Fort Ryū

The moon illuminated the way along a well-designed pathway cutting through Starfall Forest.

Thain had set the Foehammer down on the coast of Kijuka Bay, the capital's famous summer retreat. The Guild-hired hunters had expected some semblance of security there, a patrol or two perhaps, but there had been nothing of the sort. In fact, Thain expressed his belief that the Tenkai forces didn't even know they were here. One would think that a huge airship bearing the valiant red and gold sails of the Guild would be seen coming from miles away and that someone would alert the others to the danger, but -luckily for Dante and friends- there had been no response whatsoever, and they had been able to simply land their transport and get right to work, marching up the beach and into the clearing in the foliage that led into Starfall Forest.

"So far, so good, I'd say," Teiko mused optimistically as he, Ash, Ichiro, Ruby, Yumi, Dante, Alexis, April and Aaron (both of whom were holding hands), along with Irvine, Miyuki and the five black ops hunters, strolled at a steady pace though the fresh green undergrowth.

"...I can see now. Why they call it Starfall Forest, I mean. These things falling from the trees...they're beautiful," Ruby remarked, astounded, reaching out to gently touch the butterfly-like insects, which glowed a mesmerising phosphorescent white as they slowly descended from above, presumably from the trees overhead, to the ground, whereupon the lights faded as quickly as they had flared into being, the dead corpses of the insects lying still where they settled upon the ground, like snowflakes. Hundreds of them at once, in every tree, silent and slow (their descent from treetop to ground took approximately sixty seconds, as they fell incredibly slowly).

"Ghostwing Butterflies, they're called. Winged, but flightless. A unique species of Neopteron found only in Kijuka. They are bred by bigger, wingless versions of themselves, who come out from within the trees and spin the larvae into cocoons attached to the undersides of the leaves. When the butterfly within is ready to hatch, the cocoon falls away and the Ghostwing Butterfly is released. As it cannot fly, it falls slowly, slowly to the ground, and dies. So ephemeral, and yet so beautiful. This forest is protected by the Guild itself to preserve them," Irvine elaborated. Despite the amazing sight, the hunters soldiered on, not stopping for even a moment.

"You okay, sis?" Teiko asked Ash, who seemed a little cautious and nervous, glancing around feverishly at so much as the snap of a twig and the rustling of a bush.

"No. No, I'm not okay. There's someone here, Teiko, following us. I can feel it," Ash groaned.

And as if on cue, a small squad of five Tenkai soldiers leapt from the trees and landed blindingly fast before the hunters, startling them. However, as they rushed forward to attack, Miyuki reacted swiftly with an overhead kick, knocking two of the soldiers out for the count. The other three she quickly dispatched with further had-to-hand combat, slitting the throat of the last. A moment of silence followed, before the corpses were shrouded by puffs of grayish smoke. When it cleared, everybody's eyes widened at the sight of five stumpy blocks of wood that lay on the floor. They had been tricked.

"Great, it's the elite corps," Miyuki scowled sullenly. "Just when things were going seamlessly."

The hunters drew their weapons and braced for further out-of-the-blue ambushes, walking steadily forward as they did so; they weren't prepared to stay put and waste valuable time because of five slightly smarter infantry grubs. They had bigger fish to fry. They had an emperor to kill.

As they slowly covered ground, the five assailants, clearly well-versed in Ninjutsu, the signature skill of Tenkai's advance forces, attacked from the shadows once again, black five-pointed shurikens slicing through the crisp midnight air from who-knows-where, at least thirty of them, five or six aimed at each person in the hunters' party. They were throws well, but Dante and his friends quickly brushed them off with light, casual swings of their weapons. Miyuki simply seemed to sense the projectiles headed toward her, and performed a series of acrobatic somersaults and sliding dives to avoid them. However, much to the woman's surprise, one of them was headed for right for her head as she stood up. With no time to safely evade the throwing star, she decided instead to meet it. Within a matter of seconds she had drawn of her kunai, which were simply the black nails of a Barioth's claws, and threw it straight and true at the shuriken before her. The miniature, arrow-shaped knife collided with the black-as-black shuriken and dull sparks flared as the two small armaments were repelled by each other's force. Miyuki jumped and grabbed her kunai as it was flung back toward her.

Suddenly, the group was greeted by yet another surprise. A puff of smoke later, a man stood before them, clad entirely in black so that two slits for his beady black eyes and stern, apathetic mouth were the only bit of flesh showing. He wore a red scarf around his neck that covered the bottom of his face slightly and carried a huge, round three pronged glaive on his back, black with bold crimson embroidering, like veins, coursing through the metalwork. He had thin bandoliers full of shurikens and kunai wrapped around his waist, forearms and across his chest, and a white belt around his forehead with the excess length dangling freely from just behind his right ear. And to top it all off, as if all his weaponry and attire wasn't enough, he stood poised on one leg, the other bent and tucked behind, against the part where his other leg would bend. His right arm was folded away behind his back while his left was brought in front of his, his middle and index fingers cutting vertically across his lips as if he was gesturing for quiet.

The hunters all pointed their weapons at the (clearly) ninja before them, anticipating a difficult confrontation.

"Peace, advocates of the Guild. I mean you no further ill will," the man said. His voice and his tone were almost cynical, as if he was tired of repeating something, and his voice was low and mellifluous, his words floating on the wind. The group relaxed marginally, perplexed.

