Lianne shot upwards as a distant explosion rang out from the hallway. She quickly glanced around, the light in the room flickering. Sirius hastily got to his feet, scanning the area. Lianne grunted and got up as well, touching a hand to her arm. She braced herself against the wall, shaking her leg out. He looked back at her, putting his hand out.

“You still shouldn’t be moving.”

“I think there’s bigger concerns.”

He sighed and nodded.

“Do you think that was him?”

Lianne grimaced at the thought.

“Maybe, I don’t know.”

She took a look around, examining the decrepit state of the architecture.

“We have to move, this place is unstable and there’s things around here we don’t want to get caught by.”

“Like what?”

“You don’t want to find out.”

She walked towards the stairs, relieved her leg wasn’t hurting as much as before. Her arm was still healing, the muscles just beginning to weave themselves back together over the wound. She felt so tired, but that really couldn’t be helped right now. Her mind wandered back to the fight with Merrick. How did she not even get a hit in? It was just like before, when he beat her into the dirt. Lianne grit her teeth and shook her head, trying to avoid thinking about it. Sirius took another look at her and his eyes widened.

“Lianne your eye, it’s-”

She touched her hand to her face, realizing it must be back to normal now.

“What? You thought it always glowed?”

“Well, yeah I guess.”

She shook her head and continued up the stairs. The hallways were still dark, the dim candles flickering silently. Lianne walked while holding onto her arm, following the path they came from. She kept watch on each and every entrance, looking for possible attackers. The sound of the outside reached her ears as they approached. Lianne paused, listening closely. Sirius walked up behind her, his movements slowing as he also listened.

“Do you smell that?”

“... Fire.”

He walked in front of her, quickly moving towards the stairs. Lianne followed and realized the sounds weren’t of a normal marketplace, they were screams. Sirius’s pace quickened as he bolted up the steps. Lianne startled at his sudden movement and ran after him.

“Wait, what are you doing?”

He didn’t respond and quickly drew his sword from his back as he emerged from the underground. Lianne came out after him, taking in her surroundings. The marketplace was in chaos, people crying and fleeing from the burning buildings around them. There were armed men in the streets fighting amongst each other, slaughtering anybody who came near. Lianne’s eyes widened, there was no way Merrick could’ve set this all up, at least she didn’t think that he would do something like this. She drew one of her swords, eying the men on the streets.

Sirius rushed ahead of her and into the open pavement. Lianne cursed and went after him, hoping he knew what he was doing. A man rushed at him, weapon over his head. He didn’t have a chance to swing before Sirius sliced his throat open. Lianne watched Sirius effortlessly parry another attack from another man and then cut deeply into his attacker’s chest. Lianne stepped forwards and sliced into the back of a man rushing at Sirius who already was prepared for them.

A roar came from behind Lianne, and she barely turned around in time to block the attack from the sword with her own. She fell back, not being able to catch herself with her still injured arm. The man reared up again, but was interrupted by a sword entering his chest. Sirius kicked the man off of his blade and stood guard in front of Lianne, his blade pointed to the small group of men before him.

“You okay?”

She nodded and pushed herself to her knees. Sirius charged back in, blocking an attack aimed at a woman protecting her child. She watched him quickly cut off the assailant’s hand and follow up smoothly into a slash across their stomach. Lianne watched him, realizing that she should’ve been more afraid of Sirius when they first met; he was good at this, really good. Each time he attacked no movement was wasted and he didn’t hesitate at any opening. Every single opponent didn’t get more than one strike out before they fell to his blade. He looked so natural, so calm.

There were multiple bodies at his feet in just a few seconds, his sword splattered with blood. He knelt down to the woman beneath him, offering her his hand.

“Are you injured?”

The woman looked up at him, holding onto her child who cried into her shoulder.

“N-no. I- thank you, thank you so much.”

Sirius nodded and helped her up, holding his sword down towards the ground.

“Find somewhere safe, maybe a carriage fleeing the town, It won’t be safe here for a while.”

She nodded and held her child close to her chest as she moved away quickly. Sirius quickly scanned around, wiping the blood from his sword and face. He turned to Lianne, motioning to the street.

“Come on, we need to move.”

She got up to her feet, looking up to the smoke which billowed into the sky.

“Why would you move towards the fire?”

“We need to figure out what’s going on and save the people we can.”

“Do we?”

Sirius’s eyebrow furrowed as he looked at Lianne.

“I do. Anyways, this is our best shot at finding the target again, this all could be connected to them as well.”

Lianne paused for a moment, considering that. It was true, what else would warrant something like this? Sirius examined his sword, twirling it around.

“This is a full on assault.”

“Huh?”

“Look at the smoke, there’s fires all around, multiple teams would’ve been sent to light those, and that explosion we heard was probably the signal. It’s definitely bandits, but I don’t know what group would set their sights on a town like Genstem.”

