The City of Thieves

The three journeyed for the next 2 hours until arriving at the border of the City of Thieves. It was a smooth, but exhausting trip, especially for Lucky who dragged behind us the whole time, still upset about the story from earlier about his brothers. The man at the gate, dressed in a suit and tie with slicked back hair, stopped them and spoke.

???: “Sorry gentlemen it’s not midnight yet, you’ll have to wait another hour before entering.” Astro pulled out a mysterious coin from his pocket with a candle symbol on it. The man stepped aside and continued to speak.

???: “Welcome to the City of Thieves. I wish you good luck in your endeavors.”

They proceeded down a long bridge over dark swirling waters as they entered through a large door about 50 feet tall. Dante could feel the aroma of assassins and killers just by the smell.

Astro: “Dante, you’re at a disadvantage that you don’t know how to use mana that well yet, but both of you hide your swords and any other belongings as best as possible. Wear these hooded capes.”

He tossed two dark clothing items at them.

Astro: “Remember the rules I listed before boys. This isn’t the place to screw around.”

‘Remember the rules? You said not to trust anyone. Idiot. Lucky hasn’t spoken a word this whole time since the story of his brother. How can a simple story about his past affect him that much? He doesn’t even like his brothers I thought.’

To Dante’s surprise, nobody was present in the town. Houses lined the streets with dim lights and he could smell the stench of blood. They continued forward with their heads down. Astro whispered, “Be alert. People are watching.”

They walked silently through the alleyways and back onto the main street trying to find the fastest way to the back exit. A band of 7 people walked from out of the shadows at Astro, Dante, and Lucky. The man at the front spoke. ‘He’s definitely the leader,’ Dante thought.

???: “Hey, hey, hey. What do we have here?”

The three looked down without speaking a word as per Astro’s instructions before the man continued to speak.

???: “Hey! Are you listening to me?! You all have 5 seconds to drop everything you have under those clothes. Oh, and tough guy in the middle. I’ll be taking that big scythe on your back too.”

He pointed a bright red sword lit ablaze by fire at all of them. The sword unraveled piece by piece as if being able to be folded back up. Astro took off his hood and looked the men in the eye.

Astro: “I’ll give you 5 seconds to leave or I’ll kill you all. Move out of the way. We have places to be.”

???: “Oh? Boys it looks like we have a bounty target on our hands. Nice of you to come back, Hell’s Reaper!”

Nobody moved. ‘Hell’s Reaper?’ Dante thought. ‘So, he’s been here before. He has a bounty on him too. In my old world, these guys would’ve been easy to deal with. Approaching a target dead on without knowing how strong he is was suicide. However, I don’t know what I’m doing and if Astro has a bounty on his head, then he must be strong enough to get us through here.’

Astro: “I don’t go by that anymore. Plus, it’s not midnight yet, you and your group should be inside.”

???: “Huh?! Just because it’s not midnight doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun, right?”

Astro shook his head.

Astro: “Your kind of people are why this city is the way that it is. Crawl back to the shadows before I get angry.”

???: “Hahaha! Ahhaha! Oh man, you’re funny.”

He immediately switched to having a serious expression. Nobody moved for 5 seconds. The leader of the group jumped forward.

???: “Pyrons Rings!”

6 flamed rings in order from small to big were shot at Astro. Astro pulled the scythe from his back and swung it on the ground.

Astro: “Hades Breath.”

When he chanted this, his body lit up with dark purple lines. The rings dispersed in the watery fog. Smoke filled the air surrounding everyone.

‘What? I can still see all of them?’ Dante questioned in his mind. ‘It’s almost like an…infrared sensor.’

In the next moment, Astro leaped forward and swung at the man. A wall of fire rose in front of them. A bigger man in the back of their trope opened his mouth as wide as he could and blew out intense air, clearing the smoke completely. Two people in cloaks similar to theirs crossed in front with daggers attacking Astro. Astro jumped back and forth, evading their quickness. They continued without hesitating and Astro hurdled both of them to attack the main group. They followed him right away behind.

Astro: “Black Whirling Dance!”

He spun, forming a mini whirlwind as his scythe grew slightly bigger and bigger attacking everyone around him. Dante and Lucky leapt backward making sure they were out of distance. Astro headed towards the boss of the group that stood still, crossing his arms with his sword lying across his arms.

