TN: Okay, Herald, take it away! *disappears*

TUH: Did he really... oh for...

TUH: Anyway, I do realize this chapter is late, but this happened due to some problems involving our dear uploader here, so don't think the next chapter will tardy.

TUH: Many of you said that I'ltorien was suffering from being only bits inside the "larger" chapters, so I took it upon myself to "fix" it this once.

*DISCLAIMER*

Chapter XVII

Of Elvish Blades and Angered Lions

I'ltorien
August 3, 2010

"You still have not informed me of the reason of your departure," Cuore asked King as the General put on the last gauntlet of his armor.

"Depends, you want the reason they are feeding the Kingdom or the real one?" King replied, breathing heavily in anger.

"I believe you know my answer." She replied, hopping off the table she was sitting on and moving in front of the closet King was going towards.

"Fine… I'll tell you both. They are telling everyone we are going to simply thin the increasing monster masses outside the capital in a month-long purge. That is a real issue and for that, no suspicions will be thrown on the Emperor," King began taking Cuore and sitting her on the bed. "But the reason we are being sent, me especially, couldn't be farther away from it." King then opened the closet and removed from it his cape, donning it immediately and removing two cloth-wrapped objects from it.

"What is your purpose then?" the small girl questioned, her normally cold and emotionless voice showing true worry. King's expression turned grim as he admitted:

"We're live bait."

Hours had passed ever since he had left Cuore stranded with Tor back in his room. He knew better than to try and comfort her at this point. Cuore was not like normal girls, she operated on a strictly rational basis. To say "It's going to be okay" would just be insulting her. He had told her he'd do his best to come back and cautioned her, but never sworn he'd be back.

King had broken a promise one too many times.

"Hey, snap out of it!" Eighteen slapped him on the shoulder as they approached a light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, the mission they were about to be sent out on would never be accomplished in time if they had to roam the countryside on foot, so they had equipped themselves with the Kingdom's fastest means of transportation. Chocobos.

Yes, I'ltorien possessed these adorable veritable speedsters. Large fowls of various coloration characterized by their extremely friendly demeanor, cutesy appearance that even captured grown-ass men, multiple coloration with various unique capabilities such as flight, swimming, endurance or even magic; with long necks and very smooth feathers, they were easily the most popular animal in the world. People wanted them as pets, as carriage pullers, as mounts, as combat units, and their eggs were a delicacy. And let's not forget how their magic was being tested in medicine.

It's as if a series got so big that the mascot got overstuffed with things it could do… naaah.

King's Chocobo in itself was special. The only descendant of Cidolfus Orlandeu's last chocobo, Divinus Incendia, it was a breed of its own. It stood at least fifty percent higher than the average yellow chocobo, the most common breed. Its plumage was as white as snow for most of the body, except for the very end of its wings, tail and head feathers, which turned golden. What made it special was how the plumage inexplicably shone under the light of the sun and moon, which explained that outside of its more common name of White Chocobo, it was called the White Star. King's in particular brought memories he'd rather not bring out right now as they passed the gates.

"Steady, Stardust, steady." King calmed as the timid bird trembled at the attention of a sea of people. Yes, to the people, the army was about to "liberate" the countryside. Emperor Mateus may be a slimy, maquiavelic, dark, presumptuous… you get the point, but he was certainly not stupid. He knew how to keep the people not-too-unhappy. And what better way to do it than to send the General no one liked around out of the city to be possibly eaten by monsters while he also relieved the villages of pressure?

"How I wish I was this ignorant," Eighteen commented as she rode on her Silver Chocobo in the forefront of the army, much like King. She got no response as King did his job and stayed professional and silent… at least until Mateus' gaze faded away.

HoL:TS

I'ltorien
August 7, 2010

After a three-day-long clearing of the monsters near the labor zone to restore the outer wall of the city destroyed in the attack, King had lead his squadron through the plains into the closest village, the town of Caldisla. They had left in the morning and arrived barely past noon, covering what humans walked in two days in a matter of hours. 'Course, King's and Eighteen's Chocobos could have gotten there much faster, but they had to account for the soldiers.

The town wasn't much, just a small, compact aggregation of houses that served more to show off the main plaza, the center of commerce outside the capital than anything else. Two giant stone walls surrounded the city for monsters, but you could tell that they were worse for wear than even the destroyed wall of the capital . . . burned, crushed and much, much more.

As soon as they arrived, countless townspeople flooded them with requests to end various immediate threats to the village. Unable to tend to them all in the time given to him to circle the entire immediate countryside, King simply decided to do this the way it would take up less of their time, even if it was risky. He approached the center of the town and ordered everyone to post their requests on the board. He'd direct the soldiers to fulfill them for the duration of two days and nothing more. The frenzy was insane.

