Chapter 24:
The End of the Beginning:
Rise of the Shadows - the END –
Meanwhile, back in Archangel, Kage had finished explaining the true form of the third plan.
Everyone nodded in agreement. They were all reinvigorated by what Kage had just told them. They've also seen the proof, and now they have a hope to survive this. Everyone. Not just the soldiers. The refugees too. This truly confirms that the latter part of the third plan was really a lie. "Now I may have lied about the last part of the letter, but I'm not joking about the first part. Better I see this base in ruins rather than in their hands." The soldiers certainly can't argue to that.
Kage turned to the key of his third strategy: Kojiro Murdoch. "And… how are we proceeding?"
"Well… if you can buy me some more time… like… three days or so…"
"Three days? These people DON'T HAVE three days!" Kage stated incredulously.
Murdoch exploded and started ranting in front of Kage's face: "YOU EVER TRY TO MODIFY AN ENTIRE FORTRESS WITH THE ENEMY SENDING DOWN FIRE AT YOU? THAT'S THE FASTEST I CAN MANAGE!"
"Ah… and what if you have more than 2000 workers? What if you have every man in this whole fortress at your disposal? My men, yours, Murrue-san's… and don't forget you got Fuji!"
Murdoch rerun the number again and stated. "If they don't screw this up… and if we work around the clock like the Devil… tomorrow evening. Maybe afternoon. Provided not a single enemy attacked us! Which is unlikely…"
"You'll have it." Kage choked. "You'll have your period of quiet and peace… I'll make sure of it!"
Murdoch looked at Kage. The guy really thinks he can do it. And, Murdoch had to grudgingly admit, the boy had not failed to deliver, so far. Everything, down to the exact detail, has been going exactly as the boy had predicted. 'A guy like this… a chef? Mwu… where on earth did you get this boy?'
"I told you, didn't I? Your men… they can survive this… but that will depend on you. You've done great, they've done great… now it's my turn." Kage held Murdoch shoulder and declared: "No enemy will come to our border until tomorrow evening. I swear to you and your men!"
Murdoch finally released his collar. "Okay… okay. Tomorrow AFTERNOON. I'll make it somehow tomorrow noon. I don't know what you're up to… but good luck, Captain."
Kage nodded. Mwu asked. "How many men do you need to keep 40,000 knights at bay until tomorrow noon?" Knowing his genius of a student, Mwu was prepared for the most ridiculous number he can think of. '40,000 vs 200? 40,000 vs 50? Name your odds… You're not gonna take me by surprise again, kiddo!'
The ninja snorted. "Actually… I thought of going there on my own."
Everyone stopped dead or dropped their things as they looked at the Shinobi in pure shock as if he's crazy. Mwu, in particular, was left jaw hung. That was beyond ridiculous, even for him. '40,000 VS 1! Damn. I'm gonna have a heart attack at this rate…'
"That was my first plan. But there have been some unforeseen circumstances… so I may need a little help." Kage thought for a moment and stated. "I'm gonna need everyone from the Juppongatana."
"10 against 40,000? You realize that's beyond nuts boss-man?" Neil whistled. They better start getting used to receiving the most ridiculous of orders. Their new captain specializes in the ridiculous, a diehard fan of such orders and he's bloody damn good at it.
"Trust me. It gets better. Heh." Kage chuckled. "Now get ready all of you. Mwu-san, I'm leaving my men under your command. Shadowguards, you all stay here too. You're all still wounded anyway." That's when he noticed the unconscious Balsam with an imprint of Tolle's foot on it. "…aaaaand… what happened to that idiot?"
"Oh, him. He suggested of using the refugees to fight with us to the death." Tolle answered. "Nearly convinced them all to enter the slaughterhouse. Can't blame them though. For everyone in that situation, it might sound like a bright idea at the time."
"Well I did say I expect ingenuity from you guys… but that was an example of a bad ingenuity. I will not tolerate anything like that in my division, is that clear?" Everyone answered with a quick nod. "But I didn't expect the refugees to also hear about the plan. I thought you guys were supposed to keep it internal." Kage looked at Prayer, who bowed down, apologizing for his miss. "How did they found out anyway?"
At this, Sai fidgeted and Fllay, standing next to her fiancée, gulped nervously. She was further terrified when Kage looked at her and so she hid behind Sai.
But the Shinobi quickly understood and nodded. "Well, it's okay. They would've found out sooner or later anyway… Now… are we ready?"
And soon, 10 horsemen ride out from the ruined fortress into the forest that evening.
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The next morning, Raww once again led his knights towards the fortress and proceeded as they would've any other day, but Raww ordered them all to do not relax their vigilance. "Remember. Kage likes surprise attacks and ambushes by use of disguises. Keep your eye peeled and your helmet off, at all times." Yes. Raww was quite fed up with having enemy soldiers infiltrate his army time and again by wearing their own armors. Now he had them all remove their helmets so that he can see their faces.
No sooner than he said that, a hail of Lockon's spear arrows flies out from every direction, killing dozens of the knights in an instant. The soldiers were greatly alarmed and quickly formed the line. "W… What the hell?" And then silence. The knights looked at every direction, wondering where the attack came from. They waited for 5 minutes… 10 minutes… nothing.
"Recover!" Raww signaled his man break ranks and resume their march. The forest of Archangel is massive. It took 2-3 hours to reach back to the Archangel fortress. Unknown to everyone… it's going to be a long and bloody 3 hours.
10 minutes, still nothing.
And then 20 minutes later…
Another hail of arrow occurred, and simultaneously, from a different direction, multiple knights were suddenly beheaded by a black whip-sword. Sven burst out of the bushes, brandishing his dual claymore. He slashed them some more, earning himself a few more kills and then retreated before the knights can follow him. On another side, Prayer charged out: "GATOTSU!" Like a tank, he plow through dozens of knights in one go, crushing them all and then he just vanished. The Knights, in panic, quickly reformed the line in a disciplined manner, but by then, the chaos ended, and yet another unnerving silence followed. This time they waited and remain on the spot longer by 20 minutes, expecting more surprise… nothing. Raww frowned. 'What is this… strategy…?'
15 minutes later, the knights resumed their march, but their pace greatly slowed down, fearing ambush. 30 minutes of unnervingly uneventful trip later, they passed a T-Section marked by a pile of stones and took the left road. 20 minutes upon entering the road, a rider that looked like a Grim Reaper suddenly burst out of the forest and roared in a terrifying voice: "YOUR DEATH HAS COME! HELL'S ENVOYS ARE HEEEEEEERE!" Caught by surprise, and terrified at the sight of their enemy's appearance, the Knights were too late to respond and some were crushed under the horse' hoof, while others fall victim to the Grim Reaper's katana. Following, another horseman, its rider and horse were clad in demonic black armor, head to toe, burst forth from the left flank and trampled everyone in their way creating a carpet of blood and carnage. Another horsemen ridden by another rider burst out from the rear. The rider has a long black hair, with multiple blades sticking out of his arms, while he himself was wielding an unearthly huge sword. And he was smiling like the devil out of Hades. He too cut a swath of slaughter amidst the knights. It all occurred within seconds, and the three riders vanished before the knights can react.
And then silence.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS PLACE?" One of the knights finally just had it with all the series of fiendish surprise attacks. There's so much their nerves can take. "Isn't this… isn't this supposed to be the forest that we passed just yesterday?"
"CALM DOWN!" Raww roared, silencing the panicking Knight. "Calm yourself… you're being scared are exactly what he wants. This is Kage's strategy. Using shock and awe to make us panic and confused. Dressing himself and his men in fiendish disguises for terror effects. Stay together and march out slowly. Stay alert." That calmed them down… for now. And then, after a while, the knights began their march again, passing through another stone marker. But Raww kept wondering in his thoughts. So Kage intend to use this forest as some sort of camouflage… for series of surprise attacks of guerilla tactics… but surely he didn't intend to whittle away a 40,000 Knights by killing a paltry few dozen every now and then! By the time they reached the Archangel he could probably do away with only 400 of them at best. No. Kage was not that stupid. If there's anything he learned from his battles with the masked Captain, is that he NEVER aim for small glancing blows. He's a patient hunter, and all his blows are killing blows, and by God they are as effective as Hell. When he took small bites, that's because that small bite was a precursor to something greater, just like the case with Aetious. 'So what exactly is your main prey, Kage?'
And the knight's march continued in silence and no events for the next 45 minutes. Tensions are beginning to lessen, but the knights still remain vigilant. It was then Raww began to notice something weird. "Hold up." The army stopped. Raww checked his surroundings… and that's when he realized they've returned to the T-section, marked by a pile of stones. Nichol noticed this as well. "D… Didn't we pass this road already? That stone marker… I recognized it, didn't I?"
"As do I." Raww frowned.
"We're going in circles?" Courtney looked at his knights. "Let's pull back. Something's weird Raww. I don't like this. Pull back… PULL BACK!" The knights had just begun to march back, when suddenly, a hail of arrows and spears launched from every direction, followed by simultaneous attacks from ALL members of Juppongatana from EVERY direction.
"Gentlemen… welcome to Hell." Canard smiled happily as he brandished his enormous sword. "And we are the devils!" Neil burst out of the bushes, rapidly throwing darts from his holsters to every direction; all of them accurately hit their targets. Then he grabbed two of his launched Spear arrows (Destroyer and Reaper) and then used them as lances. Karren and Setsuna bathed in the blood of their enemies as they rip apart every enemy they came across with their bare hands. Toudou and Kage plowed through the knights on top of their horses, while Prayer pierced through several of them with his twin Gatotsu. Bushido jumped out of the tree and landed right in the middle of the knights, turning a single knight to a bloody pulp when his sword landed on him. Kamina drill his way out of the ground, making a bloody mess out of everyone on top of him. Two knights had their necks strangled by a pair of chain whips, dragged into the forest, and then Sven returned them as pieces.
"Form the-"
Before Raww could finish, the Juppongatana vanished again into the darkness. Only the carnage they left behind was proof that they were there. And now even Raww was at his wits' ends. 'JUST WHAT THE HELL IS THAT NINJA UP TO?' All this time, dealing with Mwu, and he thought he knew all there's to know about ninjas. Only now do Raww realize just how difficult it is dealing with a ninja. To fight one is not only to enter the realm of physical battle, but also mental battle. "Pull back!" While Raww is still trying to figure this out, Nichol and Courtney took command. The knights quickly retreated to the way they came… and returned back to another T-section with the same stone marker.
"What? I… I don't understand… d… didn't we pass this marker already?"
"Wait… you mean… we're lost?" Nichol tried to calm down. "Wait. Use the archangel fortress as a landmark. With it… we should be able to-" Nichol's comment cut short as he looked around, and saw clouds of smoke arising from everywhere. His first thought was fire, but he doesn't feel any heat. But there's another trouble: he couldn't find the so called landmark. Anywhere. The rising smoke envelopes everything, the whole forest was completely submerged in this smoke. His vision was severely limited due to the smoke. How could they lose a fortress that big?
"What's with this smoke?"
"This is no natural weather…"
The knights again began to panic. And just when they were still confused, another attack occurred. This time the Juppongatana all ride horses and burst out of the smoke, attacking and disappearing into another smoke in rapid succession. The sound of whining horse came from the front only to have the horses trample over them from behind. They saw silhouette of a horsemen and fired some arrows only to have them hit their own. A small group of knights suddenly found themselves isolated until two horsemen (Bushido and Kage) burst out of smoke and crushed them. A knight frantically looked left and right as horsemen appeared and disappeared amidst the smoke, taking out a knight with each appearance. And just when the chaos is about to reach its peak…
They vanished into silence.
"THAT'S IT! I HAD ENOUGH OF THIS PLACE! LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" Several knights just couldn't take it anymore, break ranks and deserted their posts. Courtney roared at those deserters. "GET BACK HERE COWARDS!" Too late, the deserters ran and disappeared into the smoke. Not a sound until a scream… and they returned… without their bodies… just their rolling heads, terrorizing the other Knights even further.
"Raww, we have to retreat and regroup. The men are starting to lose it."
Raww nodded half heartedly. His mind is still trying to figure out what's going on. The knights, completely scared out of their wits, quickly retreated through a pathway. They went through a long, uneventful walk through the smoky forest, and with the smoke enveloping their surroundings and severely limiting their vision and all their perception of time were messed up as well. The Knights are more vigilant than ever, but their paranoid reached the level where they panic to even the slightest anomaly. Already so tense due to all the surprise attacks, they breathe heavily; all their strength and stamina were whittled away due to all the stress and anxiety gnawing at them. As the result, they may have only walked for a few hours but they look as if they've gone through a gauntlet of marathon without resting. After what seemed like an eternity, they arrived at an opening… and returned back to that same T-section, with the same stone marker.
At this, the knights collapsed in despair. All hope faded by terror. "This… place… is bewitched… I knew it… that Kage really is the Devil…" One of the collapsed knights began to rant deliriously.
"No, he's not the devil." Nichol tried to calm him down.
"YES HE IS!" The knight suddenly became hysterical and lash out at the Wood knight. All their stress exploded at last in full blown anger. "We passed this T-section multiple times already! No matter what road we take we keep coming back! Kage has bewitched this whole forest…! We're no longer on earth, we're IN HELL! WE'RE IN THE DEVIL'S DOMAIN!" Okay, the said knight had really lost it. Problem is, he's now inciting the others as he wail in despair. "WE'LL NEVER GET OUT OF HERE ALIVE! WE HAVE ENRAGED THE RULERS OF HEEEL-" The mad knight didn't get to finish as he knocked unconscious soon after by Nichol.
"Thank you Nichol. Now, anyone else would like to have a nervous breakdown?" Raww looked menacingly at his terrified Knights. Quelling one fear with another. Not exactly effective, but it'll do, for now. At least enough so that they can listen. "No? Then, allow me to explain what's going on."
Now Courtney and Nichol looked at Raww. "Explain? Raww, you're saying you understand why we're going in circles?"
"I get it just now, yes." Raww chuckled. "We're not going in circles. This is a maze. The Eight Stone Sentinel Maze."
"The eight… what?" Everyone echoed.
"The Eight Stone Sentinel Maze. It is an illusionary maze that made use of the environment such as this heavy forest." Raww began scratching a picture on the ground. "The way it works is, they placed identical stone markers, made of eight stones piled together, in several T-sections around the area. These T-sections were chosen carefully, not only to make sure they resemble one another, but they also connect each other creating a network of interconnected T-sections. If we pick one road, we will end up in another T-section. The key… is in those stone markers." Raww pointed at the stone markers and then draw two T-sections on the ground, each was named X and Y respectively. "We passed the first stone marker at the T-section-X, and then as we go on, we ended up in T-section-Y, but because of the stone marker's similar appearance with one another… it gave us the illusion that we have merely returned to the same place."
