Book One

## Prologue

Ancient to many, is a war that had raged on forever. Monsters that devoured the flesh of humans, who turned humans into more of themselves, were rampant, and organized. Their factions warred against each other, and the warring human factions, but one, true ruler stood above them all...the royal Nachtgeist, Aubax.

And yet, many kings failed to recognize him as a ruler, as he never fought himself, and rarely gave orders. Yet, he was recognized as a ruler by his own species, for he was the first, and most powerful, of them. Only one man saw Aubax as the threat he was, the legendary human warrior, Stanley Stewart.

Saber and Flintlocks clashed, the long blades with two sweeping bars and a royal looking pendant and jewel on each, the sabers of Stanley, and the flintlocks, a shiny dark brown, the guns of Aubax, primitive as they were. Stanley made sure to dodge the slow reloading shots, by running out of Aubax's sight constantly, and staying in his blindspot, a worthy feat of a human god, given the senses of the King of the Nachtgeists.

"Stand still, you four-eyed plagiarist bastard!" Aubax roars, sounding somewhat excited in addition to his anger. Both he and his opponent wore the best spectacles of the time, though Aubax himself didn't need them.He weaves his arms around to try and keep his guns on his opponent, but it was difficult, and Aubax liked that, his big grin of sharp teeth being evident of this, yet his opponent, Stewart, remained calm, and held the same stoic frown on his face. He was taking this seriously, and held the memory of those close to him with him, as he swung at Aubax' arm, cutting it off by the elbow as the gun flew through the air.

"Ow! That actually hurt!" Aubax shouts in pain and glee. "Good job--gah!" His other arm had been sliced off while he had been busy being further impressed at his opponent, and Stewart kicks him to the ground, stabbing his sabers into his opponent's knees and trenchcoat. The fight was over, and both men knew it.

"Lord of the Ghouls of the Night." Stewart began, as he took a straight, triangular, single edged, pointed dagger off his belt from beneath his trenchcoat. "You are a beast most foul, yet a man with the capacity to reason like any other. Why would you do this? Why devour people so happily? Some of my friends and family were people you ate." "They shouldn't have lost to me, then." Aubax retorts, still smiling wide. "Any fool who wishes to challenge me had better have a bark to match their bite...and you did."

"What say you, now? What is it you wished to do?" Stewart asks. "I have...no idea." Aubax replies, as Stewart sighs, and drives the blade through his opponent's heart.

## Chapter 1

The ticking of the clock was droning, and boring. It felt like this class would never end, and the topic, the 'war' between Humans and Nachtgeists as he remembered, didn't interest him much. He had heard bedtime stories before, he didn't need to be told about dangerous monsters eating people's flesh for the billionth time.

Yet, that fight at the end of the long lesson, did intrigue him. He thought it was cool that these people fought, and seemed to almost respect each other, and the Nachtgeist 'King' most certainly didn't seem like a mindless beast. Yet...it was still chilling how little he valued other's lives in general. Stewart sounded like a hero, he had saved the world from the greatest monster of all time, and he himself, the greatest human. He seemed like someone who could teach him topics he actually cared about.

This boy, was Lewis Wallace. He was liked enough by enough people at the school, but he wasn't popular much, and he was fine with that. The reasons people got popular in school these days weren't reasons he ever wanted to be popular. He would rather be known as...the greatest gunman in history. He knew that was probably impossible, but he would still try.

"Lewis, were you taking any notes?" The teacher, Mr. Brew, asked, which shocked Lewis. "Ah! Uh, y-yes! I got all the notes right here!" Lewis said nervously, his teacher looking on in some level of contempt, before sighing. "Did you learn anything?" Mr. Brew asks, exasperated. "Uh, yeah. Humans good, Nachtgeists back, that fight great." Lewis replies, as Brew's lower lip trembled, but he sighed again, more forcefully this time. "Alright...at least you got the gist of it, that last part was unnecessary, though." He says. "You'll be reading up on this topic for your homework."

"Awww..." Lewis groans. "Seriously?" "Your graduation is soon, you need to be at the top of your academic game if you want a degree." Mr. Brew answers sternly. "I want to be a cowboy." Lewis retorts. "'Cowboy' isn't a job." Mr. Brew replies, sounding even more irritated. "If you want to live in this world, you need a real job, and being a historian or an archeologist is a great one!" Lewis holds in another groan, and nods, but his contempt was clear on his pale, slightly pinkish face, even under his long, messy brown hair. His dark blue eyes tried not to, but did, glare into Mr. Brew's grey. Luckily, Mr. Brew seemed not to notice immediately.

The bell rang, which signaled the end of the school day. Lewis sighed in relief, and reluctantly accepted the history book given to him by Brew. If he was going to read this, it would be to read that whole fight in detail. Still, he was going to read the book cover to cover, and the less breaks he took, the sooner it'd be over. He walks out of the classroom, and is immediately greeted by a girl with a much darker complexion than his own, wearing mostly leather clothing, consisting of a jacket like martial arts tank top, boots, and jeans with lots of pockets on them. Her pretty long, mostly braided back hair was black and her somewhat big eyes a warm brown. This was the first friend he made at school, Siara Stone.

"How's our favorite cowboy doing now?" Siara asks, as Lewis smiles. "I'm doing pretty well, Siara." He answers. "Sorry, that's a lie. I have to read this." She sees the history book in his hands. "At least history has plenty of fights, wars, and actual nice guys in it, not many of that last one though." She replies. "And history's definitely not as cool as cowboys. Then again, cowboys are part of history." "Yeah, I've read cowboy history. And I'm...kind of mad at what plenty of the people did back then." Lewis says back. "Oh, how's your martial arts?" "The teacher's the same as ever, really overconfident about that belt he has." Siara replies. "I think I've gotten pretty good myself, but I don't see why I should demonstrate it to you since...you would not like being kicked in the face." "Nope, I wouldn't." Lewis replies, laughing a bit, as Siara laughs with him.

He walked to the right car, and saw his dad there waiting for him, a tall, somewhat plump but also somewhat muscular man, wearing casual clothing, with barely long, bright orange hair, and a small beard. His profession could be inferred from the military grade pistol and knife worn at his belt, he was a part time soldier. "Hey, Dad." Lewis says, as he walks over to him. "That looks like a lot of homework, did you doze off in class in again?" His dad asks. "I...did. Sorry." Lewis answers, as he gets in the car with his dad.

It wasn't long before they were home. A nice little house painted like bricks and wood, with a stone chimney and the types of glass windows in cars, but clearer. It was pointless describing everything, though the door looked nice today. Lewis sometimes helped, but his favorite activity of the day was his target practice. His father unlocks the door, opens it, and closes it after the walk inside. Lewis sees their puppy, Chester, running toward them and barking, a little Shiba Inu, but not quite like the one in that joke. "Hey, buddy!" Lewis says laughing, as he pets Chester, who's tail wagged. Chester then licks Lewis, who laughed more and started gently pushing the puppy away. "Stop!" Lewis shouts with yet more laughing. They then looked on at their father, who had also given Chester a pet, look at the news.

"Heh...Abraham Jones is probably the nicest President we're ever gonna' get." Lewis' dad says. "Too nice, honestly. Not everyone fleeing to here is a good person." "I'd rather have a nice person be in charge than...who is the other guy?" Lewis replies and asks. "Spencer Khan, total douchebag. He does have one good point, we need terrorists out of our country." "So, uh...which one are you voting?" Lewis asks. "Abraham, honestly. I'll probably regret it, but not as much as with Spencer. Don't worry, you'll be able to vote pretty soon, just wait a bit." His dad answers. "Oh, okay. I'd vote Abraham too." Lewis replies. The votes would be in pretty soon he knew, he just wished he knew for certain, as he was anxious about all this.

The sun was setting, as he walked out into the backyard, and sighed, aiming two revolvers at two different targets. They begin moving, as he quickly starts firing at them. Most of the shots missed, but the left target was hit once in the 3 spot and once in the bullseye, and the right, hit once in a 2. They stopped moving afterwards, and Lewis sighs. He'd have to get a lot better at this.

