The glowing orange cylinder moved slowly yet steadily forwards destroying all in its wake. Chunks of the ancient stone flooring flew through the air as the samurai Hasami grew ever closer.

The plan I had mustered together didn't take this possibility into account. We had an indestructible and very angry sphere of razors blocking our path to the stairs. Surely he must grow tired with such excessive use of his ember?

No, he was too dangerous to rely on evasion. We could lead Hasami into the tighter corridors and try having him topple the building on himself, but then we would have to find another way into the great hall with the passage blocked. Not to mention that if we brought the noise any closer we could wake dozens of samurai all with orders to kill us.

Hayato was the first to speak as he dodged the flying rubble and backed away from the slow-moving orb. "What now?"

All I could emote with was a shrug as my mind raced for a solution. Hasami would surely have to take a break from using so much power at a time, but he was still wearing that armor. Armor like the metal manipulating samurai wore was harder to stab and slice into than a boulder was. Sora couldn't shoot his arrows towards him. I couldn't find anywhere with my sword. Anzen and Hayato seemed like our best bet.

As the glowing orange orb began to dim, we could all see the heaving body of armor. I shouted as our opportunity showed itself. "Anzen, Hayato!"

Hayato, face pale from using his ember so much, nodded as he raised his hand. A portal formed under Hasami, another over.

The armored samurai fell and kept falling. Continuously gaining momentum. We'd burst him out of there like a chestnut if nothing else.

With enough momentum, Another portal opened facing the stone wall leading to the courtyard. Hasami went flying through the portal, but in a flash, he was surrounded in orange light once more. He went cleanly through the stone and shot into the dark courtyard of the palace, eventually losing momentum and coming to a halt towards the outer gate.

I looked toward my companions. We may have not killed him like I had hoped, but the twins had at least opened us up one other option. "Run!"

With the samurai Hasami still barely picking himself up in his heavy metal armor, we all ran towards the stairs. He may have been indestructible and viciously deadly, but he wasn't fast. We could lose him if we got up the second flight of stairs. It was our only option.

We ran with haste up the old and creaky wooden stairs. Hasami would surely search for us, but it bought us time.

As we all got to the second story, I looked around the large and comfortable room, in the middle was a railed off space open to peer at the great hall below. Everything looked near untouched, which meant that foot soldiers most likely weren't allowed beyond the first floor.

Good, no need to be worried about waking more sleeping samurai.

I quickly waved for the rest to follow as I opened one of the multiple sliding doors. A peak and I saw no one, so we entered. The room we had walked into was a simple nook. A shelf of texts next to the sliding door that had to lead to the second story balcony. Old woodblock paintings hung on the walls depicting the elder dragon and various other creatures and locations.

As we all caught our breath, a metal clunk clunk clunk could be heard stomping up the stairs. "Great." I heard Anzen mutter under his breath.

Hayato went from his hands on his knees to standing proper. "Let's just avoid him. We're quieter, and we're quicker."

Sora counted the arrows in his quiver as he commented, "It would be completely unreasonable to think our adversaries would neglect to put a guard routine on the higher floors. If we simply evade we could find ourselves in an even worse situation."

I shook my head at Sora. "Although you're most likely right with the guard situation, we need the twins and Lee to catch their breath if we're to have the upper hand."

Lee spoke in a hushed tone as the clunking got to the top of the stairs. "I can still fight, and I'll beat him as long as he doesn't do the ball of light thing."

I opened the door to the second story balcony as Hasami's armored footsteps grew too near for us to stay any longer.

As we stepped onto the wooden balcony, I took a moment to look at the view once so familiar. You could see the ocean town I had met Hayato at. The village and temple I had grown up in at the base of Mount Fuji. Kamakura shining brightly at the horizon. The entirety of the once-great Nihon laid bare in front of my eyes. Once shining bright and bountiful. Now dark and infested with demonic foulness.

A sigh escaped me as I turned my head.

We quietly stepped down the old wooden balcony as my mind counted names. The shield brawling samurai Eizo would certainly be either on the second or third floor to protect the Shogun. Other than that, I didn't offhandedly know what samurai could be waiting for us. The Doctor was almost certainly in the main bedroom with Amaterasu. The Shogun was unpredictable. If he couldn't have the best then he would surely aim for the second most comfortable, which would be the spare bedroom towards the third-floor stairs.

Soon the footsteps grew quieter, allowing me to continue salvaging my plan...

He's unhittable. He's angry, and he'll follow us anywhere... He'll follow us anywhere.

