And so the Blade Fell
By C.J. Runion
Prologue
And so the blade fell. The people could only watch in horror as their greatest hero was taken down by this demon they had all but worshiped. No, they had worshiped. They had made this murderer their king. Only to learn of his true motives far too late. Now there was no chance for survival. "I really hope Sakura-sama escaped" one of the peasants whispered, staring at their hero, the husband of Sakura, as well as a newly made father. "Hn. Incompetence and disloyalty shall be crushed," their king said with a smirk. "You there, peasant... clean this up," the king said as he walked off. "Bastard!" the peasant addressed yelled angrily, leaping forward to attack the king, only to lose his head in an instant. "Perhaps you fools have forgotten," he said coldly. "The reason I was made your king was due to the power I have!" he yelled out as a burst of energy shot out, causing a deep crater in the area and incinerating the body of both the peasant and the hero. "And if anyone has an problem with this, then they shall die by my hand!" he yelled out as he left the area. The peasant population could only stare with looks of anger, sadness, betrayal and horror coating their weary faces. "We have brought this upon ourselves," one of the peasants said as he began to walk back to his house. Soon after, the rest of the peasants began to follow. That night, there was no sound in the village. A silent mourning was going through, and everyone knew that, when the next morning came, their lives would change forever.
About five miles from there, two people, a man and a woman, could be seen running. The man seemed an obvious warrior, his eye's showing a desire to fight. Obviously one who enjoyed battles. He wore a pair of dark brown baggy pants, and black boots. On the upper half of his body was a black t-shirt, and an overly large leather jacket that effectively disguised his enormous build. The woman was clothed in a bit more normal of a fashion. She wore a simple, light blue dress. Nothing fancy, and probably just what she had been wearing when she had come to the point where she had to begin running. The only really distinguishing features about her were her light purple eyes, and the shoulder length pink hair on her head. Appearances, however, were far from their minds at that time as they ran through the Forest of Echoes. A forbidden forest, with blood running so deep into the ground that it's very soil had turned to a blood red shade. But, at this time, this too, was the last thing on the mind of these two, or rather three, as one would notice from further examination. The woman was holding a small child, no older than a month. "Sakura-sama... you sure this is the right thin' to do?" the man asked with a depressed look. "I'm not sure... but I do know that if we stay, they'll kill little Shiro without a second thought," she said with a strong voice, underlying with a great tone of weariness. She looked at the baby in her arms with a gentle look, rubbing the back of her hand across his face. "Looks like you'll be growing up without a father," she muttered to the child. The man with her merely bowed his head in sadness. "John... I know you regret not staying to help him, but..." Sakura began, only to be cut off. "I'm a fighter alright. And it pisses me off that I couldn't stay and help the one who's helped me so much. But... if I had gone, he woulda never forgiven me fer lettin' you go in here alone. Woulda been more trouble than it's worth," John said with a weak smile. Sakura merely smiled back. "Thanks for everything, John." she said before swinging her head to the side as she saw something glinting in the shadows. It was the gleam of a blade. In a split second, John was there, blocking the blade with his own. "Damn it, thought we got away," John thought as he moved his blade to deflect the second attack. "Sakura-sama, you have ta get outta here now!" John said, moving his body as fast as he could to keep up with the assassin. This guy was obviously no amateur. "But John-" Sakura began. "Now!" John yelled. Sakura flinched at his tone before nodding. At that, she shot off into the forest, only looking back once they were almost out of sight. She could just barely make out John fighting against the assassin, and losing. Without another though, she turned back to her path and shot forward, deeper into the forest.
"So you're the famous John B. Leonard. The one that the 'hero' called his rival," the assassin said with a smirk, putting a sarcastic emphasis on the word hero. "What of it?" John growled out. "It'll be fun killing you" the assassin said with a dark smirk. "If ya can," John said with a smirk of his own, jumping back and throwing off his black leather jacket, which fell to the ground, leaving a surprisingly large crater. He then proceeded to do a back flip, kicking his boots off into a nearby tree, nearly shattering the trunk. "Let's begin," John said with a smirk as he disappeared. The assassin flinched as he felt something tap him on the shoulder. He quickly turned around, in an attempt to keep up with the attack. As he turned, he was sent flying back, a fist connecting to his face. "What happened to the killin' me part?" John said with a smirk, arms crossed across his chest. "Shut up!" The assassin yelled as he jumped back up, launching towards John once more and attempted to tackle him. Only to push through mere air and fall to the ground. As he hit the ground, the bottom of John's foot slammed into his back. "You're out of your league. There's a reason 'he' called me his rival," John said with a smirk, still standing on the assassin. At that, he merely sighed. "But I'm in a bit of a rush. I'd love to stay and play, but I've got a job to do," John said, as his eye's hardened and a grim look crossed over his face. He faced the palm of his right hand towards the assassin and began to gather energy. After a few seconds, he released. And with it came the death of the assassin. Swift and painless. "Now to catch up with Sakura-sama," John muttered as he launched off into the trees, following the path from earlier.
Further up ahead, Sakura had found herself in quite a predicament. It seemed there was a second assassin who had caught up to her. And, right now, she was in a lot of trouble. "All I have to do is kill you off and I'll be a legend," the assassin said with a smirk. "I won't let it happen," Sakura said as she glanced at he child before smiling. "I can't beat him..." she muttered to herself with a sad look. Her eye's turned to look coldly up at the assassin. "You may be able to kill me," she said weakly, before her tone rose. "But you won't kill my son!" She said in an intimidating voice, her body seeming to radiate power. "We'll see," the assassin said as he launched forward at her, only to be deflected aside by an invisible barrier. "I'm a master of the shield style," She muttered with a sigh. "I can keep this barrier up for 3 hours tops," she muttered to herself. Hearing this, the assassin smirked. "Well... let's speed things up a bit then," the assassin said as he launched forward once more, throwing an item at her. Sakura quickly put up her barrier before panicking as the item went through, latching onto her. "With that equipped, you have ten minutes of energy tops," the assassin said with a smirk. "More like a minute," Sakura thought as she grimaced from the effect, the lack of energy reserve training finally hitting its' mark. A few minutes later and Sakura found her energy completely used up. "I can't move," she muttered, glancing down at little Shiro. "It's over... I'm sorry," she muttered with tears in her eyes as the assassin appeared above her. "You're dead bitch!" he yelled out. And so the blade fell.