To A Thief - Chapter 36: Brigade vs Descent

The enemy has descended upon Jeuno and drawn blood. They sweep the area effortlessly of its residents, showing absolutely no mercy. The only hope for the city lies in the hands of the Brigade.

Port Jeuno

Draven confronts Daan

"..So nice of you.. To join me," Daan grinned from ear to ear at Draven as he wrapped his hand firmly around the hilt of the sword that the mithran ducal guard had ran through his gut. He began to pull it out nice and slow, purposely twisting it as his grin churned while he looked at Draven. ".. So tell me, boy.. How is Vincent doing?" He asked, his bulging eyes showing content. He obviously already knew the answer.

Draven didn't answer. He narrowed his eyes at the man and reached for his blade, unsheathing it and holding it to his side with the intent to slice the man to pieces. "I'm going to kill you," was all he said in a silent and matter-of-factly tone. The wind had suddenly picked up, causing his lengthy blonde hair to sway over his face. He looked surprisingly calm. 

"..Huh," Daan smirked, finally yanking the sword out of his stomach entirely and chucking it aside over a pool of fine red blood. ".. You seem quite sure of that," he retorted, raising a brow and grinning once more as he pointed at Draven as if he had just said something absurd. "..Come, then ..Kill me ..Use your anger ..Show me what the Brigade is made of!" He began raising his voice as he dashed once again towards Draven. "..Succeed your fallen General!"

Draven watched every half-inch of Daan's movements, not making any sudden movements himself until he knew he had a lock on an opening. In the split second that Daan dashed towards him, Draven spun on his heel to the side and then retracted back just as fast, diving the end of his dagger behind him into the man's shoulder blade. 

Daan's grin simply grew with each ounce of pain that shot through his body. As Draven thrust his foot into his back and kicked him away, Daan quickly turned and breathed in ecstasy. "..Magnificent, Brigadier .. That's my Enemy.. My mortal foe! ..We Descent and Brigadiers were destined to become mortal foes! ..Destined to torture and murder one another! ..Ah, I feel this wondrous pain you inflict upon me, my beloved enemy!" He cackled.

Draven showed hardly any expression as the man reveled in his sick pleasures, paying no heed to it. He could care less for what this guy said. With that in mind, he brought his blade forth once more and activated his quick-running Flee ability; albeit not to run away. He merely used it as a boost to run around his foe quicker, trying to strike him when an opening became clear. But even then, it was almost no use. Daan was much too quick. He would simply counter the attack, making each of Draven's all the more risky. Despite letting on how crazy he was, Daan could certainly pack a punch. 

For the most part, the two appeared to be dancing around each other, throwing counter, slash, and punch at one another with miss. However, Daan kept a grin on his face the entire time, as if he was just toying with Draven. 

When he thought he saw an opening to Daan's throat upon a slow, misguided counter, Draven thrust the end of his blade forward with all his speed and might. 

THCK!

He hit something solid. It was the part of Daan's gauntlet that covered the back of his hand. It essentially stopped Draven's attack, but the very tip of his blade had gone through and pierced slightly into Daan's hand. Somehow he had threw his hand up in defense despite the sluggish counter he had made. It should have been impossible for even the quickest of melee fighters to get his guard up that fast. It was so quick in fact, that Draven hadn't even caught Daan's movement of it.

".. Hehe, you got me head on.. That's impressive, for a runt," Daan grinned wide at his foe, keeping his hand up with the tip of the blade inside the back of it and all the while chuckling at Draven's briefly perplexed expression. But not wasting another split-second, Draven threw himself in the air and swung his leg around as hard as he could, keeping a hold on the handle of his blade stuck to Daan's arm until the force yanked the end right out. His kick went straight towards Daan's head in the hopes that it would land hard enough to break the psycho's neck. Suddenly, he felt his whole body jolt to a stop. 

This time, Daan had ducked and thrown his hands up quick in enough to grasp Draven's leg firmly as if he were holding a wooden log and stopped him mid-kick. Quickly after, he spun his entire body on his own heel and swung the young thief around like a rag doll, spinning a few times just for the hell of it before finally releasing Draven's leg and hurling him towards a lamp post. 