"Hoo…" The knights nodded in understanding. Such a simple trick! "But… then… now that we know it's not magic or some witchcraft… we should be able to break out of it, easily, no?"
Raww chuckled nervously. "Now see… that's the beauty of this maze, if you don't figure out what's happening from the first go, it's bloody hard to get out, even when you already know the trick. But maybe we can get out. The way I see it, Kage set this up in a hurry… he probably only had time to create a simplified version of the maze. If we're careful, we might be able to get out."
And the knights' hope was rekindled. They began to march more calmly, and less frightened now that they know it's merely an optical illusion. Now they are less panicked whenever they returned to the same spot, since Raww had explained it to them. There hasn't been any attack either; giving the knights the much needed time to relax and think things through.
"Well played, Raww." Courtney sighed in relief as he walked side by side with the masked Knight. "For a moment there, I thought we'll have a riot on our hands."
"Kage is a true genius. Now I finally understand why they keep using this guerilla tactics… they weren't meant to attack our numbers, they were meant to attack our minds. One shock after the other… he's mentally exhausting the knights, making them blind to details and unable them to think clearly." Raww finally piece things together.
"But the Eight Stone Sentinel maze… I take it that is something Athrun-san taught you before, Lord Klueze?" Nichol always knew that Athrun sometimes taught Raww interesting strategies. The Metal Knight even had a following of students, particularly those within the circles of strategists.
"He explained it to me, only in theory. To be honest with you, at first I thought it was ridiculous-like anyone would fall to that. Never thought I'd lived to see the day when I was on the receiving end." Raww nodded in shame.
"And how did you know that this maze that Kage set up is just a simplified version?" Courtney groaned as they arrived at another stone marker. They're not out of the maze yet. This was simplified? And just how terrifying the original could be?
Raww laughed bitterly. "Because if this is the complete version of the maze then we're screwed. The original one's strength, Athrun theorized, greatly dependant on the size of the area… if it's used right on the forest of this size… let's see… it can handle 800,000 soldiers no problem."
"Okay. Let's all pray that this IS simplified." Courtney's face is as pale as it ever gonna get.
For the next three hours, 40,000 Zaft knights continue to march in that smoke-clad forest. However, despite them being very careful, despite them memorizing each road they take, the army was nowhere closer to their goal, much less getting out of that forest. Pessimism began to reign and the knights' frustration continues to build. "Is this really the same forest? Why I do I feel like we keep going in circles?" The knights began to whine and groaned. Even Raww is getting nervous as they arrived at yet another Stone Marker, for the nth time. The knights began to lose hope of ever getting out. Until at last, Raww ordered the knights to stop and take a break while he himself decided to sit on the stone marker, to think things through. He rubbed his forehead, trying to think calmly. 'Just like what Athrun always says: Put yourself in your enemy shoes… always think of two strategies- one to counter the other… think your enemy is as smart as you… or better yet, smarter than you…' Raww looked at his surrounding and saw all the smoke floating around. 'This smoke is probably something of his making, to further annoy us, and limit our vision. This isn't about him trying to defeat us. I think this is something… of stalling time… he's doing something in that fortress… something that he doesn't want us to see.' Raww looked at the sky and saw the sun. It began to set. And as he looked at his pocket watch, he noticed it's around 3 o'clock now…
Raww took a deep breath and ready his sword. He just couldn't see any other solution. This will be quite extreme. "Everyone…"
The knights looked at Raww.
"Gather behind me."
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Kage and his Juppongatana are currently on standby in the woods some distance away from the knights. The Shinobi and Kyoshirou Toudou were standing upon a branch of tree, overlooking the surrounding area.
"What was the name of this tactic again?" Toudou asked.
"Eight Stone Devil Maze." Kage answered. "First glance, it does look like its cousin, the Eight Stone Sentinel Maze. But it's vastly different. I'll tell you all about it later." Kage had just sent a scout to check on the status of the Knights but they've been gone for quite some time. "Where the hell is Kamina and Setsuna?"
"Those two make a lousy pairing for scouting, seriously." Karren groaned. "First one is a loudmouth, the other one is a blabbermouth."
"Which is which?"
"In that order, Captain. In that order." Neil chuckled. Though he really doesn't mind Setsuna's hippie attitude. Kinda brings more color to the group.
Just then, they heard screaming from the woods before them. It was Kamina, scared shitless, screaming like mad.
"Is that his idea of scouting?" Kage blinked several times.
"OGENBOGEGE BOGEVBEGEBBEEE AAAAAAAARRGGH!" Kamina ran past the other confused Juppongatana like a bat out of hell.
"What?" Everyone blinked at the incomprehensible words.
Kage was quick to notice something's wrong.
And then, Setsuna also ran towards them, also panicking, but he gets the message across loud and clear: "RAWW SET THE WHOLE BLOODY PLACE ON FIRE!"
Kage quickly looked to the horizon and saw, to his horror, that it was an eerie and dangerous shade of red, blue and yellow. That and the temperature rapidly rising confirmed Setsuna's report. "Everyone get BACK TO ARCHANGEL ON THE DOUBLE!"
They don't need to be told twice. Everyone quickly mounted their horses and ride off. Kage and Toudou whistled, calling their horses as they jumped down. Aile and Zangetsu welcomed their masters mid fall and ride off. As Aile raced for both of their lives, Kage looked over his back and gasped.
A tsunami generating a stampede of serpentine monstrosities chasing after them. Both were composed entirely of either red, blue, or yellow flames, consuming, swallowing, and incinerating everything they came in contact with, and they are charging forward on a path of expanding lava stream. The fiery serpentine creatures looked like a mass of mouth and had an odd way of consuming the forest. Some mouths swallowed and burned everything they came in contact with, but other mouths spit them back out as another fiery monstrosities. That being said, more of the forest they burn, the bigger they become, and more of those… serpentine monstrosities were spawned, explosively expanding their destruction. 'The hell is that flame? It felt… I felt…' Kage gritted his teeth as he had to suppress a nauseating feeling that suddenly boiling up at his stomach. 'I felt sick just by looking at it…'
The tsunami of flame spawned flying monstrosities this time and they fly ahead of the wave. Kage's eyes widened as the flying creatures are heading straight towards him. Then he quickly realized who's behind this, and he hopped away from Aile. The horse was shocked upon seeing her master left her back and stopped. But before she can go back, the flaming monstrosity encircled Kage and trapped him in a circle of fire. The red, blue and yellow flames had merged into a single color: a toxic greenish yellow, with an aura of red, blue, and yellow. "AILE! GO! GET OUT OF HERE!" Aile whined in protest, but Kage simply roared louder. "JUST GO!"
Reluctantly, and being afraid of fire herself, Aile left her master behind.
Kage smiled. "Good girl." Then he turned and saw the mass of flames had stopped right in front of him, and they didn't spread anywhere else either. Apparently, its user wanted to keep him isolated after all. He raised his arms. "You want me? Here I am." The infernal serpentine creature slither before him and halted after it rooted itself to the ground. And then, something burst out of its skin, and Raww were lifted out of the flames. He was clad in a customized Fire knight armor. While normal fire knight often bears fiery red and orange color, Raww's were mostly silver white, with only some are colored red, and instead of orange, it has golden runic inscriptions on its sleeves, collar and various edges of the armor.
Kage looked around, seeing if there's anybody else. They were alone. Which means… "After all the trouble I went through to preserve this forest. My men will not be pleased. And even if those Knights managed to break through the maze, thanks to you, you think they can handle my Juppongatana?"
Raww chuckled. He step down from his infernal fiery beast and then bowed down. "First, allow me to congratulate you on your official appointment as the Captain of 7th division. I'm sorry I didn't bring it up earlier, you bashed my ribs before I can say anything."
"Sorry about that. But all's fair in love and war."
"Couldn't agree more. Second… do you mind if I have a few inquiries?"
"Let me guess… what's my relationship with one Athrun Zala?" Kage guessed correctly. "Please. How else would you know about the Eight Stone Sentinel Maze? And you thought it up after a few turns. I'd say he taught you well."
"Thank you." Raww bowed in gratitude of the praise. "He had a following of students. He's quite famous in certain circles."
"I can just about imagine. The problem is… he didn't teach you everything…" Kage added calmly. "…because he wasn't taughteverything."
Raww's eyes widened. Kage really choose his words cleverly. So Kage confirm that he had some sort of close relationship with Athrun Zala, but he never imagine that it was this man who had taught Athrun everything he knew! "You mean… you're the one who taught Athrun in strategies and military tactics?"
"Nope. Try higher." Raww was caught off guard. So this man is not Athrun's teacher. But now, he's also implying that his source of knowledge of Military Strategy came from a source preceding Athrun, a higher power. No wonder he was able to outthink even Athrun!
"You mean… you both share the same teacher?"
Kage chuckled, and bowed. "My riddle for you, Lord Klueze." Basically, he refused to answer. Raww had to find out about it himself.
"Ow. You two sure love to give homework." Raww smiled bitterly. Athrun also love to speak to his students in riddles and puzzles. To keep them alert, so he says.
"Heh." Kage thought for a moment. "I've answered your questions… and now… you mind if I ask some of my own?"
"After gracefully answering my questions in style, it is your prerogative, of course."
"I just have one question, and I'll be straight. What differentiate Endiminion and Archangel?"
Raww's ever present calm smile vanished in an instant. "I… beg your pardon?"
"I've seen you during the Amaterasu siege. And then again at the Archangel Bay showdown. And now at the current crisis. You don't strike me as someone who would execute surrendered soldiers or mercilessly butcher innocent civilian. And yet, Prayer testified that you executed every surrendering soldier at Endiminion. And I don't see any lie in his words." Upon seeing Raww's visible expression of his lips, Kage confirms something. "And judging by what I see now, you just confessed."
Raww's lips parted slightly in shock. W… What is this man…? To be able to see even that!
"So… my suspicion was proven true… THAT'S what differentiated Archangel and Endiminion." Kage nodded. "You and Prayer are…"
"CAPTAIN KAGE." Raww exclaimed to cut Kage short and then continued with much quieter voice. "The trees have ears. Very few are privy to that information. I must demand that you keep it that way."
Kage's eyes narrowed apologetically and bowed. "Entendu. Je m'excuse pour mon Grossièreté. (Understood. I apologize for my rudeness.- French)"
"Excuse admise. (Apology accepted.- French)" The French Nobleman nodded. "Now. Shall we begin?" The masked Fire knight unsheathed his broad red sword. The blade extended and become part of the handguard. Raww also carry a metal Kite-Shield, with sharp edges. The flame arena expanded outwards, giving the two fighters more room to maneuver.
Kage's eyes darkened and his whole body began to emanate a fierce killing aura as he grasped Shiki tightly. A crushing feeling of strength and terror that unnerve lesser man. A state he gained after his victory over Veia. Even Raww gulped in awe. "Ready."
The two fighters rushed at each other and their swords clashed soon after.
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By now, all members of Juppongatana had arrived at the Fortress, welcomed by Mwu… except that only Aile arrived, without her master.
"Where's the Captain?" Prayer looked everywhere. "D… Don't tell me he stayed behind?"
Everyone looked to the direction of the forest with horror. The green flames stopped, yes. Their crazy of a captain did stay behind.
"Those green flames… Kerberos? Oh, shit… it was Raww? And you left him behind?" Mwu was greatly alarmed. Without further ado, he quickly rushed into the forest to rescue his student.
Prayer was about to follow him when Canard bar his way. "NO Prayer! You stay! We have our orders from Kage. Let's make sure it's realized."
The blond boy had no choice to agree. Now he can only pray his brother reach Kira in time. 'Hang in there Kira-san…'
Mwu ran like a bat out of hell. Just then, a couple of Knights bar his way. "OUT OF MY WAY!"
Within seconds, the knights were taken down. Mwu was so scared for his apprentice; he didn't even hesitate to kill anyone who gets in his way. Cutting a swath of carnage, the Hawk of Endiminion was quick to break through the wave of Knights coming his way.
"Kid… it's too early for you to fight Raww… that guy… that guy's a MONSTER!"
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Raww was a vastly different enemy than Veia. For starters, their fighting style is completely different. Veia was the active hunter. He seeks out and land powerful crushing killing blows which intended to maim everything in its way, all in one go. Raww was more of a mobile patient hunter. He does not wait to be attacked like Harlbarton, but he didn't aggressively rush forward either. He simply moved as needed, positioning himself in spots that he deemed advantageous. However, his battle tactics is surprisingly offensive oriented: he does not defend. Whatever he does to weather Kage's attacks, be it parrying or dodging attacks as needed, he always coupled it with some way to attack him back, even when he was blocking! Even his shield was there for offensive purpose, fulfilling the role of hammer and its bladed edges are his axe, but he does not attack ferociously, and it's quite effective. For starters, Kage cannot afford to land an effective blow without getting hurt in the process. He had to grudgingly stop mid attack to prevent a potentially fatal counter. Raww's movement is also elegant, powerful, but it was not as powerful as Veia's slashes. But he makes it up by being lethally precise. Soon, Kage's clothes were riddled with cuts and holes.
Kage swing a horizontal slash, but Raww quickly welcomed it with a stab that awaits his spinning belly. Kage gritted his teeth and switched his move before it was too late. Raww dodged the reduced slash and slice a bit of Kage's chest. Kage slide down and gave a diagonal slash towards Raww's face. The masked man grinned and simply thrust his sword straight to Kage's katana. The clash deflected both swords off course. Kage's katana swing downward, and Raww's sword was redirected into a stab straight to the Shinobi's head, to his horror. Kage break posture, bend his neck to the side and barely dodged the stab by a paper-thin margin. Kage had had enough and quickly shunshin away to a safe distance.
"Ahahaha… you are merciless, I'll give you that. Several times you've attacked me, and they are all killing blows directed to either my head or my heart. Mostly to my heart. A bigger target." Raww tapped his heart several times. "It's reminiscent of Veia's fighting style, in some way."
Kage was breathing heavily. That sword that kept disturbing him mid attack is really getting on his nerves. It's just plain difficult to attack him while dodging the enemy's attack at the same time. Raww was utilizing the opening that usually occurred when one attacks. Kage quickly steadied his breathing.
"Now, my turn." Raww readied his rapier, and then, just like that, the masked knight explosively lunged forward, sword first, in a drilling motion. Kage dodged, but Raww's shield also spins around and hammered Kage's head flat, disorienting him. Without a pause, Raww landed and in blinding speed he rushed back to the disoriented Kage. It took a second for Kage to regain his sight, but within that 1 second, Raww's blade had lethally cleaved him deeply 3 times. His sword even gone through his padded vest and blood burst out from his wounds. Well, the padded vest was the reason Kage was still breathing at the present.
