Kuri is woken up by the rumbling of the cart, followed by Paulie apologizing for the rough awakening. Kuri moves to the front of the cart and is then greeted by the sight of Dulvine in the distance. Kuri began to gather his things, packing his bag, making sure his swords are affixed to his belt and adjusting his scarf. Once they reached the gates, the guards checked him and Paulie, and shortly after they were allowed to enter the city. After a brief goodbye, Kuri passed a note to Paulie and then departed. Dulvine was usually a very lively place, every visit Kuri made here always lived up to being as lively or even more lively than the last. This time was no different, however, this visit had Kuri wondering about the corruption Paulie mentioned. Had the seeds of the corruption been here on his last visit? Could he have prevented this? As he wondered about such things, he went to secure some lodging at an inn he stays at whenever he is in Dulvine, Kirkenheim inn. Upon approaching it, something felt off, but he chalked it up to him just being uneasy and entered the inn. The place was crowded, which is very unusual for this place, as crowded and rowdy as the inn was displeasure was resonating in the air. Kuri then realized that the inn wasn’t as crowded as he thought, looking opposite from where the regular patrons were sitting, were many empty seats. All but five seats were empty, those five seats were in the corner occupied but what appeared to guard. Kuri once again shrugged it off, although he had never experienced this kind of behavior before, he paid it no mind. As he continued to talk through the inn, he eventually reached the main desk, no one was there so he decided to wait patiently. After some time, a young lady came by.
“Sorry sir! How may I help you?!” she said. It was clear she was exhausted. But as she was talking to Kuri, she was preparing something for one of the patrons.
“Ah, no worries, I was wondering if you guys have any rooms—” Kuri began to ask.
“Sorry! But there are no open room! "She said as she stormed off to attend to the other patrons.
Kuri was shocked to hear there had been no empty rooms, this place was normally barren but now, barely a year later, it had no empty rooms. Kuri dismissed the thought though. He started heading to sit down and drink before heading out to find other lodging. As he pulled out one of those many seats, he seen open from before, the young lady from before stopped him.
"You really shouldn't go over their sir..." she said. " We're instructed to not let anyone near those tables".
Kuri was confused, as he briefly looked around however, he noticed most of the bar patrons attempting to slyly look at what was going on.
"That's interesting... Do you know why? " He asked.
"I'm afraid I cannot say." she said.
Kuri pushes back in the seat as to not cause any more trouble than he came here to cause. As he smiles and thanks the young lady, another employee yells out to her.
“HAZEL! WE JUST HAD A ROOM OPEN UP!” they said.
Hazel looks over to Kuri asks if he would like that room, naturally he accepted the room and walked away from the tables. He was led up to the room he would be staying in by Hazel and once there, she told him there was some rules that he would need to abide to in order to stay at this place. While she spoke to him about those rules, they did nothing but fall upon death ears. As she spoke, Kuri began to question when this place became so restrictive. Then he remembered what Paulie had told him, while he tried to deny it, he could deny it no longer. Something was definitely up. He now had so many questions but before he could even think of some of the possible answers, he heard a pacing back and forth outside of his door. He walked toward the door, putting his foot against it and waiting for the assailant to do something. But for the next couple minutes nothing happened, tired, Kuri sat with his back to the door.
“So—”, the assailant let out a brief gasp. “Do you want to explain why you’ve been pacing outside of my door?” he asked.
While there was no answer, the person in question finally knocked on the door and Kuri opened the door to see Hazel looking down, probably embarrassed. He sighed and letting her into his room. She moved over to the bed where she sat in silence. Before he could ask what was going on, several footsteps could be heard moving past his room accompanied by a conversation. While he couldn’t hear most of it, he did hear the collective laugh the men let out before shutting their room doors.
“So… what’s been going on here? This place has gotten way more popular since the last time I came here, the patrons act strangely and a whole half of the inn is apparently unusable” he says as he turns to Hazel.
“It’s a long story…” she said. She looked over at Kuri who looked dejected at the fact that she said it was a long story.
