Kotaro's office was the theatre of a confrontation between three people.
The first was Corrin, Nohr's dark prince. A young man who chose to serve the country he grew up in over the country he belonged. To his regret, the peace that he seeks is without a doubt beyond his reach, for the hatred between Hoshido and Nohr is deep and psychopaths lead the dark country's highest spheres of powers, distressingly enough. Right now, he stands over the corpse of the leader of an allied nation. While the man was obviously rotten, his failure to save him will nonetheless haunt Corrin for a while. The best he can do is avenge him.
And to do that, he must be able to beat Saizo. Ryoma's retainer, a skilled ninja and Kaze's brother as well. The shinobi was fresh off murdering Kotaro, and was observing Corrin with his scarred eye, slowly pacing around the room. He knew that, at any moment, the prince could easily charge and demolish him, but he didn't show even a hint of fear, defiantly looking down at the prince.
The last man on the scene had a long cloak to cover his body, and an owl-like mask along with a black hood masked his head. Unlike Saizo, he didn't speak a word, though he also paced the room. The fact that he concealed himself that thoroughly, his quietness and presence alongside worried Corrin for a fraction of a second but he shook his head. Kaze had proved his loyalty when he fought against the Hoshidans at Cheve, didn't he? Beside he had more important matters to attend to.
Exploiting that slight moment of confusion, Saizo grabbed a red ball and threw it on the ground immediately, plunging the room under a thick smokescreen. Corrin coughed a little but that wasn't too much of an issue to him. Before long, his fantastic senses detected about two attacks coming his way, which he parried with his armored wrists. Sparks flew and two halves of the sword went flying into the air. The ninjas, upon landing, simply discarded their now-broken swords, though they both did so by shooting the jagged remains at Corrin. Once more, he parried almost effortlessly and moved his hand to grab the next projectile thrown at him, only realizing too late that it was a sphere of a sort.
Which promptly exploded into his hands, releasing some sort of particularly noxious smoke. Corrin backed away in time but breathed in some of it, causing him to let out a pained gasp. Tears escaped from his eyes in a manner that he couldn't control and he had to close his eyes quickly, since he felt like they were being raked with claws with every second he spent having them open. He wished to rely on his sense of smell, but the putrid smell quickly overpowered the other odors in the room. He opened his mouth to cough but his tongue and throat stung as if besieged by angry bees and he was quickly forced to close them, putting his left hand in front of his mouth and nose to avoid breathing in anything else. Only his ears seemed to be working but keeping himself focused when he was panicked and in pain proved to be pretty tough.
He heard weapons being drawn and grasped Yato. The man on the left leapt to slash at him but Corrin slashed at him, with such strength that the man's sword snapped in half again. This left him open to Saizo though, and the ninja exploited that brief moment of weakness efficiently, running in and slashing the prince in the left rib with his sword. To the dragon's horror, whatever sword he wielded was well-made enough to pierce through his black armor and his skin as well. Blood spurted forth out of the wound, and pain comparable to that one arrow wound he received in the opera took hold of his body, overwhelming him and causing him to kneel to the ground. To make matters worse, and perhaps to try to get Corrin to stop protecting his mouth, the second man kicked him right in the wound, causing his ribs to feel like they were being taken apart by a bear.
He actually didn't know if the tears he was shedding were still unintentional or if they were caused by the pain now. Being set on fire would be less painful perhaps. Luckily enough, the ninjas stopped their offensive, perhaps guessing that Corrin was now too weak to stop them. By now though, he could only really tell the movements of one. Saizo was slowly walking back and forth across the room. The smoke didn't bother him but Corrin remembered that he always had a mask on, and perhaps he knew how to avoid whatever toxic garbage they threw his way.
"Corrin of Nohr… I would love nothing more than to sever your head from your body." Said Saizo, saying Nohr almost spitefully. "But Lord Ryoma desire to slay you in honorable combat. However, this doesn't mean that your capture will-"
The prince threw himself forward and tackled Saizo with such strength that the ninja actually left out a strangled grasp, and went through the window of Kotaro's office, breaking through the glass and causing both men to tumble along the tiered roof in front of it. Corrin simply grasped the tiles and dug his fingers into the material but Saizo, lacking the strength to perform such a feat, had to stab his arm-blades into the roof itself, dragging along a little before he eventually stopped. The smoke poured out of the room but now that he wasn't exposed to it, the prince's accelerated healing managed to repel some of the effects of the noxious attack, and he weakly opened his eyes, admittedly eager to get some revenge on Saizo.
The ninja grunted and grabbed another orb out of a bag on his pocket, intending to throw it at the ground again. Corrin rushed at Ryoma's retainer like a bull before the shinobi could once again summon his annoying smoke-screen, and attacked him with Yato. Saizo blocked, but barely, and the large sword he had in hand cracked badly upon contact with the legendary sword. Corrin, using his superior strength, pushed the ninja backward and resumed the assault.
He could see that the ninja had a large yellow sword, with a jagged edge to it. Emphasis on had, because Yato's second strike shattered the sword into multiple fragments. Saizo's surprise was great but he moved his arms in time to parry Corrin's incoming kick. This didn't quite save him from the attack though, and, had the prince decided to add more force to it, his arms would be quite useless by now. The strength of the attack was great enough to cause him to let go of the other weapon he was holding, and it fell deep into the city below, causing the young man to glance down at it.
Several figures were running across the night, settling some wooden buildings ablaze and triggering explosives over the city. Some valiant ninjas were trying to stop them but the Hoshidans sent here were skilled Master Ninjas, a higher-class of shinobis. Some said they could single-handedly take over entire countries, but while those rumors were certainly exaggerated, they still had more than enough talent to easily carve open their lesser opponents, sometimes not even stopping to do so. Corrin frowned, and turned towards Saizo. The ninja was nursing his left arm and knelt on the ground, more shook by the blow than he thought. A sweet voice told him that he could exploit this and finish off the ninja, and avenge the numerous people dying on the street below while dealing a mighty blow to Hoshido. But yet, he didn't want to kill him. Capture him, for sure, but not kill him.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Mokushu has been allying with Nohr and has slaughtered its neighbors." Replied Saizo. "This should've happened far earlier if you ask me." Saizo moved to get up but Corrin pointed the tip of his sword at the ninja and stabbed him right into the throat silently warned him. The ninja was fast, but his foe was even faster, and with the after-effects of the smoke attack vanishing quickly, and being subsided by adrenaline, he felt like he could go even faster than he usually did.