"Is that so?" a skeptical Thain hissed slowly, stabbing his huge battleaxe aggressively into the earth, making a sharp slicing sound in the process.

"I thought I saw..." he hesitated for a moment, then scowled almost inaudibly and continued vaguely, "someone else. That is why I attacked all of you."

"You're with Tenkai, right?" Ash began, leering at the shady man through narrowed eyes.

"That is correct."

"So why, then, don't you mean us harm? And what about those five fake soldiers?" she enquired, making no attempt to mask the suspicion in her voice. She may have only been thirteen, and the youngest of her friends by a minimum of two years, but she wasn't stupid, and far was she from gullible. The man chuckled shakily.

"It's a good question. I suppose the only real answer I can provide you with is that, well, I don't need to mean you harm. I am sure you will all be dead fairly soon without my blades to guide you. Oh, and the fake soldiers? Simple ninjutsu. Pretty transparent really; I mean, come on, five soldiers in the middle of the woods with no weapons decide to rush more or less three times as many enemies? No real soldier would be that stupid."

"Who are you?" Yumi barked, ferocity etched on her face, her hand gripping the Great Demonbind G on her back with a grip tougher than iron, and a steely gaze to match. She was the eldest of her friends at the responsible age of eighteen, and was always the first to make demands and bark at people, and seemed to adopt a "big sis" attitude to defend those around her.

"How nice of you to ask; it's only been five minutes," the man remarked with snide sarcasm. "My name is Shin Mei, and I am a general of the Tenkai military, a master of the ninja arts."

"Well, now that we're all chummy, can we get on with the damn op already?" One of the black ops soldiers piped up, clearly anxious to make the mission swift and clean, in-and-out. Irvine turned to glare at him, and even though his helmet hid his face from view, everybody could tell it was silently grilling the Guild soldier alive for so foolishly giving away the party's intent.

"Oh, so you're here to storm Fort Ryu, are you?" Shin Mei purred, ever so slightly antagonistically. He stood normally now, clearly tired of standing on one leg with one arm in front and one behind. No need to look awesome and intimidating when your introduction moment has expired. Then, his eyes widened as he realised the bedrock of their plan. "Ah, so you're here for the emperor. Interesting. So tell me, how exactly do you propose to storm and entire fort with just the -now, my arithmetic's not the best- one, two, three, four, five, six, seven..." he counted with his fingers, pointing briefly at each one of them as he added them up. "...With just the fifteen of you?" he finished his question, glaring at them with big, round, innocent eyes, clearly sarcasm.

If they had learned just one thing about General Shin Mei in the last few minutes, it was that he was very peculiar. He didn't seem to take his duty very seriously, or even seem to hate the Guild. It was as if he was hired help and he could just defect as and when it pleased him. Dante found himself wondering if this man actually had any loyalties at all, and if he did, where they truly lied.

"I think you're forgettin' somethin', laddy," Thain cut in. "I'm Thain, the Iron Fist. I've been fightin' against your bunch for t' best part o' ten years. Them black ops lot are with the Guild, and all the Guild soldiers have that whajamacallit inside 'em that makes 'em super strong, and these young 'uns 'ere are the best hunters of at least several regions. Even the hunters in Jonton couldn't compare. In fact, they're better than some of those ye can find in the inner regions. If you think yer masked twats, yer wee prissy-boy ninjas and yer piddly-pants little shit of an emperor can take us down alone, ye've got a hundred other things comin', and I can tell ye now, Shimmy, ninety-nine of 'em hurt!" Thain ranted, his quiet hissing building up to a boastful shout at the end.

"It's, um, Shin Mei, not "Shimmy"," Shin Mei said quietly, somewhat embarrassed.

"Shimmy it is then, Shimmy," Thain retorted, amused. Shin Mei's expression went lax, as if he were exhausted.

"Fine, whatever. Anyway, be as cocksure as you feel is necessary. You'll regret it later. Trust me."

And with that rather anti-climactic foreshadowing, Shin Mei folded himself away into the night as quickly as he had appeared, leaving no trace that he was ever there in the first place, although something told the hunters that they would be seeing him again. Slightly bewildered at the strange and awkward encounter with an equally strange and awkward man, the hunters soldiered on through the forest, eager to reach their destination.

A clearing in the trees was the prequel to a natural high rise in a steep rock cliff that Dante and his companions now stood on the precipice of. It wasn't a terrifyingly far drop, but it was more than far enough to be fatal. The ground below was shrouded in darkness; the moon's delicate, serene rays were being blocked off by the high, imposing circular stone wall that surrounded Fort Ryu, which was alit with torches and candles and whatnot that seemed to be but mere beads of light from such a far distance away. However, it became quite clear that the huge, square, two-level structure that sat on the hill the fort had been built around, so as to be higher than everything else, was where Emperor Shikimaru Tetsuya would be.

Ash took out her binoculars to get a closer look, informing her friends and allies in hushed tones as she spotted each obstacle.

