Riding through the magnificent streets of the marble city, Katsu puts his bag down and redies himself for the long journey.

Although he has prepared fo such a departure, his mind is still clouded with the yearning to return...

But once again, a voice tells him to, "Go"

He sits adjacent to May and beside June.

Sho called out from the front.

"Hang on tight, this'll be a long ride."

"We're going to the north right?" Katsu asked.

"Yep, at a fort in the kingdom of Scatland. It's led by a good friend of mine, I'm sure he can train you well."

Katsu moves closer to the entrance and searches his bag for water.

He found inside his bag, an old picture of him and Vin.

He stares at it for a while, then puts it in his pocket.

He rests his head and looks outside with a melancholic face.

June notices and questions him.

"Is this your first time out of the city?"

"No, I'm actually from a small village."

"Eeehhh?? where?"

"I'm from..."

Katsu stops and questions himself.

"I... I don't actually know..."

"Why don't you know?" May inquired curiously.

"I can't remember... It's because my village got attacked.'"

"Attacked?? so you're not from the Kingdom?"

"I'm from here, just west of Landon, I don't know how far..."

June notices something strange with Katsu's story.

"Then how did you end up here?"

"After my parents died protecting me, I got placed into-"

"May! that's enough asking, I know you just want to get to know him better, but steer clear from the too-personal questions!" June chimed in.

"Ah, sorry Katsu, I didn't mean to

"No, it's ok." He happily replied.

Katsu, over the years, has slowly overcome his past, with the largest stepping stone being the Underground Pint incident.

But still, remembering all those past memories sting like a bee.

"How about this! I'll tell you more about us as well."

May struggles hard to communicate well with Katsu, June on the other hand, didn't even try.

June already knew he and Katsu will get along...Pretty.... well...

Meanwhile, Katsu struggles to think straight, overanalyzing the situation.

"Sure." he shrugged.

"Then let's start with your favorite color!"

"I guess mine would be..."

Katsu meticulously thinks of the answer, since every bad memory he associates with has red, then he thinks of the opposite.

"Green."

"Mine is yellow!"

The two starts exchanging questions

"Favorite hobby?"

"Training with Vin, or probably exploring the city."

"Mine is reading books! Then... Favorite food?"

"Probably a plain cup noodles, I guess not plain, but more in the more spicy side of noodles..."

"Mine would be carrots, but I hate peas though."

This continued until an interesting topic emerged.

"Why did you join the Army?" Katsu asked May.

Sho puts his head back and listened to the conversation.

"Oh, it's because of my older siblings, they also bravely volunteered to join. I really want to be like them, I had a promise with them, I promised to join and look for them..."

"As for me... I guess I couldn't let my sister fight alone." June chimed in again.

"I see, mine is because. My parents died protecting me, I swore to myself 6 years ago, I will avenge them."

"So you were a victim of the Katz invasion..." June whispered to himself.

"A- Ahh... I-I am very sorry for your loss."

"Thank you, but that's all in the past. For now, I must look into the future. This goal is the only reason I'm alive today."

Everyone else fell silent.

Sho had to stop it.

"Alright recruits, enough chat for this time, conserve your energy for later."

"Yes Sir..." They quietly said.

But eventually, they got back to chatting, with other less awkward topics to talk about.

Seconds became minutes became hours.

Time passed by very rapidly, and before they knew it, they had traveled hundreds of kilometers.

From marvelous Victorian cities to dense forests, to green fields, to bumpy hills, it all seemed to go by so fast.

Katsu didn't expect the journey to be going so fast, he expected it to be a slow ride north. But with new people to talk to, he didn't get bored nor got sad.

Soon enough, the sun sets, and they arrive at their first stop.

A large port city.

Everyone inside was amazed at the city's astonishing nightlights.

Slowly, they traverse through the city's winding and busy streets.

They moved very slowly due to the city's heavy traffic.

At that point, it would have been faster to walk instead.

May and June closed their eyes for a bit.

Sho and the driver at the front were dying of boredom.

"I could eat a full course meal and we wouldn't have moved an inch!" Sho complained.

"You could say that again General." The driver agreed.

After a long time, they eventually got through the city's busy center.

They arrived at their destination almost at midnight.

They stopped at the busy docks, far inside the city's center.