"Kotaro was a fool." Admitted Corrin, and he wasn't entirely acting on that one. "But the people of Mokushu, the civilians below, do not deserve to die over that."
"They've been profiting off the sins of their ancestors just fine." Retorted the ninja. "But enough of that. Argue as you want, I shall not pay heed to whatever hypocrisy a Nohrian dog like you will spout at me." He frowned. "And a traitor on top of that."
He remembers how his "older brother" boasted that his retainer was not one to sugarcoat things. On that aspect, he was quite right. "Fine. Where's Ryoma then?" And while he expected yet another insult, the ninja's answer was relatively quick.
"Lord Ryoma is too important to waste his time attacking a non-threat like Mokushu."
"I guess this says a lot about your importance then." He fired back, relatively toothlessly.
"I had a personal matter to settle with Kotaro." Answered Saizo. "And I know Mokushu better than anyone else."
"Are you here to save Kagero?" And Saizo outright scoffed. That was perhaps the first time he actually heard the shinobi laugh.
"Kagero? Captured? What manner of naïve dimwit are you, "prince"? The "ninjas" here wouldn't be able to capture her in her sleep. This was simply part of the plan."
Corrin lost his patience and took a few steps forwards, twirling his weapon. "The plan that you're going to be happily sharing with us very soon." He said, actually giving himself a little pat on the back for how intimidating (in his eyes) he viewed. People were dying, and Ryoma's right-hand was obviously not going to cooperate. Instead of wasting time leading a fruitless interrogation, he was simply going to knock him out and lead the counter-attack.
However, he knew that one obstacle stood in his way. And it just made itself known, leaping at Corrin's back with the intent of plunging his wrymslayer blade through his armor and into his flesh, in spite of Saizo's earlier talks about holding back. Had it occurred a few months ago, Corrin would have a sword through the chest now, and several massive medical urgencies in need of solving, but the current Corrin simply leaned to the left and allowed the weapon to miss its mark by several centimeters. He, however, didn't miss : His elbow shot backward and painfully collided with the masked man's stomach, briefly suspending him in mid-air before falling down to the ground as an unconscious heap.
Why he didn't use that smoke, Corrin didn't know. Perhaps he had used it up on the guards earlier? Regardless, Saizo had moved while his partner made his move, but the dragon was swift enough to easily catch up to him. It would be easy to overpower the retainer but… but alas, the same paranoia that allowed him to prevail against the surprise attack now worked against the blue-haired prince, and he moved to grasp the mask before ripping it off, fearing that he would witness quite the cruel reveal.
When he saw a young, brown-haired, bearded man with a small beard, he almost feel relived. To the point where he didn't even stop to think why he took such a long time assisting Saizo. And that sole second of focus on the now no longer masked man proved capital for his partner, who leapt in the air. The draconic prince's attention shifted back to the retainer, and his natural sympathy won over the adrenaline as he rushed to the edge of the roof, in a vain attempt to prevent his adversary from seemingly killing himself, as ninjas were supposed to do upon capture.
Only he could yell "Saizo, wait!" when the target of his yelling was already seemingly leaping to his death.
However, the ninja was crafty, and his less-injured arm grasped a new device while he was seemingly plummeting down the fiery streets. Grabbing the tool and pointing it upward allowed Saizo to shoot a hook tied to a cord. The projectile embedded itself into a nearby building and the red-haired man swung himself towards safety using it, all under Corrin's amazed gaze. He even swore that the ninja turned towards him while swinging, as if taunting. The hunt was on again, but even with his current level of strength, he didn't know if he could leap buildings!
Or if he should leave it. The people inside, perhaps they'd need help after all… Hm, no. it wasn't the time to hesitate. Were Beruka in his shoes, she'd give chase. Capturing Saizo could lead to an easier victory down the line after all… but still, the people inside, they… well they had Beruka herself. She'd handle things. And he also could handle Saizo's brand new method of escape. The prince, knowing he didn't have much time left, prayed to the dusk dragon before jumping off the roof as well. He had hit the masked man hard enough to ensure that he'd wake up with a virulent nausea, so he wasn't afraid of him waking up and walking away.
What he was afraid of was the ground that was rapidly approaching, and the feeling of being completely without anything to hang on to. It was terrifying yet oddly thrilling, causing Corrin to crack an unusual grin in the front of the dramatic circumstances. He used that thrill and tried to channel his energy into his back. He visualized big dragon wings similar to the ones he had as a dragon.
Wings that could carry him through a continent through seconds, wings that could raise storms and change the weather with a single flap, wings that could appear and prevent him from smashing painfully into the ground, most importantly. He focused his efforts into his back and imagined that he could fly. And, for once, fate decided to smile upon Corrin. Seconds before he met the ground, he felt two things grows on his back in the span of about a second, though it wasn't some painful process where they grew out of his back (luckily enough). Rather, he felt as if a great quantity of water struck him in the back, and could see some familiar ethereal water falls to the ground along with him.
It was a complicated thing to describe. He felt like he had two news arms, and to use them, he simply thought about flapping them. Instantly, his trajectory changed and Corrin swung upward, narrowly dodging the ground (and scaring a Hoshidan soldier enough to allow a Mokushujin to get a deadly blow in) and taking to the sky at great speed. It was utterly wondrous and, in spite of the circumstances, a big great grin appeared on the prince's face as he spread his arms, very briefly forgetting all the horror around him. He was flying! On his own! He could see his two great wings carrying him upwards with a mighty draft, and his swiftness made it hard for enemy ninjas to even consider shoot him down too!
