Chapter 6: Betrayal

There was a loud screech as the terrifying monster called 'horroshi,' leaped at Kurono, the soldier quickly raised his sword and blocked the attack. Fujika and Seili rushed up the long, circular staircase attempting to escape the laboratory. Kurono jumped onto the stairs as the skinny, humanoid creatures attacked him. Their nails had grown long over time and could easily cut through skin, fangs had formed from their teeth and some had grown extra eyes. All the horroshi wanted was… blood. Kurono was making his way up the staircase when one of the horroshi suddenly appeared in front of him. It leapt at him but when the two beings made contact the horroshi turned to smoke. Kurono ignored this fact and continued rushing up the stairs.

They were eventually able to make it up the stone staircase, they ran through a door and shut it behind them as soon as possible. There was loud scratching on the door at first, but it died down after a few moments.

"What the fuck were those!?" Kurono screamed. He then realised they were in a room with a door on each end, the three had a choice to make, left or right. Kurono first went to the left and saw it was a secret way into the main streets of Pilbate. He walked down the extremely long room to the other door, he opened it and found a large, white room with grand chandeliers hanging from tall ceilings, royal guards dressed in red were scattered through the room, it was the entrance hall of the castle of Cheusta. Kurono's eyes lit up from this sight, he saw an opportunity.

"Fujika take Seili through that door and meet me a Pruce's pub," Kurono demanded. "If you see Nozomi, tell her to meet me there as well."

"Of course, master," Fujika didn't know what Kurono's plan was, but she followed his order's, nonetheless. Fujika walked out into the pouring rain and searched for Nozomi on their way to Pruce's pub.

Kurono slowly opened the door into the grand hall. There were chairs made of red felt and lined with gold scattered throughout the room as well as tables, Kurono was able to use these for cover as he snuck through the castle. He was able to make it to a large white door unseen. He slowly opened the door and found a large, marble staircase with a red carpet leading the whole way up. He was interrupted by a few heavily armoured guards along the way but made quick work of them with his sword. He reached the top of the staircase and stumbled upon a large hallway. He checked behind all the white wooden doors for a glimpse of a throne room.

Fujika and Seili had only been walking along the wet streets of Pilbate for a short while when they ran into Nozomi.

"He's dead," Nozomi announced in a grim manner, with her eyes to the ground. Fujika had a moment of silence as she figured out what to say, she did not know Nozomi well enough to know what to say.

"Master told us to meet him at Pruce's pub," Fujika explained.

"Okay," Nozomi replied. The three girls walked off in the pouring rain.

I found it! Kurono thought as he approached a set of large, gold and white double doors. He opened the doors in a rush, Kurono had his hood on as he entered. The room was lined with large white columns, a red carpet leading up to the throne where the king was sitting. Large windows lined the sides of the room. There was a total of eight heavily armoured guards, all wielding lances. The second the king saw him; he ordered the guards to attack Kurono.

A lance was swung at Kurono's head which he easily dodged then swept the legs of the guard who attacked him. He stabbed the guard on the ground through the skinny eye slit in his helmet. Blood spurted out. He was attacked by another guard, Kurono was able to use Mazqatal to boost away from it like a pole vault, then he kicked the guard with both feet while he was in the air. Kurono grabbed his sword from the corpse and sliced the slight gap between the helmet and chest plate of the other guard. There was chainmail there but Mazqatal was able to cut through it like butter. Kurono was being attacked by two guards at the same time now so he sprinted and got in between them. Both guards were facing him so Kurono stabbed one guard through the eye slit then pressed the button on Mazqatal's handle sending the blade soaring to the other side and stabbing the other guard in the same place. Kurono was too late to realise that there was a guard behind him who sliced his back. Kurono was strong enough to persevere through this though and threw the blade of Mazqatal at the guard's neck and got a direct hit. While the sword was stuck there, Kurono grabbed one of the dead guards' lances and used that as his weapon. Another guard attack, Kurono blocked the attack with the lance, then countered by jamming it into the guard's eyes. The large cut on Kurono's back was affecting his movement but he tried to ignore it as much as possible. Kurono had two more guards to kill. He sprinted towards one and slid under the lance the guard swung at him. Kurono was then able to locate the straps of the guard's chest plate and sliced them causing the chest plate to fall off, Kurono then stabbed the guard in the back. Kurono picked up this guard's weapon and was now wielding two lances. The last guard was running towards Kurono, Kurono ducked the attack and was behind the guard. He kicked the guard to the ground and the guard was now lying face down on his stomach. Kurono used both lances and stabbed them into the back of the guard's knees, he then grabbed the guards lance and stabbed him in the back of the neck.

Kurono noticed the fat king was about to open the door of the throne room. The king was so terrified he was bawling his eyes out while he tried opening the door. Kurono grabbed the lance from the guard's neck and threw it at the king, hitting him in the leg.

