Fixed some mistakes, Re-Upload.
17
Two days after the reunion in the Dark Castle, of which Oyan didn't know, the north gunslingers started to trace up a plan against the vampires that were already preparing themselves to fight against them. They were bringing weapons and armors from their native lands, taking extremely care in them. Their paths were guarded by experimented gunslingers capable of staying hours awake using the drugs that the spy gave to them. Said spy was trying to find the young gunslinger but all his efforts where in vain. Nidhoggr wasn't able to find it yet because the child's scent suddenly vanished from the air and his first ability, as a vampire, was to track his preys with the sense of smell. He didn't think that other vampires could actually make it disappear since it was too difficult, even for them. He thought that someone was helping them, but couldn't think of anyone who could erase scents like that.
On the other hand was the prisoner. Nidhoggr was exhausted. He tried every damn drug on him and nothing worked; all of them made the prisoner feel dizzy, stupid or made them go to sleep, something that made Nidhoggr angry. He couldn't understand the man at all. How he could be so calm, so carefree? He was at the enemy's hands being tortured, injected with who knows what kind of drugs and yet, the prisoner was all but terrified. Oyan had injured him badly several times and has said he was going to cut off his hand or arm if he didn't answer his question but, to his and the other's surprise, he didn't care at all. Oyan, pissed at him, kicked the prisoner's face and left. Now, it was no different. He was still silent and quiet as a graveyard.
"Frustrated, aren't we?", said Alexander with a small smirk on his face.
That evening Oyan told Nidhoggr to go downstairs and see if he could do one last thing to retrieve the precious information the prisoner had within him. The spy had tried his last resorts and now the prisoner was mocking him.
"Yes, and very much.", answered the vampire, sighing in defeat. "I'm amazed at your high resistance to my drugs.", continued as he sat on a old, wooden chair. "My guess is that you aren't human at all, but aren't vampire either."
"Oh, how smart you are!", said Alexander, laughing under his voice, something that irritated Nidhoggr even more. "Even a child will know I'm not human or vampire."
"Don't make me hit you."
"Like I would care about that, after all you did to me.", the naked Terrennial laid on the cold floor, still tied up. "What are you going to do now?"
"I'm thinking."
Nidhoggr's patient was reaching its limit. One more comment and he was surely going to kill the prisoner. But Oyan then would be angry at him and probably end beaten up seriously, and he didn't want that. The vampire sighed.
"It's quiet strange to see a vampire under the orders of a human.", continued Alexander.
For the first time, Nidhoggr pulled down his face mask and smiled at Alexander, who could see his pair of shiny, white fangs. The vampire fixed up his glasses as he quietly sat on the chair, knowing that no one and nothing could hear him say this:
"Because he doesn't know I am a vampire, simple as that.", he answered. "I'm always covered up and often I use make up to hide my blue skin under these clothes.", added as he touched the fabric of his suit. "Unless someone tears up my clothes or removes my mask, Oyan will never tell I'm a vampire.", he laughed softly. "Besides, he will not believe you if you go and tell him that."
"Oh, I'm sure of it.", added Alexander with a wide smirk.
Both of them heard footsteps and one of the north gunslinger came into view. He arched his eyebrows at the weird scene but didn't ask anything, thinking the spy was interviewing the prisoner again for a hope of retrieving the information they needed.
"We found the machine.", simple said.
"Really?", Nidhoggr stood up and covered himself. Good thing the basement was pretty dark for the human to see his true identity. "Where it was?"
"Not so far from New Culiacan, buried. It needs some handiwork, but I think we will be able to---"
"No, no, no!", shouted the vampire. "I'm the only one that's going to touch and fix that machine, because I'm the one that knows how it works and all that, got it?", he fixed his glasses again, narrowing his eyebrows. "And if Oyan doesn't like it, tell him to fuck off."
Alexander chuckled softly.
"Don't laugh, dear friend.", said Nidhoggr. "The dark Swordsman, the Duke and his partner are going to be in deep shit after I fix that machine."
"….What machine?", Alexander was starting to panic and the spy noticed it, too.
"The Machine King of the Great Dragon of Earth, Nidhoggr.", answered seeing how the color of Alexander's skin left as he turned round and left with the gunslinger.