Corrin howled in joy a little. "Y-YEEEAAHHHHHHHH! I'm flying! I'm flying!" But then, the prince remembered that there was a particular law to flight, and high-speed movement in general : If you get too distracted while moving, you will smack into something. In a manner that is, if not painful, somewhat humiliating. And distracted as he was with his newfound gift, the Nohrian Icarus didn't notice the building in front of him until it was too late. Shielding his face and eyes and retracting his wings was all he could do before he slammed through the window, crashing right into a rather busy room and knocking away a ton of furniture in the way. The prince briefly rolled on the floor and stopped upon hitting the wall, with some sheet falling upon him afterwards.
The prince grunted and got the sheet off him. He wished to observe his surroundings, but something struck him in the head, though it surprised him far more than it hurt him. Reflexively raising his hands to defend himself, the prince glanced upwards and noticed that a half-dressed Mokushujin lady was furiously striking at him using an umbrella, perhaps greatly angered by his unexpected crashing into her building. She yelled at him in her native tongue, but even if he didn't speak it, he was quite aware that she probably mistook him for a pervert or an invader.
"W-wait, I can explain!" He said, only hoping that Beruka and Shura were doing better.
…
One minute earlier…
Beruka swiftly relieved a Hoshidan soldier of his head with a swing of her axe. "On your right." She called out, allowing Shura to expertly dodge a stab from a shank-wielding prisoner. The white-haired man instantly fought back with a punch to the jaw, knocking the man out-cold and dropping him to the floor. No time to relax though : Shura soon found himself under attack by a Hoshidan soldier, and the knife he had picked up found itself outmatched by the Katana that his enemy wielded. He held his own, but the five quick blows that they traded put him on the defensive quickly, and his weapon would snap in one more blow.
The assassin had no real reason to care about his safety, but he was an ally against quite a lot of foes (temporary as it was), and only an idiot would deliberately remove an extra body to throw against the horde. Swiftly kicking her current foe in the stomach to get him off her back for a second, Beruka spun around and launched her tomahawk to strike Shura's enemy on his back, felling him and allowing the outlaw some breathing room. He immediately grabbed the discarded katana and threw the knife away.
"Thanks!" He said, briefly turning to face the assassin as she brutally finished off the goon she had previously struck. An assassin attempted to exploit this but Shura quite handily dispatched him with a casual backhand, not even bothering to turn around.
"You are too soft. The enemy must die. Use your weapons."
"Hey now, these guys were also in those cells, same as me! Ya know, if you and the kid arrived just one or two minutes later, I'd probably be fighting with those guys."
The assassin, detecting a lull in the fight, didn't reply. Pointing her bloody axe at Shura proved, after all, to be a bit more effective at intimidating him than whatever boast she could think up. But while he did seems intimidated enough, it didn't seems like that was the only reason why he was staying here.
"The kid's alright, so I'm not going to stick a knife in his back." Said Shura.
"And by doing that, you team up with Mokushu."
"Heh, never said I'd stick around now."
Beruka turned to look at their enemies. Most of the prisoners were fearful to go against the remaining guards, the Kohgajin and Beruka now, and the Hoshidans that were sent down were seemingly of lesser numbers, especially with the fight that just happened. It was only a matter of defeating a bunch of confused men and women, about four Hoshidan and, last of all, Kagero. The woman stood in the middle of the others, glaring daggers at the azure-haired murderer.
"We've lost too much time with these two." She said, stepping forth. "I'll handle them. Soldiers, go outside and join up with the others."
"L-lady Kagero, those people are dangerous! Have care!"
The Kunoichi confidently took a few steps forwards. While she had acquired a guard's armored uniform, surely she couldn't plan to take them all at once, right? The remaining guards lowered their weapons a little, and only Shura and Beruka kept their guards up. Both knew, better than anyone else, just how deadly Ryoma's retainer had to be.
"Come on, what's a ga-" Said the soldier, rather poorly choosing his last words. In a flash, Kagero acquired six shurikens, sliding them out of her sleeves, and effortlessly neutralized the remaining Mokushujins with them, hurling the bladed weapons right into their throats with a flick of her wrists. Shura let out an expletive in his native tongue and barely deflected the projectiles thrown his way, and so did Beruka in a calmer fashion. The attacker, not letting her opponents pause, then ran right at the other woman, swiftly knocking down the surprised guards with enough strength to put an ending to their suffering. This time, Shura wasn't as lucky, and only barely leapt aside in time to be struck in the ribs, sending him hurling. And even Beruka was taken by surprise by the sheer swiftness of the dash, only barely raising in arms in time, though Kagero still slammed into her and threw her aside.
Stunned by the impact, the assassin very quickly regained her senses when a shadow floated above her, and barely dodged a vicious stab from Kagero by rolling aside, using this as an opportunity to get up in time to dodge more slashes and stabs. The taller woman's assault was violent yet skillful : She struck out quickly but didn't exactly give Beruka any window of opportunity to strike back, impressively forcing the Nohrian elite on the defensive.
Though eventually, her anger got the best of her and she overextended, if only by a few centimeters, to attempt to perform a piercing blow. Beruka used this opportunity and leaned aside to dodge before grabbing Kagero's outstretched arm, quickly backhanding her in the guts to weaken the assailant beforehand. Her foe faltered for a second, but that was all the wyvern lord needed to lift her over her shoulder and slam her unto the floor. Having knocked down the retainer, Beruka moved to try to break her arm but Kagero kicked backward, having enough of a reach to kick her foe in the cheek and drive her backward.
Beruka and Kagero observed each other briefly as the latter rolled back unto her feet, each woman glaring darkly at the other. Beruka raised her fist and, slowly, wiped some blood on her mouth. She was good, better than she had been in Macarath. Was she holding back? Or simply underestimated the young woman? Either way…
"Beruka of Nohr." Said Kagero. "We meet again."
