Fun Fact: This was going to be Chapter 9, but I felt the pacing was going too fast. Also, my longest chapter yet!
Read, enjoy and feel free to comment.
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"The case of Commander Hotaru of the Seidan Guard against the Realm of Order is now in session. Senators Konton, Uso and I, Ran-Yo, preside over this trial. Grava, protector goddess of the realm and elemental goddess of gravity, is here to witness that justice is being made" claimed a middle-aged man who wore his hair in a bun style while sitting next to an old bearded man and a relatively young bald woman.
Hotaru's hatred towards the Senate as the ruling institution of Orderrealm was no secret to many close to him or other senators. The constant debates that ended up taking valuable time of action, scandals of corruption that took ages for the justice system to clear and 'grey area' politicians who pretended to be with both sides but in the end were in none but that of their pockets, and more.
Long before he was born, the war between those who abided by the realm's ambition to preserve order above all else were at war with those that wanted to bring down most the system seeing it as unnecessary and very restrictive, calling themselves the 'Resistance'. It did not help that with each passing year, the senate was slowly being overtaken by the Resistance through assassinations, infiltration, rigged elections and fake promises of peace.
"You are accused of abuse of power, invasion and annexation of another realm without the required victories in Mortal Kombat, and neglection to protect a prisoner of war. How do you plea?".
Cuffed, but still in his black and turquoise armor and proudly wearing the flags of the Seidan Guard on his back, he stepped to the center of the round room and spoke clearly as the floor's platform began to levitate. "Not guilty".
He did not fear any of them. They were only sitting there because of a weak Prime Minister that signed a so called "peace deal" that gave the Resistance a quarter of the senate regardless of how many seats they actually won on elections. They were also active and public members of the Resistance; being personally arrested by Hotaru who was forced to let them go because of the deal. And now they had the audacity of putting him in trial. A pathetic payback for managing to reduce them to a small fraction after the death of their precious martyr, Darrius.
His judges, up on their tall stone podiums seemed amused by his answer. This was not a trial. This was a show; a show where they wanted to rub their under the table victory by making him the oppressive villain and make themselves look like the underdogs and freedom fighters.
Hotaru just stared at them for a long time, but he was then bothered by the light coming from the open dome in the roof. He looked up, the light became brighter and a faint voice could be heard in the distance. "… ak… p… wa… p".
He started to feel pain all over his body, but his cheeks felt constant and growing pain. "wak… up… wake up… wake up!" The light consumed him, and that ended that memory. The memory of the day of his greatest military victory.
"WAKE UP!" a voice commanded him.
He could not distinguish any features in the voice at first, but he slowly opened his eyes. It took him some time to adjust to the light and all he was able to see was the blurry silhouette of a person. After some time, he could see a pair of shades, either a bald or short haired head, and a sleeveless shirt. "Darrius…?" He managed to ask.
"…Who?" The shape spoke with a female voice "Guess they were right; the shades are just too much". His eyes finally adjusted, and he was able to see a young woman with short brown hair crouching over him. She then pulled the glasses off her eyes letting him see her light blue pupils. He tried to stand up but noticed that his hands were tied to his back and then the pain took over his body once again.
It took him some time to finally get on his knees. In the meanwhile, the girl just looked at him with amusement, enjoying watching him being in pain. He looked at her with annoyance and was ready to stand up, but as soon as he placed a foot on the floor, she closed an improvised steel bar door on his face. He then looked at her again while she stared at him with the same sadist face as before. "Enjoying yourself?" He asked her.
She then walked behind his cell and began to push it out of what appeared to be a tent. "As much as a 'coward' can" she noted with an air of humor.
Once outside, everyone at the camp stopped what they were doing and looked at Hotaru inside his cage. Some gave him death signs, some taunted him with insults of falling from grace and others looked at him with flirtatious eyes. After a moment he noticed his vest, blazer, shoes and socks were gone, and when they stopped moving and a plate of water was left on his knees, he was able to see his face. One black eye, a big cut on his lip, some dried blood on the left of his forehead and an inflamed right cheek.
