The Emperor was making a speech.

She wasn't one for speeches, finding them to be a waste of time when she could just do the work no matter how much Light-Paws stressed that public appearances would help her image. But she needed to draw attention away from everything else that would happen today. So she allowed her court to argue and fuss over everything - her hair, her clothes, her makeup - and rehearsed what she would say. It needed to be decently lengthy, but also not draw on far too long and make it seem like she was just grasping for time.

She was, as always, accompanied by the Shizuki twins when she finally stepped behind the podium to speak. Eiko stood tall beside her, and Kaito and Himoto waited in the shadows. While the three were united in their purpose, Kaito preferred to be the stealthy, hidden blade guarding the Emperor's back while Eiko was the strong and heavy shield at her side.

"People of Kamigawa," the Emperor began, "it has come to my attention that many people are asking what I intend to do as Emperor, and you all deserve to hear it from me. It is just one of the things I owe you after my spark severed me from our home for so long."

Doctor Selestri Zlovol's office was located in the foothills of the Sokenzan mountain range, hidden away from where most would find it on the way to Sokenzanshi. From the ground, the Order of Jukai were already using their magic, pulling from the Jukai Forest, to tear apart security mechs and open up the building for their Jundian allies for this fight.

"Strike swiftly and leave no Futurist alive!" Shigeki directed his Order as they breached the building's defenses. "Rescue what prisoners you can!"

The Warren of Dragons struck from the sky. Using Goro-Goro's summoned lightning dragons, they landed on the roof and began tearing into it, intending to meet the Order of Jukai and the Jundian warband halfway down.

"Smash everything!" Goro-Goro had told his akki. "No tech left, no mech left!"

"My goal is simple," the Emperor said, her voice loud and clear thanks to the microphones. "I dream of a better, safer Kamigawa for all of its people. Not merely the Imperial Court and our citizens, but those who have had their rights stripped away by my predecessor, those who are moving to our plane, and those who are traveling through it. Every kami, nezumi, akki, human, orochi, ogre, nantuko, soratami, kappa, and even oni deserves to be safe and respected."

The Sungrip Enforcer Academy in Eigan Town, about as far away from Eiganjo itself as you could get, was the number one provider of cloned enforcers thanks to their seemingly endless cloning machines. Cloning machines that one Reckoner in particular was more than happy to smash.

Unlike the other attacks today, this was a quieter infiltration mission. Redlash and Matona, two Dokuchi Reckoners, led some other Dokuchi as they slipped into weak points in the building, shorted out security cameras, and knocked out anyone who tried to stop them.

Redlash's body ached. He was a deteriorated clone, he knew better than anyone the fate that all clones - even ones early in the process - faced. And he wanted to ensure that clones like him were treated better than they were now, used as fodder for an endless war against Kamigawa's own people.

"Much of my time has been spent going through the laws of Kamigawa, which are written opaquely and with plenty of room to allow the most malicious and rich to use them for harming others. Bills that are passed 'for the betterment of Kamigawa' have lines in them that remove more and more protections from the average person. To get some of these protections back, to not die at the hands of enforcers encouraged to kill, people are then pushed to join Reckoner gangs. Is it any wonder, then, that the Reckoners hate the Imperial Court so much?"

Kaizen Tsuji and Satoru Umezawa were leading the Reckoners - Dokuchi and Hyozan both - attacking the Hayashi Omenpath Stronghold. Kaizen's many years spent infiltrating the Hayashis and serving them meant that he knew every gap in security. That gap in security was large enough for Karahaka, Kami of Empty Graves, to break into for their long-overdue vengeance, for both the Reckoners and Innistradi captured and tortured to death by the Hayashis through the years.

"Let the kami through first!" Satoru shouted to his Hyozans. "No bathing in blood, make it quick and don't get distracted!"

No such warning was passed to the Dokuchi by Kaizen, because he knew that they would follow it regardless. He was in his own enforcer armor, now with orange detailing instead of red, and was at the front of the fight near Karahaka to help protect the other Reckoners as they struck the relatively lightly-manned stronghold.

"Kyodai Omikami chose me to be your Emperor. I intend to live up to her expectations of me, but even more than that, I intend to re-secure the rights of Kamigawa and its peoples." The Emperor pressed a hand to her chest. "I had yearned for many years to come home. I will do everything within my power to become the Emperor that has been needed."

The shadows were darker today. That, of course, was on purpose.

Koda Hayashi stepped out of the shadows, pulling Prince Biilziebub and Vasro Hayashi with him. Haruko, the Kami of Restless Shadows, was not far behind. The four of them remained utterly silent as they moved through the halls of the Hayashi Manor. They had two targets and one goal - elminate Yuna Suzuki and Ichiro Hayashi, then get the hell out.

All over the city – no, the plane – people were still fighting the invaders and their compleated friends and family. Greasefang and her Okiba Reckoners had taken point as the main defenders once the Imperials fell, and the Mukotai and Dokuchi Reckoners were teaming up with the Futurists to slip past enemy lines and rescue those that they could. The Hyozan Reckoners... Satoru didn’t know how many of his Reckoners were still in their right minds.

He took a deep breath and darted back through the streets of Towashi, striking Phyrexians as he passed to draw them away from others fighting for the sake of Kamigawa. Keep moving, don’t stop, don’t let them corner you. This was how Satoru had lived this long, so he stuck to that theory until he couldn’t force himself to keep moving any longer.