Alone in the dark and cold basement, the wind Terrennial bit his bottom lip. If the spy was referring to that machine, then Lucian and the other are going to be in a deep problem. And he couldn't do anything about it. Or so he thought, as an interesting idea went through his mind.
The Sun was still trying to bright with its light, but being almost covered up with the mountains wasn't helping it at all. A few pink, yellow and orange clouds were dancing on the sky. Near New Culiacan, more specific, under the dungeons of the ruined castle, there were many gunslingers working on a buried green and oxidized machine. When Nidhoggr arrived with Oyan, he smiled under his mask, feeling excited about the digging. The last time he had saw that thing was a few decades ago and now, being able to get his hands on it again, made him feel especial. He walked down in the pit and started to watch the huge machine already knowing where and how he had to fix it. It was going to be easy thanks to his brilliant brain and knowledge of alchemy, thing he learned after watching from safe places Stoker's and Sheridan's works at the Vambery and, of course, doing his own personal experience with it.
Besides, his dark powers were enough to fix this machine. After all, it was composed with Dark Matter and other vampire stuff of which Oyan and the others didn't know about. It was a good thing that they didn't know about his vampiric condition and didn't know anything about the prototype of Casket Armor that Stoker based off his own. If they did, then they would suspect about his information and, perhaps, find out he was a vampire. But since everything was going out good, Nidhoggr was happy to see all those humans unburying his old fighting friend. He just hoped the cannons worked still. They were a pain in the ass to fix and he didn't have enough patient for them right now.
"What do you know about this thing?", asked Oyan as he managed to catch the spy's speed.
"It was built decades ago by some Dark Tribe.", answered quietly. "We don't need help from the dark powers from vampires because, after all this time, the dark energy within this machine has died.", he petted the dirty surface and turned to Oyan. "With this, vampires are going to be in serious problems."
"How long it will take you to fix it?"
"To the original, probably months, but since it's for only a war, I think I could work on it several days and have it ready for the next four days."
Oyan arched his eyebrows, amazed. He smiled slyly.
"How in hell are you going to do it? It's humanly impossible for you to do it, especially at such young age like you."
"Shhh, Oyan.", said Nidhoggr, feeling a faint energy coming from the machine, as if the object recognized it's one and sole master. "Sometimes humans do the impossible before situations like this.", without the gunslinger noticing, the vampire put a blood circle on the surface of the machine that faded soon after he finished.
"How it went with the prisoner?", asked instead. If the spy knew how to work on the machine, Oyan didn't mind the rest. It was going to be their card under their sleeve if the vampires managed to reduce his army drastically.
Nidhoggr sighed angrily.
"Nothing. He is pissing me off with that attitude, but there is nothing more I can do right now."
"Damn it…", cursed Oyan. They heard some loud noises and both of them turned around. One group could unbury the head of the machine that resembled to a dragon. The two light bulbs that once were the eyes of it were completely gone, and the vampire knew he was going to have a lot of hard work. Good thing was that Oyan might give him some gunslingers to work on his old machine. "Seems that they are going to take it out in less time we had foreseen."
"I can't wait…", mumbled the vampire under his mask watching how the big jaw of the machine opened lightly. "I can't wait…"
They had to pick up each part individually. It was too large and too big to be carried in a single piece. Nidhoggr didn't mind since he knew how to assemble each piece. The problem was that the local Guild building wasn't big enough to put such huge piece of metal, so they resolved it by putting each part of the machine on the field behind the building, which was big enough to put all of it. Besides, the vampire could cover the whole thing up with his alchemy and no one could possibly know what he was doing inside. The only thing they will see will be the huge, black orb surrounding his work space. The more he thought about it, the more he grew excited about it.
