The Mana disaster was one of the most devastating disasters to strike the world in recent memory, causing the mass teleportation of thousands of people from the the Asura Kingdom to be teleported all over the world. There were lucky onec, and others that lacked it.
As the Asura Kingdom was turned into a crippling wasteland The stability of the Fittoa region was turned to the shambels. As a result, many criminal organisations rose to power and people took advantage of the region's weakened state. A year and a half later, the situation worsened due to the lack of a government and soldiers. More people and other regions around Fittoa were being involved in the attacks and neither villages nor towns were safe from the criminal underworld. Therefore, Fittoa regoion started to higher and depend on skilled mercenaries to protect their land from the greater enemy.
In the small port village of Damura. A massive sheep fleet was resting in the small port, looking more like a noble arrival than a pirate takeover. The streets were empty and devoid of life and noise, only decorated with hectolitres of blood spilled randomly throughout the walls, and architecute. with piles of bodies as if they were part of nature. A soft wind hummed around the lifeless streets of what was once a rich and lively village. However, the city centre was a completely different story, with bright, fiery light painting the surrounding area. From a distance, muffled music and laughter could be heard.
They laugh, dance, play, drink seemingly without end as the pirate crew. All of them were differnt races, highs, gender danced but it didnt bothered them as they cellebrated like there is no worry in the crimes. The moment had to be taken to the hold as The Captain shouts with all the might in his lungs:
"SILENCE!!"
Everyone stops mid-action as The Captain speaks. He is remarkably tall, standing on 7 feet tall, with a muscular frame that no clothing manages to cover. Much of his body is covered in scars, both small and large, and his long, slick, black hair reaches down to his waist, giving him a wild appearance. The upper part of his face is covered in shadow, with a white, soulless light escaping from the darkness of his eye sockets, making him look like a urban legend.
"Today, we have outdone ourselves and completed the biggest hijacking in the history of our crew!"
that message made the barbarians cheer and shout even lauder, rising they fists in the form of respect and happines.
"That's not all! We've Captured countless slaves, medical goods and treasures! We'll soon be filthy rich. This is our chance to pass the torch and become some of the strongest pirates on the Central continent!"
They all raised their fists into the air like children, screaming with criminal joy. It seemed that tonight nothing could break their happiness and confidence.
around a few minutes of walks from the village, there are high wooden walls protecting the small village of Damura from monstrous threats in the woods. However, since all the village guardians have been murdered, a small team of pirates are now protecting the village gates just in case.
One of them is bored out of his mind, staring into the eternal darkness of the forest just so they might spot something. he straches his hellmet and looks listlessly into the abyss of trees with missrable gaze. His crews laughter and fun is making a great lullaby. His eyes slowly shut from boredom. He's barely standing and almost falls asleep, untile a hand taps lightly on his shoulder.
"Excuse me, sir, is that a Damura Village?" a muffled young male voice calls from his right side.
With a heavy sigh, the man lifts his head slowly and shouts in annoyance.
"Ugh, have you for—"
The guard seems to perk up as his eyes land on the stranger. It's a rather short figure, clad in oversized, baggy robes thats covers his entire body, with crimson trim thats decorated into countless mysteriouse ancient symbols and signs, the fabric pooling around them like a collapsed tent. Wooden sandals (geta) give him a few extra inches in height, though not enough to make him imposing. Their face is hidden behind a peculiar white fox mask, its sly, almost cocky, black painted grin frozen in an expression of silent mockery.
The stranger said with sly voice "What's wrong? Did I make you fluster ?"
In almost no time, the rest of the guardian squad surrounds them like a swarm of ants soldiers, weapons drawn and ready. They whisper and share annoyed murmurs, but the oddly dressed guy doesn't seem stressed by the situation. He raises his hands like he is about to surrounder and, in a cunning voice announces
"Hey, hey, I'm not here to fight, really. If we cooperate, I might let you guys live another day."
"Gh… What's your deal, Masked Fox?"
Masked Fox chuckles at the nickname. He seems fine with the name.
