*While the group in the sewer were busy restoring power to the kingdom. Everyone else was having their own battle. Round Table was one of the kingdom’s biggest and most respected charity/adult learning centers. For years adults who were struggling financially, battling substance abuse/drugs, jobless, or had no home came to Round Table for help. There was also their charity events and how much money they raised for children, orphanages, and hospitals. The number of success stories that came from this center were immeasurable and just like the name suggested, all are treated equally. Whether they’d be human, elf, demihuman, merfolk or in-between; all are welcomed to Round Table. When power went out in the kingdom, Round Table was quick to act. The center became a safe area for people looking to escape the rioters and wait for order to be restored. Knights were quick to escort people to the center for safety especially when prisoners started making their way to the streets. Right now the citizens had barricaded the center as knights were outside fighting against escaped prisoners who were trying to break into the center for supplies, food, and hostages. There were fifteen knights defending the center. Despite their best efforts and strength, the numbers were beginning to become too much for them. In the center, people were shaking with fear at the thought of being taken hostage by the deranged prisoners. One middle-aged homeless man with short dark blue hair wearing a snowcap, loose blue jeans, a dirty white shirt, and black vest jacket was looking out the window at the struggling knights*
(Homeless man): Look at them. They’re supposed to be the best yet they can’t even take down a bunch of prisoners. Talk about pathetic.
(Le Fey): If you can do any better then feel free to head out there and fight.
*The homeless man turned around to see Le Fey. She was wearing black shoes, blue pants, a long-sleeved buttoned white shirt, with a blue vest over the shirt*
(Le Fey): Nobody has a problem acknowledging the privileges they have, but don’t forget the ones out there fighting to protect those privileges. Those men and women out there are risking their lives to protect us. While you sit here cowering in fear. You are the last person that should be talking trash about them.
*The homeless man got an angry look on his face as he started walking over to Le Fey to give her a piece of his mind and get physical if he had to*
(Homeless man): Don’t take that tone with me you little-
*As soon as the man pointed at Le Fey she grabbed him by his wrist and pulled him down into an arm drag. She used her other hand to grab his neck and placed her right foot behind the man’s left foot to transition into an inside trip. Using the man’s own momentum against him, Le Fey managed to trip the man backwards and he fell to the ground clutching the back of his head in pain after he hit the floor. Some of the people watching were amazed at how seamless her takedown was, but those who were workers and regulars at Round Table were used to seeing her perform this move. She wasn’t the Blazing Knight’s wife for show after all. Along with being a teacher and administrator at the center she also served as a women’s defense instructor*
(Le Fey): Now is not the time for this. All women, children and injured head up to the upper levels for safety. Anybody who can fight stay down here and prepare for the worst.
*Many women and children started heading up to the upper levels helping the injured up the stairs. Le Fey went over to her two children, Erina and Ren. Erina was wearing a red dress with white lining while Ren was wearing a yellow t-shirt and some black sportspants
(Le Fey): You two head upstairs as well.
(Erina): No! I’m scared!
(Ren): I’m staying down here to protect you! Dad always told me to protect what I cared about and that’s you!
*Le Fey was so proud of her youngest child for wanting to protect her, but she could see him shaking visibly and her oldest child was on the brink of tears. Erina was scared and so was Ren. Le Fey was also scared, but she had to put on a brave face for her children and keep them safe. Bending down she hugged both of her children and started to cry a little*
(Le Fey): Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. Erina, I need you to be a big sister and take Ren upstairs where you’ll both be safe. Ren, I need you to listen to Erina and keep her safe up there. Can you both do that for me?
*With tears in their eyes, both Erina and Ren said yes. Le Fey stopped hugging them and wiped the tears from her eyes as well as theirs*
(Le-Fey): I’ll be up there in just a bit. I promise. Now go.
*They both nodded. Erina grabbed Ren’s hand and led him toward the stairs where one of the workers at Round Table who was an elderly cat demihuman with dark skin, curly black hair and purple eyes led the two up the stairs. Le Fey stood back up and returned to the main lobby where she stood by an elderly looking elf who had grey hair, green eyes, was wearing a grey sweater and black pants, and holding a cane*
(Elderly elf): That was very brave of you. You didn’t have to come back here. You’re free to go up there with the others.