Of course, Tenkai would never leave their lord unprotected; the fort was circled by Tenkai infantry, several small groups, no more than three or four, marching in double file around the perimeter of the wall. There were also archers lurking in the trees near the fort (the hunters couldn't really see them but Miyuki had a keen sense of hearing and heard them rustling the branches and leaves and fiddling with their bows) and the solitary entrance was guarded by two more soldiers, also dressed in Dyuragaua armour, but it had all been coated in silver and black paints and dyes, and they were armed with long, black glaives with silver blades, and the area under the black painted-on eyes of their masks (which had been left their original white colour) had been daubed with a crimson substance, presumably enemy blood. They held a pair of malicious, hungry looking bloodhounds on chains, to ward off any potential intruders. These two were part of the Tenkai imperial honour guard, the crème de la crème of the Tenkai war force. The blood of fallen Guildsmen under the eyes of their helms was a reminder for them to destroy everything they hate in the world (in other words, the Guild) no matter what the cost. The Honour Guard soldiers were known for their kamikaze approach to combat, charging at the nearest opponent while shouting loudly in an attempt to scare them, not caring if they died before their glaives tasted blood or not. They were, above all others, the most fearsome and intimidating of Tenkai's array of weaponry.

"Out-fuckin'-standin'," Thain sighed. "The place is crawling with Tenkai critters. How on God's green earth are we ever gonnay get in there? Look at the security! 'Tis impossible, we cannay do it!"

"Now, now, don't be so quick to give in, Thain!" Ash reassured the burly, pessimistic warrior. "Looking at the actual fort, it's not that bad. It might seem pretty packed 'cause of all the fires n' stuff, but there really is a lot fewer soldiers than there first appeared to be. In fact, when I compare the current occupancy to the size of the fort, it really is quite empty."

At this, the atmosphere amongst the warriors lost some tension, and Thain appeared less despondent than he had been a minute ago.

"Well, what the hell are we waiting for?" Yumi said, clearly emboldened by Ash's promising observation. "Let's get down there and kill the guy before we grow old and die."

"Yumi, you can't just go galumphing off the edge of a cliff that high. You'll kill yourself," April said flatly, almost chuckling at the end of her sentence, with her eyes frowning and her arms folded sarcastically. Everybody giggled briefly.

"Aw, c'mon! Sure you can! Just grab the cliff wall real hard and push you hand against it. It's grinding, you'll slide right down," Yumi replied energetically, her best friend's sarcasm fuelling her whimsical zeal.

"Well, alright, if you say so," Ruby said, consigned, smiling a little, heading with the others right to the edge of the cliff. "But if I break a leg, I promise I'm gonna break you after!" she almost shouted, her remark amusing the others as they hauled themselves quickly over the edge and did as Yumi had said, grabbing tightly onto the cliff wall and pushing against it with all their strength, and they slid down harmlessly at a safe, moderate pace, lading with a minor crash onto the leaf-riddled ground.

Now it would get tricky. The leaves made noise, which was amplified by the general quietness, and if the Tenkai archers in the trees heard them, then they'd all be dead. If any of the myriad patrols passing by periodically spotted them, they'd all be dead. If they showed themselves or gave their position away at any point, they'd all be dead. Their one and only advantage from hereon out was the relative darkness of the area leading up to Fort Ryu. The lack of light hid their shadows and their bodies from plain view, so any suspicious soldiers would be forced to find them by hearing, or using the two bloodhounds kept at bay by the two imperial honour guards at the entrance.

Then it clicked! That was it! That was their way in!

What if, Aaron thought, grinning to himself in the dark and he and his comrades hid carefully behind a tree, we distract the two guards at the door enough for them to leave and get the bloodhounds to start sniffing us out, and we then cut across, charge in and start a surprise attack from there? That'd be perfect!

"If we get the bloodhound to move the guards away, the entrance will be free," Aaron whispered to Miyuki, pointing with two fingers at the shadowy patch close to the entrance, with some trees and bushes to shield them from view should they need to hide there. Miyuki nodded to herself as she considered this course of action, silently weighing up the risks with the rewards. After thirty seconds of solid silence, she came to a decision, everybody hanging on her verdict.

"He's right. However, I propose we alter that plan a little, make it a little more...explosive," she almost purred the last word, hinting at what she was about to say. At the mention of explosions, Teiko's eyes flickered with pyromania. "Has anybody got some barrel bombs?" the young woman asked. Ruby and Yumi nodded soberly. "Right, then here's what I want you to do; I want you to place them here, make sure they're primed. Ash, you're fast; I want you to scream as loud as you can for as long as you can, then follow me and the others when the soldiers come to investigate. Can you do that?"

"Sure thing," Ash replied happily.

"Okay. Then, while Ash is busy screaming, we can run as fast as we can over to where Aaron pointed, they won't hear us moving over the noise. When they all eventually arrive here, the bombs will be about to explode and it will be too late. Hopefully they'll die, but I doubt it. Anyway, when you hear the explosion, we charge through the gates and spam flash bombs and sonic bombs and then get the op running. You all get that?"

Everybody nodded.

"Good. Then let's get this show on the road. We don't have all night."

Immediately, Ruby and Yumi began producing small and large barrel bombs from their item bags and placing them on the ground, Teiko ready with some matches to light them. About a minute later and there was thirty -if not more- explosives armed and ready, waiting to be found by unfortunate Tenkai infantry. "Ash, you're up," Ruby snapped, as quietly as possible.

