War Games

by Nikita Thorn

  He knew well the explosion was ultimately going to achieve nothing but destroy his Hikari and kill everyone within ten feet. Still, since fighting Shousei at this level was out of the question, he had no other tool to use.

  “You would dare?” said Shousei.

  “Try me,” said Seiki in the most convincing tone he could manage, trying to ignore a rather unhelpful thought running through his head about the possibility of permanently losing his sword. From what he heard, the Shogun issued new standard swords should you happen to lose yours, but he was not sure if that was true.

  “You know what desperate men can do.” Seiki shifted his grip on the Hikari.

  Shousei tensed. “Wait.”

  “Let everyone leave, and you can have it back,” said Seiki again, firmly meeting his eyes.

  The swordsman paused to consider for a moment. “Very well.” He finally moved away from the doorway, an arrogant smile once again on his face. “Go on.”

  Before Seiki could order everyone out, a slim shadow flashed on his right as Mitsue made a leap at the light pearl in his hand. “You can’t give it back to him!” she cried. “Not after what we’ve worked for. It’s our only chance, if Shinshioka is to survive this war!”

  Whether Shousei had never meant to keep his word or if he considered the agreement off by the girl’s sudden movement, the swordsman also took the chance to rush in for an attack.

  Seiki grunted as he put the pearl back into his inventory, grabbed Mitsue and threw her out of the path of Shousei’s attack. He then ducked below the long curved blade and Slid out of the way.

  The thief girl landed near the writing desk, and scrambled to her feet. A thought seemed to occur to her. She grabbed the wooden desk and hurled it toward Shousei to block his path, before rushing toward Seiki again. “Give me the pearl!”

  “Okamoto’s off your plan now.” There was no time to be gentle as Seiki once again pushed her out of the way, before drawing up his Hikari to Parry another attack from Shousei with the meager energy that had recharged. His energy again instantly drained, and he traded health for more and threw himself aside with a Slide.

  Seiki grimaced as Mitsue recovered and lunged at him again. He bluffed an attack to force her to jump back. Surviving Shousei was hard enough without the thief girl in the way, and with the space in the chamber so limited, he wondered how long it would be before someone got one-shot by the long curved sword.

  “Let’s concentrate on staying alive right now, all right?” he said to Mitsue. “I need you to work with me and not against me, or he’s going to kill all of us.”

  As soon as a Slide charge became available, Seiki used the split second when Shousei was distracted by the girl to strike out with Sweeping Blade. Shousei pulled back his sword to block, but the force pushed him back by a few feet, his sandals dragged noisily across the dirt floor.

  This at least managed to separate all the parties involved for the time being.

  Shousei’s eyes narrowed, perhaps surprised by the active attack, and did not immediately close in to resume combat.

  Seiki quickly formulated a rough plan to get them all out of there. He had to put Vertical Spike in his unit’s formation slot, and then have them use it twice in a row. Those consecutive one-second stuns would allow Okamoto and Mitsue to take to their heels. Then he would need to close in with his own time-enhanced Vertical Spike, which would in turn give his unit another two seconds to flee.

  After that, Seiki had no plan, but he hoped he would still have enough energy for a Slide.

  “Okay, copy this.” Seiki demonstrated the stun to his unit, before confirming the save, naming it ‘Spike’. He knew he was wasting too many War Coins for no good reason, but he had been pretty much improvising on the go, and it was the best he could come up with at the moment.

  A contemptuous smile touched Shousei’s lips. ““You think you can fight me with that stolen technique?” The man scoffed. “Your master hadn’t taught you half the basics.”

  Ignoring the remarks, Seiki took a deep breath, his mind studying his different options. Both Shousei’s health and energy were still perfectly full, and he had a feeling he was somehow not meant to be able to oppose the man.

  To avoid Shousei killing everyone in one slash as they fled, Seiki knew he had to lure him away from the entrance. Secretly signaling the villagers to move slightly to the side, he wondered if he could use Sweeping Blade to knock the swordsman right into their stun formation. Again, it was about timing, and against someone like Shousei, he was not entirely confident he could pull it off.