Shura rushed unto the scene, though not to help : He was being pursued by the Hoshidans and the other prisoners. Kagero quickly stopped the commotion by raising her hand, causing all but Shura to skid to a stop. Neither woman even dared to look at the commotion, aware that the other would pounce on the smallest distraction.
"Yes." Said Beruka. "And it will be the last time we do so."
Kagero began to circle around the arena, eventually, so did Beruka. "In the span between our encounters, I've come to understand that you've slain a lot of my countrymen… and two of my dear friends." She pointed her finger at Beruka. "Is this right? Have you murdered Orochi and Reina of Hoshido?"
"Yes." Replied Beruka. "Have you come to avenge them?"
"Correct. I, Kagero, seek to challenge you in a duel to the death! If you slay me, then you will have struck a great blow against Hoshido once more, and you will bath in the glory." She moved her arms upwards before clenching her fists. "But should I kill you, then my friends will be avenged and my honor saved."
"Spare me your traditions, Hoshidan dog." Said Beruka, preparing herself for a fight. Kagero shook her head.
"If you accept my challenge, this fight will stay between us, and should I lose, the soldiers gathered here will not harm you. Should you refuse, we will all attack you and your…"
The woman gave the most casual side-glance to Shura, but the outlaw was already on top of the stairs, having used his agility and the focus on the battle to slip away. The Kohgajin made a salute and then slipped away. "… We will all attack you. And while your skills are impressive, you cannot fend me off while defending yourself from the others."
"What the hell? Why can't we just team up on the woman?" Protested a prisoner, though his words failed to move the Hoshidans.
"Be quiet, dog! Lady Kagero's honor is worth far more than your life is! You should be running if you don't plan on fighting!" He said, jamming his finger at the door. The prisoners moved to do just that, intimidated, and both Kagero and Beruka got into position.
Kagero adopted a combative posture, and Beruka did the same. The two killers gauged each other, looking for a weak spot to exploit, though none were to be found, and their two minds came to the same conclusion : They would not be walking out of this fight without injuries. Their eyes crossed, their fists clenched and, with speed and vigor, the two warriors threw themselves at one another, clashing directly before backing off and launching off into a series of rapid attacks. Beruka proved swifter, surprisingly, and managed to score first blood when she struck Kagero in the chin. Intending to move up to keep her advantage, the assassin was promptly struck right in the stomach after underestimating her foe's ability to roll with the pain. Recovering even faster though, she kicked at Kagero, who leapt backward unto the stairs.
Beruka followed her, and the match resumed. Kagero's technique was good, but on that point, both women were evenly matched, dodging or deflecting punches with ease and not allowing themselves to be grabbed. When they were so even, the slightest injury could make a world of difference, and the two warriors would certainly attempt to inflict a devastating early on. Be it a broken limb, a blow to the eye or throat or even a direct attack on the heart…
Eventually, Beruka tired of their stalemate and, after dodging a punch, clenched her fist with the exception of two fingers before throwing them right at Kagero's eyes. A foolish move : the ninja deftly grabbed her fist and pulled it aside. She moved her hand, perhaps to try to break the arm, but Beruka's remaining free hand moved to intercept it and she, too, pulled it away from its path. Quickly, it became a contest of might : Who would overpower the other and manage to strike her? To Beruka's shock, the Kunoichi looked like she was going to win the struggle. The wyvern-rider managed to put forth a fine fight, but she was slowly being overpowered and forced to her knee, the ninja slowly looming over her with a triumphant smile. Beruka considered headbutting her, but Kagero kept her distance in preparation.
Such strength… even Charlotte would be struggling. Were those dinky wooden bars really holding her back? Perhaps she hadn't been captured after all. But regardless, it was clear that strength was her specialty, odd as it was for a ninja.
So, Beruka chose to stop playing on her field, and let go of Kagero's fist, causing her to partly stumble forward in surprise. Beruka's now freed fist clenched and, out of instinct, she moved to punch her foe right in the nose, freeing her other hand as the Kunoichi was sent reeling. The assassin moved to attack her bloodied foe but the ninja backed away with a jump, landing right in front of the door leading to freedom and observing her petite opponent.
"So much for honor." Taunted Beruka, hoping to anger her. Kagero simply backed off, and Beruka followed suit, leaping out of the room and finding herself in the wooden hall once more. It was filled with corpses, be it of Hoshidan or Mokushujins, and made a most fitting background for the duel at hand. The black-haired woman, standing on top of two of her fallen countrymen, quietly bowed forward and resumed her fighting stance, just in time to react to a lunging Beruka! Ryoma's servant grabbed Beruka in mid-air and, using her almost supernatural level of strength, threw her several feet away, landing painfully on the ground. The bandana-wearing assassin rolled to the ground to avoid a stomping attack, but this time, her dodge was anticipated, and Beruka stopped her roll in time to be struck in the face with a common kick, bloodying her face and stunning her long enough for her enemy to get on top of her.
With her superior leverage, Kagero would surely triumph in yet another contest of strength. Thus, Beruka denied her yet another occasion to showcase her strength by pushing her legs backward and promptly using them to kick the Kunoichi right in the stomach, tossing her backward through the air into the next room. This gave the assassin enough time to get up, but before she could consider her next course of action, a ninja attempted to sneak up on her, having obviously not heard what the retainer had declared in the cave, and swung her sword at the elite murderer. The assassin, eager to give herself an advantage, simply grabbed her weapon with one hand and used her elbow-claws to casually slash her throat, depriving now cold hands of the weapon they held.
Looking back, she had no obligation to humor the ninja's wish for a fair fight. She could flee and regroup instead of going deeper in a enemy-infested building after all… but yet, her pride told her not to. It was a fellow retainer and assassin she was fighting, and she had to prove her superiority. What good was a Nohrian who ran away from fights, after all? Looking back, she could've just used her claws to stab the retainer in the guts, or blinded her a few seconds ago, but her pride demanded that the fight continue to better prove her superiority.