However, he sat through it all. According to Hazel, an election put a new commander in charge of military affairs in Dulvine. The man who is now in charge name is Senji Makasaki and he is essentially running amok with his newfound power. While during the day things seem normal, citizens recently have been walking on a thin line. Harsh punishments for petty crimes, random fines and a multitude of other things have been happening since he was put into power. The current lord of Dulvine seems to not care much about what's going on in the city either. It's almost like Makasaki rules this place as his kingdom. The only times things are good are when higher ups are in city. Before she could explain anymore Kuri stops her.
“Are you asking me to do something about it...?” Kuri asked.
“Well… not so much as you by yourself… There is a group who plans on taking Makasaki out of power… I’m asking if you can assist them!” she says.
Kuri sits back briefly, “What chance do you think they stand against Makasaki?” he asks.
“A good chance, the group is made up of both current and former soldiers” she said.
“My price is high…” he says.
Hazel worriedly looks to him, “What is it that you want!”
“We can talk about that another time” he said.
With that final exchange, she stands up and walks to the door, before leaving, she turns around and bows. Then she hurries out the room. Kuri gets out the chair and heads to the sole window the room has. There isn’t much to see because of the neighboring building but he does catch a glimpse of Hazel walking the streets. He sighs before deciding to call it a night.
.
.
.
The next morning, he wakes up, grabs his things and jumps out the window into the alley that his room peeks into. He stands in the alley for some time before heading out. He begins thinking about everything Hazel told him. He doesn’t exactly plan on joining the group but Makasaki ruining this city is something he wouldn’t allow. He walks around city getting as much insight into how guards act and any information he can pick up just from interacting with some city folk. Around midday he starts wondering around the main plaza during his time in the plaza, he heard some commotion coming from an alley he was passing, and he decided to check what was going on. When he got there, three men were standing around a woman, they all turned to look at Kuri almost in unison.
"Hey... You look familiar, " one of the men said.
"Do I really... Maybe you are mistaken— " Kuri started saying.
"Weren't you at the Kirkenhiem Inn? " Said the man.
"Ah, yes, " Kuri said.
After replying, the man began slowly walking over to Kuri. The man towered over Kuri. Once he was close, he smiled, and so Kuri nervously smiled back. Before he knew it, the man planted his boot into Kuri's chest. Knocking him out of the alleyway and into the middle of the plaza in front of a ton of citizens who went over to aid him. The man alongside the others who were in the alleyway came out.
"ANY WHO AID THAT MAN WILL FACE THE SAME PUNISHMENT " the man yelled while pointing at Kuri.
The ones who were around Kuri quickly dispersed and left him to fend for himself. Kuri got to his knees before he was quickly put back down on the ground by the same man. This time he slightly stepped on Kuri's head.
"ANYONE WHO DEFIES MAKASAKI'S ORDER SHALL FACE THE SAME PUNISHMENT AS THIS MAN." the man yelled out to the crowd that surrounded them.
The man then looks down to Kuri and proceeds to increase the pressure on his head. Before anything else can happen however, he stops, calling his men over to cuff and bring Kuri to Makasaki himself. Before they took him away the man spat on Kuri. One of the guards took the swords from Kuri’s belt and the other held the bag as they dragged him through the streets. He was taken to a compound and brought into a large room. It seemed to be a storage room of sorts with large wooden beams supporting the ceiling. As people went in and out, he kept asking if they were Makasaki, eventually the guards who brought him there were tired of hearing him speak so they blindfolded and gagged him. Kuri hears the door open and close one final time before a man takes of the blindfold and the gag.
"Ah, are you Makasaki? " Kuri said immediately after the blindfold was lifted.
"He is the least of your problems curren—" the man said.
"So, you aren't him " Kuri said, "Why're you here "
The man kicked him in the face, "Listen here you lowly peasant. As one of the captains, I will not tolerate this" he said.