"Masked Fox? I like it. You can call me tha—"
One of them punches his stomach, kicing the air out of his lungs and hisses at him angrily like a snake. "Shut up and tell us what your business is!"
Without a problem the young one stood up from the punch like it was just a frendly smack and faced the foe with his immutable masks expression
"Sorry, they didn't payed me for that, Im just a humble mercenary doing his job..."
And akward silence broke between them, Masked fox sighted heavily and started to tap his sandaled feet nervously on the ground
'Who am I kidding? You're just a bunch of strong babies... You may be tall and strong, but all you think about is your stupid toys, sweets, money, sex, litres of blood. I can't possibly convince some brainwashed babies."
At that comment, a few of the barbarians raised their weapons and tried to hit the masked fox. But before they could react, he started to blur and, with a large blurry aura around him, he began to move away like the unpredictable waters of the sea. Then he disappeared from their sight, as though he possessed teleportation abilities.
he appeared behind them and with cunning laughter, he comented
"As I espected, Im just ashemed you won't live to spread the tale of The Masked fox"
In one sharp, violent motion, his arms jerked forward as two small chained daggers came out from underneath his baggy sleeves. They were short, shaded in glowing silver daggers, both featuring deep notches or serrations on one side. (the dagers are conected from inside btw, plus, the wepound is called "Sword Breaker")
The guards' gazes quickly turned to confusion. Those are Sword Breaker daggers; most of them had never seen them before. The masked foe crouched low on the ground and threw his right hand at one of them, launching his chained dagger with precision. With the speed of a lighting into one of they throat. Before the victim could react, the blade had already sunk into his throat. Everyone fell silent for a split second until the dagger was pulled out in a sharp motion.
Barbarian's throat is cut open, blood sprayed out like a violent fountain, marking everyone around him teast his metallic teast of his blood and paint them with his ruby liquid Before he slowly fell to the ground holding his throat. With all the might he had left, rolling on the ground, desperate to save every bit of blood for survival.
Suddenly, the silence broke like a shatterinf of the glass, as everyone burst out with pent-up emotions, It happend so fast that most of them reacted just now at the brutal action. A few of his friends knelt beside him, trying to do something to save the man from dying to no avail, A few seconds later he turned cold.
That masked foe... was more than just another wannabe mercenary, and they couldn't just igonre that anymore. they glances turned into a burst of emotion of fear and anger.
One with the metalic warrior hellmet rose up and took out his sword into a tightened his grip like he wants to break the handle in half. With a face that was a pitiful mix of sobs and anger, he shouted with a cracking voice:
"YOU ARE DEAD, YOU SKUNK!"
The group split into a few smaller groups. Some stayed behind, some went to inform the Captain, and the rest went straight ahead to fight the Masked Fox himself. But the Masked Fox hesitated a little, getting into a battle stance with his blades ready.
"Oh, I live for those moments !"
Back in the village The Captain is in his cabin. He takes a peek into his bedroom with pervy glence, where is a beautiful, woman who is waiting for him, tied up and ready to fulfill his fantasies. But as he is about to enter the realm of infinite pleasure, one of his men runs up to him. He looks like he has run a marathon across the battlefield.
The Captain closed the door and sighed.
"Ugh, what is it?"
"A...a mercenary...With a fox mask" The combatant takes a long break between words as she continues, "He's slaughtering our men! We need a backup!"
The Captain rolled his eyes. His gaze showed that he was simply not interested in fighting a major threat, but his crew survival was more important then his lewd fantasies after all
The Captain takes his saber and walks out of the room behind his comrade.
"Okay, it's better to be seriouse."
At the gate, The masked fox continuted his fight as he stood still for a couple of seconds before the group of men joined the battle and attacked him with their unique weapons, hoping to catch him, but he was dodging and jumping away like a sneaky, graceful dancer. This only made the men more upset.
"What's wrong? Are you too weak to face a real opponent?!"
After saying this, man's blade broke almost immediately between the notches of the fox's daggers, Fox seems to be frealed by it and then continues his attack.
