[SIDE STORY 1 - [C12] RESOLVE

A quarter of an hour later, several fireworks were enveloping the night sky with its bright light. Suna frowned, his eyes looking like his about to grieve.

'...'

He fell silent as he gazed back and forth to his surroundings.

Suna then stared at a blank space, asking for the guard's name.

"Say. I don't know your name yet."

Irkil looked at the old man and answered cheerily.

"I'm Irkil. Just IRKIL."

He gave himself a thumbs up, pointing his thumb to himself.

"Irkil."

The old man looked a bit weathered, always distracted by something deep within his mind.

"Yes? What's the matter, sir?"

Since earlier, he noticed that the old man had been feeling out of it lately as they continued to walk towards the center.

"Are you alright, Sir Suna?"

The old man then questioned as he gazed back at Irkil.

"Say... What if you were made to choose which one to save...?"

"Save?"

Suna turned his head, looking up at the guards' eyes under the menpo.

"Will you save the world and sacrifice half of it including yourself...

Or... Will you let the world perish along with everything else?"

Irkil looked at his eyes; as he looked into the old man's eyes, he saw the deep sadness he wouldn't usually have felt if it were purposely hidden.

Sincerely, Irkil answered. Clasping the old man's hands, he smiled.

"If half of the world could survive... I'll gladly offer my life just so I could save another."

In the middle of the bustling streets, Suna, who once wavered, managed to pull through.

"Thank you. Guard of the Mikoto Family.

...I'll remember your words."

Irkil then took off his helm, brightly smiling at him. His auburn hair and smile that would last for eternity were all that Suna could remember after this day.

*SLASH*

The sound of a slash of silence was neat and precise. Which went across the Guardsman's neck.

Holding his helm to his front, Irkil wasn't aware that his head had already fallen off.

Blood splashed all over the old man's face. Suna looked at his right hand, which had cut off the guard's head as painlessly as he could before looking over the cold corpse of Irkil with its head rolling over the floor and body kneeling over.

He looked dejected as he gazes upon the Haws, Irkil was still holding.

Suna gazes at the stunned crowd, who sees everything he has done.

He looked back at them emotionless and cold. Not a single feeling of remorse was felt in his voice and soul.

"It had to be done."

The crowd was baffled at the sight of Irkil's head rolling over in their direction. Till one of the crowds screamed in a shaky voice, calling for the patrolling guards.

"G-GUARDS!!"

The others screamed in terror, with some calling upon what seemed to be a murder.

"KYAAAAAAA!!"

"M-MURDERER!!"

The crowd started to run in panic; some stood still, pointing their fingers at the criminal covered in fright, waiting for the patrols to rush to the scene.

Fortunately, 3 patrolling guardsmen were surveilling that specific area. Hearing the screams just close to the center district they immediately acted.

Guardsmen who wore a blue "Yoroi" immediately ran towards where the frightful screams were coming from.

But since it was a bit too crowded, the three of them jumped to the rooftops, running through the roofs with their wooden sandals.

One of the leading guardsmen who was running ahead of the two others saw Irkil's body, lifeless on the cold stoned floor.

Right as he stared at Suna's back, facing the Western Gate. Suna turned his neck slightly, averting his gaze, meeting eye-to-eye with the guard.

The guard felt horrified from looking at the old man's eyes; concurrently, he stopped running towards the scene, calling out the other 2 following behind him to unsheathe their katanas.

"Stop! Draw out your katanas!"

He waved his left hand below to his left side. Signaling to prepare themselves to immediately engage in combat.

The other two behind saw his signal, they also saw that his thumb was pressed into his palm.

Upon seeing it, they knew what kind of danger lay ahead. They only had one thing to say in common.

'RED!

IT'S A CODE RED!'

The militia was trained to remember different hand gestures to indicate how dangerous the situation was.

Green is the lowest and much less likely to be life-threatening, Red, which can be said to be an imminent threat to their whole clan.

Niul, who was the first to ever sighted the old man knew full well just from Suna's Divine Aura alone.

'He's extremely dangerous!'

He thought, continuously gasping for air as if he was being suffocated due to the pressure alone being exerted only on him.

Niul looked down to his left and saw another patrolling guard rushing towards Suna, swiftly avoiding the rushing crowd. Niul broke in sweat as he anxiously shouted, warning the danger of his companion.

"STOP!!"

The guard right under their nose, looked at the frightened Niul above the rooftop with a confused expression on his face.

"?"

But as soon as Niul averted his gaze, the old man disappeared, not harming any of the frozen-up civilians.

'?! Where'd he go?!'

The pressure being exerted on him has also vanished alongside Suna's disappearance.

The tense-up muscles and fear he had felt earlier completely evaporated into nothing.

"He's gone! We need to warn the Head!"

However, as Niul shouted, the 2 others behind him were completely unresponsive. Worried about their unresponsiveness, he immediately looked to his back and saw no one but himself standing on top of the roof.

Niul was baffled and confused as to what had just happened.

'What's going on?...'

He continued to look back to where the other guard below him was and saw the same thing.

Nothing.

His heartbeat kept palpitating, his eyes trembling and wandering. Suddenly, he felt a chilling aura right in front of him.

Niul hesitated to look for what was in front and continued to wander his trembling gaze to both of his sides until, eventually, he had no choice but to look.

The street fell silent along with the moon that shone gloriously into the night, partially blocked by passing clouds.

Right as he looked to his front, he saw the old man Forty steps of distance away from him. Aloof and motionless he stared back at Niul.

*BLOWING WIND*

A sudden gust of wind blows removing Suna's hood. But after seeing his face, Niul's beliefs collapsed as he saw someone familiar standing in front of him.

"I-impossible..."