The Sorceress' Revolt -
Ko Eiji's Story
Author: Toriumi Jinzō
Translator: Ainikki the Archivist
Part Four: The Way of the Dragon Slayer
“I wish to avoid pointless killing. Show yourself,” Tanshi called into the mist.
No response.
“I think you overestimate my patience.” Tanshi waved his staff, causing piercing light to shine through the mist. In moments, the mist dissipated as if it had never been. Bright sunshine illuminated the area through the tree canopy overhead.
“Ha!” A burst of movement, and then another, then another: Tanshi was surrounded by several weak sorcerers. They charged forward with swords drawn. All of them had their faces covered by black hoods.
Tanshi took up a fighting stance. It seemed that these weak sorcerers were better at using weapons than magic. That didn’t bother Tanshi. He’d been practicing the staff since childhood, long before he ever saw magic.
“Don’t be foolish,” Tanshi said to the weak sorcerers.
The weak sorcerers converged on Tanshi as a unit, attacking all at once with loud war cries.
Tanshi remained silent and waved his staff one-handed.
The wind howled, bringing the sorcerers within range of the staff. One by one, but at great speed, Tanshi lunged with his pewter staff, striking the end of the staff into each sorcerer’s gut. The weak sorcerers fell unconscious in a line and didn’t move from where they fell.
Tanshi drew his staff upward and looked around. All the weak sorcerers were down. He wasn’t even out of breath.
***
As the wind blew through the surrounding underbrush, Ou Soku crouched down and kept himself hidden. Wow! To think that Tanshi is so much more powerful than the sorcerers…
Ou Soku had seen Sei Koko’s sorcerers fight in Zhengzhou, but he’d never seen Tanshi fight sorcerers before. He hadn’t even known that Tanshi could fight with his staff. He took a deep breath, then shivered. He was covered in cold sweat.
***
His enemies defeated, Tanshi resumed his trek through the mountain’s undergrowth. Leaving the forest, he came to a cliff overlooking a mountain valley. Ivy grew thickly on the cliff surface, creating an unusual pattern that didn’t appear natural.
Tanshi thrust his staff into the wet ground and looked down into the valley below. The swollen river below roared and gushed through a deep ravine.
“Sei Koko,” Tanshi said in a voice that carried. “We need to talk. Come out!” His words echoed in the valley and faded away.
There was no reply except for the sound of the river.
The wind strengthened, pushing Tanshi in the back so that he stumbled to one knee.
A large shadow cut toward the cliff Tanshi stood upon, so fast that even Tanshi couldn’t see it move. A sorcerer stood with his feet stuck firmly in the ivy lining the cliff face with his hand outstretched. He caught the fast-moving shadow in one hand. When the shadow was still, it had the shape of a long blade. The shadow glowed around the edges as it rested in the sorcerer’s hand.
Instinct had saved Tanshi from being struck by that shadow blade. If he’d been an ordinary man, the sorcerer’s first strike would have cut his head clean off.
The sorcerer was Jin Sen. He released his shadow blade again, and again Tanshi ducked under it at the last second, landing with both hands on the ground and his pewter staff tucked into the crook of his arm.
Tanshi stood up and brushed himself off with an irritated expression.
Jin Sen slid up an ivy vine to take a closer look at Tanshi. “Oh! So you’re Tanshi the monk, then?” he asked.
Tanshi held his staff close to his body and squinted down at Jin Sen. “Your technique is impressive, sorcerer, but using it without introducing yourself first is nothing short of barbaric.”
“Sorcerers are barbarous,” Jin Sen said. “I am as we were in Zhengzhou: sudden and fierce.” He raised his shadow blade in one hand.
Tanshi stood with his back to a tree. “Well, barbarian or no, I won’t flee from the likes of you. Convey a message to Sei Koko, if you will.”
Jin Sen was repositioning himself so that he could strike at Tanshi again when he heard another voice coming from the trees.
“Jin Sen, stop it!” a young woman said.
Tanshi turned slightly and saw the woman standing at the edge of the cliff. His eyes fixed on her. He knew that voice. Her face was familiar.
This was Ko Biji’s reincarnation.
“Ko… Ko Biji?” Tanshi asked in a voice barely heard.
Obedient to her will, Jin Sen stopped moving.
Ko Biji’s reincarnation was staring straight at Tanshi.
It’s her. I would know her anywhere.
Tanshi lost track of time. Ko Biji was in his distant past; having her be here felt completely unreal. He perceived no material difference between Ko Eiji and Ko Biji: to him, they were the same person. They had the same soul.
In that moment, Tanshi was completely defenseless. If Sei Koko were to attack him right now, he would die as easily as a swatted fly.
Ko Eiji looked at Tanshi as she would a stranger. She didn’t recognize him as anyone she knew.
It’s been such a long time, Tanshi thought. Is this what true reincarnation is?
"Hahahaha….” Sei Koko’s bewitching laughter shook Tanshi from his daze.
“Sei Koko!” Tanshi remembered Sei Koko stealing Ko Biji’s body the last time they met and was filled with sudden fury. He’d never forgotten Sei Koko’s voice.
Sei Koko flashed into view at Ko Eiji’s shoulder. She looked like she was trying to protect the girl. “Ah, Danshi! That is to say, Tanshi. Have you really survived all these years?” Sei Koko asked.
Tanshi glared and said nothing.
