S3:CH8

"Everyone!" Leon said, entering the command chamber of the Royal Barracks of Ravena. General William was there at the side sipping peacefully at his soup, but immediately spilled it on himself when he jumped due to the sudden appearance of a soldier coming from the Red Blood Regiment. "The CSS have hunted down our men! They're headed to Karthus!"

"Itz onez of them redz." boomed the voice of Sir Uriska, who was still outside, and was supposed to guard the chamber.

"You don't say...." General William said, slowly using his hands to wipe off the soup from his cloth. General Lynx then looked at him. "The CSS? But they just helped us find the camp of Clan of Aeryth last night."

"Indeed. But they're here for more than just shifters. They have a massive airship now. They're invading." said Leon, before looking at Lynx.

The new general of the Golden Eagle Guard then thought carefully and looked at Leon. The commanders in the room then sensed the gravity of the situation. Lynx then looked at Leon.

"Follow me." She said,

General Lynx led the way and went out of the Command chamber and into the barracks. The Golden Eagle Guard were training with assassins from the Black Valkyrie Regiment. On the more seperate end, some guards from the GEG were pushing each other for strength training, while the Black Valkyrie Regiment were jumping and flipping on wooden poles and logs that were as high as 15 meters. Lynx then got her horn and blew 3 times. Soon, a large group of Golden Eagle Guards followed her. General William then laid 4 fingers in the air, and some whistles from different commanders soon followed. The Red Blood Regiment squad then followed this big group.

"Commander Leon. We got the comrades ready." said Captain Char. Leon nodded, before realizing something.

"Wait." He said to Lynx. "Why aren't we going to the stables?-"

"Just follow us." The ant lady said.

They arrived at a massive tower that had elegant designs. The Red Blood Regiment soldiers became confused, but once they entered this massive tower, they saw a glowing light inside. It was a circle- no. It was a door... to another place?

It was a portal...

"Come on." General Lynx said, looking at Leon. "I'll deal with the mages by paying them all the Gold needed for this major trip."

-----

A wedding was held in a camp just outside the walls of Karthus. It was for a man named Alkor, and a woman named Anne. Thomas was watching the entire thing, but he was more interested in making sure that no one was watching them. Especially with those...

Shadows from afar were seen from the camp. Thomas immediately knew who they were. She scanned where these people were running. 5 squads on the east. 3 squads on the west. Then that means....

Thomas immediately ducked then choked a person behind him. It was a hooded person with brown hair and an eye-patch. Thomas wasn't able to see if this person was a man or a woman, but either way, it was someone from the Black Valkyrie Regiment for sure.

"What are you doing here?" Thomas sternly asked. The eye-patched person struggled to breathe, but the choke was immediately stopped when a woman with a dagger appeared behind her. "Do something stupid, or I will plunge this blade on your neck." She said,

Thomas let go. And the assassins sheathed their weapons. The person who was choked coughed. Immediately, the girl ran to the eye-patched assassin with a look of worry. "Love, are you alright? Were you hurt? You didn't have any injuries right?" The woman said while holding the person's face.

"I'm fine." The voice was too low pitched to be a girl's, while too high pitched to be coming from a man's. Thomas felt utter confusion as to what to call the person. He looked down, deep in thought. Nevermind. That's not the important thing right now.

"So who are you-" Thomas said as he looked up, only to find the two assassins kissing each other. Shocked by the scene, He let out a gasp. This caught the attention of the couple, who giggled for a bit before looking at him.

"I'm Commander Flor." The woman said to Thomas while caressing her lover's face. "And this is my lover, Commander Chiron. And he's just perfect." Chiron scoffed, while smiling at her. He then looked at Thomas and said, "We've been sent by the general to make sure that nothing goes wrong in this area."

"Well he particularly said that Thomas needs to be protected at all costs." Flor said.

"And you almost stabbed him." Chiron replied.

"I'd rather be arrested for protecting you than watching you die."

The couple embraced each other again, and Thomas was left there with the urge to use the handle on his sword to hit the two assassins on the head. If they were going to do these things, then they would probably need a room... or a coffin if they kept on doing this. Thomas just sighed, but he remembered what Flor said. William ordering the entire Black Valkyrie Regiment to ensure his protection?...

Thomas's face turned slightly red as the thought of his friend using his power to be overprotective towards him soon came about. He turned around from the couple to head to the camp, full of embarrassed feelings.

-----

Commander Chiron let go of his embrace of Commander Flor. There was someone else who was near them now - and it wasn't Thomas. It was a group of armored soldiers dressed in white cloth over some chainmail armor. It was the White Knights. Chiron looked at Tharius. The White General looked at them in a bit of annoyance.

"I was supposed to launch an assault here. I heard Jericho is near these furry scums." Tharius said, with his hands clenching a little.

"Young man." Commander Flor said while smirking at him. "Didn't you hear? The war is almost over. There's no point in fighting these people. It's not like they're attacking anyway."

General Tharius glared at Flor, before looking at Chiron again. "Where are my men?"

"I made sure they weren't hurt." Chiron replied, fiddling with his hands as he said those words.