In truth, he had forgotten about it for a few years. He had discovered it five years before working under the orders of the north gunslinger, but since at that time didn't know anything of alchemy he couldn't dig out his machine and doing it by himself would take more than five years. He remembered the times he had used it against the Solar Child that tried to save Sabata from Ratatosk's hands. The puppeteer had put all his trust on him due that the Count and Hresvelgr failed at killing him. After fighting with Sabata, the boy ended up so injured that almost died after being purified. Ratatosk took advantage of this and left it to The Beast of Destruction's will, since it needed his blood to revive. Instead of just taking his blood, it also started to take over Sabata's body to make its power grow to higher levels and be almost invincible. Just after that, they managed to trap the Solar Child and put it inside the Sealed Prison, where he was left to die alone. Nidhoggr smiled. Maybe he could go there and put some withered flowers on his tomb. He was sure the Solar Child would appreciate it.
The last piece was put on the ground along with the others. The vampire made some strange circles on all the perimeter of the field and after putting a small blood drop from his own, all circles began to work. They raised thick, black energy walls that engulfed the entire field. Now, he could work alone and in peace. Oyan made his man leave the field and stayed to talk with Nidhoggr about the machine and the things he needed to repair it.
"First I need to see what's missing.", answered the vampire as he started to open up the machine, part by part. "I will do a list and give it to you so then you can go and find all the materials I need."
"How long it will take you?"
Nidhoggr shrugged.
"Between six to eight hours, I think."
"So, tomorrow morning you should be finished.", the vampire nodded. "Alright. I will give you some pen and paper. If you need anything else, just call me."
The vampire saw the leader walk off as he left him to do his work. Nidhoggr opened the first wire panel and sighed angrily. All the wires were bitten and oxidized, the screws, buttons and all that was completely unused. He feared that he would have to rebuild from zero, and that was going to take more than four days. It would probably take almost a full week, if not two. He took the panel and threw it on the air, not really caring about it right now. He could restore it after he had fixed all the internal composition with the alchemy. Opening a second panel not so far from the first, he managed to step inside the machine. It was the part where it had the first pack of cannons, all of them completely gone or too destroyed to be used again. Another problem on the list, thought Nidhoggr as he walked inside. The machine was originally built for diving and swimming in the sea, thus not having wheels or legs to walk on solid ground but since the war that was coming is going to be on solid ground, he thought it would be better if the machine could crawl on it like a snake or close. That mechanism would take a few hours, at last a day to do it. A third thing to add in the list.
Around three in the morning, Nidhoggr could hear some wing's flap in the silence of the night. Curious, he stopped his work on the head of the machine and jumped on the ground. Since no one has come to visit him for the last three hours, the vampire took off some of his clothes to work more freely. It was a high risk, but he hated having too much clothing while having his hands on wires, metal and such things.
He heard those wings again and walked to the center of the field, looking up. Even though it was pure black, from the inside of the field he was able to see the outside while the ones on the other side couldn't see what was happening inside the black barrier. Nidhoggr saw a black figure fly pass above the barrier, like if it was examining it. The figure had four visible wings and a long and dangerous spiked tail. Growing more and more curious, the vampire used his alchemy to create an earth elevator, slowly getting closer to the barrier and that weird figure. He could hear again the flap of its wings, flying in circles over the barrier, not knowing what to do.
Suddenly, the figure landed and Nidhoggr jumped in surprise as he saw the tall figure walking on the barrier. It walked on it, from here to there, caressing it with its long tail, knocking on it with the spikes of its tail. It was trying to get in! Nidhoggr panicked. He didn't know who was the enemy and didn't know its power, he was defendless until it broke the barrier, but if was one of the allies from the Dark Swordsman, he was going to be in serious problems if the enemy managed to, at last, have a peek on the machine. Desperately, the vampire made a bubble with his alchemy. Whispering some words in it, he let the bubble fly quickly inside the Guild. He hoped that it reached Oyan soon.
He heard a soft growl coming from the outside as well some more knocking, this time harder than before. Nidhoggr translated himself with the earth elevator under the black figure, who was using its own powers to break the barrier. The most terrifying fact was that the enemy was succeeding at it. If Oyan didn't present himself in the next five minutes, the enemy was going to easily get in and alert the other that they were trying to repair the old dragon machine.
"…it's leaving?", whispered Nidhoggr to himself in a very, very low voice. The figure, maybe tired of trying to open the barrier, opened its wings and flew away, making the vampire sigh in relief.
