Tsukasa had arranged this, and he’d moved the girls into place so they would be ready when the moment came. “As you can see, we’re about to charge the middle ring,” he said. “Would you mind sowing some chaos for us?” “You got it!” Shinobu shouted back. “All righty, it’s go time. Bearabbit, Shura, Akatsuki, you guys ready?” “Pawger that!” “Mmm.” “Yeah! Let’s do this!” The AI, girl, and boy all replied in turn. Of them all, Akatsuki’s response was uncharacteristically enthusiastic. A look of surprise crossed Shinobu’s face. “Whoa, Akatsuki. Sounds like someone woke up on the right side of bed today.” “Yeah! And it’s all thanks to those special ninja pills you gave me!” “Ah, right,” Shinobu answered. Now, it all made sense. “They’re called ‘steelskin pills,’ right? You know, the ones you told me made a person’s body so hard that not even arrows could pierce it? With those on my side, there’s nothing to be afraid of!” Right before they’d entered the castle, Akatsuki had been moaning about how scared he was, so Shinobu gave him some medicine. And it was the real deal, too, made from a secret recipe passed down through the Sarutobi clan for generations. Shinobu flashed Akatsuki a confident thumbs-up. “Yeah, there probably isn’t!” “…Probably?” “Oh, my family’s kept the recipe going for ages, but it always sounded kinda sketchy, so I’ve never actually used them. I mean, what if they didn’t work? I’d be boned!” “Uh…” “Just don’t go all pincushion on me. If they work, maybe I’ll try them out myself.” “Uh…” At that point, Shura cut in. “Talk if you like, but I’m going on ahead.” “Hey, hey, hey, Shura, hold up!” Shinobu yelped. “I said I’m coming!” “Don’t you worry, Ringo, I’ll save you from those barbearians!” Shura leaped off the wall, unwilling to wait any longer, and Shinobu and Bearabbit followed along after her and engaged the dominion forces in the middle ring. The only one left behind was Akatsuki, feet frozen and face pale as a sheet. “Uh………” The dominion forces in the middle ring had gotten into position to stop the Resistance troops approaching from the outer ring, but when Shinobu, Shura, and Bearabbit got the drop on them from behind, their formation fell apart. This wasn’t just any surprise attack. It was one conducted by a pair of girls with incredible close combat skills and Bearabbit, whom Ringo had equipped with all manner of state-of-the-art weaponry to protect her from the many organizations that coveted her brainpower. The effects were immediate. Shinobu blinded the soldiers with flash pellets, and Shura followed up by charging in and cutting them down. In the blink of an eye, the entrenched middle ring guards were in shambles. “Don’t let them ruin our position, you idiots!” “Agh! What the hell is that spider-monster thing?!” “There’s no need to panic! Shishi and that woman samurai are one thing, but without Byakuran or Shiro, throwing ten of you at Shura should be enough to defeat her! Crush her!” The garrison commander in charge of the units in the middle ring barked frantic orders, hoping to right the course of battle. Tsukasa wasn’t about to permit that, however. “Garrison Commander, the main Resistance forces are coming up the Tsubaki Steps and heading for the middle ring!” “What! Why aren’t our archers up in the watchtower stopping them from—what?!” The garrison commander looked up just in time to see the pink cloud spreading through the air. No, it couldn’t have been some ordinary quirk of the weather. “They set up a smoke screen!” “BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA! Cower in impotence! Your arrows are powerless before the strength of my miracles!” It was none other than Prince Akatsuki. Soaring in illusionary flight before the watchtower, he blasted out the smoke he used in his shows from beneath his cloak. “What’s up with this wonky-colored fog? I can’t see a thing!” “Dammit, he’s farting at us!” “W-why I never!” Akatsuki cried. “Show some respect, mortal!” “There’s no way you’ll be able to hit anyone like this!” the garrison commander shouted up at the archers. “For now, shoot down the flying pip-squeak!” The soldiers in the watchtower had their orders, and they let their arrows fly. Akatsuki flew left, right, and every which way to evade the volley, yet before long… “Rrgh!” …he groaned and froze in midair. Akatsuki doubled over with an arrow buried in his chest. “We got him!” “…Heh-heh. BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!” However, the prodigy magician swiftly righted his posture and let out a booming laugh with the arrow still stuck right in his heart. “Know that I am God Akatsuki! You think your puny weapons can fell a deity?! No arrow may strike me down!” Impaled as he was, he didn’t show the slightest sign of weakness. The pills Shinobu had leveraged to convince Akatsuki to come along had worked. Okay, no, obviously they hadn’t. In truth, Bearabbit had shot down all the soldiers’ arrows with his antiair defense system’s machine gun. Not a single one of them had actually reached Akatsuki. And as for the one in his chest, that was a prop Akatsuki had made beforehand by cutting the arrowhead to make it appear as though he’d been struck. The trick was super simple, but combined with Akatsuki’s talent for misdirection, the enemy soldiers believed it unquestioningly. That said… “As a matter of fact, why not cease shooting me altogether? All you’re doing is wasting your arrows!” Ohhhhh, make it stop, make it stop, make it stop, make it stoppp!!!! …the ordeal was taking a considerable emotional toll on the illusionist. Akatsuki was a professional, however, so he made sure not to let any of his panic show. “Instead, allow me to return the favor!” During the brief opening the watchtower soldiers left while they prepared their next volley, Akatsuki took advantage of the skills he’d honed practicing knife throwing to hurl a green smoke bomb through one of the tower’s narrow arrow slits. As he did… “Aaagh! This stuff is poisonous!” …he screamed in a shrill tone much closer to his natural voice. Akatsuki was copying a trick Masato Sanada had used a while back. Masato was an elite swindler—though