#Sanzu River || Rokumonsen

[dustxechoes]

"Be cautious. These are no longer friendly skies."

No alarms were raised. The security MTs Rokumonsen engaged were dispatched too quickly. Before the pilots knew they were under attack, let alone their fellows. Fittingly, for a SHINOBI, Rokumonsen's mech easily danced in and out of the enemy's sensor range, picking them off one by one.

SHINOBI moved at a methodical pace, following the trail laid out by Asura in a cloud of half-melted snow. What Rokumonsen may have lacked in Ziyi's enthusiasm for the removal of certain obstacles, he made up for it in brutal efficiency. Each engagement a cold calculation, reducing the chance that the two were discovered prematurely.

For the young master's sake, he would kill as many as were necessary.

"Asura...I've managed to decode a video record from one of the wrecks you scanned. They were...engaged, by a high-mobility Schneider AC. Identified...as STEEL HAZE. Transmitting now." Came another voice over the radio. Arshile, awaiting the two just outside the combat zone.

The brief engagement depicted was a decisive and one-sided one. The Liberation Front pilot was completely unable to track the enemy, let alone land a hit on it. It's profile was distinct, a characteristically spindly Schneider frame with BAWS-made kinetic weapons uncharacteristic of an Arquebus vesper.

"It would take a pilot of surpassing skill, to handle such a machine. One that prioritizes mobility above all." Even SHINOBI wasn't so fragile. This STEEL HAZE demanded nothing less than absolute perfection from its pilot. Anything less would mean certain death.

Immediate ruin hanging over an entire planet, its beleaguered people, and an energy source exploited without pause. How couldn't Rex recall the devastation? All that he'd been late to intercept before, the units he lashed out at in retaliation. Rex got out a device-- burst frequency, all that stuff they agreed to before heading out. He could practically chart out the course from memory on the map. It haunted him that much.

"I'll scout ahead. Their sensors have a harder time picking me up as long as I don't... 'activate Chandrasekhar.'"

Had to remember his callsign out here was Asura. But in any case, he could check for any stragglers from Arquebus security, and secure any stray combat logs along the way from fallen resistance fighters. And once he was sure the coast was clear, he'd signal to Rokumonsen that he was good to proceed. Or in some cases, calculating a window of time to move safely.

On other missions that emphasized minimizing combat, Rex had room for humor, be it intentional or just as a result of how he operated. Ziyi definitely had testimony for that-- Rokumonsen would too, now. It seemed that during one instance of avoiding patrols, Rex had actually burrowed into the snow for a solid minute. Only emerging once he was made aware his comrade was nearby and that they had to move again.

Between speaking the words to confirm directions, the self-styled ronin could hear Rex's teeth chattering. Piled over the anguish of being here once more, in the wake of a battle lost.

[itsmarjudgelove]

Sanada Yukimura (真田 幸村, 1567 – June 3, 1615) The Rokumonsen, or six coin crest, is the mon of the Sanada family. The Japanese believe that the dead must cross the Sanzu river in the underworld. To cross over to the afterlife, the dead would have to pay a toll fee of six coins.

[oh-my-otome]

The Sanzu river, also known as the river of three crossings/roads, is similar to the river Styx.

Six coins were placed in the casket of the dead, used for safe passage in the afterlife.

Seen above, the coins are represented on Yukimura’s clothing in both IkeSen and SLBP, from the real-life Sanada clan’s crest: the rokumonsen, or “six mon coins,” with mon being a type of currency.

A character from Rumiko Takahashi’s manga, Rinne, also reflects this belief in the form of Rokumon, a black-cat-by-contract who helps guide wandering souls to the wheel of reincarnation— he is named, appropriately, for the amount needed to reach the other side of the Sanzu river: six (roku) mon.

An innocent soul was believed to be allowed to cross a bridge over the turbulent river, but evil souls were cast into the rapids and made to swim across the raging waters. Souls somewhere in the middle were allowed to ford the river.

On the other size, wandering souls were met by Shozuko-no-baba, also known as Datsueba, a hag who demanded the coins or else she would strip the soul of their clothing. Souls who arrived without clothing were stripped of their skin.

The souls of children are told by Datsueba that they must make towers of stones and pebbles in order to climb out of limbo. Datsueba, however, sends demons to knock the towers down as they accumulate.

Jizo, a bodhisattva who also helps wandering adult souls, rescues the children and hides them in his robes, ferrying them past Datsueba.

