Montalo started to dance a little jig on the floor and all the miners began to bob their heads and clap their heads.They began to pound on the tables and one even took out a harmonica to play along.
"My brothers! We sing to victory! We sing to heroes! We sing for life!" shouted Montalo. "Let us sing our favorite song!"
All the miners threw their hands in the air, raising frothy mugs of beer or their bottles and gave a loud deep cheer. Then all at once they began to clap or pound their fists on the wooden tables like it was a drum. Montalo got up on a large oak table and began to dance wildly, his form turned into an almost comedic pose as his large body moved to the quick beat which lead into the song. At first only Montalo sung, but all the miners started to join in, forcing Oni and Han to follow and sing with them.
The sound of strong drunken men was surprisingly well practiced, and they raised their mugs in the air to the beat and pounded their hands at quick quarter tempo. The harmonica went wild and played quick as lightning in the same drunken manner of the men, beckoning them on. They jumped, danced, drummed and sung like proud men as they sung in chorus:
Over the hills and far away
We work night and day
Men of men we are!
To beer ho Falara!
Falara rala hurrah ya!
In town or field
We work night and day
Strong of strong we are!
To beer ho Falara!
Falara rala hurrah ya!
Oh! Sweet reward!
We work night and day
Boozers of boozers we are!
To beer ho Falara!
Falara rala hurrah ya!
Men of men
To beer ho Falara!
Falara rala hurrah ya!
Strong of strong
To beer ho Falara!
Falara rala hurrah ya!
Brother sing it again!
Of the work in night
Of the work in day
Men of men we are!
To beer ho Falara!
Falara rala hurrah ya!
Wede hurrah ya lota!
In the night, in the day
Falara rala hurrah ya!
Strong of strong we are!
Falara rala. Falara rala!
Falara rala! Holla yah!
Holla ya! Hurrah ya!
The drunken singing was complete with some cheering and clanging of mugs as the drums ended with one loud slam from the 8 drummers and one loud burst from the harmonica. Montalo jumped down from the table and laughed after.
"You are recognized as men among men!" Montalo shouted as he slammed his heavy hand onto the back of Oni, nearly knocking him over. "You are welcome to the Clan Arush! We are men of men and you are to! Let's celebrate with another round of beers!"
All the miners broke into cheer and Montalo signaled the waitress to bring out a keg, his arms thrust wildly in the air over his head, "Sanni! Bring it! Tonight we celebrate our brothers!"
Han gasped and stared, "They are nuts!"
Oni smiled and gave Han a strange look, "He said to enjoy ourselves, we are the saviors after all." Han looked at Oni and stared with disbelief. Oni got a mug of booze and drank it down.
"Hey, Han. You're the wild one, so quit acting like me and drink away your troubles."
Han smirked and jumped up onto the table, his voice was soft and sounded sweet like a woman's, but he drank his mug in a single gulp and called out to Montalo, "Come on! Let's sing it again!"
The sound of the drunken chorus of men filled the tavern as everyone joined in, even Sanni started to clap her hands along. The barkeep smirked and watched from behind the bar, but one noticeable absence was the bouncer who had disappeared. Oni realized it and became troubled, that bouncer was not a bouncer and these miners were actually mercenary hunters. They were a nomadic clan who were definitely powerful and can beat almost anything thrown against them.
As Han danced and his long hair bounced around and his tall form weaved around on the table, dancing to the beat and occasionally slamming into the muscular body of Montalo. The two were already friends, the way they looked at each other as they sung and danced in unison showed that Montalo had whole heartedly welcomed Han into their clan.
When the song was finished everyone drank from their mugs until it was empty and each one let out a gasp for air and cheered. Montalo slapped Han on the back, "Welcome to the clan, Han Akasugi."
Oni's eyes widened and he froze in his seat, his eyes fixed on Montalo with suspicion. This drunken burly man knew who Han was, but he nor Han had ever introduced themselves.
"Oh? Oni Akasugi! Come here and celebrate with us!" called out Montalo.
Oni's eyes narrowed and shot Montalo the evil eye before he rose and walked out of the tavern. The door closed behind Oni and silence ruled the tavern. Montalo scratched his cheek and blinked, "Well. What a kill joy!"
Han seemed obvious to what had made Oni mad, but he was too buzzed to care. "Hey, Montalo? Another round for another song!"
Oni walked down the street and noticed something in the shadows. Something lept into the air and disappeared behind a corner. Oni chased after the suspicious man, but as soon as he rounded the corner a man clothed in black lashed out at him suddenly with a sword. Oni went low and dodged, delivering a powerful hit to the man's stomach. The suspicious man flew back and coughed, but quickly regained composer and spoke, "The siren spoke to me…sang my name…her longing…the child will be born…to an angel without care for love or loss."
Oni blinked, confused by what the man spoke and the figure stood perfectly still. He smiled from behind his black face mask like Miko's and pulled it down revealing the face of a member of SOLDIER Oni once knew.
Oni's eyes widened as the man struck out, thrusting the sword at him, "I have lost the path before me! The one behind will lead me!"