Sure enough, a group of Black Valkyrie Soldiers appeared holding multiple handcuffed White Knights. Tharius felt angry, but also a bit proud. As more and more handcuffed White Knights came out, the more Black Valkyrie Soldiers were needed to maintain them. It seemed as if they put up a real big fight. Some Black Valkyrie Soldiers were even injured, but no one was injured from the White Knights. This new regiment has indeed come a long way from the first attacks of Ichikari.

When they were let go, they were given back to Tharius. The White General stared, but in the end, he understood what this meant. The Black Valkyrie protecting the Clan of Aeryth was unheard of, even on the deeper parts of the elites. If this was what the Black Valkyrie Regiment is currently doing, then the war is indeed about to end soon. Tharius nodded at the two commanders, and got back to the city to protect the Sovereign University of Vendeaux.

As Tharius turned around, he then saw a familiar person. A Black Valkyrie soldier with a steel knight helmet. It was him. It was General William. They both saluted when they faced each other. "Jericho is not allied with the clan." William said.

With that sentence, Tharius widened his eyes in shock, which made him immediately order his men to move to the city. General William felt the power of the armored soldiers run past him, as if it was a horde of bison running towards him. He was impressed at their skill. It was pure power. But enough about that. His eyes sought Chiron and Flor, who were holding hands.

"It's time." He told them.

-----

She saw the countless libraries and universities around, and the neutral colors of the peasant robes. White Knights marched through the cities, and bells constantly rang, signifying something important going on. When they reached an archway, she immediately got the answer as to why this was the case.

Countless airships flooded the skies. No - these weren't the airships that were used for war. They were trade ships, being investigated by the White Knights and Black Valkyrie Regiment. "You heard of the report? Looks like our good friend Jericho set sail with an airship." William said, while continuing to walk towards the castle. Minthe only looked up to see so many stranded airships just hanging around in the sky. Obviously, the ones who were driving them were pissed at the traffic. They wanted to trade, but this was the perfect opportunity for Jericho to deploy his shifter gasses. By the hands of Solev, hopefully that wouldn't happen.

-----

Constant taps of sticks riddled the air inside an open hall of the Effectivus District in the Sovereign University of Vendeaux. It was Micah and Lake, being trained by a master. They have been training for weeks, and it looked like they were improving very well for this.

"You're strong Micah, but you have to control your strength when making precise strikes." Said the master, parrying all of Micah's attacks. The Head Tracker did his best to attack, but it was always counter-attacked by the master. And from there, it was always the same predictable move for Lake. Immediately, he was disarmed even before he could try that same predictable move of jumping to slash their master.

"Again." The master said, giving Lake back his training stick. Lake thought for a moment on where to strike. The head would be too predictable. The legs would be too risky to try to reach. The master was too agile to try and aim for the arms or hands. Wait. If he cannot attack him....

ok....

Micah got ready in his fighting position. This time, he waited. The master raised his eyebrows. Then he smiled. "Weapons ready." He said, before putting his stick behind him. "Fight!"

The master raised his stick in the air to try to strike down Micah's head, but immediately, like an arrow, Lake dashed towards him and pointed at his stomach. their  opponent immediately parried it and redirected it to the ground, but Micah immediately put his weapon down and spun it to redirect the force of the master's blade to somewhere else. He then struck the master's arm with his stick, and he was already about to hit his head, when he realized that the master was also near his head. If this was a real battle, then they would have been both killed. But someone was missing. It was Lake. And he was behind him, poking his back with a stick.

"You're ready." The master said, looking at them with a smile under his black hood. "Kneel in front of me."

Micah nodded and knelt down in front of him. The master took out his sword, and placed it on Micah's shoulders. "By the light of this kingdom. By the shadow of justice, and the will of knowledge. Sir Micah, you shall now be reborn. As an assassin. As a practitioner of the Arts of Masyaf. You will now be named, Raven - The Karthusian Assassin." the master said, while putting his sword down. "Now stand up."

Raven stood up, feeling all the burden of his past slowly fade away. He had wished that he could share this moment with his comrades, but with the recent events, he had to keep this a secret. Lake didn’t kneel however, making the master a bit confused.

“Lake. We’re about to be knighted.” Raven said. However, the master knew what he was thinking.

“I came here to train. To make sure my brother doesn’t overpower me anymore. Before the CSS attacks here, I wish to stay alive while seeing him.” Lake said, looking at the ground.

“But he’s part of the CSS now.” Raven said, slowly standing up. “You’ll be killing your own brother.”

“I’m not!” Lake said, his voice slowly rising. He scoffed, then looked at the master. “I’m not gonna let that happen.”

“And how the heck are you gonna do that?” asked Raven, while putting his hand gently on his comrade’s shoulder. However, Lake didn’t answer.

"So you finally decided to knight them?" William appeared inside, followed by Chiron, Flor, Izana, and Minthe. "It's time."

The master nodded. They walked from the SUV to the headquarters of the Black Valkyrie Regiment. William walked away from the headquarters. This was part of their plan. They all knew that this day was going to get ugly.

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