He layed in his bed, staring at the ceiling for a bit, as he sighed again. Today was somewhat productive, but not much. He just hoped tomorrow would be better. He then remembered he was supposed to read the book. Ah, he'd do it tomorrow...it wasn't long after that before he fell asleep.

## Chapter 2

Guards stood at the entrance to Astril, as they talked. "Ever thing this place isn't secure enough?" One of the guards asks. "Secure enough that I feel my family's safe." Another one of the guards answers. "Heh, we're thinking of startin' a family ourselves." The first guard replies. "That's awesome!" The second guard responds with a shout, as the two guards start laughing.

The guards suddenly heard what sounded like Metal Flamenco playing, as they turned to see multiple armored vehicles in the distance, driving towards them. "Hey, punks! Road's closed unless you state your names and--AH!" The guard cuts himself off to start firing at the vehicles, as the other guards do so as well. The vehicles are unaffected, as one of them aims a machine gun at the guards and starts firing!

"AAAAAAH!" The guards yelp, as they tried frantically to duck and weave, relying on their armor to protect them, until the noticed rocket launchers aiming at him. "MR. PRESIDENT--" One of the guards screams, but it was too late, all the guards were cut off from communication as they were crushed under the wheels of the vehicles, which continue on their drive towards the nearest city.

Civilians screamed and panicked as they tried to get away from the vehicles that had just entered the city, as they looked on in horror. "What the Hell is this?!" One of the civilians roars, angry and scared. They then all watch as the vehicles suddenly come to a stop, and the one in the middle, the largest one, raises a platform, which held a man on top that drew everyone's attention.

This man had light brown skin, black eyes and black hair matching his supposed home, the colors anyway, but what really sold them that he was from Sheycor was his attire, attire that was known to be worn by Destreza Master and, more commonly, Mariachi, minus the sombrero. His attire was mostly black with white outlines, a white shirt beneath a black jacket, the shirt and pants having a number of silverly white buttons addorning them.

But what caught the eyes of everyone watching was the revolver at his side, and the rapier in his hand, both fully silvery with the blade on his rapier being shinier than the other parts. He smiled as his small mustache deformed a bit from it, and showed his shining teeth. What everyone could tell, was that this man had the resources he needed to get what he wanted when he wanted it.

And that scared them.

"Hola, civilians of Tacla. Soy Hector Ramos, the one who is here to level your cities!" The man, Hector, shouts, point his rapier at the closest civilian. "This is...this is bad..." The civilian remarks, as he takes out a handgun and attempts to fire at Hector, but Hector had already drawn his revolver, and shoots the civilian dead before he can so much as pull the trigger. The man dressed as a Mariachi, with the blade of a Destreza Master, blew the smoke away.

"Open fire." Hector orders.

## Chapter 3

Lewis was walking into what appeared to be a toy weapon building. These buildings were meant for one, and only one, thing, training with dart guns and firearms in general, even other weapons such as toy swords. However, what Lewis looked for here was two simple toy guns--revolvers. He holsters them in place of his real revolvers and begins to walk towards the 'warzone'. This little hobby of his was what he did to improve his skills, make new friends, and have fun, though usually only the latter was achieved. Still, this was where he met Siara, and where he saw firsthand that she preferred unarmed combat, able to dodge the darts with ease, and took him out rather quick. He walked through the 'warzone', looking around at the various walls, small shed things and window, trying to discern which place would be best to fire from.

Lewis stopped next to a shed thing made of red and blue hard plastic with circular holes for windows and a large arch shaped hole for a door. Right then, he saw a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes walking towards him, wearing a Victorian Era-seeming coat and holding a replica of a Flintlock that, of course, fired darts. Lewis despised this boy, as he was a bully who usually targeted him and a few other people. Lewis glared at Joel Neufeld, who smirked maliciously back. "Fancy seeing you here, Lewis." Joel says, as Lewis took a step back. "Yeah...real fancy." Lewis replies, his right hand next to one of his revolvers. Joel notices, and smiles, as he aims his Flintlock at Lewis. "Guess we aren't waiting, then." He says, as Lewis ducks into the structure, his eyes seeing that he had narrowly avoided the dart that rushed by him!

Lewis drew one of his Revolvers and looked at the door, as he heard clicking. That was his chance, Joel was still reloading! Lewis ran out of the structure and fired at Joel, who leaped to the side immediately and fired at Lewis, who did the same as Joel did, while spinning the barrel of his Revolver to align another bullet with the muzzle. This was the advantage of having a Revolver. It was able to fire six times before reloading, unlike the Flintlock that could fire only once before reloading. While Joel needed around five seconds and cover to reload, Lewis could get the next dart ready simply by turning the barrel, which took less than a second to do. As such, Lewis was able to fire again immediately afterwards, Joel ducking to avoid as he rushes at Lewis and swings the Flintlock at him like a club, the second use of a Flintlock.

Lewis leaped back to dodge, turning the barrel once more to fire again. However, Joel grabs onto the muzzle of his gun to push it aside, forcing Lewis to miss as Joel whacks him in the face with his own gun. "Agh!" Lewis grunts, as he holds his head in pain, feeling the area where the gun made contact throb in that same pain. "What's wrong? Can't defeat an inferior model, cowboy?" Joel mocks, as he rushes to swing a kick at Lewis, who leaps back from it while swinging his own kick to fend Joel off. Neither of them were particular versed in martial arts, but everyone knew that punching and kicking really, really hurt. So the kicks put more distance between them, Joel and Lewis both readying their guns. Joel had dodged another dart from Lewis as he fires his own, Lewis dodging that as Joel already took out another to begin reloading. Lewis turns the barrel again, as Joel ducks out of sight.

Lewis ran to the set of structures Joel had disappeared to, finally hearing the swords clashing and the darts firing around them in other parts of the 'warzone'. The structures here were more complex, and had many places to hide, so Lewis believed it would take a while to find Joel. He heard a click, and whirled around to aim his revolver at that general area he thought he heard the click from. Then, he sees Joel leap out from behind a space between two windows to fire at him! Lewis leaps to the side to avoid the dart and fires his own at Joel, who had already been in the process of disappearing and by the time the dart had gone to where he was, was no longer visible. Lewis turns the barrel of his Revolver yet again and runs to the entrance to the structure Joel had fired from, and gets there in about a second. He runs into the structure to see the tails of Joel's coat disappear around a corner in the darkness of the structure, and runs to begin following.

After a few seconds, Lewis hears another click, indicating that Joel had once again reloaded his Flintlock. He kept running, and knew Joel did too, as he then noticed a set of stairs that Joel no doubt ran up. This was becoming more dangerous as the fight continued, and Lewis was a bit worried about that. Still, he ran up the stairs to follow as fast as he could, Joel seeming to be more than a few more steps up the stairs than Lewis. Eventually, they reached the top of the structure, its roof. The two then point their guns, and smirk at each other. "One dart left for each of us." Joel says, as Lewis chuckled a bit. "I've got six more at my side, Joel. You're at your loss." Lewis replies. They both close one eye to better aim at each other, take a deep breath, let it out, and pull the triggers of their respective guns, hearing the clicks that indicated the darts were fired.

Neither dart hit, as they hit each other, and flew back, down to the ground below. "Well, looks like I win." Lewis says, as he narrowly dodges the Flintlock being thrown at his face, retaliating by throwing his Revolver at Joel and drawing the other one, Joel dodging and...pulling a Hanger-Dussack Hybrid out of his coat. A plastic one, but still wicked looking nonetheless. "A sword?!" Lewis shouts, as he quickly fires at Joel, who, through luck or perhaps being one of the humans who was faster, or both, deflected the dart as he ran and swung his sword at Lewis, who blocked with his gun and leaped back, stumbling as he nearly fell off the structure. "Woah!" Lewis shouts, knowing a fall from this height would mean great injury or perhaps even death, as he quickly regains his footing and just as quickly leaps to the side to dodge another swing from Joel, making sure to land in the middle. "Yep, a sword." Joel replies coldly as his smile was wider than ever.

