Fists of Purple and Demi-Human Village

Saffire stands at the place she hit me, not looking at me. I stand up.

"Aha. Hey." I say awkwardly.

She doesn't say anything.

"So, uh, about me betrayi-" I can't finish explaining myself before she leaps forward, throwing a punch at me with the massive purple fist on her hand.

"Woah!" I hold my sword in front of me, and her fist collides with the blade. She keeps pushing, trying to break my guard, and I feel my feet start to slide on the ground.

This should be easy to block, I used the booster. Did the effects wear off already? Dammit. I'm at my normal strength and Saffire hits hard. Just the impact created a massive shockwave.

I shift to the side to escape the blow and compose myself again.

"Saffire! Listen to me! Klein is-"

"Shut up!" She interrupts me.

Saffire jumps and me again. I try to block her punch like last time but suddenly, she accelerates and appears right behind me, preparing to land a downward hit on me. I jump out of the way just in time and her fists hit the ground, creating a cloud of dirt from the battlefield. 

"I really don't want to fight you! Please, hear me out!" I yell.

She leaps at me again, landing a punch right to my chest.

"Shit!" That hurt and I drop my sword.

The fist on her right hand disappears and she picks my sword up from the ground. She then throws it in front of me.

"...Stop holding back. Fight." She says.

"What?" I say.

"Just do it!" She yells.

I pick up the sword and clench it in my hand, then throw it away.

"...No. I won't. Not you." I say.

The fist reforms on her hand and she jumps at me again.

"Why!?!" She punches me again.

I can't deflect with my sword anymore, so I use my hands to hold the fist back. It hits my hands hard and I try my best to hold it back. I swing around and throw her behind me.

"Stop fighting me! We don't need to do this!" At this point, the battle around us is starting to end, with all sides starting to deplete.

I look to Saffire. She finally raises her head to look at me too. It's now that I realize there are tears in her eyes. She looks at me with a painful expression.

"Why!?! ...Why? Why did you leave!?!" She screams.

"...I'm sorry. Surely you have to know Klein is corrupt as shit! You've been under his wing since childhood!" I yell back.

"That's why I can't leave! I have a duty!" She sweeps my legs and punches me downwards right into the ground.

"Urk!" Blood comes out of my mouth from under my helmet. She keeps her fists pinning me to the ground and she speaks up again.

"Obviously I know he's terrible! He treats me and the rest of his forces awfully! I hate it there! ...But, when you showed up, I thought things might finally get kinda fun..." She says sadly, tears still clouding up her eyes.

"I..." I don't know what to say.

"But then... you just left! Why?!?" Her tears are falling down.

"I'm...sorry!" I push my foot upwards and kick her off me. "You don't need to stay on his side! He'll just use you Saffire!" I keep trying to convince her.

"I-I don't know!" She swings her fist at me again.

I maneuver around her and chop her with my hand as hard as I can in the back of the neck. She falls to the ground unconscious.

"I'm sorry." I look down at her.

The battle is over. Only a few members of Squad C are left. I pick Saffire up off the ground and carry her back to Hardy.

"What's this? Taking hostages?" Hardy says.

I put her on the back of the SUV and turn to him.

"Nah. Keep her safe for me please. There's something I have to do now. She's part of Klein's army but she's a good person. I'm sure she'll join us when she wakes up." I explain.

"...You sure?" He looks skeptical.

"Trust me. I'll be back soon to check up on her. Take her somewhere safe." I say before turning my back.

"Where are you going?" He asks.

"To take out Klein. Maybe Kamikaze after." I say.

"Wait! I think I should tell you something." He calls out.

I turn around and tilt my head.

"What's up?" I ask.

''You said you were gonna go after Kamikaze after Klein right? Well, I advise against it." He says.

"Huh? Why?" I ask.

"He's too dangerous for you to take on your own. And not just him. Everything surrounding that guy is just... dangerous. But if you're so dead set on taking out Kamikaze then listen up. He has 4 specific people that he trusts most with his most valuable jobs. We just call them the 4 subordinates." He says.

"4 subordinates huh? And what are their deals?" I ask.

"Well, the first one is known as The Burning Witch. She seems at least somewhat morally acceptable but we can never be sure. She's in charge of Kamikaze's public opinion for the most part and she's usually the one he entrusts with his important items. She also-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know her already you can spare me the details. Next." I interrupt.

"Oh, uh, sure. Next is The Assassin. Probably the one Kamikaze trusts the least, but despite that, he's the one Kamikaze sends after important targets that he needs dead. He's dangerous, and if you ever get on Kamikaze's bad side, expect to see him." Hardy says.

"Interesting..." I say.

"And don't look him in the eye." He adds.