Astro stopped his technique and once again sliced at the man in front as a woman with long red hair stepped ahead holding her hands out at and chanted, “Holy Maiden’s Flash! Loom Chaplet!”

A bright light encompassed the area much like Astro’s technique before.

Astro: “Agh! Damn! She’s a freaking witch!”

Astro dashed to the side, circling around to the back of their group while still dancing around trying to avoid the attacks that flew at him. His eyes remained a bright yellow color, still blinded from the brightness as it slowly faded. The two cloaked figures from before were in the air, daggers aimed at Astro heading down on top of him. He tumbled across the ground right into the large man’s stomach as he loaded up his breath and shot it at Astro whipping him across the floor as he regained his bearings.

‘Damnit! He doesn’t even have a fucking sword. That’s just freaking air he can store inside of him.’

The boss walked forward, looking down on Astro on the ground.

???: “Care to admit defeat? I might just let you go if you apologize.”

Astro laughed.

Astro: “Neither side has drawn blood. We’re just getting started.”

Astro swung his scythe in the ground again to activate Hades Breath. The large man fell to his knees instantly. He screamed out. “Agh! My leg! He took my leg, boss!”

???: “What?!”

Yet again, the two cloaked figures chased after Astro, but couldn’t excel to the speed he was at now. The leader called out commands to his group.

???: “Fent, Razor. Take Pepin to our hideout.”

The two others that had not contributed to the fight picked up the man and took him away.

???: “Akemi! Mei Mei! Retreat with them!”

The figures that chased Astro around fell back guarding the others. All that remained was the leader and the witch and a hooded figure off to the side that had done nothing the entire time, but was with them.

???: “Well, they don’t call you Hell’s Reaper for nothing. I’ll admit you’re strong, but definitely a disappointment.”

Astro: “Oh, am I? Why don’t we settle this then right here?”

???: “No need. You said you have places to be correct? We will let you go on about your day. You wouldn’t want to put those boys in danger now, would you?”

Astro readied his sword, but realized there was no point of this.

Astro: “You’re lucky I’m in a good mood.”

???: “They call me Fury by the way. Even though I like to cause trouble, I still have morals. Until next time we meet. I have a feeling that will be the last time before we part ways.”

Dante watched everything unfold from the side as Astro walked back to them.

Astro: “Damn bastard. Gets all cocky and then turns into a whole different person when the fight is done…Boys keep your hoods on. We’ll take a shortcut through the alleyways again. I thought nobody would attack on the main road before midnight, but clearly the rules have changed since I’ve last been here.”

“Astro! Watch out!” Dante screamed out.

Astro turned around to see 4 men dressed in all black wearing Oni masks sitting upon the rooftops. Each had a glowing chaplet on their sword.

Astro: “Crap. I didn’t think they’d show up so early. I thought I could slip through them without noticing. Stupid Fury and his group. We caused too much commotion. Listen, I can’t protect you both while they are here. They will target you to kill me. I’m not as strong as your brothers, Lucky, but I can hold my own against these guys. When I say run, you both go right and don’t look back.”

Lucky, who had not said a word this entire time perked up and said, “I understand…Let’s go Dante.”

Astro pulled out 3 black looking chaplets with similar designs on each, but different colored spirals, from his pocket and put them into the slots on his scythe as he chanted the names of each.

Astro: “Charon’s hammer, Cerberus’ tail, Hectate’s eye of Gruumsh.”

Astro and his sword became encompassed in a black aura. The mana lines on him became pitch black as well. He slammed his scythe into the ground again and yelled, “Hades Breath,” as the smoke appeared again in a black fog.

Astro: “Go!”

The men in oni masks jumped off the rooftops towards Astro as explosions filled the air.

Dante and Lucky ran until they were out of sight. Dante looked back over his shoulder even though he was told not to. ‘Is this the level I have to get to? Is this what it will take to get back to my world? Can I not find another way out?’

Lucky continued forward crying, thinking almost the same thing, ‘Is this what it takes to be the strongest? How can I reach that level without losing myself?’

Dante: “Lucky, let’s hop in the sewer drain. There are too many eyes on us still. This place is full of skilled assassins. Don’t worry about Astro. I know he’ll win. Let’s go!”