Kuri simply waited for the man to move his foot before spitting in his face. Disgusted by this, the man orders the men waiting outside to take care of this mess, as he left the room. Kuri was tossed against the far wall by the two guards who brought him here as the rest of the came into the room. Once the door closes the guards started to close in on Kuri. However, he surprisingly just stands up. His bindings were burnt off his wrist and legs. While the men were briefly surprised, they still outnumbered him, so they charged in to kill him. Shortly after, Kuri dust himself off, gathering his hood and weapons. The men laid on the floor all incapacitated. The door begins to open, hitting one of the men’s head causing it to not open all the way. Kuri took this time to hide among the wooden beams.
" What in the world happened here? " One man said.
The men looked shocked at what laid in front of them. While they started to check on the men who were unconscious on the floor, Kuri quietly got down from the wooden beams and closed the door behind them. Once the door closed all the men's attention was drawn in that direction. Standing against the door Kuri looked back at them, assessing each of the men who were now in the room with him.
"You are a fool to lock yourself in this room with us," said one of the men.
Kuri simply smirked.
"So, where is Makasaki?" he said.
"Why would any of us tell you? " One of the men said.
Kuri sighed, simply waiting for an answer. While they sat there in silence Kuri seemed to get bored and turned to leave the room.
"Did you really think I'd let you just leave?" said the man as he lunged toward him.
The man suddenly fell to the floor once he was close enough to strike Kuri. He started to scream out in pain, yelling for the other to get him but none of them moved. Kuri stood there waiting for an answer but once he knew he wasn’t going to get one, he left the room and headed back to the inn. Nightfall approaches as he gets closer to the inn. As he turns a corner, he hears a commotion coming from the inn, so he hurries back around the corner to hide himself. Rushing past him he sees several soldiers with their belongings. As they rush past, he grows concern. Could it be that in retaliation for what happened at their base, they came to destroy or harm the people at the inn? Kuri rushed to the inn and kicks open the door to see everyone celebrating. Confused, he stands there shocked for some time. Hazel rushes over to him and tells him the good news. For some reason unknown to her, the guards and solider staying there have all left in a hurry. She leads him to a table and brings him a drink.
“Whatever you guys did worked! I didn’t think they would make a move so soon!” she said.
“You guys?”
“Yes, you and the revolutionaries...”
“Oh, they also did something?” Kuri said as he downed his drink.
Hazel paused for a second. Her face quickly went from smiling to being very concerned.
“Please don’t tell me you acted by yourself!” She shouted.
Kuri motioned to her to quiet down and then explained to her what transpired.
“With all that being said… I think you and the rest of the employees should pack their things…” he said.
“Pack our things...?”
Kuri simply nodded. He looked over to her, she looked very concerned at this point which bothered him. He lets out a sigh.
“As for you… If you want, your gonna come with me… The rest of them are going to work for a friend of mine starting tomorrow”
“Is that your way of asking a girl on a date?” she said as she laughed.
“Don’t flatter yourself… think of it as paying you back” he said as he stood up.
“I’ll take you up on the offer… I’ll tell the others as well” she said as she pouted.
Kuri snickered and patted her head and told her he’d be back later. He walks out of the inn and starts to walk the streets. As he walks the streets, he notices guards running around frantically and he decides it best if he wears his hood for the time being. Soon after dawning his hood, he finds himself in front of a tailor's shop. While the lights were off the door was unlocked and he invited himself in. He was greeted with a knife to his neck.
“Y’know… people knock” the assailant said.
“It wouldn’t be like me to knock now would it” Kuri said.
The person backs away from him, letting out a sigh and making a flame atop their finger.
“It’s not a good thing that your right” the woman says.
She smiles at him briefly before gesturing to him to follow her. Stopping briefly to tell him to lock the door. The go towards the back of the shop, there are several cloaks folded up, stacked on top of each other.
“Nicely done! How long have you been keeping these for me Maren?” He asked.
“For about six months! Next time you make me wait this long I’ll sell whatever you ask me for!” she responded.
They laugh briefly.
“Well then can I ask you one more favor? Can you deliver them here… There should be a man called Paulie… leave them with him” he asked.
“Sure thing” she said.
