Santiago's thoughts were disrupted by doors slamming open. Sion, Nemma and Santiago turned their heads simultaneously. It was Noire, Monster Son. He was covered in blood and cuts, his left arm was gone as well.
" Santi-.. ago... help.. us.. " he fell down. Santiago immediately jumped up and rushed to him. He picked his head up and tried shaking him; " Noire! Shadow! " but he wasn't answering. He turned his head back; " LORI!! ".
The man swiftly arrived downstairs; " What's up Sant- holy shit! " he ran up to them and placed one hand on Noire's chest. Light enveloped him and all wounds disappeared. Lori sat back, he looked tired after doing that.
Noire didn't have any wounds, but he still looked like he was in pain, afterall, Lori can only heal physical injuries. He can't restore stamina, energy, traumas or curses that were cast by more powerful being than himself.
" What happened Shadow? " Santiago asked him.
Noire was shaking, he covered his face with his hands. Was he tired or covering his tears, no one knew.
" They... I-... Agh-! " he was mumbling something. Lori slowly stood up and walked up to the table, he sat on a chair; " Noire, what happened? ".
Noire gripped the clothes on his chest; " We were ambushed... by the same monster you and Lucas described. A-and... Thomas is... he is fucking dead! ". Tear ran down his face.
" Thomas? " Sion asked.
" A member of ours, the 'Defence Son'.. he was able to withstand almost any damage without a scratch.. How Noire? "
" It was an ambush.. two of us were freeing a village here in the South, about a day of walking from Greyre. As soon as we took down their tyrant leader, entire village shook. The same monster you two faced approached us.. naturally, monsters are completely ineffective on me, so it was no problem.. but that's when dozens of Hunters and soldiers jumped out of nowhere.. I was powerless against so many Hunters.. They pushed me back from the village, and swarmed Thomas... Last thing I heard were his screams.. as I flew away-! " he slammed his fist on the floor in fury. He wept; " I'm nothing more but a bloody coward! ".
Santiago wanted to tell him to calm down, but he just realized something. He turned his head to Lori, and Lori shared the same expression.
" They want to tear us apart. " Lori said.
Santiago turned to Noire and shook his shoulders; " No.. you've done nothing wrong. This.. this happened few weeks ago with me and Lucas. Someone is targeting Sons. They want to tear us from inside by making us lose moral and calmness. There was nothing you could do. "
" Lori.. call ALL the Sons. We are holding a meeting. No matter what they're doing, get them over here or I'LL make them get here. " Santiago stood up and helped Noire stand as well.
" Noire, Lori.. Sion and Nemma. Someone just murdered another member of ours. This is.. unacceptable. I don't care who caused this. Whether it's a Royal or Devil Himself I swear I'll follow them to depths of Hell and make them pay. " he was clenching his fists.
Everyone stared in silence. They knew this was as serious as it gets, and everyone was prepared for what was coming.
Steps disrupted the silence. Someone was descending the staircase, obviously, it was Lucas. He was walking down without any walking sticks. The bandages on his face couldn't cover his anger. He heard everything. He was, as well, prepared for incoming war.
Lori stood up and slowly walked up to the fireplace, he looked at another photo that was there, behind Santiago's and Lori's. It was a photo of all 13 members, it was dusty.
" Oh when the stars align...
oh when the stars-.. align. "
[ 4 days later ]
Someone was knocking on the front door. But no one opened.. the person tried again... still nothing. It was Lori's house. The person treks again, but more aggressively. It was raining outside, it was dark and gloomy, occasionally a thunder would strike and roam through the sky.
As one thunder bolt appeared, I enlightened the village of Greyre, as well as the person I. front of the door. Person was coated and wore a hoodie in his head. On his back, a yellow star was located with inscription 'Sons of Freedom'.
" Tsk-.. " person mumbled and headed around the house to the backyard, he wanted to enter on the backdoor.
[ BOOOOOOOM ]
Massive explosion roamed through the backyard. The person ran to see what happened, was it an attack?
But no, it wasn't.
In the backyard, two people could be found dirty and wet from mud and rain, they were training. Two people in question were Lucas and Noire.
On the porch, Lori, Santiago, Sion and Nemma were looking. The member that just arrived looked at them all; " What-? ".
Lori turned his head; " Oh! You finally arrived, that means we all gathered at last. Let us all enter the house. NOIRE! LUCAS! " he waved his hand as if telling them to get here.
" Sion, this is the final member of Sons of Freedom you haven't met. So, meet Ezekiel, the Craftsman Son. If you ever need a weapon, armour, clothes, chair, house, bridge or just about anything crafted, talk to him. ". Sion and Ezekiel shook hands.
Ezekiel looked much more as a regular human than a super warrior. Unlike Santiago, Lucas and Balthazar.. he wasn't super tall or built muscular. He was 1,70 meter tall guy, with no specific features. He had brown eyes and no beard. He had short black hair. His cheek bones were well defined in his face, but that would be it. He was also the first member that Sion met didn't posses extremely powerful energy. He was wearing some casual grey clothes and black pants, he was also wearing a black coat with a hoodie that had Sons symbol on the back.
" N-nice to meet you. I'm Ezekiel! " he said.
" Uhm... I'm Sion. "
" Ah I know, I've heard many things about you " he said happily.
" Let's head inside, shall we? " Lori said.