Joel rushes at Lewis, who swiftly turns his barrel and pulls the trigger, Joel deflecting this dart as well, this time back at Lewis, who dodged it and then ducked to dodge an attempted swing at his head from the sword. It wouldn't kill Lewis, but it would hurt like Hell, especially if it hit where the Flintlock hit earlier. Lewis swings another kick at Joel, but pulls his kick back and leaps back when he sees the latter swing his sword at his leg. "Here, swords are as good to use as guns." Joel says, his smile becoming wider and more insane, as he rushes at Lewis for another swing. Lewis had managed to get his gun ready to fire again and does so, but the dart is once again deflected as Lewis leaps up, bending his legs, to avoid a swing to them, before stepping on the blade and quickly leaping off of it, leaping back once more and turning the barrel yet again, firing the fourth dart of this Revolver at his opponent, who's Pirate Sword yet again deflected the dart!

Two more darts left, and then Lewis would only be able to dodge and block, the latter being extremely unlikely to keep working for any decent amount of time. Still, Lewis waits for Joel to rush in for another swing, sidestepping the slash as he fires at his opponent, who sidesteps the dart upon seeing the trigger being pulled and 'stabs' his sword into the triggerguard, forcing the trigger to be pulled as he turns the barrel to make the last dart fire! "No!" Lewis shouts, as he lets go of his gun to dodge the next slash from Joel, who throws Lewis' gun aside and rushes in for one last slash with both hands on the grip, Lewis quickly leaping back and to the side to make Joel miss, and stumble forwards, as he trips and begins to fall off the structure! "AAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!" Joel screams, as he closes his eyes and drops his sword.

But he never fell. Lewis had caught him by grabbing his upper arms. "Wh...what...?" Joel demands. "I'm not gonna' let you actually get hurt, even if you are a douche." Lewis replies, pulling Joel back onto the roof as he chuckles. "That mercy of yours is gonna' cost you..." He says, as he suddenly punches Lewis in the face, making Lewis stumble back and hold his bleeding nose in pain as he yelped from it. Joel rushes for another punch, but right before it could connect, the bell rings, and Joel stops his own punch from hitting Lewis' ribcage. "...Well, guess we'll have to do this later." Joel says, as Lewis nods, glaring once again at the bully. They begin to walk down the stairs and towards the exit of the structure, and the building the 'warzone' was in, knowing the employees would be able to find all the weapons.

## Chapter 4

Lewis walked into the school, as Joel took a different route in. The sky looked rather clear today, and the sun shone brightly. His nose was still broken, so he couldn't smell much, but the pain was weak and dull now, so he could smile. The school was as always full of students wherever Lewis went, as he and Siara walked through it. "I heard you finally beat that son of a bitch at the warzone today." She says. "Yep, though he punched me in the face immediately afterwards." Lewis replies. "That's an oof." Siara then said, as they walked into a room ridden with chairs that students were sitting in. They saw the Principal standing at the top of the theatre-like seat staircase and walked up to him.

"Oh, hello Lewis, Siara." The Principal says. "Howdy." Lewis replied, as Siara giggled a bit at Lewis' choice of words. The Principal smiled at said choice of words, clearly having been amused by it as well. "Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?" He asks. "Uh, yeah." Lewis answers. "What's going on here?" "You haven't heard yet?" The Principal asks. "No...I haven't." Lewis answers, bowing his head down as he remembered that letter that had arrived yesterday...that he hadn't opened. "Well, it's  quite alright." The Principal replies. "Though I would like if you read the letter I send you next time." Lewis chuckled a bit, as the Principal continued.

"Anyways, the reason we are all gathered here is to welcome our new transfer student!" The Principal shouts, as Lewis felt excited upon hearing this, and Siara seemed to as well. "Hey, Sir." Siara asks, as the Principal turns towards her. "Yes?" He asks. "Can we get a front row seat?" She asks. The Principal seems to consider this for a few moments, putting his hand on his chin in a thinking expression, before he then answers with "I don't see why not, go ahead." Lewis and Siara, happy about this, walked down to sit in seats at the bottom, and front, of the seat staircase, right as the rest of the students had sat down, and the door at the end of the room opened.

In it walked two people, who could barely have any more of disparity in appearance. They both had black hair and wore black and white clothing, that much was similar, but all else was different. The much taller, far muscular man wore a suite and tie, and had a scar running along the nose on his light tan-skinned face. His green eyes seemed to either contradict or aid his indifferent, almost slightly irritated looking expression, and his broad jawline did nothing to dispel the fact that this man was likely as smart as he was strong.

Beside and somewhat in front of him, was a boy who seemed a few inches shorter than Lewis himself. He was incredibly skinny and wore a hoodie and baggy pants with worn sneakers. His eyes were a bit large, and pitch black, yet reflected a lot of light, and there appeared to be a scar running down his left eye, which seemed to still work. His right was covered by his hair, and the left side of his lip also had a scar. The boy had paper white skin, the scars being a bit of a grey colour, and seemed to have small bags under his eyes on his somewhat cherubic face, and his hood was raised at the moment. He was slumped a bit, as he looked up at them all with a shy expression, and at all times, he perpetually looked sad.

"...uh...h-hi..." The boy stammered, in a soft, quiet voice that seemed a little high pitched for the way he looked, and sounded as if it might crack at any moment. Lewis knew that likely those in the middle onward to the back of the seat staircase may not have heard the boy at all. "Speak louder, and with less stammering." The man says, as the boy seemed to tremble a bit, before composing himself and sighing. "Hi, my name is Kojiro Kamizumi." The boy, Kojiro, said, in indeed, a louder voice. "I'm here on behalf of my father, K-Kokei Kamizumi, to learn here at this school." Kojiro continues, the stammer when he said 'Kokei' being quick, but Lewis noticed it, as did a few other students, mostly the closer ones to Kojiro. "I look forward to learning with you guys, and I hope to become much more educated by the end of this." Kojiro finished, now really, really sounding as if he were memorizing a script possibly written for him by the man behind him, who was no doubt his father, Kokei.

"Do not clap, a warrior must not be flattered." Kokei says, in a voice that with the tone sounded a bit as if he were indeed from Japan. The voice was also deep, and what caught Lewis most of all was how stern it sounded, as if Kokei were Kojiro's military instructor rather than his father. Or at least, what Lewis thought of as a military instructor. The point, Lewis knew to himself and probably no one else unless someone there could read his mind, was that Kokei clearly did not play around, and given the scars on his and especially his son's faces, Lewis immediately began to suspect why.

"Go join the rest of the students, son." Kokei says, no, it sounded like an order, as Kojiro nods. "Yes, Sir." He replies, walking to him. So far, Lewis hoped for the best, that though Kokei was strict, he was still nicer to Kojiro at their own home. Kojiro then walked alone, as Lewis decided to follow him.

"Hey." Lewis says, as he put his bag in the locker next to what appeared to be Kojiro's. "...oh...hi..." Kojiro replies. "I'm Lewis, Lewis Wallace." Lewis said. "Wanna be friends?" "...what's...a friend...?" Kojiro asked in response. Lewis didn't answer for a few seconds, a bit shaken. No worries, perhaps their family was just a bit secluded. "Uh, that's a bit hard to explain." Lewis answers. "Basically, let's try to hang out and put our trust into each other." "...oh...why are...you asking me that...?" Kojiro then asked as a response. "I...wanna make sure you're not bullied around here." Lewis answers as his own response. "Trust me...you do not want a certain someone to target you." "...it doesn't matter what i want..." Kojiro replied in the same melancholic tone as he had been using. This shook Lewis further, as he found it harder to shove aside the possibility. Still...there was no way someone as intellectual-looking as Kokei would act like he did in public, if he was abusive. Lewis chose to believe that, as he smiled. "I'm sure you'll make a lot of friends here, I sure did!" Lewis said. Kojiro nods a little, and walks away, Lewis looking on as he decided they could go their seperate ways for now.