Just minutes after, Oyan came with some of his men, all of them with guns and weapons to attack the enemy. Nidhoggr thanked to be at such high height, he wouldn't know what to do, then. He explained what happened and the leader ordered that two to four groups started to patrol all the perimeter of the Guild, as well as the roof of the building to protect the area of the vampire. Nidhoggr knew it was related to Lucian's group, but didn't know of anyone, except the Duke, that had wings. Could it be that he managed to find allies, and one of them was ordered to come here and see what they were doing? It could be. If Oyan had him, why the others couldn't have their own spy between the gunslingers? Nidhoggr knew Oyan needed to put more and more security around the building if he didn't want anyone or anything coming in or out, especially the prisoner.
No one came in the rest of the night so, when the first sun's ray came above the mountains, Nidhoggr had already finished reviewing all the machine, knew what was missing and what he needed to replace those missing things. He was tired, hard to admit, but still with energies to keep working. Thanks to the drugs he developed while he lived in the north, he could go for all the time necessary he needed to complete his duty. But to what he wasn't ready for was for the particularly visit of the prisoner, around noon, completely dressed up in some of the gunslinger's clothes and with his wrists tied up. Nidhoggr stopped his actions and looked at him, surprised, as the prisoner walked around the huge machine, watching it and, perhaps, thinking about it.
"How the fuck did you manage to leave the basement?", asked the vampire to Alexander, who smiled.
"I had 'renounced to my principles and, after I saw all the evil the vampires are doing to this planet, allowed Oyan to make me a better man.'", answered.
Nidhoggr busted into loud laughs.
"He believed that?", Alexander nodded. "Gods, he is so naïve!"
"Oh, more than I thought.", said as he got closer to the vampire.
"So…", said Nidhoggr, playing with a wrench. "Now you are the new spy within this Guild?"
"You could say.", Alexander petted the rough surface of the oxidized machine.
"What if I go and tell him you haven't renounced to your principles? That, instead, you are just playing with him?"
"I don't care what you tell him. After you stopped giving me those nasty drugs, I feel more fresh and, believe me, for your own safe and the others, it's better to just shut up.", warned the wind Terrennial. "I'm probably stronger that those gunslingers together, and perhaps even than you."
Nidhoggr glared at him, but didn't say anything. He turned around, focusing into his machine.
"Oh, you know I'm right, but you don't want to admit it. Because you haven't seen me fight and don't know my name or who I am at all, you prefer not risk your life."
"True.", answered the vampire under his breath. "And what are you going to do about it? Oyan will not let you go outside the Guild for a while. You are as helpless as me."
Alexander laughed softly.
"So true, so true… But, I have my ways to leak information from this place, as you have yours to retrieve it."
Nidhoggr growled, eyeing the man with such fury that the Terrennial could feel it in the air.
"Well, I have better things to do now.", said Alexander, turning around and leaving. "I will leave you to work alone and in peace."
"You better!!", screamed the vampire, shaking the wrench in his left hand. "Heavens, I hate him so much!!", said as he kicked the machine.
Knowing that the stupid Oyan trusted the prisoner's words was the worst thing that could happen to Nidhoggr. Between this and the strange visit from last night, he knew that something was going to end up screwed. He knew very well that some information it's going to leak as he has his own recourses to do it and needed a way to stop that leaking. If Lucian and the others knew about his machine, then Oyan and his men are going to be in deep problems, and very big ones. At last, the prisoner was going to be held captive within the Guild and there was not much he could do. Besides, now working for Oyan, it was needed a name. Nidhoggr hoped that the prisoner had revealed his true name, instead of giving a fake one, but there were more possibilities of him drowning that giving it out. The vampire laughed softly as he continued to work. This twist in the situation was going to be very interesting.
Alexander returned to the building after talking with the spy, of which's name he didn't know yet. It was fun to see that he or the other didn't know each other's name, which was good, in a way. The Terrennial needed to keep up this fake betraying towards the others in order to inform them about the gunslingers, but he didn't know if he could go out and fight against Lucian and Aaron without notifying them first. The advantage he had was that he could call any owl or bird to make them deliver his message to them, which was easy. The hardest part was going to surpass the spy's barrier. He was going to do anything at his hand to prevent that message from escaping the Guild. And if it did, he was going to chase it until having his hands on it.
