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2.7 - The Gun

When Somnia made her way to the center of town, the first thing she noticed was the bloody sight before her. Hana stood above a bloody, rambling Zakaria surrounded by a sea of dead Wild Men. Yugo was close by, leaning on a wall doing his best to appear nonchalant despite being coated in Wild Man gore. Moments after she arrived, Archie came walking down a pathway with a procession of Wild Men following behind him just like she had, the only difference being Archie’s Wild Men were bigger and dressed in darker attire.

Maybe my intimidation idea worked a bit too well…

At any rate, neither his nor her Wild Men attacked anyone, and nobody had made any moves to kill the ones following me for some reason. Rui appeared shortly after, trudging through the street with the smallest procession of any of the Seekers. He shot both Archie and Somnia a look, glanced to his six or so Wild Men behind him, and then scowled at no one in particular.

“I am perfection!” Zakaria had been saying. His trembling body bled from a hundred cuts, and it seemingly took all of his effort just to kneel before Hana’s bloody boot. “I sit alone atop the Tower of Babel! I have stared into the heavens, and they have instructed me to lead my men to their zeniths! You are all sheep before a wolf! None of you are strong. None of you have seen real strength! Strength is my patron! He is my ment–”

“Are you finished?” Hana sighed. “Or have you not suffered enough to understand your position?”

As he answered, The Historian flew over to Somnia and perched himself atop her head. “He may be a bit… dramatic, but Zakaria Robertson is indeed a fully realized Wild Man. He cannot die unless eaten by other Wild Men. Which brings me to my next point…” Somnia started to speak, but The Historian cut her off. “Wild Men are swayed by power. Even I hadn’t known that, but they worshipped Master Yugo and Lady Hana like gods before ultimately being slaughtered. Unfortunately, we’ve already attempted to have the Wild Men eat Zakaria, but they couldn't. He was smart enough not to surround himself with subordinates capable of killing him. Now, the Wild Men near Oni Village, though? Where they live?” The Historian cooed. “The brute force method employed by Rui and Master Yugo clearly isn’t as effective as whatever you and Archie did. We’ll have to catch up when this is over.”

With that, The Historian flew back to Yugo’s shoulder. Yugo winked at her and gave her a thumbs-up. The Galeroses looked between the two as Somnia responded with an awkward half-smile and a shaky thumbs-up of her own.

”Ha!” Zakaria cried as he stood to his feet. He’d been sliced from shoulder to stomach by Hana, only for his body to reform itself within moments. The Wild Man laughed as if he’d been told a joke. “I stand above you all! I am above death! Do you think I lie when I call out my perfection?! I… I cannot die! I cannot…! He cannot have me! I will not let him!”

“I, I, I,” Somnia blurted, drawing the attention of everyone nearby. She wasn’t sure what possessed her to speak, but she didn’t stop it. “Me, me, me. Do you know how many of your people have died tonight? Whose deaths you caused? You haven’t said a word about them. All you’ve spoken about from the moment I saw you was how perfect you are while your people died around you.”

Zakaria appeared in front of Somnia in a blink. His expression was completely manic, an odd jumble of fury, confusion, fear, and confusion warring on his pale, bloody face. “You do not know what I have sacrificed to be here!” He yelled as loud as he physically could, spit flying with almost every word. Hana and the Seekers were at Zakaria’s neck now, though Somnia waved them off. “Everything I do, every battle I fight, every task I complete, every risk I take is for them and them alone! How dare you say that I would put myself above them! How dare you! How dare you!”

Somnia tilted her head, continuing to allow this strange part of her to dictate her actions. “You say that, yet you had hours to defend your people from us. I watched my siblings fight over the opportunity to kill your men. I watched my friends make a game of killing them. They ripped your Wild Men apart like they’ve been craving this battle for years. Yet here you are, chanting your superiority and telling me you care about the Wild Men.” Somnia cackled, in a way that reminded her a bit too much of her mother. “You’re nothing but a pathetic man with a god complex.” That part of her, the same part that drew her to nearly kill Manzo Masamura and nearly erase that Wild Man in the alley, fully clenched its fist over Somnia’s heart.

She leaned into her prey. “Men like you don’t deserve praise. They deserve slow deaths.”

Zakaria stumbled backward as Somnia lurched forward. People were watching her, but so what? People died. People were killed. That was part of life. They’d be alright. Somnia’s breaths came heavier with each step as a wicked grin forced its way onto her lips. Zakaria was on the ground, crawling away like a roach as Somnia gathered an impossible amount of aura in her fist.

“If only I had a–”

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“To me!” Zakaria cried. All at once, every Wild Man in the vicinity screeched loud enough to crack glass. Everyone covered their ears as the Myths who once stood behind the Seekers suddenly surrounded Zakaria. Yugo stepped in immediately, pulling Somnia back as the Wild Men lifted Zakaria into the sky and carried him out of the city. Somnia shot a barely controlled wave of black and red aura at the group that killed about forty of the creatures on impact, but none turned to retaliate.