The masked phantom quickly aimed another strike at his throat. It cut through smoothly like butter, spilling blood like an intense waterfall that quickly painted the mans attire red as he fell lifelessly on the ground.
The man with the pitiful face screamed with cracking voice lunged himself into the battle. He launched his attacks with all the precision and experience he had gathered throughout his life.
Their metallic blades clunked as they predicted and parried each other's attacks with precision.
But then they reached the hold, pushing the blades to their fullest strength.
"HOW DARE YOU TO KILL MY COMRADS!" The man with a hellmet cried out to the masked figure, but only low chuckles were heard in reply.
"They attacked me first; it's not my problem. I gave them the option to continue living, but their pride and wrath have led them to their own death!"
This only further fuels the man's anger, but before he can increase the pressure, the masked man realises that one of his daggers and throws it like a lasso, and slides on man's right eye. This small distraction was enough for the fox to seal the pirate's fate with one violent stab to the lungs.
The pirate's eyes widened in fear as he began to choke on his own blood.
His body was seemingly paralysed by the fox's attack; the masked one hadn't even given him time to defend himself. The fox started to dig deeper into the pirate's lung, and the pirate was overwhelmed by the metallic taste of blood, spitting it everywhere like a red-painted plague overtaking everything in its path. Blood splattered everywhere, even on the fox himself. The masked one gave a low chuckle, petting the man's hellmet with his free hand and saying in his comforting voice,
"I like your emotional attachment; it makes you a great leader and an even better friend. But without it, you could be a better warrior."
The man looked into the sky with his hollow eyes, looking at the stars for one last time, freezing his sad yet hopeful gaze on the moment, as if he had seen a miracle in the sky.
"AAAAAGH!"
Another warrior shouts as he begins to rush towards the masked fox, joining the battle, but a small throwing knife strikes his throat before he can get far, causing him to fall to the ground like a bag of vegetables.
The pirates looked at the scene with horror as the masked fox took the dagger out of the prey's lung and stood up straight in front of them. The fox started to laugh quietly, and the men around him froze in fear as they looked at the scene before them as though they had spotted a hellspawn. The masked phantom kept laughing as he took out four of his throwing knives between his fingers showing them off like a cat's claws.
"Who wants to be a hero?" The Fox asked, he walks up to the fearred pirates, his wooden sandals clacking softly on the ground as he took his knives out in one hands and his blades in another, like a predator ready to slaughter his pray.
The Captain with the backpack finally arrived at the scene, but sadly, even the one minute delay was enough. the main gate dropped and Phantome is walking slowly towards them with his blades in hand. His attire was partially covered in stale blood, as if it were a bold fashion choice, and his sword breakers were deeply stained with blood and flesh, like an psychopath's decoration.
The Captain's eyes widened in disbelief, but they relaxed shortly afterwards, still giving them a slight shake.
"...What the—?" The Captain was lost for words, as were the men around him. The masked shook off the flash of his daggers and asked in a cunning voice,
"Isn't it a pretty night, Captain~?"
"It's a ... a really bloody night indeed."
An awkward silence fell between them as the tension mounted. The air seemed to grow tense as they pierced each other with their gazes. The Captain's black eyes seemed to be slowly being consumed by a void of anger and a lust for revenge
"So, what's your deal? Tell me," the tall man asked in his deep voice.
After standing in silence for a few seconds, the masked man spoke in a serious tone
"Sure, I can tell a dead man what I want. I'm here to kill you, wasn't that already clear ?. Did you think your success wouldn't be noticed? How were you hijacking ships and selling lives for profit? Selling stollen medical goods? You have done so much, Captain, that you make me look like an amatour."
The captain's face broke into a small, crooked smile. He glances down at his enemy with the eyes, which seem to consume the space itself.
"Fine, Let's duel then, if you win, you can take whatever you want, but if I win... Let's just say the dogs will have a big snack."
After another awkward silence, the masked fox started to laugh softly. With a sharp motion, he shook off the flash of his sword breakers and got ready for the fight. The chains of his sword chattered softly, waiting for his opponent to move.
