*One day earlier. After Dust, Ryuuji, Morgan, Jade, Jin and Alita left the kingdom, the other members of Shadow Eye got to work on their mission. Raika and Sanada left to join Kurai and the red knights outside of the kingdom to look for the escaped Hargus soldiers while Gael was with Zia and Amarti in a car being driven by Zia*
(Gael): I still don’t see why I couldn’t have gone with bro and sis.
(Amarti): You’re not ready for the field yet. What good is a three-legged dog in a hunt for escapees? We’ve got to get you battle ready.
(Gael): So, going to give me another plastic arm?
*Amarti and Zia chuckle*
(Amarti): Plastic? Come on, what kind of cheap person do you take me for?
(Zia): Forget plastic. When receiving a gift from Master Amarti you can always expect the best.
(Gael): A gift?
(Zia): Normally, we would have given this to you under better circumstances, but time is of the essence here.
*Zia stops in front of a familiar building. The three passengers step out of the car and enter the building with Gael following behind Amarti and Zia. They go to the front desk which is being run by a horse demihuman woman with long purple hair and brown eyes wearing a lab coat over a navy blue shirt and black skirt*
(Horse demihuman): Good afternoon. Welcome to Midou Robotics. How may I be of assistance?
(Amarti): We’re here to meet with Midou. We have an appointment under the name Amarti Cloudsfall.
(Horse demihuman): Ah yes. He’s been expecting you. Please head on through. He’s waiting for you in the back.
*The horse demihuman presses a button which opens a nearby door leading towards the back. Amarti, Zia and Gael walk through the door and head toward the back passing by a work area where other engineers and scientists were either working on or studying mechanical limbs or robotics*
(Gael): What is this place?
(Amarti): Robotic company. They study and build robots as well as create mechanical limbs for people who lost their original limbs.
(Jirai): Of course we would hope to reattach the original limb, but if not that’s when we come in.
*Jirai appeared from behind them wearing his white lab coat with full black attire underneath and carrying a briefcase*
(Jirai): Welcome. You guys got over here sooner than I expected. I take it this is the wild dog that Alita talked about?
(Gael): You know Alita?
(Jirai): Who do think got her up and running?
*Jirai asked smugly*
(Jirai): Nearly gave me a heart attack when they bought her in. It took me a few days to crack the code and reprogram her, but the results have been more than exceptional.
(Zia): Indeed. Thanks for allowing her to help us. I’m surprised you’d agree to let her leave the kingdom.
(Jirai): Well she’s not a child. I want her to see the outside world and gain new experiences. Well enough chitchat, take your shirt off and have a seat, Gael. Shouldn’t take too long. Thanks for getting me those medical records.
(Amarti): My pleasure. And you crafted it with the material I ordered.
(Jirai): Of course.
*Jirai opens the briefcase to reveal a mechanical arm made entirely out of Reindium*
(Gael): Woah!
(Jirai): Pretty cool right? Pure Reindium. One of the finest arms we’ve ever made.
(Gael): You got me a Reindium arm!?
(Zia): Like I said, Master Amarti’s gifts are nothing but the best.
(Gael): Can’t argue that.
*Gael removed his shirt showing off his muscular upper body and sat down in the chair. Jirai called over Orrin, his assistant, who was a human male with wavy light red hair and red eyes wearing a lab coat over some blue overalls and a white t-shirt. The assistant lined up the mechanical arm to Gael’s body*
(Orrin): All lined up. Connection is ready.
(Jirai): Get ready. You may feel slight pain as we connect the arm with your nerves.
*Jirai grabbed the wrench and tightened the bolt of the arm to connect it Gael’s nerves. Gael flinched and gritted his teeth at the pain which quickly subsided*
(Jirai): There we go. Vitals?
(Orrin): Stable.
(Jirai): Excellent. You should be good to go now.
*Gael gets up from the seat and moves around while working the arm to make sure it functioned properly*
(Amarti): How does it feel?
