Return of the Fallen Volume 1 Chapter 66
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch66
Kazuki could see several clouds slowly floating by outside of the hole in the wall the shadowy figure had just jumped through.
(So this place is floating. Is it a ship or something else?)
Shaking the thoughts away, Kazuki didn’t have time for this. He decided he would get Nunully first and figure the rest out later.
Leaving the deepest part of this place Kazuki climbed the spiraling stairs back up. After nearly 40 or so minutes, the stairs led him to a new floor. Before he even peeked out, he could already hear several people’s desperate cries. Some whimpered while others screamed. The place was dimly lit with a few torches here and there but this didn’t affect Kazuki’s vision in the least.
Looking down the line there were dozens of individual cells on each side. The cells all had solid wooden doors, locking away the prisoners within. A handful of guards stood outside a few doors and chatted casually with one another. Some were even having a swig or two of some alcohol while 3 more were laughing and playing cards. In total there were 6 guards. Kazuki could not tell their strengths from where he stood but thinking about it, would guards be that strong? Kazuki didn’t believe so and went forward.
At first, he stuck to the shadows and moved silently with each step. His speed was incredible and he appeared just a few feet away from the guards but still, he remained in the shadows. Seeing a few guards playing cards, Kazuki got an idea.
Extending a bit of his energy, Kazuki got a look at the deck of cards on the table and figured out which cards were which. Picking a pebble on the ground, Kazuki threw it with great accuracy and hit a nearby torch on the wall.
*Tak*
The torch barely moved and only made the slightest noise when the pebble came into contact with it but that was enough to draw the guard’s eyes to it. They each gripped their weapons tightly, ready to fight at a moment’s notice.
“What was that?”
One guard stood up and walked over to the nearby torch and gave it a quick inspection. Looking around, he checked the torch, the wall and whatever else nearby but discovered nothing wrong. The guard replied back.
“Who knows. Ain’t nothing here though.”
The tension in the air eased up a bit and the guards relaxed. Going back to chatting and drinking, everything seemed fine. The 3 guards playing cards went back to playing and it wasn’t long before 2 of the guards noticed something odd.
“When did you have that much silver on your side?”
Another guard suddenly grabbed at one of the guard’s wrist.
“Look at this shit, why the fuck do you have this up your sleeve?”
The guard grabbed a winning card from the other’s sleeve and slapped it on the table. The one that was just grabbed, panicked.
“What the hell, what the fuck. I didn’t put that there I swear.”
The three guards exchanged a look before two fists came swinging at the supposed cheater. A brawl soon erupted between the three and the other three guards casually chatting and drinking got involved to break it up. That’s when the torch on the wall out of nowhere shattered. The area quickly became black and a few guards were confused.
“What was that? Someone get some light.”
*Ahhh!*
*Noooo!*
*Urh*
In this darkness, Kazuki was king. He stepped forward and wielding Nunully’s dagger, he aimed for the throat of the closest person. The guard had his hands up ready to punch the other guard if he were to attack him in this dark but how could he ever have predicted that an enemy was here to kill him. Kazuki slipped past the guard’s hands and the tip of the dagger found itself deep within the man’s throat.
The guard fell backward gripping his throat and could only release several gurgling noises before he moved no more. Kazuki continued like this, all the while the men before him had no clue.
“Flame.”
One of the guards summoned a flame from a ring on his finger but the light from it was quite weak. Looking around the guard saw his friends lying in puddles of blood and he was just about to scream when Kazuki stepped forward. The man’s head was spinning in confusion and because of the fucked up situation, the only thought that came to mind at the time was:
(Why is this guy naked.)
Kazuki leaped forward before the man could process anything and embedded the dagger directly into the man’s throat.
The guard fell over on the ground and bled out like a pig.
Once more the area went black. Kazuki stripped a guard similar in size with himself and put on his uniform. Simple cloth pants, a leather chest armor, with a sword and sheath for the hip and some simple boots made from hide. Kazuki also grabbed the magic ring from the guard and inspected it.
(I could use this later on when I reforge my core or maybe even sell it for a few Zeni.)
Kazuki looked at the cards on the table and smiled. He had used his ki to pull a winning card from the deck and place it on the guard’s sleeve. After that, he moved a few silver coins from one guard’s pile to the others. With his ki, he could move very small objects, the drawbacks though, were that he had to be very close to said objects and they couldn’t weigh a lot.