The Captain took out his sabre in one motion, exposing a beautiful silver blade with a golden handle decorated in small sculptures. Before the duel starts, The Captain lets out his last words:
"This Saber was crafted by the world's best blacksmiths. It's truly a masterpiece of blade craftsmanship, so I hope you're ready to die at the hands of the real wepound you phantom!"
The masked Fox remained silent for a few seconds, unconcerned by the words of The Captain. He answered in a natural tone.
'"You are wrong... that saber is dull."
The Captain's grin widened unnaturally as he lowered himself slightly. with a burst of speed, dashed at the masked fox. With the same outstanding speed as before, the fox lunges into battle, his chained daggers pointing at the beast of a man in front of him as they lead themselves to the dual.
Their blades clashed the impact caused people nearby to cover their ears as the screech of striking steel rang out.
Clang! Clang! CLANG!
The Captain's sword moved like the wrath of a war-god, relentless and unstoppable, aiming every attack twords the phantome only for him to parry and dodge them with danceful movments.
The fox manages to get the Captain's sabre into the notches of the sword breaker. The battle comes to a sudden halt as they both stand in place without saying a word, doing their best to gain the upper hand by moving and twisting their weapons a little with top-notch precision on both sides.
The fox bends his blade softly as the sound of metal cracking hisses from the metallic instruments. The fox chuckles and comments on the situation.
"Oh well, well, well. It seems like... ugh?"
The Swordbreaker's blade started to bend softly. The masked one hissed under his breath as he tried to fix the situation.
The Captain grinned and, with a violent motion, the Fox's sword breaker exploded into smaller pieces, leaving only the handle in Wilderes' hand. The masked one scoffed, jumped away, and continued his comment:
"You are a big shot after all, "Sire"."
The fox lanches another strike, this time using his secret technique from before. The fox begins to disappear as his blurry trail approaches the Captain. The fox speeds up, striking brutally. He is millimetres away from hitting the Captain's neck when he feels a large hand take his blade in a tight grip. The Captain raised the gasped blade, along with Fox high in the air, and shook it furiously. The shake was hard enough to break the chain holding the blade, leaving Fox to drop to the ground. The Captain took a look and commented in his menacing voice.
"Nice knife."
With one last glance at the unique blade, he threw it behind him with maniac force, sending it flying before it landed with a soft splash into the waters.
The Captain started to laugh and shook his bloody hand to stop the bleeding.
'And now kitty has no claws. What are you going to do now?'
The laughter of the other crew members echoed through the entire village, making feel fox like fool.
Sire leapt into action without warning, grinning maniacally as he struck at the fox with his sabre. The masked one used a wall as a jumping point and launched himself at the well next to them and landed on top of it . When the blow hit the wall, it crumbled into pieces, raising a large cloud of dust,the half of the house fell away, making the power diffrence even more apparent.
Like a predator, the Captain leapt towards the well and struck it. The fox narrowly avoided the attack, sustaining a deep cut to his right hand in the process. The full force of the blow tore the well to shreds.
The fox thought to himself, 'Oh my... This guy is something else. He wields the blade like an extension of his hand and moves with the speed of lightning. If I want to get out of here alive, I need to use my inteligence and kinfes to my advantage!'
The fox quickly turned around and started blazing out of the fight and towards the village on all fours, like some kind of lost animal going through a labyrinth of huts and infrastructure that's stretching out like wild roots of a tree.
After a while, the fox finally stopped running. He stood up and sighed with relief as he took the precious opportunity to rest and think for a moment. He takes out his throwing knifes and started to look around for the bear himself. There is only the silence, campaining with the cold whisper of the wind. masked fox look around realises that he ended up on dead end created by villagers huts, as there is no where to go, it could be a perfect opertunity to trap that beast himself.
There was an explosion behind the fox. The Captain, with a sabre in his mouth, pierced the building as though it were made of cardboard.
"Hey there!"
