A faceless Ronin

I ground the whetstone along the edge of my katana as it sat over my knee. In truth, it didn’t really need any more sharpening, but it helped settle my nerves.

The enemies that had haunted my mind for so long. Today was the day we faced them.

“Are you nervous?”

I looked to my right, where Ryou stood with her arms crossed and her back against the door frame.

“How could I not be?” I replied, going back to grinding the sword and stone. “I’ve been on the run for three years, but this? This is above anything else I’ve ever done. We basically declared war against the most powerful people in the country. If I wasn’t nervous I’d be a lunatic.”

I smoothed the sword off and returned it to its sheath. The time had almost come.

“You two ready?” asked Fujiko, appearing from the other room. Nabiki stood behind her, and just like Ryou, neither of them were wearing their cloaks.

“I’m all set,” I said, getting to my feet and tightening the belt that held my sheath.

“You’re… still gonna wear that, huh?” Fujiko sounded a little disappointed as she noticed I was still wearing my own black cloak.

Since stealth would be no issue, I could have probably left it behind. But after thinking it through, I had decided against it.

“I… think it’s best I keep it on. For better or worse, this is who I am now. Not a magical girl, not a samurai. Just… a faceless Ronin.”

The other three looked awkwardly between each other, but none of them argued. This was a personal matter. It didn’t invite any discussion.

“…there’s little point sitting here discussing attire.” Ryou strolled towards the door and put her hand on the handle. “Our enemies are at hand. Let’s not keep them waiting.”

With a silent nod, the four of us stepped out of the door together to face down our greatest challenge yet.

***

The streets around the arena for our fight were barren, all traffic to the area having ceased after the building itself was abandoned. Not a single light was on, and glass from the shattered windows still lay on the ground around the perimeter.

That arena was, of course, the opera house where Ryou and I first met Z and W.

“Christ, the place is a bloody tip,” said Fuji, as we entered through the busted front door.

“Damn place was a warzone a month ago, whaddyou expect?” I responded. We walked towards the middle of the seating area, scanning around the whole building in case our enemies were lying in wait.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, but if it’s been a month surely they could get someone to come cl-”

Ryou, Nabiki and I turned to find Fujiko stopped dead on the spot. She was looking around the room frantically, as if she was expecting something to jump out.

“Fuji?”

“...this place has been abandoned for over a month, right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“...then why the hell is the damn thing still electrified?”

“Ooooh, we got a smart cookie with us today! Good observation, honey!”

Every speaker in the opera house blared at once. And though we couldn’t see a face, every one of us recognised the voice. It was Z.

The spotlights turned on and focused on us all at once. It was almost blindingly bright.

“Look at this, W! On today's menu, four silly little magical girls, naive enough to take on powers they don’t even understand. Why don’t you take the first bite, lovey?” cackled Z.

Premonition.

“Nabiki, watch out!”

I reached out to push Nabiki aside, and I just about managed to prevent a fatal wound. But I was slow. W’s skewer sank into her side.

“Ah-!” She lost the wind in her lungs and sunk to the ground

W retracted her blade and fled back into the shadows with incredible speed. Even with my perfect night vision, she was impossible to spot.

“Bastard…” I knelt down to look at Nabiki’s wound. It wouldn’t kill, but it was bleeding badly. At the very least, she wouldn’t be able to fight. “Z, you damned coward, fight us face to face!”

“Oh, I have every intention to, darling. But four against three? That just isn’t fair, is it? We had to do something to even the odds a little. Ha!” She broke out into a fit of crazed hysterics. Damned lunatic.

Though, I was more worried about a little detail she slipped in. Four against three. Not two.

They had a third.

Graviton was there.

“Toki, my dear. These types are unlikely to settle for incapacitation. They will aim for a fatal strike on Ms Aino.” Ryou drew her sword and faced away from us, covering the area facing the stage.

“Yeah, I know.” I took my own Katana from its sheath and watched the back of the seating area. “Guess we ain’t moving from this spot.”

Nabiki tried to move, but yelped in pain and clutched her bleeding side. It must have been agony.

