Raid: The Blacksmith-Chapter 54: Redemption: Part Three

I step out of my room. Then walk out of the hotel.

"The park nearby closes at ten. It’s passed ten right now, meaning there aren’t any people there so it should do well as a playground."

I don’t take my car, and instead go to it on foot. It takes a little over fifteen minutes.

I then jump the park gates upon arrival, and make my way to a small soccer field nearby.

"Alright, you can stop lurking now."

My statement is responded to with a shadow in the form of a person emerging from the ground a few meters in front of me. The blackness surrounding their body disperses as they reveal themselves.

It’s a man. He’s wearing the same clothes as the one from before, Adder. He’s a tad taller than Adder and has a slightly broader build though. But’s it’s no secret, he’s one of the Twelve Guardian Shadows.

"I can tell from one look how much stronger he is than Adder. A high level A-Rank Shadow is standing in front of me right now."

"When did you notic-"

"From the very beginning, the moment you arrived at the hotel." I answer his obvious question.

"You’ve got keen senses." He says.

"Yeah I only got ’em recently. Seems like they’re on some sort of power-trip. I didn’t even need to activate any of my Skills. Well, it’s either that or...you just suck at hiding your presence."

"Hm...do you know who I am?" He asks, surprisingly unfazed by my taunt.

"How boring."

"I’m sure you’re expecting me not to, but I do. You’re one of the Twelve Guardian Shadows, correct?" I ask rhetorically.

"So you really were able to make him talk. There’s no way you’re really F-Rank then if that’s the case. Then, could it be Rank Falsification? And here on I was sure it was impossible with today’s Rank Measures." He says.

"Trust me, you wouldn’t believe it even if I told you, but it’s not at all what you think."

"Of course, I don’t blame you for thinking that way."

"Hm... That uniform." He says noticing my suit. "I see. So you were working for the Warriors Association this entire time. Is that how you were able to do it? Then...is the Association deliberately investigating us? How much do you know about our operations?"

"Operations?"

"Uhm, no actually, I was only hired recently. Speaking of which, what’s your codename?" I ask.

"Codename?" He says with a confused look.

"Hm? Ah, I had forgotten. They don’t know that the Warriors Association knows about them so they obviously wouldn’t know of their codenames either."

"Never mind. Let’s just get straight to the point. I’m assuming you’re here to kill me, correct?"

"Unfortunately, we’ve been given strict orders to catch you alive." He answers.

"Oh right. Andrew’s the one that wants to kill me."

"Right now. We only want one thing, you see." He says as he looks to the side.

"And what’s that?"

"Redemption."

"Redemption?"

"We’ve failed once before, and a comrade of ours died in the process. We can’t afford to fail again. So we decided to send in someone a lot stronger this time. Someone who could easily get the job done." He says.

"And what makes you think that someone is you?"

"Well...the fact that I’ve already caught you of course."

"Hm..." I say in observation. "Yeah. It really does seem that you’ve already caught me."

"I’m glad we can agree on that much at least." He says. "Now, come willingly. Unless you want to lose a limb or two. The Great Lord said he wanted you alive, not intact."

A scar immediately appears on my neck, cheek and hand. Small amounts of blood start appearing from the marks. The reason? Wires. Steel wires. Or more like threads really. As thin as yarn. Only far stronger. They can probably easily cut any metal clean. A Hyper Grade weapon. The entire field is surrounded by them. There’s even one around my neck. My opponent is obviously the one controlling them. I’m in a position where he can easily cut off a leg or on arm of mine with a simple wave of his finger.

"The old me would’ve been scared, truly..."

"Heh." I chuckle. "How about... No."

"But this isn’t the old me."

"Heed your Master’s call, First Dawn." I say as I conjure out my blade from the Item Space. The blade then materializes, pixelating from my hand.

Seemingly instinctively, my opponent takes a step back.

"The one thing one must never do in a fight."

It goes without saying. He just made a big mistake.

