In the tenth hour of the 26th day of Sarenith in the year 4713, a group of adventurers and scions of the Amatatsu family sat in the vaults below the Imperial Palace and discussed their change of plans. It did not take them long to turn them into action.

The Oracle spent several minutes casting a spell, and when it was done he spoke with Amatatsu Ameiko in her safe house, instructing her to take the Seal and come with the Paladin Hatsue to the Palace. Using potions to make them invisible, and the spell cast by the Oracle earlier that morning, they assumed the form of clouds on the wind and streake

In the tenth hour of the 26th day of Sarenith in the year 4713, a group of adventurers and scions of the Amatatsu family sat in the vaults below the Imperial Palace and discussed their change of plans. 

The Oracle spent several minutes casting a spell, and when it was done, he spoke with Amatatsu Ameiko in her safe house, instructing her to take the Seal and come with the Paladin Hatsue to the Palace. Using potions to make them invisible, and the spell cast by the Oracle earlier that morning, they assumed the form of clouds on the wind and streaked across the sky. With yet another spell he had cast that same hour, the Oracle tracked their progress. The hastily-formed plan would require precise timing, but he knew how quickly they traveled and how far they had yet to go. The rest was simple math. The scions would be ready before they arrived.

The blue-skinned, purple-haired Alchemist, now magically shrunk to an even smaller size, made himself invisible. With the Oracle’s spell he, too, turned into a misty cloud and ascended the stairs to the main floor and slipped outside. There he rose, hugging the walls of the palace until he found another arrow slit on the floor of the throne room. The cloud seeped back inside and floated along the ceiling until he reached a spot behind the Jade Throne. He froze in place and slowly began resuming his true form.

He saw the Jade Regent, Soto Takahiro, sitting impatiently on the Jade Throne in his jade armor, his face obscured by the ridiculous jade mask. Next to him, but not making eye contact, was Takahiro’s estranged lover Renshii Meida, surrounded by shimmering protective spirits. In the center of the hall was the human form of the oni Anamurumon, winds howling about him in a personal hurricane. The Alchemist could also see that there was one missing: the tengu man known as The Raven Prince was nowhere in sight.

They were ready. Somehow, they knew—or at least suspected—that the Amatatsu were inside the palace, though they did not know where. Out of caution, they had prepared their defenses and simply waited. They had no reason to go looking. To take the Throne, Ameiko had to sit on it bearing the Seal.

For the adventurers in the vaults below, the wait was the signal. A quarter of a minute ticked by, and several spells were cast. A moment later, the Bard used the exact distance and direction given to him by the Oracle to teleport the now-invisible forms of the scions precisely fifteen feet below the Alchemist with a soft pop.

The Bard was disoriented on arrival, but the others were not. The Rogue immediately advanced on the throne where Takahiro sat. The Oracle bolstered his allies with magic while the Cavalier drank a potion that blurred his form. Finally, the Wizard pulled a nearly flawless diamond from her pouch and cast a spell, wishing that the Seer, Renshii Meida, would falter when next targeted by magic. The diamond crumbled to dust as her wish was granted.

And then the scions attacked.

They completely ignored the Typhoon Guard and struck at the leadership. The Rogue struck first, her sword cutting into Takahiro over and over. The Cavalier closed on him and issued a challenge, bringing the flaming Suishen crashing down onto the samurai. This, too, penetrated his armor, but Takahiro stubbornly refused to yield the throne. He struck back at the Cavalier three times, and his armor released a blast of pure force to accent his rage. Yet the Cavalier held his ground.

Below the Jade Throne, Meida watched as red bloomed across Takahiro’s body. The previous night had brought heated arguments over his philandering, her secret pregnancy, his demonic heritage, and the public humiliation inflicted on them both. Now she watched the blades cut into the father of her child…and she turned her back on him. Instead, she summoned a spirit of pure force to fight alongside her.

The Wizard removed a second diamond from her pouch and spoke another wish. As the diamond crumbled to dust, a look of shock crossed Meida’s face as her body turned to stone.

As this unfolded, arrows coated with poison flew from the Oracle to Anamurumon, five in total, embedding into the oni’s flesh. Each was attuned to his true nature, and bit deep. Though the poison was a mere annoyance that was easily brushed off, the oni raged at the indignity of having been struck at all.

He discarded his human form, and a wind yai oni now towered over the battle. Lightning flashed from his third eye, then arced through the scions with a deafening crack and the sharp smell of ozone. But the scions knew what they would be fighting and had prepared: each was struck, but not one was injured.

Outside, the Typhoon Guard left their posts and descended on the Great Hall to join the battle. Some could see through invisibility, but the battle in the throne room held their attention. None noticed the vaporous forms of Hatsue and the Amatatsu heir flowing inside. Ameiko floated across the ceiling towards Takahiro, ready to take the Jade Throne once he fell.

Down below, the Bard waved his hands and dispelled the spiritual being of force that had been summoned by Meida. And it was at this moment that the Raven Prince struck. He simply appeared next to the Bard and lashed out with his tsuruhashi. Yet the blow came not with the edge, but rather the flat of its blade. He was serving his contract to the letter, but it was clear who he thought would emerge victorious in this fight. The Bard, for his part, was well protected, and this strike bounced harmlessly off his armor.

The Bard responded by deftly disarming the tengu. Holding the tsuruhashi, he glared at the Raven Prince and said, “Don’t do that again.” Then he held the blade out, offering it back to its owner.

As the Raven Prince considered this, the Oracle sent more arrows at Anamurumon. Each struck, and the oni fell to the floor, dead.

At the same instant, the Rogue unleashed another assault on Takahiro, but somehow, he remained standing, leaving her frustrated.

Behind her, the Alchemist had finally regained his material form. He casually surveyed the scene, then made up his mind. A series of bombs flew into the air: the first exploded on the lifeless corpse of Anamurumon for good measure, and the second and third landed on the Jade Regent.

Takahiro fell in a burst of flames. Not thirty seconds had passed, and the fight was over. The Raven Prince took his tsuruhashi back from the Bard and said, simply, “It seems I am no longer employed.”

The wind-form spell was dismissed, and Amatatsu Ameiko now sat in Takahiro’s place, the Seal in her hands.

“I am Amatatsu Ameiko, the rightful Empress of Minkai! The reign of oni is over!”

Most of the Typhoon Guard turned and ran, but a few continued their advance.

The Wizard was smiling as lightning leapt from her fingertips and arced through the remaining Typhoon Guard. She walked up beside the Raven Prince, pulled out a third diamond, handed it to the tengu, and said, “Would you like a new job? Several oni seem to be threatening the Empress of Minkai.”

The Raven Prince looked at the diamond, then at the remaining Typhoon Guard. He accepted, and bowed deeply to Ameiko.

“You serve the throne?” she asked.

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty. What do you command?”

Ameiko looked around the hall. “In this castle is an oni infestation. Rout them all.”