mark on Izel's forehead when she scowled at her fellow lad. Too bad, the blade misstabbed into the mouth slit of her dragon staff, only to be twisted before the staff accentuated the invader’s eyes with an intensified shade of ebony. It was fortunate that Izel still had the slightest mercy not to activate her staff's mechanical obsidian blades.

Finally having room to work, Alicia channelled her Arcane into the scientist's leg wound. He winced, muffling a pained reaction, but the blood that once trickled from the back of his knee had ceased its flow.

"Now ye can walk!" Alicia draped her arm around the scientist and assisted him to his feet.

On the other side, Wisesa managed to subdue the two shinobis that captured him and had Barong lift them to collide with each other. "Yo, where's your explosive xiuhcoatl action, man? Don't let it get lazily coiled around your neck!"

Nenexoch was quick to recognise who Wisesa was referring to, even in the middle of fending off two adversaries with his spear. "Silence, you! No fire magic here!" Though he actually longed for that too. Unfortunately, even he hesitated to utilize the cutting edge of his spear. While the dull impact of the side of the spear sounded heavenly, especially when coupled with bones gnashing, his unnaturally red and smoking hands spoke volumes.

The frantic cries of the court ladies drowned out the atmosphere. The daimyos and their former vassals slashed each other and exchanged mana blasts in the increasingly stale room. In the midst of it all, Yotsuba Setsuko, titled Dajō Daijin, remained kneeling like an automaton in the sand garden, impervious to the pleas of her courtiers. The shogun's smooth white neck was an easy target for the newly shinobi reinforcements from the sand, but they failed to notice the shogun's strange gestures under her sleeves.

Their katana strikes instead met with foreign ones.

Their eyes widened at the sudden presence before them. Looming faces sealed in Ninshu talismans made their blood run cold.

When the two shinobis were repulsed, the true stature of the shogun's two sapphire automatons came into sharp focus. Twice the height of the shinobis. And they had lost the mood to stay as exquisite displays of the sand garden.

The two automatons sprang into action, their katana swings so rapid and random that their hands blurred into projections of fickle puddles!

"I understand your longing for the fray, yet imperilling the lives of our servants is an untenable gambit, don’t you agree?" Domen grasped the blind leader's hand and pulled her servants into a circle to shield her from the perils of swordplay and sorcery. The doctor also melded into their clique.

"Exit, quickly." The head priest tried hard to maintain his composure.

The servants did all but obey when under duress, holding hands in unison as much as their whining. But when they slid the door in a hurry, a purple-clad shinobi was already standing before them like a golem sentinel. With digits conjoined, they lunged, launching their hand at one of the shogun's attendants!

Lamentably imprecise in their aim, their hand found purchase in the attendant’s right chest instead, rendering her mute and unconscious. The scientist and the other servants redispersed like startled sheep back to the suffocating scuffle behind them. It could not be helped, the blind shogun's servants were taught only to accompany, attire, and feed their master. They wielded knives to dice vegetables and peel fruit, not to cleave through foes' veins.

Impulsively, Domen pushed his way through the chaotic throng and became the only thing preventing the shinobi from touching the cloth of his leading lady. He managed to dodge the assailant’s second thrust and pushed them against the wall.

"Deteku, Dajō Daijin-dono!" he urged the shogun again, while he valiantly tackled the shinobi until his fragile body, outmached by the shinobi’s physique, began to shake. Sure enough, the priest's vain efforts culminated in being flung aside shortly after. Showing off his bloodied knitted hands, the shinobi walked slowly to the shogun, whose expression was too blasé for someone enmeshed in the thick of battle.

But before they could finish taking the plunge, an Arcane peck came slower than the third automaton's slip that slammed the shinobi's face into the wall, breaking into an adjoined room. The automaton locked onto the shinobi's limbs, forcing him into the machine's kneeling stance. To resist was to risk bone pulverisation, and the machine harboured no compassion for cries of pain.

A subtle grin illuminated the shogun’s face at the impotent howl.

"Your Imperial Highness the Shogun!" Alicia preceded through the door and faced her. "With all due respect, you must leave."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Shouts in Kagatsean rang in their ears. "Security breach! Hurry to the War Room! Save Her Imperial Highness the Shogun and the daimyos!"

Soon, the forms of military soldiers and Magisterium practitioners emerged from both ends of the corridor. Rescue came faster. Glancing back at the war room, Alicia found Wisesa and Barong had already knocked out three assailants. Hashomon was shoulder to shoulder with Taro in a sword fight against the other four, while Henge and the ministry guards protected the scientist who cowered and whimpered like a pup. Harada, the daimyo of the Itto clan, showed no compunction in not only shattering masks but also skulls with his metallic fist, even though the daimyo of the Besshou clan vehemently implored him not to sully the Shogun's palace with the opponents’ blood. The other daimyos were equally adept at sword-wielding and jutsu-weaving that swayed the bodies of the enemies.

