A sudden splash of water awoke Tatsuma from his deep slumber. He looked around and saw that he was in a dark cell, considering there were bar grills on one side of the small cube he was in. He saw three people by the grills but he couldn't quite make out their facial features, however he couldn't miss one of the person having long white hair. He saw movement, and another spalsh of water surged at him. Tatsuma wiped his eyes and looked out his cell. There, he saw a man wearing rich robes and Shiroko standing beside him. Tatsuma walked over to the grills to get a better look of the man. He was in his early forties, and from the looks of it, he was a man of power.
"Good afternoon," the man said, "I am Ian, leader of the Azures. Who might you be?" Ian asked, even though he knew who Tatsuma was.
"I am Tatsuma, son of Azen-" Tatsuma began.
"Ah! The son of the enemy! Why, we should have you executed at once!" Ian stated, then looked at Shiroko, "Luckily for you, this girl told me to spare your life."
"Shiroko... You led them to me?" Tatsuma asked. Shiroko looked to the side.
"Yes, she did. You see, she is an agent in our little group. She did well to aid your capture," Ian turned to Shiroko, then held a dagger to her throat.
"What are you doing?" Tatsuma exclaimed, grabbing onto the metal grill.
"I want you to go home and tell your father everything that you saw here," Ian said.
"That's exactly what I intend to do!" Tatsuma responded.
"Good."
Tatsuma was thrown out of New Starfall along with his Bone Katana, and he started the journey back to New Pokke. In the three days that he walked, he was thinking of how he would tell his father everything. Despite being betrayed by Shiroko, he still wanted to save her from Ian's hold, especially after seeing her threatened by Ian. Tatsuma thought long and hard that he failed to notice his body's needs, such as eating or drinking, or even getting some sleep. He just walked at a steady pace all the way back to New Pokke, and by the third day, he arrived at a horrible sight. New Pokke was destroyed, with bodies litering the ground. The corpses were caked with blood, and there was an eerie silence in the village. Tatsuma ran to his house and searched for his parents, but their house was empty of people. Tatsuma exited and looked at the other houses, and saw that some were burnt. Tatsuma stepped over the corpses of the villagers and furrowed his brows when he saw a dead hybrid body.
"So this was what they meant by the hammer falling..." Tatsuma whispered to himself.
Tatsuma followed the trail of hybrid corpses and found himself going upslope, onto a small hill by the village. The higher he got, the more hybrid corpses were present, and when he looked up, Tatsuma saw Azen and Mikan lying down at the top of the hill. They must have held off the attackers and led them away from the village. Tatsuma fell to his knees as he approached the bodies of his parents, then shook them both to wake them. Neither responded. Tatsuma saw that Mikan was holding some sort of note, and he opened it. Inside the note were three words with a few drops of blood on it. "We love you, Tatsuma," it read, and Tatsuma cried. He cried over the loss of his family and his entire village. All this time, he had wanted to leave the village. Only now did he want to stay forever. He cried as if his heart was being wrenched out of his chest.
Tatsuma buried every single body of the villagers, and piled up the bodies of the hybrids and burnt them. Tatsuma's empty eyes stared as half of his vision was covered with crosses and the other half was filled with the burning of hybrid bodies. Tatsuma kept thinking of why this had happened to him. He kept thinking how he could have avoided this tragedy. Tatsuma went to his house and took a look at Azen and Mikan's room. There was a chest at the foot of their bed that Azen had told him not to open until the time had come that he was ready. Tatsuma took his Bone Katana and broke the lock, then opened the chest. Inside, he saw the Ioprey set that he always heard about from Azen's stories of the Human-Monster War. Tatsuma took off his hunter set and started wearing the Ioprey set. In minutes, he was dressed in the uniform that the old Rebellion wore.
Exiting his house a final time, Tatsuma looked over the graves of his parents. A breeze passed by and a tear fell from Tatsuma's orange eyes, then he set off. He headed back to Ravenguard, taking the most direct route there which only took a few hours. Tatsuma told Sarah of the terrible news, and Sarah quickly assembled a gathering. She made Tatsuma tell them the news of the attack on New Pokke and about the death of Azen, and soon after he was finished, an uproar emerged. A group of people suggested letting the Elder Council know about this and encourage them to make the Kingdom act. Another group argued that the matter should be taken up to the king himself. Finally, a third group comes along and suggests that they start a new rebellion, only this time, it was going to be a group with the sole purpose of stopping the Azures. Tatsuma stood up, and the arguing crowd stopped talking.
"I will lead a new group," Tatsuma said loudly.
"But you're just a kid!" Someone in the crowd yelled.
"I may be just a kid, but my father-"
"That was your father, not you!"