After shaking hands with Maren, he left the shop through the back door and headed back to the inn. Most of the lights were out and the once he entered, he seen a lone employee cleaning the bar. He simply waved and headed up to his room. He got outside of his room and noticed the door was cracked open slightly. He drew the smaller of his blades and slowly inched the door open with the other. While no one immediately attacked he seen someone laying down in his bed. As he approached, he noticed bags on the floor of the room that weren’t there before. He now stood there over the figure who was sleeping in the bed and threw the cover off the assailant just to find out it was Hazel. He quietly laughed before putting the cover back over her and locked the door before sitting beside the door and resting. The next morning, he wakes up to the sunlight in his eyes. Hazel was still sleep, he punched her on top of her head, waking her up.
“What was that for?!” she yelled.
“Why your welcome, anyway, on to more important things, I want you to head to this shop,” he said as he handed her a note. “Take the rest of the workers with you. Tell the nice lady that works there, that I sent her some workers and that you are coming with me.”
Hazel looked confused but before she could ask a question Kuri once again jumped out the window and into the alleyway. Before he could get anywhere, he begins hearing commotion from both ends of the alleyway. Upon exiting the alleyway, he sees a group of people standing around a poster, there seems to be many of them stern about the city. As he looks around, he sees on of the posters on the ground and walks over and picks it up. Upon closer inspection he realizes it is a poorly drawn picture of him. He tears the poster up and tosses it behind him. While tearing up the poster some guards noticed him doing it and ran over to question him. While looking every where but at the guards he formulates a lie that briefly gets the guards to ease up on him. Once they got distracted by some commotion caused by that crowd of people he seen before he snuck away from the guards. Once he got far enough away from the guards he slipped into another alleyway. He though about what he should do but was interrupted by more commotion that was coming from behind him. Thankfully they paid him no mind but there was several guards chasing some men through the street. While he wanted to help, back up guards forced him back into the alleyway. He made his way to the rooftops and from there he decided to head to what he thought was Makasaki’s base of operations. Once he arrived at the base he noticed a massive amount of guards outside of the front gates and even on the rooftops. While it would be difficult for any regular person to sneak in, Kuri simply watched the guards for a brief moment, caused a distraction on the ground level which drew in the attention of one of the units on the rooftops and with that, he took out the other who was on the rooftops and snuck inside. It was quite early in the day and yet there was so much movement going on. While the outside was heavily guarded, the inside seemed more lax. There weren’t many guards patrolling but then again everyone there seemed to be a guard or working for Makasaki. He noticed many of the people heading toward what seemed to be a court yard and decided to go to the nearby rooftop that was shaded by a tree. Sticking inside of the shade he seen as a man walked up onto a stage and started yelling to those who were there.
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“LISTEN UP” he said. “It has been brought to my attention that not only has a handful of guards not only lost to a prisoner here but some officials allowed him to escape! Can the ones responsible for this tragedy step forward!”
The men step forward, hanging their heads. They were instructed to kneel and raise one hand. As they did such, the men responsible for letting Kuri escape step forward.
“As Makasaki’s First in Command… It displeases me that the trash I sent here was able to escape… This is akin to spitting in our lord’s face. Although a light punishment, this should suffice.” He said.
He then began to cut off the hand they had raised, while they writhe in pain behind him, he speaks again to those in attendance.
“If another mistake like this happens ever happens again, I personally will have your heads rolling… Do you understand me.” He said.
“YES! YES SIR, SIR BREKENRIDGE” they all yelled.
Kuri look on in disgust, he was trying to decide whether he should take them on now, or wait for another time. As he was pondering his options, Brekenridge spoke again.
“Lord Makasaki and Muuri of his royal guard are returning soon… Make sure you greet them well.” He said as he turned away.