The Terrennial reunited in Oyan's office, to where he was heading after leaving the field, and found him resting on a chair with other two men. Alexander thought that they must be Oyan's closest members inside his Guild and the ones he trusted more. The three of them turned around to watch him walk inside and close the door with his left foot.
"It's amazing you didn't get lost out there.", said the one on Oyan's left. "I assume it isn't your first time inside the Guild."
"You assumed right.", answered Alexander. The man was the same height as Oyan, but with tanner skin, dark eyes and short, brown hair. He was wearing the same outfit as everyone in the Guild but had a bullet belt around his waist with a silver revolver in its case. The Terrennial supposed the bullets were made of pure silver; a useful element towards werewolves, which were as many as vampires were, though not on the East lands. Werewolves are seen most on the North and West lands.
"How do you know it, then?", the man took out his revolver and started playing with the roulette.
"I used to come here in the past.", like when the spy and Oyan wanted to retrieve the information, he was giving short answers, only giving out the necessary information. "After all, my… companions were the ones living and working here."
Oyan smiled. It seemed he started liking Alexander more and more for an obvious reason that the Terrennial didn't know yet. He was still surprised when the man came and started relating things that happened in the North lands and things he already knew that happened in the last war. After arguing with him and admitting that Oyan was right, just because he thought he could use the new position as a gunslinger to his advantage, Alexander said he would help him in the war after realizing he was wrong and faking some psychic upheaval on finding out the 'truth'. He almost died laughing when Oyan accepted it. How naïve the man could be? But, on the other hand, Alexander also took in mind it could be another way to retrieve the information. From now, he needed to be extremely careful with his words. Could it be the reason for why Oyan smiled when he answered? He didn't want to know.
"Oh, I see, I see…", said the man, stopping the roulette. He put the revolver in his left hand and started playing with it again. The noise was starting to get annoying in the Terrennial's ears. "Oyan said you are a fierce warrior, is that true?"
"I would say yes, but it's up to you to believe it or not."
The other one, who was shorter, a bit over weighted and with dyed green hair, laughed between his yellow teeth. The man seemed to love smoking, drink coffee and not brush his teeth.
"In the North Guild, I'm the best in hand on hand combats. I'm the best with the sword!", he laughed again. "Not even that oh so called Dark Swordsman might even lay a cut on me!", the Terrennial tried hard to suppress his laugh. Was that man crazy? He hadn't meet swordsman better than Lucian. "If you call yourself a warrior and if you really want to help us and be a part in the Guild, you must first beat Marclar and me in a battle of the best."
Alexander grinned. He loved duels and fights. His hands twitched already in excitement.
"Weapons?", asked the Terrennial.
"Any type of gun.", said Marclar, putting the revolver inside the case again, much to Alexander's relief. The sound was starting to piss him off.
"Any type of sword.", said the fat one. Just then, Alexander noticed a black katana hanging from the man's waist.
"Rules?", the Terrennial eyed Oyan, who smirked.
"All is allowed. If you want to cheat, then do it.", answered the red-haired man. "After all, each fight will be like if you guys were fighting in a war, where everything it's possible."
"Everything?", repeated Alexander. "What if I 'accidentally' kill one of my opponents?"
Marclar laughed loudly.
"That will not happen because before you give the final hit all the other gunslingers will stop you, if not kill you if they need to."
Oh, kill as many gunslingers as he could in less than a minute? Alexander licked his lips. He was starting to like this place, and like it a lot.
"When do we start?", asked, excitedly.
"Patience, patience.", mumbled Oyan. "We have to look up a nice place for the show, because Spy it's using the field---"
"We can move the machine.", said Alexander immediately, cutting Oyan's sentence. "If he is as good as Sheridan in alchemy, creating a shield to protect that thing would be a piece of cake to him."
Marclar and the fat one, Recher, looked at their leader, who thought about it. After a few instants in silence, he smiled. Nodding, he told Alexander to leave.
"Wait, brat.", said Recher. The Terrennial turned around as his fingers twitched. He was far older than those arrogant and stupid men. He deserved more respect! "What's your name?"
"Alexis.", he smiled and turned again, leaving the office by opening and closing the door behind him.
