13.5: The meeting with the prisioners | Meeting my enemy
I went to the center of what used to be the lunar kingdom with Rolain and the royal guards and asked some servants to bring the prisoners. When they were brought to me, I knew this wouldn't end well. There were men holding them with chains, however, I knew that meant nothing to the two of them, they would go wherever they liked dragging around these men. "Sigh..." As I began to accommodate myself to wait for them to wake up, Azezal quickly opened his eyes and pushed away the person who was holding him. When he gained his footing, he was standing inside of the room I was, the room of audiences.
"Oh my... We guess we won't have to wait until you wake up... Truly outstanding... Azezal."
He looked towards me with eyes filled with caution. Since it's like this, let's set this straight.
"Just to stay clear... We are responsible for your adoptive parents' death..." He didn't speak, but a slight tremor went through his body. I guess that right now he really wants to kill me. However, it's good that he is aware of his surroundings. Although it wouldn't be impossible, it would be hard to kill me with all these guards here. The guards who brought him tried to pull him, but it didn't give any result. He only looked at them for a second before focusing his attention on me. He appeared to be a toddler, not even a year old. However, he has shown to be able to perform unreasonable deeds if you only take into account his harmless appearance. He wore ragged clothes, and even though he should be quite smelly, considering that he had never had the chance to have a shower, he emitted a soft fragrance, differently from his partner Akatsuki. Now it was time to... 'assert dominance' in a certain way. "Stop trying to restrain him... He is stronger than all of you..." I said to the two guards that were still trying to pull him. "However, Azezal, even if you are strong... You are too cautious..." He seemed unaffected by that remark, as if it was nothing new. "But if you weren't, you would be dead right where you stand..." He tried to conceal it, but I could see his eyes widen a little bit, indicating his surprise. He was falling for it. "This room is under our complete control. We could make you kneel right now, but we want a more... Informal air. Well then, if we may keep explaining... even though We have killed your parents, the corpse of your father hasn't been found, so who knows? Maybe he survived!" He slightly trembled, and his eyes shone with hope, which was good, after all, crushing all their hope usually makes people a little bit more... cooperative "But just so you know... If he were to be before us... We would end up killing him, again... And this time, we would do it in front of you so that the image of what happens to those who oppose us gets forever engraved in your mind... We also haven't found your siblings... But it's a matter of time... And when we find him... You will kill them." He trembled violently and clenched his fists. Anger was also a good reaction, but since he believed the prior lie of my "control" over the room, knowing how cautious he was, he would restrain himself. "Get to the point already." The instant he finished his demand, a guard complained "How dare you-" But I interrupted swiftly. "It's okay... we know what you mean, but we thought that it would be tiresome to repeat the same thing twice... Oh..." As I was saying that...
When I woke up, someone dared to hold me in their arms. "Hyah!" I kicked the person in the face and grounded magnificently on the floor as I began asking with authority: "Where am I!?" to my demanding question, a calm voice answered:
"Good morning, Akatsuki... I am responsible for your captivity since you were... 1 year old? 2? I don't care, to be honest." 'So that is my enemy. The person that kept me here. The responsible for or my ordeals!' I couldn't control myself and jumped at him. It was then, that the world began slowing down just a little bit. I could see someone behind the king with a bow, daring to aim at me. He let the arrow go, and I tried to grab it, but instead, it hit me in the arm. "Argh..." I moaned out of pain as silently as I could and gritted my teeth. I wasn't used to this amount of pain at all, however, to maintain my dignity, I did my best to not scream and cry, but sweat was stockpiling in my eyes, and would soon be ready to break out. "To have been shot by an arrow of my personal knight and to still be alive, not even bleeding... the ones who bear the blood of phoenixes are indeed no joke..." The emperor knew about my lineage. However, this was no surprise, as knowing my origin, probably my phoenix blood comes from my heritage. "Well... Now, let's get to the point. we want one of you to become a swordsman, and the other to become a sword." Suddenly, the emperor said something very important. That person told me. To be the sword. I didn't know what they meant, but it was my best choice to help to take down the empire. Azezal began shivering. I didn't know whether it was due to being nervous about this, or another matter entirely, but it was clear that I would become the sword. "What we mean is that one will gather info and give orders, and the other will carry them out" Suddenly, it seemed like Azezal calmed down. It seemed that he thought it was something different. "... Azezal, you will be the sword. Your tremendous battle prowess has lead us to believe that you are the one that must draw blood.