Kage gasped. The pain quickly made him sober and brought his sword, blocking the fourth and obviously lethal attack to the face. But since the first three slashes were aimed at well planned vital spots, his defenses were weakened by half due to injuries sustained, hence the fourth attack cannot be blocked completely and the fourth slash still get through, albeit weakened. But even that caused a cut to Kage's neck, almost hitting his vein. Kage quickly flickered to a safe spot, only to find Raww was there waiting as he brought down the axe side of his shield. Kage rolled mid flicker and curled his leg away from the Bladed shield just in time to stop it from cleaving his body by the waist. In just two seconds, the masked knight had bathed him in his own blood. 'The hell… this guy… Mwu-san… you were fighting a guy like this?'
Raww smirked and pull back, presumably to catch his breath. Kage get back up, groaning at the pain enveloping his body. 'This guy… this guy CANNOT be allowed to attack. Once he did, you're dead.' Kage placed Shiki upside down before him. "Soar in your throne between Heaven and Hell… Kurenai Shiki!" The Katana dropped gently and after a swirl of crimson feathers later, Kage was clad in a familiar crimson coat.
"Now, this is what I've been waiting for. The form that defeated Veia." To answer Kage's power up, Raww placed his sword on his shield and grind it on its surface. The blade suddenly ignited, enveloping it in flames, the same green flames that encircle the two. Three fireballs of three colors: red, blue and yellow; slither around the now green flaming blade. "The tri-chromatic flames of Gluttony Circle… Kerberos." Raww raised his sword, and the green flames that encircle them spiral around his sword, creating three fireballs composed of animals made of green flame.
Kage quickly made a rapid series of handseals.
Raww smiled and launched the three fireballs which transformed into dogs' heads midflight. The flaming dog's heads were composed of… mouths. Every inch of its skin, its eyes, its nostrils, even its teeth have mouths. "Katon…" Kage pull out all reserves to the point two extensions of his red coat disperse, such was the power consumption. "KARYUU-HEKI! (Fire Dragon Wall)" A mass of flames burst out from Kage's mouth, creating a proportionally enormous spiraling wall of fire dragons. The two flames of different colors crash one another. The land cracked due to the force of the collision and the two fires fought for dominance. Unfortunately, it's a brief battle. Raww's green Kerberos flame swallowed and ate Kage's dragon wall and grew larger as the result. 'Oh brother… should've known…' The three flaming hounds crashed right towards Kage. The three fireballs exploded, creating an incredible destructive pillar of fire that instantly continues to expand and increases as the pillar of fire expand to the heavens.
Raww looked satisfyingly at the pillar of green flame, but he knew better to underestimate this enemy. As if on cue, Kage burst out of the ground behind Raww and readied a single energy blade. Raww was momentarily caught by surprise but quickly prepared a counter. The two blades met, and like before, the flaming blade bounced and went straight to the Ninja's body. But this time, Kage had anticipated this. And his response was shocking.
Blood burst out from Kage's side stomach as he allowed Raww's sword went through even Kurenai Shiki's protection. The green flames had even eaten through Kurenai's harder-than-steel crimson feather coat. Kage can distinctly hear Kurenai's muffled scream. Apparently she too anticipated this and was ready for the pain. Kage grinned beneath his mask as he choked some blood and grabbed hold of Raww's sword as tight as he can. Kurenai's crimson feathers enveloped Raww's sword, tightening her master's grip on it. Raww gasped as his sword won't budge anymore. Kage chuckled. "Funny… Veia fell for this too." Raww gasped in horror. Especially when Kage assume a familiar battoujutsu stance.
"Oh… my…"
"GATTAI-OUGI…" Masses of crimson feathers envelop them both. "DAIGURREN MIKAZUCHI NO SHAHADOU!" A combination of Gurren Shahadou and Mikazuchi no Kodomo. The result of Kage's intensive training after his appointment as Captain. All of Kurenai's remaining coat extension and one sleeve dispersed, signing just how much power Kage put into this attack. Three soundless crimson energy beams exploded from a single swing of Kage's energy blade. The blast throttled Raww far, far away, carving a path of destruction as he crashed through the whole forest. The circle of fire vanished as Raww disappeared out of sight.
Kage collapsed due to his injuries and excessive energy usage in so short of a time. Just then, Mwu arrived. When he saw his own student, bathed in his own blood, and on all fours, vomiting blood, Mwu was reasonably in panic. "KID!" He quickly rushed to his side. "You crazy Kid! What were you thinking? Fighting Raww alone?"
"I had no choice… he was after me." Kage choked and gasped.
"Here… here… eat this." Mwu quickly shoved several soldier pills to Kage's mouth through his mask. "Now where is he?"
"S… Send him through there." Kage pointed towards a series of devastated trees. "This guy… how in God's name did you ever fought him to a standstill?"
"God knows."
As soon as Mwu said that, the ground shook. A mass of flame arose again from the direction where Raww was sent flying. But this flame is different. It's black. Or so it would seem. It's black because it's gold. The golden flame shined so brightly that it became dark. The black golden flame enveloped a man at its center, and the flame itself created the shape of a gigantic demonic kingly armor, complete with its cloak, sitting at a throne made of solid golden fire. The golden fire king's armor was made of billions of skulls, piled, melded together, nailed with ornamental spikes, and each skull has crowns or laurels on them. Golden skulls of butchered kings. Golden lava streams constantly pour out of every hole of every skull. Everything the golden lava fell upon turned to golden fire. Ironically, the main head is a misshapen mass of golden flame with no crown, and that's where Raww was parched.
"What the… Hell…" Kage blinked several times.
"This… is kinda a first for me too." Mwu looked in horror.
"To think… I had to use the flames of Greed Circle, Midas…" Inside the golden flames, Raww swing his sword. The eye sockets of all the skulls in the king's armor began to glow. The next second, they all fired billions of strands of fire beams that slither through the sky and headed straight to the two.
"RUUN!" Kage and Mwu tried to run. But the rain of beams were right behind them the next instance, destroying everything they landed upon.
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The Shadowguards looked nervously at the golden fire king causing massive destruction allover the place. They know well enough that Kira was right at the center of that explosion. Tolle gritted his teeth and balled his fist around his Skygrasper. They all wanted so badly to rush out there and helped their best friend… alas, Kage had predicted this might happened, and ordered them all to stay on guard. And for good reason.
The Juppongatana, Shiseiken, Shadowguard, Murrue and Natarle all stand their ground before the ruined fortress, forming the last line of defense. The knights are coming their way. And they need to be ready in case those knights arrived earlier than predicted and hold the line until Kage returned.
"I don't understand! Everything is ready, we should just leave!" Balsam whined as he too was forced to stand on the ground.
"Which is precisely why we just couldn't leave you out of the fun." Canard knew better. If Balsam was left behind, he'll come up with even stupider things to save his own hide.
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Amidst the fiery ruins and rubble of what was once the Archangel forest, Raww walked casually. The gargantuan golden flame king armor had shrunk into a normal sized fiery kingly cloak of skulls, draped over Raww's silver fire knight armor and wherever he walks, he left behind a trail of golden fire. He looked around, looking for survivors. Suddenly, he heard thunder cracks the sky. He looked up and saw rainclouds rapidly forming. "Hmm…" And then he saw a hand stick out of the rubble. Raww moved towards it, grabbed it and pulled it out. The hand belonged to a half dead Kage. Still alive, nonetheless, but his Shiki had reverted back to its normal form - worse; it's completely powerless as its color and radiance phased out.
"Ah… Kage." Raww gently dropped the boy to the ground before him.
Kage is still struggling to get up and fight. But his body just won't listen to him.
Raww looked around and saw Mwu was also around there. Equally battered, but his naturally stronger figure made sure he will survive.
The masked man looked at Kage with regret. "I'm sorry Kage. You know… I've made the decision to either kill you or capture you. But… in these circumstances…I'm afraid I have to do the former. You are a threat. Not for what you are capable of now… but for what you will be capable of. And I'm a servant of the empire before anything." And as Raww raised his sword, preparing for the final blow, the weather became worse and worse, as if nature itself is protesting this act.
And then, Raww brought the sword down as the thunder cracked.
And Kage's left arm caught the flaming blade barehanded, to Raww's shock. A pulse occurred all over the said arm, revealing veins of energy that looked a lot like… scales. As blue aura began to arise from Kage's left arm, raindrops began to fell upon the battlefield. Slowly, the half dead boy began to get back up on his feet as he glared at Raww, and the masked man was further shocked upon seeing the Shinobi's eyes. The right eye is human blue eyes, the other, a fierce bestial slitted yellow eye. 'Kage' gritted his teeth, which has turned to fangs as pulsing veins of blue light in shape of scales appeared beneath his left eyes, and his left arm.
"GROAAAAAARGGH!" 'Kage' swiped his hand and threw Raww back a great distance. At this point, the downpour around the area worsened, though they vaporized upon contact with Raww's Midas Golden cloak.
"W… What… y… you're…!"
The blue energy envelop Kage's left arm and the left portion of his back, forming thick scales and sharp claws made of chakra. A single scaly and thorny tail, also made of the blue chakra, burst out of Kage's back, ripping the back of his clothes to shreds. The ninja look even more feral and beastlike with the addition of this immaterial limb. "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHH!" Kage roared to the sky, and the rain, as if reacting to this roar, grew more intense. And he vanished before Raww's very eyes.
"!" Raww could barely react when Kage appeared right behind him and sent a punch straight to Raww's face. The Midas robe protected the knight, but the punch was so unearthly powerful that the masked man was sent flying to some distant sky. But the berserk Shinobi disappeared again and chased the flying Raww to the sky and punched him to the ground. Raww landed with a crash, generating an enormous crater upon his landing. Raww quickly renewed his Midas robe, but the berserk Kage had crashed on top of him. The Juppongatana and the other soldiers were surprised at this. Unwittingly, Kage and Raww's fight had finally brought them back before the gates of Archangel. Ignoring the shocked eyes of his soldiers, Kage angrily and ferociously began to punch and claw the Midas shroud.
Raww was always the calm commander. But when he saw the bestial, bloodthirsty primal eyes of the shinobi…
…he FREAKED.
"RAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHR!" Kage viciously beat the Midas shroud several times with his left arm, enlarged and demonized thanks to the supernatural blue chakra. For a moment, it seems the golden veil will break, but it holds. If only barely. Kage roared again in frustration and stretched out his tail. The blue chakra tail extended to incredible length and grasped Shiki-way back at where Kage first left her and instantly brought it to his hand. And then the blue energy flow into the powerless Shiki. The dragon scales pulses into Shiki's body and the katana was instantly rejuvenated to full strength. "RAAAAAAGGHHHRR!" Kage stabbed the Katana into the Midas cloak. The blade went through up until a certain point, inches away from Raww's heart.
Raww, in panic, began to bash his shield several times to Kage's face. But every time the shield connects, the scales pulsed and protected the boy, even repelling his attacks the harder he hit him. Kage grinded his teeth in rage while Raww switched to the axe of the shield. The next time he swing the axe area to Kage's neck, the boy ferociously turned, opened his mouth-tearing up his mask, and BITE the shield, HARD, and then yanked it out, ripping a chunk of the shield. Growling angrily, Kage began to force fed the Midas shroud with the blue chakra through Shiki. It began to overload as the shroud began to crack and the energy flows to critical levels.
Raww frantically swing his sword upward, and as soon as the Midas dispersed to pieces, a new colored flame arise. This time, it's blue. "LIMBO CIRCLE: MINOS!" The blue firestorm, composed of wailing souls, exploded, vaporizing every drop of raindrops touched by it and blasted BOTH combatants to opposite directions. Raww was thrown backwards and rolled several times, his sword, finally reduced to ash in his hands. Raww only stopped after he smashed against a rock, crushing it to pieces, and all of his fire was spent, and the rain put out any fire around… for the day. Kage, likewise, was smashed to the walls of Archangel and sank there. The last bit of the blue chakra vanished as Kage collapsed to the muddy ground with a splash.
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SubChapter: The Revelation:
Archangel Unleashed
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(Kira's POV is back)
It was raining, and thunder tore the skies.
Freezing rain pour down upon the bloodied ground… and upon me.
Lying face first on the cold wet ground, I can smell the stench of corpses around me. Bloodied, wounded… and near death.
Every bit of my bleeding wound felt every drop of water the sky barrages me with. I tried to stand up, my Katana still gripped tight in my bloodied hand… but the weight of my own body came crashing. Heavily I breathe, trying to catch as much cold air as I can into my lungs. But they do little to ease my pain. I tried to look upfront, to where my opponent stands… but the pouring rain blinded me… or so I thought. Despite the rain, every bit of open wound on me is burning intensely… it was as if I'm on fire. Slowly my vision blurred… and I almost can't see or think anything.
They say your whole life flashes before your eyes before you die.
I tried to smile, to laugh… though it pains me so. I don't know what to say, or think… I've longed for death… and now… I'll die… just like that. Despite my unwillingness to die at the time… here I lay now, dying and staring, one by one, to everything that has been going in my life.
And then, as soon as I was done reminiscing everything that has led to this point, my eyes opened in shock when I noticed something.
Not due to the cold…
Not due to the burning pain of all my scars…
But because of a sound.
Not the sound of this mysterious rain… not the sound of my friends, calling my name (well… my codename…Kage)
But the sound I've been waiting to hear ever since the beginning of this day… the sound that marks the end of this battle. My coup de grace… my… my Piece de Resistance.
Excitedly, I pressed my ears to the muddy ground, trying to confirm that I'm not hallucinating. That it is INDEED… the sound I've been waiting for.
It is. "Ha…"
Canard and the others looked at me. Apparently, they too hear my laugh. Well… after all the stress I've built up since this whole operation, I think I've EARNED the right to laugh after it's finally over. "Ha… HAHAHAHAH… AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHH!" I get up and laughed to my heart's content.
"Urmm… Captain?"
"I'm not off my bonkers…" Though I am somewhat delirious, as my body swayed forward, my head spinning… I lost quite a lot of blood after all. "D… Did we finish it? Did Murdoch finish it?"
Canard answered. "Yes… he did. We're just waiting on you Capt."
"All aboard then." I grinned insanely. "I'll handle this personally."
"Sir!" Neil gasped.
"With all due respect, you're half dead, your enemy is a-"
"I KNOW WHAT HE IS." I roared painfully. "And I tell you right now, we've won this battle…" I tiredly look and saw the whole Zaft knights had just arrived. They were pretty dumbfounded when they saw me and Raww had outrun them and reached the Fortress first. They were further unnerved by the sight of Raww struggling to get up from the rubbles of the rock he crushed.