he would say entrepreneur—and his technique immediately bore fruit for Akatsuki. “““AHHHHHHHHH!!!!””” Akatsuki’s fake scream caused panic among the watchtower’s archers. They wanted desperately to escape from the ominous-colored vapor, but their station was too cramped for that. Instead of fleeing, they all managed to smash into each other and crumple to the ground in a big heap. While Akatsuki disabled the watchtower… “““ARRRRRRRRGH!!!!””” …a cacophony of shrieks sounded from the middle ring. The Resistance forces had broken through Kigishinomon Gate. “Damn it all! Retreat! We need to fall back to the inner castle and regroup! Fall baaaaack!” The High School Prodigies’ surprise attack caught the dominion soldiers entirely off guard. They were helpless, and as panic grew, organizing the scattered warriors while fending off the Rebellion’s assault rapidly became impossible. The only person who might have had the leadership skills to turn the situation around was Shishi, and he was absent. Realizing that his side was facing total annihilation, the garrison commander ordered the surviving units to retreat to the Toranomon Gate to make their stand at the final barricade standing between the invaders and the inner castle. The dominion soldiers scattered like roaches, but the Resistance had no intention of giving them an opportunity to regroup, immediately giving chase. Amid the chaos, Shinobu joined up with Tsukasa. “That was some mighty fine havoc you sowed,” Tsukasa praised. “It was a big help.” “Sha-sha. All in a day’s work.” “Are you okay, Shinobu? You’re not hurt?” “Oh, don’t you worry about me, Lyrule. It would’ve been one thing if I were all on my own, but Shura was there with me. Besides, all we were there to do was cause a ruckus. As far as fights go, I barely had to stick my neck out at all. If anything, I’m the one who should be asking if you’re all right. Are you sure you want to keep tagging along? I know fighting’s not your jam.” Tsukasa interrupted Shinobu’s concerns by asking her about something else. “Speaking of which, where are Keine and Princess Kaguya?” “Oh, them? They’re hiding in the castle town. Wouldn’t want anything to happen to our favorite princess, and besides, most of their work won’t start till after the war’s over,” Shinobu explained. Then, with an unusually serious expression on her face, she asked Tsukasa a question of her own. “Listen…are you really sure about all of this? Joining up with the Resistance out of self-defense was one thing, but having the Seven Luminaries stage a jailbreak for those two is gonna make things real awkward between us and Elm.” Tsukasa nodded. “That’s not a problem. With their national assembly up and running, there’s nothing left for us to do there. Now that they’re trying to be self-reliant, our presence will only get in the way. The best thing to do is to give them space; this is the perfect time and way to do it… Honestly, I would’ve been fine sticking around and helping out a bit more, but it is what it is.” “………” Tsukasa, as well as Ringo behind him, were both picturing the faces of the imperial exchange students they’d been mentoring. The pair had been wonderful pupils with talent and passion in spades, and there was so much more that Tsukasa and Ringo had wanted to teach them. It was a shame, to be sure, but… “For now, it’s more important that we investigate the global threat known as the evil dragon.” They needed to know if it was safe to trust Neuro, who had tried to conceal the evil dragon’s existence from them. Locating the entity who had called them to this world as the Seven Heroes who would oppose the evil dragon was paramount as well. Most critical of all, however, the High School Prodigies wanted to ensure that the friends they’d made here had a safe future ahead of them. Now that they knew that the teachings of the true Seven Luminaries, the religion that held the answer to all their questions, could be found in the hidden elf village, it was only logical that it should jump to the top of their priority list. “Whenever you want to make a decision, it’s imperative that you understand what you’re dealing with first.” “Feels like the finish line’s finally in sight, huh?” Shinobu remarked. Tsukasa nodded. “Once we uncover the truth about the Seven Luminaries’ religion, everything regarding the evil dragon and the one who summoned us to oppose it should become clear. To that end, we need to remove the obstacles in our path by resolving the Yamato situation. Let’s do this! We have the inner castle in our sights!” “The Kigishinomon Gate in the middle ring has fallen! The enemy’s broken through!” “The rebel forces are pouring into the middle ring! We can’t stop them!” “Imbeciles, the lot of you! What the hell are our watchtowers doing?!” “Some weirdo who called himself the god of the Seven Luminaries farted all over them! They can’t see a thing!” “We even tried shooting him down, but he shrugged off our arrows like it was nothing! There’s no stopping him!” “Shit, they’re almost here!” “Dammit! Hold them back! Whatever it takes! What happened to the backup that was supposed to come through the Bentenmon Gate?!” “It appears they’re stuck at the entrance to the middle ring! They can’t get through the Kigishinomon Gate!” “The rebels destroyed it, you idiot! Why’s a demolished gate tripping them up?!” “O-one of the angels who came in with the Resistance mended the damage unbelievably quickly and locked out the Bentenmon Gate troops!” “WHAT?!” “One of our samurai who can slice through iron is trying to break it down, but the Azuchi Castle gates are built thick to prevent enemies from cleaving through them. Reports say it’ll take some time to get through!” “A-are you telling me the inner castle is on its own, then?!” “All we can do for now is establish a defensive perimeter and give Lady Mayoi enough time to escape!” After their forces in the middle ring were routed handily, the garrison headquarters in the inner castle collapsed into pandemonium. Orders that sounded more like angry bellows flew through the air. They needed to protect Mayoi, no matter the cost. Then, out of the