The hallway was dimly lit, for the torches that laced the walls every few feet didn't give much light. Along with that, the thick walls prevented any kind of natural light from entering the fortress. The unembellished halls echoed the loud footsteps that belonged to the armored man and woman. Walking down to the grand hall, Holden Cross and Mercy were anxious about their report. Looking to Cross, Mercy was curious why he was so anxious. It's not like we've done a thing. She thought. It was that buffoon's fault.
"Why are you so anxious, Cross?" Mercy asked the Lawbringer, "it's not like we're the ones who are responsible."
"Because, Mercy," Cross responded, "if we have failed one mission, Apollyon may never trust us with anything again. Not to mention that she may even appoint new lieutenants."
Shaking her head, Mercy laughed, "you're overthinking this."
"I certainly hope so," Cross said as they turned the corner, entering the grand hall. The large room was empty, save for Ademar, who was bent over a large stone table with a map. Hearing the footsteps of the Lawbringer and Peacekeeper, Ademar rose to his full height and turned to them.
"Welcome Cross, Mercy," Ademar's gaze rested on Mercy before continuing, "I'm glad you could make it."
"Indeed," Cross responded quickly, sensing the tense atmosphere. Ademar didn't trust Mercy and vice versa, so he rarely ever allowed the Peacekeeper into meetings. Because of her stealth and fighting capabilities, however, the Warden kept her around. Ademar, who stayed silent throughout the introductions, stood up and gestured to the map. And even though he was a second to Holden Cross, his strategic mind and the way he looked at everything earned him a place as one of the Blackstone Legion's tactician.
"Two days ago, Shonto Fortress was attacked and Verecto Shonto died," The Warden pointed to a certain area on the map that was marked with a red marking, "before the assassin got away, we noticed that a symbol that matches the Renjiro clan's symbol on them. This is important, for the Renjiro clan has just committed an act of war against the Blackstone Legion."
"And why does this concern us?" Mercy asked as she crossed her arms.
"Because, Mercy," Ademar stated, "we want you to go an assassinate Tetsuo Renjiro, who is the leader of the Renjiro clan. Without him, the clan's generals will all attempt to take his place, leaving the clan divided amongst themselves. That is when Cross is going to go and put an end to the clan, leaving no Shinobis behind."
"I see," Cross said as he looked over the map one last time, "when should we get started?"
"Tonight," Ademar responded quickly, "get prepared, Mercy, for you are the most vital piece of the puzzle right now."
The sun had just risen over the distance when Nakasone had awoken. She had been resting the night before. Actually, that's not entirely true, for she had stayed awake for hours devising her plans of infiltration. She had only created a rough plan: travel to the Blackstone Fortress, use the cover of night to enter through the archer posts, and find out what she can. This plan is crap. Nakasone thought. Currently, she was camping in the Myre. Specifically, she was close to the border of the Myre and Ashfeld. And as the muddy forests gave way to the green plains, Nakasone was hesitant to go, for she had never traveled this deep into Ashfeld.
Packing up her camp, Nakasone continued her trek to the Blackstone Fortress. Into the plains of Ashfeld, the Shinobi walked, hoping that there wouldn't be any merchants or soldiers. To her luck, the plains were completely empty at this time. From what she'd heard of Ashfeld, that was strange, for most of the different Knight's legions were marching around, searching for money to collect or land to conquer. Something definitely seemed strange to Nakasone.
As she made her way deeper into the belly of the beast, Nakasone saw more and more of the greedy and violent life of the Knights. From atop a roof in a small village that sat in the outskirts, the Shinobi watched as members of a legion, one that she didn't recognize, collected taxes from a woman, who appeared to be homeless. After the woman told the men that she didn't have any money to give, they slammed her with the hilt of their blade. Laughing, the men tore off her clothes and grabbed her by the arm, saying that they could use a new woman. As the woman tried to resist, one of the men slapped her across her face.
Something about that event made Nakasone fill with anger, as she couldn't stand and watch as the men dishonored the woman. Jumping from the roof, she landed onto one of the men. Slitting his neck quickly, she turned to the other man, who had recovered from the shock and assumed an offensive stance. Running at her with his blade high, he swung down, slicing the air where Nakasone had been standing before. Using the clumsy strike that left him off balance and unprotected, she planted her Kusarigama into his side. Tearing them out quickly, the man's flesh was almost completely gone. Screaming, the man made a last-ditch effort to enact his revenge: a large, overextended swing which the Shinobi easily dodged. Falling from the weight of the sword's sudden movement, the man toppled onto the muddy ground - dead.
Turning to the woman, Nakasone gave her a few coins, nodded, and ran down a back alley. In retrospect, that was a clumsy move. She shouldn't have allowed herself to be seen, seeing as this was an infiltration and spy mission. Even though this was true, she couldn't stand by and practically watch as a woman was forced by two men. The sun was plastered in the middle of the sky, becoming an obvious sign of midday, which was another bad thing. Because she was in the middle of an open street and it was midday, the Shinobi was sure that many of the civilians had seen her. Cursing under her breath, she scaled a small house. Perching herself on the roof, she allowed herself a quick breath.
And when the moon rose high in the sky the next night, flames in the distance caught Nakasone's eyes. They were too far away for her to see perfectly, but the sheer amount of torches told her that this was some kind of army. Deciding that it would be best to investigate the army, she started her walk towards the light.