A few hours later...

The cafeteria bell rang, as Lewis walked into said cafeteria, as did, of course, the other students. Lewis and Siara sat down next to each other and began to happily eat their chicken cheese sandwich things. Kojiro sat at another table alone, eating what looked like a plate of plain rice...and absolutely nothing else. Not only that, but he took a syringe out of his backpack and injected himself with it, wincing from the pain. Siara saw as well, as they both looked on, a bit sad and worried. "I think...that's an IV." Siara says, as Kojiro then ate a few vitamins, which on the box read that they had no artificial flavoring...or natural flavoring. "That's...worrying." Lewis replies, now seeing why Kojiro was so thin. The worry from before became more evident in his mind, but Lewis kept forcing the counter argument he made up against it. He didn't want this to be true, there was no way...no way...no--

Suddenly, the large TV screen changed its channel from an anime Lewis had been mostly absentmindedly watching to a news report, which appeared to be being broadcasted from a helicopter over a bombed city! "Wh-what the?!" Lewis demands, as the students go silent. "The perpetrators for the destruction of Queba must be the infamous Pandilla Gang! They could be going after other cities soon!" This news shocked them, as the Pandilla Gang were largely feared by Mescarie, the country that sat between Astril and Ubreau, and was in a constant state of gang warfare. Among the gangs, Pandilla was the most ruthless and cruel, and one of the most powerful, and their leader was known for actively embracing the stereotypes and traditions of Mescarie, Hector Ramos being his name, if Lewis was not mistaken.

Then he realized...Queba wasn't far from Monstan, the city they were in now!

## Chapter 5

Lewis and Siara had started running as fast as they could to try and get to where the Pandilla Gang no doubt were at this moment,  the city between Queba and Monstan, Calcukall. Yet they knew it would take days to get there, no matter how fast they ran. It was lucky, then, that they heard a motorcycle coming at them from behind! They leap to the side as the motorcycle comes to a stop next to them. The woman on it took off her helmet and smiled at them. She had the same hair and complexion as Siara, though her eyes were more of a hazel color. This was Siara's mom that Lewis had met a few months ago, Eilane. "Nice to see you again, Lewis." Eilane says. "I suppose you and my daughter have been getting along well." "Yeah." Lewis replies. "But right now, we kind of have to get over to the next city from here to stop, I think, terrorists." "They're barely terrorists, that gang." Eilane responds. "But if you two need a lift, then hop on, and hold on tight." She puts her helmet, a helmet patterned with flames, back on, as they got on the motorcycle and held onto Eilane, who begins to head towards Calcukall.

When they arrived, the city seemed mostly intact. However, it was clear from the lack of civilians that it was still in the process of being attacked. Eilane slowly but surely stopped the motorcycle, as it became idle. The three then got off, as Siara put on brass knuckles and Eilane unholstered what looked like a Ruger and took out a pocket knife. Lewis unholstered both of his revolvers as they walked into an alleyway. They hid behind a dumpster the moment they turned the corner, as the stench made Lewis feel a bit sick. Eilane motioned for them to stay still and quiet, as she waited until no one was looking before sneaking out from behind the dumpster and walking to the entrance to the alleyway, grabbing the guard standing at the entrance by the mouth to silence him as she drives the pocket knife through his neck, killing him instantly. She motions for them to follow her, which they do, or at least, Siara did.

Lewis initially began to follow, but then saw a tall man with a similarly dark complexion to his friend and her mother, but much taller and bulkier, wearing a tank top and military-looking pants, boots and gloves, carrying a box of...something, on his shoulder with his left hand and holding what looked like...an...M4 Carbine...in his right. Considering they were dealing with almost terrorists, Lewis had a sinking feeling about what was likely in the box, and began to follow the man as stealthily as he could. The man turned around the corner to what looked very much like a Pharmacy, as Lewis slid against the wall to follow, not knowing himself what good it would do. As the man set the box down, Lewis saw what was no doubt Hector walk out of the building, seeming to currently wear an ankle length black poncho along with what he normally wore, that of course being his Mariachi clothing and Sombrero.

"Gracias for bringing them here, Miguel." Hector says. "You can rest if you want, it must have been exhausting to carry this many." "No big deal, really." MIguel replies, as Hector picked up one of the things in the box, which, to Lewis' horror, was exactly what he expected it to be: C4! This was bad...an entire box of those things would be more than enough to take out a good portion of the city, and this was probably only one of many boxes! As soon as Hector walked in and the door closed, Lewis decided he needed to stop this operation right here, so he took out one of his revolvers and ran as quickly as he could to sit behind an ice box. Right before the guards had noticed and began to unholster their guns. Lewis fires down the closest guard to him, which would alert all of them to his position, so he quickly turned the barrel to fire at the next guard that appeared, stunning the guard next to that guard just long enough for Lewis to shoot him down too.

Lewis hears running from behind him and turns around to fire down another guard, as he leaps over the ice box to get against the other side before those guards began to fire. He then turns the barrel again to fire down the next guard, as a bullet rushes past him. Were that last guard better at aiming, Lewis knew he'd be dead. He then turns the barrel to fire down that last guard, and turns to see Miguel aiming the Carbine at him. "What was your plan here?" Miguel asks. "I have this thing in my hands, and you came here with a non-automatic gun?" "Yeah...should probably have thought this through." Lewis replies. He wasn't going to argue against the fact that he brought two revolvers to a military grade rifle fight. Regardless, Lewis decided to leap behind the ice box, right as Miguel opened fire. Lewis felt a bullet scrape his skin and yelped from the sudden pain of it, but he had leaped in time, and the rest of the first fired bullets missed him. Lewis knew Miguel wouldn't stop though, so he immediately ran to try and get to the other side of this other alley, as he heard the gunfire stop.

"Come here, punk!" Miguel shouts, as Lewis knew he was close to him. He hoped desperately that the darkness of the alleyway would be his friend this time of day, and it seemed to be so, as Miguel didn't open fire. Lewis then turns towards Miguel, aiming his other revolver at him, and firing. It was no use, he had missed! Though Miguel turned his head in the direction the bullet had passed him in, Lewis didn't even try to take the opportunity to rush Miguel, that would be a terrible idea. So rather, Lewis did what he knew was the smart thing, and ran into the Pharmacy, seeing a C4 attached to a cabinet. "Oh, no..." Lewis remarked, as he locked the door behind him, ran to the cabinet, and began trying to pull the C4 off of it. "Please come off..." Lewis grunts, as he knew he would have little success here no matter how hard he pulled.

Miguel had gotten to the end of the alleyway, and was just about to enter the Pharmacy using the front doors, when he heard the cock of a handgun, and turned around to see Eilane aiming hers at him. "Hello." Eilane says. "...Hola." Miguel replies, as they both fire at each other, knocking their guns out of their hands as Eilane rushes at Miguel to throw a punch at him. Miguel catches her hand and throws her a few feet away as she lands on her feet and he rushes to swing a kick at her, Eilane dodging and elbowing him in the back, seemingly mostly unharmed by the toss or grab. Miguel stumbles forwards and growls as he throws multiple punches at Eilane, who sidesteps them all as she punches him in the gut with both her fists, not doing much to deter him as he simply grunts from the pain and keeps up his punches, which she keeps dodging.