(Gael): Great! It’s not as heavy as I thought it would be.
(Zia): Kya!
*Zia’s scream caught the attention of Gael who raised his new to defend himself from Zia’s kukri attack he sensed coming. Zia struck the arm where her slash did nothing. It didn’t even leave a mark*
(Zia): Durable as well.
(Jirai): I’ll ask that you refrain from using violence on my patient while in the building. Last thing I need is a liability lawsuit.
*Jirai hands Gael a medical bottle*
(Jirai): Take these painkillers if you experience any kind of pain and if it becomes unbearable come see me immediately.
(Gael): Thanks doc. So, what happens next?
(Zia): Well now that you have an arm how would like to go for a walk outside of the kingdom?
*Gael smiles mischievously*
(Gael): I would like that very much.
***
*Present time*
(Kurai): Alright, the mines only have one way in and one way out, but they go deep and there are many tunnels.
(Raika): Any Eclipses?
(Kurai): Possibly. The mines have been abandoned for years. Nobody’s gone in them since the place dried up.
(Sanada): Making it the perfect hideaway for escapees. So what’s our plan?
(Kurai): We go in there and force them out. No killing, they’re political prisoners.
(Hua): Four red birds and five black tortoises? You sure these guys won’t slow us down?
(Zia): Need I remind you it was a Black Tortoise knight who defeated you quite easily in the arena? She didn’t seem slow back then.
*Zia and Hua were staring down each other with Zia having a slight height advantage*
(Scarlet): I must admit it does seem a little odd to have Black Knights assisting us.
(Amarti): Don’t think too hard on this Miss Helios. With such a wide area to cover and your order being stretched out to protect the surrounding settlements from possible attacks, your commander thought you could use the extra bodies.
(Scarlet): I suppose that makes sense.
(Kurai): Settle down Hua. Despite how they look these guys can hold their own in a fight.
*Hua stopped staring down*
(Hua): Hmph. Just try not to get in our way.
*Hua walks away*
(Kurai): I apologize for Hua’s behavior. Losing to Jade was a massive blow to her ego. Especially for someone as prominent as her.
(Zia): Is she one of your more impressive young knights?
(Kurai): She’s only been a knight for two years, yet she already displays the fighting prowess and knowledge of a knight beyond her years and everyone always praised her for it. Unfortunately, that gave her quite the ego, so while a part of me was sad to hear her lose so mercilessly to Jade another part of me was glad because it reminded her that there are others out there far stronger than her and she has a lot to learn.
(Raika): Hey, we going down into these mines or what?
(Kurai): Right. Let’s go.
*The group descends the hill quietly and enters the mines not making a sound. Kurai, Raika, and Gael were upfront leading the group into the mines. As they walked along the old rails they soon came to a fork in the road. Kurai used sign language to say that they’ll split up. Red knights go right, Black knights go left. Everyone nodded and went with their respective groups. Shadow Eye’s group went down the left path which led to an upper level of the mine where they could see the Red knights below them as they too continued down the left path. The Red knights could hear the sounds of others as they were coming to a door which led to an open area within the mine. Back with Shadow Eye they too could hear the sound of voices and came upon a door which led to an open area. They looked down below and saw the soldiers of Hargus who escaped Brister as they were still wearing their prison uniforms and huddling around a fire. The Shadow Eye members hid themselves to make sure they couldn’t be seen while the Red knights prepared to attack*
(Kurai): Well, well. It looks like we found our escaped prisoners.
*The Hargus soldiers turned around the see the Red knights*
(Hargus commander): Brister knights!
(Kurai): You guys did a good job hiding, but nobody knows this land better than the Red knights. I don’t know what deal you made with Blood Moon, but your little outing is over. Now we can bring you in the nice way or the bad way.
(Hargus soldier): I prefer the bad way!
*The Hargus soldier stomped the ground with his foot hard where four boulders began to float in front of him and he shot them at the knights*
(Kurai): *Sigh* Just once I’d like somebody to do things the nice way.