blue, Mayoi herself rushed down from the main castle tower’s keep. Her worry was plain. “What’s going on?! Where’s my darling? What’s happened to him?!” “Lady Mayoi, it’s not safe here! I beseech you, take shelter in the keep!” Mayoi ignored the samurai’s warnings and instead grabbed him by the collar, firing questions with a look of utter desperation. “What are those pieces of shit doing here?! I need to know about my darling! Is he okay?! Tell me!” Upon seeing her expression, the samurai recognized that he needed to start by calming her fears. “One of our ninjas just brought back news by crossing the mountains without going through the pass. The administrator and his company are fine. The enemy lured our main army away with a diversion, then sneaked around them.” “S-so you’re saying my darling is okay?!” “That’s right, ma’am.” “…Oh, thank goodness.” Mayoi was so overcome with relief that she sank to the floor. The samurai went on. “But because of that, nearly all the enemy troops are gathered right on our doorstep, and with how they blew up the Amagi Pass, the main bulk of our army won’t be able to help anytime soon! It won’t be long before this very room becomes a battlefield! Please, Lady Mayoi, you have to be ready to use the keep’s tunnels to flee the castle!” Upon hearing that, Mayoi immediately changed her expression of relief to one of panic. “No! We can’t let them get to the bell!” “The…the bell? You mean the big one in the next tower over?” “Yeah, that one! You have to protect it, or I’m finished! They can’t be allowed in here!” The bell’s power was a secret revealed only to those who would inherit Yamato’s throne. Jade was the one who’d told Mayoi about it, and her older sister Kaguya likely learned the truth from their father, Gekkou. Now, the Resistance was coming to destroy it. Mayoi couldn’t let them reach the inner castle. However, Mayoi’s order earned her some reluctance from the samurai. “I-I’m terribly sorry, my lady, but with the present forces in the castle, it’s going to take everything we have just to keep you alive. Protecting that giant bell simply isn’t—” “Did I ask for excuses?! I told you to do it, so just—eek!” Midway through their argument, an explosion sounded from right beside the Toranomon Gate that separated the inner castle from the middle ring. War cries poured in from outside, and metal clashed against metal. The ground rumbled from the weight of so many heavy footsteps. The fighting was at Mayoi’s door. Before long, the inner castle would be breached. Mayoi went pale. What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?! If things persisted, Azuchi Castle was really going to fall. She needed to do something. Aha, that’s it! I can use the bell to launch offensive magic! Mayoi had never studied offensive magic, much less used it, but surely with her Administrative Authority, she should be able to use the spirits as an intermediary to cast a wide-area attack spell that would render her enemies— Agh, no! That won’t work! Halfway through her thought, Mayoi shook her head. Sure, she might well be able to pull it off. Perhaps she could even conjure something on the level of war magic. However, it was still a no-go. The bell was functionally a magic wand, and the noise it cast all throughout Yamato was how she commanded the spirits. As a result, she couldn’t exactly control where her spells manifested. There was no telling what might happen if she used the bell to propagate destructive magic. Jade was somewhere in Yamato, and Mayoi refused to endanger him. As the princess’s thoughts raced, the enemy’s voices grew closer and closer. “Lady Mayoi, the enemy will breach the inner castle any moment now! I beg you, get yourself to safety!” “Shut up! If I let the bell get smashed, my darling will hate me! I’d rather die than let that happen! Now, quit your griping and go protect the bell! I don’t care if you all die defending it, just make sure you—oh.” With no forewarning, Mayoi’s temper subsided. Her face had been flushed with fear a moment before, but now, her lips were curled into a malignant smile. It was like the corners of her mouth were trying to pierce her cheeks clean through. “Heh. Your girl Mayoi just thought up a fantastic idea.” “Lady Mayoi…?” Given the predicament, the samurai was baffled at his ruler’s abrupt glee. Mayoi’s thoughts turned as she swept her gaze over both him and the frightened soldiers rushing around the inner castle. There were so many of them, yet none were making themselves useful. Each was completely worthless, even after Mayoi had so generously spared their lives. After she’d spent all that time refraining from killing them. Everything Mayoi did was in service of Jade. The majority of the empire’s forces were off conquering, and thanks to her, Jade was able to get the credit for dutifully keeping the unruly Yamato dominion in line. In other words, if Azuchi were to fall and the bell was destroyed, then Mayoi would no longer have a reason to keep those wretched people alive. That’s right. That’s right! If they weren’t useful to her and Jade anymore, then as far as she was concerned… …they could all perish. While Mayoi argued with the garrison headquarters personnel, the Resistance vanguard in Azuchi Castle finally pushed forward to the point where the entrance to the inner castle, the Toranomon Gate, was in view. “There it is! Once we’re beyond the Toranomon Gate, we’ll be smack-dab in the heart of the castle! I can see the bell from here!” “We made it! We finally made it!” Tears welled up in the Resistance members’ eyes. The end of their long battle was nearing at last. They had turned their blades on their fellow Yamato countrymen and cut them down, an act as painful as dying themselves. However, the dominion army still had no idea they were being brainwashed, and they were prepared to fight tooth and nail to repel the Resistance assault. “Don’t let the rebels take one more step toward Lady Mayoi!” “““HRAAAAAAAH!!!!””” The charge from the Toranomon Gate began with a great cry and previously unseen fervor. It made sense—the inner castle was right behind these soldiers, and in it