As his soldiers loaded more ryo no me into the catapults, Hukama watched the palace from on high. The roof of the machiya—a small local dwelling—atop the hill was the perfect vantage point.

The palace burned, and the wall was taking heavy damage. His forces were nearly ready to occupy the structure entirely to make sure the Emperor would not force an extended siege. Sneaking a few dozen of his best samurai into the palace had been easy. But now he needed to take the building.

Bellow in the warrens, a massive riot still raged—a distraction for his soldiers to move about unhindered for a time.

The warning gongs hadn’t even being struck yet. His agents had been successful, then. My strategy requires the utmost swiftness to be successful.

The six catapults were nearly ready to hurl more balls of the fiery shot across the dwellings of Yukai City and into the palace wall, at the City Barracks and on various other targets vital to the defense of the city.

Their contact in the city was delivering more of the infusion on short notice just in case they didn’t have enough to breach the wall.

But they did.

Behind Hukama, his engineers filled their ryo no me shot with the substance to help burn their targets to cinders.

Thunder echoed across the city from the west. They had no catapults in that direction. Hukama swept his gaze across Yukai City, saw the explosion and the fire, followed by a plume of smoke.

It seems they’ve had an accident dealing with the compound he had contracted for...

A random dwelling near the guild quarter. Hukama, the legendary general and First Spear of Daixen shrugged. He had already procured what he needed from the Unseen Watchers, a gang guild that cared nothing for the city it operated in, so long as they were paid. They were nothing more than a virus—a plague of this city. Once he took control, he would have to remove many of these unwanted, discordant elements that made nations so weak—so easy to take by conquest if one had good spies.

“Continue the bombardment,” he commanded of his generals. “We must leave this location soon before the Mikuma Imperial forces realize what is happening.”