Lewis keeps trying to get the C4 off of the cabinet, when he hears the lock be forcibly picked and the door opened, drawing his Revolver to aim at whoever it was, but he was too slow, and a Rapier drove through his hand and slammed it against the side of the cabinet rather than the door that the C4 was stuck on. "GAH!" Lewis nearly screams from the sudden pain and shock, as another Revolver is put against his forehead. Both weapons were held by none other than Hector himself, and he was smiling. "Trying to disarm one bomb, are we, mi amigo?" Hector asks, his finger on the trigger. "Ghhh...why destroy cities?" Lewis demands. "What's the point of it all." "Fun, and recognition. That's what." Miguel answers. "That and we may want our people to stay where they belong." "Well...agh...that's not very nice." Lewis replies, trying to joke.g to disarm one bomb, are we, mi amigo?" Hector asks, his finger on the trigger. "Ghhh...why destroy cities?" Lewis demands. "What's the point of it all?" "Fun, and recognition. That's what." Miguel answers. "That and we may want our people to stay where they belong." "Well...agh...that's not very nice." Lewis replies, trying to joke.

Before Hector could respond, they heard an angry yell, and turned to see Siara throwing a punch at the leader of the Pandilla Gang, who pulls his Rapier out of Lewis' hand and ducks to let her punch hit the side of the cabinet, splintering a few pieces off, cracking it and leaving a brass knuckles shaped impression in it. Siara turns back towards Hector and once again tries a punch. Hector leaps back and to the side to avoid this punch, as he thrusts his Rapier at her. Siara barely manages to block with her knuckles as she herself leaps back, and gets into a fighting position. "Leave my friend alone, you son of a bitch!" She shouts, as Hector smirks in amusement at her. "Alright, then. You will want to leave this city if you want to survive." Hector replies, as he throws down a smoke bomb, which explodes.

"GRRRRRR!" Siara growls, rushing to see where Hector went, to which she found absolutely no clues. She then turned back toward Lewis, as she took off her Brass Knuckles and put them in her pocket, walking over to look at his hand. "You can't keep fighting in this position." She says, sounding concerned. "You're going to want to find a Medical Incantate to heal this." Lewis opened his mouth to argue, but then closed it, she was right. His hand had just been stabbed by the stabbiest of swords, there was no way it was still able to function. Going to get a quick healing spell before continuing the fight would be preferrable to passing out from bloodloss while running to wherever Hector was now. "Okay, let's find one then." He replies.

## Chapter 6

Lewis' hand still hurt like all Hell, yet the pain had become dull enough that he was only slightly whimpering and breathing a bit heavily at the moment. It was still hard to believe what just happened. He knew how dangerous swords were, but now...he felt how dangerous they were. And the worst part was, his wound still seemed to be bleeding, and he was feeling just a slight bit lightheaded. Siara helps him over to a hospital in Calcukall, where a Medical Incantate likely resided. Lewis was glad she was there, he felt like he may have toppled over if he had been walking to the hospital alone. He still didn't know where Eilane was, and that worried him. He then sighs, which Siara notices. "Lewis?" She asks.

"...I'm sorry..." Lewis replies, a bit softly. "We're in this mess right now because of me. I might've...gotten us all into more trouble than we can handle." "It's alright." Siara says. "Mistakes happen, and we don't know whether we're actually screwed. Plus, we know the bad guys' plan, now." "Thanks." Lewis responded, as he realized he felt more lightheaded. "Ow..." He then said weakly, as Siara, concerned, looked down at his hand. It was red with blood! "Oh, no..." She remarks, as Lewis passes out completely. She caught him before he could fall, and carried to the hospital as fast as she could. "Someone, help!" She shouts.

"Ugh..." Lewis groaned, waking up in a hospital bed, connected to a tube that was pumping blood into him. He felt the dull pain, and looked over at his hand, which had been cleaned and now had...a spell circle drawn on it. "Oh...that's...wh..." Lewis knew it was probably a healing spell, but there seemed to be more patterns in it than a normal healing circle. "What's..." He trails off. "It's a healing spell, coupled with a mitosis reactivation spell." The nurse says. "You're not healing right now, because you were stabbed by an Adranium sword." "Wh-what?" Lewis asks. He knew what Adranium was, it was a metal that coukd magical negate Mitosis and thus, healing, but it was still hard to believe he was stabbed by it. "You'll have to stay still for it to work." Siara says.

Lewis then noticed that she was sitting beside him. He felt ashamed for not noticing her earlier, but his overall drowziness and lightheadedness was probably contributing to that. "Siara..." He trails off, as he smiled at her. "Huh?" Siara asked in a way Lewis couldn't currently determine. Before he could respond, however, he yelped in a sudden sharp pain, as he noticed that some sort of node was placed in the middle of the spell circle. "The process will be very painful." The nurse says. "I recommend you find a distraction." "What's there to distract?" Lewis asks weakly, as he feels someone grab his hand softly, it was Siara. "Just, squeeze my hand to handle the pain." She says.

"Don't worry, I can take it." She gives him a reassuring smile, as he smiled back at her. He wasn't quite sure how he was feeling at the moment, but he thought he felt confused and uneasy. This process was going to hurt...a lot, and while he wasn't ready for it, he knew he would die if he didn't get it. "Okay." He replies to her. "Okay." The nurse then takes out what looked like both a Dictionary and a Spellbook, and read them both briefly, before pronouncing them out loud. Lewis didn't understand a word of it. Though he knew magic existed, he didn't understand how to preform it. Regardless, the experience was indeed agonizing, as he growled in pain, tears rolling down his face, and squeezed Siara's hand as hard as he could.

Siara watched with a worried expression at Lewis' agony, as she did her best not to squeeze his hand back. If she did, she could crush it into pulp accidentially, and that was the last thing she wanted to do, now or ever. Eventually, the nurse ceased her incantation, and Lewis' pain stopped. The circle was gone, as was the node...and his wound. "Oh...it's...over..." Lewis remarks, still sounding weak from blood loss. "You did it!" Siara says, hugging him gently. He was glad, he didn't need a bear hug right now. "You'll need to be here a few more hours before you can be checked out." The nurse says, as they nod.

"Lewis!" A voice booms, both livid and worried. They all turn to see his father storm into the room, glaring at him. "Uh, hey, Dad..." Lewis replies, trying to sound funny. "What were you thinking?!" His dad roared. "What was going through your mind when you decided to go after Hector?!" "That I didn't want him to attack the town we live in?" Lewis answers with a question, which only made his dad more angry. "This is serious!" He shouts. "I know, I'm sorry." Lewis replied. All he had been trying to do was deflate the situation, but it was clear it wasn't working. "I just...I don't know what to do with you, right now." His dad grumbled, shaking his head with his expression only slightly less angry.

"You were almost killed! Because of some fantasy in your head that you're a fucking cowboy from the eighteen hundreds!" "I-I know, I'm sorry." Lewis replies timidly, his dad pausing, before sighing. "Sorry doesn't cut it, Lewis." His dad says more calmly. "You're not to leave the house for a month. I just...don't know what to do." "Cut him some slack, he just wanted to protect us." Siara says. "I know that, but what he did was still reckless. Punishments exist to keep...these kinds of situations from happening again." Lewis' dad says, as he turns towards the nurse. "Thank you for treating my son, I'll give you fifty Chroni extra." "It was the least I could do, really." The nurse replies.

"Hello, you all." A slightly deep voice says, with the accent of a Bestanian. They all turn to see a tall, thin, pale man with electric blue eyes, thin lips, a narrow jawline and nose, and shoulder length black hair that had the bangs parted to the left side of his face, and a Widow's Peak in the middle, standing there, wearing a white and gold military uniform with four stars on each pauldron. He seemed to have an Omni sword sheathed inside one of his pockets, and he wore white gloves and a black bowtie. "Howdy." Lewis replied to the man who he knew was the current Prime Minister of Bestana, Hamish Harper. "What is going on, here?" Hamish asks, as Lewis' dad sighs.

"Nice to meet you, Prime Minister Harper. I'm Raymond Wallace. The boy in the bed is my son, Lewis, and that girl is his best friend, Siara Stone." They then shake hands, as Hamish nods. "Well, what I asked was what is going on, here." Hamish replies. "My son went after a terrorist group and nearly died because of that." Raymond answers. "Hmm, that sounds unfortunate." The Prime Minister replies. "Did he at least get any information?" "Yeah, they're using C4." Lewis answers. "And they should be here in this city right now." "That is good to know. A vacation here will also help improve my ratings back home." Hamish responded, sounding as if he was joking a bit. Well...at least Lewis could leave this to someone who knew what he was doing.