"You won?" Raww grunted and get back up on his feet. "Don't you think that's a little too early, Captain Kage?"
And then, Mwu appeared right in front of us. He finally caught up, but he too was in no better shape. "Kid… you are…"
"It's okay Mwu… this is it. It's over. We won."
"What? Did I miss something?" Mwu looked at the condition: Raww was beat up pretty badly. The first time he had ever seen him like this. But I can tell that I must look like Hell. The many scars I get from this fight haven't fully healed. Strangely, I feel neither tired nor dying. Well… no, I DO feel tired…A hell lot…but not enough to make me cue over. I supposed I had to thank a certain 'ghost' for helping me out. Again.
"Everybody… get inside… NOW." I emphasize on the word. "This… is an order. I'll catch up with you later."
The soldiers looked at each other and wondered what on Earth? But then, they decided to follow my orders and quickly retreated back to Archangel… everyone except Mwu. I looked questioningly at my mentor. "Mwu-san?"
"I'm STAYING. And you can't give me orders, I'm a Captain. Like you." I had to admit, Mwu-san can be quite stubborn. Not that it's a bad thing.
A chuckle escaped my lips. "Suit yourself. But there really isn't much left for us to do."
"Will you please…" Raww exclaimed. "…be so kind… and tell me what made you think you've won? Your base is in ruins, my men can virtually just waltz in… and I can still kill you both."
I laughed again. "Because you're too late to even kill me. Fact is… I don't even have to lift a finger to send your army running." I can tell Mwu was FREAKED when he heard this statement. But I'm not bluffing. Oh, Hell no. People always say I'm a terrible liar, so I never tried. Which also means, I never bluff.
Raww shook his head exasperatedly. "You've made your big mistake, young Captain."
"Do I now?" I spat back.
"Yes. You've defeated a single Hakutenkun. And then you think you've grasped our power, the power of the White Heavenly Lords. Your arrogance will make you pay the ultimate price, Black Devil."
I perked at his explanation. Well… I'll be LYING if I said I wasn't too overconfident when I decided to engage him one by one. "Good point. But seriously, after a fight with you-in which you mop the floor with my ass, I don't have much of that arrogance left. But the problem is you." I pointed a finger to Raww. "I did made a big mistake… but… would you like to hear yours before you make another one?"
At this juncture, Raww perked in shock. I just declared that he made mistakes. And I was bloody confident about it. But the masked man quickly calmed himself and asked politely. "I would be pleased of you can give me some pointers?"
I lifted four fingers. "You've made FOUR mistakes. First and foremost, you should've left along with your brethren when my men send you that disease. Instead, you choose to stay, trying to quell me." One finger down.
"I'm merely erasing a future threat to the empire."
"A noble gesture, but misplaced. You're too late to even kill me. You take too long of a time."
"And what's to stop me from wiping you off the face of the earth NOW?"
I smiled confidently. Another finger lowered. "That is your second mistake: thinking that you're still in your country. This is JAPAN. This is MY country. A riddle for you, Lord Klueze. On their way here, the Bladebanes had attacked multiple villages along the way. Most of the refugees were sent to us. But at the last village, the Konoha. We attacked and razed it ourselves. Now… here's the riddle: where do you think we sent the REFUGEES?"
Raww perked and frowned, thinking hard. And then he dropped his busted shield in shock and in horrified realization of what's coming for them. Of what Kage had unleashed upon them. He was right. He didn't even have to lift a finger to destroy them all. "Oh… my… God…"
"See? Like I said… your first mistake… is that you should've left when you had the chance." I chuckled in triumph. This is my coup de grace. And it strike right and true.
Raww looked really nervous now. "Indeed. But… how…?"
I laughed sinisterly. "You're wondering how come the timing is so precise? You're wondering how on earth I planned all this… before you guys were even here? Lord Klueze… THIS… is your THIRD mistake."
"I beg your pardon?"
"You've realized that I was using your 100,000 army to train my men. But did you honestly think that I predict your attack? Did you think I would take a chance to ensure that you, and not other people, will come?"
I gave Raww some time to digest my words. He digested it pretty quick. "Oh… Hell… no…"
"Yes, Lord Klueze. It was I who gave you the tip about the renegade Bladebanes. As soon as they landed on Japan, I send a secret letter to a Zaft outpost through various means. I asked Prayer to ensure the letter reached you, knowing full well that you WILL make use of the Bladebane attack to launch an invasion of your own. I take it your informants delivered that message to you pretty quick?"
Raww was still in total shock. Shock that… that he, and all his brothers, 100,000 knights… were all puppets in the string of this young man. What sort of devil is he? He would call in an invasion to his own home base just for TRAINING! "How would you know that it was I who will launch an invasion?"
"Oh, I kinda figured out the kind of man you are." I sighed, he gasped in horror. "Remember when we talked during the battle of Archangel Bay? From there… I kinda figured… that you are a pragmatist. You're the kind of man who will follow orders loyally… but only to a certain extent. You respect tradition, but you do not fully abide by it, not in the grander scheme of things. The letter HAD to reach YOU. And even if it didn't, you are the only person who can make all this happen. Words will reach you eventually."
"And what if the Bladebanes never gone renegades?"
I simply stated in a terrifyingly cold tone I never thought I had: "Make no mistake. The Bladebane invasion merely speeds up my timetable. Nothing more." In other words, even if the Bladebanes haven't gone rogue, I would've found another excuse and use other means to do this anyway.
At this point, Raww fell to his knees. With trembling lips, he asked his final question. "May I ask… what is my fourth mistake?"
"Oh… yes… your fourth mistake. First let me ask you: you still intend to take over my fortress?" I looked at Raww.
"Yes. Actually… thanks to my second mistake which you have so generously pointed out, that need suddenly became urgent."
I shook my head. "I profess myself disappointed at your performance, Lord Klueze. For someone who claimed himself the student of Athrun Zala, you've made monumentally wrong decisions one after another. This is your forth mistake." I lifted and showed him my last finger. "Did you actually think that you've lost?"
"I… beg your pardon?" I can tell that the masked man couldn't be more bewildered than he already have.
"Yes. You heard me correctly. You've won. You've devastated my fortress; send my men running with their tails between their legs to the ocean. The thing is… I'm surrendering up this location to you…" I smiled mischievously. "…WITHOUT the fortress."
As soon as I said this, the soldiers enacted the TRUE third strategy.
And then many things occurred simultaneously: Every inch of the ruined Archangel Walls burst into flames and exploded inside out. The mighty gates were blasted off its hinges from the inside. The twin cannons, the Lohengrin, which has been dormant since the beginning of this conflict, finally roared to life and fired, as the barrels itself sank into the cloud of explosions. Its shell flies out of the barrel as the walls crumbled to dust. It travelled to incredible distance, its shockwave rattled the entire battlefield, and hundreds of leaves from the trees around the forest were blown off. Those who are in close proximity were knocked off their feet and fell on their backs.
The dust that arose after the explosion was soon cleared by the rain, which beginning to diminish. Giving a clear view for everyone.
I looked satisfyingly.
Raww was horrified.
Mwu flabbergasted.
A gargantuan white dreadnought was floating in the ocean of the Archangel inlet. An elegant white battleship with angelic ornaments here and there, with two enormously long hulls stood side by side – connected by the super dreadnought's main body in between the two bows, which also host a massive bridge tower and several other superstructures. A huge exhaust funnel stood erect on each of the twin hulls' upper deck. A pair of massive paddlers, almost as tall as the battleship, can be seen spinning, located at 2/3 of the dreadnought's length, a section away from the stern, a part of the paddler wheels were submerged underwater. I can see Fuji had to sit behind the Bridge Tower. The dreadnought seems have no trouble handling his prodigious weight. Good. Its sides were filled with three rows of columns after columns of cannon ports… armed with Gottfried cannons. Two angelic statues, slightly smaller than the usual gargantuan Angel statues of the Archangel fortress can be seen at its twin bows, positioned just underneath… the Lohengrin cannon mounted on it. Yes. Archangel fortress most terrifying weapon… now axially mounted on the upper decks of the super dreadnought, stretching all across the ships upper deck, from the bow to little over half of the ship's total length, as FORWARD battery. And the scariest part:
The ship's construction… -from top to bottom, front to back, inside out…- is fully STEEL PLATED. An ironclad Super Dreadnought!
Upon seeing this newly unleashed Archangel Super Dreadnought, and taking note of its ridiculous amount of arsenal, Raww quickly realized: He has been utterly defeated. Both in this battle and strategy.
I nodded. Yep. The masked man understood that he lost completely. THIS IS the ORIGINAL third plan. To destroy the fortress in order to unleash the true treasure hidden within, and then with it, escape the blockade. The Archangel fortress was… a grounded super dreadnought in disguise. Its construction was built with this battleship as a foundation. It was hidden beneath tons of bricks and layers of walls. The rain finally stopped as the sun burst through the dispersing rain clouds. I smiled as I welcomed the warm light of the sun on my face. "Now… if you'll excuse me, I have a ship to catch."
But Raww Le Klueze was intent to have the last words: "KAGE!"
I turned around and saw what the masked man is up to now.
Raww saluted as what's left of the walls of Archangel came crushing down in the distance and proclaimed in awe. "THIS RAWW LE KLUEZE IS NOT YOUR MATCH! I SALUTED TO A SKILL FAR SUPERIOR TO MY OWN!"
My lips parted in surprise. What a good sport. And so I returned the salute. "You're too kind. Fight well… and good luck, Lord Klueze." And then I looked at Mwu, who seem pretty dumbfounded to say anything as if his brains threatened to get out if he opened his mouth. "Coming, Mwu-san?"
My call woke him up from his stupor quickly. Stuttering, he answered back. "I… I'll be with you in a minute." Apparently he's still shocked over so many things happening all at once before his eyes.
"Fine. I'll go first. See you there." And I disappeared in a puff of smoke as I flickered towards the dreadnought which was waiting only for me and Mwu.
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Mwu looked at the dumbfounded Raww. The masked man lifted his head and looked at the shocked Mwu and smiled understandingly. "Tell me Nemesis, when you picked that boy up from wherever he came from… did you know?" Raww asked rather nervously.
Mwu answered with an equally nervous chuckle. "Did I know I just picked up the most terrifying, the most ruthless, and quite possibly, the most brilliant warlord I have ever seen in my entire life? No." Mwu shook his head exasperatedly. "If I had known… I…" Mwu don't know what else to say. "You're gonna be okay?"
"Not sure. Just go. We can kill each other some other time." Raww chuckled nervously.
Mwu nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Just then, Nichol and Courtney had regained their bearings and looked at the Dreadnought in awe.
"By the Gods… Athrun did once come up with designs for Ironclad battleships… but never at that scale… Even Aquarius is… wow… this is… this is entirely…" Courtney was lost for words.
"My Lord… what exactly Kage did to us? Your… second… erm…" Nichol was particularly concerned about that thing that Kage consider Raww's second mistake.
"All the villages that were destroyed by the Bladebanes… we forgot ONE important fact that they all had in common: they are settlements which is under Orb's control. Their destruction did not illicit any response because the village didn't had time to send runners. Even if they did, it was not enough to give an accurate Intel. But the last village… Konoha… was destroyed by Kage's men, which, I assumed to be under disguise. They let them run… and they've informed their lords." Raww gritted his teeth. Kage was right. He really should've left.
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Just outside the forest…
An army, bearing the flags of Orb was on standby and had just arrived. A whole army of Heavy Cavalry-its rider and horse were armored. The armor was mostly green and light grey in color, layered metallic armor plates make up their shoulder armor, and full chest plate to protect the main body. Their helmets were made in the likeness of the Oni. And they all carry Naginata on their hand, and yet they uniformly carry a pair of katana and a single wakizashi. One to be used on the enemy, the other for spare, and the Wakizashi for themselves if they are dishonored. Like the Knights of Zaft, their warriors are fully armored, head to toe… with the exception: they don't bring shields. A Japanese full armor set. Samurai… a whole army of 80,000 Samurais. ORB's elite warriors. Some were carrying massive banners, and there are three types: one, with white background, bearing the picture of a green dragon biting a glaive pointing to the heavens. The other, with teal background, bear the crest of Orb's golden rising sun. The last type of banner, bear the kanji signifying the Samurai army's identity: the Green Kusanagi Samurai army.
A great bloodlust aura emanates from each of these warriors, and together, they formed a massive depressing aura that sent every animal running away in fear for them. This was the only sign that this army is currently angry. Very… VERY angry. How could they not? After so many of the villages destroyed, so many of their countrymen were butchered in their own soil, now, they're out for blood. And yet, in an incredible show of discipline that could rival even Zaft knights, the Samurai army stopped and stood still, waiting, not moving a muscle, holding their reserve.
Leading them was none other than one of Orb's 4 High general, the God of Fist, Barry Ho, standing atop a plank, supported by two horses. Unlike his warriors, the Orb high general wear no armor, in fact, he stood bare chest, his well toned muscles-riddled with some scars- visible for all to see. A big tattoo on his back, depicting a tiger encircling the word in Japanese: NO GOD. The only armor he wears is the thick waist armor, and the knee guard. His arms and legs wear no protection, but they are covered with bandages. Also, unlike the other Samurai, the God of Fist merely carried a wakizashi. His fists are weapon enough.
A shinobi – the original one - appeared next to Barry and informed him of the situation.
Barry closed his eyes, entering a deep thought. "I see."
The Shinobi, having done its job vanished in a puff of smoke.
"Kage's playing with us. He's using us to finish what he had started." Upon hearing the poor condition of the Zaft knights, Barry quickly understood what's happening. "He must've engineered this second invasion, making use of the Bladebane invasion for a purpose of his making. And now… these Zaft Knights, having outlived their usefulness were used as sacrificial pawns… the scapegoat for our wrath."
"Should we strike at Kage instead, Barry-dono?" One of the Samurai suggested.
Barry contemplated and replied. "No. As it is, despite this being Kage's scheme, fact is, his men had merely defended their position and had not occupied a single spot of our land. The only exception to that was when they quelled the Bladebane invasion in Konohagakure. But beyond the massive property destruction left behind in the wake of that battle, he had not lay claim to any territory beyond the walls and the forest of Archangel. It is currently the Zaft knights who ran rampant in our lands. And there is one more thing…" Barry added. "Kage has been helping the refugees from our country. From a political point of view, and my personal opinion… we owe him a debt."
The Samurais rustled uneasily beneath their armor. Owing a debt to what could possibly be the worst mass murderer in history?
"A debt that must be repaid immediately." Barry concluded. "Ready yourself. For today, we will make the sons of George of Glenn pay the blood of our countrymen with theirs."
