"The hell do you think you're doing?" Grinding his teeth in rage, Quint pulled out a pair of kunai from his waist belt.
"You knew this was gonna happen, didn't you?" Holding the sword pointed towards Quint, Haruki restlessly panted for having finally rebelled against his corrupt group. "This was my fucking village you asshole!"
Clamping his palms tightly around his sword handle, Haruki used his affinity to fire magic to get the blame flaming.
"I'm gonna give you a chance, Haruki," taking a few casual steps, Quint got closer to the rebelling member. "The king needed this land, but the people…they were a bit too stubborn to hand it over. Now, I believe you're not enough of an idiot to go against the king, are you?"
Throwing caution to the wind, Haruki raised his sword and flung it across Quint's shoulder. Frozen in shock that his underling actually tried to hurt him, Quint didn't have the chance to process what had just happened.
"The fuck?!" Screamed Mariya, witnessing the horrid sight.
"His hand…" Watching in horror as Quint's left arm fell to the ground, Grimm's whole body jerked back in shock.
"That's what you deserve, you bastard," still drawing deep breaths, Haruki couldn't himself believe what he'd just done. Gulping down his angst, he began backstepping away from Quint.
Terrified to confront reality, Quint slowly turners his head to look at his severed arm. Upon laying his eyes on the hand laying on the ground, he tried to move its fingers and somehow despite being cut off the hand did what he commanded.
"No, you fucking commoner," his mind still unable to comprehend what'd happened, Quint turned his head to look back at Haruki. "HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!!!"
Finally, as the pain from his arm shot into his head, he could no longer escape the truth about the situation. Covering the bleeding nerves, he found himself gritting through the plain before being brought down to his knees.
"Tell me…" Although visibly shaken by the whole thing, Haruki still wanted to get to the bottom of the situation. "Why the fuck would the king need this village?! There was nothing here but farms, you monsters!"
Tearing up as he spoke, he took a glance around the once-flourishing village. Even now, despite being away for so long, he could remember the streets bustling with lanterns and the chatter of his neighbors and street vendors.
'Those burning bodies, I still recognize them. Why'd they have to burn everyone?! Even the children?!' His anger reignited by the sight, he turned to the other two to threaten them for more answers.
"Did you know about this?!" He yelled, his sword held firmly in their direction.
"Flame whip!" Using her skill, Mariya bound Haruki's hands with the swords till clenched tightly between them. "So what if we knew?! Grimm, kill this fucker!"
With Quint still struggling through the pain, Haruki had substantial faith in himself that he could take on the two without much problems.
"As if I'll let you!" Stomping his feet, he used yet another ability to make his whole body burst into flames. Shunted under the superior fire, the binds on Haruki's hand dissolved as quickly as they'd appeared. "I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU ALL IF YOU DON'T ANSWER ME!"
Dashing toward the duo, Haruki raised his flaming sword over their head. Raising their hands in the trajectory of the blade, they both squint their eyes shut.
"WAIT! WAIT! WAIT!"
"THE KING WANTED THEM DEAD NOT US!"
In his anger, he couldn't tell who was speaking, but the last of their sentences had managed to get his attention.
"WHY?!" He growled like a beast as his body flared further like a phoenix.
"The war! The villagers were against funding the war on Scorchen Gaia and Feral lands so they refused to pay the increased taxes!" Speeding through the words, Mariya bit her own tongue, but Grimm took over right after.
"He wanted to make an example out of them so nobody else tries to go against him again," grabbing Mariya's hand, Grimm began distancing them from Haruki.
"The fucking war? The war that has been going on for who knows how long? That was the reason he had them killed?" Feeling defeated by the lousy logic, the sword in Haruki's hands slipped through his fingers.
The flames, the rage, it all settled down as a sense of woe washed over him. The defeated feeling of losing everything he cherished at the hands of a man who was too cowardly to do it himself, felt…crushing, not only to his mind, but to his soul as well.
'Why the fuck did I pick up this sword for the emperor? For Atlas?' He thought as a pair of kunai stabbed him in the legs. Unfazed by the pain, he fell to the ground.
"YOU! YOU! YOU FUCKING COMMONER!" Stumbling his way to Haruki while covering his mortal wound, Quint glared him down with scorn. "Kill me? Kill us? Like fuck you will."
Stomping on Haruki's face, Quint was enraged further when not even a hint of struggle appeared in Haruki's eyes.
"You're a dead man, I'll make sure of it, I'll ask Marquis…the king, sign your death warrant in my presence," once again stopping on Haruki, he made his head bleed, and yet no sign of emotion appeared on his face. "Your very name will become an insult, and the very people you've been so desperately trying to help will stone you till your death!"
Laying down under Quint's boot, Haruki's mind was broken completely. He couldn't feel the hurt, the physical hurt that is. Through his eyes, he saw the very street he was laying on swarming with the playful laughter of children.
'Why is this happening? Even though I did everything right.' Following that though, another stomp from Quint's boot left Haruki unconscious.
The next he'd wake up, the world around him would've already shifted. His service was smeared with false crimes as well as the crimes he'd witnessed others commit in front of him. And the worst part of it all? Quint did watch over the king's shoulder as he was condemned to death in the court of Marquis Gorgan, the king, the tyrant, and the man who'd stripped everything from Haruki.
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