One overwhelmed shinobi lying on the sand garden forcibly stripped them of their armour. The conscious scientist's scream distracted a number of the daimyos, all of whom gasped as they beheld the shinobi's body strewn with intricate spirals of Kagatsean script.

The shinobi howled in Kagatse's tongue, her feminine voice muffled. A determined adolescent lass. "This is not a plague! This is an invitation! A summons to perfection!" Palms joined, she fashioned a mountain. "Mina kami to narou!"

Flames sparked upon her body!

Another voice contested that proclamation. "Ninpo: Rikiyōki!"

The surge of energy burgeoned into a formidable explosion, yet a ripple of energy emanating from the pale-skinned man with piercing yellow eyes—Harada of the Itto clan—arrested its outward trajectory. Instead, the explosive force wrestled with the shinobi's body, melting her skin and tearing her flesh apart gradually. Her tortured scream had more impact on all who could hear than her twisted declaration.

"Don't kill her!" cried the daimyo of the Besshou clan in panic.

"Too late! She'll be the same," retorted the pallid daimyo. With a mere gesture, his mana hoisted the wailing shinobi and slammed her against the wall—into the outside world.

The daimyo's hands relinquished his mana, and the shinobi bloomed.

The flames failed to creep into the palace, but the wave of power felled all within the war room.

The detonation of a comrade seemed to shatter the resolve of the masked shinobis. They dropped smoke bombs and vacated through the hole. However, the magic shogun, the three guard automatons, and Izel managed to immobilise five of them quickly. When the soldiers and Magisterium practitioners entered the room, the haze had cleared. The war room was in ruins as though it was a war itself.

Domen, cradling his ribs in discomfort, shuffled towards the leading lady. "Daijobu kah, Dajō Daijin-dono? " he queried.

Setsuko, the Blind Shogun, grabbed both of Domen's arms and nudged him gently. "You should be examined immediately. I sense the fracture in your ribs."

Domen's tense countenance did not flinch. After seeing no defects in the shogun’s body, Domen finally fell and crawled over to the servant woman felled by the shinobi's hand—in the worst case, she was likely dying. Her pale skin could not tell a lie. And neither could her blood-soaked garment.

"They can contain those shinobis," the priest shouted to the soldiers. "This one cannot! Help her. Right now."

Soldiers rushed to summon a stretcher and lifted the woman carefully. Domen whispered words of encouragement not to relinquish her breath, whether her hearing was sound or not. A tantrum ensued when one of the soldiers had the decency to convey him to the clinic as well. His broken ribs may have seared his insides, but Domen considered himself more alive than her.

Alicia walked through the melee of people holding back the thrasings of the shinobis, to the large gaping hole in the wall. Her face did not show relief. Her face was worried. And distressed. She still saw the image of the shinobi's swinging limbs and heard her anguished cries as her flesh succumbed to the melting demise. Dajō Daijin approached the lass. Hashomon too, handed over his captured shinobi to Henge and the other practitioners.

"That shinobi... she uttered something about gods. I heard Kagatsean vocabulary similar to that," Alicia divulged.

"Kami," clarified Hashomon.

The accurate guess cast a graver pall over Alicia's expression. "Are they... perchance aligned with the Magisterium's elusive magic terrorists in other realms? Ye’re part of the Magisterium. Ye ken what I mean."

"We can't confirm whether they're the same organisation or not. Nevertheless, there is a connection. Their aspirations, at the very least, align.”

Alicia closed her eyes, trying to take an inhale deeply. "I could swear I heard the voice of the young lass behind the mask. Why would they take their lives for a false vision?"

"An allegiance to something already cherished compels them to fight, even at the cost of their lives. Such is the fervour of love. Such is the nature of living beings," asserted Dajō Daijin. "I regret subjecting you to witness this. It is my lapse as a host."

"They laid down their lives for a vile lie. They were deceived! Hoodwinked by a cadre of lunatics!" Alicia's fists balled tightly, trembling. But Orb had cautioned her not to add further damage to the palace with her wrath-brimmed fist. Instead, she opted for pacing briefly, clucking her tongue, and grumbling. "Cursed! Cursed is whoever spreads that lie, especially to children. I... I can't forgive them!"

When the three of them turned around, the Ayegama clan's daimyo inspected the shinobi, still under the pressure of the automaton's knees. Again, a groan that sounded was not that of a middle-aged man. As the mask was removed, a snotty lad, with smooth skin, pigtailed locks, and age no older than twenty, was revealed.