## Chapter 7

Multiple guards dropped dead, as the Pandilla Gang stormed the news building, ducking behind anything they could, and, as well as or, unloading machine guns onto the many more guards that they found inside. Blood and bullets fly everywhere, as many on both sides dropped dead. However, more guards did so than gang members. "We have to get to the top!" Miguel shouts, as the gang runs there, Hector walking behind to follow. Upon kicking the door open, Miguel ducks behind it and fires his Carbine at more guards that had been there, killing them before many of them could even point their guns. The ones that did fire, fired at the bulletproof door, said door made as such specifically to stop people like the Pandilla Gang. Ironic.

A tall woman of Tawny skin and brown eyes and hair fired down a guard using what seemed like an M1911 pistol, as the guards kept getting mowed down by the gang that they currently couldn't hit many members of. The woman blew at the muzzle of her gun, and looked on. "That's a lot of 'em dead." She remarks, as they go further up to the main floor, where one of the other gang members fires down the remaining guards, Hector walking in to place the tip of his Rapier at the throat of the 'leader' of this news building. "Thank you for clearing the way, Miguel, Adara, all of you." The gang's leader says, as he keeps his smile on the news 'leader'. "I need you to broadcast a message of ours...across the country." Miguel says. The news leader shakily nods.

Not very long later, everything had been set up, as Hector puts his mouth to a megaphone atop the building, which happened to be the tallest in the city, and shouted into it. "Hola, citizens of Calcukall! Soy Hector Ramos, and with me is my trusty Pandilla Gang! We are here to make Mescarie ours! And we do not care how many of your cities we have to burn to do it! Send all of your horses, send all of your men! But by the time we are done, there won't be a country to put back together again!" Hector then lowers the megaphone, and grins as he stared up at the moon. It wasn't long, now. It wasn't long...before Mescarie was finally...the Pandilla Gang's.

"Are you Hector Ramos?" A small, timid voice asks, as Hector turns to see a boy with paper white skin, pitch black eyes and hair that covered the right eye, and curved, multi-pointed ears, the ears of a Nachtgeist. The boy was covered in grey scars, and wore a black and white Kimono and Hakama, a Katana sheathed at his side, the Katana and sheath both being black with silver guards. The boy's shoes appeared to be Samurai armor, a black metal wood that shined. "Si, I am." Hector answers. "And who might you be, I ask?" The boy sighs, and draws his sword, the blade of which was almost a mirror from how shiny and well polished it was. "My name..." The boy starts.

"...is Kojiro Kamizumi."

## Chapter 8

The gang point their guns at Kojiro, but they don't fire, once they see Hector's hand in the air. "He's mine to matar, mi amigos." The gang's leader says. "Huh? Why?" One of the members asks. "Because, he's a Nachtgeist. Can't you all tell from his ears?" Hector answers. "I want to deal with him, myself." At that, Hector draws his Rapier and points it at Kojiro in an 'En Garde' position, Kojiro pointing his Katana back at Hector in a 'Te Ura Gasumi' position. The wind blows around them for a few moments, before Hector leaps forwards to attempt to stab Kojiro in the eye. Kojiro is barely able to block the attack as he leaps to the side and tries to slash Hector, who himself parries Kojiro's attack before Riposting, the Riposte barely missing Kojiro's neck!

Kojiro leaps back and assumes a Kendo position, as Hector turns his side not holding the sword to face Kojiro with his legs close together and his sword pointed at the ground. "Surely you know, chico monstruo, that this Rapier of mine is made of Huscil. I need merely to cut a single hair off your head to stop your healing process." "I...I know..." Kojiro replies, barely audible, as Hector leans his head towards Kojiro and puts his hand on his ear. "Could you repeat that, por favor?" He asks, as Kojiro sighed. "I didn't say anything that you needed to hear..." He responded, audible enough to be heard clearly, but still quiet. "Heh...alright, then." Hector replies, as he leaps and twirls before stopping mid-air to fall and thrust at Kojiro's face. Kojiro, surprised, slashes.

Metal clinking and clanging confirmed before Kojiro opened his eyes that Hector had changed his thrust to a parry at the last second to save himself. Kojiro runs back as Hector runs forwards, Kojiro slashing and Hector thrusting, neither of their blades making a successful hit on the other. Kojiro found himself close to the edge, as he attempts to leap to the side, causing Hector to stumble and fall off the roof. However, he manages to jab his Rapier into the wall, twirls to land his feet on the flat end of its blade, and simply walks back onto the roof, plucking the Rapier out of the ground right as the grip was about to be out of his reach. He wastes no time swinging it at Kojiro's neck, Kojiro blocking just enough to keep it half an inch from his jugular.

"Oh?" Hector exclaims, smiling, as Kojiro takes one hand off his sword to unsheathe a Tanto and thrust it at Hector, who takes out his now blade-mounted Revolver and uses it to knock the Tanto out of Kojiro's hand. "Gh!" Kojiro grunts, as he leaps back, Hector now aiming the Revolver at him. The wind picked up again, blowing any loose clothing they were wearing, as their eyes locked, neither of hatred. Hector felt exhilarated to have this battle, Kojiro, felt terrified. Yet, he stood his ground, he knew he had to, in spite, or perhaps because of, everything else. "Olé, Chico. Now, come at me with that blade. I'll pull the trigger at point blank range." Kojiro gulped, he knew how dangerous this was. Yet...he still had to, so, indeed, he ran at his opponent.

Hector continued his smile, as he knew that in this gun were Huscil bullets. One shot would kill this boy, and there was no way a young Nachtgeist like him could dodge a bullet at point blank range. Kojiro continued to run at Hector, who kept his gun pointed. Closer, closer, closer...there! However, right as Hector began to pull the trigger, Kojiro forced the gun towards his shoulder, stabbing it into there, and slashing. Hector's eyes widen, as his blood began fountaining out of the wound the Katana had left. Kojiro winced in pain as he began to tear up, before Hector fell to the ground, blood running out of his mouth. "Fire!" The gang members shout, as Kojiro, shocked and knowing he couldn't win, threw down a smoke bomb. "Dammit! Where'd he go?!" One of the gang members roars.

## Chapter 9

"Oh, señor del inframundo, bueno y malo, libera al que amo, al que apreciamos, del más allá, y dale una última oportunidad." Adara says, holding her hands in an odd pose over Hector's body, which rested on a magic circle. If this worked, it would only work once. But it was all the Pandilla Gang needed. They continued to chant, as Hector briefly glowed brightly, before his wounds vanished, and his eyes opened. "Oh?" Hector exclaimed, standing back up as he looked around. "The resurrection spell?" "Si." Adara answers. "It will only work once, so please, do not be rash." "Very well, then." Hector replies. "Prepare to cover me on my walk down this edificio." At that, he begins walking down the staircase, the Pandilla Gang beginning to walk behind their leader.

As Hector reached the bottom, much quicker than the rather tightly constricted gang, he heard footsteps, and decided to walk out the back door into an alleyway, seeing a tall, pale, thin man with shoulder length black hair, a thin nose and and lips. and striking blue eyes staring at him. "Hola." Hector says. "Soy Hector Ramos. Quién podrías ser?" The man chuckles, and draws a sword from a sheath in his right pocket. "My name is Hamish Harper, the Prime Minister of Bestana." The man, Hamish, says. The sword he held was a Utility-Based sword, black with a knucklebow, sword-catching guard, and long, thin blade that was sharp on one end and serrated on the other. "That is...the highest class sword possible." Hector remarks in awe. "Indeed it is." Hector remarks, as he holds his sword out towards Hector. "En Garde."