*With a defeated sigh and smile, Kurai lifted up her shotgun and fired it at the boulder heading towards her. Her shotgun released a wind bullet which completely destroyed the boulder. The other three knights destroyed their boulders as well. Hua punched through her boulder shattering it into pieces, Sera chopped her boulder in half using her kyoketsu-shoge which had knives on both ends of the chain, and Scarlet thrusted her burning spear through the boulder to make it crumble. As the soldier stood there stunned at how his attacks were so easily destroyed, Kurai cocked her shotgun and fired it at the soldier. It was a direct hit in the stomach area which sent him flying backward into the fire back first. The soldier screamed out in pain as his back began to burn from the fire and he rolled out of the fire and into the dirt trying to put out the fire. He succeeded by ripping off his shirt and throwing it to the ground stomping the fire out all while everyone could see the hideous burns on his back. With anger in his eyes he got ready to turn around and retaliate but was taken out by a lightning bullet to the head courtesy of Raika. The soldier fell to the ground unconscious as Raika and the rest of Shadow Eye descended down using a scaffold*
(Hargus commander): You! The elf from Orion City.
(Amarti): You know, you probably should have stayed in prison.
*The Hargus commander quickly took out an electric whip and ran towards the Shadow Eye group. The members of Shadow Eye scattered as the commander went after Amarti attempting to whip him. Zia attempted to help Amarti but was stopped by a red-headed Hargus soldier who swung a shovel at her. Zia dodged the attacked but the soldier refused to let up on his attack as he continued to try and strike Zia who kept dodging his attacks. Two Hargus soldiers ran to grab two automatic rifles and began firing at Sanada and Raika. While Raika took cover behind a rock, Sanada deflected the bullets with his sword at a rapid pace cutting all the bullets in half. Behind the rock, Raika pulled out a flash grenade from her pocket, pulled the pin out and threw the grenade at the Hargus soldiers where it went off above their heads blinding them temporarily as they screamed out in pain. Their screams were short as they were quickly knocked out by Sanada who ran toward them and used the back of his sword to knock them out. Both soldiers fell to the ground backwards as Sanada sheathed his sword. As those two were fighting so too were the other knights. Gael had his hands full taking on a Hargus soldier who was overwhelming him with speed. The soldier was a demihuman hedgehog with blonde spikey hair and dark skin. He was hitting Gael with quick hit and run punches all while smirking at his handy work. Gael fell to one knee after getting the latest punch which busted his lip as blood began to trickle down his chin*
(Demihuman Hargus soldier): Stay down, mutt. I’m too fast for you.
*Gael took a swing at the demihuman who used his speed to get away. Once Gael returned to his feet, the demihuman attempted to hit Gael from behind with an elbow strike only for Gael to dodge the attack by ducking catching the demihuman by surprise. Gael then delivered a throat chop to the demihuman who fell to his knees and holding his throat gasping for air as Gael followed up with a spinning elbow strike to the back of the demihuman’s head using his metal arm*
(Gael): You may be fast, but you can’t hide your aura.
*Back with Zia she was easily dodging the attacks of the red-headed soldier with the shovel who was growing more and more desperate with each swing*
(Red-headed Hargus soldier): Damn it! Hold still and let me hit you, wench!
(Zia): Wench!?
*Getting a serious look on her face, Zia drew her kukris where she sliced up the shovel into pieces. The soldier was preparing himself to get cut up as well but was surprised when Zia withdrew her kukris and put up her fist ready to fight. Daring the soldier to attack her. Feeling confident, the soldier put up his fist as well fully confident that he could overpower Zia. He threw a right jab only for Zia to dodge the punch and tried to sweep the legs only for her to jump in the air to avoid attack. Zia then threw a left jab which caught the soldier in the eye followed by a right jab to the jaw and then multiple left jabs as Zia backed him into the wall and continued to rain down left jabs on the jaw until he started to slide to the ground slowly losing consciousness as his face became bloody and bruised. She finally stopped throwing punches when Raika came out over to grab her left and stop her*
(Raika): Easy Zia. He’s done.
