Dawn has come to view. Not any one of them takes a peep of sleep as they look to arrive at the Renegade's base of operations.
Before the sun comes up, the cold breeze blows and they decide to gather around a campfire, breakfast cooking.
"Whose disciple is Tump again?" Lincoln asks, everyone sharing a good chuckle around the bonfire as they enjoy their breakfast – roast rabbit. Lincoln admits that it is slightly gamey, but it is the best food they have put inside their mouth in the past few days that Lincoln even cries as he eats the bland rabbit.
"Tump is Judelia's disciple," Shinyo answers, and then he adds, "She was the best of us."
The lighter mood disappears, and a somber silence falls over the three of them. All their eyes on the fire that is in front of them.
"I did not ask this earlier, but what happened to her?" Lincoln asks.
No one gives him an answer. Shinyo's face is turning a serious carving. Tump, on the other hand, stands and irritatingly prompts the others to move along after falling deathly silent while having his eyes intently on Lincoln.
However, Lincoln does not notice.
"Aren't we in a hurry?" he asks, irate for some reason.
Lincoln and Shinyo look at him as if he is crazy, but they eventually agree especially when they see the sun rising, its rays already peeking, coloring the sky with a deep orange hue.
"You are so tense, man," Lincoln tells Tump, "Your hairline will recede even quicker if you don't know how to relax."
"All I'm saying is, if we want to be earlier than the rest of them, it is vital that we do not waste our time talking about the past," looking at Shinyo to back him up.
"He has a point Lincoln."
"You are taking HIS side?" now, it is Lincoln going irate.
"If we do arrive earlier than Birch and the others, then, we will also have the added benefit of being able to scout for them. Form up a plan, then, hit them hard where it hurts."
"B-bu-but, really?" Lincoln, being insensible, "HIS side?"
Lincoln gives off a big sigh as he sees defeat. He knows Tump is right, but he just cannot stand the guy, but the suspicion continues to eat him from the inside. All he can do is stare at him with raging intensity.
"What are you looking at me like that for?" Tump asks.
"What?" he denies as he eases his glare when he realizes how much intent he is looking at Tump with, "I am not."
"Oh, you are," insists Tump. Their argument catching Shinyo's attention.
"What's going on here?" he interjects, looking over his shoulder where both are now having eyes ready to kill towards each other.
"Nothing," suggests Tump, acting all adult. On the other hand, can only show confusion when after the fact.
As they are about to start their long walk, Tump notices Stygian hanging by Lincoln's waist.
"Whose sword is that?" Tump asks, his eyes salivating on the black steel that Lincoln has in his possession.
"What is it to you?" the tension between Lincoln and Tump building. This one does not escape Shinyo's attention.
"Alright you two," interjects Shinyo, pushing them away from each other to pacify the situation, "Tump, you said we must get a move on as soon as possible, am I correct?"
Tump's face is of embarrassment, which is amusing Lincoln, but of course, he does not show it.
"Then why are we dallying?" asks Shinyo, a firm tone in his voice as he shows Tump where he thinks they are going.
A long pause passes over the three of them as each one seems to be weighing the situation and their responses heavily until Lincoln breaks the silence with a guffaw. This shakes Shinyo, and even he laughs, but not Tump as he walks away from the two of them.
"C'mon Tump," calls out Shinyo, "I was only teasing," as he urges Lincoln to pick up the pace.
"But seriously though," Shinyo continues, out of breath; gasping for air, "Tump is right, if we want to scout ahead for Birch and the company that he is with, it IS vital that we start moving along."
"Iiiii get it," Lincoln responds, child-like.
The road towards the Renegade's base of operation is everything but a laughing matter. If the wild animals – strong and solid – are not troublesome enough, the terrain that they must go through is rough. Dense forests that they have to chop themselves through at one point, then very dry and very hot sandy dunes the next. The constantly changing terrain is not giving their body the time necessary to adjust.
Shinyo suddenly pulls both Lincoln and Tump behind a bush.
"Keep your head down," Shinyo warns them, his eyes very wary of what is coming their way.
Lincoln hears footsteps in perfect sync crunch against the leaves on the ground. One, two it goes. Three, four follows. It is then that Lincoln sees the soldier with guns back in the temple.
"What are they doing this far out still from their base?" Tump asks; an aggressive wariness in his voice and his eyes.
"Could Dirkan have reached them already and they sent out scouts further out to forms a wider net?" Lincoln suggests, but Shinyo does not respond. He eyes them increasingly with caution the closer they march towards their bush; his hand already on his crucifix, but they stop just a few feet away from their location before turning around and walking back to the direction of their base.