Hector chuckles, and points his Rapier at Hamish, before striding forward, feeling the wind blow past him. Hector stood there, watching intently, as Hector's smile grew wider and wider. "You can bring the best sword in the world to a swordfight, but against the greatest sword duelist, it means nothing!" The Pandilla Gang's leader roars. "ADIOS, AMIGO!" "...Indeed. But never forget..." Hamish starts, as Hector leaps forward to stab at him. Right then, Hector sidesteps the stab, right as many gusts of wind roared around Hector. He passed Hamish and landed on his feet, as Hamish kept his sword on his side. Then, a few seconds later, it became evident what had happened, as Hector simply...fell apart, dropping his sword as blood fountained from him and pooled around him. The Leader of the Pandilla Gang dropped dead, as the Prime Minister of Bestana sheathed his sword, which seemed clean.

"Commence the drone strike." Hamish orders into a communicator he had taken out.

## Chapter 10

Lewis and Siara had seen the news from another news helicopter. The news station had been destroyed, blown up by a drone, as the Pandilla Gang's members were killed and in the cases of those who survived, arrested. The terror had ended. "Glad that's over." Siara remarks, looking on at the destruction shown on the television. "Yeah, I wonder how they got Hector." Lewis replies, his hand on his chin. "Looks like everything's all safe, now." "That's definitely a relief." Siara said, leaning back. "Now we can get back to learning about the Human-Nachtgeist war and whatever else. I've been meaning to get better at martial arts, and maybe learn to paint." "I need to get better at shooting, and maybe lassoing?" Lewis responded. "Haha, I'll be cheering you on." She said. He smiled, and looked down. He wondered what else could be lurking around the corner, but that's unimportant right now.

At least, for the time being, they had peace.

## Chapter 11

A black haired, pearly white skinned, red eyed, fairly curvy girl with pointed ears and a heart tattoo on her cheek ran through a city, panting as she tried to escape from a number of what looked like Zesharian soldiers who were chasing her, trying to fire her down, but the bullets bounced off some sort of invisible force, most of them anyway, as evidenced from the wounds on the girl's body. "Don't let her escape!" One of the soldiers shouts, as they chased her into an alleyway, where she kept running until she hit a dead end! "Agh! No!" The girl shouts, as she turned, terrified, towards the soldiers, who aimed their guns at her. She knew she only had limited Magic, that many guns looked like more than enough as far as she knew. She closed her eyes, trembling, but resigned to her fate.

However, before the soldiers could fire, they all heard a loud roar. They turned and saw what looked like a black bear, but with glowing red eyes and razor sharp teeth, dripping blood from its mouth. "Wh-what the?" Another one of the soldiers shouts, as they open fire on the bear, the bullets not seeming to do much at the moment as it swipes at the soldiers, instantly killing two of them. The others leap back and keep firing, beginning to leave bullet holes in the bear as it snarls and stomps on another soldier, instantly killing that one as well. The bear bites down on yet another soldier and flings that soldier into the air, before ramming the last two, crushing them into the building. The girl looks on, even more terrified than before, as the bear begins to slowly walk towards her, growling viciously. "P-please don't hurt me!" The girl shouts.

Lucky for her, the bear never got the chance to, as another bullet hole appeared in its forehead, and the bear, a moment later, dropped dead. A man wearing a blue hat and trenchcoat landed in front of the bear, his back turned to the girl, as he seemed to be holding two Desert Eagles. "Wh-what the?" The girl stutters. "Get outta' here. You'll want to find shelter." The man says, before vanishing into the shadows like he was never there. "...Wha...?" The girl wonders, as she simply sat down, leaving her back and head against the wall, and closed her eyes, wanting to forget about all that had recently happened to her.

## Chapter 12

Out at sea, a large, pitch black oil tanker with a number of military-grade artillery weapons mounted on top of it, moved through the ocean. On that ship, some people were swordfighting with cutlasses, rapiers and hangers, while others were cleaning the ship with brooms, mops, dusters, the like. "Ye'll never get me!" One of the men, wearing black cargo pants, a T-shirt patterned with black and white strips, and a bandana proudly shouts at his opponent, a woman wearing black tights and a black, long-sleeved tunic which revealed her cleavage, who remained silent during the exchange as she parries the man's strikes, and knocks his sword out of his hand, before pointing her own at her neck. "Okay, okay, you win!" The man yelps, holding his hands up in defeat.

"Oh, just let it go." A voice so very familiar, and terrifying, to them, demands, as they all turn to see a relatively tall man with swept blonde hair, a blue eye, and a black eyepatch walk out of the control system, wearing pants, a collared shirt, a collared trenchcoat, gloves and boots that were all made from black leather, and all dotted with silver buttons, as a cape covered roughly half of his clothing already, attached to said collar, hiding where they knew he kept his sabers. "I'm glad to see you improve in swordfighting, as our ancestors perfected the art of dual wielding a pistol and a blade." The man says. "Y-yes, C-Captain Sch-Schickendanz!" The man stutters, as a saber is put to his throat in the time it took him to blink! "Show no fear..." Schickendanz orders quietly, but threateningly. "We are pirates...we *are* fear." "Y-yes...yes, Sir." The man replies, trying not to stutter this time.

Then, the pirates hear a screech, and see a large, black bird flying towards them! "A Nachtgeist!" One of the pirates yells, as everyone runs to their posts to begin firing at the bird, which dodges the artillery fire and claws one of the cannons off of the ship, shredding the cannon, and the pirate manning the cannon, in its claws as it did so. "So they can take the forms of beasts, now..." Shickendanz remarks, sharpening his swords with each other as he keeps his gaze on the creature. Then, as it swoops down to claw out another cannon, Shickendanz rushes at it immediately, and stabs his swords into its eyes, causing it to shriek in agony for a moment, and flinch, giving him an opening to slash its chest open and stab it in the heart, debilitating it as he then cuts through its neck to slice its head off!

They all watch as the creature turns to dust before their eyes.

"Return to your original posts." Shickendanz orders, before walking back to the control system.

## Chapter 13

Lewis and Siara watched as Kojiro impales a sandbag with his new spear, a Yari. "Woah!" Lewis shouts. "That thing looks vicious!" "...Father gave it to me...as a reward for stopping Hector." Kojiro replies. "So he finally did something good, eh?" Siara responds, as they all see Joel just sitting in a corner. "Err, hey Joel." Lewis says. "Shut up." Joel retorts, before walking out of the room. "And he thinks we're the losers..." Siara remarks, as they turn to see Kojiro painting a wall with the same color, but fresher. "Did your dad ask you to do that too?" Siara asks. "It is my duty to aid." Kojiro answered quietly, as he continued. They shrugged, assuming Kojiro's home life was improving, as they walked through the school, seeing the news.

"Breaking News!" The news lady says. "Recently, a massacre has happened in Jilaria, many civilians and soldiers were found dead, as well as the Nachtgeist Beasts who attacked them. The city is under lockdown for the time being, no one in, no one out. Tune in for later news!" "...Well...that's not good to hear." Lewis remarks. "Tell me about it." Siara replies. "At least the monsters got taken down. I'd guess by some extreme military force." "Yeah, I just hope it's all been taken care of." Lewis replies. "These attacks have been becoming too frequent for my taste, and I'm...really scared that we'll be next."

"This is a school full of people ready and waiting to take out anyone who attacks it." Siara responds. "We'll be fine, especially since I'm here." Lewis chuckles, calmed a bit, as they kept looking at the news for a bit, before hearing the bell ring. "All students, please come to the entrance." Principal Barber's voice says, as Lewis and Siara, confused go to do so. As they went to the entrance, they saw a girl standing there. She was average in height, but had white skin, long black hair, and red eyes. She was rather curvaceous, and wore a sleeveless turtleneck and tight jeans, both black, but what stood out the most was her toothy smile, one of sharp teeth, and her pointed ears, which made it clear to all of them.

She was a Nachtgeist.