“My fir- ah-!” she cried out again. “My… first time fighting with you all… reduced to dead weight…”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Fujiko sighed as she held up the ridiculous slab of metal she called a sword. “But you saved Toki’s ass before. We’ll say this makes us even, yeah?”

“I…” Nabiki almost seemed like she wanted to argue, but the blood leaking from her abdomen seemed to change her mind. “...I see. I’ll do what I can to assist.”

“Don’t worry your pretty little head, dear girl,” said Ryou, “I’ve been waiting for this chance. Assistance won’t be necessary.”

The three of us stood circling Nabiki, perfectly still and silent. No twitch of a muscle. No heavy breathing. Just pure focus and anticipation.

…

Premonition.

“Fuji!”

“Got her!”

From the very top of the enormous domed roof, Z fell straight towards Nabiki, her massive hammer held over her head. If Fuji had reacted a second later, Nabiki would have been a red paste on the floor.

Instead, Z was sent sailing away from us, Fuji’s magnetism outputting an immense force on her metal hammer.

Z wasn’t deterred.

She kicked off the railing of the upper balcony and launched herself towards Fujiko. Fuji hand-springed backwards, barely dodging the hammer that blew apart the ground underneath her.

Z used the momentum of the slam to throw herself back up in the air, this time coming down on Fuji with a sledgehammer. The head was non-magnetic. Fujiko had no choice but to dodge, or engage.

She chose the latter, jumping towards Z and clashing in the air. The two weapons collided with immense force, sending both parties careening away in opposite directions.

“Fuji-!”

Premonition.

I just barely leaned my whole body backwards in time to avoid being decapitated. W had seen that my attention was on Fuji. She seized the opportunity and nearly took me out in one clean cut with her enormous cleaver.

The dodge was clumsy. I wouldn’t be able to avoid the incoming stab from her other arm.

“Must I do everything for you, dear girl?”

Ryou parried away W’s skewer, then almost split the girl in half with her longsword. W ducked the first swing, sidestepped the second and countered the third with a stab.

W’s stab grazed Ryou’s side. Ryou’s cut sliced W’s cheek.

Neither blow was serious. Neither fighter was rattled.

W slinked back off into the shadows without hesitation. I followed her intently with my eyes, intending to pursue. She wouldn’t get away this ti-

Jump!

I barely cleared the monumental swing from Z’s enormous hammer, followed by Z herself coming to a stop a few steps away.

She spun on the spot, her weapon changing to a warhammer that she swung from the bottom of its handle. Her reach was extended enough to slam my body as I fell. I was sent flying into the opposite wall.

I slid down the wall, and the moment I touched the ground I was saved by another premonition. W’s skewer embedded itself in the wall next to my head. Her speed was greater than I had ever seen it.

I frantically kicked her away and sliced straight upwards with my katana.

She caught the upward slice between two sais, trapping my sword and stopping my attack. Before I could react, she pushed my sword up and stabbed at my throat with her left sai.

“Oh no you don’t!” W barely leapt backwards in time to dodge the heavy downward cut from Fujiko. I could just about see the rage in her eyes through her visor. “Keep. Your. Hands. Off. Of. Her!”

With each word she pressured more and more, slash after slash, each one so powerful that parrying was not an option. All W could do was keep dodging backwards until her back neared the wall.

Z threw herself towards her pressured teammate. In a single bound she drew close enough to Fuji to aim her metal bat at the back of her head.

An attack that I had seen coming.

My katana pierced cleanly through her body, the end emerging from the other side. It had been a complete leap of faith. Had I timed it a moment wrong, Fuji’s skull would have crumpled like a house of cards.

But even though I had gotten the timing right, my blade did not emerge covered in blood and viscera. Nor did I feel the softness of flesh as it pierced.

No. It was solid all the way through.

“You… can’t be serious…”

“What, cat got your tongue, honeybun?”

Z kicked me away with immense force, my back colliding with the wall again as I desperately held onto my sword.

My head span, but my sight was still straight enough that I could make out the horrifying sight in front of me.

Z threw off the clothes covering her top half. But underneath it, there was no human chest or abdomen.

From waist to neck, she was fully cybernetic.