Chapter 24: At their Parting
A/N: Full disclaimer, extremely gory chapter. Like almost M-Rating stuff.
Teizen unlocked Asuna's chains before dragging her outside by clamping his hand tightly around the long metal straining from her wrists.
He attached the chains to a small loop on the saddle of the white horse Ama, which the princess was kind enough to lend him.
The new Colonel entered his new lighter but stronger Panzer Wolf Armor suit, before mounting his horse.
Around Teizen laid over one thousand armored and un-armored soldiers, all armed and ready for battle in perfect rectangular like formations.
The boy held his spear forward, the metal blade pointing down the street before Teizen bellowed in his deep voice, "FORWARD! MARCH!"
The soldiers moved forward, and the army advanced. Their boots slapping the pavement in harmony.
Teizen spurred his horse forward, Asuna being forced to drag her still rather weak legs forward.
Ama's horseshoes clicked the pavement as she trotted forward, the army advancing.
The military police units in the army were wearing white helmets striped with blue lines, advancing with their rifles over their shoulders, their bayonets creating perfect lines of blades in their formations.
Then came the armored soldiers, their Panzer Armor becoming shadows in the dark night, as over two thousand boots slammed the pavement of the street, marching out from the roadblock.
Citizens, shaking pale with fear, watched as the armored monsters marched past from their windows.
Teizen looked forward robotically, his white steed advancing down the street, leading the whole army, her horseshoes clacking in harmony with the army.
The knees of the soldiers rose and fell, their boots pounding the pavement loudly as they gripped their rifles, continuing to march.
Two soldiers flanked the Colonel, one holding the standard of the army, a Wolf with a bloody dagger in his mouth.
The other holding the flag of the Empire, the classic rising sun standard Japan had used in the Second World War, a white dot in the center of the sun representing purity.
It wouldn't be long before they reached the church...
...
Rebels scrambled to grab weapons and defend the church, dozens of them pointing their rifles at the front door.
Sugu and Rika stayed in their rooms, crying, as Shinichi and Keiko ran outside.
Soldiers marched down the street in front of the church, their wooden and identical faces turning down the street before...
The entire army, all one thousand and thirty five men stood to and faced the church.
Teizen dismounted his horse and attached Asuna's chains to a metal loop on a soldier, ensuring she couldn't escape while witnessing the attack.
He got on Ama's back again before holding his spear and the air and deriving a simple speech.
"WHO OWNS JAPAN?" He bellowed.
"WE DO!" The army chanted.
"WHO OWNS JAPAN?" Teizen repeated.
"WE DO!" They all said, this time louder than before.
"SHOW ME!" He yelled, the army cheering and making the church shake in wake of the armies cry.
Teizen's horse trotted up to the church door, before it turned around, Ama's rear legs about to pound the wooden door.
All the rebels inside trained their rifles on the door hearing the booming sound as the door was hit.
BOOM.
BOOM.
Ama's strength pulsed through her body, breaking down the door.
CRAAACK!
The door flew down and Teizen leaped off his horse, brandishing two M16's.
The soldier soaked in fire on his new armor, the eyes on his mask glowing bright red.
"Come to Papa." He taunted as the Imperial army swarmed and then charged at the church, flooding through the rebel compound.
...
In the chapel, rebels were slaughtered like sheep. Imperials burst into the chapel, blood staining the wooden benches and even the altar.
One rebel screamed in pain as his body was filled with bullets, two soldiers standing over him and blowing him away to tiny pieces.
The stained glass windows of the cathedral were all painted red.
In the first hallway that led from the door, Teizen and his men opened fire, the mass concentrated amount of guns tearing the rebels corpses apart, becoming red soaked sponges of bullets.
The rebel weapons clattered to the floor and they begged holding their hands in the air, "WE SURRENDER!"
Those who surrendered were brought to the chapel as the battle raged.
The church was dark, except for the blaring red lights of the alarm, and yellow flashes of the machine guns.
The noise was incredible, as the entire church was filled with gunfire.
In the courtyard, a hopeless battle was being fought.
Kai, and Nishida along with various rebels, were pinned under intense fire. As Imperials advanced.
The old man looked up, seeing two armored Imperials pointing their rifles at him.
Him and Kai dropped their rifles as the guns kept slapping away at the air, "W-WAIT!"
The two soldiers picked them up and carried them to the chapel.
In the hallways, rebels who stood in corridors for cover were shot to pieces, as MG42's sang loudly, blasting them to hamburger meat, their corpses shuddering.