The Captain raised his foot and launched a powerful bulldozer kick at the short one.
The fox quickly got into a defensive position, using his arms to block the attack. But that wasn't enough; the bone cracked immediately when the Captain's foot met the boy's arm, breaking it as if it were made out of gravel.
The masked one was launched through the wall of the small wooden barn and landed on a stack of straw in a defeated posture.
"Hey, what's wrong? Lost the will to fight already?"
The giant walked through the hole in the wall and stood before the fox. His empty eyes, devoid of anything but a hunger for power, met the fox's masked gaze. The boy held his throwing knife and tried to stand up on his shaky legs.
"Oh my, you're making me pity you. Look at yourself! You're shaking like some kind of scared kitten! Hahaha!"
The masked fox scoffed as he shook off the dust by sheaking his boyd like a dog from. The captain took him by the collar and looked at him with a maniacal grin; his eyes weren't even visible from close up, as if they didn't exist.
"Let's see who's hiding behind that mask!"
The Titan raises his hand in the air like the hand of an unforgiving god and slaps the fox hard enough to shake off his mask and the hood. The fox was sent flying across the barn.
His mask fell to the ground. He raised his gaze to reveal a second layer of his identity protection. His face is almost compleaty covered by a bandages (besides a few spots), only not covering his mouth, right eye and nostrils. his face was overgrown with wrated snorel, and his eyes norrowed enough to show off his murderouse intentions. an intresting detail would be the stained blood around his bandaged mouth.
The hood fell soon after, exposing his bushy, long ginger hair, as well as a spiky pair of fox ears with a tuft of white fur at the top.
The Captain froze, his jaw dropping slightly as his eyes widened at the sight. But sure enough, he burst into uncontrollable laughter.
The masked fox scoffed, his bandaged face making him look like an angry mummy.
"What's so funny?"
"I thugh that bush thing underneath your robe was fake, but you are one of the fox beastmen after all! I never knew they were still around, otherwise I would have had the pleasure of meeting you. Back then, your race were revolutionising herbal medicine and setting a new standard when it came to blacksmithing. I would lie if I said I didn't admire your clan and your people and cultutre!"
"Oh, so you're a fan, huh? Well, I'll make sure to write my name on your face...WITH MY KNIFE!"
The fox-beastman takes out several knives, but when he tries to move his right arm, he experiences excruciating pain. The fox cannot move; he freezes and moans in pain as he let go of his knifes and quickly holds his right arm in a soft gasp.
"Oh right, I guess my kick broke your arm. Sorry about that."
The Captain rose his saber high in the air and with powerful blow aimed it at the fox. phantome's instincs kick in and he jumps away from the blade, bearly avoiding its deadly blow.
However, the man kicked the fox in the stomach with such force that he was blown off the roof of the barn by the sheer power of the impact.
The crippled fox can barely stand on his legs. He can feel the small barn slowly collapsing, but his gaze doesn't change; he keeps his angry gaze as he experiences the pain from the fight. A loud cracking noises appear below him and the barn started to fall on the ground softly
Before the barn collapses entirly, he jumps from the roof onto another one, crippled and in agony, moaning with every movement. The fox jumps from roof to roof while down below, the Captain destroyed everything in his path with deadly blows as if they were nothing more than the wind, cousing a massive sand storm with just his strikes.
Crack ! Bam! Crack!
The painful pursuit for foxes head had begun! As the masked fox, with its crippling speed, jumped from roof to roof while The Captain destroyed every building in his range like unforgiving sandstorm sucking and cripples everything that comes in its range. The fox thinks to himself,
'No good. At this rate, I'll run out of roofs in just a few minutes. Where do I go? What do I do?'
As he looks around the village, his eyes sparkle when he spots a tall, rocky church. It's so tall and massive that it's shocking he didn't spot it earlier (and also why do the villagers need such a big church to begin with?).
With his rest bits of the strenght, Fox man speeds up a little and as the final wooden planks around his sufficate into the dusty tornado, he jumps straight into a window, breaking butiful Stained glass leaving only shadered masterpiece. The Captain stops in his track Just before he hits the wall with his saber...
