Urs looked over at Nero from atop a stool. Nero looked at her then said aloud. "Do you hear that?"
The woman next to him brushed his forearm with her hand. "That's just the execution. Most of the town is there or on their way. It's been so slow. Do you need somewhere to stay the night?"
"Where is the execution?"
"Its in front of the Peace Corps Headquarters walls. They just got this cray new pulley thing that can execute a lot of people at one time. They've been showing it off everyday for the past week or so. That's why there's been no one in here, lately." She rubbed her hand on Neros arm again. "I'm very gentle with first timers."
"Did you say a pulley? Sorry Urs." Nero grabbed Urs from the stool and ran out.
"Hey!" The woman called out. "Uh, you have to be kidding me. His loss."
The Peace Corps members surrounded the pavilion that Ouran was on. He leaped from the pulley before an arrow slammed into it. Slipping in between the members as they tried to catch him. "Hey stop running around."
"Why would I do that?" Ouran ran into one of them knocking him off the platform then slipping at another one sloppily swinging his dagger through the air missing him. The man turned to try and slice him down. Ouran crossed his daggers in front of him blocking the slice. The force sending him into another Peace Corps member who grabbed hold of him. Ouran drove his dagger into the mans thigh making blood squirt out and the man release his hold to clutch tight to his thigh.
Ouran turned around to find the other member in full swing too late to dodge. In an instant the man was sent flying impaled against the wall by a long green spear.
"Ouran!" Nero yelled. Ouran searched the crowd frantically, finally finding a man with a wooden mask on at the back. "What are you doing up there? Wait a second." Nero Glowed a staff and ran through the crowd stabbing the end of the staff into the ground vaulting himself through the air onto the platform.
"Thanks for helping me. Who are you?" Ouran asked the man in front of him with a wooden mask on. The people in the crowd cheer.
"Its me, Nero." Nero reached into his bag and slapped a mask onto Ouran. "What are you doing up here?"
"They are using my dads invention to kill people. This is wrong. My dad didn't make this to kill people. We have to break it!"
"Okay. Calm down." Nero turned around and slammed his fist into a Peace Corps member sending him flying. "We have to hurry and get out of here before the rest of the Peace Corps Members get here. Try to cut the ropes of the people hanging. I'll try to get the lever down."
"I tried. It's stuck or something. It wont move." Nero couldn't see Ourans face but he could tell that the boy was on the verge of crying.
"Well let me give it a try. You try and cut those ropes, okay?" Nero rushed over to the Pulley. Ouran Glowed his daggers and slices at the rope and his dagger disperses on contact with the ropes.
"Its made of Black Ore." The man being lifted up by the rope grunted. "Untie my hands."
Ouran reached up and untied the mans hands. The man reached up for the rope and pulled himself up. Ouran went to the next man that was alive and untied his hands. The first man swung himself to the top of the beam holding the ropes then loosened the noose from around his neck. He Glowed a grey bastard sword and dropped down on a Peace Corps Member cutting him in half. The other man was able to swing up onto the beam but was hit by an arrow and fell back down. The force breaking his neck.
The man ran in front of Ouran deflecting an arrow with his sword. "Thank you for saving me. I'm Jerul."
Nero struggled as he tried to pull the lever down. "Hey you! Big guy." Nero called to Jerul. "Help me get this lever down."
The man ran over to Nero, slashing a Peace Corps Member closing in on him. He released his sword and grabbed onto the lever and it slowly started to move.
The next man on the line to be dragged into the air whimpered. "Help me! Please!" With that his feet slowly left the ground and he gagged. Tears streamed down his face as they mixed with snot and slid into his mouth.
Ouran untied his hands avoiding an arrow aimed at his head. As the ropes release from the mans hands, he reaches up and grabs the ropes around his neck. "Stupid." Ouran said to himself. He grabbed the mans legs lifting him up allowing him to breath. "Hurry! Grab the rope above you and climb up."
Elle heard the commotion and raced to the edge of the building. She could see the platform. A boy with a mask on was holding the legs of a criminal being hanged and the man was pulling himself up by the rope above him. She gasped as she saw a grey arrow slam into the boys shoulder, then he dropped to his knee and screamed. Elle followed to where the arrow came from and Glowed her blue crossbow and let a bolt loose slamming into its mark. She drew another bolt and sent it into the back of another Peace Corps member jumping onto the platform.
Frides Jumped down from the wall of the Peace Corps Headquarters next to Nero. "Is that you Nero?"
Nero let go of the lever and turned to Frides and grabbed his shirt. "Frides? You scared me."
Frides slapped his hand away. "What are you doing up here? Is that Ouran? I just knew it had to be you. For some reason I cant recognize you."
Nero reaches into his bag and pulls out another wooden mask. "Here put this on. We have to get this lever down and save these criminals."