  Not surprisingly, Shousei seemed to be reading his mind. “Come at me.” The cold smirk had returned to his face. “Let’s see if you’ve gotten any better since the last time we tried this.”

  Seiki guessed the man meant their first encounter in a mysterious dojo a very long time ago, and not the last one where Seiki had had a knife to his throat.

  “Come on.” Shousei was in a casual stance, his sword held in one hand and pointing down.

  Seiki knew what the man said was true, in many different senses. At Level 15, he still had not unlocked half his total abilities, and he had no idea what kinds of counters Shousei actually possessed.

  The swordsman was waiting for him to make a move, and despite misgivings at the open challenge, Seiki saw no other way to progress the encounter. He would have to go in with a bluff: sacrifice his Kohagane dagger by blocking the man’s attack without energy, before delivering his Sweeping Blade with such an angle as to push him toward his unit. He would also have to be precise in his order for the villagers to unleash their stun. How that would play out would depend on how Shousei chose to counter his moves. And when it came down to it, there were simply things you could not plan for. He would ultimately need to rely on split-decision judgments.

  Seiki focused and chased away all doubts. After all, if he failed, it would be over very soon.

  Rushing at the man, Seiki pushed the sword forward in a straight pierce, waiting to see if the man would dodge or parry, so he could time his block with the dagger.

  Shousei smiled. “Allow me to demonstrate, then. I’ll show you what you don’t know.”

  With a quick shift of grip on the hilt of his curved sword, Shousei stabbed it down beside him on the ground. It was a single-handed Vertical Spike, which should not be possible, and which should be completely out of range.

  It was bad news nonetheless, as it was unlikely Shousei had made a mistake. Seiki winced as a cold shiver shook the ground beneath his feet, and grabbed hold of his legs before shooting straight up through his body. Seiki would have gasped if the world did not simply stutter for a split second and all thoughts emptied from his mind.

  Recovering from stuns was always disconcerting, and the next thing he saw was Shousei’s blade, gleaming silver, slashing down in its fatal strike. His legs were still frozen, even as the stun was fast expiring. And in that split second, Seiki understood several things at once.

  Dropping his own health with Blood Rush to let Strength of Will kick in, he regained full control of his body. The trade gave him ample energy for Slide. Whether Shousei’s extended stun had been an incapacitating effect or a trap, it hardly mattered now. Ronins might not have any self-heals. Perhaps to compensate for that, they had a moveset that would always allow them an escape, perhaps by a hair’s breadth, and perhaps at great risks and with heavy costs, but always one.

  Seiki could technically avoid the blow by Sliding out of the way, but in some cases the best defense was offense. Instead of dodging, he burst forward toward Shousei, choosing to gamble with the distance. He dropped low, let his Hikari miss, before slamming directly into the swordsman’s torso.

  As they fell together, he drew the Kohagane with his left hand and slashed up, rather blindly. He had had no practice at all with blades in the mix, and he felt the tip of the dagger cutting through cloth as well as a layer of hidden leather underneath the swordsman’s sleeve
s.

  Seiki had hoped to disarm, but the cut lacked sufficient power and did little damage to the hidden protective gear under the man’s kimono. They were still falling, and Shousei managed to twist left as he brought his sword arm back down, using gravity to his advantage to aim for a clean point-blank pierce.

  Seiki pushed himself into a roll the second they hit the ground. The curved blade swished, slicing through the leather on his back in its downward stab, sending a streak of freezing numb across his shoulder blade. It was more than a graze, but not deep enough to kill him. And as soon as his knees were on the ground again, he shot out of danger with the longest Slide he could manage.

  His health had dropped very low. Now panting heavily, Seiki gulped down one of his remaining potions to stop himself from fainting as he scrambled back to his feet. His health filled and the chilly sensation faded, but his whole right side was dripping wet with blood.