Draven felt the sharp pain of the steel nearly snapping his spine upon impact, feeling the lamp post topple with him. His body continued to tumble a few meters along the stone floor rapidly. The force was hard enough to tear at his brigade armor, leaving small strips of it along the floor. He finally stopped as his back hit a wall. His arms and face were full of scrapes at this point, and his entire body was throbbing. But he ignored the pain and forced himself back onto his feet, moments before he felt a solid bar run right into his neck throat and send him right back against the wall, keeping him there. 

But when the swaying of the world stopped and he could make out what it was, he saw that it wasn't a bar that had hit him. It was in fact, Daan's arm pinning him by the neck against the wall. Before he could raise his hand holding the blade, Daan grabbed it by the rest with his free hand and also slapped it back against the wall, keeping it there. The only option Draven had at this point was the struggle for air. But still, he reached his remaining free hand and wrapped his fingers around Daan's neck, attempting to choke the b*****d in return. 

It proved to do little, as Daan simply forced his cold forearm against Draven's throat even further, his large grin never leaving his face as he watched the young thief struggle to breathe. ".. This is pathetic, little boy.. I expected more from you and your anger," he chuckled. ".. Your leader was quite close to you.. Wasn't he now?" He asked the boy in an almost mocking tone as Draven scrunched his face up into a snarl. ".. Perhaps you didn't care.. So much for him with such little.. Anger," he sneered at him. 

Up close like this, Draven could see the scars following along the pale elvaan man's face, his uncovered eye silver and occasionally flickering red during combat. The other eye remained hidden under an eye patch, one he didn't previously have. Nonetheless, the one eye that seemingly remained bulged in excitement. His attempt to strangle the man in return didn't do anything. If anything, Daan found it funny. Why the hell was he so powerful all of a sudden? Just how could a man be so unstoppable? Draven didn't recall having this much trouble with him back at the amphitheater in Ro'Maeve. 

These guys were unbeatable. 

******

Lower Jeuno

I couldn't believe it at first. What I was seeing, that is. 

The wounded and the dead strewn about, left and right. It brought back haunting memories of those days. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was shivering. 

Many buildings were aflame. Smoke clouded the streets and every now and then you'd see the dark silhouette of a demon gliding out of the gray clouds. The screams continued throughout the city, carrying with them the staunch scent of blood.

How could this happen? We lose Vincent and immediately after, hell rises in Jeuno. 

This is no longer the small workings of a conspiracy. This is no skirmish or assault. This is an invasion. An extermination. This is war.

I don't think I can ever forgive the Descent for what they have done here today.

Stiff's footsteps were slow as he trudged along the bloody streets, his hand clenching the leather handle of his dagger so hard he thought it would snap. His eyes held an emotionless gaze, pupils dilating more and more with each horrifying scene that his eyes would dart to. So many feelings were clouding his mind, he could no longer tell if it was simply the smoke of the fire surrounding him or if he was beginning to black out. 

Summer had ended so sweetly... so why did this have to happen?

As the sound was drowned out by his thoughts, Stiff could swear for a short moment of respite that his mind had rewinded to the day before, walking under the same arch way with Okina, both in their summer yukatas and their friends ahead of them. 

But in reality, this was much different. There were no merchant stands. People were running around still, but not in excitement. They didn't walk in their silken summer garbs; but rather, in their rugged and tough war garbs. They didn't hold food or event prizes in their hands, they held unsheathed and loaded weapons. Their friends weren't ahead of them looking for fun stands, they were searching for survivors. 

There were no event animals to run from, just demons. Looking at Okina, he could see that she had no look of excitement in her face as to what they would do next. She was just as horrified as he was. When she turned to face him in return, she didn't smile. When she threw her arms around him, she didn't lean in to kiss him. She only threw herself with the phased out Stiff behind a toppled section of an arch on the ground and took cover from an incoming giant fireball that a group of demon mages had launched at them. 

Stiff could feel the intense heat drive past them as it barely missed everyone, having jumped out in time. 

"Moku! He's not snapping out of it, out of it!" Okina cried out frantically as she shook Stiff on the floor. 

Moku growled under his breath as he shot back a retaliating ice projectile at the demons before jumping off the toppled pillar and taking cover without even needing to crouch because of his tiny taru size. "He's gone into shock," he said as he pulled Stiff's eyelids up and looked at his dilating eyes. "Snap out of it, Stiff! You stay with us now," Moku told him, ordering him more so than shouting in concern like Okina. 

