Chapter 12: Opening night
In the course of the hours that seemed to pass by extra slowly for Salamander and Alexander, they managed to kill three of the crew mates who all tried to be heroes. One was brave enough to take up arms against Alexander, but soon found out that it was a mistake that would find him overboard with jagged metal lodged in his skull. In light of the events, Rachel was in view and it was not in a state of happiness, though it brought a huge grin to Sal's face.
The ground below was littered with hundreds if not thousands of corpses. Buildings were in shambles, the sky was dark with black clouds and behind the city at the temple, Chaos stood with a white lance in his hand raised to the sky. It let a fierce roar as the silver knight Precor Deus behind Chaos faded away into a sparkling dust, leaving a long trail as the wind blew the particles away.
Sho and Three stood side by side, both sporting battle damage to their bodies and gear. Ahead of them were three women dressed in white attire. A wanderer, shura and a shaman stood before the two, all breathing hard with rips and tears in their outfits with blood coming from them to match. The air around them was tense, their eyes all locked onto each other and slight silence filled the area with the exception of distant roars of fire. Three's face could only be described as a hard stone with no emotion at all, just the killing intent blazing in his crimson eyes. Sho on the other hand sported his smug smirk, tossing the dagger back and forth between his hands.
"Well ladies, I propose we end this little draw of ours, for you see we now have you out numbered, out classed and unless you have another Deus you want to throw out at us, you're beat. Surrender and we can talk about the conditions of your lives." Sho broke through the silence.
They looked to each other for a moment, suddenly feeling multiple presences around them. One by one members of the assassin guild appeared around them. Some on the ground, others in buildings as well as on top of structures, they stood ready with weapons armed and attitudes to match.
"Lady Tira…It is over. We cannot face them with Chevalier De Argent destroyed." The shura spoke, already powering down her spirit spheres.
"We…We must fight! We cannot allow them to win!" Tira tried to argue until a hand touched hers.
"No lady, we have been bested. Maybe the ancients have a better plan for us…We must carry on with faith and end this bloodshed." The wander explained while dropping her spiked whip.
Tira felt tears well up in her eyes, it was the bitter and awful taste of defeat and she hated every moment of it. She bit down hard, clenching her hand around her guardian shura's hand.
"Marie, Kagami, I truly thank you for staying with me through this time, I certainly hope you will be safe in your lifetime." Tira's voice shakily let out while she let go of Kagami's hand, drew a massive amount of energy from the two of her guardians and placed it into the dagger she had tucked away under her flowing white and gold dress.
The blade erupted forward with energy, creating a pseudo sword. She released a war cry, running for both Sho and Three. The two stood down and turned their backs simultaneously knowing full well that she wouldn't reach any further. Sudden movements caused dust and sand to fly around the area as the assassin guildies all made their way for Tira. Marie cried out for Tira, but Kagami held her back, knowing well they would do to them what they were about to do to their leader.
The sheer number of people that surrounded Tira was staggering. Blood flew into the air before most of them could even land. Their movements were swift, they decapitated the body in a matter of seconds before disbanding and letting it fall to the ground in a bloody mess. Marie turned in a hurry, burying her face in Kagami's chest to let the tears flow. Three snapped his fingers as a shadow shot from under his body, slid under Tira's and engulfed it before returning under his.
"So Seki, this was pretty successful, what do you plan on doing with this place anyway?" Three inquired while leaning back onto a broken ivory pillar.
"I'm going to share it with you and your boys Three. I'm only interested in the city, the temple, sanctuary and all of the underground workings are yours to do whatever you want with. The city however will be my new strong hold for my guild." He said while looking into the sky just as the airship came into view. "Speak of the devil."
The gigantic ship lowered down onto the ground and the crew aboard released anchors into the sand below. Sal and Alex jumped over into what could easily be described as hell. Sho turned to Marie and Kagami and raised his hand to them.
