The Assault on Dusho

It was two years ago.

The sun was starting to set over the large city full of people. The target, a woman named Synthia whose a descendant of the Leader of Hope, is said to be there. Getron wanted to ensure he got her, so he sent his most trustworthy person to track her down, Himitsu, the Reaper. Only people in the Sealed knew of his real name, the whole world gave him the name of Reaper for his fierce reputation.

People feared the man whose skill is unmatched. He's defeated entire armies on his own and burned whole towns to the ground. Sedar and Cheral have joined on him on many missions, and he certainly lives up to the name.

It's been months since he was first sent to track her down, and only a month ago since he sent a message telling the Sealed of her whereabouts. She was in the town of Dusho, the town that will soon be burned to the ground.

"Kill anyone who fights back," Sedar says to the group of over a hundred soldiers, "Burn the whole city down if you have to, do not let our target escape! She has bright pink hair so she shouldn't be hard to find, now go!" He swings his sword to point it towards the center of the city where a ginormous dome theater lay. With those words the soldiers all take off charging towards the city.

Sedar joins heading to the front lines. Soldiers near the town's edge take notice and quickly run to their barracks to gather more troops. Though many soldiers appear, they're not enough to stop the Sealed from breaking through them. Sedar makes the first strike, swinging at the closest one. They block it, but the force of his swing allows him to swing again before they can recover. With a slice across the body they fall to the floor.

Using the shield on his left forearm he blocks in incoming jab from a spear and kills another with a downward slice. The other soldiers fall just as quickly and only a few of Sedar's men are killed, a few injured but able to fight.

"You guys," He says pointing to a group, "Stay here and start checking the buildings, if she isn't in there, burn it down," They nod and quickly head inside the nearest ones, "You guys head further into the city with me," He says pointing to the rest of them.

They come across a pair of soldiers running further into the town.

"Cheral, boomerang!" Someone yells. A giant guillotine axe suddenly goes barreling through the air towards the men. Wind suddenly surrounds the blade, propelling it forward and it quickly plows through the soldiers, cutting them clean in two. The axe then comes back around and Rwel catches it with his hand. He gives Cheral a smile and a thumbs up. She nods in response as they continue to make their way through the town.

"She's probably in there," Sedar says nodding towards the theater. People around them are now all running in terror, buildings around the edge of town are soon caught ablaze.

"You guys get in there and if she's in there keep her there," He commands a majority of the soldiers with them, "We'll secure the outside to ensure there's no escape. Rwel, Cheral, come with me, we'll get in the south side, you guys, west, you east, and you guys north," As all the soldiers split up Sedar Rwel and Cheral head inside a large two story fort. Two men inside have swords drawn. trying to shield the other people inside.

"Drop the weapons and we'll let you live," He says coldly holding up his axe. They drop their swords, so the three of them step aside from the doorway allowing them to leave.

"You're so sexy when you're serious," Cheral flirts after all the civilians leave. Rwel looks away as he lowers his axe, unable to respond.

"Cheral focus, we have a mission to do," Sedar says as he starts checking the fort for Synthia. Nothing. They leave, setting a fire inside it. Going from building to building, fighting, sparing if they don't fight, checking, and burning. The sun has almost disappeared behind the mountains now, but all the fires keep the city bright. They get to their fourth building when a soldier comes running up to them.

"W-we...We found her!" They say with winded breath, "Reaper's with them, they're on the main stage in the theater!" He shouts over the roars of the growing war around them.

"What do you mean Reaper's with them?"

"He's with the target and two others sir, he's fighting along side them. He's plowing through our-" He gets interrupted by a piercing howl that forces everyone to cover their ears. Once the sound fades away the four of them head for the theater. They barge through the front doors, entering the main hall. They go to enter the house but stop at the doors when they hear screams and things being thrown around.

