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Return of the Fallen Volume 2 Chapter 19

Author: Blue_Rat

ch19

The chief bowed deeply as he made his request. The hundreds of villagers followed suit and bowed one by one, all in hopes of gaining Kazuki and the other’s help.

Voices sounded out one after another, each one pleading, begging for help.

“Brave warriors, please!”

“Young masters.”

“Heroes, we beg of you.”

Kazuki turned to Asuna.

“I don’t mind helping them but if you truly wish to abandon these people, I guess there’s no helping it.”

Turning around to leave, Kazuki headed for the exit but only a step later, Asuna had grabbed his arm.

“I’ll help, of course I’ll help them but I will not kill a child and her mother. Promise me you won’t either.”

Kazuki shook his head.

“A child that’s capable of toppling buildings and killing any one of us is no longer just a child. Therefore I can’t promise you that I won’t kill her.”

Asuna felt downtrodden and bitter before Kazuki added.

“But if it means that much to you and we can do it without anyone getting hurt then I promise I will do my best to capture them instead.”

These words weren’t anything special but Asuna’s heart was warmed by them. She felt that Ryuta had changed recently and was becoming colder and colder but hearing this promise of his was comforting and reminded her that Ryuta was still Ryuta.

*Ahem*

“Can you two stop being so flirty for a moment and recognize that somethings off?”

Shin staggered to his feet, with his dizziness finally faded, he grabbed the chamber wall and stood up. His eyes regained their sharpness and a bit of his energy had returned.

Shin could tell the two didn’t know what he was talking about and just spit it out.

“Have you two not found it odd. That thing’s screech seemed to come from just outside this cave.”

Kazuki and Asuna were still unsure of what he was trying to say.

“Don’t you get it? If that thing was just outside the cave then why the hell hasn’t Sam and the others come running in here. Especially since we now know that blackbird is Mei and Tsura. Something must be wrong!”

Shin said nothing else and tried to head for the exit but he was still not feeling well and stumbled forward. Kazuki and Asuna though were both struck with the same awful feeling.

The two didn’t hesitate as they rushed past Shin and made their way out of the cave in no time.

A few villagers wanted to chase after them and continue pleading with them but the chief got in their way.

“Chief, why are you stopping us?”

“There’s no need to follow them. If my guess is right since the rest of their friends were waiting out there with Mei and her mother and Mei transformed, it probably means there was a fight. If this is so then these young warriors and Mei have now become enemies. We will no longer need to ask them to help because they will volunteer on their own.”

“Chief, how can you be so sure?”

The chief thought for a moment.

“These young heroes still need to get out of this forest and so too does Mei and her mother Tsura. I did not tell these heroes I had a map so it must have been Tsura who leaked it. Even if we don’t make a move, I believe Tsura will believe that they have the map and she will attack them for it. The two groups will now clash with one another no matter what.”

Outside the cave, Kazuki and Asuna found a small battlefield. The ground was smashed inward in dozens of spots as though someone had dropped boulder after boulder all over the place. A few trees had been broken in half and one had been uprooted entirely. What was worrisome was that there was no one in sight, yet on the ground, there were a few places covered in blood.

Asuna’s body trembled and she began shouting as loud as she could.

“Sam! Sam! Kimi! Anyone!”

Kazuki as well called out.

“Nunully! Sam! Danny! Kimi! Where are you!?”

“Over here!”

A few hundred feet away, at the edge of the forest Nunully appeared and was supporting Sam. Asuna saw them and raced forward. Without care for her Magic, she teleported 3 times almost instantly before running the rest of the way. She arrived faster then Kazuki and threw her arms around Sam. Her nerves were a complete mess.

“I saw the blood and I…I.”

Asuna’s tears flowed like a fountain. She hadn’t been too worried until she saw all of the blood.

Kazuki appeared only a second later and saw that Sam’s face was pale white. At his side his arm dangled uselessly, it was clear to see that it was broken and leaking blood. Even Nunully was covered in wounds.

“What the hell happened?”

Nunully’s body visibly shook in fear as she explained.

“It was them, those two, mother and daughter were the Mangshi. Danny was still suspicious of them and grilled them with questions and eventually cornered them. Sam approached them and the little girl snapped. The next thing I knew Sam was sent flying backward into the side of a tree. We all tried to fight back but Mei was too strong.”