It took King hours to sort the army all into different requests, evaluating the squads necessary for each threat and what he could dispose, gathering them, give them their tasks, officiating the business and handing the Baron that ruled the lands a letter that no doubt consisted of a heavy sum in exchange for his services. Not that it would matter to the townsfolk. They'd be more than glad to safely herd sheep and continue with their woodwork. Mateus had gotten them used to the lowest of existences.

"They seem desperate…" Eighteen began as they finally got their long awaited rest in a tavern. Dinner was going to be served in a couple of hours, but they had eaten nothing ever since morning, so that was enough to make them decide to have two meals in one. King shook his head after taking a sip of water and replied with:

"What better way to gain the eternal thankfulness of the people than to rescue them in their darkest hour?" he said, utterly disgusted. There was no General appointed outside the walls other than the Black Knight and Light knows where he went to whenever he just vanished around a corner. The more King saw this mission the more it seemed like the emperor was trying to do much more than what he at first believed.

"You truly think Mateus waited for them to be desperate to send us here?" Eighteen questioned, not as a true question, but because she could almost hear the gears grinding in King's head. Observing the townsfolk, King noticed easily how there were far too many eyes on them, not only in the tavern, but outside of it as well. The hard part was actually knowing if any of them were anything more than curiosity or fear.

"No sis, what I told Cuore sums up what we are. Live bait. He never sent us on a mission outside the outskirts of the capital before. And if we weren't, why do you think he'd allow us to bring THESE?" King asked, purposely splaying on the table the two covert objects. Removing their wraps, he took the attention of everyone in the tavern with what they contained. Two swords.

The blades were astonishing. They glimmered frighteningly and held an air of power to their own. They were twin blades and while similar in these ways, their appearance, however, was quite different.

The first one was beautiful and nearly perfect, almost glowing in its radiance. It had a golden hilt, a deep azure sapphire in the hilt's heart. The hilt was swerved, one side curving down and the other side jagged upward. A blue grip, matching that of the sapphire, ran down into a golden pommel, another sapphire being shown. The blade itself was wrought of fine metal, but its core was different. It was as if the metal blade surrounded another sapphire core, wrought into the blade itself.

The other sword was chipped and scratched, as if it had been through many battles. It had a dark, ashy hilt with a matching sapphire in it as well. A darker blue grip ran into a pommel made out of a sapphire itself, not metal like any other sword made in the times. The hilt was the same as the other sword but not golden, just a dark, black metal. Like the other blade, this one was a sapphire core surrounded by metal, and of course, it was a black metal, contrasting the pure white of the other.

What was the most beautiful feature of both blades was that they had matching caricatures engraved in their sapphire cores. Script in some other language.

"What are you…" Eighteen began, but King gave her a look that warned her he was after something. For that, he continued unhampered.

"Quel'Serrar, Bane of the Dragon King and Quel'Delar, Ferocity of the Scorned. I don't think anyone in this tavern didn't realize what these swords are just by their scriptures," King explained, handing Eighteen the Quel'Delar, the chipped one as he kept the Quel'Serrar. As he did this, he continued looking around, narrowing the intentions of everyone by their expressions. "Elvish blades unable to be wielded by humans. They are the biggest red flag imaginable at this day and age. You are either an elf, which we are surely not considering we are outside Mìelthrì Forest, or you are… well, us. These swords may be insanely powerful, but there's only one reason Mateus sent them with us…"

King took a sip of his glass of water… and suddenly kicked the table upwards, kicking it yet again in midair to send it flying through the window and into a seemingly unsuspecting child. In a flash, the table was cut in half by the very same child with merely a dagger. The purple haired kid knew his cover was blown instantly, but still barely managed to jump away into a nearby chariot in time to avoid the growing crystalline substance on the floor. Still confused, the boy of no more than ten soon found himself in the trajectory of the flying Quel'Serrar. Spinning in midair backwards again, King was left wide agape as the child landed on a nearby balcony, quickly jumping from it into an alleyway.

"Oh no you DON'T!" King exclaimed, rushing through everyone in the town square and into the alleyway. He saw the kid running over the SIDE of the building as if his gravity center had changed, which was enough to confirm his suspicions that that was a ninja. "He's our best lead…" King cringed and decided to go all out, jumping onto the wall to his left and jumping back and forth in-between the walls in a triangular motion to avoid any passerby's trash and anything stopping him. The kid looked back and seemed genuinely shocked, he even lost his footing for just a second, enough for King to concentrate magic into the Quel'Serrar for just enough time to send a crescent wave of crystalline substance through the air and into the small ninja. Back-flipping, it cut into his pouch but left him unhindered all the same.

"You're green for a grown-up!" the kid taunted, throwing a group of shurikens through the air and into King. King concentrated and cried out, crystallizing the shurikens and breaking them in a split second.

But in that split second, the kid was gone.

"Light damn it!" King shouted, jumping to the top of the houses and seeing nothing across the rural village. No small blur, nothing. Until he looked up, frustration rising. He saw one of the flying kites ninjas were famous for in the distance, passing over the wall that very instant. He knew when to give up on the chase.

