War Games

by Nikita Thorn

  Umiko blinked.

  “I have enough Favors,” said Seiki truthfully. “So I’ll buy my own.” Being so new, he could not help but feel he would not be contributing much, and he thought it was only fair.

  Ippei stared at him in disbelief. “You know you’re really hopeless with bargains.”

  Umiko apparently thought the same, as she seemed a little confused at this sudden and entirely lopsided offer.

  Seiki laughed. At least, this was something she could not afford to refuse. He looked at her. “Deal?”

  “Uh, deal,” she said.

  Seiki nodded to Ippei and his unit at the same time. “Let’s go and earn ourselves that Seal, then. Time’s running out.”

  Ippei shook his head in amusement as he grabbed a higher branch to get to his feet. “Didn’t expect that from Reiji, did you?” he said to Umiko, who still had a rather perplexed look on her face.

  The timer was at 11 minutes and 17 seconds when Seiki carefully dropped down onto the forest floor, his two remaining unit members right beside him. The short break had allowed his energy to charge back up and his health to fill, so at least he would have something to work with.

  Ippei was ready on a nearby branch, scanning the dark forest.

  The instance was eerily quiet and Seiki had no idea where the invisible lizard lurked. Now that he was looking for it, it seemed to have done a good job in concealing its presence. Nothing moved between the dark tree trunks, and they had not heard a wandering soldier for a while now, most likely because there were none left.

  Seiki pulled a face as he slowly made his way toward the cage, trying his best not to step on the dead bodies. They had agreed the best position to attempt their plan was somewhere between where Hayata had fallen and the cage.

  Behind him, Saburo and Ojisan shifted nervously, their short swords ready in hand.

  The forest was deathly still, perhaps unnaturally so, and Seiki had a feeling he was being watched.

  A twig snapped. Seiki’s eyes darted toward the direction, suddenly acutely aware of how he knew exactly where it was. The effect was all too familiar, since his eyes found nothing but darkness, and it was left to his imagination to picture a giant monster in the dark empty space.

  He did not have to wait long, as ground, wind, dust burst in a long trail toward him.

  “Stun!” Seiki shouted to his unit. He forced himself to wait till the last second, leaving the imagined circle of light lingering on the ground, before he confirmed the position of the ability just as he felt the wind of the attack against his skin. “Now!”

  Saburo and Ojisan had positioned themselves on opposite sides of the circular guide, and at the command they brought their swords down in unison. It worked, and a burst of light flashed, revealing a wall of flesh for a split second. Seiki had no idea where the stun had caught the demon lizard, but the effect was still very much localized. He could still feel one of its other unaffected limbs, or tail, or jaws, swooping down at him. Out of instinct, Seiki Parried, and the force of the impact threw him violently aside.

  As they had planned, Ippei had taken this opportunity to sneak up to Hayata’s body and loot the Ambition Blade from the ninja.

  “Stun. Now!” cried Seiki again to his unit. With the Ambition Blade in his hand, Ippei was sprinting toward them. All he needed to do was land a shallow cut on Seiki, and the lizard would be compelled to chase him for the next fifteen seconds, which would allow Ippei to follow closely behind in safety and slam the door shut as soon as it was in the cage.

  With a downward stab, Saburo and Ojisan unleashed their Vertical Spike again, and Seiki could almost see the darkness waver as the lizard-shaped mass of air struggled to free itself.

  Ippei was only a few paces away.

  To Seiki’s horror, the stun kept the Yamiimori in place for only one second. Seiki groaned as it wriggled free. This was perhaps the worst time to find out that his personal modifications of the ability—to bring it up to two seconds—did not carry over to his unit’s ability. Each stun took two units of his troops’ energy at a time, and with a maximum of only four, he had none left to spare.

  “Watch out!” Seiki said.

  The lizard lashed out at the samurai. Unable to see it properly, and without time to draw his sword, Ippei ducked and Braced. The attack caught him on the upper arm and sent him flying across the forest ground halfway back to the red pine they had hid in earlier, reducing his health by nearly three quarters.