The girl then slapped the cage a few times earning his attention. "I'll come back for you later". She turned her head to look at the other bandits who were slowly commuting to the cage. "Don't worry. They don't bite". She then started to walk to the largest tent in the camp, going up a set of stairs and finally going inside.
The rest of what he deduced was the Branwen tribe surrounded him with big grins, knives and dust pellets. "Lookie here buys! A brave rich boy in the hands of us bottom feeders. Still feeling brave, hotshot?" A skinny man with long blond hair approached the cell. He leaned over and looked at Hotaru directly.
Hotaru remained silent. Not wanting to entertain him, he just stared back. "Awwww, what's wrong? The mean people got you scared?".
"No, just disappointed at myself". The man just gave him a confused look. "This place? I've seen brutes with a lack of common sense build a better camp than this hellhole" Images of Chaosrealm 'cities' came to mind "And all of you? I thought you were a capable guerrilla, but you are all just a bunch of good for nothing scavengers attacking the defenseless!".
The man was now grabbing two cell bars and pressed his face against the door. Looking at their captive with anger, he said "I don't think you understand your situation!". But during the heating argument no one noticed Hotaru shift his position to a squat. He fell on his back and used the momentum to deliver a kick to the man's chin which sent him flying backwards. When the man stood, he spitted out a tooth and was quickly embarrassed when everyone in the audience started to laugh at him.
The man took out his gun and pointed it at Hotaru who was now kneeling with a smug face. "You'll regret doing that!" he screamed.
"Do it". Hotaru dared him.
They remained still for a moment before Hotaru teased him again. "What? Was all that bravado a show?". The man did nothing and Hotaru continued. "Come on, do it! Maybe I am just too much for you. Should I cover my eyes to make it easier?".
The man's wrist was starting to shake; he closed one eye and pointed to Hotaru's head but did not fire. After a long pause, the man opened his eyes and threw the gun to the ground with his hands up. Hotaru smirked. "Coward" he gloated before being hit in the back of the head and falling on his face while a pole like object pressed against his head.
"Or he understood his role in the tribe" a strong female voice said behind him. "Vernal, take him out. We have business to discuss". The pole was removed, the girl from before opened his prison and grabbed him by the shoulders forcing him to get out; she then pushed him to the main tent where a tall pale woman with long black hair wearing a red bandana, a black and red coat and a black miniskirt just looked at him with her arms crossed and an stoic face.
"Miss Branwen, I suppose?"
She looked at him from top to bottom and then gave him a small grin. "This will be fun" she said before all three entered the tent.
While not to his standards when it came to camp organization, it was obvious she kept the better things the tribe looted. The hut was small and humble. It had crates and barrels as furniture, a small table with four red cushions and perhaps the most luxurious things in the entire camp: A big double sized bed with expensive looking covers and many bottles of what seemed like high quality bottles of liquor.
Hotaru was uncuffed and cuffed again, his hand on the front this time. Vernal then took him to one of the cushions and ordered him to sit. The Branwen woman then took a tea set and began to prepare some matcha tea.
Hotaru waited in silence until the woman was done serving it. "Impressive, you filtered the lumps and whisked the tea twice. Not many people do the longer process nowadays, miss…?" he complimented her while also asking for her name.
"Raven will do. And sometimes, things done following the rules do come out with good results". They both drank a few sips before Raven spoke again. "I must confess, I am kind of insulted. After all this time and we never got a call to join your club?".
"That's because we don't associate with bandits".
Raven let out a snort. "What? A crook is somehow more worthy of your time and money?".
Hotaru finished his tea before answering her question. "Well. Why do you break the law, Raven? Is it to sell things illegal in other kingdoms at higher price? No. You don't seek profit; you seek to consume what you steal. How is that a good business?".
"How about if you look at it in this way: Mistral's roads are not as safe as the council would like you to think. But… for a small commission, things could be a lot safer for merchandise that can't be carried in a Bullhead".
"Extortion?"
"I would call it a security toll. Of course, It wouldn't be a stable fee. We would accept whatever our camp needs in the quantities we require, whenever we require, plus those ten million liens that are missing are still useful".