The next day, around three in the afternoon, the field was settled for the upcoming fight between Alexander, Marclar and Recher. The machine was moved to the edge of the dark barrier and protected by Nidhoggr's alchemy. He was also there, sitting on an earth column to see the fight without him ending up injured by their attacks, as most of the gunslingers will get if they stayed too close from the field. There were two wooden walls with different types of swords and guns, and Marclar was already viewing the guns while Oyan and the other two needed to arrive to the field.
Most of the members were excited at the fight. The rookies and new members didn't know why they were going to fight or what for, but one thing was sure; they wanted to see how strong Oyan's strongest men were. All of them made their bets, even Nidhoggr, on who will win each match. Most of the gunslinger voted for Marclar or Recher, but some rookies voted for the new warrior, Alexis. After waiting almost half an hour, Oyan arrived with Alexander who was not tied up anymore. Recher was walking at Oyan's right, while the Terrennial eyed everyone on the field. The leader, additionally, brought three metal gauntlets for each participant. Alexander took a dark one, while the other two chose their favorite one.
Marclar already picked up his gun; it was another revolver that used solar energy instead of silver bullets that the one on his waist. Alexander thought if he was going to use it once the energy from it reached zero. The bullets were hard to make since on the north silver isn't as abundant as in the south. He would probably save it for real combats and werewolves. Recher stuck with his katana. He rejected Oyan's suggestions of using another type of sword to fight against the Terrennial. This made Alexander thinks that the man wasn't as good as he said with other swords. Otherwise, he would just picked up a sword and go to the field and fight. Even though that, the Terrennial was confident he was far stronger and have more experience with katanas than the fat guy. He had used his own for more than a century. Just to mock him, he chose another katana, slimmer and longer than Recher's one. As he thought, this action made the man lightly angry but made Marclar laugh as he waited at Oyan's left for his turn to fight.
The battlefield was a thirty-two feet square. The rest of the members were all around the field, most of them fighting with each other to try to get a nice place from where to see the fight between those men. Alexander took the katana firmly into his left hand. It was a shame they had taken his to who knows where. If he had his own weapon, he would easily beat the fat guy's ass without problem. He sighed knowing that, for the moment, couldn't do anything for it.
"Are you sure you want to use a katana like me?", asked Recher taking his own into his right hand.
"I'm positive.", answered Alexander. The only thing they allowed to keep using was the make up on his eyes. Most men didn't approve it and whispered nasty things under their breaths or behind Alexander's back each time they saw him. "I'm surprised that you haven't chosen a different sword from yours."
"Why would I? It's my weapon of choice. I grew up with this baby and will die with it."
The Terrennial felt that urge to start the fight already. He was trembling in excitement. Usually, he was a very calm and quiet person but when fights and combats are in, he couldn't suppress his instinctive nature; a natural killer. Oyan will need more than one hundred men to stop his assassination if he gets too excited in the fight. Alexander, as seeing he was starting to grow impatient, started to take deep breaths, trying to calm down.
"I can't believe he is already trembling!", he heard one say.
"Yeah! I bet he is too scared to move now! He looks cocky, but he is in deep shit with Recher."
The Terrennial growled. Oh, they were going to have a nice surprise once the battle starts.
Oyan gave the signal and the fight started.
Recher launched right after Alexander but the man dodged him quiet easily. The Terrennial's body was light and slim, much like every bird on the planet, and could move with such freedom that made most gunslingers gasp at his graceful movements. Recher was already getting pissed as Alexander noticed. Having your emotions rule your body was a fatal mistake.
"What?! Playing tag already, you shitty girl?!", shouted Recher when Alexander dodged, once again, one of his attacks. The crowd laughed aloud at the insult, but Oyan and Nidhoggr were silent, watching the fight carefully. "Why do you wear make up, anyway? Do you think you will attract a man like that, eh?!", said as he lifted his sword and slashed it.
Much to his and everyone surprise, Alexander took the blade into his right hand, the one with the gauntlet, and broke it effortlessly. He was pissed, very pissed off. Taking advantage of Recher's confusion and surprise, the Terrennial launched at him and kicked him to the ground, putting the tip of his blade over his eyes. The warrior's eyes were shining in such rage that Recher feared that Alexander would actually kill him if he say anything else related to his make up.