## Chapter 14

"Who the..." Lewis trails off, blushing a small bit as he puts a hand on his cheek. The girl had noticed and smirked a bit, but simply sat down on a chair, resting her head on one of her hands. "My name is Orchid." She says oddly. Lewis couldn't quite interpret the tone she used, though it made him feel a bit cold and hot at the same time. "I'm glad to be meeting you all of this new school." "A Nachtgeist?!" Joel roars. "This school is supposed to fight these things!" "I'm not a 'thing', thank you very much." Orchid replies, smiling at Joel. "No more than all of you, anyway." Joel just stood silently, as his face seemed to be getting redder.

"...Wow, you guys are too easy." Orchid suddenly remarks. "I just look at or talk to you and you freeze and blush. Then again, I suppose it's understandable." She then looked towards Kojiro, who just tried to make himself look smaller as he lowered his hood further over his face. "Shiest of the shy, huh?" "We're worried he's abused." Siara says to Orchid, who turned towards her. "Wow, I've got competition around here." Orchid responds, before looking back towards Kojiro. "If you're so worried, then why aren't you doing anything about it?" Siara didn't answer, only closing her eyes and balling her hands into fists. Then, Orchid turns towards Lewis again.

"A cowboy, huh?" She asks. "Just my type..." At hearing this, Lewis took a few steps back, his face turning redder as well, as Orchid giggles and Siara looks on in concern. "Why did you come here, though?" She asks the new student. "I came here to learn, obviously." Orchid retorts. "What else are schools for?" And then, she stood back up, and walked past Joel, brushing his arm with her own as she did so, leaving Joel to resemble a tomato in color. "...Well...that happened..." Lewis remarks. "I've got a bad feeling about this..." Siara replies. "...we didn't even see her parents, and she seems to be going after every boy already. I doubt it's because she's actually attracted..."

## Chapter 15

The girl from before had been stumbling across a path in a forest where street lights flickered. As she came to a stop, at a bridge over a river, she sat on a bench to catch her breath. Those monsters, and those soldiers, kept coming after her. And then, she heard footsteps, and turned to see a man in a black trenchcoat over black military clothing walk out of the shadows, holding what looked like a pistol-sized and shaped minigun in one hand. "Wh-who are you?!" She whimpers. "Who cares?" He taunts in response, as he fires at her, having missed only because she leaped beside something right when he pulled the trigger.

"Clever girl." He remarks, taking out a pistol-sized rocket launcher to fire it at the fusebox she hid behind! The girl screams as she is blasted into the river below, barely managing to swim back to the surface by grabbing some debris, and feeling the burns and cuts on her body from the blast. Her right arm and leg didn't seem to work, or rather, it was too painful to move them. She looked up, eyes wide, pupils shrunk, to see the man standing over her, his own eyes seeming to glint in the flickering lights. "I've killed many Nachtgeists before..." He says. "...but none...like you." And then, he throws a combat knife into her head, then silence.

## Chapter 16

Cannonballs hit skyscrapers, setting them aflame, as Schickendanz and half of his crew walked onto the shoreline of the city. "Take what you want!" Scickendanz roars, as everyone, mostly in pairs or groups, split off to search different targets. The Captain walked towards City Hall, and found himself face to face with four guards, each carrying two serrated swords. He smiles, and draws his own, before rushing at the guards.

One is slashed down before he can react, as another blocks Schickendanz's slash and goes for his own, Schickendanz blocking the slash and leaping over one directed at his ankle to stomp on that blade and use it as leverage to flip into the air, kicking both guards in the head, knocking one out as he quickly cuts that one across the chest. The other two guards both slash at Schickhendanz, who blocks two slashes and rolls to dodge the other two, cutting both guards across their backs.

And then, he walks into City Hall, swords gleaming in the firelight, ready to take it all.

## Chapter 17

"It appears that Joel is missing classes rather regularly." Mr. Brew says. "Something has been going on that I would like to know about. Does anyone have any information that would be useful?" "Not really." Lewis replies. "Except, maybe..." "The new girl." Siara continues. "She...seems to 'like' Joel...or sees him as useful. I'll bet she's the one making him late." "...Of course, the world forgets its strife..." Mr. Brew responds. "I'll see if I can arrange a meeting between Joel and the Principal." At that, Mr. Brew walks away, waving a hand to signal that class was dismissed.

Suddenly, the TV screen in the room changed, showing a burning city with black and white pirate flags blowing on each building! "Huh?!" Lewis shouts. "What the Hell...?" Siara demands. "This is our advance into Astril." A voice on the news says, presumably having replaced the News Reporter. "Even now, we close in, to teach this warring world a lesson. Take the fight with us, if you dare. It will only make this quicker and easier." "Well..." Siara remarks. "...they sound fun." "We have to take these guys down!" Lewis replies. "Let's see if we can get everyone's help!"

"Unfortunately." Orchid says from behind them. "Your help isn't coming."

## Chapter 18

"You!" Siara shouts, as they both turn to face her. "It's been fun, learning alongside you..." Orchid remarks with a cruel smile. "...especially Joel." "What did you do to him?!" Lewis demands. "You'll see...if you're lucky." Orchid answers playfully. "We don't have time for games!" Siara roars, getting into a fighting position. "You're gonna take us to your boss!" Orchid smiles darkly, drawing two swords, as Siara throws a punch at her. Orchid dodges that punch to slash at Siara's arm, Siara barely dodging and kicking Orchid in the stomach to send her flying through the room.

Orchid lands on her feet and exhales a bit, standing back up and weaving to the side right when Lewis had pulled the trigger on his gun, before she rushes to slash at him. Lewis, shocked, leaps to the side, just barely avoiding being decapitated as Siara punches Orchid again, Orchid taking the punch and slashing Siara in the arms. Siara grunts in pain, and is then kicked in the face and sent into a wall. "Siara!" Lewis shouts, being knocked out from behind by Orchid. Siara tried to stand back up, glaring at Orchid, but fell to the ground, unconscious as well.

## Chapter 19

Lewis and Siara awoke inside a cell made from rusted metal bars. The rocking feeling they felt meant they had to be on a ship, as the heard and saw many other prisoners. Some dead, some quiet, and some loudly protesting and trying to escape. "Wh...what?!" Lewis yelps, as Siara punches one of the bars, only to see it was undamaged. "Glad to see you two awake." Orchid says playfully, walking towards them with a small smile. "You bitch!" Siara roars. "What is this, a pirate ship?!" "What do you think?" Yannik replies, as they all turn to see him walk out of the shadows with a cane, smiling darkly.

"So these two are the students you captured from that school?" Yannik asks, Orchid nodding quickly. "Good, we'll have the rest soon enough when we go back inland." "What is this about?!" Lewis demands. "A ransom?!" "HAH!!! You'd think so, wouldn't you? But no." Yannik answers. "I want this world to see me as its ruler, for all those untrained cowards in power to kneel down to the greatest pirate who has ever lived on this planet! I despise rulers who rule only throug blood, and have nothing else to show for it, so I plan to...test them all, as it were. Any more questions, or are you satisified for now?"

Lewis said nothing else, as Yannik let out a bellowing laugh. "As I thought! One little speech is all you two needed!" The pirate shouts, turning towards Orchid. "Keep an eye on these two, will you? I can tell they may be trouble if left out of sight." "Yes, Captain!" Orchid replies gleefully, as Yannik walks out of the cell block and up a set of stairs, Orchid sitting down and staring at both of them intently with her toothy smile. "You two are going to be here a long, long time." She declares, taking a deck of cards out of her hair as she holds it out towards them both. "Let's get a little better acquainted, yes?"

"And what's your story in all this?" Lewis demands. "What do you get out of this?" "I get sword skills and potential mates." Orchid replies. "The way it works is that I get a guy to pleasure me, and if he doesn't pleasure me enough, I eat him completely. If he does, then I only take a bit of flesh at a time, enough to heal. So far, no one's pleasured me..." "...Are you serious?!" Siara roars. "Yes, I am!" Orchid retorts with a small chuckle. "I eat people, I like swords, and, well, I think you can tell I like games. So which cards would you like to pick?" They both glare at her, before looking down at the cards.