May fell asleep, his head resting on a box of supplies while June also fell asleep, his head resting on his hand.

Katsu, however, is wide awake, he stares far away at the horizon, beyond the houses, forests, hills, and farmlands.

Sho and the driver hopped out of the truck and talked with several other garrison soldiers, but these soldiers had different insignias to what the usual garrison guard had back at Landon.

The soldiers start unloading supplies and carry them to a small transport ship.

But Katsu never broke that long stare.

A dork silhouette creeps up to his left.

"Yo!"

"AH!" Katsu screamed in surprise.

"Sho!?"

"Good! You're awake now, we're making a stopover here."

May and June start stretching, awakened by Katsu's loud staggered yell.

May yawn, her eyes glued shut.

"Are we there yet?"

"Nice, everyone's awake, I need everyone to help load the supplies onto the boat," Sho ordered in a soft tone.

"Yes sir...." May said with a cute sleepy voice.

All of them hopped out of the vehicle for the first time in a while.

June stretched while Katsu and May admired the city lights once again.

The city goes up layer by ley until the last of the houses up at the top looks like it borders space.

The lights blend into the starry night sky.

"The view is way beautiful down here at the docks isn't it?" She said with a big smile.

"Uh-huh... Yeah..."

He looks away, trying not to get captivated by her cute smile.

"Hey!" A soldier called out.

"You're new recruits right? Help us out over here!"

"Yes sir!"

Everyone was tasked to carry heavy boxes of supplies to the boat, including General Sho.

Katsu is on his 3rd box.

June saw Katsu and went to him.

"Nice scream there earlier." June teased.

"EH!?" Katsu exclaimed as his face turns red.

Katsu drops the supplies and puts his hand to his head in a panic, scratching his head copiously.

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"What should I do?? How did he hear me!? He was awake when that happened!? Did May also hear that!? I wish the earth would just swallow me!" These thoughts circled his mind.

June taps Katsu's shoulder.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."He assure as he walked away.

Katsu slouched defeated and whimpering.

"I will never let my guard down again..." He says disappointingly to himself.

Katsu sighs and brushes those worries away, he focuses on the task that was given to him.

He reaches down for the crate but he notices something different.

He saw several big red sticks, he reaches inside and pulls one out.

Katsu reads what was written on it.

"Dynamite? what's this doing here?"

On the spur of the moment, several gunshots were heard in the background followed by a scream/.

It is then followed by many more gunshots but this time it is from different directions.

With each gunshot, Katsu remembers a memory from his past.

Katsu is still getting reminded of his past by each gunshot he hears, but instead of it pulling him down, it fuels him to go and fight.

He calms himself down and runs toward the sound of gunfire.

Whilst running, the sounds of explosions echoes throughout the entire city.

He arrives near the boat and looks to his right.

what he saw was the blood and body-filled dock.

Puddles of blood flood the dock as soldiers die left and right.

Faster and faster, his heart beats.

Katsu thinks of the worst, a Katz invasion.

"Another Katz invasion!? But why would they attack here at the docks!? Why hasn't the Air Force sent out any aircraft!?"

His heart beats faster.

But all these thoughts would be wrong.

With a loud yell, Katsu looks over to his left.

"DOWN WITH THE KINGDOM!!!''

Tens, maybe hundreds of people with yellow heads and arm bands holding weapons constantly shoot at the direction of the supply boat.

Many of them are civilians, fishermen, and workers, but they were all undercover.

He remembers the story of the Underground Pints manager.

In the north, there is a strong revolutionist presence.

"But why would they attack here? At the docks, targeting a boat with supplies." He asked himself.

"That must be it, supplies." He speculated.

Time slows down as Katsu thinks of reasons for their attack.

"But why would they attack such a small supply boat!? At the docks of a large city, that wouldn't be worth it!"

Time slows near to a stop, but Katsu finally thought of a clear answer.

"But if there's a much more valuable target then... It's General Sho!"

Katsu spent all that time thinking, he didn't realize that a bullet was coming at him.

But his quick reflexes kicked in, and they only managed to scrape his cheek.

Katsu hides behind a pile of boxes while he swiftly thinks of what to do.

Then he remembers.

"Where are May and June!?"

Katsu gulps as he slowly and shakily looks at the bloody docks, trying to find them whilst hoping they're not there.

