"Get on with it, Noketsuna," Ninyu said irritably.
Michi ignored him. Staring into Takashi's eyes, he searched for understanding. He found the Dragon.
"I stand at a fork in the path of honor. Whichever way I walk, I abandon some of my honor in the course of fulfilling my honor. This is the lot of a samurai. My lord Minobu understood this. I now see as he saw." Michi raised the sword into jodan-no-kamaeguard. "I am samurai, loyal to the Dragon. I, too, serve the Combine."
The Coordinator stared unflinchingly into his eyes. Michi steadied himself, reaching for the center of his haraand drawing strength. Calmed, he was ready for his death, which seemed inevitable this day.
He spun and charged Subhash Indrahar.
The move seemed to catch everyone off guard. The ISF agents failed to respond. Michi closed half the distance before Ninyu drew his pistol, another quarter before the man fired. Michi spun under the impact of the heavy slug, but managed another step toward the chair. His right arm hung limply at his side, blood pulsing out from his shoulder and pouring down his sleeve. The world was edged in spinning fireworks, but he still held the sword in his left hand. He took another step forward.
Ninyu fired again.
This time the pain flared in fire from his belly, disrupting his haraand shredding his resolve. He had gotten farther than he expected. No longer able to feel the sword in his hand, he wondered if it was still there. Tumbling backward, he slammed his head against the hardwood floor. There was no strength in his body and he felt his life pumping from him. His vision dimmed.
One of the ISF agents stepped forward. Slinging his Shimatsu, he retrieved Michi's sword from the floor, but did not attack. In the pause, Takashi knelt by the the fallen Michi and touched the warrior's brow. "He was a true samurai and understood giri.His loyalty to the Combine is stronger than yours, Subhash."
"He was loyal and loyalty is a great strength, but his understanding of giriwas shortsighted, as you yourself pointed out to him, my old friend. He could not be expected to see the grand vision I work to attain. For you, I had greater hopes."
Takashi stood, his face was hard. "I am sorry to disappoint you."
"I am sorry as well."
"Will you announce that he killed me?"
"It would be a convenient story, but not one that would serve the Combine. To make public the story of the Coordinator's death at the hands of a Combine citizen would only weaken the Combine. Theodore will believe such a story, though, and he will agree to announce that you died in your sleep. You have had a long and full life, Takashi -sama.I wish you well in the next one."
The chair made another quarter-turn and began to roll back into the hidden room from which it had come.
"Agent Wilson." Ninyu addressed the agent with the sword. "Make the strike clean. Noketsuna was a master of the sword, after all."
Wilson bowed and, turning to Takashi, raised the sword high.
27
Takashi did not wait for the man to strike. Snapping a low kick, he shattered the other man's kneecap, but the effort cost him. He grunted involuntarily from the pain in his own wrenched knee. Being samurai, he put aside the fire in his leg and snatched the sword from the collapsing Wilson. The ISF agent's head left his body under the edge of the blade.
"No guns!" Ninyu called. "He must die by steel. First squad."
The agents who had entered with Ninyu slung their automatic weapons and drew swords from the scabbards lashed to their backs. Steel whispered against lacquered wood, the only sound in the chamber. The Coordinator raised the sword high over his head and slowly lowered it into chudan-no-kamaeguard.
"A blade is too good for dogs such as you, but the curs are many and I but one. Come and die."
A burly agent, deceptively fast for his bulk, rushed the Coordinator. Their blades rang in belling parries until Takashi slid his sword along the agent's and turned the edge, slicing the man's neck as he withdrew. The dead man fell, a soughing moan coming from his slit windpipe.
The first encounter displayed the Coordinator's weakness to his opponents; Takashi's wrenched knee limited his movement. A second agent stepped up to fence at long range, trying to draw him out. Takashi stood firm, refusing to fall for the ploy. Instead, he sucked the agent into a trap of his own. Letting the agent's sword pass through his guard, he took a blow on his do.He had seen the lack of strength in what the agent had obviously intended to be a feint. The unexpected success of her unparried blow opened the agent to a counterstroke. Takashi's sword took her in the belly, gutting her. A second stroke cut upward across her torso and flung her back into her companions.
The others became more cautious and began to circle Takashi. He held his ground, keeping his back to the fallen Michi. The agents could not come at him that way without tripping over the body.
Two closed together, striking high and low. Takashi pivoted on his weak leg, dropping low as he did. The first agent's sword met his steel and the second's whistled over his head. Blade to blade, Takashi heaved himself up and threw his opponent back by sheer strength. The other agent's sword sliced through his kimono, scoring the flesh of his right arm. Takashi's single-handed return stroke caught the overextended agent on his own arm, but it bit deeper. The agent's sword clattered to the floor and he staggered back, spouting blood.
The first closed again and Takashi barely managed a parry. They exchanged a rapid series of blows, their blades a chiming gamelan of sound. To maintain the initiative, Takashi was forced to advance. With a sudden, sharp ping, the agent's sword snapped. Takashi ran him through with a quick thrust. Shoving the open-mouthed agent off his sword, Takashi retreated to his original position.
"Second squad," Ninyu said.
Five more swords were drawn as agents moved to reinforce the single survivor of the first squad. Ninyu stood at the edge of the room and watched. Takashi was tired, his swordsmanship beginning to falter. Even if the second squad was inferior to the first, they would likely kill the Coordinator.
Shouts echoed in the garden.
Ninyu cursed, and Takashi smiled. The agents stopped their advance. The closest backed away a step, retreating to a safer range while they looked questioningly to their leader.
"I will hunt you down," Takashi said.
Ninyu shrugged in exaggerated nonchalance. "You have no evidence, Coordinator. This was undoubtedly an attempt by a dissatisfied faction of renegades. Perhaps it was the work of Davion infiltrators. There will be evidence to that effect." His eyes kept darting to the garden entrance. "Let the matter go. Even you must know that the Combine could not survive if you decapitated the ISF at this point in history."
Takashi's voice was cold and unforgiving. "We have survived traitors before."
"The ISF serves the Combine, not the Kuritas. Who are the real traitors, you glory-bound samurai?"
Takashi took a step forward and his voice trembled with rage. "I will kill you myself."
Ninyu laughed at him. "If I thought that you would live to see another day, I might be concerned, Coordinator. But you will reap what you have sown, for you will die at Jaime Wolf's hand. A fool's death."