The figure back flipped and bounced around Oni. This unnatural movement was superhuman and yet familiar, sword thrusts from the darkness in all directions. Oni was unprepared and almost defenseless. The sword cut through his trench coat and into his chest, but blood was barely drawn.
Oni leapt back and the figure pursued in perfect sync with his own movement, predicting, countering and swinging. The shadowy man stabbed Oni in the chest with three quick jabs before he landed on the ground again. Blood started to trickle down. Oni raised his hands to defend himself, but the figure slipped into the seemingly infinite darkness of the night and five quick jabs cut into his back from behind. He turned to face the red eyes of a demon, its figure contorted and shrouded in its own pure darkness that seemed to completely hide its figure in the shadow.
Oni ran, but the feeling of pins sticking into his body accompanied each step, the pain grew and grew. Adrenaline surged in his body, this demonic monster disguised toyed with him, pushing him and terrorizing him. Then the image of Sephiroth entered into his mind, the proud general of the Midgar-Wutai war. Oni let his mind go and remembered how to fight like Sephiroth. He became Sephiroth.
His eyes widened, pupils growing unnaturally large, drawing in the light. Oni pulled out a small pistol from his trench coat, his last resort weapon. Turning to face the fiend before him he saw the insect-like hell demon with six swords and three mouths. It had four sickly red eyes that blinked in sets of two. The horror bobbed and weaved, thrusting rapier sword points at Oni, but this time he was ready. Using his gun he pointed at the demon's hand and fired into one of the six hands, the sickly black claw holding the sword exploded and green blood spilled forth, the bullet proceeded and entered the body and exploded, blasting a six inch cavity into the demon.
The monster let out a human-like scream, but it was sick and gruesome, the hair on Oni's neck prickled and his ears sung as the cry echoed in Kalm. The beast recoiled and jumped into the air, realizing it was seen now. The demon stabbed the swords down on Oni, making him duck for cover, but the rapiers still prickled his back, this time the wound was deep and pierced his lung.
Oni gasped for air and hobbled against the wall of the building, he was hurt bad, but he took aim and fired at the demon's eye and the bullet entered the soft eye and exploded into the back of its head, blasting apart its face. The hollow-point explosive rounds were disgusting to use, but very effective at killing just about anything at these ranges. The demon's sickly green blood splattered his trench coat and began to burn through. Oni quickly grabbed his trench coat by his right hand and ripped it off, exposing his powerful chest and proceeded to throw the trench coat onto the demon's head in one swift movement.
With the god-like speed of all SOLDIER he quickly jumped back into the air and fired three shots into the trench coat covering the demon's head. The first round exploded into the chest and blew off one of its arms. The second and third hit the two legs and blew considerable holes into them. The demon let out a scream of pain. It fell to the ground, dropping two of its four swords and using his hands below his abdomen as feet, lunged at Oni during his descent. Already predicting where he would land, it thrust out two awaiting swords, ready to impale Oni in the air.
Oni smirked and fired the sixth round in the chamber and it hit the pocket of his trench coat and set of the grenades inside his coat. The demon exploded as its limbs, back and head were blown off in the resulting explosion. The explosion blew Oni back another thirty feet, but still he landed on his feet easily and pocketed the emptied pistol into his belt. His leather hide pants were outfitted with a dagger, two ammo belts and a small collection of throwing knives. Although he was heavily armed he did not use the dagger or knives at any point, they were in memory of his comrades who died before him and they were embedded into his pants as a reminder of what it means to be a SOLDIER. Should he die he dies with his brothers, even if alone.
Oni grabbed the rapier from the demon's claw and held it in his hands, this was an ancient blade. Though no markings were present on the blade it was no doubt designed for stabbing and not slashing. As he examined the blade it suddenly burst into pieces and the demon's body and weapon started to compress and it became a piece of materia.
Oni picked up the sickly green materia and held it in his hands. He began to examine it, but sure enough this was real. The materia glowed brightly in his hands, it was as big as his fist and cold to the touch. Just then the thought of Sephiroth entered his mind, but it was not strong.
"He's alive…this is his proof. It must be his materia."
Oni smirked and wondered why Sephiroth never spoke to him, but only to his brother Han. Han was considerably weaker then him, but why would it be that the weakest of the three have the ability to hear the will of Sephiroth? Oni smirked and laughed as he headed towards the cottage, "AVALANCHE tried to destroy the world and Sephiroth was blamed by them for it. No matter what Rufus says can change the fact that AVALANCHE nearly destroyed everything 11 years ago. He'll come back and take his rightful place as head of Shinra now."
Oni believed that Sephiroth would return and lead a divine punishment against those who opposed him and destroy the true destroyers of Midgar, AVALANCHE. As he climbed up the steps to the cottage, Han came running up at a quick pace. Han looked as if he ran the entire way.
"Oni! Tomorrow! Montalo is going to attack Aurum. He wants us to come and take him out." panted out Han between breaths.
Oni headed inside with a nod and a, "Okay. At dawn." Han ran down the road back towards the tavern to tell Montalo. The cloudless night began to change. The clouds rolled in from the east, over the mountains they came. A powerful storm was brewing once more.