(Le Fey): I won’t leave you and the others to defend this place alone, Mako. Why don’t you head up there? This place needs you most of all.
(Mako): I created Round Table and I will go down defending it if I must.
*Mako tugs on his cane and takes out a wooden sword revealing that his cane was a sword cane*
(Mako): It’s been some time since I last fought, but this old body still knows how to move.
(Le Fey): And this housewife isn’t afraid to throwdown. Let’s go.
*Mako, Le Fey and a few other men open the front doors and step out of the building to see the knights slowly getting pummeled by the prisoners just outside the front gate. The prisoners managed to tear down the gate and started making their way towards the building. As Le Fey, Mako and the others were getting ready to fight, a fire vortex came shooting from the sky which stopped the prisoners in their tracks. The citizens in the building ran towards the window to see the blazing vortex and stared in amazement. Back outside, Le Fey was smiling and let out a sigh of relief*
(Le Fey): He certainly knows how to make an entrance.
*The fire vortex started to die down and when it was completely gone everyone saw Ryuuji standing where the vortex had been with a serious look on his face. Mako and the others smiled as they all knew it was Ryuuji*
(Young worker): *Laughs* You guys are so screwed now!
*Back in the building Erina and Ren were up close to the window along with other children*
(Erina and Ren): Dad!
*The two children smiled happily at seeing their dad here. Back outside Ryuuji turned his head back to see Le Fey and Mako*
(Ryuuji): Are you okay?
(Le Fey): We’re fine. But those knights could use some help.
*Ryuuji turned his head back to the prisoners who were standing still as they could sense the power radiating from Ryuuji and the fact that they all knew who he was. Ryuuji saw the battered knights on the ground gasping for air and some were bleeding*
(Ryuuji): Alright. I’ll give you the opening you need to save them.
*Cracking his knuckles, Ryuuji began walking toward the prisoners. They were a various bunch as they ranged from humans, demihumans, elves, and merfolk. One prisoner who was a tall hairy man ran toward Ryuuji deciding to show no fear and take him down himself. Ryuuji jumped up and hit the man with a blazing roundhouse kick to knock him out and sending him flying. That set off the other prisoners who decided to rush Ryuuji as they were sure he couldn’t take all of them down. Ryuuji began hitting any prisoner that came his way*
(Ryuuji): Fire Grid Form 88: Red Sky!
*Ryuuji chopped through the air with his flaming hand vertically to release an air slash made of fire. The air slash managed to hit five prisoners who fell to the ground backwards. While Ryuuji did this, these two prisoners managed to sneak past him. The two prisoners were an elf and donkey demihuman. As they ran up towards the building the two prisoners were shot in the head with lightning bullets courtesy of Raika and her dual wielding handguns. Ryuuji continued to take down prisoners with powerful punches and kicks. The prisoners were all using a variety of magic to take down Ryuuji such as freezing him with ice, using gravity and wind magic to stop him from moving, sinking him into the ground with earth magic, blinding him with light magic, overpowering him with metal magic, and striking him with fire and lightning attacks. All their efforts were in vain as nothing could stop Ryuuji. He managed to power out of all of their attacks or countered them with his own fire-based attacks. Some of his attacks included a fire uppercut, shooting off fire bullets from his fingers, delivering a double blazing lariat to two prisoners at the same time. He stomped the ground to release a heat wave to which struck ten people at once, unleased a headbutt on an armadillo demihuman prisoner and even shot fire from his mouth to take down a prisoner who transformed their arms into swords. Anyone who managed to make it past Ryuuji was taken down by Raika who would shoot them with headshots. When Raika ran out of bullets she resorted to taking down prisoners with her fists and mixed martial arts. During all this fighting, Le Fey and other workers at Round Table managed to pick up the battered knights and carry them back inside the building to get their wounds treated. When it finally came down to the last prisoner and Ryuuji, the prisoner turned tail and ran away. Ryuuji picked up a nearby pebble and chucked it hard at the prisoner where it struck him in on top of the head and he fell down*
(Ryuuji): That’s all of them.
*Le Fey ran up to Ryuuji and hugged him before kissing him on the lips*
(Le Fey) Thank goodness you’re okay. You aren’t hurt are you?