"And what if I like men?", said the Terrennial, playing with the tip of the blade on Recher's cheeks. "There is no more beautiful thing on this planet that love. And being able to feel it towards any gender it's amazing. Sadly, the ones like you can't understand that.", he made a small cut on his left cheek. "Maybe Oyan or the spy can answer your doubt about why I wear make up.", Oyan smiled as he remembered the first time he talked with him down in the basement. Feeling a sudden urge, Alexander's eye shone on a bright red as he buried the sword deeply in the ground, inches away from Recher's neck. "Now, go and pick another sword and finish this fight with me if you don't want to be killed.", ordered in a very deep voice causing the man to shiver. Most members in the crowd shivered too, scared of that new appearance of Alexander.
But Recher managed to smile, even if he was too scared to move.
"You can't kill me, or have you forgot Marclar's words from yesterday?", he gasped when the warrior put the sword perpendicular to his neck, even if it was half buried in the ground.
"Do you think I care about that? Oyan will need more than thousand men to get me."
"Then why have you been captured, eh?", Recher was going to far and he didn't know. Oyan was feeling the tension and Nidhoggr was as happy as ever with the prisoner.
"That time, I sacrificed myself so my companions could freely escape.", the edge of the blade touched Recher's neck, but no one moved to save him or shouted or said anything. "Even though now I'm one of Oyan's Guild, I will not renounce to my principles of warrior and I will never leave behind a man from my own pack.", he looked around. "If they want to come and save you or try to hit me for threaten you, then they are free to do so.", he grinned and licked his lips. "Thought they are going to end up either killed or dismembered, I don't know which is worst.", he pressed the blade down on Recher's neck, who gasped in fear. "Do you?"
"Ok, that's enough, Alexis.", said Oyan when he saw that Recher was going to add something to that comment. If he did, then Alexander was going to kill him right away. "Marclar, if you could---"
"I decline fighting with member Marclar.", announced Alexander putting away the katana so Recher could get up and run with his tail between his legs towards Oyan. "I don't know or can use any type of guns. I'm a mere swordsman and I wish not to learn other way of fighting." Marclar mumbled under his breath something that no one could decipher, not even Oyan who was right besides him. "Is this alright with Leader?"
"Yes, I allow it.", the gunslingers were surprised by this order and petition. If the Alexander didn't want to fight against Marclar, to who was going to? "But you still need to fight another powerful member from my Guild to be able to work with us."
Alexander eyed the spy, but he giggled.
"Ah, no, no, no!", said Nidhoggr, laughing. "I'm out of the question, since I'm not a warrior; I'm just an info broker."
"Ah, what a shame… I really wanted to fight you.", the Terrennial eyed Oyan. "If Leader it's alright with it, can I ask if he wants to test me?"
Oyan's eyes widened.
"I beg your pardon?", said instead.
"I'm asking if Leader wants to fight with me instead of Marclar, since I don't know how to use guns.", answered Alexander. "And if Leader knows how to use swords. In case he can't, then I will fight with anyone Leader wants me to."
Oyan smiled. It was the first time that someone wanted to fight with him not for the title of the Guild or to prove who is stronger, but rather just to have a nice time. Warriors like Alexander were extinct. Gunslingers and such only wanted to show their weaponry and how strong were they with it. They didn't know the techniques or anything else but aim and shot.
"I allow it.", said Oyan as he dropped his guns to the floor and took a simple sword from the wooden wall. Marclar was stupefied, not really believing it. "I really like your way of thinking. I haven't met a warrior like you in ages."
"You are only in your thirties.", said Alexander. "You have a long way to go still."
"You don't see to be much older than me."
"Oh, you should be surprised how appearance cheats the eye.", the Terrennial sighed, his hands trembling again. Oyan knew the man was growing excited, though he didn't know why. "Shall we start?"
Oyan gripped the hilt of the sword. He hissed, taking deep breaths. If he wasn't careful, he could end up dead. The man before him was a dangerous one and didn't see it until now. He was glad that he had it on his side. He would hate fighting him outside the Guild.
"As you please.", said Oyan as both of them launched towards each other.