Duel at Amatsu-Goten

Conflict: Second Hitokiri war.

Date: August 23rd, 29th year of Shourisha.

Location: Imperial palace, Taogakure.

Combatants: Sagara Tao and Riki Hajitame vs Shourisha II, Urufu and several Shigai samurai.

Outcome: Shourisha II, Urufu and unknown number of samurai dead, Sagara and Riki severely wounded.

Casualties: 2 combatants dead, 3 wounded.

Prelude: The 29th year of Shourisha saw the end of the Imperialist supremacy thanks to the Third battle of Taogakure – but what really decided the battle was the dependence of two young men who fought together and managed to kill the Emperor, which greatly demoralized the Shourishan forces and eventually led to their surrender. Sagara Tao was a samurai who sought vengeance against the Imperialists for personal reasons while Riki Hajitame followed the first mentioned because Sagara was the first to ever defeat him in a fair battle. Shourisha II sent several squads from the Imperial Guard led by captain Mizashi and lieutenant Urufu to stop the intruders, but due to valuing the importance of the mission Sagara and Riki separated. Sagara moved past the guards and headed towards the throne room while Riki fought the Imperial Guard to prevent any reinforcements for the Emperor. Sagara reached the throne room without much difficulties and thought back at his reasons before opening the gate. At the age of 8 he lost his family and country to the Imperialists of Shourigakure, and at the age of 17 the new weapons provided by Shourisha II managed to kill his only friends. Also most recently his wife and son (Sagara’s son, Sochi, was only assumed dead. His body was never found), had been assassinated by a man working directly under the Emperor. Sagara took a deep breath and then unlocked the golden gate to the throne room and saw the goal of his vengeance standing before him as Shourisha II.

The confrontation: While Sagara had just reached the Imperial throne room, Riki is seen fending off several Shigai samurai of the Imperial Guard unexpectedly easily while introducing new techniques of his own making, such as Dyuaru Kobushi and Bakuyaku no Anaakeki. Despite not using his sword, Riki’s special techniques combined with his superhuman strength literary destroys all opponents until he is put into action against Urufu, a Shigai commander who have mastered and even enhanced the Seibuki clan’s Gatotsu movements. Without hesitation, Urufu stabs Riki’s left shoulder using the original Gatotsu and piercing him into a wall.

In the throne room, Emperor Shourisha II hides his surprise from such a young samurai penetrating the Imperial Guard units and asks Sagara why he is trying to resist the ‘righteous’ rule of Shourigakure. Sagara replies by telling Shourisha that his rule is causing suffering among the people the Hitogumi is sworn to protect, and that’s why the Imperialist government will be defeated with the death of the Emperor. He charges upon his opponent using a basic Iai, which the Emperor easily deflects using only his left hand, and then using an Iai strike of his own, cutting Sagara’s upper body diagonally. Sagara is thrown back but is still standing, and then attempts another attack, the Tai Ryu Sen. The Emperor holds his sword up and parries the attack from above, and then uses his extreme brute strength to throw Sagara away. The impact when Sagara lands causes him to drop his katana and makes him an easy target for the Emperor, who is much stronger physically.

Meanwhile, Urufu attempts to land another Gatotsu against Riki, but this time he manages to use the Dyuaru Kobushi, which easily breaks Urufu’s sword. In unarmed combat Urufu is more vulnerable, but still not weak due to his quick attack speed and reflexes. Riki’s movements are too slow and predictable to hit Urufu, but his own attacks are too light to cause any damage to Riki’s muscular body. The fight seems to have no victor until Riki eventually uses the collateral damage caused by the Bakuyaku no Anaakeki to defeat Urufu as well as killing all nearby Shigai samurai. He then runs towards the throne room to assist Sagara.