Lincoln breathes a sigh of relief.
"We must be more careful as we move forward," Shinyo instructs them, "If a unit is already this far out, then, it is not impossible that it will just become thicker as we draw closer to their tower."
Strangely enough, they do not see any more until they are at the very edge of the barren land on which the Renegade's tower stands.
From Black Noir, Lincoln already understands the red tower to be very intimidating with its sharp edges and a top terrace that from afar looks like eyes that are looking back at him. However, it is more intimidating up close as you see more of its details, especially at its base are carvings of wolves with spears plunging through them with men standing on top of them, but not only wolves, all other living beings have a spear piercing through them.
The sight of this renders Lincoln motionless enough that Shinyo has to prod him along so that he would not freeze in a spot as a unit of the Renegade soldiers is on their way to him in their perfect marching choreography.
Shinyo drags them behind a bush to closely observe anything else might overlook.
"Did you notice those individual soldiers with swords?" Lincoln asks.
Shinyo concentrates even harder and notices them too.
"They tend to appear and disappear in between the marching," notices Shinyo, who has his eyes intently on the barren field in front of them.
"These were the elite units that the Renegade sent before," Shinyo adds, "They were difficult to deal with."
"And they have very good scouting skills," adds Tump, "That is why they disappear now and then because they have to swiftly move from one place on the field to another to make sure that they have not missed anything."
"You seem to know a lot about them," suggests Lincoln, planting a seed of doubt in the working relationship that they currently have.
"Him, along with The Others, were being sent here to observe the Renegades," explains Shinyo, "That is why you never see them because they are out in the field."
Tump gives him an 'I win' look that he takes distastefully.
"Anyway," Shinyo prodding once more, "We have to move on and look around any more details that would help us make this a swift victory."
Shinyo suggests Tump lead.
"You know the terrains better than we do."
"Of course,��� Tump responds, soldier-like, to his commander, "Follow me."
Tump leads them smoothly through the battlelines. There are some close calls, but the enemy units stop short of their location each time.
After a while, Lincoln notices that there are considerably fewer enemies as they move further along which he finds strange.
Shinyo agrees.
"Tump," orders Shinyo, "Can you scout?"
"Isn't this scou--," Lincoln stops mid-sentence as Tump's eyes turn white, "What the hell is happening?"
"He comes out of his body and prod himself wherever his consciousness takes him," Shinyo explains, a sense of pride in his tone and smile, "The downside is, once he uses it, his body becomes vulnerable to any attack. So, we have to stand guard while he finishes."
Tump take a huge breath in and looks at Shinyo.
"There are fewer enemies because this is the part where they massacre whoever thinks that they are through their defenses," Tump concludes.
"Why do you say so?" Lincoln asks.
"It is not fully set-up yet, but at the feet of the tower, they are assembling platforms where cannons are to be mounted," Tump explains as he invites them to peek.
"So that means, as soon as anyone steps out from hiding, they will be riddled with cannon fire."
"That would be troublesome when we launch an attack when Birch and company arrives."
"We should take them out before that even happens," Lincoln suggests.
"That is the first brilliant suggestion you have so far today boy," compliments Shinyo.
Tump nods in agreement because even he has to admit that it is.
"Before anything else," Tump warns them in advance, "The same assembled units and scouts are stationed just a few feet away from us.
"That's alright," Shinyo reassures them, "That is easy enough to deal with."
He vanishes and reappears in an instant. Lincoln notices that his crucifix-like sword is out in the open, bloodstains on its sharp edge. Then, a commotion starts. A whole unit of soldiers clumps around where another unit is on the ground. The scouts not lagging behind, their eyes still wandering sharply around them.
"What's going on here?" one of the scouts asks. He sees the soldiers that are on the ground unconscious, "Who did this?"
No one can give him an answer, except for a sudden explosion behind them that Lincoln causes. All their heads turn towards the direction of their tower. Then, a long pause.
"Hi," Lincoln greets them, waving his hand with a smile on his lips.
"Get him!" one of the scouts scream, but before they can reach him, an invisible force trips some of them causing a domino effect. One after another, the soldiers fall, face-first to the ground.
Lincoln moves on to the next platform, and to the next. He takes out as much of the platforms he can before the soldiers could recover with Stygian taking the shape of a scythe.
He is about to finish on the second to the last one when a scout sneaks up behind him as his mind wanders off with pride at the speed that he takes out the platforms.
Lincoln takes a huge blow behind his head, instantly knocking him out. Shinyo dashes towards the two as he sees this, but the attacker disappears and reappears behind him and does the same. The shock on Shinyo's face when he vanishes in front of him is of shock.
(How did he?)