Volume II: Unforgiving Kingdom

Chapter IX: Honorable Knight


Location: 12th Floor, Goldenia

One and a half days later. . .

"I didn't imagine that they would've tightened up the number of guards on each floor so suddenly. She just made the announcement, and it was already hard as hell to get out of the fourteenth floor."

Nearly two days has passed since the failed execution and Feena rejoining Ragna and Monika. Following the young woman's advice, the latter two were being led by her on their pathway to escape from the Kingdom of Goldenia as quickly as they can without starting up a bunch of unnecessary trouble. As they were making their way out through the use of secret underground tunnels, Freesia Von Bismarck, the new queen of Goldenia, had shown herself before the entire kingdom and openly declared the group of three as villains. She placed a high bounty on their head to attract the attention of vigilante groups and mercenaries in order to subdue them. More soldiers than ever have been patrolling the floors in search for the three of them. The group has been faced with their biggest challenge so far, as their escape route was even more complicated with these interfering obstacles.

As of now Ragna, Monika, and Feena have all managed to surface from the second underground tunnel that was between the fourteenth floor and the twelfth floor. Having just surfaced not too long ago, Ragna and Monika haven't had time to do much after they've stepped out. Meanwhile, Feena was still working to close the tunnel's exit in order for no one to discover it and ruin their plans.

"Honestly, I can't say that I'm surprised at all this." Monika said as she pulled her hat over her eyes. "There's no way that Her New Highness would let us escape so easily. Think about all we've done."

"I get it." Ragna responded, folding his arms. "It's only natural that things would get rough until we get out of here. Even still, I can tell that the increase in numbers is nothing compared to what's to come."

"Honestly, I don't know what we should expect. Our foes could be anyone right now. Anybody and everybody that's willing and able to fight will come after us. If it weren't for the tunnels Feena knows about, I'm sure we'd be swarmed by guards and mercenaries all the way here. We'd be exhausted."

"Trust me. I can imagine."

Feena sighed deeply as she wiped her forehead. The woman had finally managed to seal shut the opening that lead into the underground tunnel. Having finished, she stood back up and walked over towards Ragna and Monika.

"Alright, that's another tunnel closed." She said. "Once again, we're here and nobody even has a clue where we are!"

"It won't stay that way that's for sure." Monika replied. "Not to mention that it's daylight now. It'll be a lot harder for us to try and sneak around in the daytime."

"Should we stay here?" Ragna asked. "And wait till it's night before we make a move?"

"No, it's too risky to try and just stay in one spot. We need to find some way to get to the next tunnel as quickly as possible."

"The twelfth floor has a bunch of old and abandoned roads doesn't it?' Feena asked. "If there's no one that really uses them anymore, it'd be a lot easily to walk around in. And if someone is there, it would be easier to hide."

"That does sound like it could work." Ragna agreed.

"It's the best option we have for right now." Monika commented. "The abandoned roads it is. You can lead us to the next tunnel from those roads, right Feena?"

"Of course I can!" Feena exclaimed, holding a thumbs up. "Hell to make things easier, the tunnel itself is underneath some of those abandoned roads. The opening should be close by one of them."

"How many are there?" Ragna asked.

"At least two dozen."

Ragna sweatdropped. "Great... that's at least twenty-four different roads to check."

"Hey don't sweat it." Monika said. "It shouldn't take that long hopefully."

"I'd hat to say this, but it probably will." Feena sighed. "Unless we were to split up, the three of us would take forever trying to cover every single last road."

"You'd want us to split up?" Ragna asked. "Yeah right. That's probably what they're waiting on."

"And if we just wait and take forever searching together, then there's no telling how long it'll take. If we search them one by one while all three of us are still together, they might as well pick us off now, cause by the time we do all of that there's no telling who'll be after us. I say we should split up this time."

"Even if we do agree to split up, how would we possibly cover all of this ground by ourselves?" Monika questioned.