Instead of answering with cheers, the Samurais merely entered a battle formation in silence, and with but a wave of Barry's hand, the Samurai army charged forward. No yells or battle cry, only the whines of the horses and the thundering noise of their armored hoofs, ruthlessly charging into the forest-ready to exact their vengeance to their enemies for the blood of their people.
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"Do you understand now?" Raww had just finished explaining what happened to the shocked Nichol and Courtney. "Kage used us to train his men; and he does not hesitate to call in invasion to do that; I've told you this before. But now that the training is complete; he had no more use for us. And after stalling time while simultaneously weakening our army: he left us with a ruined fortress not worth defending, nowhere to run, we're backed to the ocean, our army in tatters; I've burned the forest which could've aided us in our defense… He made us scapegoats for all the wrongs that have been done to this country, leaving us crippled to be slaughtered by Orb's Samurai army."
Courtney gulped. "A… And you're saying Kage was the one who's responsible for calling us here in the first place?" Unbelievable… this whole invasion… all the lives that has been lost… it was all masterminded by ONE man! "C… Can't we use that fact as leverage or some sort-?"
"No. At this point they won't listen. Kage planted the evidences against us, and it's overwhelmingly convincing. The reports on them were the Bladebanes who attacked the villagers, with the aid of Mercenaries they hired. And then there's us, who had just… made use of the diversion created by the Bladebanes to 'defeat' Kage's armies, 'decimating' his fortress. To their eyes, we are the ones who 'gained' today."
"And that ship? That Super Dreadnought? We have hundreds of battleships blockading the way to the ocean! If we can capture that ship, we can capture Kage…!"
"No, Nichol." This time Courtney glumly spoke. "I only took a glance at that monster's design… but I can tell that it's incredibly tough and the plates are thick solid steel. We need some serious firepower to even dent that sort of armor."
"That's what I'm saying. We have HUNDREDS of Battle barges…"
"We have hundreds of UNDERMANNED battle barges." Raww emphasized on the word: Undermanned. "Those ships won't be able to fight as well as they should have. And we know our cannons are not as powerful as the Alliance. You put the kind of firepower that Archangel Fortress can boast on top of a super tough, and not to mention mobile, ironclad dreadnought chassis… you get a nautical monstrosity."
"Then that means… our naval fleet is…"
The Zaft Commanders arguments were cut short when the Zaft Knights were panicking. Already they can feel the awesome might of the Samurais bearing down on them as the ground shakes due to the trampling of their unstoppable cavalry.
"We have no time to worry about them." Raww stood ready and brandish a new sword in his hand. "Ready your defenses, ready your will, ready EVERYTHING. Prepare to fight like you've never before… we have angered the Lord of the land… the Land… of the mighty Samurai warriors."
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The soldiers and every refugee all over the new Archangel Super Dreadnought-or just Archangel, were cheering their lungs out. Un-freaking-believable! Here they are, tired, starving, terribly outmatched and outnumbered, and on the verge of destruction… and yet they survived… nay… OUTSMARTED TWO invasions! Not one, by God, TWO!
When the bruised Kage arrived, the revelry faltered slightly at the sight of the black clad Captain's severe injuries. That and the Captain is not yet in a good mood. "We're not out yet!" He roared. "Man the batteries! Get ready to use that last bit of ammo you guys have been holding up for good! We got a blockade to break out of!"
The soldiers looked at each other dumbly. Kage shook his head exasperatedly, took a deep breath and bellowed angrily. "MOVE IT, YA BILGE RATS! OR I BE LOADIN YAR BONY ASS TO THEM CANNONS AND SHOOT YA'LL PROPER!"
That, they respond. The soldiers quickly scurried to their posts inside the still familiar interior of their fortress-turned-dreadnought and manned the guns. They only have enough ammo for one salvo. JUST. One. Salvo. Though, as Murdoch had claimed… they can still fire their Lohengrin 4 more times… that's twice for each cannon.
Kage sighed and then noticed the Shadowguards were looking at him, particularly Milly, who was in shock at his pirate-like use of language. "What? I'm a guy too. I can have my man's romance too, can I not?" Kage innocently proclaimed. Two Shadowguards nodded in approval, the other one slapped her face silly. 'Boys.' so she thought exasperatedly.
At the heart of the ship, a massive high powered spherical steam engine, salvaged from Aquarius, continued to roar, powering the Dreadnought's paddler and turbine, its boiler were lit up like Christmas tree, and yet Murdoch fearlessly throw more fuel into it. And yet the boiler still remained stable and showed no sign of exploding. "That's a good boy." Murdoch looked satisfyingly at his work. Yes. Kage's project was to have him convert the Archangel fortress into a steam powered dreadnought. There isn't much that he needed to do; the ship's basic structure was largely completed, except that it has no engine. And it was originally designed to use multiple steam engines… but at the current age's technology, existing steam engines are inefficient, space consuming and highly unstable – prone to sudden explosion. Hence the reason why many ships today are still using the good old fashioned sail and mast, and rudders. But when a ship displaced several tens of thousands tons of weight… sail, mast and rudders goes out of the window.
"I suppose that's why its construction was postponed indefinitely." Kage stated. "They never could find a steam engine powerful enough to propel this monster. Until today."
The dreadnought steadily sailed backwards, out of the bay, and then, with another loud boom from the exhaust vents, the Archangel began to turn around. The peddlers, situated where the water tower once lay, began to do their work: One paddler spins to a direction, while the other spin on the opposite direction, effectively turning the whole ship around. "Heh. It worked like wonders." The biggest work for Murdoch was to integrate the powerful Steam Engine previously powering Veia's flagship, the Aquarius, into this new monster. Murdoch had to study and reverse engineer the Steam engine thoroughly before he can make use of it. Worse, he's under time constraint given by Kage, regarding to his plan. Murdoch smiled. It was bitter work, but as he saw all this… he had to admit: it was worth it.
The blockading Zaft fleet stared dumbfounded. First they saw the archangel Fortress engulfed in flames. And then from the dust and smoke, a gargantuan white battleship sailed out. And now, as they just realized, the dreadnought was sailing BACKWARDS. When the ship is fully turned, they were further horrified by the sight of an oversized monster of a cannon, nay, TWO cannons parched on the ship's upper deck. "Oi… did the Naturals really BUILT that thing?" The Archangel, having finished turning, stopped for a moment.
"A…Are you telling me they intend to bust through the blockade?"
"With a ship that size? I don't think that's impossible…"
"Ready on the guns! Shoot that monster down before they can reach us!"
Standing in the bridge, Canard, Prayer, Jackie (Murdoch's representative), Murrue, Natarle and Mwu were standing with Kage, overseeing the situation: the blockading ships were preparing to fire at them. The Zaft's battle barges turned their ships around so that their side batteries were facing the Archangel, in preparation to send a salvo. Kage grabbed a horn and talked to it, his voice carried on to the other end of the horn, the gunnery room controlling the two Lohengrins, each is currently manned by Lockon and Milly. "Wait until all ships are lined towards us. Prepare to fire on my mark." Kage's voice reverberated through the cones in the gunners' room.
"Ro-ger." Lockon replied coolly.
"Got it." Milly looked through the targeting scope to make sure that target is within the crosshairs.
And the battle barges had finished lining up, and its crews were just seconds away from firing their payload.
"Mark!" Kage gave the go ahead.
The two Lohengrin roared again and fired its bullet before the barges can fire. The two colossal projectiles burst out of the fiery exhaust of the equally colossal barrels, and fly over the ocean at blinding speed, appearing as little more than red blur that vanished in an instant. Such was the bullet's speed, wherever it traveled, its shockwave left behind a trail of split ocean tailing behind it. Each bullet turned at least a DOZEN battle barges into wreckages in a straight line and the after-shockwave obliterated whatever's left, sending them to the depths in shreds. The shockwave generated by the destruction carved by the two bullets pushed back the other barges, rattling the ships to their frames, causing severe to light damage to their structure. The blast had opened up a large path through the blockade. More than enough for the Archangel to sail through.
Every Alliance officers in the bridge were shocked at the destructive capability of their new super dreadnought.
Canard smiled nervously. "W… Was our Lohengrin had always been THAT powerful?"
"Well… the Lohengrin had always been used below what it was fully capable of." Jackie remembered the time when he loaded 6 times more gunpowder than was necessary into the Lohengrin cannons, and it breaks. In truth, the Lohengrin was capable of firing much more powerful shots. However, the previous Lohengrin had targeting axis build into them, and though the durability of the cannon itself remain intact; they had to cut down the amount of gunpowder used for each shot to weaken its kickback, as to prevent structural damage to those axis. But now, with the Lohengrin being mounted on a mobile platform, Murdoch saw it fit to remove the targeting axis altogether, giving more space for extra reinforcements and increased armor, further improving its firepower and durability. Thus the current Lohengrin mounted on the Archangel Dreadnought is probably 3 times more powerful than its fortress counterpart, as well as being capable of firing at greater range. Not to mention the fact that the receiving ends are battleships which were not designed to tolerate that kind of firepower.
"It made fucking sense. The fucking Lohengrin was always aimed to the fucking ground, not to the sea. No Zaft fucker's ship ever tasted a shot from our Lohengrin." Canard laughed sadistically.
"But there's a tradeoff. Without the targeting axis, this sucker will be tough to aim. We'll have to move the entire ship to do so." Murdoch's voice boomed from the horn as he explained the Archangels' trump card. "…and the Archangel cannot move before, during and a while after the firing. So we'll be sitting ducks during the whole process. That's not gonna be a problem isn't it?"
"Considering the fact that we are currently protected by 13 inches thick of reinforced solid steel plates… no. That won't be a problem at all." Kage concluded. "FULL SPEED AHEAD!"
"Aye-aye, Captain!"
The twin chimneys of the Archangel boomed again as smoke burst out from it. The paddler began to spin, and soon they reach top speed, propelling the gigantic ship forward at alarming speed. The blockading fleet had yet to recover from the shock of the Lohengrin blast when the Archangel is literally right in front of their noses. In fact, now that they're seeing it up close, they grew more terrified. The ship is huge, dwarfing even the already massive Zaft battle barges in height, and even more so in length. The dreadnought sail forward through the opened path, undaunted, not even by the slightest, with the flaming wreckages and leftovers of the Zaft Battlebarges they've obliterated earlier. A relatively large wreckage of a barge stand in the dreadnought's way and the Archangel's armor plated hull merely smashed the wreckage to smithereens, while the Dreadnought itself doesn't suffer so much as a cosmetic damage or any decrease in its speed.
The white nautical behemoth went pass them, ignoring the fact that they are being pinned by numerically superior Zaft battle barges, the same way an elephant would ignore fleas. But then, several senior Zaft knights broke out of their horror and quickly yelled order to his terrified brethren. "Get a grip everyone! It's just ONE ship! And there are hundreds of us! Use those guns you wimps! Fire! FIRE!" Several knights who regained their bearings quickly manned the guns and took aim. A moment later, several ships from both sides of the white dreadnought opened fire, peppering the Archangel with fused cannonballs at point blank range.
Forget causing damage… the bullets didn't even dent the damn plating! They simply collided, bounced off, and fell harmlessly to the ocean. In response, the Archangel's gun ports were opening on both starboard and port sides. Its entire payload of Gottfried Cannons protruded out of the said ports.
Kage ordered with a word. "Fire."
Every Gottfried cannons from every port unleashed their reserved final salvo to every enemy barges at both sides, point blank range. The result was catastrophic to say the least. The Barges which were directly next to the Dreadnought were obviously annihilated. But some bullets managed to get through them and hit the barges behind the first line. In just a brief instant, the blockading fleet lost one third of their number-not including the dozens of ships that was sunk by the initial Lohengrin shots, and hundreds others damaged by the shot.
But Kage wasn't finished. He jumped to the top of the Bridge tower's rooftop and lifted Shiki. "Slice the Heavens… Aoiro Shiki!" The katana, awkwardly, did not transform, but Kage's left arm was enclosed in a demonic claw gauntlet and shoulder-guards. Kage held the weapon with his left claw arm and backswing, building up some momentum in preparation for a throw. The aura from the clawed gauntlet merged with Shiki's, and then the gauntlet enlarged, as if the muscles underneath it are bulging, preparing to unleash its power any minute.
"ORAAAAAAAAAA!" With a cry, Kage threw Shiki in a rapid spin towards the still intact battle barges at the portside. The katana spin rapidly and travel a great distance… and then midway, once Archangel is well outside its range, the Katana finally transformed into the familiar Aoiro Shiki form. And the enormous immaterial blue blade instantly appeared while the handle is still on a spin, creating a massive circular chainsaw. The shocked and terrified Zaft knights quickly ducked on all four or crawled into the cargo hold as to take cover from the spinning chainsaw flew overhead. The giant chainsaw fly in an elliptical orbit while ripping everything caught in its path to shreds, returning back to Archangel like a boomerang. Moments away before reaching its destination, the Aoiro Shiki transformed back to Shiki's form, returning safely to Kage's welcoming clawed hands. And then Kage observed his handiwork: all the ships at the Archangel's portside had been rendered completely immobile. All their masts and sails were ripped apart beyond simple repair. Then he looked at the ships at the starboard side. He can feel the eyes of every Zaft knights were transfixed at him. He raised Shiki in his hand. "LEARNED YOUR LESSON YET? HUH?" Kage yelled at the Zaft knights. "WANT SOME MORE?" He challenged them.
After all that destruction… no one dared.
And so the Archangel Dreadnought sailed through the blockade without needing to fire another shot, leaving behind the stupefied and broken spirited Zaft fleet. Soon, the Archangel bay began to shrink in the horizon as the ship sailed farther and farther away, leaving behind all the chaos that surely ensued at the present. And that was it. That was the end of the Siege of Archangel. The soldiers looked at Kage, as if asking for the confirmation that it is over. That- after a fewdays of Hell that seem like an eternity- is it finally over?
Kage nodded in assurance and declared with certainty: "YES. With this… It's OVER."
