CHAPTER III.

  “Stop!” shouted Leonardo, stepping forward before the masked female glared at him and took out her blade as warning.

  “Our prince here shows his true capabilities. He managed to turn one of our own against it,” mocked the General Secretary.

  “No, I overpowered an' bit him! He had nothin to do with that!”

  “A likely story. Though hard to believe with the story you told before. Quite frankly, I am surprised it took even this long to uncover this conspiracy.” The masked female brought Alejandro before him and knelt.

  “I am sorry, First Comrade. I should’ve known. He was such a promising candidate. I didn’t want to believe it.” The masked female had laid him upside down and facing Leonardo’s direction. He started coming to, but other Unicabeza members held down his arms and legs. One pushed down his bloody head.

  “Now, Prince of El Diablo, what will you do? Play the little ‘game’ I suggested? I understand how revolting it must feel to interact with a commoner like me, but at least with that your co-conspirator will have a chance to live.” Alejandro cried.

  “I-I st-still believe in the eq-equality of all p-people, and—and I hate coinlordism, and the Prince—maybe he’s a bit green, and maybe we shouldn’t even have princes, but—but I know one thing. Ideology doesn’t matter when the choice between good and evil is this clear. Look at us!” Alejandro looked into the eyes of many in the mob, many of whom looked away. “Look at him!” He looked into the eyes of Udo, whose breathing hitched. “Take a step back! How the fuck could you possibly think we’re the good guys here?” The General Secretary took off his gloves, walked over, and dislocated Alejandro’s right shoulder. Alejandro’s eyes rolled back.

  “Woah! Woah! Woah! What the fuck are you doin?” screamed Leonardo. Alejandro screamed in agony. Udo shook as he witnessed this. The General Secretary then proceeded to dislocate his left shoulder. These were clean dislocations. Alejandro vomited on the cobblestone before passing out. The masked female looked away, and Vivian’s mother covered Vivian’s eyes with her hands.

  “This is standard procedure for any captive, Your Royal Highness. How you still have your arms at your disposal is a mystery to me,” began the General Secretary, smirking. Most magic users could only channel magic through their hands, so it was indeed common practice for captured magic users to have their arms broken. Magic could alter any physical material that bound them like rope. “So, what will it be? I intend to defeat you completely. During our fight, no one will touch these two. You have it upon my word as General Secretary, and what does a mere public servant like me have but my word? Unlike you, I was not born with the support of my people.” The General Secretary looked over the mob, which paid attention to every development. Leonardo timidly looked at Udo. For the first time in a long time, Udo was the one looking back more confidently at someone.

  “Make we do dis.” Leonardo nodded and placed Udo in the middle. Leonardo caught Alejandro’s body as he was thrown into the middle, and Leonardo gritted his teeth before placing down him. The General Secretary looked over the mob.

  “Now it is time. Please, step back.” The mob looked confused at first, and many did not move. The Unicabeza began repeating “Step back!” in a militaristic tone and marched forward, and that did the trick. For a brief moment, Judah met Leonardo’s eyes, which widened in recognition. Judah turned and took off.

  “Get back here!” shouted the masked male. The General Secretary directed some Unicabeza members to go after him, and other members situated themselves behind the mob at the openings to prevent anyone else from leaving. Vivian’s mother looked around her for exits they might have missed to no avail.

  “They’re not going to huwt that boy, are they? He’s so cute!”

  “I don’t know, honey, but stay very close to me, alright?”

  “Okay. . . .”

  “And so the rat flees.” The General Secretary knelt and placed down his hand. A cage formed around Alejandro and Udo, who embraced the other. A pillar lifted them high into the air. Leonardo gripped his sword tightly. “No matter. It is time. No one is to interfere in our match,” said the General Secretary, pointing his sword.

  “In the name of El Diablo, for which I ahm privileged to serve as her prince, I shall administer justice upon you!”

  The General Secretary raised his arms out as a gust of wind blew past to signal the onset of battle. Leonardo charged. The General Secretary swung his sword at a distance that seemed just too far to hit him. It was not. His sword slashed his throat.

  “Leo!” screamed Udo.

