by Nikita Thorn
That was when he realized that it had eyes. From the middle of the whirlwind, an animal with vicious, beady eyes stared out at him. It looked like a weasel, but with sickles instead of limbs. Seiki was not sure how it managed to stay afloat in the middle of the whirlwind, but that gave it tremendous speed.
Kamaitachi [Level 8]. HP 205/205.
The weasel hissed at him, before slashing out with it sickles again. Seiki stabbed his sword forward and attacked with Focused Strike, but he felt no real impact as the whirlwind smoothly backed away.
Before he could check if it did any damage, his health took a hit. For a moment, he was surprised, but then he recognized that another one of them had cut him on his leg. He could see a long blood trail, yet there was no icy sensation and he could not feel it at all.
He leapt back and struck out with Sweeping Blade, hitting two of them. He could now feel their sickle legs clanking against his sword in quick succession as he forced them back.
Kamaitachi [Level 8]. HP 85/205.
Kamaitachi [Level 8]. HP 156/205.
He cursed. So, there were three of them? He learned where the third one was when his health dropped again. The third kamaitachi was right beside him and it took a slash at his leg. From the blood stain and the sharp drop in his health, Seiki could tell that it was a deep cut. Still, he could feel nothing and it was rather unnerving.
He quickly warded it off with a Parry. His health was only a little more than half now, and Seiki missed the normal frozen sensation and the numbness that he had always felt.
This was the first time he was taking on three enemies of his own level all at once. He only had energy for one more special move before he had to wait again.
Seiki decided the first priority was not to take any more damage. The whirlwinds moved unlike anything he had fought against before, and it was going to need some getting used to. Seiki slowly backed into the nearest wall. This way, he could keep all three of them in sight.
Kamaitachi [Level 8]. HP 156/205.
Kamaitachi [Level 8]. HP 85/205.
Kamaitachi [Level 8]. HP 205/205.
They all closed in. Seiki gauged their movement and hit all of them with Sweeping Blade, feeling countless small impacts against his sword.
Kamaitachi [Level 8]. HP 79/205.
Kamaitachi [Level 8]. HP 62/205.
Kamaitachi [Level 8]. HP 198/205.
That was all his energy for offensive moves. He could Parry about twice more, before he was totally out again. Deciding to keep his energy for the offense, he dashed through the opening between two whirlwinds, and felt their blades grazing his sleeves as he passed them. Seiki kept going. A quick glance behind showed all three of them in pursuit.
He knew he could not outrun them for long, especially with his injuries, which were slowing him down despite the lack of any discomfort. As soon as his energy charged enough, he spun around and aimed for the kamaitachi with the lowest health. His Focused Strike stabbed through the whirlwind into what felt like nothing. The sickle blades hit his sword, and the kamaitachi burst into a puff of smoke.
Kamaitachi slain. 60 XP gained.
Seiki’s health dipped as the remaining kamaitachi caught up and one of them slashed him. Out of energy, he could only flee.
One of the whirlwinds had broken off from the pursuit and was moving aside, as if to cut Seiki off once he had to turn around at the end of the hall. Before he could be trapped in a corner, Seiki turned around, used the meager energy that had charged to Parry the kamaitachi following him, and dashed back. The other kamaitachi swooped in with unexpected speed, and Seiki raised his sword to block its spinning sickles. But without energy, he almost lost his grip on the sword. He dived forward, and regained his balance. That was when his health dropped again as one of them presumably sliced him from the back. However, now he was no longer cornered and had the whole length of the dojo in front of him to maneuver.
Seiki noted with grim amusement that all he had done today was to run strategically away from things. He glanced over his shoulder; the two kamaitachi were now in close pursuit.
Kamaitachi [Level 8]. HP 79/205.
Kamaitachi [Level 8]. HP 189/205.
He was not entirely sure if his energy-less block did any damage, but he wanted to try something. He dashed to the right, and immediately spun around to launch a Focused Strike without energy at the kamaitachi with the lower health. His sword, again, felt like it was stabbing through wind, and the sickles clanked against it. Without energy, Seiki lost his grip and the sword flew out of his hand and landed noisily on the wood.