"Ten? The deal was a million!".
"Before we had a pawn. Now we have the king". Raven served more tea, but Hotaru just kept looking at her. "And the spy you tried to sneak into our tribe? Very cute detail; poetic in a way. We take one of your men by infiltration, and you try to do the same. But the trick only works one way".
Vernal then stood next to Raven with a scroll, showing all the details of the caravan's security. After another sip, she continued. "How else would you explain we knew how much dust to use to blow up your protection glass?". She then stood up and walked next to one of the boxes and took out one of his dust shotguns. "The clan is already getting to know how to use these. Hiding them in the second van, nicely thought. You were going to shoot us while we got the first and last vans".
Hotaru just kept staring. "Do you really think I would fall for the taunting? We gave that mole of yours fake schedules and numbers. All while our good spy managed to give us one last piece of information before being beaten to death. Now, you are going to ask for the ransom, and we'll pretend like nothing happened… and you may want to hurry, some of the girls like to break uptight boys; and even some of the guys might want a piece of the action. Even on the woods, people still retain some standards on who they want their partners to be".
Hotaru just kept staring at both women for an even longer time, before breaking into laughter. He laughed and laughed annoying both women. When he finally stopped, he just stared at them with a smug grin on his face. "Madam, you would give Havik a run for his money. But let's make something clear: I am not a weak businessman that you will exploit for money and the sexual pleasure of your tribe. I am a man of the military first and foremost!".
"Yes, I've heard you were a cop; big deal!" Raven just retorted while rolling her eyes.
"You misheard me, woman! I said military. As in I have an army at my disposal! I am ready to die for my most noble cause: The implementation of order and the elimination of all who defy it!". Raven and Vernal just looked at him las if he were a crazy bum. "To accomplish it, I would do whatever, even put my life on the line! All so that all of you law breakers would burn in the deepest pit of the Netherrealm!".
Raven and Vernal looked at him with wide eyes before busting into laughter. "Is he for real?". They could not decide what was funnier. The hypocrisy of Seido dealing with criminals while their CEO claimed to be a good clean cop, his fanatism to his so-called cause, or his delusions of grandeur.
"Ok, Mr. goodie-good. What is your plan? Buying everything to then play king of the world? You do know you are making that money by doing deals with people just as bad as us?".
"Who says I am doing this for the money and happily? Haven't you ever heard of 'going deep undercover?'. If it were up to me, I would have ripped the head from every parasite I am having to work with!". That caught their attention and they stopped laughing all together. "A war is coming, miss Branwen. There is more outside of what you all claim to know. Powers and places you have possibly only just dreamed of!".
Vernal and Raven looked at each other thinking the same. 'Is he talking about Salem?'. "What are you talking about? Who do you work for? The witch? or maybe… you are with Ozpin, aren't you?" asked Raven trying to hide any sign of fear.
It was now Hotaru who looked at them with intrigue. "Witch? Ozpin?" He had heard of Beacon's headmaster; but the man was not one of social events, so he had never met him. But this information revealed by Raven was something he had to dig deeper in the future. And what did anything have to do with a 'Witch'?
Raven took out Omen and place the edge of the sword on his neck. "Enough games! Tell me what you know!".
At that moment, an explosion and screams were heard outside of the tent. Hotaru started to laugh once again while Raven and Vernal just looked at him with anger. "I know that you are no military expert. I know that you saw me as a big catch, so I fed you information that gave you a fake sense of security while you took me to the root of your cesspool". She kept looking at him, her anger turning into confusion. "Your tribe is unpredictable on the long run; you don't serve a purpose other than to feed yourselves. You can't be manipulated by the promise of money, only of survival. You'd eventually ask questions and bring our plan for domination crumbling, so you need to be removed".
More explosions and screams could be heard getting closer. "Vernal! Go see what is happening". The young woman nodded and headed out. Raven then kept looking at Hotaru directly into his eyes. "Why are you telling me this?".
He just walked over to her, his smile ever more arrogant, until he was just inches from her face. "Because I know you will not survive past this day".