  “Hey!” cried Seiki desperately, cutting at the invisible lizard. His Hikari flashed as the moves connected, but the Yamiimori was now more interested in the injured samurai on the ground.

  Disturbed dirt burst upward in a straight path toward the samurai as the Yamiimori quickly closed the distance. Ippei looked up toward Umiko on the tree branch. “Disarm,” he gasped, tossing the unique dagger up toward the West Defenders samurai, before leaping aside. The invisible attack grazed him and sent him staggering. It was a miracle he was still alive after that. The lizard, in its determined trajectory, slammed into the tree trunk.

  Umiko caught the dagger. Understanding Ippei’s instruction, she glanced up across the forest floor toward Seiki. The unique dagger shot from her fingers as soon as their eyes met.

  Even before Seiki had time to mentally prepare himself, the Ambition Blade whisked through the air and slashed him across his right wrist in one impossibly precise path. Disarm was pretty much a guaranteed hit, and somehow always managed to slash through armor. The blade itself had very low stats, and despite Umiko being Level 20, the Free Slot ability was not meant to be damaging. The icy slash numbed his whole forearm and forced Seiki to let go of his Hikari, but his health had not dropped by a tenth.

  You are affected by the curse of the Sun Priestess! All non-player units within 15 feet will attack you for the next 15 seconds!

  The effect was instant. The Yamiimori paused before it could deal a killing blow to Ippei, and Seiki felt the air whirling as the lizard, now under the unique blade’s charm, turned its attention back toward him.

  Their plan was right back on track. Breaking out in a Slide, Seiki swooped down to pick up his sword with his left hand as he burst toward the cart. The heavy mass of nothing thundered after him.

  Saburo and Ojisan—who were in the vicinity—were unfortunately not spared from the Ambition Blade’s effect. Eyes blank, they turned and raced after Seiki, their swords bared and raised. At that instant, Seiki could not help thinking how nasty it would be should this blade fall into the Shadow Manor’s hands, since it would compel elite Shinshioka Soldiers to attack their poor victim. His two charmed unit members were nothing to worry about, however, since Seiki was much faster with his Slide propelling him across the ground. As Ippei whistled to his horse and galloped after them, chugging a potion to fill his health, he harmlessly knocked the two NPCs aside with the scabbard of his sheathed sword.

  Fifteen seconds was not a long time, but at top speed, Seiki reached his destination in only five. Hastily leaping up the wooden cart, he ran in as far as possible, at once feeling the floor of the cart wobbling under the weight of the invisible lizard as the boss followed him into the cage. There was not much room to maneuver between the metal bars on both sides, and Seiki wondered again why he liked to put himself right in the face of danger. In such a close space, he could almost see where the Yamiimori was. The air in front of him moved dizzily as if he was looking through imperfect glass.

  The lizard did not hesitate to attack and Seiki drew his Hikari up in a Parry. The blade flashed white as it connected, and Seiki was thrown aside at an unnatural angle against the side of the cage. The force of the impact nearly knocked the sword out of his hands.

  Ippei had caught up and was about to push the cage door shut… but the Yamiimori turned around and threw its weight on it, slamming the metal bars wide open and throwing the samurai off balance.

  Seiki’s mouth set in a hard line. With his right hand still num
b from the Disarm, he grabbed his Hikari with his left and aimed for the red spirit seal pasted on one of the bars. The very awkward Sweeping Blade clanked against paper and metal bar, and purple smoke oozed out, slowing the lizard down for four seconds.

  Taking this opportunity to squeeze his way around the invisible beast, feeling its cold hard scales against his skin, he clambered to the other side of the cage and struck the second seal with a left-handed Focused Strike just as the four seconds expired. The Crimsonfire Tekko on his left hand was suddenly warm as the purple smoke oozed out of the second seal.

  “Oh, I see,” said Seiki, glancing down at the leather gear on his hand. It was obvious now how you charged it.

  With a loud clang, Ippei managed to swing the cage door shut. There were no locks left, so the samurai thrust his sheathed Hikari through the bars to hold it in place.