But alas, they were not there.

Katsu sighs a sigh of relief.

"They must be at the ship."

He must climb aboard, but with the constant barrage of bullets, he couldn't make a move.

Desperate, Katsu yells out towards the ship.

"SHO! A LITTLE HELP HERE!!!"

At the top, many are injured and are being treated while soldiers line the protective walls of the armored supply ship.

May is almost in tears as she was hit in her thigh, she screams and wails out painfully.

June, whilst his head is all bloody, holds her tightly by the wrist, trying to calm her down while a medic does first aid on her.

Luckily, revolutionist weaponry wasn't that great, so the damage wasn't that big.

"Don't panic, it's just a relatively small wound he-he, you'll recover in a few days." He assures.

But this wasn't enough for her to calm down.

Sho is hiding behind the ship's walls, planning a quick escape until he heard Katsu's voice.

Sho calls on a Sergeant.

"Soldier! Where is your commanding officer?"

"He's dead sir."

"Then I'm in charge now."

"but-"

"No buts! Do you want everyone here to die!?"

"No sir..."

"Alright no more objections, KATSU!''

Katsu hears Sho's faint voice over the sound of gunfire.

This gives Katsu hope and just sighs his worries away, he grins and answered.

"Yes sir!"

"When I give you the order, quickly climb aboard the boat!"

Ridiculous plan, but knowing how many battles Sho has won, he trusts him completely.

"Yes sir!"

Katsu readies himself to run as he waits for the signal.

"NOW!"

Several soldiers fire back giving Katsu cover.

Katsu hastily makes it up the boat safely and immediately took cover with Sho.

Katsu sees May injured.

"Sir, May is-"

"Worry about her later, for now, we must focus on the bigger problem here."

"... Yes sir..."

Katsu covers his ears from the deafening sounds of constant gunfire.

"It doesn't look like they're stopping soon, reinforcements here are slow, they haven't even rang the emergency sirens yet. So either they run out of bullets or we run out of men. But by the looks of things, we're going to run out of men faster."

Sho flails out his finger like he was writing something, but whatever he was writing, it couldn't be understood.

"Tch. The solution is so easy!"

"Tell the captain to get the ship moving!"

"The captain and the crew are all too scared to even move!"

"Tell him if he doesn't move we'll shoot him"

"Huh? but sir, that's-"

"If the threat of him dying from one of our citizens is enough for him to not move, then the threat if him dying by our hands, the hands of his teammates will make him move."

"But sir, threatening our own-"

"If a simple threatening of our own comrades is enough to make us move then we must do it! More than once have I made a difficult discussion sacrificing more than just a simple boatman! You too will have to make a difficult discussion in the future Sergeant, now get this boat moving."

The soldier ordered his men to do what Sho had said.

On the bridge of the ship, soldiers aimed guns at the seafarers.

Eventually, a report got back to the General.

"Sir, they will get the ship moving, but it will take time."

"Just as I expected..."

Sho faces Katsu and puts his hands on his shoulder.

"Listen here recruit, as an enlisted member of the Military, I must order you to do something very risky... Will you do it?"

"Yes sir! Of course sir!"

"Good, see that tower?"

Sho points to a large communications antenna overlooking the entire docks.

"Yeah?"

"Blow the base off, the tower falls slowing down their assault, they seem to be moving closer and closer very fast. Cutting them off their way here will prevent any more of their reinforcements from easily coming here. Here, take this."

Sho gives him several sticks of dynamite he found.

"We're just going to leave them here? They'll destroy this beautiful city!"

"yes, I know, but we need to leave it to the City's Garrison Soldiers to handle that, and we don't have enough troops to fight them off, plus this is the northern region, this is out of my control area, I have no authority over here. So, we need to get going!"

"Yes sir!"

Katsu jumps over the barricade down to the docks.

Katsu dashes with incredible speed.

Surprised, the revolutionists all aim at him.

Garrison Soldiers stood up on the boat and starts firing back, killing many revolutionists.

Katsu runs faster and faster, he could feel the cold wind getting stronger and stronger.

He runs past the revolutionist.

Jumping over debris and running through fire.

He remembers the day he ran back home.

Faster and faster.

Now he runs faster and is now stronger than before.

But then...