"There's a little over two dozen abandoned roads. That I know for sure. If we split up, then that's at least eight different areas for each of us. Anymore, and we'll meet up and search them together if we don't find what we're looking for after that."

Feena could tell that the two were still skeptical about the idea.

"Come on guys. All three of us wanna get out of here as soon as possible, so all three of us have to play our part."

Monika and Ragna looked at one another before sighing.

"Well..." Monika started to say. "If it'll help us progress a little faster."

"Alright, fine." Ragna said. "We can split up for now. As long as you two understand that we'll be on our own." The two girls blinked in confusion. "Chances are, once we split up, we won't be able to run to each other's aid if someone does try to come after us while we're separated. So you two better be able to hold your own."

"You won't have to worry about us." Feena said with a wink.

"I'm used to fighting solo." Monika said, tilting her hat. "It's nothing new for me."

Ragna smiled slightly. "Then which way are we heading?"

"Ragna, you can head west of here towards the roads that way." Feena said. "It's not far so no one'll notice you. Monika you can head to the south. It can get busy on the way there, but if you go now you shouldn't have any problems. I'll cover the north. If we find nothing, then the remaining roads on the east side should be where we meet up."

"Right."

Soon the group of three began to split up and head in their separate ways, hoping to find the way out as quickly as possible.


Location: South Abandoned Road, 12th Floor, Goldenia

"Alright, let's see here..."

As the group split up and went their separate ways, each one had to find their own path there safely. Not having each other's help would prove difficult for them at first, but ultimately they had managed to find their way around to where they're heading. With Monika, the girl had just arrived on the southern abandoned roads. As she looked around, she saw how right Feena was. There wasn't anyone around when she arrived, and the buildings look old and deserted. The rest of the area looked like a pure ghost town. Monika continued to observe her surroundings as she walked around.

"Damn, she wasn't joking." She said to herself as she walked. "This place is a freaking ghost town inside a larger city. If it wasn't for crap like this, I'd probably forget just how big Goldenia really is. To think there's about two dozen of these. I just can't believe that the people would abandon these areas just like that. Why would-"

Monika was stopped mid-sentence as the ground underneath her shook, causing her to stumble around before falling over to the ground, face first, as her hat also fell off in the process. She then picked herself back up once the shaking stopped, and groaned.

"That's why..." She sighed. "These areas must've been heavy earthquake zones at one point." Monika bends over and picks her hat off the ground. She then proceeded to dust it off. "Strange. I didn't think the earthquakes made it past the fifth floor."

Monika placed her hat back on her head and continued to walk around.

"How the hell would a tunnel even stand up to all of these earthquakes anyway?" She continued. "But then again, if they're that bad up here, then it can only be a hell of a lot worse down on the lower levels. Makes me wonder what we must be getting into when we finally get down there our-"

Monika stopped for a moment and looked up and around.

"That's odd. I could've sworn I heard something. And it wasn't a earthquake this time."

Monika slowly held out and loaded her peacemaker, making sure that she observed and listened out to all her surroundings as she did so. However the woman didn't hear anything.

"Hey! Who the hell's out there?" She called out. "Answer me!"

There was no response.

"I know that I heard you, so come on out! Show yourself!" Monika continued to look around. "If you're waiting for the other two to show up, then you're out of luck. Don't expect either of them to show up anytime soon. It's just me!"

Monika soon heard footsteps coming from both in front and from behind her. She quickly looked back and forth trying to see who was out there.

"Show yourself! Right now!"

As she looked behind her she saw two imperial soldiers step out. These warriors were fully clad in imperial armor, helmet and all. One of them wielded an iron halberd axe. The second one was shouldering a rifle. She then heard more footsteps in front of her. As she looked, another soldier stepped out, wearing the same gear excluding the helmet. The soldier in question was young boy with blackish hair. He wielded a standard imperial sword that was sheathed. Monika blinked as she nearly recognized the boy in question.