Teizen felt his M16's click, before killing another rebel who was currently pinned behind a hallway corridor.
Shit. I'm out of ammo, gotta switch over to melee mode.
He drew his spear and switched his armor to the melee setting, so now he could kill even quicker with more strength.
The suit powered up with electricity before he dashed to the rebel in the corridor.
Teizen thrusted his spear in his eye, the rebel shrieking in pain before the point of the yari came out of the back of his skull.
The soldier moved to the courtyard, where an intense firefight was taking place.
Teizen sprinted up to one rebel quickly, the bullets glinting off his hardened armor.
The Colonel opened the woman's stomach using his spear, her intestines hitting the cobblestone of the courtyard before her corpse hit the ground, her machine gun clattering on the floor.
Her buddy next to her had one last sight: Teizen sending his yari in his direction toward his head.
In one clean swipe, the spear had sent the rebels head flying clean off his shoulders.
Teizen moved like lightning, twirling his yari incredibly skilfully in the air sprinting towards rebels who screamed in pain as Teizen murdered them all.
He shoved his spear into the stomach of one young man, the end of it passing clean through his body and impaling his buddy behind him, their machine guns continuing to fire as Teizen killed them.
Teizen placed his boot on the two rebel corpses laying on the end of his spear, pushing them off before resuming his massacre.
The tip of the yari was clean steel before, almost fresh forged.
Now it was coated in rebel blood.
The Colonel found one rebel hiding behind a bush, crying and rocking frighteningly as Teizen stood over him.
Teizen gripped the top of the rebels head, before he pushed his spear clean through his ear, and out the other one. Killing him in seconds.
He found one rebel pinned under concentrated Imperial fire, and the soldiers watched as their Colonel picked her up and carried her over to the fountain.
The boy forced his boot onto her skull, the woman's body writhing in agony as she drowned.
He picked up his spear again before running back inside the church, seeing a white helmeted military policeman wrench open the mouth of one rebel and shove his bayonet into it.
...
One rebel's mouth was gaping wide open, as two armored soldiers, red rings glowing bright, shot him to bloody shreds, their machine guns lighting up the badly lit hallway.
Teizen walked past this, before picking up a fallen rebels pistol.
He fired at the two girls down the hallway, before they scrambled for cover inside their bunk.
The soldier ran down the hallway, his helmet firmly moving with his Panzer Wolf Armor down the corridor.
Rika and Sugu shuddered in fear.
The Wolf was at their door, his metal covered leg pounding away at the wood.
BOOM.
BOOM.
Rika looked down, beginning to cry, "Sugu...I..."
The girl shook her head, "Its not your fault."
BOOM.
Sugu clutched the girl to her chest, "Sh...Its not your fault..."
CRRAAAAACK!
The door came flying down, and Teizen aimed his pistol directly at Rika's chest, the gun flashing and smacking the air before burying a shot deeply inside her collarbone.
"RIKA-SAN!" Sugu screamed, seeing her fly to the ground.
Teizen then drew his spear from his back, before turning Sugu around and pushing her to the ground.
He placed his boot on her shoulder blade, forcing the black haired girl to stay stuck to the ground.
The boy held his spear in the air, holding it above Sugu's body, who had no defense against the combined extreme muscle and steel.
Teizen brought it down into her back with all force, the metal piercing so strongly through her body that it jutted right through the wood Suguha was being pressed against.
The girl screamed so loudly it rang through the church, as the cold steel of Teizen's straight yari cut right through her lower back, making her shriek loudly in pain.
Her bluish black eyes widened in shock, tears of pain running down her cheeks.
Teizen removed the sticky chip off her nape, before crushing it in his palm, its use worn out.
The soldier got off her, walking in front of her, kneeling.
Sugu looked up at the glaring red rings on the mask of darkened cold steel.
"I wanted to thank you Kirigaya." A dark voice rumbled from the other side of the mask, "For single-handedly giving me the victory I wanted."
"You must've thought I was kind to you without a reason."
"The truth is I was always playing you. Since day one, I was always suspected you were probably a rebel."
Sugu gasped, almost ignoring the pain in her back. Knowing that she tried to hurt this voice when he tried to show her judo.
She remembered that exact voice slipping into her ear on that one night...
Where she was swung around the dance floor in her pretty pink dress, using a smooth and beautiful swing...
"Teizen..." The girl said, "You accursed bastard..."
