Shouting came from the room beyond us as the battle began. "For the sleeping dragon!"

Anzen remarked as we prepared ourselves for what was ahead. Replying to stress with sarcasm as he usually did. "Sleeping dragon? That's a bit of hopeful thinking, isn't it? I myself would pick a more grounded shout."

I looked over to Anzen while still keeping my attention on the criminal, seeing if he was going to prioritize us or the military. "I don't think now is the time to discuss warcries, Anzen!"

"Oh please, we have plenty of time as long as the sour-faced one doesn't make any bad decisions." Anzen gestured to the former inmate. "I say we let the Elder dragon worshipers do our job and once everyone is nice and vulnerable we-"

Anzen's thought was cut short as we all simultaneously noticed a strange ringing sound, followed by a metal clang.

Before any of us realized what it was various table knives and other silverware tore through the cloth walls of the tent's room and right past us. One cut into my shoulder, but not deep enough to worry over until our fight was over. This had the be the work of the gravity Ember wielder we met before. The shield brawler.

Luckily, a shout sounded from where the metallic clanging came from. A criminal must have started attacking him, buying us time.

Looking behind me, I checked on Hayato, Anzen, and the criminal. All were fine, but the criminal looked as though he was ready to kill anything that didn't take to his liking.

I raised my hand to him. I didn't want to cooperate with this man in the slightest, but we had too many problems on our hands. "We've got Ember wielders waiting for us just beyond these sheets. It's in your best interest to let us deal with these men before you start killing us, yes?"

The criminal just stared at me with a furious look about him. With one hand, he adjusted his lush kimono and with the other, he twirled his long and sporadic beard. We waited, but he still refused to respond. Only slowly taking his hand from the straps of his kimono to his belt, where a small knife was barely visible.

My eyes drifted from the criminal to Anzen, who was creeping ever closer to the leader of the Elder dragon worshippers. I could tell he was preparing to grapple the man if he were to pull out his knife, but once he saw that I was looking at him he raised his eyebrows in a questioning manner, asking me a silent question.

The criminal was nothing but a problem, and I already knew what decision he would make, so I gently nodded my head, giving Anzen a silent answer.

Without giving the criminal a chance to unsheathe his blade, Anzen jumped on top of him. He pinned the arm reaching for the knife with his foot as his hands wrapped around his neck.

I considered shouting at Anzen, commanding him to stop. But even though I only knew Anzen for about a week, I could tell he wasn't the type to take things farther than needed. He was a good person, just one that had been dragged through the dirt. Hayato was as well, but Anzen seemed to have taken more responsibility, causing him to cope worse, and him doing that for Hayato was a true show of quality. So when situations like this came, I knew he wouldn't unnecessarily kill him.

A moment of struggling and the criminal's eyes shuttered closed, and as expected Anzen let go of the man once he was unconscious.

Anzen stood and looked towards my feet. Curious at what he was observing, I looked as well, even though our time for preparations were running short.

Once I looked downward, I noticed the small orange glowing owl I had forgotten about. It shined brighter the closer it hopped over to me.

I kicked towards the bird, causing it to jump backward. Someone had been tracking us with this their bird-like Ember since we left the Shogun's palace.

The bird seemed like it was only there to observe, not to attack, so I dismissed it. The Ember wielder must be giving the more offensive one's information through it. And while that would have been a problem earlier, we were already found out.

I walked past the owl, one hand gripping tightly to my sword while the other finally opened the drapes, revealing dozens of bodies on the ground. Most were the Elder dragon worshippers, others seemed like the Ember wielders escorts, even the women lay dead on the ground. The Elder dragon worshippers probably bested the nameless samurai with their ferocious and primal manner of fighting, but the Shogun's men had the Ember wielders on their side.

How many Ember wielders were there? In the brief moment I had opened the drape and looked into the large entrance room of the tent, I noticed the corpses, the shield brawler gasping for breath, and two other samurai that I didn't have enough time to inspect further. None of which had turned their head yet, still preoccupied with finishing the last of the criminals.

But that brief moment of taking in my surroundings was gone as the samurai finally turned and faced us.

I looked to my left where Hayato stood, holding his sword steadily. Anzen was to my right raising his fists, preparing to fight.