Threading back through the alleyway he met Eighteen, who was holding a small paper that he hoped to be clues.

"It's in Eblanese." Well, that much was obvious for King. Eblan was the only place that trained ninjas. If only they had any idea where that phantom kingdom was, it'd be gone long ago. However, this confirmed that it took only four days for Eblan to get a spy on their back… maybe even less.

"Well, we have two choices here," King said, catching Eighteen off guard. "We either follow protocol and send this back to the Capital or…" King looked at one of the soldier groups returning. One of them was a scholar by the name of Tormod… or at least he claimed to be a scholar. He looked far too young. Still, he hadn't failed King yet, and he'd be sure to bet he wouldn't now. "Or we do this by ourselves…"

"I have no idea what you got on your mind, but considering our job is to be live bait for the Rebels, I'm willing to kick them in the rear a bit," Eighteen agreed, handing him the note. She'd get him to spew his logic sooner or later.

HoL:TS

August 15, 2010

A week had passed since the incident, and with it came the dirty work of cleaning the roads from Caldisla to Toph, the raising of the harvest-destroying Gypceros and the day's rest necessary to get the poison of the vile beast out of everyone's systems. During that time, King had behaved like an exemplary commander and had not talked to Eighteen once, something that she understood and respected. Their soldiers weren't stupid. Spending too much time together would lead to suspicion.

The time to talk came late at night as she arranged with Maria, her nurse, to be left to rest in the same room as King. Poor Maria thought she was helping two lovebirds pass some time together . . . she couldn't be further away from the truth.

"Already up and about?" Eighteen questioned as she found King sitting on the bed, two sheets of paper in hand.

"Like any of us actually felt the poison." True enough, King had a point. They had already suffered so many poison spells in the facility that normal, natural poison barely phased them, let alone require treatment.

"Stupid question, I know. So, what have you got for me?" she asked, sitting on the opposite bed of the small room.

"You know, I've been thinking… Mateus really is smart when he wants to be," King explained. Eighteen questioned why and he obliged. "At first I thought this was just a ploy for us to be attacked and give Mateus an excuse to start a full-on-war, but think about this. It doesn't add up. Why would he need an excuse? He rules the land without anyone being able to oppose him." Eighteen nodded.

"I've been wondering that too… but then I realized what our mission was."

"Exactly!" King pointed out. "We are 'saving' the villages with the worst monster problems in ages. As of now, we are doing a 'noble deed' for Mateus' subjects. Normally, the Rebels wouldn't dare touch such a group, but we…" King wielded the Quel'Serrar, the brilliant blade reflecting his tired expression. "We are too juicy of bait for them not to bite."

"Only survivors of the Magitek Research Facility. General of the army and his Captain. Wielders of two sacred treasure of Elven make. We have all sorts of bulls-eyes planted on our heads. And if they capitalize on it, they lose any support they could be building from the populace as they attacked their 'saviors'." Eighteen deduced, King nodding in result.

"However, even then I wondered… why us? Why not just you?" asked King, pointing at Eighteen with the sword. "There are two answers to this. He either wants us both dead or…"

"Christina… if she were still alive and with the Rebels, our deaths or even the side we are on in this conflict would destroy her loyalty and trust with the rebels. He may have granted our wish not to get a search party formed, but the way he circumvented it was masterful." Eighteen's tone was dry and tired, this deduction being at the tip of her tongue for a long time now.

"And that's why we're doing a little of… selective hearing of our own," King began, holding up the translated page. It read: August 21 at moonrise, Largo & Callil's. Password: Soan

"Took Tormod this long to decipher it?" Eighteen teased, the prospect of doing something behind the empire's back injecting new life into her body.

"We should count ourselves lucky he could even do it at all." King commented with a small chuckle. They shared a small laugh to relieve all the pressure they had gone through the last two weeks and decided to go to rest before things got sour. However, Eighteen, as she lay on the covers, felt an emotion that she knew she could not feel. Not for this situation.

"Hey, brother…" she called.

"Yes, I know. Don't get your hopes up…" he replied, giving Eighteen the feeling she needed to sleep soundly.

HoL:TS

August 20, 2010

Largo & Callil's was a renowned tavern in the town of Crimea, not too far to the south of Toph. King knew it was a land renowned by their love to their duchess, Elincia and her entire line. More than anyone else, he knew that her parents had been murdered by the Empire. The Black Knight himself once commented on it. Still, the people were blissfully unaware and thought of the fire that killed Elincia's family a tragedy, not cold-blooded murder. However, no matter how much King went around it, from the various times he had seen Elincia in the capital, he could not see her mount any offensive against the kingdom. He saw in her a weak ruler with a heart too big for its own good.

