Chapter Five: The Church's Decision! Tsukiyo's fate.
"Nice to meet you, Sky,"
A large knight offered his iron-clad arm to Sky, smiling. "I'm Axis, Leader of the 6th Division Knights of Prontera, and I've been sent here to meet you."
Sky stood there, not knowing what to do. He had traveled far, far from the legendary assassin guild, to pass a message to the king of Prontera, King Tristram III. His hand gripped a large, brown envelope hidden in his robes, which was entrusted to him by his Guild Master. Because of his guild's influence, Sky was hoping to see the King himself, or his chief advisor. The very least was the Lord Knight of Prontera, Sir Malcolm Shark.
But a Division Leader? Did they not know the urgency of his message? The Assassin Guild rarely made contact with the outside forces, save Morroc, which was their largest ally. Surely it was a serious matter, so severe that it concerned other outside forces, that the Assassin Guild wanted to convey! From what he had gathered, assassins had been sent all the way across the mountains to Geffen, and across the sea to Alberta. Even the remote kingdom of Payon was contacted.
"I need to see the King right away," Sky said, this time trying to make his point clearer. "IN PERSON," he added, hoping to get the message across. Axis laughed and retraced his hand. "The King has ordered me to listen to what you have to say," he said shortly. "I will later deliver any relevant documents and pass on all knowledge I have obtained from our 'talk' to him."
Sky shook his head. He was making no progress at all.
Outside the castle, Chidori was facing a similar problem.
"Let me pass," she said to the guards. "There is important news I have to deliver." Two armored knights, who stood guard over the large castle gates, laughed. "No one gets in without permission from the King himself." One of them said. "I thought everyone knew that."
"It's URGENT, for crying out loud!" Chidori said, as she desperately tried to push through the guards. The guards, however, didn't bulge an inch. Still laughing, they gave her a shove, until she lost her balance and fell down hard upon her back. Upon seeing this, the two knights laughed even harder.
Anger was surging through Chidori's veins now. "These guards are all muscle and no brain," she thought. "Fine! If it takes force to get me in, so be it!"
Chidori slowly got up to her feet, silently chanting under her breath. "Go back, woman," The second guard said. "Or we'll be forced to make you leave." Chidori did not respond to his threat. Instead, she merely lifted her head and stared at him straight in the eye.
Her eyes were burning a bright red, a sign of pure terror, as they bored straight into the guard. Upon eye contact, he found his eyes narrowing in fear, as vile abominations shot out from her eyes and drilled right into him. He felt them hammering down upon his brain, each hit bearing the force of a jackhammer. His body turned stiff and rigid, as he opened his mouth to scream. He then found his neck muscles tightening around his esophagus, preventing him from uttering a sound, as his jaws locked tight in position - a cold, silent scream.
The other guard knew what had happened and instantly closed his eyes. This was the illusionary magician skill, the Stone Curse, a spell which attacked the body's neuron system, paralyzing the enemy from within. The spell would severely mess up the entire system, in fact so much that the body would counter it by reducing all muscle movement to zero – hence locking the target in place, and therefore earning its name, the stone curse.
"Stop!" he said, eyes closed tightly in fear. "Attacking a royal knight is a serious offence! You can be executed for this!" Chidori shook her head and said, with a taunting tone, "But whose going to arrest me?" The guard dared not open his eyes, for fear of being cursed also. He did the only thing he could do – call for backup. He reached for his belt, and pulled out a giant horn, before bringing it to his lips and blew it.
To his surprise, no sound came out. Throwing all caution to the wind, he opened his eyes and looked at the horn. Only then did he realize what had happen, and a split second later, realized that it was about to happen to him. He closed his eyes once again as a jet of cold air blew over him, freezing him to the spot. In his hands he still tightly clutched the horn, which was completely frozen at the tip.
Satisfied, Chidori prepared to enter the castle. No sooner than she had crossed the drawbridge, a huge gust of wind blew out from the castle, throwing the doors wide open, and hurling Chidori through the air, until she landed far away from the doors, at the foot of the drawbridge.
"My, my…" A voice suddenly said. "It seems that the Knight's standards are slipping…" Chidori looked up, and saw that a person stood by the door. He had long, flowing grey hair, and he wore a long, gold robe, which was so long that its sleeves touched the ground. His eyes were a pair of twinkling emeralds – green in colour and heavily resembling a cats'. He slowly crossed the drawbridge and said, "There is an old saying, that whoever chooses to master the sword enslaves himself to magic. In other words, a sword wielder can never defeat a magic user in combat."
