The Second Floor

The stairs to the second floor were covered in termites scurrying in circles, which lead me to believe that the first challenge would be some sort of hive. To my surprise I found decaying wooden puppets spread across the floor instead. With warning whatsoever, they lunged towards me with tiny makeshift knives. Fortunately for me, they were useless against my amour and I destroyed my attackers with ease.  

They were just distractions, as my true opponent stabbed my hip from behind. Like me it too was wearing samurai amour, though his seemed to be far older and painted bright red.

"You should have stayed in your room and starved to death while you still had the chance Yoshimatu!" My enemy shouted as it swung its blade.

"And perhaps you should have stayed hidden!"

As the fight continued, it became abundantly clear that my enemy was not in control of his actions. Even disregarding his amour, his attacks were far ineffective and slow. I managed to take advantage of this by attacking only when he was recovering from his inefficient swings. Yet no matter how many times I pierced him with my katana, he brushed it off as if it were a paper cut.

Through sheer luck I discovered that he was being controlled by nearly invisible strings entering his body after a failed strike. So I focused my attention to the strings instead, cutting every single one I saw until my enemy collapsed to the ground.

"Is this it?! Are you too much of a coward to face me on your own puppeteer?!" I insulted my unseen foe.

"I prefer the term puppetmaster..."

Before I could react, she stuck her blade into my shoulder from behind and pushed me to the ground. Even with my blurred vision I could see her; a woman with wooden skin and painted on face, dressed in a long red dress.

"Like I said before samurai, you should have stayed in your safe haven. If the towers pets don't kill you..." She said as she placed her blade into my stomach. "Then your wounds certainty will. Now if you excuse me, I have other thing to attend to my dear..."