*Zia takes a deep breath to relax herself*
(Zia): I apologize for that. When he returns to his senses, I expect an apology.
*As Shadow Eye aside from Amarti was finishing up their fights, the Red knights were also finishing up their fights as well. Kurai was fighting against a purple-headed dark summoner who was summoning crows made of dark magic to attack her. Kurai did a good job shooting them down and the soldier was confident that as long as he maintained a safe distance he could win. Kurai knew he was thinking this. After all, this wasn’t the first time she had come across a fighter who believed they had the upper hand when fighting her because of their distance*
(Kurai): If you think you’re safe because of your distance, allow me to close the gap.
*Loading her shotgun with three shells, Kurai charged at the soldier who quickly summoned six crows to attack her, but Kurai easily dodged four of them with sidesteps until there were only two crows standing between her and the summoner*
(Kurai): Crack shot Mach 3!
*Kurai sidestepped the attack of the first crow and shot it in the chest to destroy it then rolled to the ground to avoid the second crow where she landed by the soldier and shot point blank in the chest to send him flying backwards into the wall. Once Kurai returned to her feet, she cocked her shotgun and turned around to fire it at the crow that tried to attack her previously. The shot blows the crow’s head off and it started to vanish along with the remaining crows disappearing. Scarlet made quick work of the Hargus soldier who had light-blue hair and wore glasses by twirling her spear around to create a pyro tornado which entrapped the soldier and sent up into the air as he was getting slightly burnt. When the flames died down, he began to fall to the ground where Scarlet finished him off with a thrust kick that sent him flying backwards into a boulder. Sera was taking on a man with long green hair who attacked using a pendulum that was emitting fire. Sera dodged the attacks of the pendulum with grace like a dancer and jumped into the air over the soldier where she threw one end of her kyoketsu-shoge down at the soldier entrapping him in the chain. He couldn’t move and he was starting to get chilly from the chain. Once Sera landed she slid two fingers across the chain as strange blue symbols began to appear*
(Sera): Icicle Thorn Reef!
*Sera pulled on the chain, and the soldier began to spin around as icicle thorns formed on the chain and began cutting him up. Once he had stopped spinning, the soldiers clothes looked like rags and their were cuts all over his body as he collapsed to the ground. The final Red knight, Hua was engaging a Hargus soldier who had an orange mohawk and was muscular and taller than her. The soldier was trying to use his enlarged metal fist to pound Hua into the ground but she kept sidestepping his attacks like an experienced boxer all while keeping her fist up, waiting for the time to strike*
(Large Hargus soldier): You can’t keep dodging me forever little girl.
(Hua): Just waiting for the right moment. Don’t mind me.
(Large Hargus soldier): You seriously think those wimpy fists of yours can knock me out? I’m one of the toughest soldiers in Hargus.
(Hua): And yet you were chosen to be a prisoner of war. What does that tell you about your worth to Hargus?
*The soldier got an agitated look on his face at Hua’s comment and increased the intensity of his strikes which would prove to be a mistake. He began to slam his fist wildly causing him to slip from all his wild movements and after a spinning sidestep, Hua had a clear shot at his stomach. Planting one foot forward and throwing her left hand back to prepare for her attack*
(Hua): APK (Armor Piercing Knockout)!
*Orange and red magic particles gathered around Hua’s hand as she pulled her left fist forward and connected it with the stomach of the soldier releasing a power blast that sounded like a grenade had gone off. Hua withdrew her fist and stepped to the right as the soldier staggered a few steps forward with his mouth wide open and speaking gibberish before finally collapsing forward to the ground*
(Hua): Still think these fists are wimpy big guy?
*As everyone was wrapping up their fights, Amarti was busy dodging the attacks of the Hargus commander who had sleek grey hair along with a grey beard and mustache combo. Amarti had ran down a mining shaft by sliding under some wooden boards while the commander crashed through them to chase after Amarti*
(Hargus commander): Because of you I have suffered the worst humiliation of my life. Not even your death will be enough to wipe the shame from my name.