By now, this was nothing new and he was hardly ruffled. He dashed to pick it up before glancing back.
Kamaitachi [Level 8]. HP 51/205.
Kamaitachi [Level 8]. HP 189/205.
That proved his theory that normal moves worked on them, and it was better than he had imagined. Seiki knew his numbers. Currently, one of them was low enough for his Sweeping Blade to finish it off, but only as long it was the first one he hit with the move.
Still running, Seiki thought about ways to reposition them, when another idea occurred to him. His energy had charged almost enough for a special move, and he mentally rehearsed what he was going to do. He stopped, passed Hikari into his left hand and, as the two kamaitachi reached him, mirrored the form of the Sweeping Blade to the best of his ability.
He felt energy flow down his left arm to the tip of his sword, unsteadily. It was no perfect form, and Master Tsujihara would have certainly frowned on his attempt, but it struck the two whirlwinds in the order that Seiki had wanted it to.
Kamaitachi slain. 60 XP gained.
The dead kamaitachi exploded into smoke and the one remaining was pushed back by the force of the strike.
Kamaitachi [Level 8]. HP 148/205.
With only one opponent left, things got much easier. Seiki let Hikari fly once more as he struck it with an energy-less Focused Strike, wondering if it was the correct way to do it. At least one thing Seiki could be certain of was that he was getting very good at picking up his sword from the ground on the go. He had done it so many times that now he hardly lost any speed in doing it. Before he reached the end of the corridor, he had enough energy for another proper Focused Strike.
Kamaitachi [Level 8]. HP 31/205.
Another idea occurred to him then. Seiki aimed the sword and threw it straight through the whirlwind, directly at the beast in the middle of it. Having only one thing to concentrate on, Seiki could observe exactly what happened. The sword passed directly through the creature, which spun around in a squeal as it dispersed. Its hind sickle leg twisted and caught Hikari, sending it flying off at an angle… before it got hit by another sickle in the front leg, and the blade spun back in the air to Seiki’s right. Out of curiosity, Seiki ran toward it, and winced as he tried to catch it in mid-air. To his surprise, Hikari did not cut him, and he miraculously managed to grab it on the hilt, just as the last whirlwind exploded and faded.
Kamaitachi slain. 60 XP gained.
Examining the blade in his hand, Seiki ran a finger along the edge. He could feel its sharpness, but it drew no blood and caused no harm. That led him to the conclusion that you could not hurt yourself with your own weapon, which, he supposed, was quite sensible. Looking around at the dojo, he could see that it was now heavily damaged by all the cuts that covered its walls and floor.
There was no sign of Shousei the swordsman, and Seiki sighed, not exactly sure how to feel about the whole thing. He knew he had to talk to Master Tsujihara but, first of all, he needed to sit down and drink some cold water.
At least, he reasoned, he now knew what he could or could not parry. Besides, having a defensive move would help tremendously in not having to try to dodge everything. It also opened up many more possibilities in connecting his moves, and he wondered if Master Tsujihara would have some advice.
Now that the fight was over, the blood on his clothes was already starting to f
ade. He also found out that the hems of his inner layers of clothes were becoming loose, and that perhaps it was time to visit the washing lady and pay her to fix them.
It was still dark outside when Seiki left the dojo. The alley was empty, with the lamps flickering serenely in the tender night. There was a slight breeze, and the sky was dark and starry. Seiki sighed at how beautiful it looked. At that moment, he felt a strong sense of loneliness, which was not entirely terrible. All he knew was that he needed some rest and was looking forward to boring things for a while—like perhaps picking up a trade as Minami had suggested.
He had no idea where he was in the city, and he reminded himself again to buy a map. He soon bumped into a City Patrol who kindly pointed the way back to South City for him. Before long, he was walking past the square he had run across before, when suddenly the skin at the back of his neck prickled as he saw from the corner of his eyes the shimmering air behind him.