Needless to say, that reflected on the state of the town. Crimea advocated peace and democracy above all else, which meant most of the people coming from it were politicians and such… which meant that their defense was the worst of them all. King and his company had spent the last two days just trudging through fields and fields lost to monsters, garrisons taken down, chariots brutally destroyed and merchants murdered. When they arrived at the outskirts of the town, they saw how damaged the walls were, it was sad how you could see through the stone walls into the city through the various holes nestled deep into the wall.

On the inside it wasn't much better. People tried to look happy and welcome to the soldiers, the markets were full at the entrance, trading still happened and no one seemed to be starving… however none of their faces managed to hide the wear and tear behind them all. It was barely noon when they arrived but people moved like it was sundown. One must wonder how they managed to live through the attacks, destruction of crops and cattle and near isolation from the outside world.

Doing the same as in Caldisla, Eighteen and King managed to sort the entirety of the company of one hundred and one out to clear up on the area around Crimea and slay some specific monsters that were terrorizing them just before dinner time. During the same time, Eighteen had appropriated two suits of more casual looking clothing, a turban for King and a hairpin for her them to wear. By changing her hair into a blue coloration, something Cuore of all people had taught her, they sneaked into the pub, completely unrecognizable in anything outside their face, which they made sure to keep down.

"So… the password, who do we give it too?" Eighteen questioned lowly after they ordered their dinner. Various varieties of bread and meat came back to the table in unrefined but hearty meal. The owners of the bar were renowned former soldiers, Largo the Berserker, a tall and muscled monster of a man with a hardy purple beard and hair. There was Calill the Fire Mistress, a slender woman with her blonde hair tied into a bun. Both of them would have easily taken most of King's company out by themselves and King suspected they were part of the reason why Crimea was still standing at all. Which was either a good or a bad thing. If they were a part of the scheme then well, to put it simply, they were boned. If they weren't and they ran into trouble, then they would be a massive help.

A hearty booming laughter stopped King from speaking to Eighteen. Looking to his side, he saw the towering figure of Largo looking down on both. His arms looked worse for wear, bandaged and bloodied, which tied in to his suspicions. Still, the man's brown eyes were still glittering as if he was brand as new.

"You two eat like wild animals! You merchants?" he asked, slamming his hand on the table. Truth being told, he was right. They had eaten a lot and very fast, mostly due to how food on the road was starting to turn scarce and they had had no time to get lunch. King and Eighteen exchanged glances and nodded. "Celebrating selling your wares?"

"Aye, we are all out now!" Eighteen exclaimed, trying to make a play out of all of it.

"Aha! Good, good! This is on the house then!" Largo exclaimed, hitting Eighteen so hard on the back she nearly hit her plate.

"I'm really grateful for your patronage but… could I ask you something?" King asked, locking eyes with the happy-as-can-be berserker.

"Go ahead sonny! If you want advice with the ladies, then I warn you I'm not the best person to ask. Mine has me on a leash!" he boomed another large, continued laughter as he said that. King nodded and gulped, shaking off any doubts.

"What can you tell us about… Soan?" he asked. For a moment, his blood turned to ice as Largo's expression went serious, the eyes that would kill a man if he even took a wrong turn. All of it melted away as Largo roared yet again in laughter.

"You're late! Not that I can blame ya for eating dinner before goin' down, you seemed famished, so get your grub down and my lady will show you the way!" Largo promised, going back to the kitchen.

"You're insane, you know that?" Eighteen said as she returned to her food.

"You rubbed that on me," King deadpanned.

After the end of the meal, they approached Calill, fresh of scorching two perverted costumers out of the pub. She inspected them and asked:

"Spies, huh?" they both froze in place again. "Eblan has far too many of you guys. And I can't even be sure that's your real face so… follow me."

Dodged a bullet there… King told himself as they followed Calill into the kitchen. There was a small red-haired girl, one that felt… strange as King passed by her. Familiar even… Even so, they kept going until Calill stopped in front of a wall and brutally kicked it open, revealing a revolving secret passage.

"Sorry for the mess, Largo made the wall with his strength in mind," she explained, turning into the darkened corridor that led into a staircase. "Just go down there. Your Feudal Lord should be down there along with the King." And with that, she went back to the tavern, leaving King and Eighteen to close the hidden door and look at each other.

"The Feudal Lord of Eblan is down there…" King said, gulping hard. Any other soldier would be back-flipping at the very notion of capturing the leader of the one group that had opposed the Kingdom ever since Mateus had taken over. Preceding the Rebels by years. There was just one problem. There were two of them and he bet there were a WHOLE lot more than two guys down there.

"Still want this hearing to be 'selective'?" Eighteen asked, crossing her arms and waiting for the response. King had too many doubts to find an answer to all of them right now. Who was the King? How many people were down there? WHO was down there? Should they go get their soldiers first? The only way he found to deal with the situation was simple. Go with your gut.