"Give the boy a chance! He may live up to his father's fame!"
Instead of three sides arguing, there were now two sides. One arguing that Tatsuma cannot lead, while the other argued that Tatsuma is suitable to lead. The men started bickering at each other, but then Tatsuma yelled out to the people.
"We'll need men. Let's start recruiting and we'll be on our way to building a new group," Tatsuma proposed.
"And who are you to order us around?" A patron yelled.
"I am Tatsuma, son of Azen. He's the man that fought a rebellion and prevented Ian's reign from being permanent. He's the man that made sure you have a better future. He's the man that prevented your women from being tools of breeding for more hybrid soldiers. You should be thankful to my father's deeds, and now you owe him your service. Since he is now gone, I represent him and everything he fought for. Now, if you still do not wish to follow me, then pack up and leave the Known Territory, or go hide on the other side of the Kingdom's curtains. I will take action, and that action begins with my followers."
The crowd was silenced, then suddenly a man stepped up and gave his sign of agreement to Tatsuma. Soon after, many more followed suit, and finally, the entire crowd was swayed to follow Tatsuma.
"From the ashes of the Rebellion rise the Crimsons!" Tatsuma yelled, and the whole crowd roared in agreement.
Two months after Tatsuma's speech, Ravenguard's activities bustled. The number of forges doubled, and the personnel in each forge worked very hard to produce weapons and armor. Men from the gathering started recruiting men from all over the Known Territory, and myriads of men started pouring into Ravenguard. Tatsuma appointed Ravenguard as the central headquarters of the Crimsons, which transformed the town into a fortress as defenses were set up and high walls were erected. Everyone was working extra hard to jumpstart the group, and then finally, a large group of hunters wearing Mafumofu sets marched into Ravenguard and looked for Tatsuma.
"We are hunters from Pokke Village. We wish to aid you in your fight against the Azures," the leader said.
Tatsuma nodded, then clasped the leader's shoulder, "I'm glad that you've come," Tatsuma said.
Hunters from Pokke Village were legendary for their skill ever since the end of the Human-Monster War. Reports from the Hunter's Guild reported that Pokke Village had a 96% success rate in terms of the contracts that they took, which came close to Kokoto Village's hunters, who boasted a 98% success rate. Tatsuma treated all hunters to be elite troops since they have experience fighting horrendous monsters, but most of the Crimsons were just villagers and ordinary citizens of the Kingdom that sided with the Crimson Blades' mission. What the Crimsons lacked in technology and equipment, they made up for with training. The Crimsons offered the same friendly yet very informative training that the Rebellion once had, and it had produced good results.
As for Tatsuma, he spent the past two months in solidity, only going out when his attention is needed. He has been training himself to use his Bone Katana more efficiently so he could lead and fight at the same time. Despite having a crude form, Tatsuma's strikes were heavy and powerful. With his prowess, his Bone Katana was to be treated as a greatsword in terms of damage dealt. He allowed no space for himself to grieve or mourn for his loss, and this caused a sort of tunneling in Tatsuma's emotional wound, where the wound gets deeper and it develops complications within the wound that could not be treated from the outside. It turned Tatsuma into a completely different personm and Sarah couldn't help but notice that he's practically gone mute unless someone decided to initiate a conversation with him. It was like he was not the leader. It was as if he was a mere hunter who has no family nor friends in the new company that he had.
"It's time to take a break, Tatsuma," Sarah called out, carrying a towel for Tatsuma.
"Thanks," Tatsuma replied then took the towel and wiped his face and forehead.
"We are starting to create multiple mobile groups as you requested."
"That's great news," Tatsuma replied, before sheathing his Bone Katana and walked to take a seat on one of the stools that Sarah put out for the two of them.
"When are we going to strike, and where?" Sarah asked, vital questions to the first step of their success.
"I planned to send the mobile groups and have them act as scouts throughout the Known Territory. Once they pick up the trail of the Azures and calculate where they're going, we're going to make an appearance and stop them," Tatsuma said.
"That would require fast travel, dear," Sarah pointed out.
"Indeed. We're going to use monsters for that. Velociprey should do the trick."
"But that's completely against your father's-"
"Are you willing to do everything to ensure that the future is brighter than what Ian has to propose?"
"Yes, I am, but-"
"Then we're using every resource available to us, and it starts with the Velociprey."
"Very well..." Sarah slinked off, dejected, but she knew Tatsuma had a sound reason.
She knew that he knew they would need to use everything they could reach in order to win, especially since the Crimsons do not have the support of the Kingdom, but neither does the Azures. Sarah sighed and went out to check on the progress of the training of the men, and they've begun showing real promise. They were skilled, lethal, and ready for combat.