Anzen was the first to run forward, taking on the shield brawler, which was the best option for him. The shield brawler had an especially strong defense against swords and blades but was weak against being grappled and having his defenses torn through with hand to hand combat. The other two Samurai looked at the shield brawler for a moment, possibly deciding on whether to approach us or assist him. Eventually they dismissed him and started walking towards Hayato and me slowly.

With the gravitational samurai occupied, Hayato and I would have to try our best against the two new Ember wielders. While Anzen started trading blows with the shield brawler on the right, I inspected the samurai on the left of the three as we all slowly grew closer.

This samurai seemed to be in his late thirties. He wore plush and comfortable clothing. A large robe over a thick and warm kimono. His hair was long and pulled back into a bun, revealing his plump and cleanly shaven face. Around his neck were several golden chains. Golden bracelets were around his wrists and golden rings were on several of his fingers. The weapons he held in his hands were two golden decorated knives drenched in blood. He carried a strong air of pretentiousness and narcissism. Although he seemed harmless, he wouldn't have been sent by the Shogun or survived the Elder dragon worshippers if his Ember wasn't a powerful one.

The next samurai was thin and pale, looking like he was on the older side of his twenties, although his seemingly frail body would make him look younger to a less observant eye. His hair was greasy and matted to his cut and scarred face, almost completely covering his uninterested eyes. He wore a large and simple cloak that hung loosely over what had to be a very thin frame. I could see no weapon in his hands or sheathed, although it was quite possible something could be hidden underneath his cloak.

Hayato seemed like he couldn't decide who he wanted to fight, but it seemed the decision was made for him, and thus, for me as well.

The thin and grungy man raised his hand and in a moment one of the corpses on the ground rose to its feet. It didn't push itself up, just simply rose, like a marionette puppet. The puppet moved its body sporadically as the thin samurai moved his hand. The corpse swung its sword back and forth at Hayato, who easily jumped backward and started cutting into the corpse, seemingly doing nothing to it.

While my attention was on Hayato, I failed to notice the plump samurai make his way over to me. Once I caught him in my peripheral vision, it was too late. The samurai threw one of his knives at me, which missed terribly. I held my sword tightly as I ran forward to face him, but I came to a stop when I heard something whisp through the air behind me.

Turning my head, I was able to see his golden decorated knife flying back to its master. I ducked as the flying blade just barely missed me.

So his Ember has something to do with having control over something, but what was he manipulating specifically?

I decided I had no time to think it over, as he was already preparing to throw another guided knife. As I got close to him, I pulled my sword back, ready to strike. But before I was able, I felt a strange force pulling against me.

Without time to react, my own sword was stripped from my hand. It floated in the air for a moment, then started swinging at me. I jumped right past the samurai in an attempt to dodge my own katana attacking me.

Is it metal? No, or he would've taken Hayato's sword from him as well.

I jumped around the large center area of the tent as the sound of shockwaves hitting Anzen and Hayato slicing through meat.

An unexpected noise started rumbling from around me. I looked around the room and tried to find where this noise was coming from, all the while jumping away from my own sword.

The room was full of short wooden tables and plush cushions to sit on, which I had been constantly jumping on top of and off of while dodging my katana. It seemed this is where the Elder dragon worshippers ate and did most of their trading. Plates of food and silverware were everywhere, but none of it shook or moved, so it couldn't be the source of the rattling noise. Some tables had objects that they must have been selling or buying, other tables had scales and were covered in gold coins... Gold coins.

That was it. Golden decorated knives, the golden jewelry, and my golden accented sword. The samurai's Ember had to have control over gold, which meant that the gold coins in the room had to be the things rattling.

As soon as I figured it out, the coins all lifted and flew toward me. The was no way I could dodge such an onslaught. All I could do was lift my arms around my face and take the gold coins pelleting me.

While I was stunned, the gold manipulating samurai took his opportunity and sliced me across the stomach with my katana. I shouted in pain as the gold coins continued.

Once the attack finally stopped, I jumped off the table I was standing on, just barely missing another swipe from my sword.

The Ember wielder was gasping for breath when I looked at him again. It seemed it was more taxing the more objects he moved, so I doubted he would try his coin attack again.

