What's good everyone?! Ya thought I was dead? NEVER, I SHALL LIVE FOREVAH!
P.S.: I made visual changes to some characters, please check ch2 for more info
The warriors kept silent as they were guided away by Glynda, none dared to break the tense atmosphere.
The soldiers that rejoined them along the way all shared the same confused look once they felt the sudden heaviness in the air but respected the quietness nonetheless. As for Tranquility herself, she felt detached from it, knowing exactly why the others were as silent as they were made it easy to deal with, to ignore.
As she basked in the silence, she couldn't help but wonder what the others would do once the blonde woman left them to their own, would they look for the same type of death mark on themselves and question her about it, or would they just sleep and leave their questions for the morning? Thinking about it was strange, she kept repeating the scenario on her mind, accounting for every little variable she could think of, bun no matter how different they were from each other, one thing remained constant.
She could never hope to have the answers to their questions.
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After they were handed their bedrolls and led to the large room they would be sleeping in, each hero swiftly began undressing to look for the same mark on their bodies.
Haruka sighed as Murasaki traced his rough fingers along her neck, and she along his bare chest, right above his heart, where his mark stood.
The Nobushi had always had a near perfect memory, she could recall things in detail, every death she'd ever witnessed, every battle. She knew everything about Daisuke's body, she knew every scar, every tattoo and patch of burnt skin, it was natural given that she was the one that would usually patch him up after every battle, so for her to find something new was often a surprise, but not this time, she knew exactly how that mark came to be.
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The battle was raging all around them, soldiers coughed blood as the corruption in the air entered their lungs, the ones that managed to still stand swiftly cut down by the enemy, the other heroes did as best they could to fight off the enemy but their numers were slowly dwindling.
A flamberge sailed mere inches away from her body, only thanks to her dodging in time she avoided the blade coated in the sickly green poison, she retaliated via a quick stab to the Warmonger's exposed leg, followed by a sidestepping heavy swing to the woman's throat, Haruka's opponent clawed at their neck in an attempt to stop the bleeding. The Nobushi stumbled, leaning on her naginata while breathing heavily, she needed a moment to catch her breath.
It had only been a few seconds when she heard the scream coming from behind her, she immediately snapped towards the source, the sight made her gasp and threatened to turn her eyes into waterfalls.
Murasaki was missing an arm, and soon his other was also cut by the wide swing of the enemy Warden's longsword, the knight stepped aside as a pikemen charged the Aramusha who screamed as he was pinned to the nearest wall, he was soon silenced as the soldier twisted his spear and the Aramusha went limp.
"Daisuke!" the sheer horror and rage in her voice caught the attention of the two enemies, but it was too late, she sliced the lesser soldier's head off and proceeded to stab right through the Warden's gut, she tried to remove her weapon from the knight's body but was stuck, forgetting about her naginata, she rushed to the Aramusha, lifting his chin to look into his eyes, but she didn't find the eyes of the whimsical ronin, she didn't find the eyes of the man who had asked her out the first time they met during his drunken stupor, instead she found the eyes of death, cold and void.
Before she could process the sight before her, a blade pierced through her back, she looked down at the blade protruding from her abdomen, her lips moved but couldn't form words, then suddenly, the blade was removed, an armored hand turned her around before the woman in black violently swung towards her neck, the last thing she saw was the battlefield as her decapitated head sailed through the air.
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Haruka shook her head and took a shaky breath at the memory. He was here, breathing and alive, being the same idiot he'd always be.
"Feeling alright?" Asked Murasaki with worry.
"What do think?" She said as she looked up at him, into his eyes.
"I think you need sake, a shoulder rub and a night full of unhindered sex, the kinky kind of course," he said with a wink.
Haruka couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Idiot," she said with a shake of her head, then, with a hum, spoke again. "Though the first two things would help," as she said that, she turned around, presenting her back to the Aramusha.
A few seconds passed and she looked back, letting a small chuckle escape her at seeing his wide eyes and flushed cheeks. "So?"
Murasaki blinked a few times to get rid of the color on his cheeks and shook his head for good measure. "Right." He got to work without another word, his hands worked wonders, she could feel the tension gathered from the past weeks beginning to wash away. She sighed at the pleasant sensation and began to idly look around, and of all the warriors none managed to draw her attention as the lonely peacekeeper on the other side of the room.
Tranquility was the only one that had managed to immediately fall asleep, and in the way she was right now, she didn't even look human. Her armour was still in place, the only things removed being the right shoulder plate and sin guards which were laid on the side, the small woman, rather than lay down, had chosen to sit on top of the bedroll and lean against a wall next to a window.
From way that the moonlight seemed to reflect from the metal mask, to the seemingly perfect state of stillness in which the small woman was, Haruka couldn't help but make the comparison she did.
To her, Tranquility looked like a puppet cut from it's strings.
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The peaceful atmosphere of the cold forests of Valkenheim at night served as a contrast to her own thoughts, the sounds of a blade being sharpened could be heard, a constant rasp that grated against her ears. Her blades were as sharp as they would ever be, yet she kept repeating the same motion over and over again, she didn't know if it was out of nervousness or simply to pass the time as she waited for her target to come.
The peacekeeper halted as she saw the faint light in the distance, he was here. She jumped down from the tree she was perched on, the snow cushioning her fall. She slowly made her way behind a large rock, big enough to hide her from her target's eyes, she held the sword and dagger tightly, she lowered her stance, ready to lunge the second he came into view.
After a moment's wait, she picked up the sound of approaching footsteps and held her breath as he came into view.
He was an older man, between his 40s and 50s, on his back there was a large backpack, which held all of his belongings along with his merchandise, he moved with the help of the large branch in which he had placed his oil lantern, hanging it from the V shape at the top of the stick.
She wasted no time and immediately rushed at him, the old mad turned around at the last second, she missed her stab but recovered quickly, performing a slash across his torso. The man fell back and tried to get away, he began to toss things her way to keep her back, the peacekeeper simply dodged out of the way as she came closer.
She stood over him with her sword held high in a reverse grip, ready to end his life, the target, in a last attempt, swung the branch with the lantern at her face, she tried moving to the side but it was already too late, glass shattered and the burning oil quickly spread through the young peacekeeper's left side.
She dropped her sword and screamed in agony.
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Tranquility opened her eyes as the nightmare came to an end, she stood up from the floor and gathered her things before quietly leaving the auditorium.
She roamed in silence, making her way to the outside of the building and wandering off towards a large, lonely tree which stood near the cliff, she sat next to it and slowly removed her mask, looking at the forest below.
Carefully, she took off the glove that covered her left hand, which while not as badly charred as the rest of her arm, still had a very noticeable burn mark. She flexed her fingers with a sigh and brought her knees close to her chest. How long had it been since the last time she had that dream, how long had passed since the last time she remembered? Since the Truce of Wyverndale? Or was it long before that? Either way it did not matter, what mattered was that it had indeed returned, leaving her with one burning question.
Why?
As much as her mind yearned for an answer, this was a question that she could never answer.
As she kept thinking, one question crossed her mind, halting her thoughts.
"What is your name?" She heard the voice of the white armored conqueror that perished in the Shard ring on her mind. She took her mask in her hands, staring at the lifeless metal as her answer came.
"Tranquility."
Very, VERY short chapter, I know, but as I kept writing it didn't feel quite right to continue, so ya. Anyways, some of you left questions, here's me answering them.
Bile 1.0: Most probably not, but what I can say is that there will definitely be other heroes in the future, just not Olden Cross.
memefarius: This is a few weeks after volume 1, right before the Jaundice arc.