Lianne nodded and stole a glance at Sirius. He was acting different from before, the tone of his voice, the posture of his stance, they all were more measured and deliberate. He was more focused, and somehow seemed more placid. Sirius shook his head and moved down the street, his sword ready.

“It’s too much of a coincidence for this to happen on a whim, we’re caught in the middle of something big, someone’s plans.”

He checked back on Lianne.

“You coming?”

She sighed and walked forwards.

“Yeah.”

He moved quickly across the pavement which was now littered with debris of destroyed stands and spilled goods. Lianne followed after him, still unsure what his objective was. Where was he headed? Hell, why was she following him? He was probably right now that Lianne thought about it; all of this had to have been planned out. She got why someone would want to burn this place to the ground, but who would have the power to do it?

Sirius pushed his way past the debris and further into the fire. A man charged at him from a corner but was cut down before he even swung. Lianne stepped over the man’s body as blood gurgled from his throat. She kicked his hand away as he reached up feebly, his eyes staring up into the sky. Sirius kept walking forwards, his sword ready.

He stopped, holding his hand up by his head, signaling Lianne to stay still. She slowed her pace and moved beside Sirius. A group of men ran by, brandishing their weapons and shouting. There were at least 10 of them, and they were all headed to the outskirts of the city. Sirius motioned for Lianne to follow, slinking out of cover and trailing the group. She took a moment to catch up to him, speaking under her breath.

“Why are you following them?”

“They’re running that direction for a reason, I would assume most of them would go towards the main hall.”

Lianne took a look at the pillar of smoke coming from the middle of the city and then shook her head and fell in line with Sirius. The buildings here were still intact, at least as intact as they were before the attacks happened. Were the people living in them still hiding inside? Or were they all slaughtered like the others in the street? It didn’t matter, whatever the case they were out of the way. Hopefully this would end before more people got hurt.

Sirius kept close to the buildings, taking cover every now and then as he ran after the men. They were all running towards some large partially destroyed building close by. The men closed in as Sirius and Lianne drew near. A jet of flame burst from the entrance of the building and onto the street, setting fire to the men nearby. Sirius came to a stop, his eyes narrowing.

“That was…”

Lianne nodded.

“Ether manipulation.”

While she may have not been interested before, she was now. Whoever was able to do that was worth looking into, if not killing before they became a problem. Sirius moved forwards as the sounds of clashing metal drew closer. They took cover behind a wall and examined the battle that was happening. There were a lot more men than the ones who just ran here, and in the middle of it all were two men. One was clad in full plate steel, and the other wore a thick cloak over his body, an amalgamated mask made from metal and cloth on his face. She spotted a flash of metal under his arm as he swung a sword, cutting into a man running at him.

They were both skilled by the looks of it, incredibly so. The man in full armour was giant, and his greatsword cleaved through anybody who dared approach. A loud metal ping sounded out and fire erupted from the hooded man’s arm. It was definitely ether manipulated fire, but he had some device controlling it. Whatever the case was, the sheer amount of flames he produced was immense, more than anything Lianne had ever seen. She watched the armoured one swing his sword through an attacker’s waist, cutting him in two.

Lianne couldn’t stop watching, it was unlike anything she had ever seen; these men were machines. She took a moment and glanced over to Sirius. He was staring at them as well, but with a different expression on his face. Lianne did a double take, surprised at his reaction. She couldn’t even tell what it was, fear? Bewilderment? She tapped him on the shoulder, quietly talking over the battle.

“Who the hell are those people?”

“... Soldiers, from the city.”

Her eyes widened.

“What the hell are they doing here?”

“I-I don’t know.”

She was pulled away from the battle by the sound of Sirius getting to his feet beside her. He pulled on Lianne’s shoulder as he spoke.

“We need to leave.”

She hesitated, it was evident he was trying his hardest to keep his voice calm.

“Why? They can help, can’t they?”

“No, you don’t get it, just-”

He gripped both his hands onto his sword and shook his head.

“Look, I’ll explain if we just get out of here.”

Lianne took another look at the battle, the man with the poleaxe beating back the other two with ferocious speed and strength.

“Which way do we even head? It’s chaos here.”

“I don’t know, anywhere.”

He paused and looked around quickly, his eyes darting back and forth.

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

Lianne listened closely, trying to ignore the sounds of clashing metal behind her. There was a faint sound of footsteps, coming closer. Sirius pulled her upwards, speaking in a rushed whisper.

“We need to go, now.”

He rushed forwards but stopped in his tracks as multiple figures rounded the corner. Lianne tightened her grip on her sword and took a look at the small group in front of her. There were four people in front of them, all of them slowly coming to a halt in front of them. In the front there was a man with a spear, his dirty blonde hair tied back in a braid. At his side was another man with a mask over his face, completely obscuring it. He held a bow upwards, drawing an arrow. Another figure shrouded in a blue cloak stepped forwards, their face obscured by the hood and a mask over their face.