  “Urguh uguh . . .” The General Secretary brought his sword down upon him, but he rolled away and ran in front of a wall. Leonardo would be dead had he not activated barrier. No competent magic user entered a fight without defensive magic. Barrier shielded the user’s body against all incoming attacks, which the user did not even have to anticipate. Each attack that landed drained mana, which was the amount of consciousness in a user at a given time. Using barrier itself drained mana, although the rate of drainage depended on the strength of the barrier. Barriers could be so strong that all attacks bounced off them, but then they would drain mana at an exponential rate. His barrier prevented all slashes from cutting through his skin, but he still felt pain from them. Needless to say, a user who lost all mana fell unconscious.

  “You understand the basics of combat. Now let me test how deep your knowledge is.” The General Secretary stuck his sword into the cobblestone, crouched, and hovered his hand above it. It broke apart and formed into a ball in his hand.

  The General Secretary threw it like a baseball. Leonardo dodged it with ease, and it landed with a thud against the wall. He formed and threw another ball the same way. “Shit!” This time, the rock split into multiple pieces a few feet after leaving his hand. Leonardo’s barrier probably could have withstood the barrage. But just like multitasking was anathema to attention spans, barrages were anathema to barriers. He dropped to his hands and knees and erected a blockade just high enough to catch the rocks. It did just that, but that was the least of his worries.

  “Watch yasef!” screamed Udo, who was still comforting Alejandro. The General Secretary had flown above Leonardo. He used both hands to hold the hilt of his sword and point it downward. He came straight down, and he rolled away just before getting pierced in his back. The sword did pierce his cloak, which he ditched before standing.

  “Almost,” said the General Secretary, grinning as he pulled his sword from the cobblestone. Their swords clashed repeatedly, but, time and time again, it would look as though the General Secretary was slashing from too far a distance. Yet the sword would connect, even for just a bit, and he would feel it every time. Leonardo began trying to parry his sword right above the hilt. Magic users usually applied barrier to their bodies but not their clothing, and his trench coat remained flawless. Leonardo panted after he got some distance. “Is this all? I suppose I should expect no more from someone who has never had to fight to survive.”

  “Just keep underestimatin me, why don’tcha.” Suddenly, Leonardo charged. He winced as he was slashed, but he managed to perform a takedown. He played the most sports of any royal—or of almost anyone, really—on the planet, and his specialty was wrestling. He also knew many other forms of martial arts. He forced him to drop his sword, wrestled circles around him, and got him into various positions where he could do a ground and pound on his face. And he did just that.

  The General Secretary was simply out of his element when it came to hand-to-hand combat. “I don’t think underestimatin me is goin well for ya!” The General Secretary was bleeding from his nose and mouth, and the only explanation for that bleeding was arrogance. Barrier could block sword slashes; a fortiori, it could block punches. The only reason it would not was because he deactivated it. It was a gamble magic users made during fights to conserve mana. It could also just be that he did not predict much impact behind those punches. He had since reactivated barrier.

  “Good, Leonardo. Good. Show the people who you really are!” screamed the General Secretary, whom the masked male saved from the onslaught. He kicked Leonardo in the abdomen and caused him to roll onto his side and wheeze.

  “E no fair!” exclaimed Udo.

  “Shut up!” shouted the masked male. “We’re heah for a fight, not your prince’s cheap little tricks! First Comrade, lemme—” Swish. The General Secretary stuck his sword into the back of the masked male’s neck and out his throat. He did not seem to know what had happened at first. Croaking sounds emanated from him as he cut his hands repeatedly, grabbing at the object protruding from his neck. He pulled out the sword, and a gush of blood burst out. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he collapsed face-first. Leonardo’s breathing quickened, as did the masked female’s. Some in the mob like Vivian screamed, and Udo heaved.

  “I apologize, Your Royal Highness. He was ordered not to interrupt us.”

  “You didn’t hafta do that!” shouted Leonardo. The General Secretary stood. He calmly walked over to turn the masked male’s head so that it faced Leonardo. Then, he lifted the mask, revealing a greying, middle-aged man with a death glare.