sat the keep where Mayoi was. “At this point, forcing them to fall back won’t be an option anymore. They’ll come at us like it’s life-or-death,” Tsukasa remarked. “From here on out, we’ll have to push through them by force.” “I know. You angels should get behind the vanguard,” Kokubu replied confidently. “Mr. Tsukasa, it’s thanks to your plans that we made it to the Toranomon Gate in such good spirits. You’ve done more than enough for us already. This last push, this one’s all us!” After a great inhale… “All forces, charge! Pack all your feelings from these past three years into your swords and smash the Toranomon Gate to dust!” …Kokubu shouted at the top of his lungs. “““YEAHHHHHHH!!!!””” The Resistance answered his order with a fierce battle cry and charged up the stone steps to the inner castle. For the first time during the entire battle in Azuchi, the dominion army and Resistance forces clashed in earnest. However, the conflict didn’t stay even for long. Little by little, the Resistance fighters pushed their way up the stairs, inching ever closer to their goal. The number of people stationed in the inner castle had been whittled down by deployments to the Amagi Pass and the city. Now it was the Resistance that had the greater army. Still, the dominion forces had the high ground. The question was, why were they being repelled so handily? It all came down to motivation. Right now, the Resistance was fighting for every man, woman, and child in the nation. They drew steel to save the very dominion warriors they were clashing with, and they had spent the entire war enduring the pain, fear, and sorrow that came with slaying their comrades. There was no matching resolve like that. Their determination gave them strength and courage, forming a tailwind that pushed the Resistance ever forward. False loyalty inspired by fabricated truths could never hope to quell a storm like that. “Shit, we can’t hold them! Close the gate! CLOSE THE GAAAATE!” “Don’t let them bolt it shut! Push ’em all the way back through!” “““AHHHHHHH!!!!””” A mere ten minutes after the all-out push began, the Resistance vanguard broke through the Toranomon Gate and successfully entered the inner castle. “All right, we made it through!” However, their victory was short-lived. For not a moment later, a heavy metallic echo reverberated through the night sky. “Agh! Was that…?” It was the unmistakable tolling of a bell. Mayoi must have used it to cast a spell. But what kind? A frown crept across Tsukasa’s face… “Ah…AHHHHH!” …and Lyrule let out a scream from beside him and dropped to her knees. “Lyrule, what’s wrong?!” “No, no… That’s…that’s horrible…!” “Ly…rule?” The girl clamped her hands over her long ears so hard she practically squished them flat. Her entire body shook. Realizing that something was very wrong, Ringo hurried over and rubbed Lyrule’s back. However, Lyrule wasn’t the only one who reacted to the chime. “Mr. Tsukasa, the dominion troops are acting weird!” Kokubu shouted in alarm from all the way up the stairs to the inner castle. The garrisoned troops had changed with the bell’s ringing. The moment they heard it, all the terrified panic drained from their faces, replaced with emotionless masks. “…o……ect……pro……” “Wh-what’s going on? Why’d they freeze up like that?” “Is it just me, or are they all muttering some—?” “Protect, protect, protect protect, pro, tect, protect…” “““Protect protect protect protect protect protect protect protect protect protect protect protect protect protect protect protect protect protect protect protect protect protect!””” “Eek!” The vacant-eyed soldiers raised their weapons and charged, chanting an out-of-sync mantra. The sheer soullessness of their actions sent primal chills down the Resistance fighters’ spines. When Kokubu saw the fear spreading through his army like a plague… “Don’t go falterin’ now! The bell’s just up yonder! Cut ’em down and keep going!” …he realized that, as their commander, he needed to set an example before things took an unpleasant turn. If they lost ground here, they’d be swiftly flanked before they got another chance to storm the inner castle. He dived into the fray. As the man in charge, it was the right thing to do. “FOR YAMATOOOO!” Kokubu was no Shishi, but he was a skilled samurai in his own right. Even solo, he was still a force to be reckoned with. He cleaved a path through the dominion soldiers, lopping off three of their heads with a single cut. His rousing display of valor renewed his shell-shocked subordinates’ morale. Or at least, it should have. “Wha…?” Instead, they stood petrified by a horrific sight. The beheaded warriors reached out and grabbed Kokubu as they went down. “I-it can’t be! How are they still fighting?!” Kokubu’s expression went stiff with astonishment, but he narrowly managed to wrestle his dominant arm free right as an enemy samurai rushed in to cut him down. He ran his sword through the man’s throat, yet it did not stop his opponent, who brought his blade down upon Kokubu. “Hurgh?!” “““Protect protect protect protect protect protect protect protect!””” “ARRRRGH!!!!” “Commander Kokubu!” After the first slash, the rest happened in an instant. Kokubu, along with the enemies grasping at him, got run through by several swords and spears before vanishing beneath the next wave of soldiers. “““Protect protect protect protect protect protect protect protect!””” After trampling over Kokubu, the dominion force surged toward the rest of the Resistance fighters who’d made their way into the inner castle to try to engulf them as well. No one was issuing orders to the mindless warriors. They simply moved forward with the inexorable strength of a tsunami. The Resistance tried to fight back, of course… “Wh-what’s wrong with these guys?! They’re slicing through their own allies!” “Dammit, I’m cutting and stabbing, but none of it slows them… ARRRGH!” “Ahh-ahhhh! What the hell’s going on?!” …but there was no stopping the onslaught. No matter how the brave people of the Resistance hacked away, their enemies pressed on, undaunted, for as long as they had enough blood in their bodies to