With another resounding sound off, they were all dismissed, those who had received a punishment were starting to be tended to. Kuri got up from his spot and started to peruse through the establishment. He learned some valuable information and as he snuck his way around he thought what his plan should be moving forward. After some time, he noticed the sun had just reached it’s peak. He climbed the bell tower and rung the bell. There were a few who turned and looked while others continued working. Those who looked towards the bell seen multiple fire ball heading in several directions. Upon impact they torched many of the things they touched and started to spread. Men started to panic and hurried to put of the fires. Where one was put out however another was just lighting up. Kuri took the opportunity to leave without a trace. He headed towards the nearest gate and into a nearby field. He hid there until around noon. He came out of the field and surprised many of the farmers that were around inspecting the crops. When he entered the city once again he paid a visit to where Paulie was staying only to see Maren grabbing Paulie by his collar.
“WHADDYA MEAN—” She shouted.
“What’s going on here” Kuri said.
Maren turned around quickly. She walked up to Kuri, places her hands on his shoulders.
“Your coachman said leaving the city is off limits right now” she calmly said. As she took her hands from his should and turned she yelled, “SOME IMBECILE TRIED TO LIGHT MAKASAKI’S PALACE ON FIRE AND—” she suddenly stopped and turned to face Kuri once again. She glared at him. “DON’T… DON’T YOU DARE”.
Kuri could do nothing but put his hands up and look away.
“KURI… Kuri… you… wouldn’t happen to know who Makasaki is do you…” She asked.
“I have no idea who you’re talking about…” he said nervously.
She could hear the hesitation in his voice. “KURI! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!” She yelled.
“LISTEN!” He yelled back as he dropped his hands and looked in her direction. “It’s… well I was gonna say it wasn’t all my fault but…” he started saying.
“Enough…” She said. “this is your problem now… I’m not helping…” She walked towards the door. “Be safe”
She left the room, leaving Paulie and Kuri there in silence for some time. Before Paulie could get a word out Kuri began to speak.
“Paulie, believe me when I say this… I’m gonna make sure we’ll be able to leave, but I need you to prepare 2 more carts” he said.
“Two more isn’t a problem, but I’m afraid there aren’t many more coachmen around” Paulie responded.
“They don’t need to be going the same way as me, I just need them to be leaving the same time as me… Can you do it?” Kuri asked.
Paulie rubbed his chin for a second and simply nodded.
“Thank you… Don’t worry about her, she’ll get over it… Eventually at least… Anyway! I need the leftmost cart to be the one with the items! I will be taking that cart, as for the other 2 carts they can go wherever!” Kuri said.
Paulie once again just nodded and smiled. Kuri smiled back and left the establishment. He headed back to what he was expecting to be an empty Inn but once he entered he was greeted by not only Hazel but many, many other people. One of these men walked up to Kuri and started to raise his hand up to put it on Kuri’s shoulder but before he could get far Kuri grabbed his hand and just shook his head. He yawned as he walked pass many of the men and Hazel walked up to him blocking his path.
“Where do you think your going?” she asked.
“What do you think you’re doing here?” he retorted.
Another man walked up behind Hazel.
“Are you the lad that burned Makasaki’s place up?”
“What of it?” Kuri said while lowering his bag.
“Calm down lad… Hazel told us that there was someone acting on their own going at Makasaki’s men… We wanted to see who exactly it was…” he said
“Doesn’t seem like much to me” said another man.
“I think we’ve go the wrong guy” said another.
As men chided Kuri he stood there and simply ignored them and picked his bag off the ground.
“Whatever you lot are planning on doing… Don’t” Kuri said.
“Mister…” Hazel said.
“Listen lad… Before you became part of the equation, we were planning on taking Makasaki on his arrival back… and I’m not going to let you stop me…” the man said.
Kuri brushed it off. He pushed past the man and yawned.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you…” he said as he went to his room.
Once he got there, he locked the door and sat against it and let out a big sigh. He thought about his options moving forward and as he was thinking he ended up falling asleep. He awoke in the middle of the night suddenly. He heard something tapping against his window. Going towards it slowly he seen Maren in the alley way throwing pebbles. He opened the window and she climbed in.
“You couldn’t move to one of the lower floors huh” she said as she climbed through the window.
Kuri sat back against the door silently looking up at the ceiling. Maren sat on the windowsill.
“I’m sorry…” she said.