The conglomerate of warriors began to move about half a moment before Ash opened her mouth and emitted an ear-splitting girlish shriek that even the mythical Banshee would have a tough time contesting with. She played with it a little, making herself sound as if she was in pain, frightened or had come across a big, scary monster. The others watched the patrols carefully as they sprinted across the clearing in the moderately dense foliage and saw them all look up like cats hearing the squeak of a mouse, and one by one they all marched off in Ash's direction. As the hunters made it to the shady, tree-laden patch literally three metres from the entrance, Ash's scream ceased and the unshakeable silence took hold of the place once more, the uniform marching of the soldiers the only noise that broke the subtle monotony of the night. At first they were worried that Ash had been discovered, as they were startled by the aggressive barks and growls of the two bloodhounds held by the pair of honour guards that were investigating with the other patrols, but their fears were soon laid to rest when Ash quickly came to join them behind a log that they all squatted behind, running with her torso bowed the whole time so as to further disguise herself.

"Okay, that's everyone accounted for," Miyuki said. "You can stand up now. Have your flash and sonic bombs to hand and be ready for the explosion." And so everybody drew either sonic bombs or flash bombs, or both if they had them, and stood, still bending their knees slightly in case they had to squat down again to hide, eagerly anticipating the explosion that would mark their good-to-go.

"Are you okay?" Dante asked Alexis, who was just behind and to the side of him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, not too confidently, but confidently enough for her boyfriend to be satisfied that she wasn't terrified, which was exactly what she wanted him to believe. April felt in the darkness for Aaron's hand and found it, gripping it tight and never wanting to ever let go. He squeezed hers in return, letting her know he was there.

They waited. And waited. And waited. And waited.

But no explosion came. No deafening noise, no blinding inferno, no nothing. Something was amiss.

"Guys, I think something's wrong-" Teiko began, before he was cut off by the long-awaited deafening noise and blinding inferno.

"GO!" Miyuki barked curtly, and at a moment's notice everybody sprinted for the unguarded entrance. As they burst through the meagre wooden doors that protected the fort within, they hurled sonic and flash bombs in every direction, dazing and confusing the already dazed and confused Tenkai inhabitants. When the flashing cleared, somewhere running away, some were dazed, deafened or both and the rest were scrambling to their feet and frantically fumbling for their weapons, or a nearby armament if they didn't have one on their person. The time was short but it was more than Dante and his friends needed to, like the conniving, predatory eagle, spread their wings and dive down to the earth, claws outstretched, allowing their hapless prey to wander into their midst. Immediately, a dozen Tenkai soldiers had been cut down by the ruthless, adrenaline-fuelled Guildsmen as they struggled to recover or to find a weapon, or in some cases even to get up off of the floor. A couple of the more alert men and women put up a fight, but it was feeble, futile and, in the end, fatal.

"Alright, everybody split up; we'll all take different routes and meet up in the courtyard of the main building. That's probably where Shikimaru is," Irvine stated calmly. "You don't have to go alone, but don't travel in groups larger than a pair." He then turned to the black ops soldiers. "You five can travel together." He turned back to Miyuki, who was waiting silently. "Miyuki, you're with me."

Dante stayed with Alexis and Ruby paired with April while Ash stayed in the company of her big brother, and everybody else decided to go it alone.

"Okay, move out," Irvine commanded.

Those in pairs ran off together while the others picked their direction and sprinted away, eager to get stuck in to the bloodshed for the sake of their people.

The fort itself wasn't particularly organised or flashy. It was just like a village, with bland stone buildings with no decoration (bar a few patriotic Tenkai flags) and drab design, built for purpose rather than visual admiration. And yet, for all its mundane, monochromic ugliness, it was still bigger than Kairu, the town Dante, Aaron, and the others had known their entire lives. Yumi had clocked this, and she seethed with silent hatred at how -not just Tenkai, but the Guild as well- the government were prepared to build forts the size of large villages but didn't feel obligated to provide any of the outer region villages and cities with breathing room. In the outer regions, the villages were small and almost entirely left to their own devices. They received no aid from the Guild of any kind. In fact, the only relations they have are with their own regions cities, and the rest of Outer Altus. Anyone on the other side of the Sinata Border (Sinata was the outer region nearest to the furthest inner region, Zakimuto -so close, in fact, that it would be classified as an inner region if it was just thirty kilometres closer to Zakimuto- and so the border established around the country to distinguish between the inner and outer regions was named after it) didn't seem to give a damn about the outer regions, and if they did, they didn't -or perhaps, more worryingly, couldn't- do anything to help them. They were segregated by their own people, it seemed. Of course, the only time the Guild would help the outer regions would be if enough of the inhabitants kicked up a fuss- the big-shot politicians didn't want to be shown up and the governing body was afraid that the situation might escalate into armed conflict. They couldn't afford to fight another civil war, not against more or less half of Altus, and especially not while the war with Tenkai was still raging. She began to think that perhaps it was the Guild neglect that forced Tenkai to come to the decision to rebel in the first place.

But no. Yumi slapped herself mentally, reminding herself that Tenkai had committed atrocities of their own volition -men women and children slaughtered on several occasions- and nobody, no matter how dire their situation, should be allowed to get away with that unpunished. Tenkai had to pay for its crimes, and tonight, that it exactly what it was going to do. They would kill Emperor Shikimaru and bring the limping Tenkai war machine to its knees by severing the head.

However, in order to accomplish this goal, the best way to start would be by concentrating on the situation at hand.