"I have always been skeptical of this saying, but it seems that I must accept it today, as some unknown wizard has just gotten past our royal guards using nothing but simple, magician skills."
As he walked across the drawbridge, Chidori's heart raced. She knew who he was. This person was a close friend of her fathers'. She had only seen him a few times before, but those sparkling, green eyes, and that long silver hair left a mark in her that would never fade away.
The chief sage of Prontera, and also, the previous master of the Galewing clan, Zephyr Galewing.
Not far away from the castle, in the halls of the Prontera Church, another heated argument was on. Before a table stood a tall, sturdy acolyte, about the age of nineteen. Seated behind the table, were four elderly men, each wearing a pure white robe, and also bearing a rosary around their necks. One of them wore a large, gemmed crown upon his head. It was the symbol of the Pronteran Church, an artifact that only the high priest of the church may wear, the national treasure - the archbishop's crown.
"What are you saying?" Tsukiyo roared as he pummeled his fists upon the table. Large, green veins were pulsating upon his forehead, and his temple was throbbing dangerously.
"I repeat myself, Tsukiyo," the high priest said. "You have been suspended from duty until further notice, for failure to capture and prevent the escape of the acolyte known as Kira."
"Who are you joking?" Tsukiyo bellowed. "Nobody gave me an order to stop him! It was done all by my own free will! Its not like I've failed any of your missions or something!"
"On the contrary, Tsukiyo," another priest said, "It is you duty to protect the secrets of the church. Did you not swear an oath on the day you became an acolyte? To forever protect the church's greatest secrets?"
"What the hell does that have to do with my suspension!"
"You have failed, Tsukiyo, to prevent the escape of Kira. Thanks to you, we have not only lost the info on all our personnel, but other more important information as well."
Tsukiyo paused abruptly, before continuing, "Other information? What else did that bastard steal?"
The priests shuffled uneasily in their chairs. Even the high priest looked troubled. With his finger, he motioned for Tsukiyo to come forward.
"Tell me, Tsukiyo," he said. "Have you ever heard of Ragnarok?"
Tsukiyo thought for a while, before replying, "The twilight of the Gods, end of the World. The return of the Dark Lord, where he would cover the world in darkness."
"Precisely," the high priest said. "And that is exactly what Kira stole."
"A thousand years ago," the high priest continued, "The Dark Lord commanded an army of elite monsters to do combat against the Gods. Not only so, he also ordered a small portion of his hand-picked elites to destroy us humans, so that he may create his own world of absolute darkness."
"The data Kira stole was on the Great War, the epic battle between us humans and the strongest monsters to ever exist."
"The Most Valued Personals, the MVPs."
Tsukiyo was shocked at the statement. Never before had he heard of this so-called Great War. Sensing his confusion, the high priest continued, "The Great War was a greatly kept secret, a secret that only a few have account of. We, the church, are one of the selected few who had actual accounts of the war, accounts that, unfortunately, have been stolen."
"We do not know what Kira plans to do with this data, but should he release it out to the public, it would cause a massive state of chaos, and the validity of the church would be questioned."
Tsukiyo suddenly laughed out loud. He raised his hand to his head, and covered his face with his palm. "I get it…." He said, still covering his head with his palms. "You're using me as an excuse for your miserable failures. You're pinning down your failures to protect the documents on me, aren't you?"
"My dear friends, you're using me as a scapegoat."
Upon hearing this, the priests shifted uncomfortably in their chairs again, as the high priest cleared his throat. "We do not explicitly say so, Tsukiyo…" he said, as he gazed right at him. "But you get the idea." He said, with a dark, menacing tone.
"I have said twice," the high priest said. "You are hereby suspended from duty, until further notice. Leave at once, less me make you leave by force."
Tsukiyo shot one last glance at them, as he turned his back and left the room. As soon as he had slammed the door behind him, he threw his fist as the nearest wall, making a loud thud echo across the long, empty chambers. He watched in amazement, as powder crumbled from the wall, followed by a steady stream of blood, which was flowing down from his now broken knuckles.
END OF CHAPTER 5