"From today on, you two are properties of the Advents, should you dispute this fact, and I'll show you what a dark shura can do to human flesh." He walked to the both of them and touched them on the shoulders.
A symbol appeared on Marie's neck and Kagami's left leg although it wasn't the same symbol the rest of the crew were sporting, it was another symbol that was found on bodies in the old days.
"That symbol there is proof that I allow you to live, to breathe and to walk. You no longer have a life of your own; your life is what I say it is. As your first duty, you will gather all of the people we left alive and separate the citizens from the special jobs people. Understood?" He questioned them with a voice so cold they shivered in terror.
"Yes master…" Marie spoke first, running back towards the city.
"Of course m-master." Kagami said after, running after Marie while holding the various feelings in.
In the main city the warp portal opened just as the two were running by. Kuroi stepped out first and wasted no time grabbing Kagami by the throat and with his other hand, reared back for attack. Just as he was about to introduce his fist to her stomach, her slave symbol appeared and he released her to fall to her knees.
Jinsei stepped out and caught the last part of that little show and blink.
"Goodness mate, you guys don't fuck around do ya? It's like you have liquid go time in ya veins." He said, kicking a body from his feet.
Salamander and Alexander approached the now arriving Advents with a wave. Azu and Yumi finally stepped out and reveled in the destruction about them. The two who came by air, stepped into the group, both sporting satisfied looks on their faces.
"Aaaahh the smell of chaos and torment, I swear they should bottle it so I can dab it behind my ears after a shower!" Salamander joked while taking a deep inhale.
"I know! Soap just isn't manly enough anymore, it's gotta be eau de toilette. So where's the big boss at? Gotta meet him right?" Jinsei asked with a stretch.
"Who's the new meat?" Sal investigated the new warlock in his midst.
"Meat? Listen up buddy, my name is Jinsei and I'm-"
"I've already stopped caring. Come on, Sho must be at the temple, I saw Chaos back there with a new toy." He said while jumping on his new cart and taking off with a loud 'vrooom'
The others followed but Jinsei who lowered his eyes and swore. He kicked the body again and folded his arms before following behind.
Behind the city at the barely standing temple, Sho, Three and some of the assassin guild posted up around the temple. They sat at various points, resting up after the city wide massacre. Sho looked up at his squad and lifted his hand to signal them to come closer as he stood to meet up.
"Took you bastards long enough… What's with the cart and who's the new guy?" Sho asked while pulling a shard of glass from his arm he had neglected to get before.
"Oh you like? It's a little souvenir from Juno and it has some extensive benefits that I believe will help cause some good old fashion devastation." Sal responded.
"I see, so that means Juno won't be a tourist hot spot for years to come." Sho retorted with a chuckle.
"Wait a minute! You took down Juno!?" Jinsei asked with great surprise. "Holy shit…"
"Again…Who the hell are you?" Sho asked, now growing impatient for his answer.
"Oh uh, Jinsei Ginjiheim, Warlock extraordinaire. I was locked up in a high security cell in the mage guild, but your little troupe here found me and gave me an invite. I even took down Geffen tower for ya boss. Oh and let's not forget my so called fiancée Yumi who obviously never mentioned me." Jinsei answered before glaring at Yumi who was looking down in disgust.
"…Fiancée? No I suppose she never has mentioned you…Not that I really care though. I guess if Kuroi hasn't blown your insides all over the place, you must be worth something. At any rate, we've created a large gap in Prontera's forces. Some of the Assassins are scouting for me and they reported that the king has sent his lead Royal guard and a team to Juno to investigate as well as His lead Rune knight and his squad to Geffen. According to Seban's previous report, he still has a few more people at his disposal, but they're just minor obstacles. Now it's time to partake in the next act, the act of causing mental discord." Sho explained while walking towards the temple.
The others followed and Three rallied his men together to hear the next step of the plan. With the summer festival starting in the morning, Prontera will never know the events about to transpire. The foundation of the royal family was about to shook violently to make sure everything fell out of place for them.