As Yumi quickly immersed herself in the sanguinary assault, she froze in place with shock as the blur of a shuriken zoomed across her eyes, millimetres away from her face. She quickly regained control of herself and turned her head sharply to the right, where one of the silver honour guards stood at the ready, nodachi glaive in hand, bloodhound on a chain in his other hand. As Yumi stared at the blood-daubed eyes that in return drilled into hers, he let slip the vicious dog, which then bounded towards her, howling almost like a wolf, its jaws dripping with saliva, the silver chain that was its leash clinking as it was dragged along in the animal's wake. As it drew near to its target, it leapt off of the ground and pounced at Yumi, who quickly swatted the fell creature away with a hefty swipe of her switch axe. The bloodhound's corpse was pared in two, the gory pieces flying away to the ground, the ground slick with its viscera. However, in this time, the young adult had not been paying attention to the hound's bearer, whose sharp blow she just barely deflected as the silver blade of his spear-like glaive thrust it toward her. The metal collided with the metal of her switch axe, igniting bright, electric-yellow sparks that licked the keen edged of both weapons. Both fighters' weapons were repelled by the force of one another. Yumi used this chance to slam her weapon straight down into the earth. The Tenkai honour guard was knocked off his feet, small chunks of earth catapulted into the air as Yumi's Great Demonbind G ate into the dirt.

As Yumi wrenched the enormous blade from the ground and brought it to bear for another, fatal attack, the experienced silver warrior rolled to the right and out of the way. The female hunter's switch axe bit into the solid ground once again, but did not taste the blood of the enemy. Of course, Yumi could not yank her blade out from the ground before her opponent could attack her. He backhanded her with his right arm, drawing blood from her lip and knocking her to the floor, her sword, still firmly embedded in the ground, out of reach. She scowled with annoyance and shame. How could she have allowed herself to be bested so easily?

"My, my, lady of the Guild, you look awfully small from down there," the Tenkai warrior's voice resonated from within his helmet. The helm gave his voice a dull echo and a tinny sound to it, but it was arrogant and dripping with contempt nonetheless. Saying nothing more, the man once again thrust the point of his glaive toward Yumi's bosom, aiming for the beating heart within. However, what he didn't notice was that Yumi's expression, which was that of a feeble girl who had screwed her eyes shut as she waited to end, was a sly ruse to trick him into thinking he had won. He failed to notice the flash bomb she had concealed beneath her palm, which rested on the floor, and now it was too late. She pressed down on it with all her strength, bursting it and releasing the searing flash within. The girl's had shut her eyes to protect herself from the blinding light, not out of fear of looking death in the eye. Now the honour guard was blinded and he knew that his arrogance had cost him the fight and his life. Yumi quickly arched her back and kicked both legs into the air, allowing her to spring up off of the ground. She grabbed her weapon and swiped it across her enemy's legs, slicing them off below the knee. The soldier cried out in pain, but only briefly, and let his glaive fall to the floor. With no legs to support the rest of his body, he fell to the ground, resting on the bloody stumps where his knees were only moments ago, sticky scarlet stock oozing out from underneath. Yumi wrapped kicked what remained of her opponent in the gut, toppling him over. He now lay on his back in the dirt, the soil, gravel and dust mixing with his blood, making it filthy and viscous. She switched her switch axe to sword mode and stood over the man, allowing her shadow to loom over him impressively in the moonlight.

"Now you can see me just fine. I'd take it in now; you don't have long," Yumi said coldly, smiling thinly at the irony, before plunging her blade into the separatist's torso, ending his life. His head fell back to gaze at the benevolent moon above his arms fell limp and his fingers went lax.

Without even pausing to contemplate anything at all, Yumi plucked her bloodied blade from the cadaver's chest, turned on her heel and swanned off to the next battle.

Ichiro blindly slashed at the crowds of Tenkai warriors that rushed toward him. He was bathed in the trademark neon red hue of a Demonised dual blade wielder, and he had gulped down some mega juice in order to prevent his stamina from being drained by the Demonisation. He had darted and weaved his blades through foe after foe as if he were scribbling on some paper, a frantic artist sketching out his enemies' deaths. His weapon was his brush, his foes' blood was his paint and his surroundings were his canvas. His face was peppered with flecks of others' blood, but he didn't care. He didn't care about them. He cared only about vengeance for his fallen friend. He was still mourning Eiji's death, but he couldn't blame Irvine or Miyuki and he couldn't and wouldn't blame his friends or himself. So he'd decided to blame Tenkai instead.

And in a way, he was right to do so. In a way, it was their fault. If they hadn't started the civil war, then Ichiro, Eiji and their other friends would never have been summoned to Yii-Do to train for this assignment, which in turn meant that they would never have had to face the Gurenzeburu and Eiji would never have been killed. They hadn't had a direct hand in Eiji's death, but in a way, they had killed him just as they had killed many others; men, women and children alike.

And now Ichiro would make them pay.

In his rage, he suddenly sliced into another opponent, but the bump of blade against armour and flesh was more forceful this time. Ichiro deigned to gaze upon his most recent kill to see that their arm was missing. Suddenly, upon seeing this, a red mist descended over his eyes and he lunged at the incapacitated soldier, and he found himself relishing the man's tortured screams and Ichiro hacked away at his body, bits of flesh, armour, sinew and bone flying in every directing and the Vashimu-armoured hunter ravaged his latest opponents body brutally, in some sort of psychotic rage.