"S**t, where did they all come from?" Flint grunted as he spun out of a nook of a wall he was taking cover behind and shot a few rounds of his rifle at the demons before rotating back out of sight. 

"They must know we'rrrre here," Mel said, ducking for cover and flattening her ears against her hair with her hand as another incoming ball of fire passed over head. Swinging her staff outward, she launched a quake spell over at one of the pillars at the end of the arch way where the demons were. It trailed violently along the stone floor until it reached, shattering the lower section of the pillar and causing it to fall on top of about three demons. 

Since Annie couldn't get too close to the enemy without being blasted in the face with an array of offensive magicks, she instead opted into deflecting arrows and throwing projectiles that zipped past with her great katana, taking cover when need be. "They got us pinned down over here, we need to get out from under this arch," she said calmly as her eyes scanned desperately for an opening. 

Nanaa was almost entirely out of cover, simply jumping around gracefully as she avoided incoming projectiles and threw back those that she would catch in her hands, occasionally throwing a bomb or two their way. "They can't keep thrrrowing things at us foreverrr," she purred. "They'll run out of ammo and mana eventually, then their weapons will take course." 

Bear waited in cover with his baby wyvern, keeping his lance ready and occasionally allowing his welp to disperse of enemy magic with its elemental breaths. "That's when we'll gain the upper hand," he stated confidently as he rested his lance on one knee. 

"Stiffy!" Okina continued to shake Stiff, wondering why of all times he would go into such a state now. But she vaguely remembered him telling her of his past when she was unconscious. The cause of his vengeance. Yes, it was coming back to her now. The sight of men, women, and children's corpses lying in the streets and the invasion must have brought back those bad memories of his. Everything was playing out for him like it did then. "You're not a child anymore, Stiffy!" She called out to him. "You can do something about this, about this! So wake up!" 

No one knew what was going through his mind at this point.

"Everyone stand down," Moku said firmly as he stood up. "I'm going to clear a path!" Setting down the hood of his robe and once again revealing shaggy brown hair, Moku closed his eyes and held out his little taru hand. A small, dark and purple line cut into the air above his hand, stretching open into a small portal similar to that of warp spell, only much smaller. Reaching inside, he pulled out his crystalline staff and continued to hold it out before him before opening his eyes and running forward in this manner. An almost bubble-like transparent field that resembled a wave of heat flickered around his body for a split second. 

The demons soon turned their attention towards the incoming little taru mage and began firing off whatever they could from magicks to projectiles. However, everything brushed or flew to the left, right, or even over Moku's head. It was as if some kind of invisible shield was deflecting everything in front of the taru's held out staff. 

When he was close enough, Moku held out his other hand and began to cast what at first appeared to be another transparent spell causing his robe sleeve to flap about before he spun his body once on his heel. This was when the wind causing his sleeve to move around so much shifted over to his entire body and began picking up dust and debris from the ground, flinging everything around him. It wasn't too long before it became apparent that this was in fact, one of the ancient magicks known as 'Tornado'. 

But he didn't stop there. Moku began to cast a fire spell as well. It started out as a little ball of flame floating along his palm, but then expanded into a great big fiery sphere which he sent up into the midst of the tornado. The orb of fire then burst into flames, all of them which were engulfed in the cycling winds. This was when Moku ran straight into the enemy. He was like a walking flame hurricane full of debris heaps.

It was probably safe to assume that whatever demon was caught in this hell storm was not coming back out. Within a minute, all that was left from the group of demons that had pinned the Brigade down was black lumps of charred, grinded, and torn apart limbs.  After the hell storm cleared, all that was left among the remains was Moku. He was on one knee and breathing heavily, his entire body covered in sweat. 

"W-What just happened?" Mel blinked, almost horrified. "He combined ancient magic into one?"

"That's what it looked like," Annie shrugged as she dropped her hand from her brow and looked out at the exhausted taru. 

"I've heard of it, I think... but I've never seen it before," Bear muttered as the group began to move towards Moku. 

"Urgh," Stiff groaned as his eyes finally opened. His head was spinning like crazy. If he tried to get up, he would only feel his weight shift completely to one side and send him back on his rear. 

"You back?" Flint called over to Stiff as he jumped off some broken heaps of pillar and knelt down beside Okina. 