As Sagara is reaching for his sword, the Emperor kicks him in the chest and throws him away across the large throne room into a wall with unnatural strength. He seems to disappear and appears again barely a second later in front of Sagara. While Sagara’s body is still too shocked by the crash, Shourisha grabs his face and slams the back of his head into the wall. He continues by punching Sagara’s head before grabbing his collar and lifting him above the ground. The Emperor then punches him in the stomach and actually launches him through the wall and into the floor of a large balcony, almost a hundred meters above the ground. When aiming his sword towards Sagara’s face and prepares to deliver the finishing strike, a voice sounds from inside the throne room and Riki launches himself through the wall holding his fist in the stance of the Keikobushi, his original technique. The Emperor is hit and thrown away, but when Riki then attempts to enhance his first strike into the combo technique Futae Panchi, Shourisha grabs his arm and throws him into the ground. Although surprised by the Emperor’s strength in hand-to-hand combat, Riki doesn’t hesitate but immediately switches position to Bakuyaku no Anaakeki but fails as the Emperor kicks his face and throws him backwards. Riki falls to the floor of the balcony next to Sagara and looks at his friend’s unconscious body. But as a rage fills Riki’s mind he stands up again surprisingly fast judging from the hard beats he took during the last clash with the Emperor, and this time he pulls out his straight sword to combat Shourisha. The Emperor charges against Riki and cuts him several times, but shows surprise for the first time during the battle when his sword had no effect against his opponent’s extremely tough body. Riki’s attacks doesn’t have any effects either because of his slow movements compared to the ones of a Hitokiri, but in his mind he tells himself that keeping the Emperor away until Sagara recovers is the only matter necessary. After a short time of dueling with no effective hits from either combatant, the Emperor uses the Kami Taiken and causes severe damage to his opponent. Riki’s upper body is cut straight through his shoulder and down to his waist, almost tearing him apart but leaving him alive. With extreme loss of blood Riki is forced to withdraw from the battle, but the Emperor charges after him in an attempt to finish off his opponent. Before his sword edge manages to reach Riki’s back, Sagara appears and strikes his enemy’s blade from below and forcing it upwards. With the Emperor leaved open Sagara changes the direction of his katana and strikes Shourisha over the stomach. The damage doesn’t seem to have much effect, but it was the first effective hit Sagara had made during the battle. Shourisha laughs and tells Sagara how much he enjoys the tense of this battle. He then throws his katana away and pulls out another sword which is recognized by Sagara as the Tenken, a holy sword that can penetrate any defense. Sagara himself possesses a Tenken, but refuses to break his promise to Lord Tenshu which was to never use it in any other matter than protection. The Emperor attacks with his new weapon, aiming for Sagara and using the Tai Ryu Sen. Sagara answers with a Tai Ryu Sen of his own and as the two combatants land damage is caused to them both. The Emperor was inflicted only a light wound on his right shoulder while the top of Sagara’s head was cut and soon his face is covered with blood. Also, Sagara’s sword breaks by the powerful impact of the Tai Ryu Sen and the extreme sharpness of the Tenken. The Emperor attacks again without stopping, this time using a basic horizontal cut against Sagara’s neck. Sagara looks down and notices the large amounts of blood dripping from his head, and realizes that unless the Emperor is killed soon the battle is lost. A long memory of Sagara’s life is considered, from the death of his family to the assassination of his wife. Suddenly he comes to the point where he is told by Lord Tenshu about the demonic powers resting inside his soul and decides to unleash them despite the warnings that it will consume him eventually. Sagara’s eyes turns yellow and a strong wind seems to come from his body as he stands up. He shows his teeth and seem to growl like a wild animal before attacking the Emperor with unnatural speed, even for a user of the Tenken Kamisatsu Ryu. Riki watches with great concentration and mumbles: ''“It’s over now. This is the one and only true Hitokiri, the legendary manslayer himself.” He jumps into the air and attacks from above with a Tai Ryu Sen and using the Tenken'' of his own, which he normally wouldn’t use to achieve vengeance. As the Emperor attempts to parry, his feet are pressed through the stone floor by the extreme impact from Sagara’s demon-like powers. Sagara spins over the Emperor’s head and lands behind him, and leaves himself vulnerable to the Emperor’s counterattack. Despite not even looking at his opponent Sagara easily parries the incoming strike and slowly turns his face towards the Emperor. Sagara looks terrifying at the current state – his face is covered in blood, his eyes are glowing yellow and he appears to have animal-like fangs. The Emperor is not frightened but attacks again, this time attempting to use the Kami Taiken to cut his opponent apart. Sagara parries the attack and the two combatants locks their swords together. It seems that the demon powers that Sagara unleashed had provided him with superhuman strength as he manages to push the Emperor away in a sword lock. As Emperor Shourisha realizes the unnatural power of his opponent, he enters the stance of the Tenken Kamisatsu Ryu’s undefeated Chikensatsu; a technique that summons a thousand swords that launches against the opponent simultaneously in very quick speed. Only the Shuntensatsu can outmatch it, and the Emperor assumes that Sagara is unable of using such a powerful technique. When the swords launch from all directions, Sagara immediately unleashes his strongest technique, which is the Shuntensatsu - the only attack that can defeat the Chikensatsu. The Emperor is surprised by the power of such a young opponent and cannot parry the incoming attack. Shourisha is cut diagonally over his torso and moves backwards. He realizes that the end is near, but puts his sword back into its sheath and enters the Shuntensatsu stance. Both combatants at this stage have extreme blood loss and their bodies only move from pure will rather than their physical abilities. The Emperor declares that this will be their final clash and the two Hitokiri disappears from Riki’s abilities of vision. They appear again after clashing with the Shuntensatsu and the Emperor is seen with his chest blasted open by Sagara’s attack. Sagara sits on his knees behind the Emperor and breathes heavily while watching blood dripping from his mouth and head. Slowly he regains his own consciousness and the yellow color in his eyes disappears. The Emperor attempts to walk towards Sagara to kill him, but with his last strength Sagara stabs his Tenken into the stone floor of the balcony. Deep cracks appears and is enhanced while moving towards the sides of the balcony, and before the Emperor can react the ground he is standing on collapses. The Emperor falls down and Sagara slowly moves himself towards the edge to watch his enemy die.

On the ground a fierce battle between the Shourishan and Alliance forces occur with the Imperialists being closer to victory due to superior numbers and fresh reinforcements. A group of Shourigakure soldiers are crushed by falling rocks from the balcony of the Imperial palace and the battle stops when they recognize the sword of a Hitokiri falling to the ground. The men look up and watches as a body with yellow Imperial clothing falls from the balcony following the debris and lands roughly on the ground (the scene lacks realism in the matter that the Emperor’s body is still intact after falling from such an extreme height). The Imperial soldiers drop their weapons and runs to the corpse of their leader while the Alliance troops faces towards the palace’s erased balcony, where they recognize Sagara Tao. The soldiers of the Alliance shouts in triumph and some survivors of the Imperial Guard carries away Emperor Shourisha’s body from the battlefield. In the final scene of the battle Riki manages to say “It’s finally over.” before losing consciousness.

Aftermath: The death of Emperor Shourisha II caused the end of the Imperialists and an age of peace and freedom followed in the Far East. The outcome of the Third Battle of Taogakure depended on Sagara’s duel against Shourisha as they were close to defeat when the Emperor literary fell. With the Emperor dead and lacking effective military leadership, Shourigakure was forced to accept defeat on the terms of releasing all their occupied territories to their respective owners and limiting the military strength of the Shourishan army.