move. “Protect, protect, protect, Lady, Mayoi, bell, protect…” “Must, protect, must, protect, if we don’t protect, our lives have no value…” “If we aren’t useful, to Lady Mayoi, we die. We die, we die we die, protect, we die…” All the while, they continued chanting as though possessed. They knew no pain or fear, and there was no repelling them. In what seemed like no time at all, the Resistance vanguard in the inner castle got swallowed up by the fell torrent of death, and when Tsukasa reacted to the disturbance by rushing up to the Toranomon Gate, the hellish scene that greeted him caused the blood to drain from his face. “Please tell me she didn’t—” “Ha-ha-ha! Haaa-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!” Scornful laughter rained down from above. Tsukasa followed the sound to the castle tower balcony… “Mayoi…!” …and saw the Yamato princess resting her elbows on its railing. Her shoulders shook with delighted chuckles as she beheld the carnage below. “What a bunch of total dummies! Like, I can’t even! We’ve got the idiots who went all nutso after I cast a single little spell, and we’ve got the morons who came in like a bunch of fools ’cause they seriously believed they could save them by smashing the bell! It’s idiots as far as the eye can see!” “You used the bell,” Tsukasa said, his eyes burning with fury. Mayoi clapped her hands together. “Ding ding ding! You got it, first guess! I used the bell to give them an order. Make yourselves useful, I told them! Protect the bell! And if you fail to protect it, then drop dead right then and there! Ha-ha-ha!” Mayoi’s proclamation sent a shocked stir through the Resistance. “S-she did what…?!” “W-wait, so if we destroy the bell, then everyone here will die…?” The Resistance’s whole plan had been to save Yamato by destroying the bell, yet their victory condition had been uprooted. And what’s more… “ ‘Everyone here’? Please, you think I’d stop at just the people nearby?” …they didn’t even know how cruel the situation actually was. From his place in the air, Akatsuki was the first to discover the truth. “Ts-Tsukasa, bad news! There’s a whole bunch of people charging through the city, and they’re coming this way!” The thing was, the bell was an artifact with influence over the whole of Yamato, and its tolling had already transmitted Mayoi’s spell across its full range. Now everyone whose veins ran thick with Yamato blood had become a puppet and was being pulled to the battle—soldiers and civilians alike. “““Protect protect protect protect protect protect protect protect!””” The people of Azuchi chanted so loudly that the ground shook as they raced toward the castle. Meanwhile, the soldiers who’d come in through the Bentenmon Gate and gotten blocked off by Ringo’s newly repaired Kigishinomon Gate leaped into action as well. They began using their own bodies as battering rams and throwing themselves against the sealed iron doors. It was clearly a futile effort, yet they continued again and again. Eventually, the soldiers in the back began smashing into the ones in front of them like a pileup on a highway. Skulls were crushed between iron and flesh. Gray matter got splattered every which way, and the soldiers squished it underfoot as they continued throwing themselves at the barrier. Eventually, the sheer pressure was enough to snap the bar latching the gate shut. The doors swung open. With an awful sound, a wave of blood and crushed bits of what used to be human beings washed inside. Akatsuki had to clamp his hands over his mouth to keep from vomiting at the sight. “Oh… Hrrrrrk…” “Akatsuki, what’s wrong?!” Shinobu shouted up at him. “The soldiers down below threw themselves at the gate… And now they’re all squished and pulpy!” Akatsuki lacked the vocabulary to describe the grotesque spectacle adequately, but his description was enough for Tsukasa to comprehend the severity of their predicament. He shouted down to the Resistance members who were still in the middle ring, “The enemies are coming at us from behind! Watch your backs!” Not a moment later, the dominion soldiers who’d broken through the Kigishinomon Gate came charging at the Resistance rear guard. “Ahhhhh!” “Dammit! Dammit, dammit, shit! Stay back! NOOOOO!” “It’s no use! I’m stabbing and slashing, but they just keep coming! What do we do?!” “We fought this whole war because we wanted to save people. We believed we could save people. How did it come to this?!” The Resistance was boxed in, and terror reigned. However, the source of their despair wasn’t the deadly pincer formation. It was that their one hope—the belief that destroying the bell would free their loved ones—had been wrenched from them. That dream was the sole thing that kept the Resistance going, even when they were forced to turn their blades on their neighbors, people who were like family to them. Without it, they couldn’t bring themselves to fight the brainwashed soldiers. It didn’t matter that their own lives were in danger. Not when these mindless puppets were the same innocents they’d sacrificed three years to rescue. All across the battlefield, Resistance members got butchered as they lost their will to continue. The people of Yamato cared so much for their peers, and they were murdering each other. All the while, the culprit behind the grim proceedings laughed from atop her tower. “What’ll it be? What’s the plan, little angels? If you stick around, they’ll eventually squish you flat, but if you smash the bell, they’re all gonna die. Think you can do it? You got the guts to smash it? For the record, I’d be a-okay with that. Ha-ha-ha!” Both her irksome voice and the sneer playing at her lips… “You would have the NERVE to use your people like that?!” …sparked the fires of rage within a certain young man whose respect for the responsibilities of a leader dwarfed all other concerns. “Tsu…kasa…” “Tsukes…” His friends’ eyes went wide. They had all spent a lot of time together, and that enraged roar was unlike anything they’d ever heard from him. His usual quiet composure was nowhere to be found. “Akatsuki, change of plans! I need you to throw every smoke bomb you have into the inner