"Wait a minute, you're... Juri right?" Monika asked.

Juri blinked in surprise. "You actually know who I am?"

"You're one of the Imperial Royal Guards aren't you? I've feel like that's where I've seen you from. But then, what's a royal guardsmen doing down here in a place like this?"

"I'm sure you're aware of Her Highness' orders."

"I am. But I'm more surprised that they're letting the royal guard hunt us down. What, are the other soldiers not enough for the new Queen to feel safe?"

"No one said you could be the one asking questions here, little girl." The gun-wielding soldier butted in.

"Little girl?!" Monika turned around in an offended manner. "Who the hell you calling little girl?! Just how old do you people think I am?!"

Neither Juri or the other soldiers dared to answer that question. They all knew how rude it would be to actually tell a woman how old they think she is. And despite how young they think Monika is, they could tell she wouldn't take it as a compliment.

"Enough!" The halberd-wielding soldier exclaimed. "We're not here to discuss anything with you! Under orders from Her Highness herself, you are hereby placed under arrest! Drop your weapons and come with us quietly!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Monika replied.

"Excessive force will be used if you do not comply." Juri stated.

"Fine by me."

Monika quickly turned and aimed her peacemaker towards Juri. Before the boy could even reach for his sword she fired, striking him in the shoulder and forcing him to move out of the way. Just as he did so, Monika quickly took off running as the other two soldiers ran up to check on Juri.

"I'm alright, don't worry about me!" Juri said as he stood back up. "Harper, get to high ground. You're the one with the rifle, so you should be able to keep her from getting far if you shoot."

"Right." The gun-wielder, named Harper, nodded in response as he quickly ran off to get to the rooftops of the abandoned buildings.

"Jick, I need you to chase after her and direct Harper on where to go." Juri also ordered to the halberd-wielding soldier. "If she gets in his blind spot, then he'll be vulnerable. Be careful. She's quick when it comes to pulling the trigger on that gun of hers."

"I'm on it." Jick replied as he shouldered his halberd and ran off.

Juri pulled himself back up to his feet as he held onto his injured shoulder.

"Just what the hell are we up against here?" He thought to himself.

-x-

"Stop right there!"

As Monika soon took off after shooting Juri, she soon looked behind her to see that Jick was already gaining on her. Despite being in a full set of armor, the halberd-wielder was able to run faster than she expect. Quickly she took a sharp turn and ran down an alley. Jick didn't hesitate to follow after her. However the moment he dove down the alleyway, Monika turned around and shot at him once again. The soldier could hear the bullet graze his helmet as it shot past him. Monika immediately ran off after this.

"Damn..." Jick said to himself as he kept running. "They weren't kidding about that woman's accuracy."

Monika quickly rolled out of the alleyway as she reached the end of it, and was back into the open streets of the abandoned area. She pulled her hat down tighter over her head and continued to run as fast as she could. Suddenly she looked up upon hearing gunshots, and was able to see Harper, the gun-wielding soldier aiming his rifle at her as she moved across the rooftops. Monika attempted to aim her Peacemaker at him, but was interrupted as she could hear Jick charging up behind her. She dodged out of the way of Jick's halberd, but didn't managed to completely avoid Harper's rifle, noted as a bullet grazed her chest. The woman didn't allow this to phase her and immediately continued running.

"She's still not stopping!" Harper stated.

"Keep on her!" Jick exclaimed.

Monika continued to run from the two soldiers all while keeping an eye out for Juri, not believing that the one shot to his armored shoulder would keep him down for long. She pushed and turned over anything she could find to use as an obstacle to slow down Jick, although she couldn't think of anything to slow down Harper without getting her own hands dirty.

"This isn't the time for me to be fighting right now!" Monika said to herself as she dodged another one of Harper's shots. "But I can't shake these two off my tail for shit! I might end up fighting my way out of here..."