(Amarti): Oh yes. Thanks to me thousands of young soldiers were spared at the cost of imprisoning ten highly ranked soldiers. How selfish could I be?
(Hargus commander): You know nothing. We didn’t escape to return to Hargus. We escaped to get away from Hargus. Even if me and the others do return to Hargus what awaits us is death. We brought shame for surrendering. You don’t know what they do to those who bring shame to the kingdom. They torture you for days and make sure you’re conscious enough to feel every bit of it as they dissect you. Then once they’ve finally broken you that’s when they’ll end you. By the time they’re finished you can’t even recognize the bodies as humans anymore.
(Amarti): If that’s the case then seek asylum with Brister. Give us all the information on Hargus and we can move you out of prison. You’ll be on house arrest within Brister territory probably for life but it’s a better option than dying.
(Hargus commander): A tempting offer but no. I will not sell out my kingdom. I would sooner choke on metal than tell you Brister bastards anything.
(Amarti): Fine by me. Start with these metal pieces.
*Amarti speaks Elfan and summons six blade discs which he launches at the commander who uses his whip to destroy three of them but the other three manage to cut him on the arm, hand and cheek. Blood could be seen trickling down his cheek but he ignored the cuts and prepared to keep fighting as Amarti charged at him with his trident. Thrusting forward, the commander dodged Amarti’s attack with a sidestep and used his free hand to grab the spear*
(Amarti): Big mistake.
*The commander’s hand was pierced by thorns which formed on the trident. Amarti let go of the trident and spoke elfien to turn it into eight blade discs which gathered around Amarti’s right arm to form a huge metal fist. Amarti swung at the commander with the metal fist to send him flying backwards onto the ground*
(Amarti): Ready to give up or do you want to eat some more metal? Because I got plenty to offer.
*As Amarti slowly approached him, the commander reached behind his back and pulled out a flare gun he found in the mines when he and the others first entered. He fired quickly and unsteadily at Amarti where the flare shot completely over him and hit the roof of the mine which caused something to fall to the ground*
(Amarti): A bat?
*Both Amarti and the commander inspected what fell from where they were, and the commander’s eyes went wide*
(Hargus commander): That’s no ordinary bat.
*All of a sudden yellow eyes began to pop up on the ceiling of the mine and a loud roar could be heard coming from the one with the biggest eyes*
***
*Back with the others, they have finished handcuffing the Hargus soldiers*
(Zia): Has anyone seen Master Amarti?
(Amarti): Run! The shaft is filled with Eclipses and we just woke them up!
*Amarti and the commander came running out of the shaft and where they were being chased by Eclipses in the form of bats*
(Hua): Oh shit!
*As the Eclipses came flooding in, Raika and Kurai began shooting at them with their guns. Zia also joined in by summoning her crossbow. The others swatted the Eclipses with their respective weapons. Everyone began to form a circle around the captured soldiers. Amarti was standing next to the commander who was so busy whipping the Eclipses that he failed to sense Amarti strike him from behind with a blade disc to knock him out. Scarlet saw this act and gave a stunned look*
(Scarlet): Really?
(Amarti): Let him sleep. Unless you plan on swinging him as a weapon. Besides, it’s his fault we’re in this mess.
(Gael): These things aren’t too bad.
(Amarti): I’m not worried about these.
*All of sudden they heard a roar as they spotted a big bat-like Eclipse emerging from the shaft*
(Amarti): That’s the one I’m worried about.
*Raika takes a shot at the big Eclipse where it used its wing to block the bullet. It then started to fly towards Raika and the others*
(Kurai): Hit the ground!
*Everybody ducked as the Eclipse came swooping past them*
(Sanada): I don’t think it liked that.
(Raika): Well at least we got its attention. We need to take this fight outside.
(Zia): Agreed.