And then, suddenly, he stopped, partly because there was nobody left to kill -or rather, to destroy, in this case- but mostly because he seemed to regain his composure. The red mist lifted away to reveal a pathway paved with crimson blood, broken bones and shattered armour. At the sight of the carnage -his carnage- Ichiro sank to the floor, curled himself into a ball and began to cry, hugging his knees and rocking himself gently as he did, groaning with pain and confusion.

Why won't this feeling go away?

"Watch out!" Ruby cried as April stormed through a squad of Tenkai soldiers, determination and fearlessness flaring in her eyes, trying to alert her to kunai that was speeding toward her. But it was too late, April allowed the knife to hit her even as she powerwalked confidently though the enemy forces, battering them out of the way with her Gurenzeburu hammer, aiming to get this over with as soon as possible, She winced and grunted almost inaudibly was it cut into her flesh and stayed embedded in her arm, but she carried on nonetheless, a girl of steel. The separatists rushed toward her, the way men flock to a siren, but she brought them to heel before they had time to begin any kind of lengthy confrontation. Ruby was doing the same, although she was to the far left of April and there were less soldiers heading for her, most likely because her bulky Uragaan armour and great sword were far more imposing and intimidating than April's Gurenzeburu attire, although not by much; the sharp aggression of the Guren gear was enough to strike fear into the stoutest of hearts, like staring a piece of the real Barbarian Wyvern in the face. It was hard to resist one's primal instincts. Every ounce of one's body would scream at them to flee with their tail between their legs.

Suddenly, April was bowled over by an angry, berserk bloodhound, a loose silver chain around its neck. It pinned April to the ground with her hammer out of reach. She was forced to clamp both hands firmly on its head and push. It was all she could do to keep its eager, snapping jaws from tearing her throat out.

"April! I'm coming!" Ruby shouted with alarm, rushing over as fast as her cumbersome armour and unwieldy weapon would allow her, rushing -or rather stomping- to her friend's aid. However, before she could get to her, she too was knocked off her feet by a man in Dyuragaua armour, like the other separatists, but his was entirely silver and black, with the eyeholes of his helm coated in blood. One of the imperial honour guards Ruby and the others had spotted guarding the entrance. No doubt there were more than too round and about.

"No, you're not," the honour guard chortled smugly, aiming his glaive at Ruby's face in triumph. Ruby couldn't see his face but his eyes were gleaming with malign smugness.

"That's what you think, buddy!" Ruby growled, backflipping off of the ground (a feat that seemed nigh on miraculous considering the girl's heavy, bulky attire) and simultaneously kicking the combatant's glaive away from her. She immediately swung her Crimsonwall at her enemy, who sidestepped away from the oncoming blow, knowing full well that his pike-like weapon would not be able to contest with the sheer force of a great sword and would be snapped in half like a twig.

"What, are you gonna stop me with your toothpick? Gimme a break!" Ruby said, somewhat disgusted by the man's implication that he would stop her from rescuing her friend, especially with his "toothpick".

"I don't need to kill you, or even injure you. A starved dog is a dangerous foe. I doubt your friend can hold it back with her bare hands for very long. She'll be a pile of ribbons and steel by the time you're done with me," the imperial guard taunted, jabbing at Ruby with his weapon. Ruby blocked the feeble blows effortless with the flat of her giant blade, and then counterattacked with a series of massive arcs from the sword culminating in a ground slam, the force of which created a small tremor in the earth forceful enough to topple the man over.

"Waste of time. See you in hell," Ruby huffed bluntly, not bothering to think of anything much to say before smiting her foe with a damning slam from her Crimsonwall. She seemed to stare though the corpse into nothingness for a few moments, the way one does when deep in thought, before a cry for help from April, woke her up.

"Um, hello-oo! A little help here!" April said, her voice strained as she struggled to keep the blood hound away from her neck. Ruby quickly stormed over and viciously kicked the beast in the stomach, slamming it into the wall of a building closeby. The two girls heard a distinct snapping sound and the dog's flaccid body fell limply in a heap against the wall. Ruby quickly dismissed the spectacle and helped her friend to her feet.

"C'mon," she said, panting a little, as if in a hurry. "This area's clear. We have to keep moving."

"Right," April answered affirmatively, and the two girls sped off further into the hornets' nest without a moment's hesitation.

Irvine's gaze didn't falter once as the sparks danced across his eyes.

He was in the middle of a viciously fast-paced fight in the Fort Ryu courtyard between, he, Miyuki and two honour guards, although these two had katanas rather than glaives. They were very strong indeed; it took alot of might to hold back two Guildsmen, what with the special serum and all that, but to be able to hold one's own against Miyuki Sawashiro, who was renowned within the military for her physical prowess, which was abnormal even by Guild standards, was an incredible feat.

The courtyard itself was hardly befitting of an emperor. It looked much like the ground outside its walls: dry, rough and desaturated. The large, drab stone "castle" that sat in the middle was cuboid in shape. It was tall, monolithically so, and unimpressive. It had no windows (although there was doubtlessly some kind of lookout post at the very top) and no distinguishable features that one could use to tell it apart from the other structures in the fort, excluding its height. It was well and truly quite boring, depressing even.