As the Shinobi got closer, the number of men she could see was enormous. Two men held large flags with the Blackstone Legion symbol plastered proudly on them. Row after row and soldiers stood, waiting for the command of the man standing at the front. The man, who Nakasone presumed was the leader, was a tall Lawbringer. His armor was a dark grey with two large, ornate lion's heads on either of his shoulders. Holding a poleax, he watched the army before speaking.
"My soldiers," He addressed the army, "tonight we head to the Myre to find the Renjiro clan. This clan is known for their stealth and dangerous Shinobis, so stay alert. In the Myre, there are plenty of Samurais that would be willing to take your head off at a moment's notice. If you see anyone with a sword, kill them. For the Blackstone Legion!"
The army echoed the words and started their march to the Myre. They're going to the Renjiro clan? Nakasone thought. This is an act of war! I have to go and warn Tetsuo. Quickly abandoning her previous assignment for one that she thought more important, she took off in a sprint. Thankfully, the night's shade covered her body and the echoes of the army covered her footsteps as she ran to the Myre.
The Myre was certainly a thick and wet forest. The thick trees didn't allow Mercy to see far into the Samurai's dwelling. Knowing exactly where the Renjiro clan was located, she was a good choice by Ademar for this mission. Mercy hated to admit it, but Ademar was a good tactician and strategist, for he had years of experience over her. Ademar and her had grown a distaste for each other from the moment they met. He looked down at those without significant purposes, as he saw himself higher than those with smaller intellects. Mercy, being new without any significant purpose until a year of service, was in that group of people, and if there was one thing that she hated more than anything, it was being put lower than others.
As she saw smoke on the horizon, Mercy knew that she was getting close to the Renjiro clan's main domain. The Renjiro clan's area was a few tents centered around a larger tent. The larger tent, which belonged to Tetsuo Renjiro, the clan's leader, was where she was headed. Sneaking around the largest tent, Mercy made her way to the back of it. Because of the thin walls that the tent held, she could hear Tetsuo speaking to one of his generals.
"The spies that we sent haven't come back yet. I fear that they have been spotted and taken by the Blackstone Legion," That voice belonged to the general, "what shall we do, sir?"
"Damn," Tetsuo responded angrily, "we should've just let Nakasone handle this."
A few seconds went by without any words, leading Mercy to peer into the large tent. Noticing that the general had left, she determined that it was time to make her move. As she peered into the tent, however, Tetsuo noticed that the structure shook. Curious, Tetsuo took out his kusarigama and carefully made his way to Mercy's position. Shit. Mercy thought. He knows I'm here. As Tetsuo made his way closer to the Peacekeeper, she took out her dagger and clutched it in her hand.
And when Tetsuo was right on top of Mercy, she quickly punctured the tent with her dagger. The dagger went through the tent and straight into Tetsuo's chest, causing him to scream in pain, which alerted the entire camp. Pulling the blade out and pushing it back in, the blade went into Tetsuo's chest again, fatally injuring him. When she pulled the blade out one last time, she went in an all-out sprint, hoping to outrun the Shinobi that would be chasing her.
"There's the assassin!" Yelled one of the Shinobis. As he did this, a few of them sprinted their way to her, gaining on her quickly. Mercy tried to push herself further, but when she realized that she couldn't outrun the lightweight Shinobi in her armor, she turned to fight. As soon as she stopped and turned, a Shinobi jumped at her, kusarigama in hand. He came down on her with a quick and strong force. Knowing that she couldn't deflect it, she rolled to the side, allowing the Shinobi to stumble on the ground because of the amount of force he put into his swing. Recovering just in time to dodge Mercy's blades, he rolled away so that there was plenty of feet between the two. Throwing one of his kusarigama, the chain wrapped itself around Mercy's arm. Before he could take advantage of it, however, she was the one to pull, forcing him to come to her. And as he stumbled forward towards her, Mercy plunged her dagger into the side of his neck, forcing him to tumble over, which let the Peacekeeper swiftly split the man's head from his body.
Not letting Mercy recover, an arrow swiftly plunged itself into the ground in front of her. As she was about to go after the archer, another Shinobi jumped on top of her, forcing the Peacekeeper onto the ground, which also caused her to drop her blade and dagger It was a good thing and a bad thing, for the archer wouldn't risk hitting her clan member whilst trying to hit Mercy, but on the contrary, however, there was a Shinobi trying to get a kusarigama into her body. The Shinobi, which was atop her, struggled to push the sharp blade of the Samurai into her side, for Mercy pushed as hard as she could against the Japanese man. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that the Shinobi had drawn her bow and was ready to release. And as the arrow split the air, Mercy pulled the man, who was on top of her, to block the arrow for her. Hitting his chest, the archer's arrow pierced his heart, making his body go limp.
Throwing the body off of her, Mercy turned her attention to the last Shinobi, who had already retrieved another arrow from her quiver. Throwing one of her smoke grenades onto the ground, Mercy disappeared from the archer's view. The archer, who was keeping her bow drawn, had fallen completely silent, for she was listening for the Peacekeeper. Hearing a shuffling on a tree in front of her, she immediately released the arrow, which she saw punctured an empty branch as the smoke was clearing. Suddenly, Mercy jumped down onto the archer with her dagger, piercing the woman's skull with the tip of the blade.
Finally allowing herself a breath, Mercy collapsed to the floor in exhaustion. After a few minutes, she made her way back to the Blackstone Fortress in Ashfeld. She had completed her mission. Now, there was only one thing left to do: let Cross move into the Myre and decimate the Renjiro clan.