  Shousei made no immediate attempt to follow up, but simply let out another sneer. His sleeve, where Seiki’s dagger had cut him, was torn. There was no red visible on the white cloth, but the man’s health seemed to have decreased by a little, although Seiki could not understand why.

  “That was rather interesting,” said the swordsman. “Let’s see how long you can keep it up.”

  Seiki knew the answer, and it was not very long. The potion lockout was in effect, which meant he needed to survive another full minute before he could use another one. And a minute could mean a massive amount of damage.

  “But I’ll keep my word,” said Shousei unexpectedly. “A life for a life.” He turned towards Okamoto. “Get up and leave. I’ll let you walk from this, but don’t let me see you again.”

  Okamoto stared, but the swordsman ignored him as he turned back towards the group. “The rest of you die here.”

  Seiki, his Hikari ready, kept his eyes locked on the swordsman. That decision to spare Shousei had surprisingly paid off, and he would take what he could. “Do as he says, Okamoto.” At least, this would get one of them out of the room.

  The young man nervously stood up and slowly moved to the entrance, keeping as far away from the swordsman as possible.

  “No!” cried Mitsue in panic. She made a dash after him. “We’ve come this close, Okamoto. You can’t… you can’t just walk away!”

  Shousei seemed determined about his guaranteed death for everyone else; he sent the blade of his sword into the ground, again with one hand. A normal Vertical Spike required both hands on the weapon to activate the stun effect, but Shousei managed it with one. The stun caught Mitsue in the middle of her full sprint. With a gasp, she tripped and landed on the ground.

  The stun was much more powerful than Seiki’s, but it was not of indefinite range. Four feet, Seiki realized from a quick approximation, since it did not reach Okamoto right behind her. It was about twice the move’s standard range, and Seiki and his unit were far away enough to not be caught in its area of effect this time.

  As Shousei rushed at the stunned thief girl, his sword aimed for a deadly swipe, Seiki broke into a long Slide to block his attack.

  Shousei’s stun was apparently also two-second long. That was a very long time, more than enough for him to kill the girl and not enough for Seiki to reach them in time. But at that moment, Seiki noticed something important. Right when Shousei had used the Vertical Spike, his health had dropped by a little, even when nothing had touched him.

  That was a good clue.

  Seiki stabbed down his Hikari and traded health for energy, pushing it through the sword. The move automatically took the fixed amount, and he forced more to flow down his arm. The bout of warm energy slammed against a resistance, like a brick wall. But Seiki had a feeling that if he continued to push, he could drive even more power into the move.

  He was, however, out of time. The tip of Shousei’s blade was less than a foot away from the girl. Seiki grunted and abandoned his attempt to try something new as he abruptly cancelled the Slide. Like in his experiences across many temple roofs, the momentum threw him over the short distance. Seiki took advantage of the force to fling his Hikari at the swordsman. He blocked Shousei’s path with the flying blade, which delayed his killing stroke by a second, allowing Seiki to tackle him from the right.

  Once again, they landed hard on the ground, skidding on their sides from the force of the impact. “Run!” Seiki shouted to Mitsue, who was just about recovering from the stun effect.

  Whether from practice or luck, Seiki had managed to retract his arm to avoid it being trapped under the swordsman’s body. Quickly reaching up, he clamped his left hand down on Shousei’s sword arm. And he leaned in as much as he could to lend it strength as he twisted his legs up to lock the man’s feet in place before the swordsman could struggle.

  “Everyone, out of the room.” Seiki glanced up at the thief girl to check the damage.

  Shousei’s sword had missed its mark. But with its massive length advantage, it still managed to cut her on the arm. The attack had taken nearly all her health.

  “Go,” said Seiki.

  Mitsue, deathly pale, was clutching her bleeding arm. For a split second, she stared at him in disbelief, utterly spooked, but grateful, as if the brush with death had finally woken her up to the severity of the situation.

  From the back of the room, Genta and the rest of the villagers were running toward him, blades drawn and ready to assist.

  “Out,” said Seiki. He knew he could not hold the man down for long.