"What... What happened to me?" Stiff asked, pressing his hand to his forehead and looking up at everyone. He assumed he had been hit without realizing it and blacked out. 

Okina bit her lip, relieved to have him back to normal. Running her hand up along his shoulder, she checked his eyes. "Stiffy was acting very strange, strange," she started. "He started shaking really hard, and you wouldn't listen to us or look at us. I was so scared." 

Stiff furrowed his brows in thought as Okina hugged him tight, thinking back on what happened. All he remembered seeing was things that had happened the day before. For whatever reason. 

A strange sound suddenly came from above the arch. As it got louder, it began sounding a lot more like slow clapping. The group hurried out from under it and looked up to see a large galka in dark armor clapping his big hands together, an anxious smile on his face. 

"Combining magic, eh? Now there's something you don't see everyday," the galka spoke in a deep tone. "I think there is more to this little piglet than meets the eye," he said as he sized Moku up. 

Stiff felt his hands immediately clench into a fist at the sight of the galkan man. "Gazo..."

He remembered everything he had done. From the day he had first attacked him and Okina in the jungle, assaulted him in the battle against Jagodek, aiding in Vincent's death, to slaughtering innocent lives here in Jeuno. 

This is the last time this son of a b***h screws with me.

"Oh no," Moku thought to himself as he looked up at Gazo with a straining face, getting up on his feet to try and hide his exhaustion. "Since I haven't perfected combining ancient magic yet, it still takes quite a toll on me. I need a bit of time to regain myself." 

"What is it that you want here in Jeuno, Descent?" Moku asked him firmly.

"The fearless Brigade," Gazo chuckled, ignoring the question and looking at each and every one of them. "You lot look like s**t. Did somebody die?" He joked morbidly. "I assume you had some fun with the handful of my pets," he smirked. 

"Handful?" Flint rose a brow. "You mean there's more of them?" 

Gazo only laughed in response, finding it so funny how they thought they had accomplished something. After stopping himself, he let his eyes rest on Stiff's face. The boy stood there, fists and teeth clenched in anger as if trying to kill him with his bloodshot eyes.

"That's a nice glare you got going there, kid," Gazo scoffed at Stiff. "You got something to say to me?"

Stiff felt as if he were fit to burst at this point. He could feel his anger, hatred, and every other dreadful feeling boiling inside of him. "I won't forgive you, Gazo," He growled behind gritted teeth. "For everything you've done!"

The two stared each other down for a few seconds before Gazo finally smirked and turned his back to them. "Whatever you say, catalyst," he said as he began jumping from building to building with ease. 

"Get back here! I'm not finished with you!" Stiff shouted after him, activating his 'Flee' ability to run and climb fast up the arch and following suit after Gazo. 

"Stiff! Wait!" Moku called after him, but the entire group stopped before they could follow as a transmission broke into their linkpearls. It was the frantic voice of a man.

"Is anyone there!? This is Captain Wolfgang of the Ducal Guard. We've barricaded what few survivors we could, including the Archduke of Jeuno in the Ru'Lude Gardens palace and are holding the enemy off. But I'm losing my men out here! If we don't get back up soon, the entire palace will be overwhelmed! I repeat-" the voice continued with the same transmission once more before the feed shut off. 

"Bah! This is worse than I thought," Moku thought out loud. He quickly turned to Nanaa, then the rest of the group before turning back to her. "Listen, Nanaa... I'm going to need you to lead everyone to Ru'Lude Gardens and assist Captain Wolfgang and his men at the palace. I can't let Stiff go after Gazo alone!"

"Underrrstood," Nanaa nodded as she looked at the others. "With me, Brrrigadiers. If we let the Archduke fall, it's overrr for Jeuno." 

Everyone agreed and quickly followed behind Nanaa to group up with Wolfgang and his men. Being the sly thief that she was, she had her shortcuts into the palace, so getting there should at least be easy enough. 

"Stiffy..." Okina muttered under her breath in concern as she looked up to where Stiff had gone after Gazo. She felt Moku's little hand against her shin, urging her to go with Nanaa and the others. 

"Don't worry, Okina. I'll bring him back," he reassured her, smiling lightly even in this time of death. 

Taking his word for it, Okina nodded and quickly joined the others. 

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Continued in Chapter 37: Eternity by Damnation