  “Oh, Prince. Always acting so sympathetic to your enemies. He would have impaled you if he could.” Leonardo gritted his teeth and balled his fists. “He should have known more than most what it means to join the Unicabeza. It means you fight for a cause greater than yourself. It means you sacrifice your individuality for the team. He decided to disobey the orders of his superior and intervene. He forgot what it meant to be a part of the Unicabeza. Now he is a part of this world no more.”

  Back in the Cave of the Macabre, Firo had plummeted down the other side of the rump. He activated barrier before he hit rock bottom and avoided the heaviest rocks, which broke the floor underneath. He had the presence of mind to fly and grab onto a ledge, but his pen fell out his pocket. Flying consumed a lot of mana, and the thin air made it consume even more. It took awhile to hear the rocks crash.

  “Holy fuck! Are you alright?” screamed Alexander.

  “Y-yeah!” screamed Firo, panting, pulling up himself, and rolling onto his back. “The rocks broke off an' broke the floor. I avoided most of 'em.” Alexander was already crawling his way to him. It was much easier to go over the rump now that it had broken apart. He placed his hand under his shirt onto his torso when he arrived.

  “Where are you hurt?”

  “I’m fine. I activated barrier in time.” Alexander evaluated the damage. Parts of Firo’s clothing had ripped, but his body was undamaged outside some cuts. “You got lucky there. Well, time to head back.”

  “Wait!” Firo rummaged around his pockets and cried out. “My pen’s missin!”

  “Huh? What pe—oh no. You brought mom’s pen? Why the hell’d you do that?”

  “You know it’s my good luck charm! And, well, we are lookin for the phoenix feather. If it is real, then, you know . . . . I want to have it with me when I see mom again.” Alexander’s face fell. He weaved a hand through his hair.

  “Firo, I—I knew you were hurtin ever since mom died, but I didn’t know it was this bad.” Firo breathed erratically.

  “I am not crazy.”

  “H-huh? I never said that.”

  “But you’re implyin it.” Firo stood. “Aren’t you even gonna help me try to get the pen back?” Alexander sighed.

  “The pen fell to a place that only Sin knows now. Come on. You promised you’d come back with me when I said so, no questions asked.” Firo pouted.

  “Mom would be sad to know I lost it and didn’t even try ta get it back.”

  “Firo, the entire message behind her gift was people should use their brains. What—” Something caught their eyes. Yes, their eyes, which had grown accustomed to the darkness. There was a faint green light that glowed somewhere down the abyss. There had never been any reports of such a phenomenon in this cave. Firo grinned.

  “Well, if you didn’t wanna go down there before, I bet you wanna now.”

  “I am curious, but we shouldn’t be the ones to explore this.” Firo rolled his eyes.

  “Well, we’re the only ones who can explore this because we are not tellin a soul about this. Remember?” And, just like that, Firo jumped into the abyss.

  “Wait! Ahh, shit!” Alexander followed suit.

  The brothers let gravity pull down them and activated a strong form of barrier that reflected anything impacting their bodies. This was never advisable in battle, but it made sense for the duration of a free fall like this. The green light grew as they approached it, and they finally saw what was generating it.

  “Wowwww!” admired Firo. Even Alexander looked wide-eyed at all these bioluminescent creatures. Neither of them had ever seen them, even in books. They seemed to be emanating out from whatever was at the bottom of this abyss, where they eventually landed after breaking their fall with flying magic. The hole of an abyss had opened into a wide, expansive area that these creatures also illuminated.

  “What are these animals anyway?”

  “I dunno. But we can call them lightflies.” Firo grinned. “You know. They emit light, and they fly.” Alexander narrowed his eyes.

  “Aren’t we supposed to be here for somethin?” Firo held up his index finger.

  “Pen. Right. Focus.” Firo assumed a meditative stance on the floor. His eyebrows scrunched. He opened his eyes after some time.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Check it out. I sense the pen somewhere, but I also sense somethin else.” Alexander assumed a meditative stance on the floor now as well.

  “That’s weird. I sense somethin else too. It’s like another person, but that ain’t possible.” Firo gave him a look.

  “Do you think it has somethin to do with the phoenix feather?” Alexander closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

  “I dunno anymore. It’s weird. Let’s just fine the pen first.” Firo nodded. The brothers searched the floor and eventually found the pen.