"I don't want Mateus to know more than he needs to," replied King with determination, crushing the note under his hand and starting to walk down the staircase. Eighteen sighed heavily, touching the side of her chest that contained her heart and saying:

"I told you to not get your hopes up…" to both King and her own organ. Summoning the Quel'Delar that she had stuffed into a Rift-pocket, she walked down to follow King. After a couple of minutes going down the deeper than imagined passage, they arrived at a small door with an opening at the top, just big enough for you to put your eye in.

"Well, who's gonna be the one putting their eye in th-" Eighteen slammed King's head against the door, forcing him to take the risk.

"Well, seems like it isn't a trap, good. Now what do you see in there?" she asked oh-so casually. King groaned but started paying attention. He didn't expect what he saw.

"There's… a tavern in here. It's even bigger than the one on the top!" he exclaimed with his voice lowered as much as possible.

"Let me see that!" Eighteen exclaimed, throwing him down on the ground and taking a look by herself. It was true. The tavern wasn't full, far from it, there was just one rather large table being occupied, Largo at the counter, cleaning several glasses. Eighteen then examined the table. Sitting on the northern part of it were five ninjas. The first was the same kid they had found, just with a green cape and his mouth covered, obviously out of disguise now. One of them was elderly, wearing a black gi with a yellow cape. The other seemed in his fifties and wore red samurai-like armor. Another one was someone she knew. Someone who had assassinated a duke even while he was INSIDE the capital. This person had somehow vanished as soon as Eighteen pinned her down to a wall. She wore a female-styled variant of traditional ninja garb, colored various shades of blue to reflect her elemental affinity for water along with a blue robe tied over her uniform with a large light blue bow, and blue boots. She had long brown hair tied in a ponytail and had blue eyes.

"Izayoi of the Water… she's one of Eblan's Four Winds." She said, stepping back from the door to give King a vision in.

"Guess that means the Feudal Lord IS here… and I have a solid guess who it is." It wasn't hard to know, even Eighteen had realized that. Izayoi was to the right of a ninja while the elder was to the other. The final ninja was the only one standing, guarding the back of the one between Izayoi and the other. He was surprisingly young for a Feudal Lord. He didn't look a day over twenty five. One would wonder how much you could evaluate with that gray scarf covering his mouth. He was slightly shorter than King, his hair was spiky and silver and his eyes were gray-blue and black armor of the very light variant ninjas were known for and a large gray cape. The man's head suddenly turned to the door, causing King to nearly have a heart attack and fall back.

"Edward?" a large, gruff voice called. Eighteen willed herself to peer through the opening from their side, giving King a signal as soon as the Feudal Lord shook his head.

"Nothing…" Edward replied, adding, "And its Edge, Edward is a girl's name." he added with snark. Totally not what they expected from the "lord of ninjas."

"His Majesty will call you whatever he wants human!" a female growled. King realized just how screwed they could get very fast when he saw the one talking.

"T-that's a Laguz…" how did he know that immediately? Well, this girl had cat-ears. That kinda gives you a pretty big clue. She had deep purple eyes, short orange hair, a green combat vest with a long scarf that possessed a bell on the end and… a tail to match her hair and ears.

"Lethe!" another Laguz, this one to her left cautioned. His hair was very spiky and aquamarine, along with his tail and ears, his eyes hetero-chromatic of green and violet. A brown bandana and vest covered the rest of his body.

"Let it be Ranulf. She is… impulsive." This one was OBVIOUSLY their king. He was massive, both in bulk and in height, a red mane and beard commanded respect, strength and wisdom. While he didn't show any animal features, his long, intricate blue cape held a golden lion on the side that covered his arm. "And you Lethe, show respect, he is of as much stature as me." He continued, pointing at Edge, who childishly put his tongue out at Lethe, causing Ranulf to chuckle. "No matter how it may not appear…"

"Hey!" Edge shouted back.

"Can we just continue with the meeting?" and finally, the last surprise for King.

"Well I'll be, Elincia actually has guts." There she was, sitting on the table with her blue-haired captain of the guard, knight in shining armor stereotype Geoffrey. There was something in that guy that made King's blood boil when he came to the capital. So self-righteous… The one beside him was his sister, Lucia. A very approachable girl, much more than her brother. Long blue-hair cascaded into her waist as she wore a pure white vest, her katana stashed on her hip.

"Geoffrey, that's not for you to decide." Lucia warned.

"Let it be Lucia, Geoffrey has some merit to his opinion. We have wasted too much time as it is. Well, Sir Edge, what have you to say about these tunnels?" she questioned, opening her arms to point at the tavern.

"Alright. As I was saying, we only recently discovered these Dwarven tunnels. Five years is not enough to repossess a radius of tunnel that covers as far as the eye can see. We have no idea where most of them go, so to use one of them to enter the capital is not possible right now. As for the Espers… my wife is working on it." King and Eighteen's ears couldn't believe themselves. Espers? The things that they were infused with?