  Seiki pushed his energy through his left hand as he pierced the Yamiimori with another Focused Strike, sparing nothing. The handguard was almost burning his skin now, and was starting to glow the color of embers fanned back to life.

  The answer was laughably simple. The tekko only charged up whenever energy passed directly through it. Before Seiki could wonder why it had taken him this long to figure out something so obvious, another invisible attack caught him and slammed him against the other side of the small cage—dropping his health by more than three quarters. Out of breath, and with the sword flying out of his grip through the metal bars, Seiki struck the lizard with a bare-handed Focused Strike, passing all his remaining energy through his left hand. The tekko burned bright orange as the move connected.

  The Crimsonfire Tekko is fully charged!

  Yet another invisible blow threw him against the metal bars. Out of the blue, Seiki started to laugh. Perhaps out of delight, perhaps out of amusement at his own follies, past and present and those still yet to come, or perhaps at the realization that this kind of situation was not at all unfamiliar. It was in moments like these that he felt intensely alive, glad and terrified at the same time.

  “But I can’t say I’ve ever done invisible,” Seiki gasped for breath, still laughing as if he had lost his mind. He could hardly feel his body anymore, but it did not matter. All this would be over soon.

  The lizard rammed itself against the cage door, nearly bursting through. Ippei grunted and locked his arms around the cage and one of the side bars; he hugged them tightly against his chest, grimacing as the lizard clawed at his arm, leaving long streaks of blood.

  “Explode already—” Ippei’s sentence ended in profanity as the claw tore at his arm once more, dropping his health to a fifth.

  Feeling a bit drunk and dizzy, but strangely awake, perhaps from the Strength of Will that had already kicked in, Seiki picked himself up and pushed himself past the lizard toward Ippei. They only needed a few more seconds. Turning around, Seiki lifted his left hand as the invisible claw struck down again. The fully-charged Crimsonfire Tekko allowed him one free bare-handed Parry. And as the claw met the glowing orange leather, something very much like a shield of light burst out around them.

  “How long is ten seconds anyway?” muttered Ippei. Like all his other friends, the samurai had stopped asking what Seiki found so funny at the most unfortunate times.

  “Forever.” Seiki could not stop laughing. This was true when you were being beaten to death in a cage. The bell took an eternity to ring. He had to admit that this was one experience he did not actually miss.

  The air then sizzled with dark purple sparks around the lizard-shaped space.

  The Yamiimori prepares an explosive charge to break through the cage. Run!

  There was nowhere to run. Demons were 20% stronger, and even when no one knew exactly how much health the lizard had remaining, it was clear from how the charge burned his skin that nothing was going to survive this explosion: the Yamiimori itself included.

  The Shockburst was blinding and deafening. Seiki suddenly remembered how Ippei once said that the sensation when taking pointblank explosions was bordering on pain. Even when Ippei had Shouted and Braced at the last second to lessen the effect, Seiki wholeheartedly agreed with the man’s gripe.

  Darkness washed over him and immediately merged into a different kind of darkness, which was cool and prickly and full of moving shapes and footsteps. The revive had, again, been automatic and instant.

  You are now moderately Fatigued. 174 minutes to Severe Fatigue.

  Seiki opened his eyes, wondering how many times this was going to happen in one night, before deciding to just lie on the ground for a few more seconds to catch his breath. Beating an instance revived everybody, and he could slowly start to make sense of the lively chattering around him as Otome relayed to the rest of her clan mates what had happened.

  Seiki thought he should feel relief, or at least some sort of joy. But it turned out that this was more like winning an important match, where he was too exhausted to actually feel anything, and which was not at all helped by the artificial sluggishness that Moderate Fatigue had put on his limbs.

  Ippei stirred and sat up beside him, with a sigh and a groan, followed by a slightly delighted exclamation.

  After allowing himself another short moment of peace, Seiki pushed himself into a sitting position, and was immediately assaulted by a flood of information that his tired mind could not completely parse:

  Congratulations on clearing Muraki Woods!

  3,450 XP gained.

  Urgent Event Double Rewards! Additional 3,450 XP gained!

  Achievement earned! Muraki Woods! 240 XP gained!

  Urgent Event Double Rewards! You have received an additional: 240 XP!