“Get back here!” Somnia shouted through gritted teeth. She gathered more aura as Yugo held her back. “I’m not finished with–”

“Somnia!” A voice shouted from above her. She looked up to find that it wasn’t Yugo holding her back, but Averyl. That was all it took to snap Somnia back to her senses. Not Averyl’s words, but the look in her eye. The look in the eye of every Galerose in the vicinity, really. Bloodlust. They all felt it. Somnia was hardly unique as far as Galeroses went. The only difference was that they’d all long since learned to control it. Make it their own. And here Somnia was, ready to cast her training aside and ruin any and all goodwill she’d earned throughout this trip.

Graciously, the only people who’d witnessed this display were Hana, the Seekers, Shuten Douji, a few Oni, and her siblings. Somnia looked down into the brick road, finally relaxing in her sister’s grip.

“Thanks,” She said softly.

***

”SOMNIA IS A FINE WARRIOR. YOU WOULD DO WELL TO LEARN FROM HER.”

Where’s the catch? “Fallen Star” and “humility” don’t exist in the same universe.

“THERE IS NONE. OUR POWER STRIKES FEAR INTO THE HEARTS OF OUR ENEMIES, SURE. BUT SOMNIA…” For the first time likely ever, Fallen Star seemed stumped. “SHE STRIKES FEAR IN A FAR MORE… PRIMAL WAY. YOU ARE A MAN CARRYING A LOADED GUN. SOMNIA IS A GUN. DO YOU FOLLOW?”

Not at all. And I don’t have time to hear your clarifications, we’re leaving.

Indeed, following Somnia’s entertaining display, Shuten Douji called for the Oni to leave and for Yugo and the rest of us to join them. Before we did, we had to say our goodbyes to the people in Saikou.

Averyl was first given she was right next to me. I approached her, doing my best to show how much I’d grown. It felt like a horrible time to display that “banter” thing I learned from Archie, but I did want to show some sort of personal growth beyond what she saw from me in our many conversations since she came to Saikou.

She’d just wrapped up a conversation with Somnia and turned to me with her familiar smile as I approached. I matched it with one of my own. “I’m glad I got to see you again. Thank you for looking out for me.”

Averyl leaned into my ear, her smile very suddenly being replaced by panic. “Why are you saying bye to me? Go say bye to Hana!”

Just like that, she removed whatever edge I thought I had in this conversation. “Nothing is going on between us! Why does everyone assume I’m interested in her? Am I allowed to be friends with women?”

Averyl cackled just like Somnia had moments ago. “Stop rambling, you’ll sound like Zakaria!”

I scoffed.

She laughed for a long while before pressing her forehead into mine. “I’m just kidding. I know your type, and I know the type of your type.” She gave me a mischievous look through the embrace. “You won’t find her in Azuma Saikyou. The women here are too prim-and-proper. Burcnhester and Bukimiburgh, though?” She laughed. “Just try to stay focused on your goals, okay?”

“DOES SHE KNOW ABOUT CLARISSA? ASK HER.”

No!

“O-okay,” I answered, unable to form any sort of retort.

Following that, she wished me well and pushed me towards Hana anyway. She’d been convening with some Honor Guards I didn’t recognize who’d been reporting to her how their battle with the Wild Men had gone. The moment I arrived she turned, excused herself, and pulled me away from the center of town into an alleyway.

“Sorry,” Hana said immediately. “I don’t want them to hear me get all sappy. Grandmother left a ton of books for me around the Castle about how to be a good Shogun, and one of her tips is to always appear strong and dignified in front of them – even, wait, no. Especially when you don’t feel like it.”

“You in a bad mood?”

Hana looked around. “I’d gotten used to you being here. Fighting and training with you was a fun reprieve from all the Shogun work.” She looked up. “But I’ll be fine. I have the Galeroses here to help me defend the city for now and train my Honor Guard. We’ll be fine,” Her voice broke. “I promise!”

I pulled her into a hug. It was awkward, but it beat watching her cry while I stood nonchalantly across from her. Plus, Fallen Star had a point. I had to appreciate the sentimental moments like this. My goals of killing the Horsemen and separating from Fallen Star were inherently tied with death and struggle, and these softer moments were what would keep me sane in the face of them.

“You’ve done a lot for me over these past few weeks, Hana. I won’t forget it.”

“Oh, please. The only reason I’m Shogun right now is because of you.” She pulled back from the hug and stared into my eyes. “Do you know when you’ll be back?”

“Whenever I have free time. I want to finish training in Poison Manipulation,” I answered honestly.

Hana chuckled. “You have a strong foundation. You won’t need to train with me anymore.”

I doubted that, but now wasn’t the time to argue that. “Well, I’ll come by to see you then. We’re friends.”

She smiled and began to lean a bit closer. “I’m looking forward to–”

“Aww!” Archie and Yugo cried in unison from the entrance to the alleyway. Hana backed away like a kid in a cookie jar. Archie helped her up as Yugo threw his hands up. “So the accuser becomes the accused! You play dirty. I admire that.”

“What are you talking about?” Hana and I asked at the same time, though Hana sounded far more accusatory for some reason.