Kazuki looked around and noticed Danny and Kimi were both nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s?”

Before Kazuki finished his sentence, Sam shouted over them.

“Gone! Taken and I could do nothing to stop them. Kimi, they took Kimi and she was hurt so bad, I have to find her, Ryuta you have to help me, we have to find her before it’s too late. I…I.”

Kazuki had never seen Sam so worked up before. He was visibly shaken to the core. Not from battle but from Kimi’s kidnapping.

Placing a hand on Sam’s shoulder, Kazuki passed him some ki to calm him down and help with his arm.

(Damn, the tendons in his shoulder are barely hanging on by a few sparing strands of tissue. The nerves in his shoulder must be screaming in agony.)

“Don’t worry, we’ll find her and Danny as well, but first we need to help treat you.”

Sam used his good hand and slapped Kazuki’s away.

“No, don’t worry about me. We need to find Kimi and we need to find her now. I don’t care about my stupid arm, just help me look.”

Asuna grabbed Sam’s head and turned it toward her. Staring directly in his eyes she spoke with determination.

“Sam, Ryuta is right, we have to treat your wounds first. You preventing us is only slowing us down and delaying us from searching. If you want Kimi back, the first thing we need to do is to make sure you’re not a liability to us. If we go into the fight and we have to worry about you constantly, then our loss is already guaranteed.”

Asuna’s tears began to well up once more and she hugged Sam again.

“We’ll find her, no matter what, we’ll find her.”

Sam’s bottom lip quivered slightly before he looked to the sky. A single tear fell from his eye, as he felt such heartache and sorrow. Never before had he felt something so gut-wrenching and yet right now there was absolutely nothing he could do. A strong feeling of uselessness ran through him further pulling his heart down to the pit of his stomach.

“Sam, there’s no need to worry for now. Since Kimi and Danny were taken alive that can actually be considered good news.”

Everyone looked at Kazuki with a blank expression and Kazuki continued.

“They still need our help and they’ll probably assume we have the map now. Since they didn’t kill the two, that means they are most likely holding them for leverage so they can make a trade with us. As long as we have the only map, they won’t kill Kimi and Danny. I’m sure they’ll call out to us to meet and settle things.”

Nunully though wasn’t so sure.

“I don’t get it, those two can fly, can’t they see very far or just fly above the tree line and find their way out, why do they need a map in the first place?”

Kazuki wasn’t for sure but he did have a small guess.

“It may have to do with that Magnitium rock. Maybe our thinking about them was too simple and it’s not only something that blocks their senses but maybe it also literally blocks them from leaving this forest. For them to so desperately want out of here and not leave when they can fly, there has to be something more to it.”

Kazuki carried Sam and Asuna carried Nunully and the four entered the cave. Clearing a space for them, the villagers laid out a bit of bedding for them. Nunully wasn’t in too terrible of shape and only had a sprung ankle and minor cuts and bruises. Sam, on the other hand, had once more taken a beating. His arm dangled at his side and was nearly severed. Looking at the surface of his skin alone gave clear indications at how close he was to losing it.

The skin on his shoulder had unnatural wrinkles from where the arm was stretched past its limit. A dark purplish-black bruise where tissue damage and blood vessels had burst under the surface left nasty marks behind. Not only that, he had deep cuts all over his back, from large talons. The exposed inner flesh could be seen moving every time he lifted his arm or turned.

Nunully ignored her own wounds and set to work on Sam’s.

Although this was a terrible situation, many of the villagers couldn’t help but notice Nunully’s beauty. Seeing her elvish pointy ears none of them felt disgusted and only saw them as charming or cute. Nunully wasn’t used to so many eyes on her and felt a bit of unease at some of the lustful glares.

Kazuki laughed inwardly.

(Should I help her out a little.)

Clearing his throat loudly, Kazuki drew everyone’s attention.

*AHEM!*

All eyes suddenly focused on him.

“Chief, about your problem, I will handle it.”

The villagers began to grow excited and started to cheer but Kazuki’s next words left them feeling unsure.

“I will do it but first you need to tell me everything about the Mangshi, everything about your village and everything about Magnitium.”