The sword flew backward, and I knew it would soon slingshot back to me. He must have been trying to stab me, ending the fight before he grew too tired.

I looked around. I wouldn't be able to dodge forever. I had to find a way to get my sword back and kill him. There were nothing but tables too heavy to pick up and use as shields and cushions that couldn't protect me from anything.

The sword flew forward as I got an idea. I bent down and grabbed a tablecloth, quickly throwing it into the air, sidestepping, and catching the blade. My sword cut through the tablecloth at first but came to a halting stop once the hilt met the cloth.

I jumped over the table and started running forward. The force at which he controlled the sword was strong, but I was luckily able to overpower it.

The gold manipulator frantically threw his knives towards me. One cut through my side while the other lodged into my thigh, but I couldn't stop, I couldn't cease my momentum. The golden samurai was only a few steps away from being able to hit.

I lept forward, using both hands to swing the cloth forward, using that momentum to swing my katana through the air, slashing through the fat samurai's chest.

He clutched the gaping wound and released my sword from his control. Before he could regain himself, I picked my sword out of the cloth by the handle and stabbed through his gut. The samurai breathed one last short breath as I sighed. "Shit."

I felt my leg, the knife still stuck deep inside. Taking it out would be a bad idea, but the urge was near irresistible. That was far too close. I thought to myself

After my brief moment of rest, I looked around.

Anzen wasn't doing well against the shield brawler. The shielded samurai punched upward, using his shockwaves to juggle Anzen in the air, barely giving him time to land before he was hit and thrown to into the air again. He was using his strange gravity shockwaves at much faster intervals than before. My guess was that he exhausted himself last fight by breaking down the door, and Anzen underestimated him at his full power.

The shield brawler used one last shockwave to throw Anzen into the air before his arms started to glow with an orange light once again.

He bashed his shields together, completely shifting the gravity around Anzen. I assumed he must have chosen to change his gravity to upward once I saw Anzen become engulfed by the fabric ceiling of the large tent. Struggling only entrapped Anzen further. The shield brawler jumped upward and pulled Anzen's katana from its sheath, preparing to give the final blow.

I started to run to his aid, but the pain from the knife in my leg kept me from moving. There was nothing I could do but helplessly watch.

Anzen shouted as a foggy portal opened next to the shield brawler. "Hayato!"

Hayato turned his head, saw the portal and instantly opened his own, and before the shield brawler could stab Anzen, Hayato jumped through the foggy gate and out the other end at the opposite side of the room.

The shielded samurai dropped the sword and raised his shields, protecting himself from Hayato's instant attack.

It would only be a short while before gravity would return to normal for Anzen, and I knew the both of them could take the shield brawler. But since Hayato had teleported away, that meant there was nothing between the undead puppeteer and me.

The necromancing samurai walked over to me at a leisurely pace, his puppet bouncing strangely beside him.

It was strange seeing such a twisted power come from an Ember, but Embers were mostly how the users conceptualized them. This power may have been meant for controlling lifeless things like mannequins or suits of armor with no wearer, but there was nothing stopping him from controlling a lifeless corpse, and since Amaterasu had gone missing, no one had to worry about their Ember being taken from them, so they could do whatever they wanted.

He continued walking as he pointed forward, commanding the puppet to go ahead of him and fight me.

The corpse half-hazardly swung its sword at me, which I blocked with my own. It swung again, and I easily blocked it once more. It was relentless but predictable, and after a few more blocked swings along with a few more swings cutting me, I had its pattern memorized. Once it raised its arm to swing, I instead attacked, releasing its head from its neck. The body fell limp to the ground, but the grungy samurai was nowhere near finished. Another body simply rose from the ground and started attacking like the one before it.

I was able to kill the puppet after a few attempts, but now the samurai was eerily close, and I knew I couldn't handle attacks from both the undead and the samurai. I had to surmise a plan, and quickly.

Another of the many corpses started rising as he kept walking. I would have to act before the puppet got to its feet, and I only had one option.

In my most idiotic plan yet, I grabbed the knife from my leg. I wanted to scream in suffering, but I stifled it into a long and pained grunt as I fell to one knee. Before the samurai shook off his confusion, I threw the blade at him, praying that it would actually hit its mark.