castle!” Tsukasa shouted to the floating magician. Akatsuki looked flustered. “What? But if I do that, then everyone’ll—” “Hurry!” Tsukasa urged. “We don’t have time to argue. Just trust me and do it!” “~~~~~~~!” Tsukasa’s instructions brought two things to mind for Akatsuki: the people he’d watched get crushed under one another’s weight and the throng of civilians gathering in the castle. If that many people rushed chaotically into the castle’s narrow corridors, the casualties would be innumerable. “Don’t you dare die on me, okay?” Akatsuki cried. “If you do, I’m gonna come haunt you!” The prodigy magician did as Tsukasa ordered. All of Akatsuki’s remaining smoke bombs went flying into the inner castle. They immediately burst, flooding the area with multicolored vapor. Up in the keep, Mayoi cocked her head to the side. “Wait, a smoke screen? But if you do that…” …wouldn’t it obscure the Resistance’s vision, too? As a matter of fact, it did. “What’s going on?! I can’t see any—ARRRGH!” “Dammit, just focus on defense! It’s every man for himself!” “What the hell are the angels thinking?!” Confused exclamations sounded from every direction as the Resistance fighters found themselves abruptly robbed of their sight. And who could blame them? Mayoi chuckled at the predictable turn of events… “Ah-ha-ha. Talk about blowing up in your face. What a bunch of dumb—Huh?” …but her laughter came to an abrupt end. Suddenly, three people came rushing out of the rainbow-colored smoke that blanketed most of the inner castle: Tsukasa Mikogami, Ringo Oohoshi, and Lyrule. They had slipped past the dominion forces. “We…made it!” Ringo cheered. “And we owe it to you, Ringo,” Tsukasa replied. “You never let me down. Now come on. We have to hurry!” How had they woven their way so accurately around the dominion forces when no one could see? The answer lay with Ringo Oohoshi. Ringo could always be found with a pair of goggles hanging from her hat, and they provided her with more than just a heads-up display screen. In particular, they analyzed geological conditions and detected heat sources via thermography. By combining that thermography feature with GPS data, Ringo could easily maneuver around obstacles in zero-visibility conditions. She had led her friends through the enemy line. The three broke away from the Resistance fighters and dashed for the main castle tower. Mayoi’s composure remained unbroken at this development, however. She had stationed two of the finest samurai in her army at the entrance to the main castle tower. They were no match for Shishi or Aoi, but they were certainly proficient enough to hold their own against someone of Shura’s caliber. Tsukasa, Ringo, and Lyrule wouldn’t be getting past them. Plus, even if they did, the keep was designed to protect the emperor. It was packed to the gills with secret tunnels and hidden rooms. Mayoi would have no trouble escaping. No blade would ever reach her. As it turned out, Mayoi’s assumption about her safety was correct. Tsukasa, Ringo, and Lyrule weren’t headed for the main castle tower, though. “What?!” The group hurried straight past its entrance without so much as a glance. Their true objective lay beyond, deeper within the palace. They were making for the belfry. “Where do you think you’re going?! Didn’t you hear me?! If you break the bell, everyone’s going to bite it! Are you guys seriously gonna do it anyway?! You’re kidding, right?!” Mayoi was stunned. Given the situation, the notion that the Resistance might prioritize destroying the bell over capturing her had never crossed her mind. “Are you actually gonna do it? Your plan is to kill everyone in Yamato?!” It couldn’t be. Mayoi recalled how Tsukasa had behaved during the dinner party and how he’d denounced her wicked method of governance. Someone that softhearted didn’t have the guts to go through with so cruel an option. “Ah!” A chill ran down Mayoi’s spine. She got the feeling she’d forgotten a critical point about that dinner party, a piece of information more important than anything related to Tsukasa. After she racked her brain, it dawned on her at last. The three people racing toward the belfry had all been present at the dinner party, and one of them, the blond-haired Lyrule, possessed the same pointed ears of the highly magically adept elf tribe that Mayoi did. “I screwed uuuup!” “All right, so we know how Mayoi is keeping Yamato under her thumb,” Tsukasa remarked. He and the rest of the Elm delegation had only recently arrived at the Resistance hideout. “And by that same token, we know our core strategic objective.” “That’s right,” Kira replied. “Without the bell’s power to compel the native spirits of Yamato, she won’t be able to maintain her brainwashing magic. All we have to do is destroy the bell.” “Then the brainwashing will break, and the people of Yamato will get their memories back,” Tsukasa concluded. “Exactly. If we destroy the artifact, we achieve victory.” The way Kira put it, the war they were about to take part in was going to be relatively straightforward. However, Tsukasa had some other thoughts on the matter. “Are you sure about that?” “What do you mean?” “The way I see it, that victory condition you’ve laid out has a gaping hole in it.” Kira gave him a confused look. “A…a hole, you say?” Tsukasa nodded. “From what you’ve told us, the bell is older than Yamato itself. I have to imagine that it won’t be easy to smash an artifact that’s survived through the ages. Or am I wrong? Have you conducted tests and succeeded in cracking it or achieving other quantifiable results?” “I-I’m afraid we haven’t…” “If we want to storm the castle with a force as small as ours, it’ll need to be a surprise attack, which means we’ll only be able to carry light equipment that doesn’t compromise our mobility. We won’t be able to bring anything with any serious destructive punch. If it turns out that our hammers, swords, and grenades aren’t powerful enough to damage the bell, it’ll put us in a deeply awkward position. Even if our diversion on the Amagi Pass succeeds and we get our main forces into the castle, failure to harm the artifact will lead to us