Raven felt heat coming from under their faces; and when she looked down, she was able to see his cuffs being melted by a bright yellow substance. She tried to slash the head off from Hotaru's body, but he saw that attack coming; he ducked and delivered an uppercut that sent her up in the air. She recovered quickly and landed on her feet again. She then looked with confusion at her adversary. "How… did you do that? You don't have aura; your wounds are not fully healed. Yet you have a semblance?".
Hotaru cleaned his wrists before assuming a fighting stance. "Let's call it… seidan magic". He then charged at her screaming at the top of his lungs.
Vernal expected a confrontation at the camp's walls. She never expected to see them intact while some tents burned, and members of the tribe were taken down by men in turquoise suits and dark glasses wearing electric brass knuckles and dust shotguns. She ran towards a bandit woman with long black hair hiding behind some creates and keeping the intruders away with her two handguns.
"What the hell is going on!?".
"I don't know! They appeared out of nowhere!".
"Casualties?".
"Minimal. Most are still standing or knocked out. They seem focused on destroying the camp!".
Vernal then peeked out and saw that a weird looking bald man with green clothes and a handbag ordering around a group of intruders while he went into the storage tent. Vernal then turned her attention towards the woman again. "Who is that guy in green?".
"Beats me. Might as well be their leader".
"I have an idea, cover me!".
Vernal made her way to the storage tent not wanting to get the attention of the invaders. 'If I could catch that guy, I could threaten him into stopping the attack!' she thought.
Once inside, she saw the guy looking through some of the crates on the ground. The tent, although big, was empty enough to allow people to access to the many columns of piled boxes. Vernal then took out her weapons and activated them while walking slowly towards the man, more than distracted by random jewelry. "Hands up!" she ordered him, placing the mouth of the gun attached to her circular blades on his back. The man complied to her request. "Order the attack off. NOW!" she then ordered him.
The man gave her a creepy laugh and quickly turned around, grabbing her hand in the process and delivering a punch to her face. She fired her guns, missing her target due to her dizziness but at least making him back-off from her. "Shit! You can actually fight!?".
"There is more to the Naknada than we show". He looked at Vernal with admiration. "Ooooooh, you would be excellent for breeding!".
Disgusted, to say the least, Vernal quickly dismissed his comment when she noticed his eyesight switching between her and the bag. She then started to move slowly towards it, and once she was right next to it, she picked it up and then yelled "Call off the attack and you can have this back!".
The anger on the man's face was immense. He just ran towards Vernal screaming and dodging all the bullets he could before he tackled her to the ground trying to peel of her face with his nails. She had lost her weapons but managed to grab the chain of the dragon necklace he was wearing with both hands. She then used it as a strangling cord which managed to make the guy stop his attack. The chain broke, and while he was recovering his breath, Vernal placed both her feet on his chest and pushed him towards a pillar of crates which collapsed on top of him.
She deduced that the bag must be very important if he was willing to be shot for it; so, she recovered her weapons and began to look through the handbag. She could not find anything for her current predicament, but she did notice how it seemed bigger on the inside than the outside.
She kept looking until she saw the man pushing the crates on top of him away in a fit of rage. She then took the handbag again and placed it next to one of the tent's torches. "Do anything funny and I'll-". She stopped her threat midsentence when she noticed with horror the monster that stood in front of her. His face had turned more animalistic and his eyes were now bright orange with white pupils, but his most horrific new features were two new sets of arms besides his regular ones which were now skinnier and with long clawed hands; one pair was just like his bottom arms while the other was a smaller version of the other arms and located on his back, slightly under the first pair.
"Give it back!" he demanded before throwing two green vials from his pockets at her, taking her out of the shock. She jumped back and out of the tent as green fire appeared where the vials had broken. She then looked up and saw the man was gone; but when she turned around, she was face to face with him.
He then grabbed his bag and kicked her in her stomach, recovering his prized possession in the process. She recovered and now noticed he had removed his shoes, reveling talons while his skin was slowly turning blue. "Who… What… are you…?" She managed to ask.
"I am Kollector, and I already told you; I am Naknada". He then removed what was left of his green jacket and white shirt, placed the handbag on his backhands. The hands on the top then retrieved a mace-like object and he assumed a fighting pose.