“Don’t—”
“Don’t tell me what to do… In fact why don’t you listen to the advice you give me…” she said. “You are gonna work yourself to the bone…”
“I have too many things to do before I die… This isn’t something that’s going to cause much trouble” he said quietly.
She kissed her teeth. He gets up and starts walking towards her.
“Thanks for worrying about me… But I’m not exactly who you think I am… So, don’t stress too much” He said as he patted her head.
“I’m older than you, stop treating me like a kid” she says as she punches him in the stomach.
“Doesn’t look like it…” he says as he back away.
“OI!” she yells.
But then she starts to laugh.
“Be sure to get out of here alive alright” she says.
Kuri simply smiles at her as she leaves out the window and starts walking the streets. Once he locks the window, he once again lays back against the door and dozes off. The sunlight wakes him up once again. He changes out of his usual cloak and puts on something more raggedy and grabs his bag. He leaves his room to see all the rooms in the hallway opened. He heads downstairs and sees Hazel resting at one of the tables and a note next to her, reading:
“
We’ll be off now… Whether we win this fight or lose, keep the fight going!
Leave here and come back with more people willing to fight for what is right!
Makasaki doesn’t deserve to be in power!
We will do our best!
“
He crumbles up the note at first but then he opens it back up and flips to it’s back side. He writes on the back of the note, simply telling her to be ready around noon. Kuri leaves his bag on the table where Hazel is resting and leaves the inn. He was greeted by the same posters he seen the previous day but this time there were a lot more of them. As well as a larger bounty than before. As he walked the streets he seen many guards stopping people and asking them questions as well as patting them down, holding the poster to their face. Kuri wanted to avoid this so he started to traverse the city through alleyways. As he did, he seen a mass of people and solider gathered up. He got as close as he could while staying in the alleyways to try and listen in on what was going on.
“I’LL ONLY SAY THIS ONE MORE TIME! THERE IS SOMEONE AMONGST YOU SORRY LOUTS WHO DARED ATTACK MAKASAKI’S GREAT MANOR! IF YOU KNOW WHAT IS GOOD FOR YOU, YOU WOULD COME OUT NOW! MAYBE HIS GRACE WILL SPARE YOU A SLOW DEATH AND GRANT YOU A SWIFT ONE! FOR THE REST OF YOU, ANY WHO AID THE TRAITOR WILL BE KILLED ALONG WITH HIM. SO FIND HIM AND BRING US HIS HEAD THIS INSTANT—” As Brekenridge continued to yell and yell at the city folk Kuri got bored and left the area.
He decided to pay the Manor a visit to see how bad the damages were and so as he headed in that direction. As he got closer and closer however, more and more security were spotted allow over the place. On rooftops further away, alleyways and in the streets. As he begins to plan out a way to get inside the manor once again. Commotion begins to get closer and closer to him. In the street in front of him, a group of men charged toward the manor at full speed. He slowly started to climb the to the rooftop, making sure to make sure no one sees him, but it seems that group had drawn the attention of the guards. Kuri quickly takes this chance to go around and get to the back of the manor once he gets there, however. No one is there. As he looks around the manor, he hears someone speaking. He can’t quite make out what they are saying but Brekenridge loudly exclaims that he’ll handle the problem that is taking place outside of the manor gates. Kuri races of the front of the manor to see what’s going on and he see’s many of the men who were at the inn with Hazel fighting with the guards and much to his surprise they are holding their own. Although he couldn’t tell if they took any casualties they seemed to be in good spirits. As he was about to turn and head back to see who was giving the speech this time around, Brekenridge comes out of the front gates wielding a large axe.
“WHO DARES INTERRUPT OUR LORD” He loudly exclaims.
He takes a look at the mercenaries and soldiers who had fallen on his side and then up at the group who was fighting causing the ruckus. His face turned to one of disgust.
“Ants” he muttered as he dropped his head.
Suddenly his head shot up and he began to look around.
“You lot are just the distraction aren’t you!” he sounded excited.
He turned around and spotted Kuri amongst the manor's walls.
“There! FINALLY,” He leapt at Kuri, swinging his axe and barely missing.