*Zia shot a light arrow up into the air where it exploded releasing a light which blinded the Eclipses. Everybody got up and ran toward the exit with Eclipses chasing after them*
(Gael): Woohoo! This is so awesome!
*Gael exclaimed with a smile on his face as he was running*
(Kurai): We’re being chased by Eclipses. What part of this is enjoyable to you?
(Gael): Well I’m used to being chased down by dangerous people. Group warfare is one of my specialties after all.
(Kurai): *Inner thoughts* Where the heck did they find this guy?
*They all made it out of the mines with the Eclipses right behind them*
(Amarti): Alright. Those with projectile weapons take down the smaller ones. The rest of you will focus on the big one.
(Hua): And how are we supposed to bring that big one down? I can’t punch it if it’s in the sky.
(Sanada): I shall bring it down. Its destruction will be up to you.
*Sanada ran forward and jumped into the sky and then jumped again off of thin air towards the Eclipse. The young knights stood there amazed at what they were witnessing*
(Hua): He can fly!?
(Scarlet): He’s not flying, he’s riding the wind. It’s a technique I’ve heard that only the most skilled wind samurais can use. They called it wind-walking.
(Sera): We Merfolk have a similar technique we use to walk on water.
(Gael): I didn’t know he could do that! Bro never ceases to amaze me!
*Using his wind-walking technique Sanada reaches the Eclipse dodging a wing slash attack by jumping above the Eclipse*
(Sanada): Wind Style: Air Arrow!
*Drawing his sword Sanada unleashed a slash attack which sent the Eclipse falling toward the ground. When the other young knights saw this they ran toward the Eclipse determined to finish it off*
(Sera): It’s going to try flying again. Don’t let it take off.
(Hua): I’m on it!
*Hua ran to the right side of the Eclipse and tackled it to the ground. She then grabbed its right wing and tore it off with her bare hands. The Eclipse screamed out in the pain and quickly got up only to be whacked upside the face by Gael’s bo staff of light. Gael continued his assault with multiple strikes upside the head pummeling the Eclipse who used its left to try and strike Gael only for him to jump backwards to avoid getting hit. Scarlet came in and unleashed multiple rapid thrust attacks on the body area of the Eclipse with her spear before finishing up with a thrust attack that pierced the right eye of the Eclipse and unleashing a fire blast that burnt half of its face. With the Eclipse reeling in pain, Sera jumped up and sliced through the Eclipse’s neck with her knives to decapitate and kill it. As the head of the Eclipse fell to the ground, the body began to disappear followed shortly by the head. Sanada was on a tree branch where he observed the fight and was impressed with everyone’s efforts*
(Sanada): Impressive teamwork young knights.
*Back with the others they shot down the other Eclipses with their weapons killing a majority of them while others flew away*
(Zia): That takes care of them. Are you okay Master Amarti?
(Amarti): I’m fine Zia. Now that the bats have been taken care of, let us collect our prisoners and be on our way.
(Kurai): I’ll call the other parties and arrange for a transport vehicle to pick us up. Thanks again for all your help guys. I’ll be sure to do that favor you asked of me earlier.
(Amarti): Our pleasure. This mission produced some very excellent fines for us as well.
*Amarti turned his attention to Gael, Sera, Hua, and Scarlet who were congratulating each other for a job well done*
(Amarti): Hmm~, not a bad idea.
Author’s Note: Woohoo! What a chapter. Before we got into the meat of the arc I wanted to have some fun with the other members of Shadow Eye first and get their side story out of the way. I had a lot fun writing this chapter and playing with various characters as well as expanding on the dangers of Hargus. I was happy to bring back Hua as she was one of the knights from the first volume I wanted to see more of. Same with Sera, Kurai, and Scarlet. I’m interested in exploring and expanding these characters and use them for bigger roles down the road. I’m also hoping to expand on the other orders and introduce knights from them as well. Thanks for reading and I’ll see next time as the arc kicks into full gear next week.