"We don't want to destroy precious weapon, do we?"
The Captain looks up at the church; the building seems to bend under its own weight. At this mighty structure, he only smiles widely, circling the church slowly and examining every detail, every imperfection and statue that surrounds it.
He finally makes his way to the entrance surrounded by flat grassy lands, a few abandoned markets and a main rocky road leading to the entrance, shining like destiny.
As he examines the church, chaotic footsteps can be heard approaching, creating a small earthquake. The entire swarm of his loyal servants gather around him; their faces shine with glory and admiration as many of them see the Captain struggle against an opponent. All of them whisper to each other, glorifying their mighty captain. One of them speaks up:
"Captain! We came for -!"
"Do you think I can't do it? Am I too weak to beat some lowly fox?" He cuts off before his comrade can finish his sentence.
The light from one of his eyes fades for a secound to reveal a red eye buzzing with excitement and rage.
"This is my duel, and this church will be the foxes grave... and our headquarters from now on. No, this village will serve a bigger purpose and become our new base! And soon it will be the capital of our new empire!"
People around his chear even more, its amazing how well he is leadin thoe man and woman twords his goal by his strenght and leadership.
The captain walks up the stairway and pushes the door open with them. The crew can only stare in silence as their Captain dissapears into the darkness of the church, leaving the gate closed behind with the worried crew behind.
As the last bits of moonlight filter through the gates, the entire church is dimly lit. The only sounds are those of wooden sandals hitting the rocky surface and the light movements of chains. Hearing the sounds, The Captain only commented:
"Oh, so shy are we? Hiding in the darkness and making your plans come to life? Why won't you show yourself?"
There is an uncomfortable secound of silent and tension thickening the air arond them, as Captains light from his eyes buzzes around the darkened construction. Finally he spots some kind of figre, setting somethin up on the further, unfinished floor. The captain rose his saber and aimed it perfectally at the shape and -
BOOOM!
A small explosion happened on the roof above The Captain. Some moonlight shone into the room, just enough to make the captain spot a gigantic metallic chandelier.
The Captain dodges it in time, but his right hand gets smashed, making him drop his weapon. The saber is in his reach. But before he can grab it, he freezes in the air at the sound of chuckling chains coming from above him like a punishing whip. The man turns in time to see a bandaged fox sliding down the chain and kicking him in the face with his wooden sandal.
The Captain flinched and stumbled onto the chair behind him.
He stood up almost immediately, and, not surprisingly, the Masked Fox was standing before him with his saber. He looked rather confident, given his limited facial expression.
The Captain, with his white glowing eyes, burst into laughter.
"No way! Aren't chained daggers you profession Let's be honest, how much do you know about saber styles?"
"Well, aren't they remixed versions of sword styles? From what I know, there are Three saber styles. Usually therer are not a lot of ways to learn it since there are only 2 styles popular enought by the teachers when the Therd one is situational."
The captain looked at him curiously and raised an eyebrow.
"Don't be silly. When it comes to sabres, there are Royal Guard style and the
Nobel style, there is no third option."
The masked fox grinned, his bandaged gaze fixed on the stolen saber he held close to his face and his left hurt arm he placed behind his back.
"My friend lost her arm and found a new way to fight with the saber. The third Style is called 'The One Hand Saberist', the fact you don't know about that style, makes it clear that you are a self-taught fighter"
The Captain sours his face a little like the fox had just seen him though and without comenting he destroys one of the metallic chairs with his stron punch. He takes a metallic rod and moulds it with his bare hands into the shape of a rough blade. The Captain looks at the fox, confused.
"What's wrong? Is the sword too heavy?"
The bandaged fox just grinned and got into his fighting position.
"No, fighting with you is great exercise. It would be a waste if I ended it here. I want to get stronger and improve my understanding of different opponents and weapons. I'm sure there will be times when I face stronger enemies who I won't be able to beat just by tricking them, and their strength will be too much for me to handle. So I would rather die here in this church than end this fight without gaining any experience!"