Knowing panicking would take her nowhere, she took out the blades from her weapons and pointed her guns at him. He gave her a horrible grin before retrieving a gold lantern from the bag. She shot at him with the intention to kill him this time, but the lantern began to produce a blue flame while he moved it from side to side absorbing her bullets. Once she stopped, he then produced a ball of light that headed towards her, she dodged it easily, but was distracted when the ball collided with one of the intruders and exploded.
"How did you do that!?".
He didn't answer and instead placed the lantern back and took out two knives and a sickle with which he charged. Vernal deflected the knives and dodged a side slash from the sickle, managing to deliver a back kick on his chest. She then went to slash the left side of his head, but he dropped one of his knives and grabbed her leg slamming her against the ground. He jumped with the intent to stab her while she was down, but she managed to roll out of the way and stand up. He then, somehow, propelled the mace in her direction, she managed to deflect three blows before he swung the mace and managed to trap her left arm. He then took out a bola and tied her legs and remaining arm.
He began to pull her in, but Vernal managed to free the gun barrel from the chain and shot multiple times distracting him and giving her time to break free from the bola, spin and get back on her feet.
Deciding to take the offensive this time, Vernal ran towards Kollector and delivered punches with the intention of also stabbing him. He managed to deflect the first set of attacks with his knives, but she then switched to slashes and gun shots. She then did a sweep kick and brought him down, losing his knives and sickle in the process. She then pointed the gun at his forehead and would have shot him dead center had it not been for one of his arms on the back pulling her leg and bringing her down.
They both stood up and would have kept on fighting had they not been distracted by a fireball coming from the main tent that sent Hotaru flying and landing just a few feet away from the stairs.
"Lord Hotaru!" Kollector screamed with panic in his voice. He looked with anger at Vernal and then threw many of the green vials between them, forcing her to jump back. She then looked up to see he was gone and had somehow managed to appear next to Hotaru.
"My lord…".
He managed to sit and only rubbed the side of his head. He didn't have any big bruises, but his shirt had the sleeves burned off. "I'm fine Kollector. The mission is now compromised…".
As soon as he stopped talking, Raven came out of the tent and looked at him with fire emanating from her eyes.
"There are people with magic in this world…".
Raven threw another fireball at them which they managed to dodge. Hotaru then yelled a series of orders at Kollector. "Turn off their human mode, set kombat mode to kill and give me project scarab!".
Immediately, Kollector pulled out of his pocket a microphone and out of his bag a hexagonal emerald like gem. He threw the gem at Hotaru and began to scream in the microphone. "Initiate protocol R-0-7-K-3-5; set human mode off, kombat mode to kill!".
Immediately, all the invaders went still, and their eyes glowed a neon blue; those who laid 'dead' on the ground, suddenly stood up. Their brass knuckles retracted, and plasma blades or metal buzz-saws emerged from their wrists, burning their blazers and revealing metal plates under torn pieces of flesh. Whenever they faced a member of the tribe, they would immediately repeat the same sentence in a deep cybernetic voice "Drop your weapons and surrender, or face immediate annihilation!".
Vernal managed to run around the green fires and confronted Kollector once again with the intention of taking the microphone away from him. She jumped in the air with the intention of stabbing him on the skull, but he managed to block her attack with a chakram and then used his mace to deliver a spring attack on her chest that sent her flying and then rolling on the ground.
Hotaru had managed to hide behind a tent and put the scarab on his right wrist, activating something through a digital panel. He was almost done when a strong wind blew his hiding place away and he saw Raven standing with her sword extended. "Seems your 'seidan magic' is nothing against the power of a maiden. And I can tell you this because you are not walking out of here alive" she said, mocking him with his own words. She then raised her sword and thunder could be heard.