It didn't hit his chest like I had hoped, but it did implant itself into his shoulder, and luck along with an educated guess at his personality did the rest.

He shouted in pain and anger, releasing control from the corpse and sprinting towards me, and as I noticed earlier, he didn't have a weapon. In his fury, he grew too close, and I was able to swing my sword across his legs.

I wasn't close enough to get a good hit, but it was enough to make him stumble backward.

Behind me, I heard another metallic clang. As I turned, I saw both Anzen and Hayato flying towards me. Hayato tried grabbing onto a table but weighed too much and slipped off.

They flew past me and past the injured samurai, eventually having effects wear off and sliding across the floor.

I shouted to the twins as the necromancer samurai finally regained himself from his anger and started raising another puppet. "I could use some help here!"

Both quickly pushed themselves up to their feet and started to run towards him. Before the undead or the grungy samurai could attack, the shield brawler yelled at him. "We can't take them! Fall back!"

The necromancer samurai shouted back. "But Eizo!"

the shielded samurai, whose name was apparently Eizo interrupted him. "No! We have to leave!"

The grungy and thin samurai glanced at Hayato and Anzen still running toward him and reluctantly started fleeing.

Hayato and Anzen looked like they were going to catch up, finish this fight. But before they did, something unexpected happened. The orange glowing owl flew from the room we had left it in and disrupted the twins. I had completely forgotten there was another Ember wielder somewhere. After a quick search around the room, I caught a glimpse of the outside as Eizo and the thin Samurai exited, and outside there was a young boy sitting atop one of their horses. His eyes glowed orange as he stared blindly into space, the same orange glow of the owl's eyes and tinted feathers.

Once Hayato and Anzen shooed the bird away from clawing their eyes out, it was too late. The bird flapped out of the room as I heard their horses gallop away.

Anzen sighed as Hayato noticed my bleeding leg. He spoke to me as I took another of the many tablecloths and tied it around my wound. "How are you feeling, Kenshi?"

I replied honestly as I finished the knot. "I feel like shit."

Hayato nodded. "That's about how I feel as well."

Looking over Hayato, I noticed he was cut into much more and deeper than I first thought. Anzen was terribly bruised and bleeding from the nose. It looked as though it was a struggle for everyone involved.

We all looked at each other for a second in silence. The first to move and break the silence was Anzen, who walked over to one of the tables and took a plate full of sushi and started eating from it. "I don't think they need it anymore."

Following his idea, I searched the nearest table and took the most untouched plate of food I could find.

Hayato didn't take from the tables, he instead ran into one of the rooms in the back of the tent. Quickly popping his head out, Hayato shouted to us. "They've got food back here!"

With him saying that it made me realize what I had been attacked by earlier. Gold coins littered the ground after our fight. I limped over and started picking them up and stowing them away in my pockets.

Anzen playfully scoffed. "I suppose we'll make it out of here with some money after all."

I replied as I continued to collect the coins. "The intricacies of trade, dear Anzen."

We ate as much as we could and counted all the gold we could find, which was a disappointing number after calculating how much we would lose after replacing our now torn and tattered clothing along with getting the proper supplies to close our wounds. But it was more money than we left with, which was better than leaving empty-handed.

We slowly started making our way out of the tent after discussing what we would have to buy once we made it back into town. I had my shoulder around Hayatos shoulders to keep myself from putting weight on my leg, and while hopping to the entrance, I saw Anzen's sword laying on the ground.

"Don't forget your katana, Anzen."

Anzen looked down to the sword, and instead of picking it up he loosened the straps to his kimono, letting his sheath fall to the ground. "Actually, I've only had bad luck carrying a sword. I'm better off without it."

I nodded as Hayato spoke his thoughts. "You know, I sort of feel bad for that guy we left back there."

With a brief chuckle, I replied to Hayato. "The man that almost killed me in prison? I would consider him lucky, especially with all the karma built against him."

"Well, now that you put it that way I guess you're right."

We made it out of the candlelit tent and into the night. Our long journey to Mt.Fuji was only in its infancy, but we had already come across multiple bumps and near death situations.

I had a feeling the rest of our trip wouldn't be much different.