"What do we do about them?" the daimyo asked.

The Itto clan's daimyo ambled until his feet stood alongside the shinobi's head. Gazing down at the young man, he asserted, "Isn't it obvious? Our methods will still be the same. Although undeserved, a slash to the neck is the most likely end for him and the others."

"Wait a minute! We cannae just kill them!" Alicia protested.

The daimyo's gaze had not yet shifted. "What good are they? They can't reveal any intel. Letting them live is more dangerous. People like them, who have no desire to end this war, walk among us. They will still be the same. We have executed the like before. Our course of action will still be the same."

"They're children! They're brainwashed!"

"They chose this path before indoctrination ensnared them. They exercised their wits regardless of the sweet influence of words."

"Executing them solves nothing!"

"Executing them lessens their numbers."

"No! They will multiply. We will not be much different from them if we choose that path."

"But we are no different," the Itto's clan daimyo chief began to pivot, deliberately, as if driven by gears. His amber eyes pierced Alicia's heart, unsettling its rhythm. "We are the same and we will still be the same. What separates us are the principles we uphold. The ideas we champion. Everyone fights to defend their own and erase others."

Sensing that the eccentric daimyo's stance was unlikely to waver, Alicia turned to the shogun. "Surely, ye willnae hastily sentence them to death?”

The shogun was stunned for a moment. "I can't say Harada's words are entirely wrong. Of course, you're cognizant of the laws governing mages, aren't you?" She looked back at Alicia's face, even as her eyes tightly shut. "No matter the age, if they are guilty, then punishment is a must. It is indeed a heavy responsibility for a practitioner. But I can't completely decide their fate on my own. There is a court for that. Their fate will be decided there."

"They will die, but their replacements are dozens of times over. First a group. Then a district. Then a province. Soon a country! They will come to me, they will surely reach me!"

That quivering statement caught the attention of Alicia and the others. The scientist, a trusted aide of the Minister of Defence, was cowering in the corner, mumbling after saying that ominous prophecy. A small battle had turned a tender human unhinged.

Dajō Daijin pushed past the others and approached the scientist. "Calm yourself," she said softly. "They will hunt you down, but you are also our most valuable ally. I will provide elite troops to guard your neighbourhood. You can have a personal bodyguard if you wish. Furthermore, I am prepared to offer my palace as a fortress to shield you—"

"It's no use!" the scientist shouted right in the blind shogun's face. The audacity stunned the officials, but the shogun did not move an inch. Tears were already streaming down his face. "No matter where you place me, they will find me! Don't you realise they have been lurking on the walls of your house all this while?"

"I understand. I apologise. Security will be increased. Something like this won't happen again—"

"I told you there's no way! They're everywhere! They're among us! One of us is definitely one of them! One of them!" His eyes wandered to the daimyos and the priest, and he grew even more afraid. "They will find me. They will find me!"

Crossing arms nearby, Harada seemed the most curious about the scientist’s erratic behaviour compared to the others, who regarded the scene with pity or horror. His tongue slipped out with an unexpected question: "Who are they?"

"I can't tell you—I don't know! I don't know! Why are you asking me that?"

"I see. I think you're one of them. Or at least related to them."

"No! No! I don't know anything about them! They want to kill me because I prevented their plans! You heard it yourself in the war room! The shinobi that exploded earlier! But I know nothing about them!"

"You know. You simply can't tell."

"Harada-dono, please desist from pressing him further!" implored Hashomon, the magic shogun.

But it was too late. Harada was already wearing a smirk.

The scientist continued to shake his head as he roared, "I don't know! I don't know! I didn't know! I thought I was ready! I thought I was ready! But I'm not ready! I can't fathom it!"

With force, the scientist pushed against the Blind Shogun and shoved aside anyone who stood in his way to a bird's eye view of the giant hole.

"Yamero, Sensei!" Hashomon and Henge seized the scientist's coat and pulled him back. The soldiers and Magisterium practitioners flocked to restrain the scientist's writhing body, while he screamed like a slaughtered animal.

"Stop it! Stop it! Let me go! Let me go! Let me die now before they get to me! I don't want to wait to die! Let me do it now! Please!"

"Don't you realise that killing yourself will not bring you to the Enlightenment?" snapped Hashomon.

"Enlightenment? I don't care about enlightenment anymore! Look at all this; here's enlightenment for you! Please, don't let me go mad with fear!" His face had been soaked with tears. The words in his cry were no longer unintelligible.

They decided to tie the doctor's hands and together with the other shinobis, they were dragged out of the war room. A tumultuous war meeting indeed. []