Samurai in the Time Rift 8.6

8.6

The Hibagon columns of Rock, Stone and Boulders numbering about five hundred charged up up the hill, with their swords and hammers. They were expecting the Nihonzaru to hold the defence but was surprised to see the other charging down instead. The leaders of the Hibagon columns was puzzled but nevertheless pushed on uphill towards the Nihonzaru. Then the unexpected happened as from the left side of the hill was the Sixth Column which had arrived. They attacked from the left while the bigger force came rushing down.

Due to the gradient of the slope, the Nihonzaru with their smaller and agile shape took advantage of the rush to leap high onto the upcoming Hibagon. They had rolled down the boulders and rocks ahead of them piled by the warriors, this creating a form of rock slide before they followed on behind. Five hundreds creatures rushing down the hill looked like a dark storm sweeping down and with their high shrieks, it truly unnerved the attackers. They landed on the Hibagon as if they were leaping off the branches of the trees in the forest.

The Hibagon struggling with the climb now had to straighten up to meet the oncoming Nihonzaru who used the momentum of their descent to leap higher and over onto the Hibagon heads. The moment they landed, the daggers came flashing in their hands and the killing began. The second line of the Nihonzaru took on another line of action with them sliding in between the Hibagon legs and slashing at the knees. This was followed by the third line which leapt on the Hibagon. It was a well coordinated attack with the Nihonzaru taking the lead.

"Hold the line!" The leader of Rock shouted out just before it was set on by two Nihonzaru; one on its face and the other on its left thigh. The one on the face thrust the dagger into the side of the head while the bottom one thrust it into the left knee and then at the left waist line. The leader fell backwards before rolling off the hill. By then the Nihonzaru was onto their next target.

The leader of Boulder had itself surrounded by a few Hibagon warriors, tried to rally the Hibagon warriors but the rush of the Nihonzaru overwhelmed them. The leader of the Boulder called for a retreat by the Boulder Columns. Just as it made the call, the Hibagon leader fell back on its hind and then looked down to see a Nihonzaru had cut its heels and back of the knees. It shrieked out as the dagger from the Nihonzaru stabbed into its right eye and up into the brain. The Nihonzaru was then decapitated by the Hibagon guards but the earlier call by the leader affected the warriors. They have began retreating first orderly and then in chaos as no Hibagon wanted to left behind. The Stone column on seeing the other columns withdrawing also took to their heels and soon it was over.

Two third of the Hibagon warriors were dead or wounded, with the Nihonzaru suffering only one third death or wounded. The Sixth Column was virtually untouched by the battle.

Then the call came from Lord Jedi.

"Pursue them to their city." That was the call for the offense to taken against the Hibagon; now without leaders were fleeing back to the city or caves.

"Destroy them all." Lord Jedi shouted out.

Taisa Mori used the kusarigama ( sickle chain ) like a metal hook tied to the rope. He tossed it down and over at the metallic structure hoping to engaged it on one of the vent openings on the dome shell. After sixth tries, he managed to get it hook on and now was the time to test if the kusarigama ( sickle chain ) can hold his weight. He gave the other end to Bento.

Bento grabbed the rope and held it taut with a word of prayers that it would hold. Taisa Mori took no more delay as he swing down the rope, with his eyes on the kusarigama ( sickle chain ) should it failed him. He had a distance of over twenty feet but it was a long trip for him that day. He went down holding the rope with his hands and slowly moved down. He saw the kusarigama ( sickle chain ) slowly bent on the weight but it was holding. He kept on going until his foot reaches the dome. Now was the difficult part, as he needed to find a hold on the dome shell. It was all smooth surface until he saw another vent ahead. It was small and narrow but his fingers could do in. He reached for it and held himself there while relieving the weight on the kusarigama ( sickle chain ).

He looked around and saw the next available hold was the metallic structure leg but that required him to swing over with his body. He saw that there was little round openings on the surface there where he can tied the rope. He then looked up at the kusarigama ( sickle chain ) and reached for it. He managed to get it off the vent and then swung it over to the metallic leg. It caught on by hanging over there but would be unlikely to hold his weight. He force himself to swing over and reached out with his hands to grabbed the metallic leg. He made it but his body was spread out across the dome. He had to let go of the earlier hold and swing over once more.

Taisa Mori said a prayer and was to swing over when he saw the arrow whizzed by him. He saw the arrow went into the opening and then pulled taut by Sun. It was attached to a another lighter rope but it was dangling before him now. Without hesitation, Taisa let go of his hold on the vent and grabbed the lighter rope to swing over on the metallic leg. He slipped but soon managed to grabbed a hold on one of the holes on the leg. Taisa Mori slowly climbed up until he reached the kusarigama ( sickle chain ) and tied the heavier rope to the holes there. Then he retrieved back his kusarigama ( sickle chain ) and looked at his next options. He decided to climbed down and see what was beneath the dome shell.

Meanwhile Bento was climbing down the rope to the metallic rope to be followed by Sun.

Taisa Mori made it to the bottom of the dome shell and was shock at what he saw. There was an open platform there with some men in metallic suits moving around. The frame of the metallic man were of their size and height. He slowly turned his body to swing up onto the platform and landed on his feet. He looked at the metallic men operates the consoles as the chunks of the carcasses dropped from the connecting tunnels. The carcasses dropped into what may had been some large revolving container and then the sounds of cracking of the bones are heard.

Taisa Mori wanted to throw up but he held himself back. He felt the touch on his back and turned to see Bento at his side. Bento was also shock by the scene but he composed himself well. Taisa Mori did not act until Sun was with him, and then told the two archers to disable the metallic men. There were two of them and were pre-occupied with their works. Taisa Mori himself would survey more of the place.

Bento withdrew an arrow and sneaked up on the metallic man. He reached for the opening between the shoulder and the neck to pierced the arrow. Instead of finding flesh, the arrow pierced into something hard and repel the archer with an electrical jolt. Bento fell backwards on the jolt and saw the metallic man swinging its arms before its stopped and stooped downwards. There were smokes coming from the armor but there was no blood.

Sun had used two arrows for the task and simultaneously jabbed them into the neck area. He was also sent reeling back by the jolt and found his adversary swinging madly with the arms before standing still on the spot with the arms raised up. He looked to Bento who shook his head. He got up and walked to the front of the armor and saw the face was a metallic cover with a orb embedded for its eyes in the middle. There was a some metal plate with knobs on the chest but now its lights are all flickering and then went dead. 

"What do you make of it?" Bento asked Sun but the later shook his head. Sun pulled out the arrows and went to look for Taisa Mori. He saw Taisa Mori looking at the metallic main structure with the katana drawn. There was something approaching him; it was another metallic man but this one was bigger and taller. More to it, the metallic man had a long staff on its hand and it was glowing brightly at the edges.