The three of them all look at each other, utterly baffled. What the hell is happening on the other side of the doors? They all quickly back away and ready their weapons as screams and clanging of metal grows closer. Then, it all dies down with only the muffled crackles of fires and scream being the only sounds breaking the silence. They all jump back when the doors break open, coming off their hinges. A large creature comes charging into the room, roaring. It snarls at the four of them, who are all frozen from a mix of fear and complete and utter shock.

The flicker of the torches shows several fresh cuts under its thick fur coat. It's yellow eyes seem to glare into them as it closely examines them. Before any one can react it lunges at the soldier, pinning them to the ground in seconds and tearing into them with its razor sharp teeth and claws. Sedar manages to steel himself and take a swing at the monster, his sword plunging into it's side partly.

The thing doesn't flinch in the slightest and simply stops tearing into the soldier and turns to him. Sedar quickly pulls his sword out but before he can back away the creature picks him up by his throat. It's iron grip around his neck makes it hard to breath as Sedar drops his sword, trying with all his might to pull open it's claw. It's stares into his terror-filled eyes as it snarls, it's dagger sized teeth mere inches from his face.

Something about it's expression seems to change for a split second before it lets go of him, a thud as he falls onto the floor. The creature runs out of the theater and into the town.

"What the hell is-ah!" The screams of Sealed soldiers quickly start filling the night air, and the creature's roars overshadow those of the fires. The three all look at the soldier's torn up body before looking at each other once more. Sedar quickly gets up, grabbing his sword, and the three of them run out into the crumbling town. Them and a few other lucky soldiers manage to escape and set up base in the nearby woods.

"What the hell was that thing?" Cheral asks worryingly as they sit by the fire. No one responds as they stare into the fire, trying to forget what they saw.

"A-a monster," A soldier says with a shaky voice, "I saw it, eating a person...not even a soldier, just some person I had spared..."

They all look towards the city which is almost entirely burnt to the ground, the top part of the theater now crumbling down.

"Anyone see Reaper?" Sedar asks. Everyone shakes their heads in response.

...

"What happened to him?" Des asks, seemingly unmoved in anyway from the story.

"He died," Sedar replies sternly as he pokes the fire with a stick, "Only us, a couple soldiers, and the people we spared were the survivors of our attack, and the monster's,"

"Did you ever find out what it was?"

"Nope, but we haven't encountered it since luckily,".

After talking some more they all lay down little mats of woven hay and lay down. Des and Rwel fast asleep quickly, but before Sedar can fall asleep he sees feet step in front of him.

He looks up to see an upset Cheral looking down at him. She signals for him to come with her. Reluctantly he gets up and walks over a bit away towards the woods so they cant be heard.

"Why does Des have a seal?!" She loudly whispers.

"...What are you talking about?"

"You know damn well what I'm talking about. Back when I first met him in the kitchen, I sensed something was off, but I thought maybe one of sealed soldiers just happened to be walking by in the hall on the other side of the wall, but hearing how he talks and responds, I can tell. Not to mention, I noticed the bump in his shirt, very sneaky of you guys. Why did Getron have you guys put a seal on Des, he's a kid for god's sake!"

"Quiet down. Look..." He looks away for a second, letting out a sigh, "I'm not too happy about it either, but he needs to have it on,"

"Needs to have it on? Sedar, don't tell me you guys stole him from some village you guys had been sent to pillage. It's one thing to kill a kid, but to make one a brain dead slave and have them fight in this war?

"I know, I know! But we didn't take him from a village, we found him by chance,"

"By chance?"

"Look, he's no ordinary kid, he's...he's one of the Warriors of Hope,"

"What?! You can't be...you're serious, you're totally serious. Oh my god, we have a Warrior of Hope and he's just being mind controlled," She says running her hair through her hands, "Sedar, we can't just let him be a slave to Hex and Getron, how is he suppose to end the war if he's not even in control of his own actions or thoughts?!"

"I don't know! That's why when we get to the fort, I'm going to take it off, alright? But I don't want to take it off right now while we're so close to the central of the Sealed or just out in the middle of nowhere. I just hope he'll stay with us...we really need someone like him," He says with a troubled look, rubbing his chin.