  He said a prayer with it in his hands. They then proceeded to search for that other signature they had sensed.

  “It’s comin from around this lake!” announced Firo. Alexander ran to him.

  “Yeah. What in Sin’s name is this?” Just as Alexander said that, the lightflies flew erratically, and the cave rumbled. The brothers got onto their hands and knees, and they saw what caused the rumbling. A golem arose from the rocks and let out a shriek that echoed across the walls and took the brothers’ breath away. It pulled the remainder of its body out and sat with a loud thud, looking at them with its red eyes.

  “Oh my fucking Sin. We’re gonna die. We’re gonna die. We’re gonna die!” screamed Firo. Alexander squeezed his shoulder hard.

  “No, we’re not! Grab my hand!” Alexander attempted to fly away with him, but the golem roared and stood. It placed its hands on the roof and caused it to rain down rocks. Those rocks struck many of the lightflies and the brothers, who grounded themselves. “Fuck. Well, we don’t have a choice. Firo, we gotta fight!” Firo nervously nodded, and the brothers grabbed the hilts of their katanas.

  Back in the Grotto, Judah ran through the alleyways, knocking over trash cans and other debris along the way as the Unicabeza members chased him. The homeless people were surprised when they passed by them, but no one intervened. Not that it would have made a difference. He made a wrong turn and got caught in a dead end.

  “End of the line, dirtbag!” Judah gritted his teeth and took out his dagger, causing the members to laugh as they pulled out their swords.

  “Shit.”

  Back at the battle with Leonardo, the General Secretary continued his relentless barrage of slashes, using flight sometimes to gain leverage, but those slashes were not connecting as often anymore. Leonardo also continued striking at the base of the sword whenever he could.

  “I get fightin for the greater good and sacrificin your individuality for the team,” managed Leonardo between strikes, “but a captain doesn’t kill his teammate for one little mistake. Seems like someone sacrificin his individuality for the team just means sacrificin himself to you.” The General Secretary kicked him back.

  “I love being lectured by a child who has no idea what he is talking about.” The General Secretary flew toward him for a slash, but the blade of his sword flew off, and he was kicked to the cobblestone. He stared up at him. “How?” The mob stared in shock, and Alejandro seemed to focus a bit on what was happening.

  “Maybe I’m not as inexperienced as you assume. Took a bit, but I noticed you were usin magic to lengthen your sword right before an attack.” The General Secretary broke the cobblestone beneath his fingers. “I tested my theory by hittin the same spot over an' over. Saw it move, and now it’s broken.” Leonardo sounded proud and pointed his sword at him. “I’d say that’s game.” He jumped back to avoid the cobblestone thrown at him, but it did not have the same force behind it as earlier. “Hebrihn, do you lack sportsmanship. Looks like you’re gettin tired at least.”

  “I see I have underestimated you, Your Royal Highness. That will not happen again.” The General Secretary ran to the corpse of the masked male and grabbed his head. The eyes of every magic user widened when he or she sensed what he was doing.

  “Dude, what the fuck?” asked Leonardo incredulously. He ran toward him, but he called out for the masked female to stop him, and she did.

  “First Comrade, I can’t condone this!” screamed the masked female, despite fending him off. All living things had different degrees of consciousness, which escaped bodies upon death. But not all at once. People could steal mana from dead bodies. Such an act was considered taboo in all civilized nations, including the Ironscar Kingdom if she should be considered civilized. The General Secretary’s eyes rolled into the back of his head, and his head nodded up and down rapidly as though he had a seizure. Records existed of people who performed such an irreputable technique, and they said the magic user would gain some of the decedent’s memories.

  “I don’t remembah askin for yo opinion, ya damn woman!” shouted the General Secretary with unnaturally wide eyes. “The Unicabeza is now less one soul.” He grinned devilishly. They spoke of it first in whispers. Then it took the mob by storm.

  “He’s mad!”

  “What’s wrong with him?”

  “Was that Unicabeza kid right?”

  “He just did necroharvesting! Only primitive tribes like Heace do that!”