"Fuck this shit," Miyuki snapped under her breath, before she drew her combat knife, made of a Barioth's coral orange saber tooth, and stabbed it into her assailant's head, blood spurting out from the knife's exit point. The separatist's body shuddered frantically, his arms twitching gently. His limp feet could no longer support the weight of the rest of his corpse and so it fell, its weight now resting on Miyuki's knife. She savagely yanked it out and pushed the corpse over her shoulder and out of the way, and then stopped at the sight of a young boy, perhaps about thirteen or fourteen, splattered with blood. He wasn't looking at the woman but at the soldier who now laid face-down on the ground, a big hole in the back of his skull, trails of blood seeping out.

"...Papa...?" he whimpered sheepishly. Miyuki then grunted almost involuntarily, causing the child before her to acknowledge her existence. He glared at her with hatred, his eyes accusing and aggressive.

"You'll pay for this! One day, I'll find you. I'll find you, and I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" he snarled, tears flowing from his eyes. Following his angry, grief-stricken outburst, he turned and fled the scene, wiping tears from his face as he did so.

Miyuki barely dwelled on the thought at all. A child hadn't the strength to kill her, nor the nerve. He probably wouldn't follow through on his threat anyhow. He'd realised that he was just angry and move on from this. She wasn't terribly concerned either way; she'd do to him what she'd done to his father if he decided to challenge her. What did his life matter to her? He was Tenkai, anyway. She turned to Irvine, who was just yanking his Rukodiora sword out of the corpse of his opponent. He nodded silently, affirmatively, and Miyuki did the same. Everything had been running smoothly so far, almost too smoothly.

"I don't think we could've hoped for a better outcome tonight," Irvine stated with confidence, clearly pleased with how the op was doing. "A few minutes and we'll have this area surrounded, and he'll have to show."

"Yeah. But something tells me it's not going to be that easy," Miyuki replied. Not five seconds after the monotone words had left her mouth, a third voice, smooth, sublime, dripping with somewhat sinister gravitas which neither Miyuki nor Irvine recognised, joined the conversation.

"How right you are, fair lady."

Ash sliced through the bloodhound's neck with her Gogomoa longsword, aiming for the vital artery within, ignoring the creature's short-cut whimper and blood that splattered on her; she could worry about clean clothes and animal abuse later. For now, she had to reach the centre of the fort and regroup with her friends. Ash was almost frighteningly fervent and focused in fights. It was like she was a different person, with very few objections to cutting down people and monsters alike. She didn't enjoy a moment of it and hated the fact that she had to murder other human beings, especially at the (supposedly) tender age of thirteen, but she reminded herself every time she felt remorse for her foes and doubt towards her actions that these people had committed deeds far more horrible than hers. Women and children cut down in the streets like animals, countless brave, patriotic men of Altus slaughtered over ten grueling years of bloody, savage war, and with just one region! 'One sword drawn in another kept sheathed', Yumi had once told her. Now she was starting to understand what that meant. She had never had to fight Tenkai before, but her father had, and he had paid the price with his life. It was only fair to return the favour to the man that ignited the sparks that lit the flames of war- Shikimaru Tetsuya.

"Teiko! C'mon, big bro, stop messing around and finish that guy! We've gotta keep moving!" Ash groaned at her brother, taking his sweet time with a wounded foe that was barely able to keep hold of his blade, nevermind use it. Teiko, who, despite his macabre, bravado exterior, had no desire to kill the man, and simply disarmed and floored him quick before sprinting off after his little sister, who had already begun to move on, the walls of the central structure very closeby.

"Hey, Sis! Wait up! Don't leave me behind!" he yelled after her.

The man watched from behind his white mask as his opponent grew more small and shapeless as he fled the scene. He sighed weakly, almost smiling to himself, before everything became blurry and the world faded to black.

"Impressive, Guildsman. Very impressive, indeed. You live up to the reputation the urban myths have wrought you, Miyuki Sawashiro. Or should I say "The Ice Fanged Huntress"? Or perhaps you would prefer "The Moon Child"?" The razor gaze from the young man's piercing silver-gray eyes sliced into Miyuki's very consciousness, as if he could see through her helmet, her skin, perhaps even her sinew and bone to whatever else lay within them.

The man before Miyuki and Irvine was tall and imposing, dressed in a violet silk shirt made only for the royals of Tenkai and a black hakama with a black leather belt with silver buckles placed at even points all the way round, a special tied placed on the right hand side to keep his sword, a well-crafted and well balanced rapier. Its blade was made of pure noctalite that glinted in the moonlight while its hilt was made of pristine, shining silver, an emerald placed at the very bottom of the round-ended handle. He had tanned skin and pitch black hair which was all set going downward, covering his right eye and continuing downward in a mullet-like fashion, pointed like an arrow, stopping at where his neck ended and his spine began. As if the emerald in the hilt of his blade and the dyed purple silk (purple was mightily expensive and as such only royalty or those almost as rich could ever even dream of being able to afford them) didn't make it obvious enough, both the steely female and the black ops commander knew full well who the man was.

They stood in the presence of none other than Emperor Shikimaru Tetsuya, leader of the Separatist Province of Tenkai.

Not wishing to maintain her standoffish gaze with Shikimaru any longer, Miyuki put all her weight on her blade and forced the emperor back, then proceeded to attack him with swift and savage blows. She thought he was a fool, thinking he could fight armoured soldiers in his everyday leisurewear. She had no idea just how much she had underestimated her foe. Shikimaru quickly responded with a swift knee strike to Miyuki's stomach, followed by a roundhouse kick to the face, sending her sliding across the floor to land at Irvine's feet. Surprisingly, this seemed to have hurt the huntress, otherwise she would have been on her feet by now. Instead, she simply lay there, clutching her stomach quietly, her blade by her side.