A few weeks later, a scout riding a velociprey came rushing into Ravenguard and asked for Tatsuma's presence. Tatsuma walked out of the hotel and spoke to the scout. Apparently, the Azures have mobilized towards a small village towards the East. Tatsuma commended the scout for his work, then ordered a strike force to mobilize with him to the village. Tatsuma mounted a velocidrome and moved out with his men to the village that the Azures were going to attack. It took a day for the Crimsons to arrive to the village, and they could see that the Azures were already attacking the village. Tatsuma looked over the assaulting Azures. They all held bowguns. Tatsuma also noted the Crimsons' superior number, and he ordered half of the men to dismount, while the other half to go ahead and charge the Azures.
The Azures fired multiple fire shots that lit the village on fire, and they were caught by surprise from the mounted attack that the Crimsons sent their way. The Azures were trampled and injured by the velocipreys' charge, then the incoming infantry of the Crimsons proved a threat as well. The Azures moved some men forward and began shooting at the Crimson infantry, and they mowed them down with their shots, however the sheer number of the Crimsons overpowered the Azures' firepower and forced them to engage in melee combat. The fight raged on throughout the entire village, with the villagers who failed to flee getting caught in the middle of the battle. Their houses were destroyed by the fight, and it got very intense that whole houses collapsed because of the swings and shots fired. To be fair, the houses were made of bamboo, and were not very strong, but it did not matter.
Tatsuma was fighting with a group of men when he got pushed into a small hut. He tumbled backward and got back up to his feet to rejoin the fight, but a fire shot that hit one of the hut's pillars caused him to back away. The fire started spreading, and that's when he heard gasps and signs of despair from within the house. He turned and saw a mother holding an infant safe in her arms. The fire spread fast, and time was running out. Tatsuma ran over to the mother and ushered her to stand.
"Come on, we have no time! Let's go!" Tatsuma yelled.
The mother stood up and started to run out of the house, and as she ran outside, Tatsuma saw Azures headed their way. Tatsuma continued escorting the mother and child until they reached a bridge, and there, Tatsuma made his stand.
"Go on! Live with your child, and find another place to live!" Tatsuma yelled. His yell caught the attention of the Azures and they started loading their bowguns.
"What is your name, sir? I must name my child after you," The mother asked.
"I am Tatsuma. Now go!" Tatsuma yelled, and the mother started running as fast as she could away from the village. Tatsuma turned back to his pursuers, and found them ready to fire. They shot a volley at Tatsuma and miraculously, they missed all the bullets, and Tatsuma charged in and engaged them in melee combat. He jumped at the first Azure he found and tackled him to the ground, with his Bone Katana propped against his enemy's neck so the fall would actually cut the man's throat. Next, he was met with a solid blow to the back from the butt of a bowgun, which Tatsuma shrugged off and locked his sword into the enemy's bowgun. As the two struggled, the last Azure that pursued Tatsuma started running after the mother. He was running at a faster speed than the woman, and she was running in a straight line. Tatsuma knew she was going to get hit. Tatsuma kicked the Azure right as he was about to shoot the mother, but his good intentions led to the mother being shot straight through her chest, and she fell to the ground.
Enraged, Tatsuma frenzied over the Azure he was currently fighting and broke his neck, then he threw his Bone Katana at the Azure that shot the mother, and he fell soon afterwards. Tatsuma retrieved his sword and ran over to the mother's body. She must have been really weak to have ran only a short distance in the time that she ran. Tatsuma could still hear fighting going on in the village, so he knew he had to return. However, the infant's cries resounded in Tatsuma's ears, and he gently turned over the body of the mother, and she was alive. Barely. She was crying, but Tatsuma could tell she was trying to calm the baby down in her last moments. When the mother saw Tatsuma, she smiled faintly, then closed her eyes forever. Tatsuma bowed his head slightly in respect for the late mother, but the infant had not stopped crying. Tatsuma took the infant from the mother's arms, and he sheathed his Bone Katana. He carried the mother to the side of the bridge and buried her there, marking her grave with two twigs tied together to make a cross. Tatsuma hoped that anyone who passes by this bridge would be aware of the battle that happened in this area.
When Tatsuma was finished burying the mother, he carried the infant in his arms, then looked at the village. The last remaining buildings shook, until finally they all collapsed. After the dust clouds dissipated, Tatsuma saw his men counting how many died. There was no celebration, for it was a very costly victory. Only 13% of the Crimson forces that arrived in the village survived the battle. Tatsuma sighed. The infant seemed to have cried itself to sleep, or it was comforted by Tatsuma's hold. He didn't know. What he knew, however, was that he will have to return to Ravenguard with the infant.