  “This is sick! How did we ever support this monster?” Leonardo and the masked female stopped their fighting. The mob went silent again as it saw him grab the masked male’s head. He pulled the outer layer of skin off the corpse, causing many onlookers to vomit. Udo did so, and Leonardo was on the edge of doing so. He used his magic to twist that skin into a rope and hurl it at Leonardo, who dodged it initially but got caught when it reversed direction and snapped around his arms and torso and restrained his hands. This did send him over the edge as he knelt.

  “How unsightly, Your Royal Highness.” The General Secretary’s head snapped to the side. “Now, Prince of El Diablo, what do you have to say for yo-self? I hope your slut of a mom is looking up at the dirty little boy she spawned right about now!” Many in the mob attempted to escape, but the Unicabeza pushed most of them back.

  “Mommy, I want to leave!” complained Vivian, crying.

  “Yes, hold onto me!” Her mother came up to a Unicabeza member who pushed her back. “Please! I have a young daughter! Can’t you let us through?” asked she.

  “I’m sorry, lady, but you need to get back!” answered the Unicabeza member, who had a young male voice.

  “You’re a sick man. May Hebron—and that man—have mercy on your soul,” prayed Leonardo. The General Secretary placed his hand on his face and laughed.

  “Reciting fairy tales again? At a time like this? Let me show you why there is no Hebron. And why there is no Cynthia.” The General Secretary looked at Udo, who looked away. “Captain, will you please execute the traitor and the Ajibaban up there?” The masked female looked at the two in the cage.

  “No!” yelled Leonardo. “You promised you wouldn’t touch them!”

  “Uh-uh,” mocked the General Secretary, wagging his finger. “I promised that no one would touch these two during our fight. You are in no position to fight.” Udo breathed erratically but managed to squeeze Alejandro’s head against his chest.

  “Because you cheat like crazy!”

  “Enough. Captain, will you do the honors?” The unisyph mask concealed her troubled face. She flew up to the cage and created an opening to enter it. Udo hugged Alejandro closely as she stood over them.

  “Don’t do it!” screamed Leonardo. “You’ve seen the type of guy he truly is. He didn’t hesitate to necroharvest your teammate! Why listen to him?”

  “Because she fights for our cause, not just herself,” interjected the General Secretary. She looked down at the two. “You know what you have to do.” She raised her sword over her shoulder despite Leonardo’s protestations. Then, she stopped.

  “First Comrade, I—I—don’t understand the reason we need to kill them.” The General Secretary’s eyes narrowed at her.

  “Because I have ordered you to do so.” Leonardo’s breathing slowed.

  “But . . . but they are defenseless, First Comrade.” Udo relaxed a little as she brought down her arms to the side.

  “I see.” The General Secretary’s eyes became wider than ever. “You wanna defy the orders of your superior too now? Or are ya just lookin ta stall so I’d do your job for you?” The General Secretary bared his fangs.

  “No, sir! I—”

  “I see you need additional encouragement.” The General Secretary formed a ball of cobblestone, and she stood in front of Udo and Alejandro. But at the last second, he turned and launched it at one of the openings the Unicabeza guarded. The ball scattered. Some people reacted in time; many did not. Those included Unicabeza members themselves. A rock broke Vivian’s mother’s femur, and she collapsed along with many others. She did not cry out in pain because nerves did not send that pain to her brain. Her eyes widened after she caught her breath. She screamed out her daughter’s name. She sighed in relief when she saw her sitting. She crawled to her and shrieked. That attack had caved in her face.

  “Oh my Hebron! Oh my Hebron!” screamed Vivian’s mother, wailing and caressing her body in her arms. “This can’t be happening! This can’t be happening!” The Unicabeza member who had denied them egress ran toward them in a panic.

  “Oh—oh my Hebron! I’m so sorry! Come with me!” He bent over Vivian’s body, and that was the last thing he said before she grabbed a rock and bashed him over the back of his head repeatedly and pulled off his unisyph mask, revealing a young man in his twenties. His blood mixed with hers as his body twitched.

  “Fuck you!” screamed the mother. This was but one instance of the human carnage in the devastated area. It would not be the last, as the General Secretary launched another ball at another opening, and pandemonium ensued.

