Gods faced with the End

[Kazu Chidori]

Tokyo, Government District, Planet New Tokyo, House Kusari, 836 A.S

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Mimi Hotel

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Under another torrential downpour, a pair of shadows split this world in two, on the roofs of opposing buildings. Known only by codenames, "Izanagi" and "Izanami", they were unparalleled professionals in their field: eliminating threats to the Blood Dragons. The threat in question: Kazu Kumano, the newly "elected" Minister of Justice.

The Kazu Family had deep connections with the government already, it was no surprise that they would eventually be added in an official capacity, with the eldest daughter being a decorated Naval Forces pilot who's been swapped between various secretive Naval Forces divisions. The Kazu Family controlled most of the religious sites in Kusari, giving them a unique sway amongst the people. The branch families also contributed to this small empire within the Empire. Katsuherabo was the family that staffed these religious sites, giving the Kazu family a direct, personal power over religion. Igarashi was the family that provided both buffer between and organization of the families between Kazu and the branches. A butler, secretary family of sorts. Ogasawara was the family that held a not-insignificant foothold in Samura Industries, not to be confused with the second Kazu daughter, Tsuruno, who had entrenched herself in Kishiro. Power in the commercial sector. And finally, Owari, the battle-maniacs. Arms manufacturers, security services, but most importantly, hitman services.

Owari was the main concern. The Kazus had announced that they would be allowed to arm themselves with the "Wolf's Eyes", seemingly-unreal ocular augments. Only once has one of these augments been captured, and it did little to help understanding them. Their material was largely several different forms of highly-repetitive amino acid blocks, top scientists couldn't even figure out how they were built. They also couldn't be put back together after they were dissected for study, so their limits were largely unknown. What was known, however, was the violence these augments were used to enact.

Three hundred years ago, a religious dispute resulted in the splitting of the Neo-Shinto faith from the Buddhist faith, and a political dispute from that conflict resulted in one of the most horrific slaughters to ever happen at the time. And now, today, history threatens to repeat itself. Multiple Reimei Buddhists found dismembered with electrical burn marks, autopsies echoing from three centuries back. But the assurance was a simple handwritten note left at the scene.

"May they reincarnate."

Nonetheless, a strike needed to happen, not to retaliate, but to slap the arms that were reaching out, and pull them back together around the core. A blow to their confidence that would give them pause. To that end, Izanagi and Izanami, two heavily-augmented commandos had been dispatched, a DMR with one and a full sniping rifle with the other. Spotter and shooter, two halves of one coin. Thousands of successful missions, now aiming through the window of a hotel room, waiting for a target.

One that did appear, with a bodyguard in front of her, blocking his shot. Strangely enough, they stopped. Odd movement, they should have branched out to clear the room, giving him a clean shot. He's made this shot hundreds of times before. The bodyguard in question matched a dossier he had read, Katsuherabo Genji. Meaning intelligence was correct, two users of the Wolf Eyes, the pair of Owari Genji and Katsuherabo Genji, were acting as bodyguards. Reading his lips, Izanagi watched the bodyguard command his charge to vacate the room. Words he had never heard her say before came through his communicator, breaking radio silence.

" その地域は危険な状態です。直ちに撤退せよ。"

(The area is compromised. Withdraw immediately.)

The bodyguard was staring directly at him. Across 4 buildings, under the cover of night, rainfall, and a camouflage blanket, and through his scope, Izanagi and Katsuherabo Genji made eye contact. Izanagi made a mental note to update the probable capabilities of the Wolf Eye augments. A whirring noise behind him caught his attention, automated security drones. Obstacle, but also his new ride down. In a single motion, he slung his sniping rifle around to his back and swapped his assault rifle to his hands, shooting down two of the three drones while sprinting at the third. Sidestepping a few plasma rounds, he jammed his combat knife into the ocular module of the drone while jumping off the building, its propulsion failing to keep the both of them aloft, but slowing their decent to a much lower rooftop.

A few more drones were there, which Izanagi made short work of. Izanami had also moved downwards by way of deployable zipline. She was not one to have fun on the job.

" 敵が接近中。6時方向。"

(Enemy approaching. 6 o'clock.)

The whirring sound of cables being fed into a spool announced that shortly after she had. Launching into the air to land standing elegantly on power cables, the two bodyguards made their entrance, their silhouettes painted by the night sky and framed by the smoke from the destroyed security drones. The Genjis nodded to each other, with Owari sprinting down the power line in the direction of Izanami, and Katsuherabo turning towards Izanagi and drawing his katana. Izanagi wasted no time, firing at the bodyguard. While his speed was palpable to Izanagi, it was clearly inhuman as he blocked the plasma rounds with his sword, which gained a marbling of colors like an oil spill, and a fluorescent glow.

Genji jumped down swinging his sword, which Izanagi side-stepped. A flash of red electricity arced across the area, grounding through Izanagi's combat suit, though he could feel the heat spike. Direct contact with the sword, which he observed had lost its colors, would be a poor option while it was charged. To avoid this, he holstered his assault rifle as well. It was unfortunate that the situation called for hand-to-hand combat while he was carrying two heavy firearms, however, he was an expert. Genji followed with a thrusting attack, which Izanagi merely caught in his hand. His gauntlet easily stopped the blade, it was impervious to most physical attack. Or so he thought, but a twinge of pain announced that the blade had somehow sliced ever so slightly through the powerful alloy that made up his armor.