Finally gaining a bit of direction in my step, I continued down the balcony towards where the next set of stairs should be.

Hasami was smart enough, he would know we were heading for the stairs and try to meet us there when we reached it. If we could get to the third story before him... Well, I had a plan that would most certainly get him out of our hair.

Our walking turned to a jog and our jogging turned to run. Eventually, it all came to a halt once we reached the end of the creaky old balcony. With a swift tug to the sliding door, I revealed the old hall. At the right of said hall was the set of stairs I had been counting on.

Looking down the other end of the hall I saw the armor-clad man now running as speedily as he could towards us, which to say the least was not very fast. My hand waved for the others to come as I ducked from the balcony to the stairs, hastily stomping up. We would need all the height we could get.

Once I had gotten more than halfway up the stairs I heard a strangely familiar metallic ringing. It echoed around the stairwell, leaving me confused about where the sound was originating from. What I did know at least was that turning back wasn't much of an option with the chasing ball of death.

As I finally reached the last few steps I had a full view of the third floor, where I saw what that sound was coming from. The shield bearing samurai Eizo's shaking arms glowed with the same overwhelming power that showed when he had charged his attack. His arms sprung forward as soon as I was in sight, the force of the shockwave sending me straight backward.

Dammit, he must have heard us. No matter, we would just have to avoid him and continue our plan. Eizo wasn't extremely lethal with his blunt-force attacks, and Lee could easily keep him at bay.

Or, that was what I originally thought. I realized that my plan needed more revising as I grew closer to the wall-like part of the roof that dropped down, separating the lofty stairwell from the roof of the second floor. As impact was imminent, the walls seemed to change. They turned like someone took a wet painting and drug a brush across the canvas. This created an opening that allowed for my continued fall.

The architecture shifted with malign sentience to keep me going as far as possible. My hands grasped every ledge within reach, yet my weight would always bring me falling again. I flew through the air to the other end of the second floor, luckily there weren't any windows to throw me out of so I simply hit the far wall with a solid thud. Force eventually brought me back down to the ground. The impact, as was usual for Eizo, was relatively soft. There was no extra force to the shockwave, merely the force of gravity switching directions for a brief moment or two. The landing was even easier with the few times I was able to grab on to my surroundings and slow my momentum, still far from pleasant, but easier.

The real problem was that I had become separated from the rest, not to mention the walls were twisting like someone had slipped something potent in my morning tea.

While my surroundings looked like some sort of mirage, I felt completely in balance and focused somehow. I knew it couldn't be mind-altering, therefore. The walls really were conspiring against us through some Ember.

I took a few cautious steps forward as I looked ahead. The others had already gotten off the stairs and were moving towards me, most likely using the twins' portals to get out of their entrapment.

Seeing them brought me to move forward more hastily, which was a bad decision. At that moment I was at the large entrance to the second floor. Open space, a vaulted ceiling, and a railed off section in the middle to look down to the first floor or up to the third. As I got close, the rails warped inward, creating a much larger and open hole in the middle of the room. I immediately jumped backward, letting myself fall on to my backside to counteract the momentum I had accumulated. The hole kept growing, only allowing me time to slide back.

As I looked down I saw a familiar foggy gateway. With just enough time to get my feet under me, I immediately jumped forward and into the portal.

Coming out the other end, I was reunited with my companions. The problem of being separated was solved for the moment, but the walls still spun and we were still being chased by both Hasami and Eizo.

As I silently took a headcount, I noticed Lee was missing. I looked past the others and saw him down the hall, fending off Hasami, who was back to slicing with only one or two extra swings. I knew it most likely wouldn't be long before he went back to his indestructible state, but for the moment we had the advantage.

Running farther into the hallway, I opened the door to the opposite side of the balcony and shouted Lee's name. He gave a quick and shallow blow to Hasami's leg before turning back and running towards us. Eizo was missing, which made me uneasy, but we couldn't spend any amount of time searching for him if we wanted to move along before whoever twisted the palace had a new idea to throw us back to the first floor.

We jumped into the room and looked around. I instantly recognized the small room to be the second-floor sauna. A large stone structure sat in the middle of the room where extremely hot rocks would be put to create steam. Hasami was surely behind us, so I took no time to wander.

I pulled out my sword and stabbed it between the wooden boards of the sauna, bursting through the walls and revealing the next room. Hayato and Lee caught on and also started using their swords to break the boards apart. Those without swords moved furniture to the door to prevent entry.