[gary-luscombe]

Zenmyosho-in temple, perhaps more famously known as Sanada-an, in Kudoyama, Wakayama Prefecture. This temple once played host to three generations of the famous Sanada Clan during the later stages of the Sengoku Period. Upon the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japan was once again split in two. The western army led by Ishida Mitsunari and the eastern army under Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Sanada Clan, perhaps as tactical gambit to protect the family line, chose to join both sides. The head of the clan, Masayuki together with his son, the legendary Yukimura, joined forces with Mitsunari and the western army. Masayuki's eldest son, Nobuyuki, joined the the Tokugawa. The two armies met on October 21st 1600 at the battle of Sekigahara where the western army was defeated, allowing Ieyasu to consolidate his power. As a reward, Sanada Nobuyuki was granted most of his clan's former holdings. Rather than have Yukimura and Masayuki executed, Ieyasu instead banished them to the small village of Kudoyama, close to sacred Mount Koya. They remained here for several years and made a living by crafting and selling particularly durable and fine belts before Masayuki died of illness in 1611. Four years later, Yukimura and his son participated in and met their fates at the sieges of Osaka Castle. The influence of the Sanada is easily seen throughout Kudoyama with the prevalence of the Rokumonsen, the famous clan symbol made up of six circles. Their clan symbol is incorporated into the decoration all around Sanada-an and can be clearly seen on the right-hand gate in the bottom picture. The Rokumonsen represents the six coins that would be placed in the coffin of the deceased in order to pay their way across the River Sanzu and enter the land of the dead, much like the Greek myth of paying Charon to ferry you across the River Styx. The image was chosen to emblazon the Sanada banners to show to all that they embraced death rather than feared it. #japan #japanesehistory #JapanTravel #historynerd #historical #visitjapan #discoverjapan #cooljapan #sanada #samurai #instagramjapan #wakayama #kudoyama #日本 #九度山 #和歌山 #真田幸村 #歴史 (at Kudoyama, Wakayama)

[dustxechoes]

@asurastro from x

"...Indeed. 'tis most unfortunate, that Arquebus forces would climb The Wall, while I, the young master, and yourself, all happened to either be off duty or deployed elsewhere."

Seeing Asura home hale and hearty was a relief, but the old merc's mind couldn't help but wander dark places. Paranoid he may be, but Ziyi had nearly been killed. He would leave no rock unturned.

"Pure and watchful heart, hidden blades avail them not! For we stand as one."

[dustxechoes]

The wreck Asura examined contained an automatically transcripted voice log, recorded by an off duty pilot. A fallen comrade, named Talget Yersin.

The well we found in Gallia is going to dry up sooner than later…

We just can't harvest as much Coral as we used to, and what little we do get, the corps squeeze out of us.

They know we need it to raise mealworms.

How many more children must we watch starve…?

----

SHINOBI skidded to a halt on the snow-covered concrete, kneeling next to Asura on the outskirts of The Wall. The sleek, high performance, custom assembly of a professional assassin, nothing like the repurposed construction machine YUE YU, or the modified civilian scout craft LOADER 4. This was a purpose-built war machine.

"A most grim portent, of the fate of Rubicon...if nothing is done."

The titan's head cocked slightly in Asura's direction as it rose back to its full height. If the corporations are allowed to pilfer the Coral, the people depending on it will die. Leaving only broken, abandoned machines like this one.

"You saw the young master's AC last, so I'll be counting on you to lead the way. We only have a short time before Arquebus' main force returns, we should keep a watchful eye for more of the fallen along the path. There may yet be some insight to be drawn."

The mission was accepted without hesitation. Anything for Ziyi. To make things right with her.

"... Coral abide."

____

Flying through the landscape without his Asura form meant Rex would be shivering. The cosmic contender was far from death, but as a matter of preference he did not favor the cold. And he could only sheathe himself in his aura for warmth by so much-- lest he allow Arquebus forces to detect him sooner. His near-human base form made him harder to target, so he reasoned that with some greater speed, he could avoid being spotted for a while, slip past radar systems.

It also helped that he'd made stops along the way if he recognized RLF machines, trying desperately to see if they had combat logs to salvage. Some of the carnage from the original taking of the Wall was difficult to accept: Muscle Tracers eviscerated beyond recognition from explosive ordinance, as Rex adjusted his hood, the scarf over his mouth, and the goggles providing a windshield for his eyes before running a hyper-vision scan.

He imagined the path he took. How the Vespers dispatched each. All leading up to--

?!

Incoming. Rex hadn't went too far in: He hoped he hadn't been spotted. But he was getting impatient: Enough that he realized he must have gone further ahead than the coordinates where he agreed to meet with Rokumonsen, and opened up communications again, burst transmission, just to be safe:

"--It's like the graveyard of stranded ships out on Earth's Sargasso sea. Arquebus must get a sick kick out of having this twisted scene to scare people off."

But unfortunately for Arquebus, Rex and Rokumonsen were made of sterner stuff. Or they bore neighboring brands of lunacy. Camaraderie made one do strange things, against impossible odds...