"...The fuck...is this...? That power..." she muttered to herself.

"Tsk, tsk, Miyuki," Shikimaru purred, although the taunt lacked any kind of venom. Everything the young man said seemed hollow and rehearsed. "I was hoping for a far more...entertaining fight. You can't trade blows with me if you're crumpled in a heap." As he slowly walked toward the woman, Irvine leapt into the fray, locking his blade with the emperor's, sparks flying upon first contact. Now it was Irvine's turn to lock eyes with Shikimaru, whose glare was as sharp as his sword.

"She can't...but I can," Irvine stated coolly.

"Not for long," Shikimaru retorted. Shikimaru pulled his rapier away from Irvine's, and the latter warrior came stumbling forward, losing his balance. Shikimaru pivoted to face the Guildsmen as he passed him and kicked him fiercely in the back. Irvine slid across the floor, leaving dirt tracks in the earth and coming to a halt against the wiry old trunk of a beautiful sakura tree. A few of the bright pink blossoms were dislodged from their places on the branches on the tree and daintily floated down to the ground. "Is it just me, or can Guildsmen not manage to stay on their feet for more than a few seconds?" he sighed. "If you're wondering why it is that you're having such a hard time, don't. You wouldn't understand if I could be bothered to explain it to you." Shikimaru lifted his arm to the sky and stared at the back of his hand, the moon's benevolent rays reflected in his eyes. "Narka really does work wonders..." he muttered to himself, so quietly that one would have to be invading his personal space to hear him.

"Why don't you explain it to me, lad?" a gruff, burly voice with a distinct accent echoed across the courtyard, causing Shikimaru to turn sharply...and see the hulking, armoured form of Thain towering before him, his axe embedded in the floor, his beady eyes glowering at the separatist with the sternness of a schoolmaster and the bloodlust of a soldier. "I've got time."

As quickly as Shikimaru thrust his sword at him, Thain yanked his gargantuan battleaxe from the dirt and swung it back in return. The rapier snapped like a dry twig and Shikimaru himself almost suffered the same fate, the shatterstone blade mere millimetres away from his face as he bent over backward to avoid the sweeping blow. However, in doing this, Shikimaru had no way to avoid the metal boot Thain thrust into his stomach with a determined growl. He grunted with pain and surprise as he flew across the courtyard, landing in a crumpled heap face-down on the ground about five metres away from where he'd been not ten seconds ago.

"I'm no fresh-faced greenhorn, boy; I've been doin' this for best o' ten years now," Thain hissed as he stalked toward his prey. "Little wee kids who walk around with no armour pointing toothpicks at their elders are bound to end up in sorry state indeed. Now, I'd tell ye t' run along an' be more careful an' all tha', but my lot kinda needs ye dead, so..."

As if to finish Thain's sentence, the sound of clinking metal and soldiers running filled the more-or-less silent courtyard. Seconds later, Dante, Alexis, Ash, Teiko, April, Aaron, Ichiro, Yumi and Ruby came rushing to the scene from all sorts of directions, effectively blocking off all routes of escape for the seemingly defeated Tenkai ruler. The now recovered Miyuki and Irvine joined the conglomerate.

But it wasn't over yet. This was just the beginning.

Shikimaru huffed amusedly to himself as he pulled himself from the floor and brushed the dusty earth off of his clothes. "You've dirtied my clothes now. Darn. Don't you know how much zeni this stuff costs?"

"I'm sure you can clean it all up..." Yumi began bluntly. She then raised her switch axe and swung it at Shikimaru. "…In the afterlife!" Shikimaru shouted out in his regional dialect as he flung his arms across his eyes, as if waiting for a fatal blow.

"Watashiniha, waibān!" (To me, Wyvern!)

To Yumi's surprise and bewilderment, in response to Shikimaru's call, a humungous Brute Wyvern crashed through the high stone wall of the courtyard behind Shikimaru, roaring at the top of its voice. It was bulky and angular, covered in very large scales which seemed to be made of rock and acted like some sort of natural amour. Its eyes were a dull, reptilian green colour and its mouth was ajar, displaying its gruesome, knife-like fangs. The hunters were at an awestruck standstill, too shocked to react in any way at all.

"This is a Jaganoto, my beloved pet. He's a faithful companion. I have to keep him on a leash so that he doesn't hurt anybody I don't want him to. He's fed well, but he's kept hungry enough to tear apart anybody I tell him to. He will do anything I command. Good luck," Shikimaru explained casually. He pointed toward his would-be assailants, before turning to flee. "Korosu!" (Kill!)

At Shikimaru's command, the Jaganoto growled and lashed out toward the hunters. As it lumbered forward, Irvine had to take control of the situation.

"Dante, go after him! The rest of us will hold this thing off! Go!" he barked. Without the slightest bit or hesitation, Dante sprinted off through the huge, rubble-ridden maw in the courtyard wall, ready for anything that came his way. Irvine watched the boy until he could no longer see him, then turned to face the Jaganoto.

"Alright, Fido," he taunted the Brute Wyvern. "Let's dance."