And the cheers, louder than before, exploded all over the battleship. Refugees and soldiers cried, laughed, sing, hugged, kissed, roared, danced, screamed in joy until their throat gone coarse… whatever it is they do to express their joy and relief that it was finally over. Sai roared and screamed like a madman. Tolle rushed through every room to find his girlfriend and when he did, gave her one before Milly can protest. Karren yelled as she shoved her claws to the sky in triumph. But all the sudden, Setsuna grabbed her and happily danced in a wacky tango, much to Karren's chagrin and the amusement of all onlookers. The usually cool and relaxed Neil exploded in joy, screaming and yelling while drinking his brandy with reckless abandon. Bushido and Toudou, keeping their dignified reserve, shared a toast with their sakazaki cups. But then, Kamina, dragging the squirming-yet joyful Simon, showered them both with a barf after drinking too many beers… by the barrel. And as the pirate boss ran for his dear life with the enraged and bloodthirsty Shiseiken at his heels for this wanton atrocity, the other saner crew like Yoko and Simon, along with the rest of the brigade shared the revelry with the soldiers. The stone cold, expressionless Sven is probably the only one who did not show any hint of happiness. But he accepted a jug of beer from the Daigurren brigade and currently, by the looks of it, he's engaging a drinking match with a pair of twins, Jorgun and Balinbou Bakusa – and he's winning. Even Murdoch went overboard and sprayed his men with his rum reserve (only to state that they must pay him for it later). Kage also nodded in joy, approving of all their revelry – no matter how crazy or how much booze involved. After all, they've rightfully earned it with their blood, sweat and tears. Kage hopped back into the Bridge tower where the officers were also sharing the joy rising up in the atmosphere.
"But how?" Prayer happily looked at Kage who just hopped in. "How did you know that there's such a ship hidden inside the fortress?"
"Remember what Harlbarton said to me before the Battle for Archangel Bay?" Kage grinned ear to ear, reminding the involved parties of the events just after the briefing when Kage volunteered to lead a flagship on a suicide crash. "He said to me: Take care of my ship okay? She's brand new."
Prayer blinked multiple times in sheer shock. "You deduced all this… from THAT random remark?"
Kage chuckled, understanding everyone's shock. "The Nestor was Harlbarton's oldest ship, according to the record. It's a flagship he used to commandeer back in the day. So I kinda wondered why he called it brand new… and then I read all the files pertaining to our current existing fleet of ships… and then I found out about an interesting fact: during the early days of his career, when Harlbarton was first posted on this fortress under his request, I found records indicating that he had been stockpiling massive amount of metal ore… more than enough to construct the Achilles, the only steel plated ship we currently have, a thousand times over." Kage nodded to Canard, who commanded the said ship. "He didn't use them to fix damages to his fortress or to make more ammos and cannons. So I wondered where all these metal ore went… and one thing led to another, I guess." Kage surmised.
"You mean… you found out about it that one time when you spend the whole day cleaning up the paperwork?" Mwu roared in disbelief. Cleaning up the paperwork - leads to discovery of a super powerful battleship.
Everyone laughed, while Mwu simply mourned his own lack of interest (putting it kindly) in paperwork. He decided to cut their laughter short. "Well come on then! LET'S PAAAR-THAAAAY!" The officers rushed out of the office, but Kage remained. Prayer and Mwu stopped for a moment and looked at the boy. "You okay?"
"You guys go ahead. I just want to stay here for a while." Kage was holding his painful chest.
"What about your injuries? Raww cut you three times… didn't he?" Mwu looked with worry at Kage's vest, which has been torn apart.
Kage hold at his chest. The wound is still there, but it wasn't as severe as before. He'll live. "It's healed. I don't know, but it's healed." He lied.
"We'll call in the physicians. Prayer, you stay here with him."
"No. Just… go… I… I'm okay. Really… I just… I really need some time alone, if you guys don't mind."
The two brothers looked at each other and nodded. Prayer left the room, but stay on guard in front of the door just in case. Mwu went ahead and call in some physicians for the obviously still injured Captain.
Meanwhile, Kage walked around the Bridge. It's still mostly empty. They left in such a hurry; they really don't have time to set up the furniture. Only the barest essential to get the ship going. But he found a seat, reserved for the captain. He sat on it and took off his mask. Kira took a deep breath and relaxed for the first time since the battle of Archangel Bay. Oh hell yes. He may look calm and confident most of the time throughout this whole crisis, but truth be told… all those crazy stunts he did… deep down he was so tense, he could've fainted any second. And now it's finally over, he realized just how exhausted he is, mentally and physically. And then he felt something wet falling down his cheek. Kira placed his hand on his face. 'Eh?'
Outside, Prayer is still stand on guard when the Shadowguards came, with Fllay at Sai's side. "Where's Ki-I mean-Kage?" Sai quickly rectified himself. Fllay still doesn't know anything about Kage's true identity after all. But upon seeing her boyfriend flabbergasted, the red head perked suspiciously.
"He's inside…ummm…" Prayer looked at Kira's friends and contemplated if he should let them in.
"What?" Tolle tilted his head curiously.
"I'm sorry… I'm just thinking if I should let you guys in… he asked to be left alone for a moment…"
"He did?" Milly blinked. And then, something kicked in. Her intuition as woman, if she should call it. Gently she pressed her ears to the door, Prayer just let her. Milly caught a sound… and gasped upon recognizing the sound. She jerked back up, seemingly confused, but then she realized something and nodded understandingly. She turned to Tolle and Sai, who looked at her, asking for some explanation. But Milly shook her head as she smiled sadly. "Let him be alone. Anything we need to say can wait until he's ready. At which he will come to us."
Her tone sound so solemn. But Tolle quickly realized something was wrong with Kira and he approached his girlfriend, asking what she heard in a whisper. "What did you hear? What happened?"
Milly smiled. "Hey… he's our friend. Right?"
Tolle and Sai looked at each other. Tolle stated immediately. "Of course he is. We've been together for so long… the shit we've gone through together…"
"Does it matter if we know nothing of his past?" Milly stated. Tolle and Sai were once again reminded of that little talk they had with Prayer about them not knowing anything about Kira Yamato. Milly smiled again. "He is he. No matter what he had done… he's been doing it for us. And I trust him. I trusted the man we've known for three years… that kind hearted boy who stick with us through thick and thin… and still do so, even now."
Sai and Tolle pondered at Milly's statement; they looked at each other and smiled. Yeah. Milly's right. Kira is Kira. Why should the fact that he kept his past secret change the fact that he is their friend? He bled for them, he laughed with them, he cried with them. That is enough. Kira is their friend. Period. "Yeah." Tolle nodded while giving his wise girlfriend a peck on her cheek as thanks for her sound advice. "Yeah, you're right. He'll tell us himself when he feels up to it."
Fllay moaned, not understanding one jot of the situation. "What are you guys talking about?"
Sai replied simply. "We're talking about a friend." The Shadowguards nodded to Prayer and left momentarily.
Inside the Bridge…
Tears endlessly fell from Kira's eyes. And before he realized it, he was sobbing. That was the sound Milly heard earlier. 'I'm… crying?' At first, he frantically tried to stop the tears from falling. 'What if my friends came and see me like this! I… I…' and then, he realized why he was crying. Sai, Tolle, and Milly nearly died several times. When he blew up the walls of Archangel, Tolle was caught in that explosion. Milly could've been shot by an arrow many times. Sai could've got skewered when he defended the breach point for all he knows. They were lucky to be alive. He was lucky they survived the ordeal that… he… put… them… through… And then he suddenly saw flash images of the river of death. Where he always saw the faces of the ones he had killed, waiting for him at the other side of the river Styx. Now there are a hundred times more faces at the other side, waiting for him. Kuzzey was one of them. Kira jerked and collapsed in tears, crying to himself, as to what he had done, what he had become: a mass murdering monster. Silently mourning all the people whose death he had caused, be that his own soldiers or his enemies, alone in the bridge, Kira wailed and moaned in sorrow. His voice was dampened by the sound of revelry outside. The crying went on and on for a few minutes. And then, as he finally calmed down, he heard another voice rising outside.
Outside, walking amidst the partying soldiers, Canard pointed at the bridge tower and yelled at the top of his lungs for every soldier to hear: "ALRIGHT YOU FUCKING MONKEYS! LET'S HEAR IT FOR CAPTAIN KAGE!"
"HUZZAH! HUZZAH! HUZZAAAHH!" the sound of cheers was echoed in every part of the ship again and again. Kira heard the noise and realized it was meant for him. Wiping his tears, his eyes once again regained the conviction to accept the responsible entrusted to him. Putting on his second public face, he walked towards the window of the Bridge to allow the soldiers below to see him.
The soldiers cheered at his sight. Kage pulled out Shiki and raised it for everyone to see. The soldiers' cheers went louder and louder as they too, welcomed the salute with one of their own. The soldiers began chanting his name in reverence. "KAGE! KAGE! KAGE! KAGE!"
And holding the Katana that changed his life forever, Kira smiled bitterly beneath his mask.
That's right. With this, my old life was ended. This is the end of an episode in my life… and now…
…Another begins.
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The Siege of Archangel crisis ended that day.
History recorded this battle as such:
The 7th division was attacked by 2 separate invasions. One invasion was composed of the renegade Bladebanes, numbering in 120,000, led by Yzak Joule. The fact that most of them composed of mercenaries was never mentioned. Record varies upon what exactly happened – as pride and vanity saw the use of lies and deceit to exaggerate and dramatize the events… rationalizing it, somewhat. Some claimed that Kage had 40,000 when he attacked the Bladebane army and it is noted that although the 7th division destroyed the Bladebanes invasion… they've suffered heavy casualties, reducing their number to 1000 men, owing to the recklessness of the commander.
The second invasion, led by Raww Le Klueze, attacked the fortress directly, making use of the absence when Kage left with most of his troops to quell the Bladebane invasion. Unfortunately, Kage had prepared and left behind a number of his forces behind. After a devastating and brutal battle that lasted for only 4 days and 5 nights, Raww was able to deal a devastating blow to the fortress, damaging it beyond repair. Alas, Kage, having survived the battle against the Bladebanes, choose that time to return and attack, causing disastrous damage to Raww's army which reduced his army by half. But by that time however, it was too late, and the Archangel was no longer defensible. The 7th division had no choice but to retreat to the seas, leaving their devastated fortress behind. And so history recorded that on that day… the legendary infallible fortress Archangel had fallen, and Kage was defeated.
Alas, Raww's forces, having committed an aggression into a neutral land were attacked by the Samurai army of Orb in swift retribution, and his army, still weakened after the most recent battle, was routed, while Raww managed to escape with only few men to later face judgment. And yet, that was noted as a totally unrelated story beyond the fact it occurred almost immediately, but no one was able to connect the dots. The fact that this series of incidents was machination of one man was buried and blurred beneath the tragedy. The horror. The dramatized fact that over 100,000 Zaft warriors died during this crisis, all in a span of 5 days. The worst death rate since the Bloody Valentine tragedy.
Zaft won, the Alliance lose. That's what the history noted, and that's how Zaft historians intend for it to stay.
However, many farsighted commanders, intellectuals, and, decades later, historians; would eventually had to admit – rather grudgingly – that instead of a victory, it was indeed the most humiliating defeat that Zaft military ever suffered.
And on that day… the world's most powerful shinobi was born.
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Epilogue 1:
Brothers
The party aboard Archangel lasted for two days. On the third day, everyone was invaded by the worst hangover knocking through hell's door. Everyone except Kage, who was consigned to the medical ward due his injuries, which turns out to be quite severe, as the physician quickly pointed out. As the result, Kage spent most of the two days confined to bed. His Shadowguards loyally stayed by his side, only leaving to either bring him his food, answering nature's call, or doing whatever needs doing. And when Kage's condition is no longer critical, they take turns in guarding their currently incapacitated friend.
And then on the third day, post Archangel Fortress, Milly, who currently guard Kage received the weirdest request from their friend… who suddenly became… strangely polite. "Mirriallia-san… will you please be so kind as to send for Mwu La Flagga and Prayer Reverie, please?"
Milly blinked several times at the overly polite tone. But after several moments of contemplation, she obliged anyway.
Moments later, Mwu and Prayer arrived at the ward. Kage… no… he took off his mask. Kira was looking at the ocean outside through the window of his room.
"You… uh… sent for us?" Mwu felt a bit odd with the boy's choice of words. By the looks of it, so did his friend.
"Yes I did. Mirriallia-san… will you be so kind to leave the premises? The three of us wish to have a private conversation. And please tell the other Shadowguards that I wish no unwanted eavesdroppers, and that they mustn't eavesdrop themselves. Please?"
Milly became even more and more confused at Kira's overly polite language. "Kira… are you… really okay?"
"Never better." Kira answered jovially.
"Okay… I'll be sure to… 'clear… the premises…' Heh?" scratching her not so itching head, she left regardless and did as she was told.
Mwu and Prayer made sure she's gone before they turned to Kira.
"Looks like I have to learn a bit to talk like Kira… I suppose my tone kinda scares her a little bit…" Kira finally turned to face Mwu and Prayer, who was quickly alarmed at what they saw. Kira's eyes were no longer purple. But blue and yellow. 'He' is back. Prayer was greatly alarmed and quickly assumed hostility.
"What is this?" Prayer was reaching to his lance, while Mwu simply placed his hand on top of his kodachi, but he was calmer than his brother, since he had personal experience, but he remain vigilant nonetheless.
'Kira' chuckled as he clasped his fingers together. "Still with the hostility? Fine. I will endure it."
"WHO ARE YOU? GET OUT OF KIRA-SAN'S BODY NOW!" Prayer pointed his lance to 'Kira', who simply laughed at the hostile reaction.
"Sssssh… this is the infirmary… the place for the sick and wounded. You'd do well to keep your voice down. And worry not about Kira. He's right here, sleeping." 'Kira' pointed to his chest.
Prayer gritted his teeth angrily. But he was even more confused that his brother weren't as surprised as he should have. Which only means… "Brother… you knew? All this time?"
"We've met before." Mwu motioned his little brother to stand down, but the elderly man still glared angrily at 'Kira' "What is this? I thought you solemnly swear that this sort of thing will never happen again?"
"My apologies." 'Kira' bowed his head. "But you see, at the time… I was under the assumption that Kira's enemies will play fair… clearly that was not the case. He was lucky to be alive now." 'Kira' flexed his fingers several times and nodded approvingly. "Still, the boy is getting stronger. You've done your job well, Mwu La Flagga."
"No way hose… I'm just getting in the way these days." Mwu chuckled in shame. Kira's progress was incredibly fast. He could hardly keep up.
'Kira' shook his head. "Be that as it may, your task is not yet over. The boy is still going to need your help."
Prayer was a bit caught off guard at the answer. He didn't expect the creature actually cared so much for Kira's well being.
Mwu asked again. "So… what do you want now? You sent for us just to remind us the boy had issues?"
"I want answers, Mwu La Flagga. Right now I have questions that need answering. Better sooner, than later. No more hiding, and naturally, no lies." 'Kira' glared fiercely at the brothers. But then his eyes twitched. He cursed. "Blast it, he's beginning to wake up… we'll have this conversation for another time."
"WAIT!" Mwu bellowed. "Why did you protect him? Don't tell me it's for your own survival. That boy has a suicidal streak. And he nearly killed himself several times… and you didn't help him, because you wanted him to become stronger from it. I understand that. And yet a few days ago you fought for him-don't deny it. I know it's you. So obviously you are protecting him, in a fashion. So why?"