  “Holy fuck! Stop!” screamed Leonardo, tears in his eyes. Alejandro looked into the masked female’s eyes.

  “Is this the cause we signed up for?” asked Alejandro, who managed to break the cage underneath him by channeling magic through his feet. She grabbed ahold of Udo, and Alejandro flew straight to the General Secretary to kick him in the face.

  “You son of a bitch!” shouted the General Secretary, both falling. His nose was broken and bleeding. She carried Udo, landed in front of Leonardo, and untied him. Now Leonardo and the masked female stood before the General Secretary. Leonardo had told Alejandro and Udo to get a distance away from them. The General Secretary stood next to the masked male’s mutilated corpse, and he picked up his sword.

  “Your luck’s run out!” shouted Leonardo. The General Secretary glared.

  “First Comrade, the Central Committee would never condone what you have done. You killed innocent women and children. You are irredeemable.”

  “You know as well as I that I am this close to taking over that Central Committee. They will not be much of an obstacle once I show them my prize,” said the General Secretary, looking straight at Leonardo, who rolled his eyes.

  “Not for nothin, mistah, but I ahm not goin with you, ya creep. You’re gonna pay for all those innocent lives you took.” Leonardo’s eyes darkened, and the General Secretary grinned, eyes as deranged as ever. The fight was on.

  It was two on one, and the General Secretary had an upper hand at the beginning exactly because of that. Leonardo and the masked female had never worked together in a fight. They were uncoordinated and would crash into each other when dueling their common enemy. But the turning point was when the General Secretary attempted to throw some cobblestone, and much of it fell apart before reaching the two. The issue with necroharvested consciousness was it naturally was not accustomed to the host’s body. It dissipated over time, and a lot of time had passed since the General Secretary had stolen it from the masked male’s body. Leonardo slashed the General Secretary, and that slash went straight through, cutting through the trench coat and across his torso. Blood seeped into his clothes as he fell.

  Leonardo ran toward him, but she ran in front of him and held her arms out. “Wait! He—he’s been defeated. Let’s just tie him up and—” The General Secretary stuck a sword into her back, through her heart, and into him. Both she and Leonardo never deactivated barrier. Her barrier was not concentrated in any particular area however, and a pierce attack had such a high impact in such a low surface area that her barrier could not prevent the sword from entering into her. His barrier was also not concentrated in any particular area, but the sword had to go through two layers of her barrier and her body before reaching him. It did severely take a chunk out of his mana, but he managed to jump back. She fell onto her knees.

  “What a shame,” said the General Secretary before grinning wildly. The General Secretary sported a devilish grin. He left his sword in her, turned, and ran as fast as he could toward one of the areas he had devastated—Vivian’s area. Leonardo caught her as she fell into his arms. He had two choices: comfort her in her dying moments or chase after him. He squeezed her shoulders and laid her down. As he chased after him, he turned, placed his hand on the cobblestone, and used almost all of his remaining mana to erect a wall to slow down him. It worked, and he happened to run straight to Vivian’s body and her mother, who stood in the way.

  “Stop! You’ve done enough damage already! Have you no empathy?” He did not hesitate to backhand her, the sound of the smack reverberating.

  “Betch! Orihime!” screamed the General Secretary as he placed his hands on Vivian and necroharvested her. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he started having a seizure again. Leonardo arrived and saw what was happening.

  “Get your hands off her!” Pillars jutted out from the buildings toward Leonardo, who dodged but fell, banging his head against the cobblestone. Most people would not expect something like that to happen. It already took an immense amount of control to channel magic through the feet, but acting at such a distance consumed an immense amount of mana. He winced and looked up at the General Secretary. The General Secretary was crying. He laid down her body and walked toward him as he attempted to scooch away. And suddenly, a figure landed down from above in front of Leonardo and landed with her hand upon the cobblestone.

  Carina, one of Leonardo’s ladies in waiting. In an instant, dozens of spikes impaled the General Secretary’s foot, immobilizing him and causing him to scream.

  “We’ll take things from here, my lord,” Leonardo lost consciousness at that.

  Stolen story; please report.