"To think a human would be accepted as a summoner after what the lot of you did to them…" Lethe seethed, the name of human being thrown as an insult in her species.

"You know, if you weren't hot, I'd have Gekkou here shank you for that, but I won't waste a nice body like yours like that," Edge said, his smiling expression betraying how dark his tone became.

"You promiscuous bas-"

"Lethe, you insulted his mate. The fact that you remain here comes from my waning patience." The king of the Laguz told Lethe, silencing the cat-girl completely and immediately. "Regardless, I see that you Beorc have been making steady progress. Not as fast as we'd hoped but as steadily as we could ask. On our end we had an interesting development."

"Oh?" Edge began.

"It would appear that the Hawks met up with a certain member of Elincia's group. Tibarn refused to tell me her name, said 'find it yourself you has-been' he did, but it is clear that the Hawks have experienced a dramatic turn in the direction of our cause. While we have not gotten them to the point where they would vote for us, they are very close. The Elves however, seem to be adamant as to not reveal us the location of the Lich Bane until their so called Chosen One comes."

"I'd wish they'd understand… but Tiki did foresee something about the Harbinger of Light before she left on her journey, did she not?" Elincia added, apparently reminiscing.

"I'd not trust in Naga at this point. She was all quiet and ignorant for all these years and now she's throwing her daughter around across the universe? Please." Edge groaned, crossing his arms and leaning back.

"Someone's sore," Ranulf commented off-handedly.

"Sorry if I think our GOD should DO something instead of dwindling her thumbs and send her daughter to do the dirty work. I mean, at least Bahamut has an excuse, even if it is, in the end, nothing but an oversized grudge." Edge said.

"Hawks? Cause? The Rebels not only found but are allying with the Laguz?" King gasped, their forces were becoming even scary to think of.

"And Eblan is with them. They are much more of a threat than I ho- I meant, imagined," Eighteen nodded as they watched on.

"I am ever so content that gift of the Divine Dragons themselves would say so." A smooth voice of a man suddenly said from behind. They tried to turn back but were thrown back through the door and into the tavern by a blast of powerful winds, so powerful it was that it cut through their skin and clothes. "But I'm afraid your little adventure ends here my dear."

King and Eighteen quickly lifted their heads and got a good look of their assailants. One of them wore a dark green robe covered by a lighter shaded cape, a pair of white shoulder pads rounding up his gear as he held a tome. His blonde hair was exquisitely cropped into a ponytail and he possessed a small mustache and goatee. The other one? Oh boy… oh boy oh boy.

It was a woman around her mid-twenties that wore an emerald green leotard with various gold ornaments in the center of her stomach to connect to dark green cloth, gold trimming around her cups and branching through them. The leotard was connecting to emerald green sleeves that faded into jade and formed to a point at a gold ring on her middle fingers on the back of her hand. The leotard itself had patches of jade green cloth on the curves of her torso and down the center of her body till it connected to the gold piece on the center. There were two emerald strips that wrapped around over hip from the bottom of the leotard and one around each thigh that was covered by a green mini-skirt. Her sleeves had patches of jade where one would think it was thorn. Her legs bore emerald green knee high stockings with gold knee-guards and various holes to give it a vine like design and she wore gold footwear of a heeled boots. Her long green hair cascaded down her shoulders and even past her hips. She seemed to be adjusting her two, reddened hairpins, as it was obvious they had ran quite the distance.

"Bastian, you're late," Geoffrey stated, picking up his spear from the side of his chair.

"My apologies for the lateness of the hour. Proper social graces are most difficult to observe in wartime," Bastian, the count with the most silver of tongues excused himself, only to have the woman he was with shut him down.

"You didn't waste time to share your graces with Calill. You're every bit as bad as Edge, you just hide it better." Bastian looked positively shocked by the statement, murmuring:

"You hurt me so, my Lady of the Mist." She sighed, reaching for her waist and pulling out an emerald whip.

"I'd advise you two to stay down. I may not be able to summon Ifrit without endangering the area but I'm more than capable of burning you to ashes myself," she warned, cracking her whip down.

"How did you…" King questioned. "And why… if you knew we were there, why did you continue talking?"

"Please! That's espionage 101. After Largo here clearly realized you two weren't part of the regular group and the only ones not to come with a big name, he warned us. So we just sent my beautiful wife over there and Bastian through the tunnels to the one that connected to Elincia's estate and entertained you with information. I don't LIKE giving info, but it helped getting you in a false sense of security," Edge explained, his ego nearly too big for the room to contain.

"They got us good…" Eighteen admitted, turning to King.

"I'm surprised the two of you have such a high ranking. That was something only newborns to the army would fall into!" Ranulf teased, his tail waggling happily. In a sense, he was right. This WAS the first mission King had been assigned to outside the walls.

"So, what are you about to do now? Take us on and die or come in quietly?" the girl in green questioned, her hand firing up with a Firaga spell. King nodded to Eighteen, who sighed and nodded back.