Beruka sighed and ran deeper into the building. Kagero, who had gotten up by now, looked surprised by her sudden acquisition of a bladed weapon but accepted the challenge with her bare hands. The assassin was less comfortable with blades than she hoped (axes had become her weapon of choice), yet her attacks were nonetheless skillful. A lesser foe would've been cut to fine pieces within seconds of the attack, but yet her foe proved to be as nimble as a fox, narrowly avoiding the blade each time while moving backwards. All around them, chaos was occurring, but they both were too focused on defeating the other to pay heed to the struggle for survival of their enemies and allies. The world could end around them and yet, if they had enough ground to continue fighting, both women wouldn't care.
Agile as Kagero was, Beruka was slowly getting closer and closer. The katana's blade cut into parts of her armor and hair, and the Kunoichi frowned a little as more of her hair ended up sliced off. A lesser Nohrian would've made a joke about her neck eventually being cut, but Beruka kept her offensive, eventually backing Kagero into a wall and swinging her sword overhead to try to quickly slice her in half.
Predictably, the ninja made the decision to block the sword using her two hands, clasping them on the blade with ludicrous precision. The cold steel dug into her flesh, but Beruka wasn't satisfied with the drops of blood coming out of her hands. But before she could attempt to carry on her own offensive, Kagero struck with a kick to the stomach, driving Beruka backward and causing her grasp on the sword to weaken. Seeing an occasion, the Hoshidan moved her hands to the left and ripped the weapon free from the Nohrian hands holding it, quickly acquiring the weapon and skillfully grabbing the handle.
Now, it was Beruka's time to dodge frantically, though she kept a straight face as she barely leaned out of the way of a slash. She took a few steps backwards to dodge more attacks, observing the tip of the blade and sometimes deflecting it with her armored wrists. In spite of her superior agility, Kagero proved to be more adept with a blade, and Beruka soon found herself in a situation where the blade struck her in the face, causing her to cry out in pain as she leaned backwards to cover her cheek.
Like the assassin before her though, having her rival backed into a corner made Kagero overconfident, and she brandished the weapon for a killing sweep. However, Beruka reacted on time, moving her elbow to block the killing slash using the claws on it. Upon succeeding with her block, she moved to twist her elbow and quickly break the blade, with the claws being tough enough to snap it in half. Kagero leaned backward in surprise and Beruka used her other elbow to strike her. Alas, the ninja was too swift, but she managed to slash her in the cheek.
Both women stared at one another. The Nohrian had a slash wound on her right cheek and the Hoshidan had a similar-sized one on her left.
Kagero wiped some blood away with her thumb and glanced at it. "… You fight well, Nohrian." She complimented, rather reluctantly.
"Your friends didn't."
The Kunoichi's face twisted in barely-controlled fury. "How dare you?! Orochi and Reina were both true warriors, far better than the likes of you!" Beruka considered asking her how she knew exactly that, since few witnessed her defeat of the two elites (perhaps Camilla), but she simply chose to twist the knife further to goad Kagero.
"If they were as good as you say… You wouldn't need to avenge them."
Kagero almost howled in anger and threw herself forward with enough speed to actually surprise Beruka, slamming into the woman and dragging her through the room and into the stairs leading to the upper floors. The thick wooden wall barely resisted her impact, and Beruka coughed harshly upon impact, spitting out blood and almost passing out from the shock. To help matters, she found herself struggling to breath : Kagero had her pinned by the throat using her forearm, and was currently preparing to use the jagged remains of the katana to stab her in the torso!
Thinking quickly, Beruka retched backward and spat blood and saliva unto her opponent's sole uncovered eye, causing her to let go of her foe in surprise. Not being done yet, the wyver rider slapped the katana away from the furious Hoshidan, grabbed her by her hair-bang, and punched her in the face about three times, adding more strength to the punch with each time and aiming for the eye. Beruka prepared another punch but the kunoichi also socked her in the face, freeing herself from her foe's grasp. Aware that she couldn't last long in such a violent unarmed brawl, the assassin decided to try to even things out, jumping out into the stairs and ascending them. Kagero gave chase, trailing behind the assassin just close enough for her breath to be felt on the back of her throat.
Beruka kept going until she was high up into the building and burst into an empty room, with about two lucky Mokushujins standing above a lot of dead corpses. They meant to yell something, but Beruka ignored them, aiming to grab a weapon. Kagero followed suit but ignored the assassin to rush the two warriors, swiftly ending their lucky streak by slamming the backs of their heads into the wood. The assassin used this extra time to get herself two knives, but Kagero also found two weapons on the corpses of the slain warriors, brandishing two kunais.
The two women resumed their fight, and sparks flew as the steel weapons met each other at a quick pace. Steel clashed with steel at quick pace but sometimes, they managed to successfully hit another. Kagero struck Beruka in the cheek yet again, making her previous wound a X-shaped one, but the assassin got her revenge when she slashed the Kunoichi a bit above the eye. Kagero swiped downward but Beruka jumped, rolling on the ninja's back and slashing her across it. The ninja actually let out an irritated yelp and struck with a kick to the back, sending Beruka flying close to a window, though she managed to turn in mid-air to land on her feet in a rather impressive display of agility.
Both women went at it again and continued the battle, evenly trading blows. A minute passed, with the occasional small wound to the face, and both moved all over the floor. After a little while though, Beruka heard fire crackling and broke the fight temporarily by pushing Kagero backwards, looking out towards the entrance. An odd orange light crept up within it, and flames danced up in the stairs, eager to devour the entire building. Beruka's eyes widened slightly but Kagero tackled her through a wooden panel before she could fully absorb the news. The Nohrian assassin rolled with it though and pushed her away with a well-placed kick, sending the assassin flying close to the window leading to the black roof outside. The ninja rolled to the ground upon impact, quite skillfully cushioning the landing, but Beruka caught up and kicked her in the chest, hurling her through the window and into the roof, causing one of Kagero's kunais to fly out of her hand and into the abyss below.