(Ryuuji): I’m fine. I was more worried about you and the others. Is everyone alright?
(Le Fey): Aside from a few injured, everyone is fine. What about the others? The whole kingdom is out and we can’t communicate with anyone.
(Ryuuji): We all split up to help out. Dust and Sanada are in the sewers right now trying to restore power to the kingdom.
*As soon as Ryuuji said that the lights on the poles came on and the lights in the building came on as well*
(Ryuuji): Speak of the devil. They did it.
*Ryuuji took out his phone and tried to make a call but saw that he still had no service*
(Ryuuji): Communications are still down. Someone is interfering with the radio towers.
(Le Fey): Well at least we got power. That’ll make treating the injured easier.
*With the lights back on and the area safe, Erina and Ren ran down the stairs and ran outside*
(Erina and Ren): Dad!
*As soon as Ryuuji heard those voices he turned to the building and saw his kids running toward him with tears in their eyes. Ryuuji bent to one knee and hugged them both*
(Erina): Where were you!? I was so scared! The lights went off! Mom couldn’t reach you and-
*Erina couldn’t finish her sentence because she was crying so much. Ryuuji was doing his best to comfort both his daughter and son*
(Ryuuji): There, there. It’s okay. Let it all out. Daddy’s here. You know I would never let anything bad happen to you.
*Ryuuji carried his two kids back into Round Table with Le Fey walking beside him*
***
*It took a few minutes but Ryuuji and Le Fey were able to calm their kids down. With all the stress that they’ve been through of not knowing where their dad was and the threat of prisoners attacking them they were exhausted. After Ryuuji and Le Fey managed to calm them down they both fell asleep and were laid down in Le Fey’s office to rest on the floor with blankets and pillows. After laying them down, Le Fey turned off the lights and shut the door*
(Ryuuji): The area should be safe now that the power is back on, but I’m going to stay watch outside.
(Le Fey): I’ll come with you.
(Ryuuji): No, I’ll be fine. You stay here in case they have nightmares. Take this time to get some rest too. I know you’re exhausted.
*Ryuuji kisses Le Fey on the cheek*
(Ryuuji): You scared?
(Le Fey): I am. But not as much now that you’re here. How about you?
(Ryuuji): Yes. I feared the worst when I found what was happening here. But now that I’m here I’m feeling much better.
(Le Fey): So even the Blazing Knight has his fears.
(Ryuuji): I believe having fear is a good thing. It stops us from doing things we would regret and makes us fight harder to protect what we hold dear to us.
*Ryuuji smiles at Le Fey who returns the smile and kisses him on the cheek*
(Ryuuji): Alright, get some rest. I’ll be outside if you need me.
*Ryuuji heads towards the front door of the building while Le Fey went back into her office to check on her children and make sure they were okay. Once she saw they were sound asleep, she slid down the door and closed her eyes to rest. This whole experience was scary, but Le Fey could finally rest easy knowing that the man she loved was safe and standing nearby protecting her, her children, and everyone else*
Author’s Notes: Another week another chapter completed. Did anybody else feel like this was a short chapter? It felt like that to me. For this chapter, I mainly wanted to focus on Ryuuji and his family. Le Fey puts on the strong mom act to protect her children and also shows that she’s not just some stay-at-home mom. She’s a fighter. Not as strong as the members of Shadow Eye but still strong enough to hold her own against normal citizens. If Morgan is the brains between the siblings then Le Fey is the brawn. The children act like children and are genuinely afraid for their safety as well as the safety of their mom knowing that if she goes out there there’s a good chance she’ll be killed. As I was writing that part I was actually reminded of the time when I was a teen (I say around 13-14) home alone and this massive storm was passing through. I was legit scared because they were talking about tornados. I had never experienced a tornado in my life and with my parents out I was worried about their safety as well as my safety. Thankfully, no tornados touched down and aside from lightning I was fine and my parents got home safe. Still, this moment scared and I wanted to convey that fear with Ren and Erina. This also serves as the introduction to Round Table. The adult/community learning center. I got the idea for this place from the Spider-Man game. Naturally, calling it Round Table felt like the right move. Everyone is equal. With Ryuuji’s story completed we’ll be shifting our focus on two particular elves trying to restore communications. Look forward to that. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time.