The Captain gave him a dangerous look with his flashing eyes and barked harshly.
"Are you mocking me? Do you think I'm just your training dummy? For that insult, I will decorate my scabbard with your tail!"
"That's the spirit. I appreciate it. If I survive, I will kill all your men with your own saber."
The Captain with his annoyed face thinks to himself: 'Damn that stupid mummificated racoon ! I'm exhausted from chasing him through the entire village. But his wounds were critical. Did he really manage to recover so quickly? No, if he did, I'm sure he wouldn't be forced to use a saber. But now I'm more curious, wondering what else he has in store... But after all, it doesn't matter, since this mummy needs to be put down as quickly as possible.'
The Captain rose his rod and attack the fox, with punihsing blow, his blade turns the furniture around him into a mush of woods and scraps.
An uncomfortable silence filled the building as the dim moonlight revealed the church in its crumbling state, with no sound or sign of the fox. Mummy jumps out of the rubble and rushes at the Captain, holding his blade close to his body. Their blades clash once again as they go left and right, both of them dodging as the fox uses his small, graceful body to his advantage, while the Captain uses his strength and toughness.
Suddenly, they are both on the hold, their blades clashing as they push each other to their limits to take a tall on the fictory. The fox's blade breaks free and, with a swift swipe, he cuts the captain's hand and aims for his neck. Before the rod hits the ground, the sabre is already at the captain's neck, barely reaching his Adam's apple. The blade stands still for five seconds until the captain jumps away, holding his injured hand.
"What the fuck was that suppoused to be ?!" The captain scolded in a wrath-filled voice.
"Why didn't you kill me?! Are you an idiot? You don't have a thought in that head of yours!"
"Oh, have you forgotten what I said?"
The Fox answered, looking at the Captain with mockery. From the Captain's angle, the Fox looked like a mummificated child who had lost its soul a long time ago, with his face almost entirely covered in shadow, only his shining mocking teeth and single red glowing eye visible.
"It's difficult to find another saberist in that world. You are a great opportunity for me to improve my saber skills, so stand up and fight, unless I have to pierce that rod through your hand..."
With every word that came from the mummy's mouth, the captain's fury rose, the humiliation taking a great toll on him. The eared mummy gently kicked the rod towards him. His intentions were clear, yet the captain could not shake off his self-doubt about his swordsmanship.
He quickly took his rod and started to attack with a violent roar, charging straight at the fox.
Clank! Clank! CLANK!
They both counter each other's blows almost perfectly. The mummy fox jumps away slightly on the church pews, and with the clank of his wooden sandals, runs straight at the captain, trying to get a hold of him by aggressively sending his slashes with an unmerciful impact for such a small fella.
Clank! CLANK! CLANK!
The counterattacks seem to have no end, and as a bit of morning light comes through a small hole in the roof, the battle only gets crazier until it reaches another stalemate. The fox, with his graceful movements, dances, jumping like a ballerina from edge to edge of the churche's pew to slice off the Captain's ear. A painful scream echoes through the church wall as the captain lunges again, ignoring his injuries.
"Gh, for that, You won't get out alive you Mummificated Raccon, Can you hear me ?!"
The morning finally comes as the sun sets on the new day in Damura village. Now, all of the red-painted streets and the cold, reeking bodies of the previous night's slaughter are visible without the need for a light source, making for a pitiful sight. Most of the crew are still there, standing restlessly awaiting the captain's arrival, having barely closed their eyes in anticipation of his return.
The gate has finally opened slightly, still not revealing what has happened inside. The groups quickly started to get closer to cheer their captain's return.
"Quickly, get closer!" "Where's the cleric?" "Is it over?"
They screamed to one another as they jogged to the entrance, waiting impatiently.
Their enthusiasm drops immediately.
The captain comes forward with his blood stained body looks like it has been through a shredder with his skin bearly holding his skin.