Akatsuki, you will begin to be trained to recollect information, conceal yourself and spy other people. You must explain Azezal everything so that he can carry out a flawless execution.
Understood?" 'Wait, what?... Azezal will be the sword? No... this must be a mistake...' For a brief moment, the idea of killing him to prove my worth to the emperor and becoming the sword flashed through my mind, but a voice interrupted me.
'Don't even think about it.' Eev told me.
'Why not? If I do so I might become the sword?'
'And if you try you might become a corpse.' 'What? What do you mean by that?'
'If he used to beat you without even using his cultivation: if he does, don't you think you are dead?' I couldn't answer that. Because I knew she was right.
"Bring them back to their cages." They tried to pull us, but we didn't budge. "If you know what is good for you, you will cooperate." As he said that, the man behind him drew an arrow.
There was no way that I would cooperate. After getting this far, I finally met the culprit behind my captivity for so many years. I needed to get more, or convince him to become the sword.
Azezal turned to me with a relaxed expression. "Hey Akatsuki, how about..." I glared at him. He may not be nervous because he doesn't know what was at stake, but the position of the sword should have been mine. And to be honest, I wasn't in a great mood after failing to acquire that position AND failing to kill the emperor. "If you don't have anything important to say... then shut the f*ck up, bastard." 'Akatsuki! Don't mess things up like that. He is your only partner. The only person that can really help you out in here.' Eev told me that, trying to avoid incidents 'But he is a commoner.' I answered. Meanwhile, Azezal interrupted our conversation "Do whatever you want. I am going back." 'How can you even be sure that he is a commoner?' 'He isn't too well mannered...' 'Well, you aren't that well mannered either.' 'Argh... Shut up! It's hard to talk in two conversations at the same time, telepathically and orally.' "You are staying, and you will help." I answered to the complaining Azezal. "If you want to do something, do it yourself, I am not your servant." 'He is technically right, he might not even be from your territory. And furthermore, the reason people obey royalty is due to them helping them and having a great army to protect them. You have neither an army, or helped him.' 'Argh...' I was beginning to feel very stressed. Not even Eev was by my side. I felt a little bit alone and betrayed. I looked at the emperor. He was smiling, amused by the show, which stressed me even more. I shouted to Azezal as I was jumping to punch him: "You will!" I ignited my punch with Phoenix flames, but then... Something really strange happened [1]. The next moment I could see, Azezal had been thrown towards the exit, and began rolling backward until coming to a stop. He was unconscious. I looked at the emperor. He looked as confused as me. "But... How...? Why...?" he stopped stuttering for a moment and then he said. "I see... that Azezal indeed can have a trick or two up to his sleeve... Rolain. Do what must be done." The man on the back of the king began tensing his bow and preparing an arrow. 'Akatsuki, if you have to try again to kill the king, this will be your last chance for a while, so hurry up!' I heeded her advice. I began running towards the king, dragging the guys that were trying to hold me back. All the knights tried to surround me, but I punched towards the one in front of me to make him go away. The guy was in an armor, so I couldn't drill his stomach, however, he was tossed towards the wall, and a blue flame began to spread through his body, killing him before he could even touch the wall, leaving only ashes. It was in that span of time, that I sensed something was amiss. The man at the back of the throne, Rolain, was about to shoot. I felt as if time had become a tad slower and tried to grab the arrow. He shot, and then, I grabbed the arrow, almost without knowing how I had done it. The arrow that was in my hand, when it touched the flame that surrounded my fists, it was burnt in the blink of an eye. I jumped at the emperor to punch him, but... "Argh!" It felt as if I had hit a wall. "Sigh... Akatsuki, did you really think that I would meet two prisoners that hate me and that are the strongest prisoners I have... Without any precaution? How naïve..." It was then, that I felt something was going to hit me, and as I predicted, an arrow hit my head and made me lose consciousness. 'He tricked us...' I heard Eev say, as my consciousness was slowly lost.
1: This was something that Azezal planned. She froze her in space and time, but when he lost consciousness, the lock was undone, which would surprise the king and give Akatsuki a chance to try to kill him again. Azezal has another plan ongoing, though it remains unknown whether he will need it or not.