Closed Together in Search of Vengeance (Takeda)

[Solland Volk]

Day 34, Spring of 513 A.V. The day was bright and the burning orb that was the sun radiated its warm rays onto the stone city that was Sunberth. It was noon and the city was unusually busy on this day, the Castle Common's had an abundance of people in its vicinity. Merchants were bartering for goods at the stalls and stands that were evenly spaced around, these were sided by large men who kept a watchful eye on the filthy urchins that darted about looking for things to steal. The streets all smelt of the fresh sea air as the wind gently blew down the narrow corridors and dirty cobbled roads of Sunberth. Today was a good day for Sunberth standards. Solland had been in the stone jungle for a few weeks searching for clues about the whereabouts of his enemy but he still did not recognise his way around the streets. The city was maze like and hazardous, one wrong turn could lead you into a gang full of merciless bandits that would have no hesitation in killing and taking everything you had. Keeping his hand on his sword hilt, Solland moved cautiously along, carefully turning his head and looking for signs of ambush. Each street seemed to get narrower and narrower as the noise of the Common's seemed to fade and grow fainter. Clad in metal with a veil green, Solland wrapped his cloak around his shoulders. "Where in the lifeless void am I?" he thought to himself. His mind began to think of the worst possible scenarios. He had no qualms of cutting those who wished him harm down but they're would be many of them and only one of him. He was skilled with his blade and covered head to toe in heavy steel armour but to his despair he was only mortal and a well placed strike would fell any man down. Suddenly the noise of shouting voices and struggling erupted from an alleyway to Solland's right. It looked dark and covered shadow, even with the brightness of the sun that illuminated all in its gaze. Intrigued and curious, Solland unsheathed his sword, he heard a rasp as the metal of the blade glided across the thick leather of his scabbard. Standing close to the grime covered walls, Solland peered deep into the abyss like alleyway with his blue eyes through his metal mask.

[Takeda]

“ What are you talking about, you don’t have it?! “ Fortunately, or unfortunately, Takeda and the small group of people surrounding him were a fair distance from the more crowded parts of Sunberth. His voice carried far as he shouted in frustration and anger, he had upheld his end of the bargain. Having gone on the mission given to him by the ringleader of this newborn and still unknown group of miscreants who aimed to become one of the large, and dangerous, gangs of Sunberth. It sunk into Takeda, he had been played. He had killed an innocent man in order to attain information regarding that night. The night his parents got massacred and his sister taken from him. Blurry images of the target’s pleading face as Takeda unsheathed his Wakizashi wordlessly from its sideways strapped sheath on his back, the tears that streamed over his face as he stared wide-eyed and in disbelief at Takeda and the blank look on his face. The rage rose and rose while the three surrounding men made up ridiculously badly orchestrad lies. Before he knew what he was doing, he had already given the hooded man before him a hard right hook on his face, he could’ve approached the situation more tacticly, especially considering he was up against three gangsters. Who knew how proficient they’re prove to be in combat, but either way, he struck the ringleader on his face making him stagger back as the two others hastily whipped out their weapons in order to retaliate. By the looks of it, everything was going according to schedule for them. They had lured him into a secluded area, outnumbered him and infuriated him to the point of losing tactical insight and common sense. But if it was going to come down to it, Takeda was going to sell his skin for a very high price. He pushed the guy on his left with both arms away from him as he attempted to run passed the ringleader, to safety. But the ringleader seemed to be just that for a reason, he could definitely take a punch and had already recovered from the sucker punch and quickly moved before Takeda, a shortsword in one hand and a cheap hatchet in the other. It was obvious these misfits were weak starters with low funds, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t Takeda on in this situation. Realizing there was no way out right now, he unsheathed his wakizashi as he turned on the spot and swung his weapon in a broad arc around him. Creating distance between the encircling threesome, now that they had all backed up a little bit, Takeda had room to manoeuvre but he was in no position to take his time, he quickly launched himself to the two seemingly weak links, slashing and hacking in rapid succession against one of them, only stopping a brief moment to give a hard sideways kick into the other weak link’s family jewels, effectively putting him out of the fight for a short duration. It all happened in such a hurry, one moment he was slashing away in front of him and the next he was leaping away out of hazard’s way, which was personified in the ringleader and his attempts to chop off Takeda’s head in one way or another. It was obvious he was far from experienced in dual wielding those weapons effectively, but they still had the upperhand and the odds of escaping diminished by the second. Then, to add more misery to it, Takeda felt a sharp pain coarse through his leftshoulder. A loud, pained groan escaped his throat before he quickly moved away and in a position where he had all 3 bastards before him. The one he had kicked in the groin had a stiletto in his hand that was covered in red blood, his blood. ..This wasn’t looking good.