Monika quickly ducked as another bullet sailed past her hat, but tripped the moment she tried to go under it. As she pulled herself up she went wide eyed to see that Jick was closing in on her. The soldier attempted to tackle her down as she got up, however she quickly got out of the way, losing her coat in the process. She quickly turned around afterward and spin kicked Jick back down as he got back up. Monika grabbed her coat and took off again as Harper shot at her.

Knowing Jick would be fine, Harper continued to proceed across the rooftops, keeping Monika in his view at all times. Monika did her best to try and find any alleyway she could duck into in order to get out of sight. But no matter which way she went, Harper managed to keep on her at all times. Quickly, he loaded his rifle and fired another round at the woman. Monika yelped quietly as the bullet hit the wall right in front of her, dangerously close to catching her.

"I've got you now little missy." Harper said, loading in another shot.

Monika quickly changed courses however after that last shot, and was running towards the building Harper was standing on top of.

"Huh?" He said to himself. "What in the world is she-"

Monika quickly sent out a gust of wind under her and propelled herself up to Harper. She then sent out another gust of wind and blasted him off of his feet. Harper managed to keep himself from falling off, but by the time he got back up Monika was nowhere in sight. He grabbed his rifle and looked around everywhere as he ran. She wasn't anywhere in his sight. There wasn't even any sign of which way she ran off to.

"How the hell did the little girl move that fast?!" He asked loudly to himself.

With Monika, the woman managed to move away to another par of the abandoned area out of Harper's view. She stood there for the time being in order to catch her breath. Once she was done she quickly looked around and saw that the soldiers were nowhere in sight. She smiled slightly and started running again.

"That'll keep them off me for a while." She said to herself. "Now all that's left is to watch out for the third one."

"Found you!"

"What?!"

Monika stopped as Juri suddenly dove out from hiding right in front of her. The boy wasted no time and quickly drew his sword to go on the offensive, slashing left and right as Monika quickly dodged his attacks. Monika then stepped back to give her time to draw her sword, immediately entering a clash of blades with Juri as the sounds of their swords against one another could be heard. As Juri continued to swing his blade, Monika continued to parry and tried her best to get an open shot with her Peacemaker. However she never fired, as she did not have any opening in order to fire. Juri attempted to trip her in which she hopped over and shot out a gust of wind at his chest.

"Gotcha!"

Monika aimed her peacemaker and fired, the bullet heading straight for Juri. However the bullet was quickly reflected as a wall of dirt extended from the ground. Monika blinked as she quickly realized something.

"You're an Earth elemental huh?" She asked.

Juri nodded as he stood up. "Don't think you'll win so easily. This place is old and abandoned. You don't stand a chance!"

"Bring it!"

Monika rushed at Juri via a gust of wind, but was quickly thrown off course as the ground from under her went upward and left her spiraling in the air. While she was open, Juri caused another piece of earth to extend outward and smack Monika dead in the face, sending her flying back. Another pillar extended behind her, causing her to rebound off the pillar and straight into a large chunk of rock that smack her from above and sent her to the ground. Before she could touch ground, the earth right under her started moving like a conveyor belt and sent her towards Juri, who drew his sword as the girl came flying towards him. Monika, who managed to hold onto her weapons through that attack, surrounded herself inside a ball of wind. As she came flying into Juri's range their blades collided. Combined with Monika's wind, the impact sent Juri flying backwards, in which Monika proceeded to pursue.

As Juri regained his composure, he saw that Monika was flying right above him in a gust of wind. Quickly, the girl came down, sword in hand and ready to strike. Juri rolled out the way and sent upward another pillar of earth. Monika however, managed to see this coming and shifted herself over to stay in attacking range. Before Juri could respond again, she came down upon him and was ready to strike. Juri drew his blade and clashed with Monika as both rolled out of the way. Monika sent out another gust of win and propelled herself to Juri again as fast as possible, doing her best to keep the pressure on him. Juri continued to block and deflect all of Monika's attack as he tried to place some distance for him to use his abilities without being caught up in it, or Monika's abilities. Soon, the two ended up in a deadlock with one another.

