“You will not deceive me. Baron Tokugawa cannot die.” He spoke with the fervor of a zealot. “Nothing can harm him.”
“He knows,” Sullivan said. “You know the Chairman’s dead, don’t you?”
“I know nothing of the sort.”
Dan shook his head. Mouths tended to be good judges of character, even when they weren’t burning Power. “You suspected it, then… Look, I don’t know what the Imperium’s game is, but you need to alert your people or you need to tell us how to take care of this Pathfinder ourselves.”
The ambassador may have known the truth, but he wasn’t about to reveal weakness to his enemies. “How do you know of the Dark Ocean?”
You know how, Sullivan thought hard. I’m telling you the truth.
“The truth, and what is believed to be the truth are seldom the same thing.”
“Deny it all you want, but I watched the Tokugawa explode myself. I don’t need you to admit he’s dead. No skin off my nose. But about the Enemy, if I’m wrong, I’m wrong, but if I’m right… Then we’ve got real trouble coming, and it is coming fast.”
The ambassador did not speak for nearly a minute. He just glared at them, stroking his mustache and thinking hard. “Let us speak of this Enemy, then.”
The Iron Guard closed the door to his chambers and immediately went to work preparing the spell. He had to move quickly.
Toru was not happy. Ambassador Hatori was his superior and as such, Toru was required to obey his orders without question. Even when it seemed the height of foolishness to leave him at the mercy of murderous Grimnoir, Toru had done as he was told, but the ambassador’s ultimate welfare was Toru’s responsibility and Toru took his responsibilities very seriously.
Grimnoir were foul assassins. Without honor, they chipped away at the Imperium’s great mission of purification. They had killed many of his brothers, usually through ambush because they lacked the courage to fight face-to-face as befitted warriors. On several occasions they had even tried to hurt the Chairman himself, which was foolish, because everyone knew nothing could hurt the Chairman. Toru despised the Grimnoir and everything they stood for. Yet now, his friend and mentor was consorting with them as they spoke about the most forbidden of subjects.
He was loyal to the ambassador, but there were two people to whom he owed far greater allegiance: the Emperor, whom he had never even seen, and then the Emperor’s advisor, Chairman of the Imperial Council, Baron Okubo Tokugawa, whom he’d had the incredible honor of meeting in person twice. Toru did not know what to do, but when the situation concerned the safety of the Imperium, there was no shame in seeking wisdom.
Spell completed, Toru took a step away from the mirror as it flashed with Power. The other side of the glass displayed the Edo Court. Incoming messages from the diplomatic corps always sounded an alarm so it did not take long to get a response. The servant that appeared was of lower standing than an Iron Guard, so Toru did not bother to address him other than to immediately state his report. The servant took the message and disappeared from view. Toru went to his knees and waited. A response could take some time. Hopefully it would not be too late.
Chapter 7
The Japanese troops are unflinching in their duty. Despite being outnumbered five to one, their elite corps of Actives assaulted the Russian fortifications with precise coordination. Never before have I seen men so willing to die to achieve a goal, and more importantly, so willing to die to atone for not achieving that goal. I witnessed a few soldiers who failed their compatriots during the assault, ask permission from a superior and then take their own lives in shame. The Imperial soldier looks upon death in the service of his lord as the singular purpose of his existence.
Fairfax County, Virginia
Dan Garrett was sweating bullets. Sullivan didn’t even look nervous, but then again, he was the tough guy with the Power that was useful for slugging it out inside a house full of Imperium. If Dan had known that one of the Iron Guards was a Reader, he would never have gone through with this. It was damn near impossible to Influence a Reader. So much for sticking the idea in someone’s head and then talking their way out. He was regretting having come up with this idea in the first place.
Though it did seem to be working.
The ambassador placed his hands flat on the table, as if to steady himself. “Tokugawa had long warned us of the coming of this menace. At first, many did not believe his talk of this predator from another world. In the years before he became the Chairman, before the emperor realized the greatness and wisdom of-”
“Before he took over Japan?” Sullivan asked.
It was obvious that the ambassador didn’t like the Heavy’s version of diplomacy. “He did not take over. The emperor came to embrace his counsel.”
“Whatever.”
“Long before he came to the Imperial Court, when the Chairman was merely a lone swordsman wandering the land, was when the first Pathfinder found us. Tokugawa battled it alone. He defeated the creature, but only after an epic struggle. Knowing that, in time, more scouts would come, he began to gather those that also understood the Power to his side. He was the first Active, but he found others nearly as powerful, those who, like him, were bound with the Power when magic was newly arrived to our world. Then he recruited soldiers. He taught us, hardened us, bound us to kanji, because only the strongest would be able to withstand the corrupting magic of the Enemy. A group such as ours was illegal by the Emperor’s decree, so we trained in secret. We were few at first, and because Okubo Tokugawa had been outcast because of his magic, he was only able to recruit from the basest elements-peasants, former samurai who wished to return to ways that the Emperor had outlawed, and even yakuza. ”
“What’s a yakuza?” Dan asked. He’d been practicing phrases in Japanese to use as magical weapons when fighting Imperium troops, but actually learning the complicated language had so far eluded him.
The ambassador pulled back one sleeve to reveal now-faded, once-colorful tattoos that began at the wrist and completely covered his arm. “I read your American newspapers and the talk of your criminals… Your mob. Let us say that I could have taught this Al Capone a thing or two.” He covered the markings. “It is a shameful past to bear, but Okubo Tokugawa did not care about his soldiers’ history, he cared only about our ability. You must understand, this was a very unorthodox idea at the time. We chose new names and swore fealty to him, allowing Lord Tokugawa to mold us as he saw fit.”
“So the Chairman started a secret society,” Dan mused. “Looks like we got more in common than I thought.” Sullivan glanced over at him. The Heavy didn’t seem to like that idea.
“We were called Genyosha. The Dark Ocean.”
“Dark Ocean is the key…” Sullivan muttered under his breath.
“Another scout came. Dark Ocean lost many warriors, but we defeated the creature. This one had been even stronger than the last. Okubo Tokugawa knew that we had to be more prepared, and that Dark Ocean alone would not be enough. Eventually the Enemy would break through and consume the world. He did not need just one united organization, he needed a united nation, then an empire, and eventually a world. That was his vision. Only through that level of strength and purification could we hope to defeat the Enemy.”
“You believe that?”
“Of course.” The ambassador seemed honestly surprised at the question. “He was invincible and wise. I pledged my life to him. Most of us did. Dark Ocean became a tool of political manipulation. Many unfortunate things befell our enemies. In a short time, he controlled the Edo Court, and thus became the Chairman. The mission to purify the world began. We started at home, eliminating the weak and raising the strong. Next we took Korea, then