  Shousei’s left arm was free and he swung his palm at Seiki, who knew better than to take a hit from a Level Unknown. Forced to grab his wrist, Seiki yielded first before using his strength to push back. It lessened the impact and the subsequent damage, but shifted him a little off-balance. He was slowly losing leverage.

  “Chief!” cried Rumi.

  “Out!” said Seiki again. At the door, Okamoto was standing there, looking lost.

  “Do you know the way out of here?” cried Seiki.

  The young man nodded.

  “Then go!”

  Shadows flashed as his unit obeyed his order and ran lightly out to the corridor. Their footsteps ceased after about twenty feet down, and Seiki guessed he would need to be in range to instruct them on what to do next.

  Seiki tried exerting pressure around the man’s wrist, but it was like grabbing a rod of steel; no amount of squeezing could loosen the grip on the long curved sword. Shousei struggled again, and Seiki grunted. Once the man was free, he would be very lethal at close range. Seiki’s best chance would be to Slide out of there as soon as he could, except that getting both knees or feet on the ground would be a challenge from the current position.

  Unfortunately, there was no other way, and he would have to risk the damage.

  A shadow re-appeared at the entrance. It was Mitsue. Seiki felt a chill down his spine as he glanced up at her. If she chose to betray him right now, there would be nothing he could do.

  Her eyes were wide, and she opened her mouth to speak, soundlessly, and slowly, as if intending for him to read her lips: “Hold your breath, ronin-san.”

  Before he could fully comprehend, a large brown bamboo tube appeared from her sleeve, which she cast on the ground beside Shousei. White smoke spewed from one end, and Seiki knew this was his chance.

  Holding his breath, he let go of Shousei, twisted one knee and one foot on the ground and broke out in a Slide towards the entrance. The force of the ability knocked the swordsman aside, and clumsily propelled him through the doorway.

  Mitsue, seeing that her plan had worked, turned and ran down the corridor. As for Seiki, he swerved to pick up his Hikari from the ground as he caught his balance and sprinted after her. Behind him, back in the room, he heard Shousei letting out an annoyed groan, but Seiki had no time to turn to look.

  “It should daze him for a few seconds,” said Mitsue, breathing hard.

  Ahead of him, Okamoto and his unit were waiting.

>   There were two more doors along the corridor, very much like the one that had led him and his friends down to the lower parts of the caverns. Seiki quickly tried one, only to find that it would not budge. “Which way out?” He would not be surprised if the place was also a maze of some kind.

  “I know,” said Mitsue faintly. “That way.” She pointed ahead. Fresh blood was still dripping onto the ground from the wound on her arm.

  They took a right turn at the nearest fork. That put them in a long, straight hallway, very much like the latest ones Seiki had seen. At this point, he was starting to have difficulty telling them all apart.

  “Take the left fork ahead and there’s… there’s an exit,” said Mitsue. “To the gorge.”

  “The gorge?” Seiki felt a sense of relief. Perhaps Ippei was right that the cave mouth he had been trying to reach earlier that night was actually meant to be an exit. The bridge was gone, so once they got there, he was not sure how they were going to get to safety. But Seiki decided he would worry about one issue at a time.

  Suddenly, Okamoto slowed his pace. At the far end of the corridor ahead of them, before the fork they were supposed to take, a moving mass made of shadowy figures had appeared. They were around twenty, decked out in black leather and brandishing black spears.

  “Demons!” cried Saburo, drawing his short blade.

  Seiki could not yet see their labels, but judging from how they were all nearly identical and simply dressed, the demons did not seem to be elite troops. He stepped up in front of the group, silently ordering his unit into positions to tackle the incoming enemies. Perhaps by design, the corridor was narrow enough that only three or four demons could attack at the same time.

  “Stay back,” Seiki told Okamoto and Mitsue. “We should be able to get through this.”

  The group of demons drew nearer, and Seiki counted eighteen Demonic Spearmen, all Level Unknowns, and each with nearly two thousand points in health. That looked challenging, but not impossible, especially with a few at a time. He hoped this was a one-off wave and that the enemies were not endless.