'Kira' looked at Mwu with surprised eyes. Then, his dichromatic eyes narrowed and shine with warmth and kindness. "A promise I made. Not with the boy. With someone else… and… for my own sake too… you could say I've grown fond of the boy." He twitched again. The moment when Kira woke up must be soon. And then the eyes closed and 'Kira' slide down, as if falling asleep. Moments later, Kira woke up again, this time his eyes is purple. He's back to normal. "Prayer? Mwu-san? You're here?"
Prayer looked at Mwu. The elder blond smiled. "It's okay. We're just here to check you up." Prayer blinked. So Mwu decided to keep that little episode secret. And so Prayer did the same. "Yes. We're kinda worried."
"Why, thank you." Kira felt a bit grateful for their attention, but then, seeing the two side by side, he remembered something he wanted to ask them. "…wait… there's something I need to tell the two of you."
"Anything?" Mwu was glad for the change of subject and tone.
Kira paused for a moment. What he'll about to say will be very sensitive. But… he needed to get this out of his chest. "I know. About you. About Prayer… and about Raww."
Their smile vanished in an instant. Mwu and Prayer looked at each other, as if asking each other 'did you tell him?'
"Nobody told me. I kinda figure things out myself… and Raww confirmed it." Kira felt bad. He unwittingly discovered a rather personal information. It is best if he let them know that he knows. So that they can decide what to do about that fact.
"How exactly did you figure that out, may we ask?" Mwu gulped nervously.
Kira took a deep breath and exhaled. "From Prayer." The brunette boy pointed to the obviously shocked blond. And then, in case someone was eavesdropping, Kira began talking in perfect French to the further shock of the two French listeners (AN: So basically, Kira's speaking in French, but I wrote it in English) "Not by words. You two are, truly, alike. So it convinced everyone that you two are related. But, I saw Raww up close several times… and as I compare the shape of his lower chin with Prayer's… I… cannot help but notice several similarities in the facials features… something that can only be passed down through blood ties… which makes your relationship is around father and son… or in this case… more likely… brothers."
Caught red handed, Prayer's reaction is simply resigning himself to judgment. "Oui. You're absolutely right, Kira-san."Prayer sorrowfully bent his head down. "Raww… is my older brother."
Kira looked at Mwu, and the blond shinobi continued the explanation. "Raww and I… are also siblings. The only blood ties the three of us share is that the three of us have the same father. Raww and I were born a few days apart… but… I was born from a different mother. Prayer… is Raww's little brother by the same mother."
Kira nodded in understanding. This somewhat confused the two.
"You're not surprised?" Mwu was somewhat bewildered. "You realized what this means, right?"
Kira chuckled. "That your father was an Advanced? Or… so it seems to me… an Advanced who is at the end of his rope?"
Mwu and Prayer were shocked this time. Truly, this boy knew more than he let on.
Kira smiled understandingly at their surprise. "It's not unheard of. An Advanced family whose bloodline thinned from generation to generation… until they finally reached the point where in just one more generation, the blood of the Onis in their veins was spent." Oh, he understood more than the two can imagine. "I assume… that you and Raww… was the result of a… marriage to rejuvenate family bloodline limits? But it ended up just being a scam, isn't it?"
Mwu shook his head. "And you deduce all that just by some few sentences from us? Just once, will you please stop with all that deduction and dumb down a little? You're scaring the shit out of me!" How on earth was he supposed to help this boy? He can foresee and see through every damn thing!
While Prayer simply laughed. But he had to admit, Kira really is a genius. Everything he said was true! "Yes. It was a scam. The Reverie family was also at the end of their ropes. Both families lied to one another. When the truth came out and I was born a Natural… well… the fallout hasn't been kind for the two of us, to say the least." Prayer was referring to himself and Raww. "Raww stayed… but I… I always hated my maternal family… the lot of them. Them… and their stupid pureblood mania. So I left and find Mwu-nii-san, and I lived with him ever since."
"Didn't ask for a testimony." Kira nodded at Prayer. "I'm not here to force you to reveal everything about your private family matters. I'm the one confessing here. I just… thought you guys should know… that I know. And your secret is safe with me."
Prayer and Mwu smiled at each other, deep down feeling grateful to the boy.
"But… Mwu-san… what's…"
"…my story? Same deal… 'cept my old man didn't give a rat's ass about our family 'bloodline' mania." Mwu was giggling madly at the memory of his father. "Al Da Flagga. That's my old man's name… and by gawd, he's the coolest, may his soul rest in peace."
"The coolest?" Just by listening such term from a guy as crazy as Mwu, Kira can now finally understand the source of Mwu's antics. His prankster behavior is passed down to the genetic level.
"My Dad married Prayer's mom because family elders forced him to. But, two days after the wedding… and after the fastest honeymoon in history – lasted 15 minutes - he divorced his current wife, proposed and married MY mother in protest on the very same day, RIGHT in front of the Reverie and Da Flagga family." Mwu grinned widely to the shocked and pleased Kira. "Mom was… overwhelmed… she accepted right away… right after she spit fire to my dad, and chased him halfway to Hell with a katana for two timing her. Were all Japanese like that?"
"You are a half Japanese?" Now this is a pleasant surprise.
"Yeah. That's why my Jap's pretty good." Mwu chuckled. "My mom's name was Anna… Uzu… Uzu… Uzumaru… Uzumashi… Uzuma-something Anna. She never liked her surname, so she asked my father to always refer her by her first name. She said it reminded her of some ramen side-dish."
"Ramen side-dish?" Kira, being a ramen chef, quickly went through a list of possible side-dish used on ramen whose name started with uzu- or… something close to it. 'The only thing I can think of is the Narutomaki… so… Uzuma… Uzumaki (spiral)? Bah, I think too much.'
"Speaking of which, Kira-san… your French is perfect. You've been to France?"
"Wait, Prayer… knowing this boy, I will go out of my way and asked straight ahead… how MANY languages you spoke?"
Kira smirked. "All 7 international languages, not including my native tongue (English, Malay, Japanese, Russian, French, Mandarin, Spanish, Hindi, German)… a little bit of Italian, Celtic, and Latin for hobby."
Prayer's jaw hung with awe and admiration, Mwu's jaw hung in horror and shock. "Where did you learn all of that?" Prayer asked in place of his stupefied brother.
Bad question.
As soon as the question escaped Prayer's lips, now it's Kira's turn to lose his smile as he was reminded of a memory he had long seem forgotten. More like, he became very serious all the sudden. "Prayer…" He suddenly put on his Kage disguise. "We need to talk. Call the Juppongatana. ALL of them."
Epilogue 1 - end.
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Epilogue 2
The other Renegades
When the Samurai attacked, the Zaft army was actually at a great disadvantage. However, under Raww's capable leadership, the knights managed to stand their ground and escaped, despite their heavy loss. Many of the knights were either killed or captured accordingly, but most of Zaft forces survived and managed to escape… albeit scattered. Raww also survived, together with Courtney.
One can say that only Raww could do the impossible and escape such difficult predicament.
But a certain high General would beg to differ.
On the third day after the brief but vicious battle between the Samurais and the Zaft knights-of which the Orb Samurais emerged victorious, Barry was still overseeing the aftermath of their brief battle. Many knights were killed, few were arrested and captured but they are condemned regardless. A shinobi appeared and reported to him. "Forgive me, my lord… but there's no sign of Raww Le Klueze anywhere. I fear… he escaped."
"Understood. Carry on."
"Hai." The shinobi disappeared.
"Incredible… with his back pinned to the corner… he still managed to elude us. I expect nothing less from one of the Hakutenkun of Zaft Empire." One of the Samurai commented.
"It's not just Raww. And you know it." Barry stated.
The Samurais agreed in silence.
It was unbelievable, really.
Ever since the first attack on the village of Sakai, the Orb military has been on edge and had sent shinobis to investigate this series of sudden raids on their lands. An army of Samurai had long since been assembled, ready to move out at the moment's notice. However, Intel has been scarce, and so they cannot move in. The enemy somehow is always one step ahead of them. And with each report of every village being destroyed, the government grew angrier. That was until the raid on Konoha, when High General Barry Ho received an eerie report. An anonymous tip, bundled with an overwhelming proof that told them about how all these mercenary attacks were being perpetrated by Bladebanes… and that it was all but a diversion of the second invasion. The tip detailed everything: the location, the timing, even troop deployment. Regardless of the ambiguity of this tip, it was enough Intel to launch a punitive expedition to Archangel, their mission: to forcibly expel any foreign forces encroaching their land, by any means necessary – Zaft and Alliance.
Travelling at speed, they should've arrived in Archangel in merely 4 days ever since they received the report.
Note the word: SHOULD'VE.
"I… I still can't believe it. Just a single knight! Just ONE!" A samurai exclaimed in disbelief. Barry didn't reprimand the outburst. He could hardly believe what happened himself. See, the original plan was to catch the Zaft knights off guard. They intend to attack the Knights from the rear when they're still engaged in battle with the Alliance soldiers at the front, pinning them in a pincer attack, quickly defeat them, and then focus their attention to the battered Alliance soldiers. But… thanks to these unforeseen and unbelievable circumstances, things didn't exactly go their way.
When they were but half a day away from their destination, a single knight stood in their way. That Knight, initially clad in the garments of a Fire Knight, proved himself to be something entirely different. The Mysterious knight managed to defend his position and halted their entire 80,000 army's march, even forcing them to pull back! Thanks to that, the Samurais' arrival was delayed by an entire day, and they lost their momentum, as the knights had just finished their battle with the Alliance soldiers, enabling the Knights to concentrate on repelling their surprise attacks. It was supposed to be a quick skirmish, but turned into a two days long battle of attrition. The Samurai still victorious in the end since they have the numerical and quality advantage, but their plan is screwed: Raww managed to escape… and as Barry found out later, the Alliance 7th division under Kage also managed to escape to the sea aboard what could possibly be the most powerful battleship on Earth.
At the outskirts of the Archangel Forest, there's a site… where marks of fresh battle that just took place not too long ago can be seen. It was an unearthly sight. It looked as if a rain of meteors had showered the land as it was filled with craters of varying sizes. Cracked and shattered earth, footprints of a monstrosity of unknown origin. It was a silent and mute effigy of the mysterious Knight's effort. That here, on that horrendously battered patch of earth, a single Knight had delayed a whole army of 80,000 Samurai for a day.
And, in a site nearby…
Piles of animal bones. Leftovers from a grotesquely huge meal. That's all what Nichol can surmise when he saw a small patch of bones encircling a campfire. As he walked through the leftovers, he saw, near the campfire, a man clad in a prisoner garment. The man was feasting, gnashing and gnawing voraciously at his meal: a whole side of beef. The man paused his eating for a moment, sensing him. But Nichol continue his approach calmly. He came here as a friend and meant no hostilities. The message got through as the man continued his meal, seemingly ignoring him.
"I've heard of how Zoan users must eat huge amounts of food after they transform… didn't believe it was true until now." Nichol chuckled.
"Can't help it. (Munch-Munch-Gulp) Transforming one's body used up a lot of calories. (Crunch) (Munch-Munch-munch) It's hard on us all. (gulp)"
"Out of curiosity how much did you eat?" Nichol plucked a fish bone from the piles of bones of various unfortunate beasts around them.
"Well… if you must know, I've eaten four deer, three boars, a whole school of fish, one side of beef, and currently I'm in the process of devouring the other side, also, I've drank two barrels of H2O." The man continued his meal as Nichol sweat dropped-in understanding.
"Lord Klueze… escaped. Along with many of our brethren. The rest were either killed or captured." Nichol informed the man. "And he told me to send you his gratitude… before Lord Courtney arrested him."
The man paused, nodded, and then continued his meal. "He almost didn't make it… I almost didn't make it." In a blink of an eye the side of beef was all but bones. The man threw the leftovers aside to join the rest. Then he took a barrel full of water and drink directly from the barrel. Within seconds, not one drop of water was left. He exhaled in relief after finishing such a huge meal and sit in relax. "…it was perfect."
"I beg your pardon?" Nichol frowned.
"Kage's execution of his plan. It was perfect. Too perfect. When I saw how his army massacred Ignis' army inside out… I knew right then and there that I was too late to stop it."
Nichol noticed Ignis' armor set is being placed in a small makeshift shrine near them. The two handed sword was stabbed to the ground as a makeshift grave-marker. Nichol nodded, not so surprised when he finally found out the true identity of the impostor Ignis - rather he was immensely pleased. But the man's reason for his need of disguise eluded him. "Why did you disguise yourself as Ignis? You could've just arrived as you were… speaking of which how did you get here anyway?"
"I'll tell you all about it later." The man chuckled. "And I'm not just a Renegade at this point. I'm also a wanted fugitive. When I rescued Ignis from that ambush, I realized right away that Kage intended to infiltrate our army using Ignis as disguise. Of course… with Ignis being a logia, that plan was shot to Hell." He cleaned the leftovers of his meal from his face and continued. "Ignis died… but the possibility is still there. That's why I beat Kage to it and disguised myself as Ignis. To prevent Kage from gaining access to Lord Klueze's inner circle."
"And the other day when you ran away?"
"When he blew up his own fortress, that's when I realized Kage was using our men to train his, and this whole thing was a fiasco of his machination. When you went so far as to call in an invasion just to start training… you must prepare a counter invasion to end the training. And the only army Kage can summon is the Samurai army of Orb who attacked us from behind so that he can pummel our forces from the front. I was too late to stop the army from coming… the best I can do is to minimize the damage by delaying them… hoping that, with the time I bought, Lord Klueze can defeat Kage's weakened army." The man looked mournfully at Nichol. "That bit didn't work out, did it?"
Nichol regretfully shook his head. "No. Kage had us trapped in some sort of… maze… delaying us even further… Lord Klueze called it…"
"The Eight Stone Devil maze."
"Sorry?"
The man shook his head, he appears to be troubled. "Lord Klueze had it wrong. That was not the Sentinel maze… that was its improved cousin… the Eight Stone Devil Maze." The man began drawing picture on the ground with a bone. "In the eight Stone Sentinel maze, the stone markers were placed in multiple static spot. And there they remain. Static. Unmoving. That's why it's called the Sentinel. But with the Eight Stone Devil maze… you placed a stone marker in one side of the T-section… let the enemy passed through it… and when the enemy already moved away from the area, have your men switched the Stone Marker and placed it on a different side of the road, and they must also be on watch and erase any other marker the army had left behind. It's a simple trick… but if the army returned to that spot, they were under the illusion they've arrived on a different T-section… or that the T-section they've memorized was gone." The man finished his explanation to a jaw hung Nichol. It was such a simple trick, but it fooled everyone! "If the Sentinel maze was meant to only halt enemy forces… the Devil variant was meant to send them into panic and madness. That's why it's called the Devil."