With just enough space, I began to climb through the hole, only to have the walls seize up and clamp against my waist. Increasing pressure pushed against my sides as Hayato and Lee grabbed each end, trying to ease the tension. With a yell, I squirmed out to the other side.

"Damn it," I muttered as I watched the opening quickly clamp shut. It didn't matter where we were, the ember wielder could see us. He apparently didn't have enough strength to crush bone, but I don't think that was truly his intention. The real meaning of that attack seemed to be separating me from my companions yet again.

Although it wasn't initially part of the plan, I made the best of my situation. I jumped over the small desk of the office I was in and got close to the paper and wood door. Hasami breathlessly ran past me and towards the sauna where the others were.

As I heard him pass, I jumped out of the room and swung my sword toward him. I stabbed, but just recently being nearly crushed takes a bit out of your precision. And for the armor he was wearing, if you weren't perfect in your strike it would easily bounce off.

With my sword bouncing off his back, Hasami turned and took his turn swinging at me. Luckily, I was able to jump back and immediately started running. He followed me, so at the very least I kept my group from being ensnared in a room with the hurricane of sharp objects.

As he chased me he turned into a ball of firey orange anger once more. And of course, as I ran down the hall Eizo came out of one of the rooms he was previously searching, blocking my path up the stairs.

If I could just get to the stairs, I would win. The rest would know to leave the palace and regroup if I went missing. And I could easily face the Doctor and Shogun myself. But not if I was hit by another shockwave of Eizo's.

If Eizo got to me, he would push me straight into Hasami. I looked from side to side. The walls still shifted and moved, the doors still opened and clamped shut like hungry maws waiting to sink their teeth into me.

If I tried to escape to another room, I would get stuck and be left to the mercy of the raging samurai. If I went forward, I would simply be pushed back and be met with the same fate. Hayato and Anzen already created one portal to get me out of the last trap, and I remember seeing in their faces that they had no more energy left in them. Sora's arrows would be useless against Hasami and Lee couldn't approach even when his back was turned. And that was assuming they would even have time to get into the hall and figure out what was happening.

With no other option, I charged forward like a cornered animal, most likely because I was one.

I jutted my sword as far forward as I could, but Eizo put his shields together as he had before and blocked my attack, sending a wave of energy as he did. I went flying backward, straight to Hasami. With all the strength and determination in my body, I grabbed onto the frame of one of the shifting doors. My death grip indeed held my weight, but what I didn't take into account was which direction the door slide open.

I fell downward as it swung and I felt a sharp pain in my left foot.

Looking down, I could see toes and heaps of flesh scatter in every direction.

A shriek left my mouth as I swung my right foot upward, swinging my body enough to heave myself through the door and into the room too fast for the palace controlling samurai to react. I fell sideways and through the paper walling, falling more until I hit the wood walls at what had to be the end of the hallway. Gravity came back into effect and left me back on my feet. Or, foot.

With a piercing pain like I hadn't felt before, my left leg gave and I found myself on the floor.

Quickly pushing myself to my knees, I looked back and saw that where my left foot was, nothing more than a mass of gnarled flesh and copious blood remained. I slowly lifted myself to my feet while murmuring to myself. "No time for pain. No time for pain. No time for- SHIT!" With the slightest amount of weight, my left leg would scream at me. The pain shot all across my body as I closed my now watering eyes.

My katana stabbed into the ground as a makeshift cane while I hobbled over to the sliding door and the balcony. It jerked back and forth like the others, but this time I had the moment to take my sword and cut through the paper.

I moved as quickly as I could onto the balcony as I glanced at the glistening blood trail behind me. It was like someone had upturned a bucket and flung red paint all across the room.

My head shook as I forced myself to continue down the balcony towards the stairs. Nothing could stop me. I just had to keep my mind on Amaterasu. On my mission.

Hasami burst onto the balcony in front of me, Eizo at his side. My companions burst onto the balcony behind me, most likely following the screaming and blood.

I kept walking towards Hasami as I shouted to the twins. "Do it!"

Hayato shouted. "We can't!"

"I said do it!"

Hasami grew closer as a foggy portal slowly materialized under him. Just like before, he fell and kept falling. Except this time, he wouldn't be thrown into an object.

It didn't matter how strong his sword was or how much he could cut through or how untouchable he was, a sword is only so durable, and the more you cut through the weaker it gets. He would have a lot of cutting to do if he wanted to ease his momentum like last time.

I simply pointed my finger to the horizon, and the twins figured out the rest. The ball of orange energy shot through the sky like a comet, flying far into the distance down Mt.Fuji. No matter how much he tried to cut his way into the earth to slow his descent, he wouldn't be surviving a fall like that unless he learned to fly.