"Damn, you're good." Monika said to her opponent.

"I can understand why the Prime Minister said to not underestimate you." Juri responded.

"Then I'll tell you this. Take your friends and turn back now. Or else I might have to really get serious."

"I'm afraid that I can't afford to turn back now."

"So be it."

Before Juri could even blink, Monika suddenly vanished from his view. Surprised, he was stopped from looking around as a slash wound appeared over his chest, nearly cutting through his armor. This was followed by another one to the back that left a small indention in Juri's armor. As Juri turned around, there Monika was with her peacemaker aimed at his face. The man went wide eyed and stumbled back as he saw this.

"Checkmate, Juri." Monika said. "Face it. You can't beat me."

"Maybe not on his own! But with a little help, we'll see what's possible!"

Monika gasped and looked upward. From there, she saw Jick descending from above her, preparing to bring his halberd down on top of her. Quickly, she jumped out of the way with a gust of wind. She then placed her hand on her sword as she touched down. However before she could draw it, she was halted as a gunshot was heard from behind her. Standing several feet away from her was Harper, who had his rifle aimed directly at her. Monika clenched her right side as Harper landed a direct hit. She saw that she was surrounded on all ends, and was also injured from the gunshot wound, indicated by the amount of blood that leaked.

"Don't count us out just yet." Harper stated as he loaded his rifle. "We've got plenty of fight left in us yet!"

"How about you?" Jick asked. "Think you can keep up with us for much longer?"

Instead of responding or looking worried, Monika smirked, which confused the three.

"It's funny." She answered. "That's what I should be saying to you!"

Monika drew her blade with both hand and rushed at Jick first. Harper fired a low shot towards her legs but missed. Jick then gripped his halberd and swung it around in a full circle, coming up to meet with Monika's sword as both collided with each other. Monika rolled under Jick as Juri then proceed to rush at her. Just as he and Jick were upon her she suddenly vanished as they brought down their weapons on where she was formerly.

"What the hell?!" Jick exclaimed.

"Where'd the little runt run off to?!" Harper questioned as he looked around while aiming his rifle.

"Harper!" Juri yelled out. "Above you!"

As the three soldiers quickly looked above them they saw Monika coming straight down on Harper.

"I'm getting real sick of you calling me a little girl!"

Monika spun around and struck Harper on the head with an axe kick. As the man went down she sent out another gust of wind that knocked him in the direction of Juri and Jick, both who managed to catch their companion as he came hurling towards them. As they lifted Harper to his feet, Monika rushed at the three of them once again. Juri responded by raising a wall of earth from out of the ground directly in front of Monika. Though when the wall was raised they didn't hear Monika crash into it, or see any signs that she collided with it at all. Suddenly they heard gunshots coming from above them. As Juri raised a barrier of earth over them, they could see Monika soaring through the air and landing on a building right beside them. The girl then jumped down with a gust of wind and struck the barrier with her sword, but was surprised to see that it had no effect. Using this opening, a column extended from the barrier, striking Monika in the stomach and sending her flying before she crash landed into the ground again.

At that moment, Jick emerged from the barrier and tried to rush the girl before she could recover. Monika looked up in time and held up her sword to counter Jick's halberd-axe as it came down on her. As Jick winded up for another swing, Monika suddenly vanished before his eyes, leaving him confused until she appeared in front of him once more. She swung her sword across his abdomen, cutting the armor and then followed up with slamming her sword against his helmet, causing it rattle and make Jick dizzy. Monika then rushed in and kicked him in the stomach to knock him down. Jick, unable to snap back to after getting dizzy, did not get up after that. The moment Monika looked up afterwards she quickly looked back down as Harper's gunshot nearly struck her in the head.