Satoru pressed his back to the outer wall of one of the few buildings in Towashi not overtaken by metal and raised his sword, trying to catch his breath and count the Phyrexians closing in on him at the same time. A glance upwards revealed more Phyrexians waiting on the nearby rooftops.

One of the compleated Kamigawans, once a Mukotai Reckoner based on what few tattoos remained on what was once skin, stepped forward to fight Satoru. Satoru raised his sword, bracing himself for the worst.

A roar echoed out, and a spirit in the form of a dragon plowed through the Phyrexians surrounding Satoru. An akki in pieced-together samurai armor darted past the Phyrexians. Another dragon spirit burst forth from the akki’s lightning-cloaked sword, latching its maw around the Phyrexian Reckoner’s arm and tearing it and the sword from the monster’s grip.

Satoru lunged, his tattoos flaring to life, and drove his blade into the throat of the former Reckoner. He followed the body down to the ground and tore his blade sideways through the metal and flesh. The akki summoned several more dragon spirits from the lightning of his blade, sending them after more of the Phyrexians, and stopped by Satoru.

“All good?” the akki asked, perhaps a little louder than he needed to.

“I am now. Thank you for the save.” Satoru straightened up and rolled his right shoulder. “I am Satoru Umezawa.”

“Goro-Goro, disciple of Ryusei!” Goro-Goro raised his sword, and the dragon spirits circled around the two as the Phyrexians were sent running.

Ryusei. The previous incarnation of Atsushi, if Satoru was remembering right. Perhaps the akki still called the dragons by the names of their previous incarnations? Whatever the case may be, Satoru knew better than to turn down help, regardless of how strange that help was. “Shall we continue bringing the fight to them?” Satoru offered. Goro-Goro nodded excitedly, raising his sword. The dragon spirits shot off after the retreating Phyrexians.

Satoru felt himself grin as he and Goro-Goro followed them. Maybe, just maybe, Kamigawa stood a chance of surviving this.

Day 182

July starts cursed art.

Long Goro.

Short Goro.

Gudetama Goro Goro (Lazing Around)

The Omenpath had been guarded for a while now, with each vampire-demon that came through easily obliterated by the combined guard of akki and Dokuchi Reckoners. Goro-Goro had three dragon spirits summoned alongside his lightning, Zenkuro’s sais had been cleaned from his most recent kill already, and Haruko ensured that the dark of the night was their shield rather than their downfall. And back behind them were others who could aid – Azzie, Ruby, Dusk-Fur, Redlash, and the Warren of Dragons were ready to step in if needed, and Atsushi was a mere shout away. They had already fought off multiple transformed vampires that came through, but they could tell that something big was coming.

Goro-Goro brandished his sword and drew upon the mountain’s mana, feeling the energy course through his veins like it always did. He masked it from the others, but he could feel himself weakening. He had been holding the line solo before Azzie, Ruby, and Zenkuro got there. And even now, he was the strongest of them, able to destroy their enemies from the moment they stepped from the Omenpath.

Another trio of vampire-demons came through, and Goro-Goro raised his sword to draw more lightning into it once more. Zenkuro and Haruko beat him to the punch, however, by tackling two of them. Dusk-Fur beat him to the third vampire-demon by kicking it in the face. He let out a sigh of relief and lowered his sword. His kidneys ached from the magical strain he was experiencing. He had been holding the Omenpath since it opened, but even now that he had allies to guard it, he didn’t want to let his warren down.

“Another coming through!” Zenkuro bellowed, raising his sais and sliding into a fighting stance again. Goro-Goro took a deep breath and brandished his sword one more time.

The thing that came through the Omenpath was more bat than vampire, but it stood almost as tall as Zenkuro and had a pair of arms separate from its wings, in which it brandished a flail. Black mana poured off of it, a disgusting taste of swamp and cavern which made Goro-Goro’s mouth go dry. A bloodletter, according to what Azzie had told him about Torrezon’s foes that were coming through the Omenpath. But something was wrong.

Something was very wrong.

As Goro-Goro brandished his wakizashi to call down the lightning of Ryusei, he felt his scars from the Phyrexian Invasion a few years prior split open. His breath caught in his lungs, and he heard the other mortals behind him hit the ground and cry out in pain. Just the mere presence of this beast made Goro-Goro’s blood drip from his scars.

Zenkuro let out a roar that shook the very mountain they stood on and launched himself at the enemy, catching its flail in one hand and yanking it from the monster’s grasp before catching its hands. Haruko appeared from the bloodletter’s own shadows, gripping its wings in her skeletal limbs and planting her foot against it to try to rip the wings from its back.

Goro-Goro gasped for air and brandished his sword. He called not on lightning – he didn’t have the mana for that – but on the dragon spirits he had already summoned. One of the three charged in and, thankfully, bit the bloodletter’s head clean off in the same moment that Haruko ripped its wings from its back and Zenkuro ripped its arms off.

“Good job, Goro-Goro!” Zenkuro called over his shoulder as he continued to rip into the bloodletter. He had taken to tasting their foes, as most oni would.

“Good,” Goro-Goro managed to get out. He was swaying on his feet, the ground swirling under him. “Good. Keep holding line.”

He dropped to his knees.

His wakizashi hit the ground a moment before he did.

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