After that he threw another rock at the torch, this time though with a bit of power, causing the torch to shatter and roll itself out on the ground.
Kazuki lifted some keys from the guard’s corpses. With the guards dead, Kazuki didn’t know if someone would be by anytime soon so he raced past each cell, inspecting them with a glance. It wasn’t long until he found the right one. Trying the different keys, one eventually worked and the door was pushed open. Nunully was similarly chained up the way Kazuki was earlier.
With her head hanging down, she flinched when she heard her cell door open but what she heard next left her flabbergasted.
“I think we’ve overstayed our welcome here, how about you?”
Nunully slowly lifted her head and was greeted by the sight of a guard wearing her mask but the voice that came from him, she recognized immediately.
She whispered in astonishment.
“Ryu…ta?”
Kazuki removed the bronze mask and smiled.
“Who else?”
Kazuki tried a few keys on the chains until one finally clicked. Nunully was now free and she looked into Kazuki’s eyes.
“But how did you escape? Where’s Itsu?”
Kazuki’s voice went cold.
“Itsu is already dead. As to how I escaped, maybe I’ll tell you later but for now, it’s time we leave don’t you think?”
Nunully nodded but then she remembered something and covered her face with her hand.
“My mask, please give it back.”
Kazuki didn’t mind and gave it back.
“They already know your face, so why still wear it.”
Nunully quickly put her bronze mask back on and shook her head.
“No one should have to see such a hideous face.”
“What.”
Nunully said nothing after that but Kazuki was left confused. From all accounts, Nunully appeared to be quite gorgeous, yet she called herself hideous.
Kazuki tucked that away for now and would maybe ask her about it later on.
“Before we escape, I need to know what abilities you have, as they may come in handy.”
Nunully held out a hand and summoned a small orb of water that slowly floated above her palm.
“My element is water, I can summon it and make ice daggers, a fog and I can also heal injuries.”
Nunully took the small ball of water and coated her entire hand into it formed a glove of water. Passing it over her mask, the water glowed for a moment before it sank directly into the mask. A moment later and the water fell out from the bottom of her mask, dyed with a bit of red.
“Did you just fix your nose?”
Nunully gave a small nod.
Itsu had punched her in the face earlier and she had been suffering all this time with a broken nose but it seems that she had just now healed it.
“So your mask is your magic tool. I thought there needed to be a bit of magic gold or a mana crystal embedded within a tool in order to use magic like that.”
Nunully tapped her mask a few times.
“There is magic gold within the mask itself. Should we really be talking about my mask though.”
Nunully was right, It was time to leave.
Kazuki led Nunully out by the hand. Seeing as there was almost no light in that area, only Kazuki could really see.
“Be careful where you step.”
Kazuki walked over corpse after corpse as though they were just logs in a forest. Most might find a hint of guilt within themselves after killing so many but not Kazuki. These people were an obstacle and nothing more. He could have knocked them out but just because you leave someone unconscious doesn’t guarantee that they’ll be out for hours. He may knock one out and then they wake up literally seconds after Kazuki leaves.
Sounding the alarm afterward would be the next step and would defeat the purpose of knocking that guard out in the first place. Kazuki wasn’t a true fiend, full of bloodlust ready to kill for sport but he could not allow anyone to block his path. In the end, these guards had to die.
Fining another set of stairs that led upward, Kazuki and Nunully made their way up. The guards on each floor stood no chance. Nunully would create a fog that blanketed the area, stealing the guards eyesight and Kazuki would sense where the guards were with his ki and hearing before he slaughtered them all without exception.
The two made their way through this prison floor by floor, killing quickly and efficiently. Everyone that stood in their way held no real chance and were dealt with within seconds. After several floors of this,the two finally came out of the prison. Looking around, the two saw that they were on completely flat ground. Behind them was a single door that led downward into the prison but all around them was simply empty space. They stood on a flat surface that stretched a few thousand feet in every direction.
All around them were clouds floating by. Looking up, the moon appeared huge from their point of view. Walking to the edge of this land, the two got a good view of the ground below them. There were many tiny looking things far away on the ground. From here Nunully couldn’t quite make out what they were but Kazuki recognized them immediately as houses and shops from the city of Tresta.
The two were actually on a floating prison in the sky. Kazuki had already figured it out but when he told Nunully she almost collapsed to her knees.
“No way, this, how will we ever get down from here, it’s impossible.”
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