Once the portals closed, I looked back. Hayato and Anzen were both on their knees gasping for air, bloody noses and sunken eyes. I shouted to Sora and Lee. "Get them to safety!"

With reluctance, Sora took the heavier Hayato over his shoulder as Lee grabbed Anzen and began to shuffle back to the first floor.

Hasami was gone. Next was Eizo and then whoever was controlling the palace.

Eizo looked fatigued. He had used his strongest attack twice in quick succession now. He thought he could kill me, but all Eizo had done is leave himself too exhausted for his Ember's assistance.

I wanted to lean against the balcony's railing, but that was far too easy for the palace manipulating samurai to take advantage of. So, I simply endured the debilitating pain as I stopped leaning onto my sword and moved it from my left hand back into my right.

Eizo walked forward as I neglected to move on my still bleeding stump.

A jab came to the left. I moved to the right too far and had to grab the railing. As predicted, it started moving with me, urging me to fall to the ground below.

With a push, I threw myself back to Eizo, grabbing his arm with my off-hand and swinging my sword with my other.

He quickly swung around me and under the blade to dodge to my right. I still barely had ahold of his arm and he was quickly overpowering me. Since he had turned on his arm, he forced himself to get between me and the now open part of the balcony.

I knew Eizo was too stubborn to die from such a fall, but I had no other option. Sorry friends, but you'll have a gift when you leave the great hall.

My right arm was already extended far left from my swing, so I simply brought it back as forcefully as I could and hit the shield brawler in the back of the head with my elbow as I let go of his arm with my other. Eizo shouted as he fell to the ground below.

There wasn't anything the palace manipulating samurai could do as I limped to the stairs and started climbing.

I had finally reached the third floor as I heard a coughing noise from the room beside me. The spare bedroom. The Shogun.

Hobbling over, I slid open the door to reveal the Shogun coughing up purplish-black blood. His face pale white with large lavender veins beating all throughout his neck and face. The fat man clung tightly to his missing arm, concealing it from the light. The soft pillows around him were thickly coated in dry blood. He-

My thought process ended abruptly as the door was shut closed by the ember wielder that controlled the palace. Along with the door closing, I felt a stabbing pain in my back. I couldn't swing my sword without moving my lumbar, and with what had to be a knife lodged in my back so close to my spinal cord, it would be like playing with fire. Instead, I opted to throw my elbow back, hitting whoever was behind me.

They let go of the knife, allowing me to turn and look at them. The person who stabbed me was not what I had expected.

What looked to be a thinly framed girl in her teens stumbled back as she clutched to her jaw. She shrieked as she jumped forward, hands outstretched and coming to grab me.

She grabbed on to me and attempted to push me off my feet, almost succeeding in doing so even with what little weight she had.

I was forced to brace myself with my left hand as I dropped my sword with my right. I grabbed her head and pushed her to her side, bringing the thin girl to stumble closer to the stairs. And with an ounce of reluctance, I kept pushing against her with all the weight I could lend until the child was sent down the stairs. She bounced down each step before she hit the bottom, quickly pushing herself up and clutching to her leg. Throwing a young girl down a flight of stairs and most likely breaking her leg wasn't something I suspected Amaterasu would've wanted, but I had dealt with enough shit for a single day.

The walls shifted back into their regular place as I limped farther down the halls of the third floor. Hopefully, the girl knew when to turn tail, but I wasn't risking staying long enough to find out, even with the Shogun in my grasp. My determination was still as single-minded as when I saw what had happened to Amaterasu.

I had enough experience to know that you never pulled out a lodged knife unless you were ready to deal with a lot of blood, and with how dizzy I already felt from what was left of my foot, I knew it was best to leave it.

Only five more steps, I couldn't let my leg give out on me yet. Four more. Three more. Two more.

Even using my sword as a cane, when I put weight on the bleeding stump of my leg, it gave way and collapsed.

I toppled to the floor but forced myself to get back up. I was too damn close. I had to keep her away from the deranged Doctor.

One more step and I was at the master bedroom, slowly sliding the door open I saw Amaterasu's naked remains laid untouched atop two desks put together to make a table. The old man had just begun to take the different tools and syringes of strange fluids out of his bag.

The Doctor stopped what he was doing and combed a wrinkled hand through his frayed white hair as he turned with the same smile as he always wore.

"Ah, my dear friend, Kenshi. It seems you made it just in time..."