"You're not going anywhere," Kurono said as he retrieved Mazqatal's blade from a corpse and returned it to its handle.

Kurono then sprinted towards the king before he could scream for his life. He then grabbed the bottle he retrieved from the mansion kitchen.

"You're going to be my guinea pig," Kurono said as he unscrewed the lid of the bottle. He then forced the bottle into the king's mouth and forced him to swallow. Sweat was dripping from the king's forehead, snot was leaking out of his nose as he cried. Then, suddenly, the crying stopped. The king's eyes were dead.

"Who… are you?" he stumbled. "Who am I? Where am I?"

"That's all the information I needed, thank you," Kurono said as he decapitated the king using Mazqatal.

Kurono began looking for a quick escape, he decided scaling the outside would be dangerous but the best idea. Kurono ran and smashed through one of the windows, sliding down the tiled roof and grabbing onto the edge at the exact moment. He then slowly scaled down the walls to the bottom.

There they sat, in the large but now empty pub. The fact that it was empty was surprising. Fujika, Seili and Nozomi sat a small, round wooden table. Kurono walked into the pub with a wide grin on his about an hour after the girls had made it to the bar. The moment he saw the grim look on Nozomi's face his grin went away.

"Are you okay?" Kurono asked. Nozomi nodded.

"He didn't hurt you, did he?" Kurono asked.

"No," Nozomi replied. Kurono knew that Nozomi would have achieved her mission, he trusted her.

"Anyway," Kurono changed the subject. "The king has been killed, by me." The group was shocked. "This does not mean the war is over. Tonight, we will all go back to our camp. But first I have got to do one more thing, so Nozomi, you take Seili to camp and Fujika, you come with me."

"What have you got left to do?" Nozomi asked.

"That's a secret," replied Kurono.

Fujika and Kurono stumbled through the forest in the dead of the night. The rain had stopped now but the ground was still damp. The twigs snapped under their feet. They climbed over a large rock and found a large door. It was the door of the temple that Seili stayed at. Kurono had come up a name for the temple. The light temple.

"You wait here while I go in," Kurono said to Fujika. Fujika stood the with her hands together in front of her. Kurono slowly opened the doors of the temple and walked inside.

He was greeted by the large room and the tall ceiling with stone columns reaching all the way to the top. He reached the stone altar and a bright light shone from it once again.

"I see the Horroshi were let free," said a ghostly voice.

"I didn't know that's what you meant," Kurono replied. "I am sorry, I have already witnessed what they are capable of."

"It is fine, this just means fate following its own path, it is your job to defy fate," The voice replied. "Follow me and you will reach your goal."

"What do I do to achieve that?" Kurono replied. Do I really trust this voice? Kurono thought. What if I follow its orders but things only turn out badly?

"In a few moments, you will make a decision which will help you reach your goal. Listen to what I have to say."

Nozomi felt awkward as she walked with Seili up the long, dry and rocky cliff to make it to the southern army camp. There was a path leading all the way up the cliff. The path was very narrow and steep, if someone slipped on the path it was very likely that they would fall to their death. Nozomi didn't know how to start a conversation with the silent girl. She seemed to be talking fine with Kurono, why isn't she talking with me. Am I doing something wrong? Nozomi thought. Maybe she trusts Kurono, I'll try to get her to trust me. But how, how do I start the conversation? I don't know much about her and I don't want to say anything that could hurt her.

Nozomi couldn't think for very long before they had reached the top of the cliff and made it to the camp. The tents were scattered throughout small plateau. There was another cliff overlooking the camp with another narrow path leading up to it.

Nozomi spotted commander Ocran.

"Commander, I have returned," Nozomi announced.

"Good, did you find Kurono?" Ocran replied.

"I did sir, but he needed to do something before he returned."

"What is that?"

"I don't know, sir."

"You don't know!?"

"He did not tell me where he was going."

"How do you know he's not just going to run off again!? GO FIND HIM NOW!"

"I don't have to."

"I TOLD YOU TO GO FIND HIM!"

"But I trust him, he will come back, I know he will."

Fujika was still standing in front of the door when Kurono walked out. He had his head down, was he sad about something? A rustle then came from the bushes, Kurono was shocked. Was this supposed to happen?

Kurono and Fujika stood there in shock, what was coming, then, out of the bushes appeared Takoda.

"There you are, I've been looking for you," Takoda said as he saw Kurono. "We have to go back to camp."

Takoda approached Kurono but Kurono drew his sword and pointed it at Takoda. The tip of the blade was just inches away from Takoda's neck. Both Takoda and Fujika were in shock.

"I'm sorry Takoda," Kurono said. "But I have to do this. To achieve my goal!"