Sirius stood completely still, his weapon pointed at the ground. Lianne felt an anxious fear well up, they were completely outnumbered. Sirius slowly brought his sword upwards, looking at the group. The man in the front spoke in a low voice.

“What are you doing here?”

“... I could ask you the same.”

The man twirled his glaive and it lit ablaze, fire licking off the metal. Lianne noticed a fourth figure behind the man, a girl. She had blonde almost white hair and a small frame, and her pale skinned face held a mix of astonishment and confusion as she stayed behind the man. Lianne shook her head, this was bad, really bad, he was right, they needed to get out of here. Sirius stayed in the same spot, slowly speaking.

“Raynauld, we don’t need to fight.”

“Quiet.”

“Raynauld please.”

“Under city law, you have been sentenced to death.”

With that statement, the masked man loosed his arrow which Sirius deflected with his sword. Lianne would’ve been impressed if she wasn’t busy panicking and thinking of a way to escape. Sirius yelled out at the group.

“Stop this, there’s people dying right now, innocent people.”

The girl stepped forwards but was stopped by the man in front who responded in a voice filled with anger.

“For all I know, you’re part of that.”

Sirius shook his head, exasperated.

“You know me better than that.”

“No, I don’t.”

Sirius took a step backwards as the man approached, his spear pointed outwards. The cloaked person drew a longsword, standing in a stance that Lianne recognized. Yelling came from the corridor beside them, growing increasingly louder. Lianne looked over, seeing a horde of men approaching. Sirius grabbed onto Lianne’s arm, pulling her away as the group of soldiers' attention was taken away.

They ran fast down the street, carefully navigating around chunks of rock and splinters of wood. Lianne didn’t question where they were going and followed Sirius. There was so much she needed to know now. They fled into an alleyway and kept running, taking too many turns for Lianne to count. Sirius burst through the backdoor of a half destroyed house, pulling Lianne inside and shutting the door. They both took a moment to catch their breath from the sprint. They remained silent for a long moment as Sirius checked behind him, making sure nobody was coming. When she didn’t hear footsteps for a solid thirty seconds, Lianne slowly spoke up.

“Do you want to explain that?”

He closed his eyes and placed his hands onto his face, sinking back against a wall.

“I… Yeah, I guess it’s my turn.”

He sat down, motioning for Lianne to take a seat as well. She found a spot that wasn’t covered in rubble and laid back against the stone brick wall. Sirius put his hand to his forehead, his eyes facing the ground.

“A long while ago, I was a soldier in the city.”

Lianne’s eyes darted to the ground. That should’ve been obvious to her, his armour, his sword, his fighting style, it all fit the description. Why didn’t she put two and two together before that confrontation they just had? Sirius continued with a sigh.

“I trained for my whole life, and I kept fighting, kept rising through the ranks. Since I couldn’t use ether, everything was a bit harder.”

He picked up his sword examining the blade.

“I ended up being in a position to command my own team, and I led them for a good while. In the end, I messed up and deserted.”

Sirius kept his gaze on the ground.

“Those soldiers out there, I knew them, and I get why they would want to kill me.”

He put his hands to his head again and put his sword on the ground.

“I’m sorry you’ve gotten mixed up in all of this, now that they’ve seen you with me they’re going to hunt you as well.”

Lianne looked up, realizing that he was legitimately apologizing to her. He should have other concerns, but she was starting to understand he didn’t always look at the bigger picture. Lianne shifted her feet and glanced at Sirius.

“Why did you leave?”

Sirius leaned his head back, looking upwards.

“... I was scared.”

He slumped downwards and let out a long quiet sigh.

“I didn’t know what they would do with me, I thought they would kill me.”

Lianne pulled her knees closer to her body, unsure of how to answer his honesty. Sirius put a hand to his forehead and leaned back into the wall.

“If you want to finish this contract without me, I understand.”

Lianne furrowed her eyebrows, pausing and considering his words. She bit the inside of her lip, shaking her head and looking at him.

“Why would I do that?”

“Huh?”

“You haven’t tried to kill me, in fact I’ve tried to kill you more. You’ve trusted me so far, I might at well return the favour.”

He chuckled and let out a long sigh.

“... Yeah. Thank you, Lianne.”

Sirius took a look around and stood back up.

“We probably shouldn’t stay here too long, the target’s probably stuck in the city as well right now.”

Lianne nodded and got to her feet, glancing at Sirius. Despite everything that just happened, he looked the same as he did just a few minutes ago, focused and calm. While she wouldn’t admit it to him, that was admirable in a way. He pushed open the door, moving back into the alley.