"Don't look him in the eye? Why not?" I ask.

Emerald chips in.

"I've heard a bit about him. I think it has something to do with his arcana. Looking into his eye enables him to see your soul. I think." She says.

'Yeah, that's all thats really known." Hardy says.

"I'll keep it in mind. Who else?" I say.

"Next is The Sage. Almost nothing is known about him since he doesn't leave Kamikaze's base. He seems to be the one keeping watch over the dungeons. That's all that really known." He says.

"And the last one?" I ask.

"...The Ripper." Is all he says.

"What do they do?" I tilt my head.

"...Pretty much whatever she wants. You said Squad G was massacred right? My bet is that was her doing. She doesn't really take direct orders from Kamikaze, instead she just wanders and does whatever she thinks might provide her the slightest bit of fun. I guess Kamikaze just gave up trying to order her around eventually." He explains.

"I see, I see. Thanks!" I turn around to leave again.

"I'm not done! If you see her, run. I'm serious. You can't beat her and neither can we. She won't hunt you down so just think of her as an un-worth it side boss." He says.

"...Got it. I'll see you around. I'll be back to see Saffire soon. Keep her safe." I walk off and Emerald follows me.

"Are we going after Klein now?" She asks.

"Any objections?" I say.

"Well, not really but..." She has something on her mind.

"What's up?" I ask.

"Can we... visit my village before going? I'd like to check on my parents and siblings." She says.

"Oooooo! Emerald's family! Yeah, of course!" That gets me excited.

"Calm down. I just want to go there for a bit to check up on things. If you keep being weird about it I'm gonna tell you to wait outside the village." She says.

"My bad, my bad! Lips sealed." I say.

"Thank you. Just follow me." She starts leading me to a nearby forest.

I look around at all the tall trees, A break from all the action is just what I need right now. We make it to a wooden arch. There are wooden huts everywhere within and tons of demi-humans are walking around.

"Is that Emerald?!?" A little boy with green hair and little green fox ears runs up to us.

He hugs Emerald when he makes it to us and she starts to pat his head.

"I'm back Leo." She's smiling.

"Emerald, Emerald!" He starts running around. "Everyone! Mom! Emeralds back!" He screams.

Before I know it, we're being approached by multiple demi-humans at once, all greeting and hugging Emerald. Out of the crowd comes a man, noticeably older that the rest. He has green hair, green ears, and a long, green beard. Emerald hugs him.

"Hi grandpa." She says.

"Emerald." He hugs back.

After about 5 seconds they pull away and look at eachother.

"Who's your friend?" He asks her.

"Oh, this is Link." She whispers something in her grandpa's ear.

His face lights up instantly. He approaches me and starts shaking my hand.

"Thank you so much." He says to me while still shaking my hand.

"Y- your welcome?" I have no clue what he's talking about but I decide to just go with it.

He finally lets go and ushers me to follow him.

"Please, make yourself at home." He smiles gently at me.

I smile back and I see Emerald run off to go greet a woman demi-human with long green hair who I'm assuming is her mom.

"Call me Zeki, I'm the head of this village. I am very glad you and my daughter have been getting along, she has quite a difficult time connecting with people." I follow shortly behind him.

"Yeah, I can see that. She's saved my as- I mean butt a couple times so I'm grateful to her. If not for her I'd still be at General Klein's castle, mindlessly serving him." I say.

"That's very good to hear." Zeki smiles.

We stop in front of a decently sized hut that appears to have an outdoors section surrounded by a large wooden wall all around. Zeki speaks up.

"You must be exhausted after all the fighting you must have been doing, so, I welcome you to the pride and joy of our village. The outdoor bathhouse!" He says, looking proud.

My eyes light up.

"You'll let me in?! Really?!" I ask.

"Of course." He smiles.

"Don't mind if I do!" I dash in.

I enter the men's changing room, with wooden benches and hooks to hang up my clothes. Steam from the bath is leaking into the changing room.

"Bath! Bath! Bath! Bath!" 

I quickly get into a towel and walk through the white curtains to the mens bath. The water is sparkling with a blue tint. If I look up, I can see the trees from the forest dangling up above.

I slowly lower myself into the water and take in the sweet, sweet relaxation.

"Aaaaaaah." I smile and close my eyes.

It feels amazing taking a break like this from all the action. My stress feels like it's just dissipating. I open my eyes to the sound of footsteps behind the curtain, when suddenly, Emerald's younger brother Leo bursts out and jumps in the water, followed by Zeki who slowly makes his way in the water as well.

"Thought we'd take a dip as well, hope you don't mind." Zeki says.

"Of course not." I smile.

Leo splashes around in the water. Looks like things here might get pretty lively.