"Hurch! Intruder! Attack!" An orc yelled who spotted me.
"I am no intruder," I responded, drawing my sword. "for San d'Oria!"
Five orcs surrounded me, running towards me with their various weapons. I leaped into the air as I had studied from the texts written for rookie Dragoons, and sliced open three of the orcs on my way down to the ground.When I landed, I charged directly through a fourth orc, and turned to face the fifth one, who had pointed me out to the others.
"Leave now and I will be merciful." I said to it.
"Too strong!" It yelled. "Must warn the Master!" The orc took off running towards North San d'Oria, and I decided not to follow. If the Master was the one who did all of this, then it was him who I wanted to test all of my training on first.
"Your skills in combat..." a girl's voice said from behind the rubble. "You must be Kousaten! Prepare to die!"
Three people jumped from behind the rubble, and then each of them charged me. I deflected two sword strikes, but one slashed a cut into my right arm.
"What is this?" I said in astonishment, noticing the three looked exactly alike.
"The shadow skill," they all said. "Utsusemi! Every shinobi knows of it, and I have it fully mastered!"
"So you're a kunoichi..." I said. "and you've come here for whoever this Kousaten is."
"Stop playing games!" The middle one yelled. "I know that you're Kousaten!"
"I must admit, I have never met a Kousaten in the Cathedral." I responded.
"You're from the Cathedral?" The right one asked.
"Impossible!" The left one said. "No one can pass the barrier, especially not Kousaten!"
"I did it with this sword." I said, showing them my unsceathed weapon. It's glowing blue hue made all of their eyes widen with shock.
"That's the legendary sealing sword!" The middle girl said. "The Amanomurakumo!"
"Huh?" I asked.
"It's a blade that was used to seal Dynamis long ago," the left girl added. "it has been passed down, skipping generations. The last known wielder of it was Seijuro, father of Kazu and Kousaten."
"Well..." I said. "from what I've been told, I'm Kazu's son- but I don't remember my Dad."
"At least you having that sword proves you aren't Kousaten," the right girl said. "it cannot be wielded by anyone with impure intentions- and Kousaten is the most evil person on this planet!"
"Yeah," the middle one said. "just look at what he did to San d'Oria!"
"I know..." I said. "I've seen it since the war began."
"Oh..." the middle one said, sighing. "Oh- right! I almost forgot!" The other two shadow copies vanished, and she added, "My name is Misao. Nice to meet you, and sorry about earlier."
"I'm Shinta." I responded.
"How touching..." another voice said. "now I can get rid of both annoyances at once. Two meddlers with one slice! Today is going to be quite a day- the end of the Cathedral!"
"No one is going to touch the Cathedral except for those who need it to live!" I yelled in response, gripping my sword.
"It doesn't matter," the voice responded. "you will all die soon anyway. Once the Dark Lord rises... there shall be no more life in Vana'diel! This new life that plauges it shall be no more, and a new world can be born!"
"You're Kousaten!" Misao shouted.
"Brilliant deduction, for a dead girl." He said, floating down to the ground. "I am Kousaten, the Shadow Knight." He looked at me, and he had a look of suprise in his eyes. "...Kazu?" He asked.
"No," I responded. "I am his son- Shinta."
"Ohh... yes, I remember now. You must be the son of that other Elvaan, Konami, as well. My Lord will be most pleased once I get rid of you!" He yelled, gathering energy in his blade.
"...Uncle Kousaten..." I said. "You have suffered enough. Being left for dead, siding with darkness, being enveloped by a demonic entity... isn't that enough?What do you need to be satisfied?"
"I'd say..." he said, still charging energy. "for everyone on this miserable world to suffer!" He released the energy, and I ran in front of it. No matter what the cost, Misao nor anyone else in San d'Oria did anything to upset him- none of them deserved such suffering.
'No matter what...' I thought. 'I have to protect them!'