Kuri moves down in front of the mercs. The battlefield pauses briefly while Brekenridge dusts himself off and Kuri draws his dagger from its sheathe.
“YOU MUST BE THE HERETIC!” he exclaimed happily. “I WILL BRING YOUR HEAD TO MY LORD IMMEDIATELY”.
He charges in again and Kuri charges to meet him. Their clash blows Kuri’s hood off and shows his face and scarf which is covering his eye to all around him.
“A CRIPPLE?! HAH! YOU DARE EVEN HAVE THE AUDACITY TO BE IN MY PRESENCE!” Brekenridge yells.
Kuri starts pushing him back however and Brekenridge reflexively flails his axe in order to get Kuri to back away. The leader of the group fighting Makasaki’s men steps in front of Kuri.
“Lad, this is the revolutionaries fight” he said.
Kuri grabbed the man by his collar and threw him back towards his men who were now fighting the guards again. He tried to step back in front, but a strong gust of wind starts to blow past. Suddenly it picks up and get faster and faster. It surrounds Brekenridge and Kuri trapping them inside of a sphere. Brekenridge had yet to make another move. Kuri calmly started to walk towards him. Not to be shown up, Brekenridge again charged in this time shrouding his blade in pure mana. Kuri avoids this attack and Brekenridge laughs. Charging back in and forcing Kuri to dodge over and over again, Brekenridge starts to laugh louder and louder. As this happens. The men fighting on his side felt more empowered. They started to push back the revolutionaries. But then suddenly, Brekenridge stopped laughing. In fact, inside of that sphere was a dust cloud blocking the vision of everyone outside of it. Soon though the sphere started to dissipate as too did the cloud. As it did, the men around it realized that Brekenridge had fallen. He was defeated before any of them could notice. This shocked many of them so much they forgot they were fighting; the revolutionaries took the opportunity to not only strike back and kill many of the solider but also secure key points on this impromptu battlefield. Kuri started to help with the stragglers when he seen some men started to head towards Brekenridge to recover him. Kuri darted over to him but before he could reach him another foe appeared in front of him. Far behind him were reinforcements and the man he was looking for this entire time. Before Makasaki got a chance to speak, the leader of the revolutionaries issued a retreat. Kuri pushed off of his new foe and planted his hands firmly on the ground, soon after a wall of earth spouted up and blocked the enemy's path. He and the revolutionaries began to retreat. Kuri looked up to the sky. Not much time had passed but he also didn’t have much time to begin with. What was also troubling was the fact that at every corner, they were getting cut off. Eventually they were cornered. In the city’s center guards had surrounded them. Not approaching them but keeping them contained. As Kuri tried to survey their surroundings that same foe as before was charging towards him and he was barely able to draw his sword in time to block the attack much of it still in it's sheathe. A slow clapping can be heard as more soldiers and guards come surround them.
“You are impressive… You and your group not only managed to take down Brekenridge but you were also able to withstand two of Muuri’s attacks” Makasaki said.
Kuri forced Muuri away and fully drawing his blade. At this moment, the guards had started attacking the rest of the revolutionaries. Kuri back away from Muuri and towards the ongoing battle between the revolutionaries and the guards as he does, many of the guards and soldiers attempt to stop him but Kuri handles them with ease. He continues to go through the crowd and assist the revolutionaries while avoiding Muuri. Muuri occasionally stops to combat a foe who tries to finish off one of his comrades. However, so many of them start to fall that he begins to just use ｢Wind Magic｣ to push them out of the way. Eventually a small number of guards stood behind Muuri while the revolutionaries had all but cleared a way for them to escape. Makasaki halted Muuri’s advancement.
“Muuri…”
“I’m sorry for my failure to kill him in a timely—” Muuri began to say but suddenly a bolt priced his thigh.
This shocked Kuri, the revolutionaries and any of the solider in attendance.
“I have no use for weaklings” he says as he scoffs. “Those who fall in battle deserve to die. You know this rule and yet you spared many of their lives”
“My… My lord…” Muuri mutters.