"I told you guys you wouldn't be able to keep up with me!" Monika called out. "Come on! Take your friend and get out of here before you piss me off!"

Harper aimed his gun and prepared to shoot at her again. However Juri held out his hand in front of Harper's line of sight, telling him to lower his rifle.

"Not while Jick's in that condition." He told Harper. "Take him back to the upper floors."

"What about you?" Harper asked.

"I'll meet up with you guys later. Trust me."

Harper wanted to protest but new that his fallen ally's safety was more important. He nodded as he put away his rifle onto his back and walked over towards Jick. Monika sheathed her sword and put away her peacemaker as she stepped back from Jick. Soon, Harper was carrying his ally out of sight, leaving just Monika and Juri.

"Well?" Monika asked as she looked at the boy. "What about you? Shouldn't you be going with your friends?"

"I told him, I'd catch up later." Juri responded. "I can still fight one on one you know."

Monika sighed. "Listen, Juri. I'm not one for negotiating peacefully or anything like that, but come on. Is all of this really necessary. I get that this is an order from Her Highness, but give it up. We're not gonna get caught so easily."

"I'm doing you a favor by taking you in."

"...E=Excuse me?"

"Monika, right? For me to be the one to take you people in would be the best case scenario really. Her Highness and the Prime Ministers are holding no bounds. They're serious about stopping you guys after nearly killing Ex-Prime Minister Alexiel."

"Ex-Prime Minister?!"

"Apparently, Her Highness stripped her of her position after what happened during your executions. That's why I'm here."

"I get it. You're doing this in her name, and trying to help her out. You're not in this for yourself."

"I don't have any real benefit from this. If it weren't for helping her out, then most likely, I wouldn't really be an obstacle for you at all. Which is why I'm telling you to come with me peacefully. Considering who else they'll send after you, there's no telling what could happen."

Monika tilted her hat down over her face. ". . . Who else is coming?"

"The Prime Ministers themselves for starters."

"Aglovale and Vira? Both of them are gonna try and deal with us personally?"

Juri nodded. "And there's definitely several mercenaries that'll take a shot at you three."

"Don't remind me. Mercenaries can be ruthless. Feena told me that herself. And considering the stakes we've got our work cut out for us." Monika smiled and looked up. "But hey, it's nothing we can't handle."

Juri looked in shock. "Y-You're excited about this?!"

"We held our own against Alexiel of all people for a good while. We can handle ourselves." Monika pulled out her peacemaker and aimed it at Juri. "We shouldn't have any problems dealing with anyone else in our way. All we want to do is leave Goldenia."

Juri stepped back with his hand on his sword as Monika walked towards him.

"Use some common sense will you?" She continued. "Ever since I can remember all of you soldiers have been the same. You're blinded with your loyalty to this kingdom. Whatever the monarch says, goes. I get that. But you have to realize that there's some things in life that'll be wrong. Sometimes you have to make your own choice. Do we really seem as horrible as we're made out to be by Freesia?"

"I. . . Can't really. Who am I to decide?"

"Your conversation with me. The time you've spent working with Feena."

"What about the other one? Ragna, is it?"

"Ragna... I wouldn't expect you to judge us based on him. You... don't know him like we do and..." Monika shook her head. "Look, just trust me on this. We're not coming back if you let us go, I promise."

"Truth be told, I... do want you to be able to escape safely. But..."

"You're still set on aiding the Prime Minister, huh?"

Juri nodded, drawing his sword.

". . . Alright then." Monika said to herself. "I'm sorry I have to do this."

Monika suddenly vanished and reappeared in front of Juri with a large gust of wind charged in her hand. In an instant she fired it straight into his chest, sending the young boy flying through several buildings before crashing into the ground unconscious. Monika walked over towards the unconscious soldier and sighed. She then smiled.

"But thanks. I'd better find the others right away." Monika started to walk off but then turned around. "After, I... try to take you back to your friends. I don't feel right leaving you here."