Seiki had been caught out by Camouflage so many times that he immediately recognized it. Out of reflex, Hikari was in his hand and he turned around to Parry. Blades collided, and his energy dropped to zero as he escaped a fatal blow. Seiki only had time to catch the surprised look from Taka of the Shadow Manor [Level 19] before the silver glaive flashed and a sharp chill cut through him.
There must have been at least a brief moment of unconsciousness. Then Seiki remembered falling, and the subsequent darkness that surrounded him. It all seemed too familiar, and Seiki was overwhelmed by a flood of paralyzing panic. He seemed to be floating in empty space as he reached out, trying to grasp at something, anything that he could.
Then he saw a white dot of light, and he struggled to get to it. As soon as he willed it, it grew larger and larger and blindingly bright. Seiki braced himself as it crashed into him.
Welcome to the City Morgue! PVP status: disabled.
He gasped awake into a shadowy world of pale yellow and gray, and he bolted straight up in high alert, breathing heavily. He found himself on a soft mattress in a small room, lit by a single lamp in the corner. There was a high window near the top of the wall, which let in no light as it was presumably still night outside.
The door slid open, revealing Chiasa, a plump middle-aged woman in a gray kimono, with a wooden tray in her hand. She closed the door and turned her attention to him.
“Ah, you are awake, Seiki.” There were already sparse strands of white in her hair, but her eyes were full of life and cheery, as if pleased to see him.
Seiki shook his head, trying to get rid of the slight dizziness. The room was small, quiet, and admittedly more comfortable than he had thought. He tried to get up but his limbs felt weak.
“You just died,” said Chiasa flatly. “So you won’t be able to get up for the next five minutes while other people are allowed to loot your body. Here, drink this.”
She handed him a cup of hot tea. “It doesn’t do anything.”
Seiki drank it anyway.
“People just like to have something to do while they wait.” Chiasa laughed as she explained. “Having you sit in darkness for five minutes is apparently too much for people to handle nowadays, so they changed it.”
There was something different about Chiasa. “Not so much into realism, are you?” Seiki noted. The hot tea really did nothing. It did not even get rid of his thirstiness, but somehow it felt strangely comforting.
“A lot of people find the whole death thing quite upsetting, so I’m here to remind them that it’s not real. But, don’t worry. If you’re one of those who are into full immersion I’m only here the first time you die, and you can simply say ‘Go away!’ and I’ll be gone. The next time, I only come in if you yell ‘Chiasa!’ or ‘Help!’ Mind you, derogatory terms or things like ‘morgue auntie’ don’t work.”
Seiki felt his cheeks pull into a smile. “I see.” Now that he had recovered from the initial shock, he decided that it was not so bad after all.
Chiasa continued in a good mood. “You will notice that your weapons and belongings are not on you. Once you can get up, walk down the corridor and turn right, follow the sign to the Bureau of the Dead and get your things back. As long as they have not been looted, that is.”
Seiki remembered that he had not really gotten round to figuring out how looting worked. “Can people loot your weapons?”
Chiasa rolled her eyes in a playful manner. “If I get a copper every time someone says that! Whatever weapons you have equipped on you at the time of death are safe from looting. Named weapons, once they have been used by you at least once, are considered claimed and cannot be looted, even if you don’t have them equipped. Be aware that unclaimed named weapons can still be looted. People tend to forget and, when their unclaimed weapons are gone, you can imagine the amount of whining the Bureau of Public Services get.”
Seiki was amused. “So there’s a Bureau of Public Services.”
“That’s where you go when you have problems and need to complain,” said Chiasa. “They asked me to work there, but not a chance. Here I get enough whining already about who-or-who killed me or boo-hoo I got one-shot it’s so not fair.”
Seiki chuckled, and Chiasa continued. “Everything else can be looted, and most likely will. Rule of thumb is, if it can be traded, it can be looted.” She then waved her hand. “All right, that was five minutes, so, shoo, off you go.”