"We'll take option C!" King exclaimed, jumping back to his feet, wielding the Quel'Serrar and stabbing it into the ground with both hands, channeling his magic through the sword where it was amplified nearly tenfold. Normally he would just create a circle of jagged crystal around him, but with this sword he was able create multiple rows of jagged crystal that expanded outward. Bastian and the woman called out Wind and Fire respectively to shield them, but the others had to jump away.

"My King stay back!" Lethe exclaimed as her and Ranulf were covered in a shining yellow light that faded to reveal two man-sized cats that shared the fur with the people standing there on all fours, the orange one even having Lethe's bells.

"I've always wanted to see a true Laguz transforming. Pity it had to be like this! Blizzaga-Spread !" Eighteen shouted, arcing the Quel'Delar in the direction of the table, a veritable hail of spears of ice shooting from the line created by the blade. She was shocked when a blur manifested just in front of her, the Feudal Lord of Eblan proving to be that very same blur.

"Slow, aren't you?" he teased, slashing away at her with his two katanas at incredible speeds. Eighteen just couldn't keep up, sword or no sword, gashes were forming up all over her body until she found the timing to jump back. "Don't leave so soon! Fire Element: Blaze!" Edge quickly made a sequence of symbols with his hands, moving his head back to shoot a ball of fire out of what would be his mouth if his scarf wasn't in the way.

"Ice Wall!" Eighteen exclaimed, protecting herself with the very same thing the spell had called for.

"Miss me?!" Izayoi whispered as she appeared from behind her, binding her neck with her whip. Immediately after, the kid ninja, the elder and the eldest appeared from all directions, katanas primed at hitting Eighteen. Suddenly, Eighteen's eyes turned brimming blue, almost crystal-like and her power surged to her unbridled body and she cried:

"Diamond… DUST!" she started levitating and spun around, releasing a harsh blizzard that took a hold of the entire room. In mere moments, Izayoi's whip and arm completely froze, as did the youngest of the ninjas. The elder ones managed to jump back, but they too fell victim to the spell as their legs were pierced by the icicles that started forming on the floor. Edge was the only one to manage to avoid all this by using his Blaze Ninjustu to surround him in a column of flame during the duration of the attack. Out of breath, Eighteen fell to the ground causing the magic to be canceled, ending the snowstorm.

"Heresy…" Lethe growled, her eyes darkening. "To disrespect Espers this much… ABOMINATION!" the cat shrieked and darted past Edge and lunged in midair towards Eighteen, who was still recovering.

"We didn't ask to be what you call us!" Eighteen shouted back, blocking the claws with the Quel'Delar and diverting Lethe against the nearby wall. With feline agility, the Cat Laguz landed on the wall on her feet, reverting to her human form.

"Don't make me laugh!" she snarled. Rushing Eighteen with her bare fists, she hailed the opposing woman with swift, precise and deadly strikes that utilized both hands and feet alike. "You come into this world, steal sacred artifacts, steal lives, steal SOULS, all for the sake of a vile emporium of greed and you expect us to show PITY?!" Lethe spat, jumping and delivering a reverse roundhouse of such force that Eighteen felt her neck crack as it was wiped the side. She tumbled backwards before hearing the screech of a cat. Before she knew it, she had been tackled to the ground by a giant feline.

"I honestly wished it wouldn't have come to this…" Lucia said as her katana and King's sword grinded against each other.

"Can't say I like this either but…" King began, pushing Lucia back and jumping to the side, evading Geoffrey's spear. "Some seem pretty happy with it!"

"I harbored no idea of letting you live!" Geoffrey exclaimed, thrusting his spear in the direction of King's heart. Skillfully dodging and locking the spear in an arm-lock. "After what the Empire did to Elincia and her lands, there is no one I'll leave standing!" Geoffrey exclaimed, heaving King upwards with his spear.

Tired of simply being on the defensive, King took advantage of how close to the ceiling he was passing to anchor both feet on the rock-ceiling, crystallizing his feet in his upside down position to gain a foothold. Taking Geoffrey completely by surprise, he managed to pull out his spear and de-crystalize his feet, landing on the ground with a sweeping motion of the weapon, the shaft hitting Geoffrey hard and into the counter.

"Back up that talk if you care so much for her," King spat, being reminded of very bitter memories. Not that he could think of it for long, as cutting wings passed by him again in the back, his instincts telling him to jump above the currents. His instincts were wrong. The air was suddenly got moist around him, his vision slowly fading into white.

"Mist Dragon!" exclaimed the woman in green, completely enveloping King in a mist. As if the lack of vision wasn't enough, a huge blue cat appeared from one of King's now MANY blind spots, clawing at his eyes and chest repeatedly before drop kicking him into the ground.