being surrounded and exterminated.” What Tsukasa was thinking of was the Rage Soleil war magic Gustav used to attack Dormundt. Despite Ringo’s access to surface-to-air missiles with destructive capabilities that were far beyond any bombs this world had to offer, she still hadn’t been able to destroy Rage Soleil before it detonated. The Prodigies had access to knowledge and technology centuries beyond the cultures of this planet, but magic was the one domain where they came up short. Spells defied logic, and the Prodigies lacked the heuristics to gauge exactly how much of a threat they posed. Tsukasa knew that without exact information and verified facts, it was too dangerous to go up against magic without at least considering everything that could go wrong. That was why he’d questioned Kira’s proposed victory condition. “N-now that you mention it, you’re absolutely right.” Upon hearing Tsukasa’s concerns regarding the supernatural traits that magic possessed, Kira reassessed his assumptions as well. All of what he’d told the Prodigies about the bell—how casting a spell on it would spread the magic across all the spirits of Yamato and allow it to affect a huge area for an extended period—were things he’d heard from Kaguya, a member of the imperial family. The thing was, because the imperial family members were the only ones who knew the bell’s secret, Kira had blindly trusted Kaguya’s words as correct and exhaustive. Now, though, he realized that Tsukasa had a point. If it turned out that physically destroying the bell was impossible, things could turn ugly quickly. After all, it wasn’t as though Kaguya had ever actually tried damaging it. “In that case, it might be safer for us to go after Lady Mayoi rather than the bell.” “Maybe, but I’d still like to destroy the bell if possible. An object with the power to freely control the minds of an entire nation has no right to exist. I have no problems with the bell’s destruction being our primary tactic; I’m only saying that contingencies are never a bad idea. For example…while you’re right that restraining Mayoi is one option, another option is available to us. If the bell works like a massive magic wand that can influence all the spirits of Yamato, then I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t take advantage of that function and make the spirits undo the mind control.” Hibari clapped her hands together. “Ah, I get it. You’re saying that we could fight magic with magic.” However, a pained expression crossed Kira’s face. “There’s just one problem.” “And that is?” “Aside from Lady Kaguya, there isn’t a single person in the Resistance who can use magic.” “Not one?” “I’m afraid so. Because of how few Yamato people are born with magical aptitude and how many are blessed with tremendous physical prowess, our nation has historically placed a great emphasis on martial skill and offered nothing in the way of magical instruction. Of course…now that I know the bell’s secret, I suspect that might have been by design to prevent the artifact from being misused,” Kira explained apologetically. “Then I guess we don’t have much choice,” Tsukasa replied. He nodded, then turned his gaze her way. “Listen, Lyrule, we can destroy the bell, or we can capture Mayoi. But if both of those options become too difficult, there’s a third one available to us—and with your ability to communicate with spirits, I want you to serve as the linchpin.” “Stop them! Someone, stop them before they get to the belfry!” Mayoi all but shrieked the command. The people of Yamato were so physically capable that they generally held magic in low esteem. Furthermore, they hadn’t interacted much with the elf tribe until just recently, during the last Yamato emperor’s reign. There were a lot of reasons why magic played so little a role in the nation’s affairs, but now, that very same fact was coming back to haunt Mayoi. The idea that her enemies might have mages among their ranks should have been obvious, but she’d completely overlooked it. “““””” The two samurai guarding the main castle tower, as well as the pair of ninjas lurking in the courtyard thicket, rushed at Tsukasa’s group with swords and chain-sickles in hand. However, the four assailants never reached their targets. “Ack-chooww!” “Hyah!” Before they could, Shinobu and Shura came rushing out of the rainbow smoke as well. They leaped forward, kicking aside the chain-sickle-wielding ninjas in midair. From there, Shinobu raised a kunai, and Shura her sword, to block the samurai’s attacks. “Yeesh,” Shinobu said. “If you guys are gonna dive in alone, you could at least give me a heads-up first. What if I hadn’t backed you up in time?” “I had full confidence that you would read my play and react accordingly,” Tsukasa replied. “Oh yeah? I mean, you weren’t wrong, but still.” “I beg of you,” Shura cried. “Save Yamato… Save our people!” It was difficult to imagine just how much watching Yamato inch closer and closer to the brink must have pained her. Tsukasa and the others did not respond to the grief-stricken plea with words but with their actions. They turned their backs on Shura and Shinobu and continued the sprint to the bell tower. Then… “Ack!” …a stroke from the samurai cut Shinobu’s kunai in two. There it was—the Yamato iron-cleaving slash. “Wowzers,” Shinobu quipped bitterly as she looked down at the ruined weapon. Its tempered steel had been sliced through like so much butter. “That’s a mean trick. There’s no way I’m beating that.” Shinobu was no slouch in a fight, but her true calling was intelligence-gathering. Aoi was the true combat master. “That said, turning tail and running isn’t exactly an option, either.” “All you have to do is keep them busy. Do what you can to hold out…” “You know I will!” Shinobu was aware of how much the cards were stacked against her, but she stood her ground all the same. Her friends running for the belfry represented hope, and she was going to protect them to the last. She cast aside her useless kunai pieces and drew her illegally modified high-voltage stun gun in its place. Her opponents were puppets who kept on attacking, even with their heads