Price II

The last skull-splitting screech of the ship faded long ago. By now, the battlefield must be a blood-soaked nightmare, littered with bodies from both sides. Why is such depravity allowed? And how could she have once seen it as glorious?

With every passing second, Hoshina's beloved slips deeper into a thorn-choked jungle from which there's no escape.

And at the center of it, an insurmountable obstacle awaits.

…

Metal bars separate her from the guard, and an additional gate isolates this gilded cage from the outside world.

She's utterly powerless without her limbs, nothing more than half a human, broken and useless.

"I beg you..." Her throat raw, she can no longer summon the strength to scream. "This is the one time you have to listen to me, please."

"Stop wasting breath. The lord chose me because I know how skilled and dangerous you can be. He trusts I won't fall for your lies no matter what you say."

Waissu… I know we've had our differences…

But why do you refuse to see how important this is to me?

The Arc Warrior is going to murder the love of my life.

༻──⋆༺𓆩⋆𓆪༻⋆──༺

He runs from shadow to shadow, alert of his surroundings at every moment. He mustn't use his boots unless necessary, as the noise would attract attention.

Despite the recent shootout, no one comes out of the buildings to check what's happening. The area must have been evacuated beforehand. But that's perfect. Fewer eyes.

…

Steps. Three. Right around the corner.

He gets in position. Three guards come into view. Three heads roll on the ground.

Regular, unarmored guards. There must be a ton of them scouting the area.

Still, the real problems are the armored ones. He can't risk going into the open square until most if not all of them are dead. And that's assuming—

More steps. Two. He quietly runs around the other side of the building. After a full turn, he meets the backs of the guards, who are both shocked at the corpses of their companions.

Two more heads.

…

He continues walking around.

A different sound: propulsion boots. He hides in a nearby alley. Closes his eyes. Focuses on the sound. He comes out at the right time to slash the guard as he was passing through.

Still alive, his cry is cut short by a stab in the chest.

This is why they are so problematic. It's almost impossible to kill them in one shot, even with his special blade.

He runs away. A dozen enemies must be on the way to investigate the source of the noise. A scream that now echoes relentlessly in his mind.

More voices join. All familiar. The loudest one, as usual, is his voice.

"Fuhai, my friend, take care of my family."

No! Shut up!

He hides in another alley. Takes out his skin bag and squeezes it under his helmet. Much of the booze spills down his neck. Doesn't matter.

Each sip drowns out one of the voices, until all is back to silence.

He takes a short break. The previous armored guard was the third. Five to go.

Then, he realizes he's close to the square again. It's still soon to go out there, but he decides to get closer and check it out.

There, he sees him.

They've never met before, yet it can't be anyone else.

Black armor, shining red lights. A weapon, longer than a cane, and surely much deadlier.

He's standing right in front of the entrance, daring anyone to attack him. He's that confident.

Fuhai takes out a cane, one of the many he's had the chance to obtain today.

He knows it won't kill him. But if he can lure the Arc Warrior towards the buildings and set up an ambush, he might have a chance, even if it attracts additional nuisances.

He presses the trigger. The thunderbolt shoots forward and…

It lands. His body is covered by electricity. However, as if unaffected by it, he points his weapon in Fuhai's direction.

There's no way he can hurt Fuhai through the buildings…

Right?

Something comes out. Black. Spherical. Slower than a regular shot.

Whatever it is, seeing it sends a shiver through Fuhai's spine.

He activates his boots, dashing away as fast as possible. A second later, he feels it. A pulling force. The two buildings of the alley where he stood previously get sucked in, crushed to fit inside the small sphere.

A short while after, the sphere explodes in a cloud of dust, the grinded stone and wood from the buildings. All that's left is an eighty feet crater on the ground.

That's no wand or cane. It's a weapon of mass destruction.

With his blade, a one of a kind, Fuhai can effortlessly deflect elemental projectiles and thunderbolts. But that thing… no human should wield such power.

Then, a scream, a familiar one, though not from his head. It was Yonshu.

The Arc Warrior points his weapon in the direction of the source.

Good, he might kill one of his own.

But he doesn't shoot, and returns to his original posture. He must have guessed the meaning behind it. That the owner is dead.

༻──⋆༺𓆩⋆𓆪༻⋆──༺

Kaji wipes some sweat off his brow. The mission is a hair's breadth away from failing, and he's stuck with no choice but to do the unthinkable: trust everything to Fuhai.

The two of them are the only ones left, since he heard Raba's scream a few minutes prior.

Until he gets any news from Fuhai, his goal is to survive and take out as many enemies as possible. Although his stamina won't last many more encounters. He's forced to relocate after each fight before additional foes come following the noise of his cane.

He has the boots of the armored soldier he killed, of course. Taking out a full armor set and equipping it by himself is impossible, but boots are a different matter.

Still, if he uses them and their noise attracts more than a single armored enemy, who can chase after him with their own boots, he'll die.

…

A blade swings.

Kaji sees the world spin.

His head falls to the ground.

Then he feels his neck, it's still there. He's in one piece.

About to panic, but alive.

The user of the blade… Fuhai.

Son of a…!

He holds himself back. Raising his voice would be suicidal.

"Sorry, lad, didn't mean to startle you."

Kaji breathes deeply. He imagines Hoshina's hand on his chest, and calms down.

He whispers. "I killed one armored enemy, and a bunch of regular guards. How many did you get?"

"Six. If we're lucky, maybe Raba or Yonshu took out the last one with their dying breaths. It's time we go back to the square."

Kaji nods. "The one at the entrance must be Mugen. Did you see what his weapon can do?"

"I did. Your girlfriend could have warned us, you know?"

"Those kinds of details tend to go over her head, unfortunately. Any plans?"

"We'll both dash at him together since he can't use that attack at close range. Then, depending on how skilled he is, we'll try to kill him or you'll make a run for the core while I keep him busy."

Kaji ruffles his hair. "So either a battle to the death or a chase that ends in certain death. Godsdammit."

"Be glad we still have a chance at winning, even if the price is high."

Kaji rolls his eyes.

"Whatever. Let's…"

"Sshh." Fuhai puts a hand in front of Kaji and starts looking all around them.

What's going on? Did he hear something?

Kaji starts scanning their surroundings as well. Looking at the distant alleys that can be seen through one side of the street, glimpsing at the open square, then checking the other side of the…

Kaji looks back at the square.

He's no longer there.