It was by sheer luck that he recollected himself in time to flip in the air and land on his own two feet. However, they just kept coming. The mist seemed to be affecting only him, as Elincia managed to get a hit in the left side of his hip just fine. Cringing at the pain, King kicked Elincia away but managed to only break them up for a few seconds, as the woman seemed to be far more prepared for combat than he ever imagined, quickly regaining her footing and slashing at King. King managed to parry the slash but she quickly rebounded and attacked on the opposite direction. They exchanged blows for a few moments, sparks flying and mist dissipating.

As it all cleared, King finally got a look into Elincia's eyes as their swords ground against each other. Her eyes brimmed with an intensity King would have never have expected from what seemed to be a pampered princess. They had seen their fair share of death and that showed.

However, it all stopped for a moment. The woman had stopped to look better into him, analyzing his features and said what King both loathed and loved:

"You're Christina's important friends, aren't you?" King's heart skipped a beat and so did all the functions of his body. Apparently not one to dilly dally, Elincia took this opportunity to knock King's sword right out of his left hand.

"Come with us quietly," Elincia told him, holding her sword to his neck. A part of King desperately wanted to say yes. Maybe they were friends and then, if her and Elincia backed them up they would be back to the olden days. But the other was far less naïve. He was a General of the Empire, they wouldn't forgive him THAT easily. And what was telling him she was even OKAY in the rebels? For all he knew, they could have tortured that name out of her… And to make it all worse, Cuore was back home. He wouldn't leave her to die. Tor had no way to keep her hidden like he did, he didn't have the authority. With all of that in mind, he murmured:

"Haste," sending his body into overclock, he pushed Elincia's sword away and spun, catching his falling sword with his left hand, which by accompanying the motion soon found itself on Elincia's neck. "Why don't you tell me everything about how you got to know that first?" he demanded, his sword drawing blood. He'd never want to straight up KILL Elincia, but what he couldn't SHOW that, could he? Took off all the threat.

It all came crashing down when Eighteen's scream echoed through the room. Lethe had her pinned down and was munching on her left trapezius muscle as if it was a treat. The bleeding was anything but tame. Knowing this, King's mind just bore to a halt and he acted on instinct, leaving Elincia unguarded and creating an unrefined chunk of crystal in his hand which he hurled into Lethe's hind leg. The cat cried out in agony, giving Eighteen enough time to stab her stomach with the knife she had kept on her waist all this time.

Reverting back into human form, Lethe staggered back, slowly removing the knife from her abdomen while Eighteen go up, preparing to cleave her in two with her Quel'Delar.

"ENOUGH!" the one left out of this fight roared. King watched as the King of the Laguz punched the ground in anger, the same yellow light that enveloped the rest enveloped him too. Emerging from it was something vastly more terrifying than man-sized cats. Easily taller than anyone on the room while still on all fours, a bright red lion adorned in darker tribal tattoos shook the room with its roar. It's mane as red as the man's former hair and his snout both awe and terror inspiring.

"King Caineghis!" Ranulf cried out, returning to his human form to caution his ruler. It didn't work. The entire tavern trembled as the massive muscled beast stampeded through the room, passing just by Lethe and jumping into the air, paw reaching back.

"Ice Wall!" Eighteen chanted. Both the ice and her ribs were obliterated by the King's royal claw, so remorselessly powerful was the impact that it left not one but two shock waves behind as Eighteen flew across the room and INTO a wall, her body becoming stuck in the hole it created.

"Sister!" King cried out, his despair turning into rage at the same time his Quel'Serrar shone in a deep, mystical green light. "Why yo-" for something so heavy and mighty, Caineghis was impossibly fast, giving King no time to prepare as he barreled towards him and uppercut him with the back of his paw. King soon became acquainted with the ceiling, coughing as he stated to fall back down, his body still imprinted in the cold stone. One could only imagine what went through his mind as the Lion King jumped in his direction, bringing down the paw of judgment into his back, shattering his right shoulder and heavily damaging his ribs.

Spinning towards the ground due to having being hit on the side, he hit the ground back-first as hard as you'd imagine, the impact claiming a few more bones. The last thing he saw was a red claw falling in his direction as everything went dark.

TUH: Well now, isn't this just wonderful? I get the whole T- I mean place for myself! Okay, okay I get it.

TUH: You wanted to see how SoKai ended, right?

TUH: Well, sorry, but I'm fucking evil. Learn to love it.

TUH: Anyway, this chapter served as a groundwork to show you much more about the world itself the characters live in and the story we'll see from now on. That cliffhanger was suggested to happen by two of our readers, one of them of the canine variety, so you may as well kill them, not me.

TUH: So, in any case, i hope you get cavities from next chapter. I sincerely do. I'll be here, watching it happen. For now, just tell us what you thought of this special chapter of I'l's truly! As our lord and savior Gilgamesh once spoke:

TUH: Hasta la bye bye muchahos!

May the Love of Anuwëy guide you when all Hope is lost

TorNathan
The Unknowing HErald