The Deciding Strike
The Emperor was making a speech.
She wasn't one for speeches, finding them to be a waste of time when she could just do the work no matter how much Light-Paws stressed that public appearances would help her image. But she needed to draw attention away from everything else that would happen today. So she allowed her court to argue and fuss over everything - her hair, her clothes, her makeup - and rehearsed what she would say. It needed to be decently lengthy, but also not draw on far too long and make it seem like she was just grasping for time.
She was, as always, accompanied by the Shizuki twins when she finally stepped behind the podium to speak. Eiko stood tall beside her, and Kaito and Himoto waited in the shadows. While the three were united in their purpose, Kaito preferred to be the stealthy, hidden blade guarding the Emperor's back while Eiko was the strong and heavy shield at her side.
"People of Kamigawa," the Emperor began, "it has come to my attention that many people are asking what I intend to do as Emperor, and you all deserve to hear it from me. It is just one of the things I owe you after my spark severed me from our home for so long."
Doctor Selestri Zlovol's office was located in the foothills of the Sokenzan mountain range, hidden away from where most would find it on the way to Sokenzanshi. From the ground, the Order of Jukai were already using their magic, pulling from the Jukai Forest, to tear apart security mechs and open up the building for their Jundian allies for this fight.
"Strike swiftly and leave no Futurist alive!" Shigeki directed his Order as they breached the building's defenses. "Rescue what prisoners you can!"
The Warren of Dragons struck from the sky. Using Goro-Goro's summoned lightning dragons, they landed on the roof and began tearing into it, intending to meet the Order of Jukai and the Jundian warband halfway down.
"Smash everything!" Goro-Goro had told his akki. "No tech left, no mech left!"
"My goal is simple," the Emperor said, her voice loud and clear thanks to the microphones. "I dream of a better, safer Kamigawa for all of its people. Not merely the Imperial Court and our citizens, but those who have had their rights stripped away by my predecessor, those who are moving to our plane, and those who are traveling through it. Every kami, nezumi, akki, human, orochi, ogre, nantuko, soratami, kappa, and even oni deserves to be safe and respected."
The Sungrip Enforcer Academy in Eigan Town, about as far away from Eiganjo itself as you could get, was the number one provider of cloned enforcers thanks to their seemingly endless cloning machines. Cloning machines that one Reckoner in particular was more than happy to smash.
Unlike the other attacks today, this was a quieter infiltration mission. Redlash and Matona, two Dokuchi Reckoners, led some other Dokuchi as they slipped into weak points in the building, shorted out security cameras, and knocked out anyone who tried to stop them.
Redlash's body ached. He was a deteriorated clone, he knew better than anyone the fate that all clones - even ones early in the process - faced. And he wanted to ensure that clones like him were treated better than they were now, used as fodder for an endless war against Kamigawa's own people.
"Much of my time has been spent going through the laws of Kamigawa, which are written opaquely and with plenty of room to allow the most malicious and rich to use them for harming others. Bills that are passed 'for the betterment of Kamigawa' have lines in them that remove more and more protections from the average person. To get some of these protections back, to not die at the hands of enforcers encouraged to kill, people are then pushed to join Reckoner gangs. Is it any wonder, then, that the Reckoners hate the Imperial Court so much?"
Kaizen Tsuji and Satoru Umezawa were leading the Reckoners - Dokuchi and Hyozan both - attacking the Hayashi Omenpath Stronghold. Kaizen's many years spent infiltrating the Hayashis and serving them meant that he knew every gap in security. That gap in security was large enough for Karahaka, Kami of Empty Graves, to break into for their long-overdue vengeance, for both the Reckoners and Innistradi captured and tortured to death by the Hayashis through the years.
"Let the kami through first!" Satoru shouted to his Hyozans. "No bathing in blood, make it quick and don't get distracted!"
No such warning was passed to the Dokuchi by Kaizen, because he knew that they would follow it regardless. He was in his own enforcer armor, now with orange detailing instead of red, and was at the front of the fight near Karahaka to help protect the other Reckoners as they struck the relatively lightly-manned stronghold.
"Kyodai Omikami chose me to be your Emperor. I intend to live up to her expectations of me, but even more than that, I intend to re-secure the rights of Kamigawa and its peoples." The Emperor pressed a hand to her chest. "I had yearned for many years to come home. I will do everything within my power to become the Emperor that has been needed."
The shadows were darker today. That, of course, was on purpose.
Koda Hayashi stepped out of the shadows, pulling Prince Biilziebub and Vasro Hayashi with him. Haruko, the Kami of Restless Shadows, was not far behind. The four of them remained utterly silent as they moved through the halls of the Hayashi Manor. They had two targets and one goal - elminate Yuna Suzuki and Ichiro Hayashi, then get the hell out.
This was a Reckoning that was long overdue. For Ayame Hayashi, for Benkei Oda, for every person killed by the Hayashis directly or by the Saiba Futurists that they funded.