The park is already incredibly quiet, what with us being the only people here. But somehow, that silence only increases the moment I open my mouth. And whisper.

"Sunset Slash."

The blade slides against the wind, glimmering with elegance. With a single slash, one that doesn’t even have a specific target, all the steel wires are turned to shreds.

"Impossible." The Shadow says. "With a single slash? That Special attack of yours, I’ll have keep my guard up around it. It’s clear to me now how you were able to kill my comrade."

"But I’m not the one who did it though."

"Get ready then Raid. This is where the real battle begins." He then takes a battle stance. "I won’t hold back."

"I wouldn’t want you to." I reply as I dash towards him.

*******

In an isolated space called the Shadow Space, of the Twelve Guardian Shadows of the Reinhardt Family, the eleven Shadows that remain discuss among themselves.

"Everyone felt it, right?" The forth strongest Shadow asks, codenamed by the Warriors Association as Pygmy. "Our Shadow Link with number twelve has been severed... I doubt I need to explain what this means."

"Of course not." Says the sixth strongest Shadow, codenamed Rattler. "It means he’s dead, obviously."

"It also means we’ll be joining him soon when the Great Lord finds out we failed our mission." Adds the seventh strongest Shadow, codenamed Boa.

She then continues. "Young Master Zeke has died. If we had been quick on our individual missions, we could’ve came back early to guard him, preventing all of this from happening in the first place. In that regard, we’ve not only failed the Great Lord once but twice."

The rest of the Shadows nod in agreement. They are in a dark and spacious room. In its center, there is a large table with exactly twelve sides, and a seat for each of these sides. One of these seats is vacant. It belonged to Adder.

They all lament at the loss of their comrade and simultaneously cower at the thought of what their Lord will do to them if he catches wind of their incompetence.

"The Great Lord proudly rids himself of failures. He doesn’t take kindly to those who aren’t of any use to him. We need to find a way to rectify this mistake." Says the second strongest Shadow, codenamed Sidewinder.

"I second that." Says the fifth strongest Shadow, codenamed Asp. "We must redeem ourselves."

"Then does that mean...?"

"Yes." Asp answers Boa. "We will not inform the Great Lord of all that’s happened. If we come back running to him with failure rather than results, there’s no telling how he’ll react. Until we successfully capture the F-Rank, we can’t return to the Reinhardt Family household with our heads held high."

"Indeed." Says the ninth strongest Shadow, codenamed Krait. "Number twelve might have been the least skilled one among us, but he was still quite considerably strong. This means that there’s more than meets the eye with this Raid fellow. We must not underestimate him."

"Agreed." Says the eleventh strongest Shadow, codenamed Viper. "We must send someone stronger this time. Someone who can get the job done quickly and with expertise."

"I agree." Says the tenth strongest Shadow, codenamed Mamba. "So I nominate myself. Unless of course, any of you wish to volunteer in my stead."

"No offence number ten but I think somebody much more skilled should take this one. Maybe one of the five strongest." Says the eighth strongest Shadow, codenamed Cobra.

"Then I’ll go." Says the third strongest Shadow, codenamed Sonoran.

No one disagrees. They all know how capable he is.

Then one asks.

"Can you do it?" The strongest out of all the Twelve Guardian Shadows, who hasn’t uttered a single word since this meeting started, finally opens his mouth to ask this question. His codename, Taipan.

The moment he speaks, the entire room falls silent.

The Twelve Guardian Shadows have no leader among them. Only the members of the Reinhardt Family that know of their existence can give them orders.

It’s not because they recognize him as a leader of any kind that they all react this way when Taipan speaks. It’s merely because of his sheer presence.

"Incredible." Praises Sonoran internally. "Number one. The fifth strongest member of the Reinhardt Family. What an overwhelming aura." He then quickly reorganizes himself.

"Yes." He answers. "I’ll deal with it accordingly."

"Alright then." Taipan replies.

"Then I’ll take my leave." Says Sonoran as he leaves the Shadow Space. His body merging with the darkness as he disappears.