  You have received: 15 Combat Valor.

  Urgent Event Double Rewards! You have received an additional: 15 Combat Valor.

  First-try bonus! 480 XP gained! You have received: War Coins [x2]; War Tokens [x2]; 15 Combat Valor. Urgent Event Double Rewards! You have received an additional: War Coins [x2]; War Tokens [x2]; 15 Combat Valor.

  You have received: Inscribed Card of the East Gale – Ronin Card of the Sky Deck.

  A refreshing gale blows from the east, allowing one free extra charge for each of your abilities.

  Urgent Event Double Rewards! Instant Upgrade! You have received: Carved Jade Card of the Great Archer – Ryoushi Card of the Honor Deck.

  The Spirit of the Great Archer grants 12% extra range for all player abilities, with a chance to award a maximum of one charge of the Blessing of the Great Archer, which can be activated to add additional 12% range to the next ability.

  You have received: War Tokens [x3].

  Urgent Event Double Rewards! You have received an additional: War Tokens [x3].

  You have received: War Coins [x3].

  Urgent Event Double Rewards! You have received an additional: War Coins [x3].

  In clearing a progression event, you have received an additional attempt at a progression run. You have 2 weekly runs left!

  Seiki went wide-eyed. “That’s worse than the explosion,” he muttered. Of course, it was not true.

  Ippei chortled.

  Seiki fully understood now the extent of Ippei’s plan. The first-level challenge gave an additional 10% chance for an instant upgrade to a Wood Card and 5% to a Jade Card. Ippei’s Carved Jade Calamity had upped that to 30% and 25% respectively, and the extra 5% chance from the Friendly Fire Calamity must have brought it even higher, to 35% and 30%.

  With double rewards on everything from doing it on Urgent Mode, Seiki suspected the actual chances were 70% and 60%. Suddenly, collecting all the cards might not be as impossible as he initially thought, and it now made perfect sense what Ippei had been trying to do. Judging from the extra rewards that they would not have gotten otherwise, the stakes for them actually beating this instance on their first try had also been higher than he had imagined.

  The upgrades were enjoyed across the board, and Seiki could hear some of the West Defenders letting out exclam
ations about Jade Cards.

  Ippei was sitting on the ground beside him, studying his own Cards menu and looking rather pleased. “Two Woods,” he said as he saw that Seiki had recovered enough from death and the onslaught of information. “A really good one from the Equipment Deck,” he added.

  Luckily, Ippei did not explain further, sparing Seiki the extra mental effort to try to make sense of it all. Reading out the names of the cards, Seiki reported on what he had gotten, and his friend nodded in satisfaction. “See? I told them they would come out at a profit. And these West Defenders were still trying to get us to buy our own Seals.”

  Seiki looked around for his unit, but found none of them here. In fact, most of the West Defenders troops were also missing, and only a few of Otome’s archers were still in the area.

  “Ten percent of your troops come back to life every fifteen minutes,” explained Ippei.

  With only four unit members, that meant the first of the Asano villagers would take 45 minutes to reappear. Seiki could not help asking himself how they experienced death, as that would be a rather interesting conversation.

  From within the forest, three of Otome’s surviving unit members ran back with a large chest, which they set down on the ground in front of their leader.

  “Loot time!” cried the ryoushi girl happily.

  “You can only loot once the instance is over,” said Ippei, before explaining that players could avoid having to manually loot each enemy by adding the Loot ability to one of their unit’s utility slots. The raid loot was separate from personal loot, and could contain gold, gear as well as crafting materials. Occasionally, it also held a War Card. If the instance had been run under the vote system, gold was automatically equally split, and people rolled for gear and War Cards. This run had a designated group leader, and so it was up to Umiko to distribute the rewards.

  “I’ll go negotiate this part,” said Ippei as he jumped to his feet.

  Now that all had ended well, the West Defenders were in high spirits. Even the ninja Hayata seemed to have let down his guard and was soon discussing the wandering spirits haunting the Ruins of Hitsu Temple with Ippei, while Kaito and the two ryoushi girls sorted out the drops.