Hotaru managed to input the last commands on the scarab before a lighting bolt fell on top of him clouding everyone's vision with a white flash of light. Raven took a few breaths of air before turning around and seeing the almost complete destruction of her camp. The tents and walls were on fire while people were falling left and right. They were able to take down one of the mechanical monstrosities every now and then, but at the cost of at least two tribesmen. She was ready to jump into action when clanking sounds stopped her on her tracks. She turned around to see Hotaru emerging from the crater where the lighting had hit wearing a black suit of armor that shined turquoise with a certain amount of light. On his left arm was what seemed like a shield that disintegrated as soon as he stopped a few feet away from her.
"I never liked the guardsmen shield, always had it as part of my uniform during patrol, of course; but I now appreciate it's functionality". He then looked at her face, a mixture of confusion and horror. "Alloys from Orderrealm seem to be able to absorb some elemental properties; electricity, for example. Although, I must give him this: If this is just the alpha version of the scarab, I cannot wait for what the full version can do!" He then took a golden rod from his back which extended into a naginata and charged at Raven once again.
She fired ice blocks and fireballs at him which he either managed to dodge and jump over with the help of his weapon, or he would break and dissipate them with the blade of the naginata. They finally clashed blades when he catapulted himself in the air and landed with a vertical cut that was blocked by Raven who then pushed him away. Raven charged again and slashed horizontaly, Hotaru intercepted her blade and rolled behind her, he then made a spinning move slashing her in the back. She fell to the ground and rolled away before he could stab her and then kicked him on the face. Hotaru retracted his naginata and proceeded to throw lava blasts at raven who created ice to block them; both elements created a cover of mist which Hotaru used to jump in the air and land 5 sidekicks on her face and stomach without Raven noticing.
Using her maiden powers, she propelled herself at Hotaru slashing an X on his armor and then kicking him. He took out his naginata once again and stuck it in the ground to help him stop. Raven repeated her strategy, but Hotaru used his lava powers to slide and propel himself around Raven planning to slash her back, she noticed his attack and proceded to block it.
They remained locked for a moment when an explosion took them out of the battle for a moment. The camp was now even worse. All tents and edifications, including her tent, were on fire, a hefty majority of her tribe were now lifeless bodies; half of the remaining members were on the ground having surrendered while the others, including Vernal, were still fighting.
Her hopes died when the monster fighting Vernal used his mace to hit her on the chest and make her crash on to a burning wood wall, he would have ended her then and there, but other tribesmen began shooting at him, forcing the blue creature to hide while they went to help Vernal. Before she could do anything, orange portals materialized around her and robots stepped out of them. She heard Hotaru laugh before he stepped out of the way and allowed all the robots to surround her.
"Raven!" she heard Vernal scream. She knew that Vernal was willing to go and help her, but Raven knew their only chance for survival would be to not fight.
As some robots changed their hands to electric buzz-saws and charged at her, Raven blocked and slashed her enemies with her sword while yelling at Vernal and the others. "GO! I'll be fine!" she knew that was a lie.
"Raven! I am not letting you-". An explosion interrupted her as a new set of robots with flamethrowers marched their way.
"I said go! That is an order!".
Vernal didn't want to, but the other tribesmen pulled her with them. As the robots and Kollector arrived, they saw the survivors flee. "After them!" he yelled, and the robots immediately ran into the woods.
Raven kept fighting every robot that came her way; she decapitated, stabbed, dismembered every robot she could, but she was getting tired and some attacks were finally connecting and depleting her aura. When an uppercut sent her crashing into the ground, she heard Hotaru's voice again. "Stop!" he commanded. Some of the robots then stepped out of the way to allow him to walk next to Raven.
Laying on the ground and gasping for air, she looked up at him with as much hatred as she could. "The honorable warrior sends his goons to fight for him?".
He chuckled as he kneeled and answered. "I did what every general does. Lead my troops into victory and captured my adversaries' commander. We are in a war after all, miss Branwen. Now… you'll face a trial for your crimes against Orderrealm". Hotaru then stood up and grabbed her by her leg. He slammed her on the ground, then slammed her again on the other side, he then dragged her almost unconscious body through the floor before slamming her on the ground one last time, shattering her aura and rendering her unconscious.
"Turn off the fires and prepare them for trial!" Hotaru ordered as he began to walk away and to remove the scarab with Kollector next to him.