“Whoever brings me that bolt in his leg can take his place. Oh, and kill the others” Makasaki says.
Men from beside him start to move forward. Stabbing the men Muuri worked all too hard to save in the heat of battle. Many men moved passed them and headed straight for Muuri, striking at him, thinking because he was injured, he would be an easier fight, but he held his own still. The revolutionaries were confused on what they should do but once they seen Kuri rush to aid of Muuri they joined the fact and backed them off. Makasaki finally stepped forward. Brekenridge also came from behind him, although injured with the new bounty on his former comrade's head, he jumped at the opportunity to fight him. As Muuri tried to stand Kuri kicked his uninjured let from under him and grabbed one of the surviving men who was supporting him and whispered something in their ear. Once Muuri started to stand up again, the rest of his men grabbed his arms and started to drag him toward the revolutionaries. That same solider who Kuri whispered to whispers to the leader of the revolutionaries. He nods and they along with Muuri began to run away. Before any of Makasaki’s men could give chase Kuri surrounded the city center with a large wind dome once again. Everyone was trapped inside this time. Kuri looked up to the sky. It was soon going to be noon. He had to hurry. He drew his dagger as well this time. He began to walk towards them calmly. Brekenridge warns the men to be wary of his tricks. Makasaki dismisses his comments and begins chanting. A large ｢Fire Ball｣ forms in front of him. It flies towards Kuri. The thing they can see is the ball of fire splitting and dissipating and Kuri charging pass many of the soldiers. Brekenridge tries to step in front of him, but he’s cut multiple times and then kicked out of the way. Kuri continues on his path toward Makasaki, all who stepped in front of him was cut down all the way up until he reached Makasaki. He used his dagger to cut him across his face, sheathed his dagger and placed his free hand on Makasaki’s face. Kuri jumps away from Makasaki as he begins to scream. His men all look toward him and many of them are frightened to move after seeing Kuri dismantle their forces so easy. Kuri then raises his hand, the dome that was trapping all of them starts to fly to his hand. Before he could do anything more, however. A new force makes their appearance. The governor’s personal guards had come to see Makasaki screaming, his men scattered and the person who did all this seemingly standing in front of them. Kuri dispelled the ｢Wind Magic｣ he was about to use and starts running away from the governor’s guards. They begin to give chase, as Kuri looks up into the sky, he sees that it’s a little past noon. Nevertheless, he still finds his way to the inn. He spots Hazel waiting outside of the inn and darts over to her. As he's running down toward her, he calls out her name, she turns around to see much of the governor's personal guard chasing Kuri and she begins to run away from them all. Kuri quickly catches up to her and grabs her hand before picking her up and telling her to hold on.
" WHY ARE THE GOVERNOR'S GUARDS AFTER YOU?!" she said.
"Dunno" he said as he chuckled.
As he continued through the city it seemed like the news of what happened to Makasaki had already began to spread. See, while Kuri didn’t kill Makasaki, he sealed away his vision or at least made he think he did. People of the city cheer him on as he ran through the city heading for the gates. Makasaki would no longer be able to rule over this place, he will lose his position and he knew exactly who it would go to. As he turned his final corner. At the gate a distance away from them awaited a group of people who while as they got closer turned out to be Muuri, the remainder of his men along with the remnants of the revolutionaries. Kuri asked Hazel if she trusted him, and she frantically nodded. The guards at the gates had closed the gates and Muuri along with the revolutionaries began running towards him. Kuri hopped on to one of the nearby buildings and once he was on the roof he tossed Hazel up into the air.
“WHAT THE HE—” she yelled before he jumped off the building using wind magic to gain extra height and catch her. He lands on the city’s walls with Hazel in his arms and looks back to the guards and the rest of the people.
Muuri seems to be trying his best to explain to the guards and so Kuri hops off the walls and uses wind magic once again to break his fall. Paulie is there to greet him outside of the city. He leads him to the cart with his belongings and Paulie smiles as he sees Kuri speeding off away from the city just as the other 2 carts leave and the guards open the city gates.