"You must've thought I actually liked you." He said, smirking from under his mask.
"The truth is you're just a dumb bimbo with more tits than brains honey. You should've never fucked with the empire."
Teizen stood up before lighting a torch he was carrying with him, "But that's where you're wrong Sugu."
"I'm not a man disguised as a wolf."
"I'm a wolf disguised as a man."
He chuckled before tossing his lit torch into the room.
...
Sugu groaned in pain, reaching for Rika's body.
The black haired girl grabbed her head, "R-Rika..."
"S-Sugu?"
The dark brown haired girl looked at her, "Are-are we gonna die?"
Sugu looked down at her deep stab wound, and the fires building around her, "Y-Yes we are."
Rika began to cry, laying on the old wooden floor with Sugu and burying her head into her chest, "I-I'm so sorry...we're going to die..."
"It's not your fault." Sugu said kindly.
"Does it hurt?" She asked.
The raven haired girl nodded, "A lot."
"Mine too." She said looking at all the blood leaving her shattered collar bone with the bullet still stuck inside.
The flames drew nearer to their weakened bodies.
"S-Sugu?"
"Yeah?" She asked, gripping her body closer to hers.
"I always loved you...even though I didn't show it...Like-Like a sister would..."
Sugu cried, her tears falling onto the old wooden floor.
She smiled, "I loved you the same way..."
"See you on the other side." Rika replied smiling back.
Sugu clutched the girl to the blue material of her sweatshirt, pressing her forehead to hers, "Stay with me girl."
"G-Goodbye Suguha..."
The girl choked, her eyes hurting from the flames.
"Goodbye Rika-san..." The girl said, feeling the flames lick at her back.
The two girls pressed up close to each other, tears in their eyes from the wounds inflicted, smiling in each others arms.
In the little circle in the middle of their bunk that was fire free...
Until the flames consumed them.
...
All the rebels, including Kai, Nishida and the black haired young man named Asuo, were tied up with ropes to the benches in the chapel.
All the combatants who'd surrendered, over one hundred of them were all cooped up in the same place.
Teizen smiled, "Congratulations, on the failure of your little uprising. Its funny how your last moments alive will be your failure to oust the Emperor from power."
"But we surrendered!" Nishida cried out, his assistant Asuo crying.
"That's because you lost." Teizen said simply as soldiers drew hoses attached to metal tanks on their backs and began to coat the walls of the chapel with lighter fluid.
They tossed matches onto the ground before leaving, the chapel lighting ablaze.
"Kai..." Nishida said.
"Yeah?" He said seeing the fire approach the bench he was tied to.
The old man spoke to the goofy short red head, "Y-Your passwords were always stupid."
"I-I know..." Kai admitted before closing his eyes and sobbing on Nishida's shoulders.
The kindly medic looked calmly at the stained glass window of Jesus Christ above.
Well. Looks like this is it for old Nishida.
Can't say I've had a good run, but oh well.
I'm ready to die, even if all these young men and women around me aren't. Nishida thought, hearing the various sobs of the rebels around him.
Even if there are a lot of strong souls like me holding the tears in, there's very little in the way.
Those two young people I met, Asuna and Kirito...
Please sir, it'd be nice if they could see each other again.
It'd let me die happy.
The flames at Nishida's heels danced and the old man smiled up at the wooden man laying on the cross above.
Thank you sir. He said smiling and tilting his head at him.
...
Keiko slipped out of her ropes helping her boyfriend free.
She began to untie Nishida, but he shook his head, "Run. You don't have enough time before the flames burn us all. Go!"
Keiko kissed the old mans forehead, "Goodbye Nishida-sama."
"Goodbye Keiko." He said, seeing Shinichi drag her out of the church.
Keiko gripped Nagata's hand, "Are you sure this is safe?"
Shinichi nodded, "Definitely." He said, opening the door to the side alleyway of the cathedral.
They slipped away into the night, slipping past the army that was cheering as the rebellion was literally going up in flames.
Keiko opened the sewer lid, seeing Nagata go pale. The trauma from the sewer massacre reverberating through his body.
"You'll be fine." Keiko pleaded.
Shinichi shook his head slowly, scared out of his mind.
"Its the only place they won't find us." She said, hearing soldier's voices, "C'mon."
She pressed her lips to her boyfriends kindly, "I love you remember? C'mon!"
He nodded slowly before descending into the sewers again.
...