The Kunoichi rolled on her back (causing her to wince) and intercepted the second attack sent her way by leaning to the side to avoid Beruka's attempt at stabbing her. Instead of grabbing her arm, Kagero "mercifully" slammed her elbow on her rival's hand, causing her to let go of her own knife. This both left them with one weapon, prompting the two warriors to back off to evaluate their chances.
Kagero's face was bloodier, owing to the punches she suffered and the cuts on it. She knew that the woman had a wound on her back though, and her stomach was no doubt hurting after all the damage she took on it. Beruka had been hit less, but all those hits counted. She was still a bit groggy from the slam, and she doubted of her ability to stand up to yet another all-out assault of that caliber. She was seemingly less tired than Kagero, but in the midst of the massive attack, it wouldn't be good to drag out the fight. The victor could easily find herself dealing with a swarm of enemies, with the handicap of being quite exhausted and injured. The fight had to end quickly.
The two women came to the same conclusion and stared at one another. Rain began to pour in, though the roof above blocked it. Behind them, the city burned, with the fire being intense enough that both the efforts of the rain and the Nohrian mages had trouble containing it. Kagero and Beruka stared at one another, clenched their fists, and dashed at one another, slashing at one another and causing quite a lot of sparks when their weapons made contact. Beruka then promptly engaged her foe using a series of vicious attacks with her knife. Kagero backed off slightly but then launched an offensive on her own, slightly driving the Nohrian back but causing her to attack even harder on her own.
There was some symbolism to it. A Nohrian and a Hoshidan, locked in a duel to the death, fighting it out as a city burned behind them. They'd probably enjoy the symbolism if the slightest second of distraction wouldn't result in them getting stabbed right in the chin.
The fighting continued and it didn't seems like the upper hand belonged to one of the fighters. Tiring of the stalemate, Kagero decided to use her strength to her advantage with a mighty swipe of her blade, hitting with such strength that Beruka's knife flew out of her hand and off the roof. The assassin briefly glanced at the fallen weapon but then had to back off when Kagero launched an attack, attempting to do her best to exploit the advantage conferred by her weapon. Beruka dodged and, noticing her dropped knife on the floor, began to make a plot to quickly access it. Her strategy had been anticipated, though, and the Hoshidan jumped backward to kick the weapon away. Grunting, Beruka stood and waited for the ninja to strike before raising her hand to, of all things, grab the knife by letting the blade slide between her fingers before clasping her hands on the weapon and the hand holding it. Her other hand moved to collide with Kagero's face, and the woman barely raised her arm to block, letting go of the knife and being sent reeling backward.
Beruka smirked slightly, but then, next to her, the flames rose further, with the building letting out a most worrying sound as a result. It became clear that standing on the roof was quite unsafe by now : Their fight would be relocated elsewhere. Luckily for them, though, the building right next to them seemed devoid of any fighting. Its location bothered Beruka, since the flames could catch up to it, but since she had no other issues, she and Kagero made a small truce to both run across the roof before jumping right above the abyss. Both women thankfully had enough strength left to make the jump, though they crashed through the windows while doing so. Beruka covered her face using her arms and raised her knees to better take the shock, but the exhaustion of the fight must've began to settle in in spite of the adrenaline, because the landing was rough enough to make her feel like her bones had just turned to powder.
Taking the time to gather her thoughts, Beruka got up and prepared to stab, swinging back into the fight unfazed, but Kagero simply slapped the knife away from her hand, out of the window. Not that it mattered : The assassin clenched her other fist and swung it in perfect synchronization with her enemy, hitting each other in the face at about the same time. Both women took two steps backwards but then leapt back unto the fight as Kotaro's palace burned in the background.
…
Corrin's newfound gift of flight was obviously tricky to exploit, but he managed to use it to just take super-leap essentially. He couldn't really fly yet, but gliding was easy enough. After getting the lady to safety, he decided to go back and grab the unconscious masked man, hoping to at least be able to interrogate him. He wished to also at least capture the other ninjas inside, but he was rather shocked to discover that their throats had been slit while he was busy fighting off Saizo : This explained, without a doubt, why the masked man took a little while to join the fight.
Saddening as it was, Corrin couldn't shed tears for the corpses while the ninjas were spreading fire amongst the flames, and resolved to carry the mysterious man to the Nohrian building where he thought Xander and the others would be. Looking down, the situation seemed to be somewhat under control : The rat catchers below were using their spells to neutralize ninjas. Near the black building, purple orbs flew in the sky and zeroed in on enemy ninjas, coming down at them swiftly and either killing or stunning them for long enough to be skewered by the Nohrians or Mokushujins.
That said, there weren't many ninjas around the city. Most had been gathered in the palace it seems, and the others were just hoping to set things ablaze. Corrin landed next to Xander, who was ordering around a bunch of rat catchers. Camilla and Elise were out of sight, though he could see Leo effortlessly catching a ninja in mid-air with his influence over gravity. Some retainers were nearby, but the nearest people were mostly nameless soldiers. Selena was being especially active, slicing through ninjas at speed that matched Saizo's.
The young half-dragon's wings vanished as he landed close to Nohr's future king, and as a testament to his calm, the blond was only barely fazed by the sight of his brother magically dropping out of the sky.
"Corrin! I'm glad you're safe!" He said. "Who is this man?"
"He was next to Saizo, whom I suspect to be the commander of the attack. Kotaro… fell, unfortunately. And I wasn't able to get Saizo. However, this man seemed to be his right hand-man."
Xander sighed. "We need to chase off the ninjas first. We have them contained here. Let's move to retake the palace."
"Milord!"
A person in a large black cloak leapt from the shadows and knelt next to Xander. Their gender was hard to properly identify : The black uniform and cloak made it hard to really see their body type, and they had a black mask with a singular red line. Their identity became clear when she took off her mask to reveal a blue-eyed woman with short, slicked-back hair and rather prominent eyebrows.
"Zakuul." Said Xander. "What news are there to report?"
"We've driven off the invaders at the city but they are attacking our crops! We need your help!"
"Very well. Leo!"