Change of plans, Izanagi pulled the sword from Genji's hand, tossing it aside and counterattacking with his own combat knife. Genji stopped it with his fingers, with his gloves being made of the same metal as his sword. This did not stop Izanagi, who spun to attack from a different angle, only to be kicked in the chest and off the roof, hitting the wall of an adjacent building where he stabbed his blade into the wall to hold himself there. That kick carried amounts of force that didn't seem possible, and Izanagi squinted through the smoke, trying to see as much of his enemy as possible, to find some clues. First, though, he pulled the knife from the wall and dropped, as Genji leapt after him, spearing his hand into the wall where Izanagi had just been. As Izanagi fell, Genji kicked off after him, attempting to catch up. Combat knife met sharp fingers, sparks accompanying the two as they fell.

In his peripheral vision, Izanagi could see Izanami evading the other Genji, fleeing via ziplines and cutting them to delay pursuit. A cat and mouse game, either limited by Owari's patience or Izanami's materials. Before they hit the ground, Izanagi used the wall they were falling nearby to kick himself out at an angle, gaining a bit of space. New idea. He made as if to run away, but when the nearly-silent taps of Genji giving chase were heard, he spun around with the combat knife, aiming for his head. Predictably, Genji caught it, and Izanagi finally saw a clue as to what he was dealing with. Genji's veins bulged abnormally, and seemed to give off a faint red fluorescent light. Combat drugs of some kind. Genji shattered the combat knife in his hands, but Izanagi swung with his other fist at Genji's sternum. Genji caught it in his other hand, but the final layer of the trick was here: a small impact-hammer embedded in Izanagi's gauntlet, a tool for quickly breaching walls, delivering incredible amounts of blunt force, an automated one-inch-punch sent Genji flying into air-conditioning constructs on the opposite end of the roof.

Izanagi checked on Izanami. The Owari seemed to have been hindered, and was considering a new approach. Izanagi and Izanami had a shot to reach the underground tunnels and extract with relative safety, so Izanagi turned to jump off the roof, but a cable shot from the wreckage he had left the Katsuherabo in, wrapping around his arm. The bodyguard appeared to be only mildly harmed despite the force he had just been hit with. When it seemed he was about to pull Izanagi in, he instead froze, and then swiped at the air next to him, deflecting a round from Izanami's DMR aimed at his head, giving Izanagi just enough time to slice the cable with what remained of his combat knife, and fall off the edge of the building, plowing through a manhole cover and disappearing beneath the city.

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Across the rooftops, Owari had been stalled continuously by the Dragon Commando, so when she jumped from her rooftop and stomped through a manhole cover, he simply assumed there would be an incessant amount of booby-traps to pick his way through to give chase, and that was a prospect even more boring and frustrating than chasing this coward across the top of the city. The pair of Genji's met eyes and agreed: return to base. This chase would cost more than it is worth.

The trek back across the edge of the city was slower than the chase that they had given. Perhaps it was the boredom. Perhaps it was the disappointment. Perhaps it was that the combat-enhanccers had not worn off yet. Perhaps a combination of the three. Nonetheless, it was a slow, agonizing, frustrating return to the hotel where Kazu Kumano had been ushered into a saferoom.

Katsuherabo Genji had failed to inflict a wound equal to the one that seeing poor Shinobu in that hospital bed had inflicted on him. A hundred thousand stinking reincarnationists were nothing. Their lives were so invaluable, so filth, so low, that not even they themselves could value them, instead chasing delusions of infinite lives. Even they knew that it would take a thousand lives to equal one of any decent human. He would have killed a commando, then they would know retaliation. He would gut every soul in their miserable group, then they would know hopelessness. Spear every Blood Dragon from a pike and post towers of their bodies at every monument, every place of worship, every public square in Kusari to exact his vengeance, and then they would know what her life was really worth compared to theirs.

Meanwhile, Owari Genji had been robbed of the one thing an Owari is born for: a battle of the highest order. Hero against hero, king against king, god against god. Two blades of pure power clashing was the soul of the Owari family, and tonight he had been faced with legends: untouchable, unkillable, unstoppable Blood Dragon Commandos. And the one he had to deal with did nothing but run away, cower, and evade. More than disappointing, it was disgusting, disgraceful, and dishonorable. The most lethal headhunters in the colonies were cowards who fled the heat of battle? Like learning Krampus was just a fairy tale that adults used to disguise loans taken out for expensive gifts. The final boss was a pathetic waste which would take effort, but no challenge, to eliminate.

In silence, the two seethed. Matriarch Kumano had lived, in fact had not even raised her heart rate. They had lived, and had driven back the most dangerous individuals known to Kusari. Surely they would be applauded and accoladed at home. However, they considered this to be a great failure.

One that would not repeat.

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