The chestnut haired girl stood in shock at the dozens of people being burnt while still alive. He mouth wide open, she stood frozen at the horror of it.
Asuna watched as the soldiers chanted the name of their emperor in victory.
Teizen sat atop his gleaming white horse in front of the church, the screams of the rebels burning alive singing in the air.
The Colonel held his spear in the air in victory, "The day is ours!"
The army of over a thousand cheered loudly, holding their rifles into the air in victory.
The soldiers pounded the butts of their rifles onto the ground, making a resounding beat of clacking, before chanting in unison.
"Yash-hiro!"
"Yash-hiro!"
"Yash-hiro!"
"Yash-hiro!"
Teizen spurred his horse forward, the army dispersing before returning to their various junctions around Bunkyo.
Asuna was dragged forward, speaking to the young dark haired commander on his horse.
"So you burned them all alive or killed them before? Is that worth it for your Empire?" The girl spat.
"Hmph." Teizen said simply, "Anything is worth anything if its for my country."
Asuna shook her head, Ama dragging her weak legs forward, "You once told me it was your duty to protect the citizens of Japan. What was that whole massacre? Protection?"
The boy looked forward, his Panzer Mask still on his face, almost dismissing her presence entirely before saying, "They weren't citizens. His Holiness Yashiro renounced their Japanese citizenship the second they began to disappear from society."
He kept speaking, his deep and clear, yet robotic voice still rumbling from underneath his helmet, "Besides they weren't people."
Asuna, shocked at this boys emptiness, kept listening.
"They were sheep." He said plainly, smirking after seeing all the citizens hide from the advancing army clanking back to their posts in their armor.
The boy's red rings glowed brighter in the night, "And all sheep fear the wolf."
Kazuto grew shocked seeing the entire stone cathedral burnt to the ground. The white armor Tsuboi and Rika forged for him pressed up to his body.
The large walls of concrete were laying against each other, the red banners of the red swords burnt to ash.
He spoke a little, his voice shaking in sadness, "D-Disperse and look for survivors."
Tsuboi, Drew, Nomi and the other rebels nodded and spread out, looking under stacks of rubble and the like to try and find survivors.
Kazuto fell to his knees, seeing a tiny glint of silver that he recognized under a large pile of ash.
He picked it up, his white covered knees now smothered with soot, seeing the heart pendant hang from the long silver chain.
It was made of pure silver infused with platinum, so it wouldn't melt unless extreme conditions occurred.
He opened the tiny heart locket, seeing the worn down picture of his father holding little baby Suguha, who was staring blankly at the camera.
On the other side of the heart was a tiny note written in Kanji:
To my Cupcake. Take care of your cousin, he'll be a pain but you'll love him.
Kazuto gripped the pendant and pressed it next to his chest.
"S-Sugu..."
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you..." He said sobbing onto the ashes of the rebellion.
He kept crying, holding the locket close to his own heart, feeling it ache with pain.
The black haired boy wiped the tears from his eyes and stood up, refusing to let his men in the assault team see him like this.
He handed the locket to Tsuboi, "Oh crap...Jeez dude, maybe she escaped."
Kazuto shook his head slowly, "She'd never leave her locket behind. Dad gave it to her..."
"A-And Lisbeth and the others?" Tsuboi asked sadly.
He shrugged, taking the necklace back and putting it on, "Doesn't matter. Alive, dead. They're gone. We won't see them again."
"So what do we do now?" Nomi asked, kneeling and letting the ash flow from his fingers onto the ground, seeing Kazuto walk off.
The black haired commander stopped walking, "Simple."
"We don't stop fighting. Because I didn't loose hope before, and I'm not gonna loose hope now."
Kazuto spoke over his shoulder, shielding his tears, "K-Kouwahaka. He beat me. We're all that remains of the Red Swords."
Andrew shook his head, seeing the entire cathedral lay in ruins, "That's it Kirito. We lost. Its over."
Kazuto then said confidently, "As long as I'm breathing, the rebellion is not over."
"And I'm going to stay alive until I see Asuna again."
"And when I do I'm going to hug her tighter than a bear would."
"But before that, I have to kill even more Imperials."
"Which is just what I'm going to do."
"I'm going to paint Tokyo with Imperial blood, and Teizen'll really know what a red sword looks like."
He turned around addressing the forty or so men without any tears in his eyes, "C'mon. Swords that live are bred in red."
"Bred in red." The assault team responded in a hollow voice before shuffling off sadly and following their commander back into the night.
...