Blade Kittens vs. Yamada Brothers

Sporting Event / Competition

Maxim and Ryūzaki Sanosuke arrived back at their seats in the tournament stands just in time to see the first two clans take to the field. These next matches were to make up the semifinals and determine which clan teams would be competing for the title of champion. For this match, Ryūzōji Kagetada and Yagyū Jūbei represented the Silver Meteor Storm, or Ryūzaki Clan, on the left. Across from them, brothers Yamada Arinaga and Yamada Arinobu stood for the Shimazu Clan. Both were known to be onmyōji and had previously brought their familiars onto the field with them. The two Wani standing behind those siblings were not, however, quite the same team which had accompanied them the first time.   This discrepancy didn't go unnoticed by either of the Cardinal Generals watching from different spots in the stands. Hadn't there been some kind of enormous, jellyfish-style yōkai hiding in the canal when the Shimazu brothers fought yesterday? Sanosuke was informed by perceptive Motoyama Tsugutoshi, while Maxim relied on his own senses to look for the creature. Indeed, there it was, lurking as a dark spot under the water of the northern canal. The Silver Meteor Storm team received a mental warning that they would be facing a total of five combatants, but since the jellyfish had not seemed too important a force in yesterday's match, little more came of it before the match began.

While the two teams prepared and the Mōri box made announcements, Maxim shared some snacks and drinks with his companions in the stands. Indeed, he had brought so much sheer bounty with him that he'd had to enlist the aid of a small Castillan errand-boy. This lad, an oddity in Japan but no less odd than the rest of Maxim's day, was named Jesús Fernández. It was a name that Maxim would no doubt never hear again as he sent the armored kid clanking back to Shimonoseki's markets. For Haures, he'd procured a particularly large, juicy chunk of meat. It was Maxim's hope that such an offering would blunt her teeth when she inevitably chewed him out for his absence that afternoon. Even before receiving the prize, however, Haures didn't seem particularly upset. As she cast her slitted eyes over Maxim, all she commented was that he seemed to be spending his time away from her more wisely, then went immediately to the feast.   By then, the two clan teams below had finished their preparations and now readied themselves. Kikkawa no Myōkyū called the start of the match with her usual enthusiasm, prompting a flurry of activity. Despite their skill, it was neither of the Kensei on the Ryūzaki side who seized the first move, but rather Orinoko, the wani behind Arinaga. She took on a defensive posture that Jūbei, at least, recognized immediately as prepared to defend either of the onmyōji, should they be attacked. Kagetada, by her feline reflexes, had the upper hand next, but chose instead to let her partner take the lead. Meanwhile, Kurasame slipped away from Arinobu, taking advantage of Kagetada's hesitation to seize the land bridge at the center of the canal. Then a chance for Jūbei to act finally arrived.   Hopping around to the other side of Kagetada, the diminutive, pink kensei began gathering energy for a special technique. As her powerful life force built up inside, it spilled out into the arena around, filling the sands with a howling demonic presence, unseen yet promising death to all who opposed Jūbei. Unlike when Honda Tadakatsu had performed the same maneuver, the killing will was not directed at everyone present, so the audience remained uneffective. Kurasame, however, found her limbs utterly paralyzed with terror. A predator fiercer even than a great wani had its eyes on her, flattening her will and pinning her in place. Arinobu and Orinoko, too, showed signs of terror rushing ice-cold through their blood, while the remaining combatants merely shook it off.   With one quick motion, Jūbei hurled her ki-charged katana through the air like a darting swallow. Orinoko attempted to knock her charge out of the way, but was moments too slow. Time seemed to crawl to a halt as the lethal blade sped straight toward Yamada Arinaga's unguarded chest. The handsome young onmyōji, however, called upon some henceforth unseen samurai training. With a complex parry that would meet even Miyamoto Musashi's approval, he cut Jūbei's flying blade out of the air, suffering only a brush with its deadly edge as it shot into the rock wall behind him and shattered. When he was safe once again, however, Arinaga slumped his shoulders and began to breathe heavily. That skillful maneuver had obviously taken most of his energy to achieve.   Now that Jūbei had made the first move, Kagetada followed it up. Padding up to Kurasame's frozen form, she wrapped the wani's arms in the chains of a kusarigama and dragged her back to where Jūbei still stood. Picking a hefty rock, broken off from a pillar in the fracas of a previous match, Kagetada carefully wrapped the other side of the chain around it and lifted it with effort. In a striking display of strength an accuracy, the neko-kensei threw her rock up into the air, taking the chain and Kurasame with it. Accompanied by a splash of water, the stone landed in the canal just north of its land bridge, leaving Kurasame's paralyzed body just about where it had started.   Jūbei, the Yamada Brothers, and the crowd all stared at Kagetada in stunned silence. She, however, obviously felt no need to explain her actions. Perhaps they had indeed achieved the desired effect as, with a yelp, Yamada Arinobu scrambled back to the opposite side and hide behind a rock wall. Or, perhaps, he was still terrified from Jūbei's domineering presence.   Regardless, the way was now open for Jūbei to act again. Putting the ki now into her hands and feet, she conjured a shimmering katana formed from pure energy even as she sprinted with matchless speed across the bridge. A fountain of water heralded Jinkari's arrival from the depths, but the ambush failed to stop Jūbei, who dodged the tentacle and continued on her way. As the impish swordswoman arrived at Arinaga, Orinoko was still too off-balance to prevent what happened next. Two sword strikes cut through that handsome onmyōji's feeble defense and carved the life from him. Arinaga's severed arm flipped into the air as his body fell dead to the ground. Not far away, Jinkari let loose an awful scream as her master's shared pain overwhelmed her through the familiar bond until she, too, flopped into the water as a lifeless heap.   If Orinoko was rattled before, her fair features were now contorted in terror. She lost her composure and yelled for her master, Arinobu, to concede the match before they met with the same fate. From behind the low wall a few feet away, the other brother waved a feeble surrender with a paper charm as a white flag.   Mōri Motonari did not hesitate to call the match in favor of the Ryūzaki after that clear concession. Before Sūhai priestesses could take the bodies away, however, a commanding voice rose in protest from amongst the western stands. Niiro Tadatsuru, who had wrested the title of Daimyō from her husband, was standing and demanding that this unfair match be overturned. It was far from reasonable, she accused, for Ryūzaki Sanosuke to have exchanged one of his champions for that monster, Yagyū Jūbei, without any notice.   Rather than argue that claim, Motonari countered by stating that indeed, it was unfair. That was why she had allowed Tadatsuru's team to compete with three familiars, rather than one per onmyōji as had been previously established. Now aware that all eyes were on her, the lady Niiro seemed as though she was going to explode into violence for a brief, cutting moment. Then, the fire in her eyes died down, and she expressed her woe about losing that particular gamble. Sitting back down, she ordered Yoshitaka Hitsuie to serve as her stool, which he did without complaint.