"On it!" Said the youngest prince, charging out into battle. Zakuul put on her mask once more and departed to lead the royal and a few soldiers. Corrin wanted to warn Leo, thinking that this was a trap, but lowered his hand. His brother would certainly be preparing for such an opportunity after all.
"The fire is being controlled but we need to…" Xander glanced at Kotaro's building and simply blinked. "We need to also control it at Kotaro's palace."
Corrin turned around and was far less proficient at hiding his shock, noticing that Kotato's massive building was being set on fire… and also spotting an approaching Shura, still clothed in rags and visibly exhausted. Two Nohrians soldiers prepared themselves to intercept him, but Corrin was quicker to react and approached the outlaw. "Shura! What are you doing here?"
The Kohgajin took his time to recover his breath. "Just passin' by ki-is that the Crown Prince?"
"Yes." Answered the prince. "Why are you out of your cage, outlaw?"
"The kid visited me for interrogation with the murderous gal. A mass break-out ensued and I took his side." He said, glancing to the side.
"Where's Beruka?" Asked Corrin. Shura shrugged. "She and some Hoshidan dame had an honorable duel or something but she… she told me to go ahead and warn you. And I did."
"I-I see. We need to get to Beruka and try to tip the fight in her favor! She's fighting Ryoma's retainer, and I think that the whole attack was planned from the start. We could learn important information if we capture her again!"
Only Kagero could properly stalemate one as strong as Beruka after all.
"I see. That makes sense. We'll send out reinforcements for her."
"On it!" Said Selena, leaping away already. Charlotte followed her, and the three men didn't see fit to interrupt them. Shura did attempt to use the opportunity to slip away but Xander swiftly moved to block his path.
"Since you're so intent on helping us, outlaw. How about we make a deal? Assist us for the rest of this fight and you'll be freed." He said. "Try to leave though, and I cannot promise that your new cell will be much better than the one you left."
The outlaw glanced at Corrin, who secretly hoped that he wouldn't make much of a fuss. "Well, after careful consideration, I quite agree with the Nohrian rhetoric of… large-scale invasions and fire, so I'll-" Xander frowned. "I'll join you! Hoshido didn't help my country when it was in trouble."
"Good. Now, Corrin, let us assist Leo. I fear that quite a lot of enemies remain near the crops. The rest of you, handle the remaining fires and head for the palace! We'll discuss what to do once the ninjas are repelled and the fires are extinguished."
The prince looked shocked. He wanted to assist Beruka after all, who knew what could happen to her in the burning building? Corrin prepared to protest but Shura, unknowingly or not, stepped in to grab the unconscious man. "Here, you've been holding him for a while now."
"Y-yeah." Corrin shook his head. "I'll help Xander! Let's go!"
While Shura leapt back to put the man to safety (ninjas wouldn't have much remorse killing the unconscious leader to prevent valuable information leaks), Corrin, Xander and quite a few soldiers headed up north. The prince thought of his hesitation a little, but shook it off. He had a battle to dispute and… and Beruka could handle herself.
…
The punch sent her reeling directly into a wall, colliding it with hard enough to actually dent the wooden structure. Beruka had been hit rather hard, but she couldn't recover, not when Kagero was already leaping on her to try to pin her in place again. The assassin dodged to the side but was a bit too slow, owing to her recent slam, and her left arm ended up slammed against the wall as a result once more, causing her to let out a painful gasp.
Kagero, keeping her foe's arm in place, had less success with her second manoeuver, with Beruka ducking beneath her outstretched hand before kneeing Kagero right in the stomach. The shock threw the kunoichi forward and caused her to let go of Beruka's arm as she slammed into the wall. She didn't quite manage to pass through it though, so the retainer gave her a hand by shoulder-slamming her through it. Both women ended up blown through the wall and into the next room, briefly rolling along to the ground before stopping.
Kagero wheezed a little but began to climb back to her feet. The Nohrian assassin took a shorter amount of time to recover, already getting on all four, but beforehand she spat at the blood, causing a rather worrying amount of blood to escape her throat, and her tired eyes gleaned about two (no, three) teeth in the miniature puddle. The armored fighter wiped her mouth and got up, in time to duck beneath a punch and answer it with a fierce uppercut. Her enemy took two steps backward but countered with a jab straight to her right cheek, successfully hitting Beruka. Unlike the elite shinobi however, the woman stood her ground and her answer was night-instantaneous : A powerful punch to the guts! Kagero bent over and was promptly greeted by a knee to the face, a rather powerful way to set her up for yet another punch to the cheek. Once more, her recovery time was sub-par, and another punch successfully landed on her chin!
Aware of her dramatic situation, Kagero attacked with a strong punch but Beruka easily dodged it and struck her foe in the ribs to punish her for her desperate assault. Her knuckles hurt after all that punching, but she ignored the pain and punched again, keeping the offensive going. For once, the ninja seemed to truly be on the losing end, desperately attempting to fend off the punches. The last one sent her flying and sent her crashing near a table. Being out of options, she grabbed a chair, used another as a support while getting up, and swung horizontally, in a rather crude attempt to hit the Nohrian. However, her adversary simply ran, ducked beneath the blow, and tackled her into the table, wrecking it along with a few chairs. The shock was hard for both by this point, but the assassin, since she didn't exactly get the brunt of it, crawled on top of the ninja and prepared to punch her in the throat.
However, even with all that damage, Kagero wasn't down. Pooling all her strength into her next attack, the ninja grabbed her Nohrian enemy by the shoulder and attempted to bring her closer before headbutting at her. It was almost spiteful, like a last attempt at damaging her enemy rather than anything else, but on Beruka…
She had taken a lot of damage already, but yet this mere headbutt, born out of desperation, hurt her the most. More than Orochi's spells ever did. It felt two long gnarly hands were digging their long pointy nails in her head and trying to split it in two (and succeeding!), and she'd perhaps be underselling the pain a little. Regardless, Beruka's stance quickly changed as a result and before long she ended up struck herself, having to back away from her advantageous position. Kagero saw an opportunity, and leapt into the battle with renewed vigor.