Frides snatched the mask from Nero and put it on. "Oh it is you. Where'd you get these and why are you doing this?"
"I just got here and Ouran was up here fighting the Peace Corps members by himself so I just jumped up here. Good news. We're Retainers!"
"You're going to have to explain this once we get out of here. This thing looks familiar." Frides walked towards the pulley and put his hands on it.
Nero looked at Jerul struggling to pull the lever down on his own. "Sorry." Nero grabbed the lever and they continued to pull it down. "Its just like the one Quitum was working on in Shinoa. Hey, Ouran are you okay?"
Ouran pulled the arrow from his shoulder. "It hurts so much."
"Embrace it." Nero said as Ouran clutched his shoulder. "That's just weakness leaving your body it will make you stronger. Cover your hand with glow then put your hand to your shoulder."
Ouran did as he was told and winced. "It still hurts."
"Now put pressure on your shoulder and release the glow over the opening."
Ouran removes his hand and blood stops squirting out. "It stopped, but it still hurts."
"You're going to have to bear it for a little while." Frides Glowed a dagger next to Nero face and pulled the cover off of the pulley. Nero looked back at Ouran. "Now you have to get the others released as quickly as you can."
Ouran glanced up because he saw an arrow fly from one building to another. He saw Elle crouching at the edge of a building. Elle waved at him. "Nero, Elle is here too."
Nero turned around. "Where?"
Ouran pointed to a building and the Peace Corps Member all send volleys of arrows in her direction. "What the hell! Ouran is that you!" Elle yelled at him.
"Sorry!" Ouran apologized.
Nero reached into his bag and called to Elle. "Hey put this on!" He threw a mask towards Elle. She jumped into the air and caught it as she landed on the roof of another building. The crowd was in an uproar booing and yelling insults.
Frides tinkered with the Pulley systems gears. "This should do it." He Glowed a dagger and jammed it in between two gears. He leaned over Jerul and Nero, and pulled the dagger down. The pulley creaked and then something gave way and a gear popped out flying into the air. With a thud everyone being held up dropped to the ground. The dead bodies of the criminals they couldn't save slump over on the ground. The lever releases, so Nero and Jerul fall to the ground.
Nero looked up at Frides. "You did it!"
"Yes, now we need to get out of here."
Boom!
Standing in between Nero and the criminals is a large brown skinned man in a teal cloak and a breast plate made of bones. "I am Enol, the leader of the Siwa Tribe and the Ambassador of Croqowei. Stop what you're doing and surrender."
Nero stepped forward and Glowed his staff. He handed the bag of masks to Frides. "I might only be able to buy you thirty seconds." Enol looked down at the green staff.
"What is a member of the Ahmose doing here. Are you Nero?"
"Look at the mask. I'm a Retainer."
Frides takes the bag. "What are you going to do?"
"Be ready. When I attack I need you to grab Ouran and get them out of here."
"Don't say your plans out loud." Enol Glowed a large sword the size of Nero's body. He stood next to the criminals still tied up with nooses around their necks. "Your trying to save these criminals right? I will make this interesting." He slashed the ropes laced with the Black Ore.
"How did you do that?" Nero exclaimed in shock.
Frides hesitated, but grabbed Neros shoulder. "You can't beat him. You need to run with us. He's an Ambassador. They're known as being just as powerful as the Commissioner."
"What if he goes after Ouran instead of you or me? Be ready to grab Ouran okay. That's an order."
Though Nero doesn't look at him, he can feel the intensity of Nero's eyes. "I will be ready. Don't die."
"You struggle to do that much?" He swung his sword, cutting one of the men cowering around him in half with one swipe. "Can you save them? I will wait three second before I swing each time. Three…"
Nero slipped at Enol swinging his staff at the mans face. Frides slipped to Ouran lifting the boy up over his shoulder. With a whack Neros' staff hits Enol square in the jaw. Enol glared past Nero's staff into his eyes. "….Two…."
Nero stepped back. Frides jumped into the crowd and slips in and out of them. Elle fired arrow after arrow at the Peace Corps Member as they chased after Frides. The criminals started to run as Nero landed blow after blow on Enol. A failed leg sweep, a jab at the mans sternum shook Neros arms, and even a thrust at the Enol's throat offered no effect. "…On…" As Enol opened his mouth Nero jams a dagger inside. Nero pulled down on the dagger slicing through Enol's jaw.
"Ahhh!" Enol dropped down to his knee and swung his sword at Nero.
It was too late as Nero slipped backwards just in time, the sword slicing through the flaps of his shirt. "Too slow. You may be able to make your skin tough but you cant do a damn thing about your insides can you?" Enol glared at Nero. Nero looked over and saw Frides running out of the crowd and Elle followed him, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. The criminals ran though the crowd in different directions. "You should've killed me when you had the chance. This is a lesson, I will not fail to learn."
To Be Continued...
Thanks for reading!