The attack party had arrived prior to schedule. Hanamaru sent out a message to Chika to inform her of such. They were told to proceed as thought it was on time. Everyone started sharpening their weapons and training. As night started to fall, everyone got rested up for midnight. That was when they would attack. The moon was new, so they could use the darkness to their advantage. It was the perfect night to do this.
Tensions were high in the camp. Everyone was on edge. All it would take is one person to see them and spread the word and then the mission was a failure. They'd have to retreat empty handed and risk a worse punishment. Who knew what the Diamond kingdom might do to them in retaliation if they were caught.
More or less, it was the lives of Dia and Riko that were on the lines. Kanan and Mari also might be wanted, but not as severely as they are. It would be pretty obvious that they were doing this for Dia and Riko. Once the true nature of why they were attacking came out, there would be no way to deny why they were doing this.
"Maru, are you alright?" Kanan asked as she took a seat beside her.
"I just… I had a weird vision last night… I'm worried it might be a sign…" Hanamaru mumbled.
"What was it about?" Kanan asked as she pulled Hanamaru closer to her for comfort.
"I saw blood… lots of blood. It was from a chest. Female chest. There was a sword. I think that might've been the weapon." Hanamaru paused to gulp.
"That sounds like a warning vision." Kanan commented.
"I saw black mist. I think that might mean ghost or spirit. There was also a knife. And, a dead male. I heard sobbing. Anguish." Hanamaru finished, "It was horrible. I felt sick after seeing it."
"I hope that doesn't come true." Kanan said.
"I hope it doesn't as well. I just wonder who it could be."
"Probably one of us." Kanan replied.
"Yeah… I pray it was just a really bad nightmare."
Soon after, everyone was called to head out. Kanan wished Hanamaru luck and set off to find her group. Yō cuddled up with Hanamaru to try and cheer her up. She also hoped that the vision wasn't true and it was indeed just a nightmare fueled by the tension. If that vision was true, they all knew how much more they would suffer from it.
Mari was the first one to leave with her group. They'd ambush the knights. Once there were cries of panic inside, Kanan would lead the other group in and start telling them where to go.
Mari led the knights through the back of the castle. They snuck around with little problems. There weren't any guards around. Mari was a little suspicious about that. Even if there weren't many knights available, she still assumed they'd have some on guard duty. Due to that, they moved extra slow and made sure to do a lot of double takes before moving onward to their next cover.
This mission could end everything. If they got caught, the other group would never know and then they could be easily ambushed and killed. This was the main part of the mission. They needed to get the element of surprise to win this fight. Even if they outnumbered the knights of the other side, they could still be defeated if they made a mistake.
"That wood pile is the one." Mari whispered to the knight in charge of the attacking orders for the group.
"Alright. Two people go and sneak over. Remove the pile carefully. Signal once it is clear." The knight ordered.
Two other knights snuck over and slowly shifted the pile over. It revealed a passage just like Dia had said there would be. The knights examined it and then signaled for the rest of the group to come over. They all snuck over and went into the tunnel. It still was weird to see no guards around.
"Close the entrance." The lead knight ordered.
Three knights pushed the wood back into place so they were sealed inside. They all drew their weapons and started to creep forward. Mari led the way to where they were going. Some would go to the King and Queen's bedroom and some would go to the courtroom.
"Take a left to their bedroom." Mari called as they came to an intersection.
Half of the group left them and went left. Mari led the remaining half onward to the right. The courtroom was a little bit farther away. Mari prayed they'd get there before the other group attacked. It all came down to getting the timing right in order to succeed in this mission. If the other group attacked first, the knights would go aid the King and Queen. That couldn't be allowed to happen.
"We're here." Mari called.
"Alright. On three we charge." The head knight told the rest of the group.
They all readied their weapons as they waited for the order. Most of them were itching to fight. It had been a while since they had done a proper battle.
"One… two… three!"
The knights charged forward with a battle cry. Mari watched them from the safety of the tunnel. She wasn't going to get involved unless she needed to. That was the plan. She was supposed to stay hidden and run back any messages she needed to.
After a few minutes, the group Kanan was in charge of made their way into the fight. The knights for the Diamond kingdom held their ground, but were slowly being pushed back. They were heavily outnumbered. Mari spotted Kanan hanging out by the hallway and watching the fight unfold. They made eye contact. Kanan nodded to Mari and then turned her attention back to the battle.
Their knights managed to drive the Diamond knights into fleeing farther into the castle. The Snow knights followed them. The order was to kill without mercy, after all. No survivors were allowed to come out of this except for the servants and such. Kanan walked over to where Mari was. She held out her hand.
"Let's follow them." Kanan stated as she pulled a sword out for safety.
Mari nodded and pulled out a knife. They two of them slowly trailed the knights as they fought. If anyone broke the rank, they would kill them. It wasn't hard to finish off the knights. They were outnumbered and easily weakening. They were overpowered. It didn't take long before the final knight fell to the ground dead.
The group of knights that went to the bedroom came out with the King and Queen held hostage. Mari nodded to Kanan and the two of them walked forward to confront them. The King and Queen's faces lit up in anger as they saw them.
"You! You did this!"
"Yes, we did. You're going to die. This rule of yours isn't allowed any longer." Kanan stated as she held out her sword to them.
"Where are Dia and that brat?" The King demanded, "And what did you do to Ruby!?"
"Dia and Riko are with the Snow kingdom. As is Ruby. That was an illusion your knights were shown. I can't believe they fell for it." Kanan stated.
"You'll regret this. Even if we die, we'll take at least someone with us. Mark my words." The King growled.
"I want to know one thing. Why couldn't Riko and Dia be a thing? Why was it unacceptable?" Mari asked.
"Riko isn't from this kingdom. Only Diamond citizens can marry into the royal family." The King stated.
"Why did you let Riko serve the kingdom if she wasn't from here?" Kanan asked.
"Because Dia wouldn't take no for an answer."
"We're going to kill you now. And then show your citizens the truth behind your rule." Kanan growled.
Mari grabbed Kanan, "Wait!"
"What?"
"I want to do it." Mari stated.
Kanan stepped back and handed Mari the sword. Mari walked up to them. She started with the Queen. Mari quickly sliced off her head. As for the King, Mari made him suffer a lot more. She stabbed him repeatedly until he died from blood loss. She was not merciful at all. She wanted to make him suffer for everything he had done to both Dia and Riko. Mainly for what he had done to Riko, though.
Mari stepped back and looked around. The ground was stained with the blood of the knights. Countless corpses littered the ground. It was a repulsing sight. There were dismembered limbs everywhere. It was not a pretty sight to behold.
"Let's take them out and put them on display." Kanan ordered.
A few knights grabbed the bodies of the King and Queen and took them outside. They set them on display and wrote a message so everyone could see what they had done. For those who couldn't read, one knight drew pictures to explain it as well.
They all gathered back at their camp. Knights went in to fetch their fallen comrades. Mari went to clean off all the blood on her. Kanan went with her as well. Everyone else gathered and talked about their victory. Hanamaru sent a message to Chika to tell her the good news.
Kanan and Mari came back and sat down with them all again. Yō curled up on their laps. Kanan pet Yō as she enjoyed the warmth from her fur. Yō nuzzled Kanan lightly as she tried her best not to whack Mari with her tail.
"Maru? Is everything alright?" Mari asked.
Kanan looked up to see that Hanamaru had gone pale. Hanamaru looked at Mari and Kanan and shook her head.
"What happened? What's wrong?" Kanan asked.
"My vision… it came true…" Hanamaru whispered.