The pain was too intense for her to deal with. She felt like her skull would shatter with every movement she'd make, and even lowering her hands to defend herself was painful. She clumsily punched but Kagero actually cut the chase and grabbed her arm before painfully driving her elbow down it. Pain coursed through the arm, but even that wasn't as bad as the injury in her head. Quickly, her mind attempted to elaborate a strategy, but Kagero launched an all out offensive, scoring many successful hits and pushing Beruka back, towards the door leading to some little platform outside.
A harsh punch landed on her jaw, and Beruka's eyes widened. Was she losing? N-no. That couldn't be, she couldn't…
Yet another impact to the head sent her reeling and memories began to play, playing with each impact.
"Hope is the most powerful thing in these slums, little one." And a punch hit her in the cheek.
"Killing means warmth…" And a kick sent her sprawling to the ground. She attempted to get back on her feet, stunned as she was.
"Wait, Beruka, wait!" But a harsh hand grabbed her by the collar and she's put back on her feet, in time to get hit again.
"You don't want to do this…" And another hit.
"Come under my employ."
She sees more memories of her various deeds, and Beruka realizes, slowly, that it's her own life flashing back before her very eyes. The realization that she's being beaten to death settle in fully but she's unable to react before the next punch send her directly leaning against the door leading to outside… and before yet another kick send her and the doors flying, with the latter being sent off her hinges.
Once more left on the ground, more memories flash back to Beruka as she attempts to desperately continue the fight. In spite of the blood coming off from under her bandana, or mouth or nose (not to mention the numerous cuts), she moved to get back up, somehow succeeding to use her non-broken arm to do this.
"Beruka? Meet Selena, your new friend!"
"My poor Corrin, captured by those Eastern savages…"
"You two have been assigned to fend off an army heading to the north…"
"Girls, we'll be moving to Port Dia!"
"W-well, how could I help?"
"How do you do it? How do you kill someone without experiencing any troubles?"
Her memories flashed forward again and again, just in time for her to finally get up, obviously exhausted and heavily-wounded, yet raring to go. She was standing on a small bridge between the house they fought in and another, which was seemingly empty. Below them, there was a dirt road. Beruka soon became very familiar with it when an unimpressed Kagero simply moved to kick her aside into the alley. It only by a miracle that she survived the fall, though even then, she was utterly spent : After landing, Beruka simply could barely summon the strength to move her fingers or slightly shift her feet, her eyes had gone white, and she was left to wallow in her pain, amidst the mud and rain. Kagero joined her quite quickly though and stepped forward, standing over her defeated foe, with an appropriately dark expression on her face. It wasn't triumph though, Beruka saw it when Kagero used her foot to roll the assassin on her back before kneeling next to her.
It was pity. She was being pitied. The idea that she would be overpowered was already inconceivable, but being shown pity was even worse. Slowly, tears came to her eyes. Though they weren't necessarily caused by pain or sadness : She was just furious at the idea of being shown mercy after all she had done, especially by the one person who defeated her.
Kagero moved but instead of putting an end to her suffering, she just grabbed the bandana and took it off, slowly leaning backward to observe what laid beyond. The ninja had seen many things, but even she briefly looked shocked when Beruka's forehead scar was left bare : It was a horizontal slash grey wound, that looked rather gnarly even with the time that had passed. Blood was coming off it, and it had seemingly been reopened by her headbutt, showing just how deep the original wound had been. Beruka sobbed harder.
"N-no… you… don't… don't take it off…"
"A chink in your armor." Commented Kagero. "Had it not been for it, perhaps our positions would've been reversed." The woman looked down at the assassin. "What caused it?"
"I… I… I care not for your pity." Blurted Beruka, slowly. She had trouble speaking, because of the blood in her mouth and her general mindset. "You beat me and… took away my strength. Don't… don't take away my dignity…"
"… Very well. Let this be a mystery taken to the grave." Kagero, perhaps in a gesture of respect, tied the bandana back around the wound and observed the weeping assassin. "I thought that one in the business of death would see her fate fulfilled in a calmer fashion." She added.
Beruka spat blood on her face in answer. Kagero remained composed and briefly closed her eyes before getting up, standing above her defeated foe."You've fought very well. Orochi and Reina fell before a skilled enemy." She pulled out a small shuriken and held it above her head. "Now, let they be aven-"
Footsteps approached quickly though, and the tired retainer barely leapt to the roof of the closest building, her face twisting in fury. "Who dare?!"
"I do!" Answered Selena, protectively standing over the body of her fallen colleague. "You better back away, because this antisocial jerk is my antisocial jerk!"
Kagero's clenched fists shook in fury, and her earlier expression of grim serenity vanished entirely to make way for furor. Yet, she knew that she was too weak to fight on. Especially when Charlotted joined up : The blonde woman didn't bother with a snappy one-liner though, instead crouching over to Beruka. She winced briefly upon seeing the sheer damage and, in a surprisingly gentle manner, lifted her before putting her over her shoulder.
"W-why?" Croaked Beruka.
Charlotte smiled. "I still gotta find something for you to do." Answered the berserker. "You're not dying until then, jerk."
"No… no, I failed, I can't… I shouldn't, I… I…"
Whatever happened from now on, Beruka couldn't witness it. Her wounds and exhaustion caught up, and in the next instant, she was unconscious. The darkness settled in…
…
N/A : After a lot of talking, see this post, which is… mostly punching! And killing!
The next chapter will be a bit of a weirder one. Let's say that Beruka's memories are setting up what I'm about to write! I hope you'll like it, since it might be edgy at points, haha!
Zakuul shows up again and Shura become more or less a member of the Nohrian army. Looking forward to writing him some more. Did you know I wanted to have him killed on the boat? I guess changing my mind on that was pretty good!
Thank you for the reviews dark! Reviews keep me going, which is why I want to say a big "thank you" to romeoraiden, I always appreciate your reviews of my latest chapters and I want to thank you for that!
What did y'all think of the duel? Lemme know in reviews!
See ya next time!