cut off, so she knew the weapon wouldn’t be able to stop them. Even so, the muscle convulsions it caused would hopefully slow them down. Victory might have been off the table, but Shinobu was determined to buy as much time as she could for the others by holding off their pursuers for as long as possible. And it was thanks to Shinobu’s aid that Tsukasa, Lyrule, and Ringo made it to the final hundred feet before the belfry. “No, no, no, no, no…” They’d be inside within the next ten seconds. The blood drained from Mayoi’s face. “Stop them! Someone stop them already! Why won’t anyone just do what I say?!” However, no amount of tantrum-throwing would change the fact that none of Mayoi’s pawns were in a position to obey her orders. She couldn’t catch the trio of Seven Luminaries, and they weren’t going to quit. Despair gathered in Mayoi’s heart. Her enemies would ring the bell, and when they did, it would break the spell she’d cast over Yamato. The people were going to remember everything. They would recall the war they fought with the empire and Mayoi’s betrayal and mind control. Mayoi was going to lose it all… I’m— …and be sent back to what her life was like before Jade rescued her. Her place in the world would die, spelling the return of her old isolated existence. Mayoi had only one word to say in the face of that notion. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” “Lyrule, look out!” “Wh—?” The warning came from Akatsuki, still observing the battle from the highest vantage point. While Mayoi screamed from atop her keep, he’d spied her drawing a small flintlock rifle from within her robe. Before Lyrule had a chance to react, though, Mayoi pulled the trigger… “” …and the deadly projectile lanced forth. Tsukasa immediately dived into the line of fire to protect Lyrule, and the bullet struck him squarely in the heart. Lyrule whirled just in time to see Tsukasa’s body crumple from the force of impact… “TSUKASA!!!!” “I’m fine!!!!” …but he shouted down her terrified scream and remained standing. “My jacket is NIJ compliant. It can shrug off anything up to a nine millimeter FMJ.” Tsukasa drew his own pistol from inside his suit and fired two shots at the castle keep. The first struck Mayoi’s rifle and knocked it out of her hand, while the second sank into her thigh. Mayoi collapsed to the balcony floor. With truly nothing standing in their way… “Lyrule, you’re up!” …the elf girl hurried onward. During the battle against Gustav, Lyrule gained the ability to hear spirits’ voices. Most mages simply issued them unilateral orders, yet she possessed the rare talent to hold dialogues with them. Thanks to that ability, she understood spirits pretty well. At their heart, spirits were basically like kind, innocent children. They had a much simpler understanding of the world than humans did, so they couldn’t communicate anything more complicated than basic emotions, but that was enough for Lyrule to know how gentle they were. That was the major reason she disliked using magic to harm others. Spirits could affect the world on a microscopic level, and magic impressed a mental image on them, forcing the spirits to use their microscopic powers to change the world on a macroscopic scale. Killing a person with magic was like handing a small child a knife and demanding that they stab someone. If you gave spirits an order like that, they would scream out in grief and terror, but with no way to resist magic, they had to obey. Lyrule could never bring herself to do something so cruel. Furthermore, Lyrule’s understanding of the spirits’ gentle natures raised a question. There was something that didn’t make sense to her, and she’d been mulling it over since learning of Yamato’s secret. Why was it that, in a nation so warped, with its people so oppressed, she had never once heard the spirits screaming? Lyrule had spent nearly a month in Yamato, and not once had the spirits seemed agitated to her. Fellow citizens who all loved their nation were being manipulated into killing each other, and she would’ve thought that being forced to facilitate something like that would cause spirits to cry out. How did the kindly spirits remain so unshaken? It didn’t add up. Now that she heard how the spirits screamed for compelling the Yamato people to throw away their lives, it all became clear. It all tied back to what Mayoi had said at the dinner party. “Who wants a bunch of bummer memories about getting raped and pillaged and having their friends and families die? Remembering that stuff would be, like, a major buzzkill.” The Yamato spirits must have sensed the grain of truth in those words. The nation’s peace was false, but they wanted to protect it all the same. In the war three years prior, magic had forced the spirits to participate in the slaughter of Yamato’s populace, and although they hadn’t had any say in the matter, every choice they’d made since then had been for the sake of those very same people. It made Lyrule realize how deeply full of kindness Yamato was. Between the spirits who didn’t want the people to be sad and the Resistance fighting to restore everyone’s lost feelings, it seemed like just about everyone had enough empathy to endanger themselves on others’ behalf—the exact same way a certain village had chosen to take on an entire nation to protect a single orphan girl. And that was precisely why… …this isn’t right. Those with no qualms about making others suffer to sate their greed were wrong. Lyrule refused to let their selfish ways stand, and if there was a way for her to use her powers to stop them… …then I’m going to fight! She was going to do what Tsukasa, the other Prodigies, and Winona and the villagers did for her. Her powers were unusual, a gift from some mysterious voice, but with only one way to answer the cries she alone could hear… …then it’s up to me to do whatever I can! “PLEASE WORRRRRRRRRRRK!!!!” Lyrule ran up the belfry steps and used the great wooden striker like a wand to cast a spell while beating it against the bell at the same time. The native spirits had watched over Yamato for so long. And now, they were free.
Chapter 101
42 min read