Sei Koko’s eyes flashed blue and cold and merciless like a bloodthirsty wolf’s. Her Daoist hat amplified the light around her in a corona of blue, leaving her face in shadow.
“Well, take a look!” Sei Koko called out. “See for yourself. Ko Biji has been reincarnated.”
Tanshi gripped his staff for courage. “That… no. That is Ko Kō’s daughter, Ko Eiji.” He remembered what Ryū Gen had told him about the girl.
“The world around us is nothing but lies. Reincarnation is the only thing that is real. As a monk, I thought you would understand that.”
Tanshi snorted. “If she is Ko Biji, release her. She doesn’t belong to you.”
“Oh? I see you went back to being a monk. How can that be so when you still burn with lust for my daughter?”
“I am a monk, and I will avenge Ko Biji’s soul upon you.”
Sei Koko hmphed. “You always were cleverer than your own good. Fine, monk. Let us do this.”
***
Ou Soku crawled on his stomach in the bushes above the valley, watching the confrontation between Sei Koko and Tanshi with tension in his shoulders. He was overjoyed at this outcome. He had followed Tanshi all this way in the hopes of finally meeting Sei Koko himself.
If Tanshi wouldn’t teach Ou Soku Daoism, then perhaps Sei Koko would teach him sorcery.
Ou Soku had no idea how to find Sei Koko on his own, and even if he’d known exactly where to look, he was sure Sei Koko wouldn’t agree to meet a nobody like him. Tanshi was a lure to her: the monk had drawn her out. Now all Ou Soku had to do was take advantage of the opportunity.
Even knowing that Sei Koko’s sorcery was heretical and possibly demonic, Ou Soku wanted it, because he wanted to be powerful. This was the conclusion of Ou Soku’s reasoning: he lived in an age where only power mattered.
***
Tanshi cried out in anguish. “Set her free, Sei Koko!”
Sei Koko signaled Jin Sen and Ko Eiji with her hands. “It’s time for you to go, monk.”
Ko Eiji, frightened, ran down the cliff. Jin Sen followed her at a distance, taking shelter under some overhanging rock.
Sei Koko held out her right hand. A large ring gleamed on her middle finger.
“And what would you say if I told you I won’t set her free? I’d never give her to you.”
“I will free her,” Tanshi said, “even if I have to use force.” He chanted a spell.
Sei Koko chanted a spell of her own. Blue light flashed from her eyes and red light spread out from her ring, illuminating Tanshi’s feet like a net made of blood.
Tanshi pivoted on his pewter staff and jumped back, out of the red light. Steam erupted on the ground where he’d been standing, boiling hot.
There was a silence as the steam rose and scorched, blackened earth extending below it like a stain on the ground. Bushes were instantly reduced to scattered ash. The earth bucked underfoot.
Tanshi braced himself on his staff as Sei Koko’s terrifying spell played out. That was close. The red light had been his only warning. If he’d hesitated, he would have been reduced to ashes along with the mountain forest’s undergrowth.
Ou Soku was still watching. He nearly screamed in terror, but bit his tongue and pressed his face to the dirt to silence himself.
Jin Sen and Ko Eiji had never seen this sorcery before. They were both staring at Sei Koko with more fear than respect in their eyes.
Sei Koko sneered. “Did you see that, Tanshi? It’s an application of an air technique I learned from the Heavenly Book. It boils the air, separating it into different parts and generating heat. Isn’t it marvelous?”
Tanshi glared hatred at her. “You have warped Daoist teachings into evil, heretical knowledge. You have deceived the heavens and will destroy yourself. I’ll help with that.” He pointed his staff at Sei Koko.
A bolt of lightning shot out from the finial of the staff, narrowly missing Sei Koko and striking the cliff face behind her. There was a thunderous roar, and the cliff face glowed with power. A dust cloud rose from the cliff, and when it cleared, there was a large cavern in the cliff face that hadn’t been there before.
In terms of power, Sei Koko and Tanshi seemed to be about evenly matched.
Ou Soku went pale as Tanshi and Sei Koko exchanged spells back and forth. Ko Eiji and Jin Sen watched as well, their fear turning to shock as the battle went on.
Then Sei Koko started laughing. “Well, well, well. You’ve done well, Tanshi.” She held her left arm out in front of her and bent it, exposing a red jeweled bracelet. “This gem houses powerful knowledge—the Way of the Dragon Slayer. Will it kill you, I wonder, or will you survive it?”
Tanshi held his staff out in front of him one-handed.
Sei Koko’s eyes flashed blue as she started chanting another spell.
Tanshi watched her, expression tense.
A strange light emanated from the red jewel on Sei Koko’s bracelet, forming a ball of light that rotated in the air. In the light, a black shadow flickered. A dog. No, a fox…
The fox’s shadow rushed towards Tanshi.
Tanshi gasped and stumbled backward. The finial of his pewter staff flashed blue-white, but he hadn’t caused it.
The fox’s shadow reached him and exploded outward, spreading over Tanshi and his surroundings. Part of the forest was obscured by the shadow. The earth rumbled like an earthquake.
When silence returned, the forest had disappeared.
Tanshi had also disappeared. There wasn’t even ash left behind. There was a hole in the earth about sixty-five feet (twenty meters) in diameter and a three feet (one meter) deep where all life had been exterminated.
Sei Koko’s laughter spread across the scar in the mountain forest.
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