A bullet scrapes his shoulder, a deep wound.

In a split second, he changes course and runs directly toward the revolutionist.

"AH! Stay back!" The revolutionist yelped.

He quickly disarms the revolutionist and aims the rifle at him.

The man falls down in shock.

His face fills with fear.

"Please! spare me!"

Katsu aims down the sight with his finger on the trigger.

Suddenly, flashes of his memory of shooting the Kat captain start impairing his vision.

"Tch. I can't kill one of my own!"

He throws the rifle away and runs back to the tower.

He sets the dynamite at the base of the tower, hastily, he struggles to place them correctly and some of them fell off.

"Hey!" A yell from the back.

"Stop what your doing!"

Katsu turns around to see three people aiming at him.

He raises his hands.

"Are you sure this is the guy who disarmed you?" The man whispered.

"Yeah! This guy is dangerous!" Said the man he encountered earlier.

"Why are you doing this!?" Katsu yells out.

"Why are you going against us!? Can't you see we have a bigger problem!?" He continued.

"Heh, you would be stupid enough to think that the Katz is the bigger problem. Listen here kid, the biggest enemy of ours is ourselves, if you don't know that then you're the one who can't see."

Gunfire and explosions ring out from the background.

"Then what's the problem!? This is just wrong! Our kind killing our own!"

"Shut up kid! Everyone has different views on the world, and yours is very different from what we see!"

"Let's kill him already! He's too dangerous to be left alive!" The man from earlier exclaimed.

"Then let me tell him this before we do that. The Empire has been flawed from the beginning, we exist to bring back our power from the past, the glorious Empire from before. And if we purge ourselves from impurity, then we will win against the Katz!"

At a high place somewhere at the docks, a mysterious man aims his weapon.

Slowly, he breathes.

In, out, in, out.

He perches like a crow on a tree, he is locked on his target like an eagle ready to dive down on its prey.

At the ship, General Sho receives good news.

"Sir! We're ready to leave!"

"Tch, that kid's was already a large enough distraction for them to get this ship running."

Sho runs to the side and looks over the rails.

He sees Katsu being held at gunpoint by several men.

Fingers are already at the trigger.

Sho waves his hand around giving hand signals.

He then yells at the top of his lungs.

"KATSU!!! GET BACK HERE IMMEDIATELY!!!"

As those words hit Katsu's ear, he instantly ducked down, narrowly missing the bullet.

The revolutionists, staggered by the insane speed of Katsu, corrects their aim.

Katsu knows he cannot outrun the next volley.

Time slows down as his heartbeat speeds up.

He closes his eyes.

And BANG!

A bullet passes through the revolutionist's neck and out the other side, breaking the neck and a splash of blood soon follows.

The unknown man reloads his gun, steadies and aims it, and fires.

1, 2, 3.

He aims and fires again.

4, 5, 6,

Again, again and again.

All within a split second.

All three revolutionists were dead.

Time begins to speed up, as Katsu pushes his feet and leaps away.

Katsu continues running as a loud gunshot and an explosion is partially deafening his ears.

He closes his eyes and keeps running.

No matter what happens, he will run back home.

The dynamite at the base of the tower gets shot and explodes, sending the large tower plummeting down to the earth.

At the same time, Scatland Garrison Army reinforcements arrive at the scene and a firefight between the two factions ensues.

As the ship was about to leave the port, Katsu jumps high and narrowly got back on board.

The boat swiftly leaves the dock as they leave the red field and burning docks.

The mysterious man runs towards the and jumps aboard at the last minute.

Katsu is down on all fours, panting and gasping for air, tired and wounded.

He looks to the side to see May unconscious but treated while June is still getting bandaged up.

His peripherals darken, as he sweats profusely.

His ears ring loudly, and the high pitch rambles his mind.

Then he could slowly and faintly hear...

"Katsu, Katsu!"

Katsu looks up to see General Sho trying to talk to him.

He hastily stands up and salutes.

He speaks but he couldn't hear what he said.

Sho looks around Katsu's body to a great extent.

Then...

Headache, everything is painful, and he struggles to open his eyes.

Slowly, he curls to his stomach in the amount of pain he experienced from exhaustion.

His body couldn't handle it anymore.

And he dropped and sparked out.

END OF CHAPTER 7