"One more thing, Kage said something about how he doesn't want to win. What does he mean by that?"
"To lay the blame to Lord Klueze." The man stated. "If he had won, the Samurais would've seen him as the threat and attacked him. But now that he lost, the Samurai attacked lord Klueze's forces, thinking that Lord Klueze was the mastermind behind the attacks on their villages. Even though Lord Klueze survived, now he's not only a renegade for defying the funeral days, compound that with the loss of nearly all of his forces, and the fact that everyone believed that he was the one responsible for the two invasions. Even though he had won… and I believe Lord Klueze realized that he actually didn't… he will get no sympathy from our empire. They need to prevent Orb from siding with the Alliance due to this incident, so they will lay all the blame to Lord Klueze as leverage to the Orb government." The man nodded to the horrified Nichol. "First he personally killed a Hakutenkun, now he's using our own political standing to nullify another. That's TWO Hakutenkun in a matter of weeks."
Nichol's eyes widened. And if that weren't enough shock for the Wood Knight, the man's next statement really made his hair stand on end.
"And that was just the side effect. The true goal… the true genius of this plan… a clever and grand deception. The secret, underlying goal he wished to obtain: He's fooling the history." The man explained. "To the eyes of the ignorant masses, all they see is the fact that the fortress of Archangel has fallen, and the 7th division was defeated, sent running to the ocean. But think about this: if Kage had won, here and now, then the problem is here, and now. Kage will be recognized to be an even bigger threat, and all of Zaft forces will pool all their resources to deal with him. But now… seeing the fact that Kage CAN be defeated… or so it seems… the empire will lower their guard, thinking that Kage was less of a threat than they initially thought, making them more vulnerable than ever."
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Final Epilogue
The Two Traitors
The Juppongatana gathered on the starboard side bow of the Archangel.
"If you're referring to that fucking Knight who beat the snot out of us during that rather successful ambush on that Ignis guy, then yeah, I'm freaked. But don't you think that's a little bit farfetched to assume he read your brilliant plan like an open book?" Canard looked incredulously at their captain.
"How about the fact that he disguised himself as Ignis to prevent me from doing the same? How about the fact that he actually managed to put this whole operation in jeopardy? He saw through my plan right away as soon as I blew up the wall. He ran off. It did give me a chance to knock out Courtney… but then, the Samurai Army that should've arrived the next day was delayed by a whole day after that incident. How do you explain that?" Kage groaned in annoyance. "If it weren't him messing up with the Samurai's timing, we won't even have that whole Maze fiasco. Whoever that guy is, he nearly killed me that day, Canard."
Toudou frowned in deep thought. "You're saying someone was able to foresee your plan, and react accordingly? That someone… had the same thought process as you?" In layman's term, someone as smart as their genius of a captain.
"Yes. Probably smarter too." Kage gazed back to the direction of Japan that they've left behind.
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"The Battle of Archangel Bay… and the Archangel Siege Crisis. That's twice now this Kage outsmarted conventional warfare." The man got back on his feet. "He's about as smart as I am… probably smarter."
"Did you know anyone who has your caliber of intelligence?" Nichol nervously gulped at the prospect. To think there are people out there who's as smart as this man…
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"Can you think of anyone who can outsmart you?" Prayer gulped nervously.
"Well…" Kage sighed.
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"Well…" The Man sighed.
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"I can think of two." Both echoed.
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"The first one… was the woman who taught me everything I know… including how to speak in multiple languages." Kage quickly added the last part to Prayer in a whisper. "But that was a long time ago… in another life. And she's no longer in effect."
"Who was she?" Karren asked, in marvel that there's a woman smarter than their Captain.
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"Is there any possibility that this woman can become our enemy?"
"That's impossible. That woman… is Lennore Zala." The man mourned as he bent his head down. Nichol, recognizing the name, gasped and regretted his poor choice of words.
"F… Forgive me! I mean no disrespect!"
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"Who she is no longer matter. I know for a fact that she died. A long time ago." Kira turned around so that his back was shown to everyone, while he silently mourned and held back a tear. And then Kage turned back. "She's no longer our concern."
"Then who's the other one?"
Kira knew right away the answer to that. There's only one man other than him who studied directly under Lennore Zala. "The man who could be our deadliest enemy… the man who masterminded the battle of Archangel Bay: Athrun Zala."
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The young man… Athrun Zala closed his eyes and remembered the only other person who studied directly under his mother. "The other person… is the person I regarded as my closest friend… you could say… he's like my brother. No… he is my brother… or… in these circumstances… he… was… my brother." 'Kira…' Athrun didn't go into detail just yet.
"Well… does he have a reason to become… our enemy?" Nichol frowned. If Kage's original identity is someone who was close enough to Athrun to be called his brother… why would a man like that chose to become their enemy?
"Well…" Athrun's head was filled with the memories of the past.
The past when things were so much brighter.
When he and Kira were brothers… when his mother… when their mother was there.
And then… a memory…
The last time they met, 8 years ago… after their mother died in Junius…
Quickly put aside the thought, Athrun nodded and concluded mournfully. "…I guess he does."
Nichol, upon seeing the mournful expression on Athrun's face, realized that he mustn't press this matter any further. Wait for better circumstances. "So… what do we do now?"
Athrun, glad for the change of subject, perked regardless at the word: "We?"
Nichol smiled matter of factly. "Yeah. We. I mean… I've engaged in combat during the funeral period, and then, I evaded capture… I'm as much as fugitive as you."
The Iron knight sighed bitterly. "That's the problem here. We're too mired in our own god damn stagnant traditions and old rules… interpreting them so narrowly… even when we had such a crisis on our hands." Athrun frowned in deep thought. After this tragedy, the fallout on his master won't be pleasant. At best, they'll probably are just going to imprison him… at the worst… death sentence. "If we're going to do this… we cannot be hindered by something as stupid as tradition or beliefs." Athrun quickly moved to Nichol and grabbed a copy of the codex. He shoved it in front of him. "If you really want to do this… don't be constrained by rules. You will become a traitor and outlaw. We'll be hunted down, for the rest of our lives, by our own people. We will become their enemy, in order to protect them. Can you do that?"
Nichol quickly caught up on what Athrun wanted him to do. He contemplated for a moment, and then, smiling confidently, he took the codex from Athrun's hand… and ripped it apart. He also took the Zaft and the family nobility crest on his armor and crushed it to pieces with his armored hands.
Athrun smiled and tapped Nichol's shoulder several times, in gratitude for his support. His smile vanished as he began formulating their next course of action. He then called his fully mastered superweapon: "Kokuyou (Obsidian King)." In an instant, Athrun's prisoner garments were enclosed in a black liquid metal that rapidly took shape of a black Knightly armor unlike anything Nichol had ever seen. The armor is thick, and multi layered, but it was skin tight and was comprised of hundreds of small pieces of metal plates, welded and connected together, forming layered armor plates which overlapped one another. His gauntlets and greaves were riddled with spikes and blades. His shoulder armor had multiple elongated blades encircling its circular edges. Once the armor had finished taking shape, a kingly, large, and flowing dark crimson violet cloak, seemingly composed of the same liquid that formed Athrun's armor, emerged out of nowhere and draped itself over Athrun's shoulders, the long cloak extending to his back, but floated just millimeters away from the ground.
Taking a moment to marvel at Kokuyou's true form, Nichol then readied the Blitz armature as well. That's when he noticed that Athrun still have something that troubled him. "You're alright?"
Athrun looked to the sky.
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"We have to become stronger." Kira, still in the guise of Kage, declared. "Much… much… stronger. Tell that to the men. Tomorrow, our training will be intensified. That is all. Dismissed."
The Juppongatana nodded ceremoniously and left the Captain alone.
Only Mwu stayed behind. "You're okay, Kid?"
Kira removed his mask and headband, sighing exasperatedly. "…it's done." He turned and saw Mwu. "I just butchered my own kind. Now I have officially taken the road of no return." And then he turned his back again.
With his back shown to him, Mwu can't tell if the boy's smiling or on the verge of crying.
"I'm a traitor now. Killed my own kind. There's a special place in Hell reserved for the things I've done."
"You're alright?" Mwu asked again.
Kira looked to the sky.
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Two traitors.
With differing paths.
One betrayed his people to protect the ones he loves.
The other betrayed his people to protect them from their deadliest enemy.
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"I'm okay." As Athrun declared that, the black liquid enclosed his face and formed a demonic Knight helmet, completing the full body armor. Green eyes shone through its narrow visor.
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"I'm okay." As Kira declared that, he lifted his mask and put on his headband. He became Kage again, and he also put on his hood, completely shrouding his face in darkness.
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Translation of Raww's Latin chanting:
*Heed me, flames of hell. By my contracts of the nine, come and show me your unforgiving wrath and let the world be undone by fire. Embrace my enemies in cold of death as you scorch their souls!
AN:
For your information, the Archangel as a dreadnought looked like the Battleship Yamato – two of them, standing side by side, connected by structures and a single tower in between – minus the big ass triple cannons.
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The three Classes of the Advanced Race
George of Glenn divided the Advanced race based on their special abilities in order to better use them and to arrange as to how one ability can complement the other. To do so, George divided the Advanced Race into three types: Paramecia, Logia and Zoan.
Logia: Rarest of the three bloodline limits classes and considered by many to be the most powerful. Logia are elemental users. They are capable of producing as well as controlling certain elements. Logia users are also had their own body partially composed of that certain element that they control. As such, they're almost invulnerable to conventional damage (as long as they weren't caught off guard), though they can still get injured-particularly when they were hit by opposing element. At which case, there are two methods for recovery: the conventional medical process… or absorbing elements from nature itself; in some extreme case, it render Logia user virtually immortal (Example: Goud Veia: Water-Breath of Seiryuu). A popular method to see if one is of Logia is by inflicting a small cut upon the prospect and then see what element their blood assume (example: Ignis bleeds Lava for being a Logia type of Lava). The elements are not limited to only the basic elemental (Fire, Water, Earth, Wood, Metal) but also other substances. In some cases, they may not be element at all, more like an unseen force of nature like gravity, light, or pressure. Example: Dearka-Logia-Gravity control, Yzak-Logia-Unknown.
Paramecia: The most common, but also the most erratic and unpredictable. The Paramecia bloodline limits are abilities which change a limb or an organ (like just the arm or the legs or just the eyes) or in some cases, it affects the whole body, allowing them to use special abilities. Sometimes the change can be so extreme that it alter the user's appearance completely, sometimes the change is also subtle to the point of no change at all. Regardless of these changes however, unlike Logia, Paramecia user's body is still composed of normal flesh and blood, whereas Logia users' body are partially composed of elements. As such, they're not completely invulnerable – yet they're also not as vulnerable as Logia users either. Their special powers give them an edge against normal naturals, and if used right… they can prove to be more useful than even Logia or Zoan. But other than that, Paramecia give no boost whatsoever beyond what Advanced race's naturally high physical stat can give. It's use in combat will be based solely on the user's creativity. The activation of the special ability of this class is also different: in some type, it requires a conscious activation from the user (active), in other cases; they remain active forever (passive). Examples: Nichol Amarfi: Body type-Supersonic speed-passive. Shiho Hahnenfuss: Eye type-Liquid Vision-active. Kira Yamato: Eye type-Unknown.
Zoan: Bloodline Limits that can transform its users into a different species. All Zoan users can assume three forms: the normal human form, the full beast form, and the half human half beast form. Advanced who fall under the category of Zoan all have increased physical capability such as sharper senses, increased strength and stamina, increased regenerative powers-in some cases to the point of instant regeneration in all forms, much higher than that of normal Advanced, even those who came from Logia. Zoan users are counted among the most powerful warrior of the Advanced Race, as far as physical strength goes. Worse, they can further increase that strength by training or inclusion of martial arts. The problem is that the use of Zoan user's ability is extremely taxing upon the user's body. The transformation process into a half beast state consume a lot of calories, even more so when transforming into full beast; so when done too often will left the user exhausted, or sometimes, in the most extreme case, it means shortening their lifespan. Another side-effect is extreme hunger. Zoan users were left at famished state after rigorous activity in their bestial form, requiring them to consume grotesque amounts of food for sustenance. Lastly, is the risk of inescapable Beast Out. There are times when using their powers, the Zoan users became overwhelmed by their animalistic urges, dampening all rationality, reducing their thought into animalistic instincts. With discipline, the effects can be contained, even controlled. But over time, it'll be harder and harder to pull back, and the user's appearance became more and more bestial, until at last the man was expunged, only the beast remained. Example: Viral Nikopol: Canine type: Wolf. Ragnos Aurochia: Mammal type: Auroch (ancestral species of the modern day bull), Athrun Zala: Unknown.
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So yeah, I know, I used the classes of One Piece's Devil Fruit. But it kinda fits the story. And I'm trying to make them more realistic (with their limitations. E.g.: Logia is not as invincible as the OP world, Paramecia is less bizarre, Zoan has stamina setback) so there won't be any weird bloodline limit (at least I'm trying to make it within the constraint of rationality and my sanity) and not as wacky (and maybe not as interesting) as the original One Piece abilities.
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A trailer for the next chapter:
"People don't get the liberty to make a lot of choices these days."
"You realize that's suicide kid?"
"Nothing new there." Neil raised his hand in understanding.
Hitchhiker's guide when going to the island of the Undead
"Damn… this place stinks!" Mwu groaned.
Rule no. 1:
"Just stick together and we'll be fine." Kage instructed. "And don't get lost!"
Don't get LOST!
Kage quickly noted: "Oh… shit… I'm lost."
Rule no. 2:
"YEEEEEEEHAAWWW!" Lowe cheered Kage on.
Don't be NOISY!
"The natives are getting restless." Kage pointed at an incoming stampede of the rampaging dead.
"Ah… Oopsie?" Lowe remarked innocently while everyone glared angrily at him.
Rule no. 3:
"There's nothing here but corpses and bones!"
There is NO corpse!
A maggot ridden knight burst out of his grave, roaring.
"AAAAAAAAHH!"
And rule no. 4:
Kage had just finished with one knight, another quickly lunged at him from behind.
Above all: don't get KILLED – you DON'T stay DEAD for long.
The shinobi quickly sent the fireball forward and incinerate every rising undead caught in its path.
The first chapter of the new Chronicle:
Boy Devil meet Girl Witch
"Ara? Ararara!"
"Haro! Haro! Teyandee!"
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The next chapter… the long awaited moment is finally here.
Sing Hallelujah everyone!
HAAAA-AAALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAAHHH!
