Moonlight Revelation

[Luneth22]

The next few days, Yuki always found Yu already in bed by midnight. When she attempted to ask him of his whereabouts, all she got was a vague answer. Angered by his apparent nonchalant behavior, she eventually refused to sleep with him.

Her attempts at tracking Yu proved futile, for he had managed to cover his tracks with the ease of a ninja. Yuki, however, had not trained in ninjutsu, and always got stuck in the undergrowth.

Yu…what are you up to? Why won’t you tell me?

Yu may be keeping something from her, but Yuki was doing the same, holding secret the fact that Abigail was reforging his sword. Luckily, the forge was located some distance away and Yu never suspected anything.

Meanwhile, back at the healing springs, Yu examined his right arm. The discolored bruises have been steadily fading, and he could close and open his fist. Although bending his arm was still slightly an issue, he no longer felt any pain.

“Your healing rate is amazing…even with kuji-in, I’ve never seen anyone recover that fast.” Hana remarked.

“Im that lucky, I guess.” Yu replied, though he knew that wasn’t the case. Though he was “free” of the sinister Mark of Ergon, it seemed that it had left him with some curious regenerative abilities.

He was almost there. Soon, he would be able to fight once more. As he made to leave the spring, he felt a prickling sensation on his neck, and glanced at his surroundings.

“Saw something?”

“No…I think I was mistaken…” Yu said, as his gaze trailed off. He had learnt to trust his insticts, and something was wrong. But what?

He looked up into the sky and realized that it had turned a pale gray, with storm clouds on the horizon.

“Seems we lost track of time..its going to rain cats and dogs soon! I’d hurry if I were you.” Hana said, helping Yu finish wrapping the new set of bandages around his arm.

Nodding his thanks, Yu pulled on the wide brimmed straw hat he received from his ninja partner and made his way down.

***
On the crest overlooking the village where Yu lived, five hooded figures stood, glancing at the settlement. One of them approached the figure at the front.

“Is this the place?”

“…There’s no doubt. My sources have been extremely reliable. This is where he resides now.”

“So then…what are your orders?”

“Lay waste to everything. Force the pathetic humans to reveal Yu’s location until he comes out of hiding…”

The figure bowed and signaled to the three others behind him. One by one, they vanished in a swirl of dark energy.

The lone person remaining withdrew her hood and drew her weapon – a chainsaw black as night, etched with various runes. She glared at what was before her, before allowing herself a satisfactory smirk.

“Time to have my revenge.”

 

[0VincentRayne0]

ASTRID
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​

There was a knock on one of the villager's door. The people of the home answered and saw a man with black eyeliner and short hair standing at the door.

"Who are you?" The man of the house asked and the stranger smiled.

"There is a gathering in the center of the village. It would be in your best interest to attend." With that the stranger walked away and moved on to the next home. The man that answered the door and his wife went to see what was happening in the center of the village. When they arrived most of the villagers had already been gathered. In the middle of the confused and worried crowd were about a dozen more outsiders.

"All of them talking at once is giving me a headache." Astrid said rubbing her fingers against her temples. The man that was going from house to house finally stepped beside her, done with his task.

"Are you sure it's the noise of the crowd that is giving your head pain? I think putting up with Amy would cause anyone strife."

Amy was a different than everyone in Astrid's group. She was obsessed with the pop music, anime, and video games that came from Earth. Pretty much anything that involved electronics and entertainment had her immediate attention. She was more particularly interested in anything that came from or had to deal with Japan. Even now, after climbing from the bottom up for several years, she was a successful popstar in Japan and was even well known around the world and arguably had the largest fan base of any other current artist.

"Are you sure it's okay for her to be in on our operation? She doesn't see eye to eye with the others." The man asked again.

"Sid, you worry too much. Everything has been planned out carefully and all possible options explored. In fact Amy is a very valuable asset to us. The fact that she has so many loyal fans will benefit us when we need them." Astrid explained.

"And what about gathering the others?" Astrid put up a finger.

"Can we just focus on one thing at a time. For now we deal with removing an immediate threat." Astrid saw her sister moving towards the middle of the crowd while holding up her hand and everyone grew silent. Rebecca was hard to get along with at one time. In essence the girl was worse than Amy in her views of humans. Even to the point of coming to earth to observe them and collect data to prove that they were a race that could be talked to and could live in harmony with other races. But then she was almost killed by the very man they were tracking now. Yamase Yu had taken Rebecca's eye and pierced her heart. He had left her for dead. Luckily Rebecca required further steps to fully be vanquished. Astrid's sister had been recovered and through magic was given a new eye. And with the new eye was born also a hatred for Yu. Yu also killed any personality of kindness or morals the girl had before as well. Rebecca personally wanted to slowly make Yu suffer and die a painful death.

In truth Astrid was a little jealous of her younger sister. People seemed to he much more intimidated by the silent type rather than someone with a short temper. Astrid guessed the reason was that if Rebecca did something out of anger it was sudden and unexpected. Where with Astrid there was foreshadow with her anger coming forth first followed by whatever actions she took.