Seiki got up and noticed that the room he had woken in had a raised floor, and at the end of it he found his shoes neatly arranged. As he sat down to put them on, he heard busy footsteps running down the corridor.
“The morgue is a busy place,” said Chiasa, picking up his empty cup from the floor. “They tend to come in waves.”
Seiki turned around to thank her as he left. “Hopefully, you won’t have to see me again too soon,” he added.
Chiasa responded with an amused “Hah!” and waved him off.
Outside of the room was a narrow wooden corridor, where people were emerging from similar doors that lined its whole length. Sachiko [Level 5] was looking around with interest as people rushed past her. Mamoru of the Kensoku Guards [Level 18], in a long white robe, was muttering something about samurais as he ran down the corridor.
Seiki followed the flow of people. Yuka of the Honor Warriors [Level 13], with a short ponytail, and in Shinshioka armor, fell in beside him. “Hey, were you from that brawl in Momiji Inn? That was crazy!”
“No. More like a Level 18 ninja.”
“Passing kill?” She tried to guess. “That tends to stop happening to you once you are Level 16. To one-shot you, they will need to be in the twenties, and people tend to stop being idiots at that point.”
Seiki was quite certain that the people who were after him were not simply being idiots, but there was no reason to explain. They reached the end of the corridor, at which point most people turned right, apart from one Level 23 woman in a bright silver and blue kimono who took a left.
“Upper Court,” said Yuka, when she saw Seiki looking. “Gotta work for that privilege.”
The Bureau of the Dead was located in a wide hall adjacent to the morgue, with several officers working behind the counter to return unlooted goods to people. Yuka walked confidently toward a counter and Seiki followed her to the next one.
“Name?” one of the officers asked Seiki, without looking up from his pile of papers.
Seiki told him his name, after which the officer yelled at one of the young apprentices in a simple black uniform to retrieve Box 43789.
“Do you wish to know who or what was responsible for your death?” asked the officer, again without looking up.
Seiki did not expect the question. “Oh, I think I already know.”
“This is just to keep people accountable,” explained Yuka from the next counter as she put her name on a piece of paper. “You can’t snipe people and keep it a secret.”
“Do you wish to receive a combat log?” asked the officer.
“I wouldn’t rea
lly call it a combat.” Seiki had no doubt it would be very short.
“Do you wish to receive a combat log?” asked the officer again, sounding annoyed. “If you do not wish to receive a combat log now, it can later be found in the Bureau of Records, which may incur a cost.”
“No, thank you,” said Seiki.
The officer continued to look through his papers for a moment, before the apprentice came back with the box.
“Sign the receipt,” said the officer, as he tossed down Hikari, the Spirit Dagger, a paper crane charm, and a few silver and copper coins onto the counter and thrust a piece of paper in front of Seiki. “Brush is in the ink pot.”
The ink pot turned out to be glued to the counter, and the greasy brush hardly had any hair left in it. Seiki signed his name as legibly as he could, before turning his attention to his belongings. He was surprised to discover that nothing was missing.
“If you’re done, then hurry off,” said the officer, waving his hand. “We haven’t got all day. Too many people die every minute.”
Beside him, Yuka was chuckling to herself as she re-equipped her two swords of different lengths, and scooped a pile of rocks back into her waist pouch. “Apparently, no one wants iron ore.” She dropped several copper coins into her pouch as well. “Or spare change.”
She turned to smile at Seiki before running off without another word. Yuka’s officer could be heard calling after her. “Have a good night, Yuka-san, and be careful!”
Following the flow of people, Seiki soon found his way out of the Bureau of the Dead, which turned out to be located in a large one-storied official building with a gray roof and an expansive stone garden in West City. Glancing around, he determined that it was in fact almost in the middle of the city. The distinctive curved roofs of Mani Shrine could be spotted in the distance.
There were a few people hanging around in the stone garden. Further away, the gate was guarded heavily by City Patrols in groups of three and four, keeping a close watch on the people as they exited the place. Seiki noticed something wrong.