The white glow in his eyes has disappeared in the battle, as his fighting spirit died a few hours ago as with the last cough of blood he drops with a loud thud on the rocky stairs, with his ownl blood, slowly sliding down the way down.
Behind him, the mummified fox with his blood-spattered and hollow attire and beaten up face shook off the blood from the sabre with a violent motion. He only commented,
"...The saber got dull..."
Later that morning, the sound of a few chaisesdrove around the forest as they made their way to the Damura village.
A few administrators were talking in one of the cabs. One of them was a comically short old man with a bushy grey beard, and another was a younger, taller skinnier figure with long black hair tied into a bun, a few strands loose. But both of them were wearing the same dark blue and purple lace, with Asura Kingdom herb on it. The younger one asks with unsure expression
"... Do you trully believe he have done it ? There were a lot of pirates after all, and they captain was clearly above the saint level, we are not sure if ... he could beat them."
"Well, IF he dose or dosen't, dosen't really concern ,me, pirates usually leave at that morning anyways... We also have Ghislaine, so she will clean up with something is wrong"
the old man replies with colected and calm voice but the younger one couldn't take that
"Yeah but ... we still do not know much about the masked one, we only know that his short hight, clothes and the weapon of his choice, we dont even know his name !"
"Well, his rank was enought to confince me that he could take care of that. He was also a saint swordsman, its clear that the battle was at least even."
the administrators of the Asura Kingdom finnaly arrived, . The head administrator and his younger combrad jumper out of the cab as both of them and riders were deeply disturbed.
The entered the village were covered in the bodies of 10 pirates. They looked as though they had been torn apart by a hungry beast. The old man and the young one were deeply disturbed, even by Ghislaine's standards, this was quite above it. the sight of torn-up bodies and exposed, spoiled flesh was hard to stomach. Especialy when most of them looked like they were splited by the saw
The deeper they went into the village, the more they could see of the remains of the late night party and the slaughter of the poor villagers.
"Gh... What on earth happened here?" The old man asked distrustfully in his cracked voice as he moved closer to reveal more of the bloodbath that had occurred earlier that night.
They explored the absolut slaughter of the villages, but as they saw a few tored up houses, they followed the try to the open field where church was located. The younger administrator couldn't take this anymore and vomits on the ground at the sight of entire pirate crew, chooped up into diffrent ways, as they bodies are on one another, exposing thier blood, flesh, bones and the pittyful last gazes where they were pleeding for mercy. But yet, one thing was missing.
Where is The Masked Fox ?
They moved through the village until they reached the beach. They saw only him, humming and sawing his holed, wet laces with his only avalablie hand. his beaten up and bandaged body is visible as he is only wearing gray tored shorts
his geta sandals, dull saber and cracked fox mask rested beside him as the morning light shone on the sea and lit up the grains of sand. The humming and the endless horizon gave the administrators an unfamiliar feeling.
"So, we are done here ?"
The masked fox asks as he didn't even bothered to look at them.
"Ugh, yeah... Here are all four-hundred golden coins."
The man threw a small bag at him an extra vault. they are a four coins made out of crystalized rock, and they're all different colours with the same round shape and hard to cut pattern.[1]
"You can also take the medical supplies from the ships as you requested."[2]
"Good,"
he replied simply. The masked fox stood up and put on his white lace in one swift motion. He put on the sandals. With a friendly manner, he walked up to the administrators, all of whom had unsure expressions.
"It's our pleasure to do business with the Asura Kingdom. I will stay here for a while and I hope for fruitful cooperation"
He took out his bandaged hand and, with an uncertain movement, the head administrator shook his hand. Even though he was old and hunched, the fox was only slightly taller than him and looked like a child compared to the other towering administrators.
The old man shook his hand weakly with natural gaze.
"... No, it's my pleasure."
[1] (What are those diamond coins? Sorry for adding a bit of my own thing here, but thoes are exctention of the golden coins. 1 dimond coin = 100 gold coins. thoes coins are like a paycheck for the rich folks)
[2] (I hate how healing magic could heal every disease, so some diseases and that symptoms require medicine or alchemy.)