[ INSIDE ]
As Ezekiel entered, he noticed Balthazar and Yve drinking with two other men. All four of them had the same symbol of yellow star.
" Balthazar, Yve, Zero, Marcus! Nice to see everyone! " he entered the room and took of his coat. He hung it over a chair and fist bumped with Balthazar.
After Ezekiel, everyone else entered as well. They quickly gathered around the table and everyone took a seat. Now, 9 men and Nemma were sitting, in almost complete silence. Santiago looked left and right at them, he then stood up.
" Firstly, thank you everyone for gathering for this meeting. I know many of you were far away.. but I'll keep it short. Emanuel, Rod, Hektor.. and now Thomas. Someone is targeting Sons. Not something, but someone.. and I have a pretty good clue who. Information we git from Noire, who barely survived an ambush, was that soldiers wore a symbol of Ibotha Heavenly Empire.. Coincidentally, me and Sion gathered information some information from a monster that resided on this mountain- that someone trying strengthening it in order to kill me. Another interesting fact is that, person mentioned was 'Theo, the Master of Hunters'.. and I'll be real with you, he's a member of a well known organisation
" My brother and Theo have made an alliance to strike me down. Most likely, they are aiming for Sons since they found out I'm apart of the group. " he explained.
Lucas, who was now wearing much less bandages raised his hand to ask a question. He still has bandages on his face and hands. Otherwise he was wearing regular clothes over his skin. Purplish-redish burns could be seen where his skin was visible; " There are many holes left in that.. First of all, why are they targeting you now, after all these years? Second of all, why would two of them join forces? " he asked Santiago.
" Good questions. I believe that reason they are striking now is.. I'm regaining my past strength. I've already grown into a Class 2.. they probably fear I would reach Royal Class and take my revenge. Which indeed, I plan. But my revenge has nothing to do with Theo, I was never served in the same Empire as he did. Theo is pissed at me for publicly shaming him. He challenged me for a fight after I cleared a dungeon he was assigned to. Honestly, it was a misunderstanding, and I planned to return all the goods I found there.. but he insisted on a fight, saying I was mocking and insulting him by clearing his dungeon. I agreed and annihilated him in seconds. He took the defeat personally, and since that day I guess he's been forging a revenge plan. He joined forces with my brother that fears for his life and they wish me dead.. lovely. ". Everything was explained. Reason was clear now.
But another man asked the question, it was Marcus. Marcus was another guy that had no particular style or eye catching feature. He had a tattoo on his chest with a symbol of Sons as well as a his coat did on his back. He had black short hair and black eyes. His face was longer than usual and he wore glasses. His eyebrows were pretty slim and short. He asked; " But tell us.. what are we supposed to do against a Emperor and a 'Whisper' member? Not to mention they are in possession of a powerful monster, maybe even more of them. "
Santiago clenched his fists; " Four of our members were killed on our hands, you think I give a shit about their power now? We will hit hard and fast and aim for where it hurts the most.. ". Santiago looked mad.
Another member that was silent until now finally spoke, it was man called Zero. He was shirtless. On his back massive number 5 was tattooed. On his chest, similarly to Marcus, there was a symbol of yellow star.. a symbol of Sons of Freedom. His pants were white and baggy, and he was barefoot. This man wasn't build muscular, but he seemed as if he's working out since he was quite fit. Zero's eyes were grey and his hair was white. He looked weird.
" No Santiago. Marcus's got a point. We can't rush into this battle without a strategy. This is unarguably our strongest enemy " Zero explained. He sound as a very reasonable man.
Marcus and Zero arrived here 2 days ago. They've already introduced themselves to Sion and Nemma. Zero is known as Strategy Son, together with Lori he is the brain behind the group. Marcus bears the name of Agility Son, his speed and stamina are overwhelming.
" We're up against a Royal and a high Erttem. Do you think we'll just rush into our deaths? Nonsense. I feel the same way as you do, I want to avenge our brothers too. It would be pointless if we just die, wouldn't it? " Zero said.
" Our two enemies are your brother, an Emperor and your past rival Theo, one of the strongest Erttems.. We all are high 3rd Class, excluding you Santiago. Despite our rankings, none will falter to a low 2nd Class, what makes this even better is that we have teamwork on our side. I'm confident that, as long as we are all together and taking care of one by one, we could succeeded in this plan. All we need to do is focus on one of them at a time ". Zero sounded very reasonable.
Lori crossed his arms; " Well, we are forgetting one big thing... ". They all looked at him, everyone beside Nemma, she seemed like she was thinking about something.
" If Theo is involved into this, how can we know that man in golden armour, the Emperor of Ibotha Heavenly Empire isn't? " Nemma asked. It was quiet, everyone was now looking at her. She looked aside; " M-maybe I'm just wrong-.. "
" No. That's exactly what I was thinking, thank you Nemma. Golden Emperor, otherwise simply known as the Emperor of the Ibotha Heavenly Empire might be involved as well. Or he will get involved once we kill Theo, no... he will definitely get involved. In actuality... we are fighting 2 Heavenly Empires by ourselves, just us 11; Santiago, Noire, Yve, Balthazar, Ezekiel, Lucas, Zero, Marcus, Sion, Nemma.. and me. " he looked at each of them as he said their names.
" Us 11.. will fight AND defeat 2 Heavenly Empires. " Lori said as he grinned.