"People of this village," Rebecca began "we have gathered you here to inform you that there is someone that resides in or around this place. He has been on the run for a while. We have very reliable intel that points to this village being his current resident." Rebecca brought out a large photograph of a man. An immediate murmur broke out among the villagers. Rebecca held up a hand and once again there was silence. "This man, Yamase Yu, is a wanted man. He has a very outstanding warrant for the killing of many men and women of secret agencies as well as being one of the main conspirators of the terrorist organization that attacked a city in England prior years before. He is a very dangerous man and a reward would be given to anyone that aided in his capture. It is believed he may have a female accomplice as well. She is also to be arrested for questioning. Remember that this man is an international criminal and a terrorist and with your aid he can finally be arrested and charged for his crimes." Sid leaned towards Astrid.

"Your sister is a good speaker." Astrid nodded.

"That's the main thing that she's known for. No one has seen her fight because she goes for a person's main weakness." Astrid tapped a finger against the side of her head. "She knows how to get into anyone's head. And she won't hesitate to beat someone from the inside-out."

 

[Luneth22]

There were murmurings amongst the crowd, most of which recognized Yu’s portrait. Some of the villagers visibly shrank in fear, whilst others bore confused expressions on their faces, unsure of whether to believe in the facts Rebecca had just spoken. But doubt had been sewn amongst their hearts, and Rebecca could see that.

“If you hand him over without resistance, I can promise you all that a generous reward will be given from our leader.” She continued, as arguments started to break out. Eventually an old woman called out for silence, and stepped forward to face her.

“Whoever you are looking for is not in this village. Leave us be.” Obasan said. Rebecca just stared at her coldly.

“Hand Yamase Yu over and your people will be safe.”

“From people like you? Never!” Obasan raised her cane and hit Rebecca’s left leg, but she didn’t flinch. Instead, her eyes flashed and the next instant the old woman fell to the ground. None of the villagers stepped forward to help her, fearful of suffering the same fate.



“Should we tell her? I don’t want to die…”
“He’s a criminal all this while? No wonder he had that shady look about him..”
“We should have never accepted him in the first place!”

The noise level rose again as the villagers bickered amongst themselves, as Rebecca allowed herself to smile slightly. The humans’ hearts were weak, still. All it takes is a little push.


Additional footsteps were heard and everyone turned towards Yuki, who was striding down the path.

“What’s going on? Why is everyone gathered…” she then saw the figures in front of the villagers and froze upon seeing someone familiar. Her expression turned to one of utter shock, as Astrid grinned maliciously and stepped forward.

“Long time no see, Mizumo Yuki.” Astrid gestured towards Rebecca, who pointed a finger at Yuki.

“She is the accomplice I mentioned earlier who assisted Yu in hiding.” Rebecca said, and the villagers gasped.

“What are you talking about? Yu isn’t here. If you’ve come to stir up trouble, please leave us now!”

Even as she said so, Yuki readied one hand on the handle of her katana. Back then, when she fought Astrid in the ruined halls of Arachnid Academy, she was almost overwhelmed by her strength. Seeing her again out the blue left her speechless.

“Yuki, how could you do this to us? Harboring a criminal without our knowledge…”
“You’ve endangered us all!”
“Yeah, that’s right!”

Yuki looked at the crowd with desperation.

“You guys believe all that to be true? They don’t have a single piece of evidence to back up their claim!” she said.

“Oh I assure you, we do have evidence. Rebecca, if you please.” Astrid gestured.

Reaching into the folds of her robe, Rebecca pulled out a oval shaped device and pressed a button, which projected out a holographic footage. As it played, the color visibly drained from Yuki’s face.

The footage was of Yu murdering innocent civilians during the Human-Ergon battle. While Yuki knew of his actions then, witnessing them first hand was another matter altogether.

After a moment Rebecca switched the projection off and swept her arms outward in a gesture of triumph.

“People…after seeing this, do you truly believe me now? Yamase Yu is a menace to be exterminated. He will eventually reveal his true colors and kill you all.”

At this, the villagers didn’t hesitate any longer. Two of them grabbed hold of Yuki while the rest fanned out to search for Yu. As Yuki struggled in the villagers’ grip, Astrid walked up to her.

“You seem pretty happy, living out your pathetic life.” She says, and slaps Yuki across her face.

“These four years, I’ve never forgotten how he turned his back on us. I still don’t know why Evelyn chose him…a human! Then all she got in return was her death.” Astrid seethed, backhanding Yuki again. Grabbing her face, she drew nearer.

“Tell me where he is.”

In response, Yuki quickly rear kicked the two villagers holding her hostage and spun away. She had barely gotten out her sword when it made contact with Astrid’s chainsaw. Metal grated against metal, before they broke from each other.

Amy and Sid advanced slowly, but Astrid held out an arm.

“I got a personal score to settle with her. You two go search the village.”

“Ive got a concert in two hours. This better be quick.” Amy muttered, as she and Sid leapt over Yuki. She tried to stop them, only to meet Astrid’s chainsaw again. The force of the blow knocked her to the ground.

Astrid leapt upon her, determined to land the fatal blow, but was blocked by two blades crossed on top of each other. She cursed and retreated.

“Who?!”
Gabriel stood before Yuki, a smile on his face. He slipped into a reverse Two Heavens stance, all the while keeping his gaze on Astrid.

“I didn’t ask for your help.” Yuki said, getting up.

“Sheesh, cut me some slack already! Im sure you got more important things to tackle. I’ll handle the chainsaw babe – you take care of the ones with her.” Gabriel charged at Astrid before Yuki could respond, and she turned and ran, hoping she wasn’t too late.

If they find Abigail, its all over…