Edward was now on his way back to the building where the thieves hid. Thieves den, as Tolono had called it earlier. Edward felt a strange sense of burden on himself.
He had just given away the lives of 80 men to a cruel suffering and death which he could've saved them from. He had decided in a second without hesitation, shaking the feeling of restlessness inside his heart.
Lives traded just as war money, but he had asked for something far more heinous and criminal for his victory, and it was this cost hanging like a sharp knife on his chest which stabbed him slowly again and again.
But the feeling could not last long as he travelled through the rooftops. Opportunity would soon bring itself, and he needed to be ready to grab it by the throat. The smell of smoke did not bother him anymore.
He reached the Thief's den and took his spot in a broken building near the front left edge of the den where only one lookout man could hope to capture his movement. The men were still changing duties after every time interval, which was very short in Edward's eyes.
He observed the situation with focus and made his plans accordingly currently. It seemed the Italians were having outbursts, as they could make the thieves open the door. Two men complained in Italian, their voices filled with anger and frustration from their attire; Edward knew the two were at a higher rank than the others.
"What are these thieves made of? More than 150 people in there, how are breathing till now? They are not opening the door, and we are incapable of forcing them out?"
The man dressed in a velvet coat with silver-green shades on his shoulders, with a beret, spoke aloud, and another man wearing the same attire answered his frustrations.
"We have tried everything to open the door; we shot at the door, at the walls, threw stones at it, lit fires and even tried explosions. Nothing is working."
It seemed that a lot had happened before Edward had arrived, left and came back, but the door was still closed to everyone.
How would he take control of the thieves if they did not open the door to him? He had nothing to back up that he was working with them besides words. We will see it when it comes to it, he thought. As soon as it was time to get into action, the Italians were helping Edward.
"Get all the gunpowder we have, wet or dry. Bring all the barrels to the gate of this thing. We are going to blast it off. I cannot wait any longer." The soldiers followed their senior command and went off to bring the barrels.
Edward felt a strange joy ringing in his heart; his enemies pushed themselves into the graves without knowing it. He waited till some of the barrels were brought forward, locked in front of the door using a wooden barricade.
Edward turned back and walked to the edge of the building. He checked his battle weapons, his dagger, wrist blade and guns. All loaded and ready. Swords and rifles were already on the battlefield with his targets. He looked at the house ahead and sent a signal with a nod, and Tolono nodded back.
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Four barrels were set up and ready for the explosion. All filled with wet gunpowder prepared for the detonation, the men knew there would be some dry powder enough to blow the entire wall around the building and causalities did not matter.
Exploding the gunpowder was a task no one had volunteered. So, the officer commanded everybody to take their standings, and they did.
"Help!! Please!!"
"!!?" The officer and militiamen grabbed their rifles and swords in defence of the sudden noise. They witnessed a man running towards the building. They pointed their guns right at the man.
"Spare me!! I bring you the message of the assassin leader. I work for you." The old fell on his knees and showed a letter in his hands.
"Don't shoot!" The officer raised his hand and spoke in Italian. He ordered his men to restrain the messenger and take the letter to him.
They held the messenger by and brought him to the left edge of the building where other soldiers gathered. To know the assassin leader's message.
The group gathered around, and the officer did not object. The officer seized the messenger's hand and read it while the soldiers anticipated the specifics of the message. The officer's face grew confused while Tollon stood there in front of him with a blissful smile.
"This is... Where is your flair gun?!"
He tried to ask in English and held Tollon's ragged shirt, and as soon as he grabbed the shirt. He saw a bag hidden lying on under his rug a single look, and he knew it was filled with gunpowder. Tolono freed his hands in an instant and threw the gunpowder out.
*Peww....
From two houses away, a flair bullet came bolting. Noise so much that it could tear eardrums apart. The bullet fell upon the group, capturing them with a surprise.
*Booommmm!!
The flair bullet exploded into an enormous firecracker, the firecracker soon caught the gunpowder on Tolono's gunpowder came in contact.
The scene became a blinding view explosion chained with smoke encapsulating the entire region. Lightning sparked in the sky like a curved sword with sharp roots coming out after thunder roared.
Edward did not look or hear anything. He turned his back to action to avoid blinding himself and when the explosion went silent. He started running towards the massive cloud of smoke the explosions had created.
He stayed on top of the building to observe where to attack, he ran towards the left, eyeing for militiamen, and soon found them.
Near the barrels, they screamed from the pain in the ears. Edward jumped down from the building and went into the battle. He brought out his dagger and readied his shoulder.
He reached inside the smoke and dagger in his hand, and he was swept by the first soldier striking at his nape and cutting it, he danced as the first moved and blended into another, but the next soldier's neck was gone.
He kicked at the barricade holding the gunpowder and setting the barrels free, rolling into the narrow street where the soldiers were earlier. From the streets men wearing velvet came along, Edward armed his dagger and rushed in.
He kicked the blinded man into another pushing both of them. He advanced and thrusted his dagger into one. The man cried in pain as Edward pulled his knife out of his stomach. Another militiaman attacked him with a punch.
He blocked his with his left shoulder and shot a kick of his own, hitting the man on the knee but the man did not fall. Another strike came from the fall.
With a thrust of a rifle at his chest by another attacker, Edward realised the enemy's recovery was impressively fast. So, he vanished into the smoke once again, bringing out his guns. He moved towards the centre and aimed his weapon towards the barrels.
*Shot
"Ahh!!!!" the bullet went into the smoke and hit someone but it did not reach its target. The noise from gunshots, however, seems to trouble people more. He threw his gun on the ground there was no time to reload. He wielded a dagger once again.
He rushed into the smoke, he clashed with the man he stabbed earlier. His dagger parried against a sword, the man swung at him. Edward countered by moving close to him and pushing his dagger through his throat.
Edward did not let the corpse fall, he pushed him back and grabbed his weapon before. The corpse clashed with someone, and Edward wielded the dagger in one hand blade in another. He rushed into the smoke swaying his arms into the smoke.
Nearly every blow caught a body, he used the men he killed as shields when he wasn't swinging. Blood kept falling, and he kept cutting down men, but the smoke was vanishing.
Soon, Edward could see the street end and how men were standing with their guns aimed at the smoke and Edward ran back towards his weapon. He grabbed the gun and rushed towards the roof by the left because men would soon be coming from the right.
He reached the rooftops after a climb on the watchtower. He jumped off to the rooftops. He ran not caring about who would hear him, he reached the other side of the smoke, while his gun had finished reloading.
He aimed his weapon at the barrels in the middle of the open areas blocked by chests loot chests. He assumed the distance to be 20-25 metres only but the gunpowder was wet, so he took his chances.
Edward aimed his gun and fired the barrels before anyone could take notice.
Four barrels filled with gunpowder blasted together into a massive layer of blast larger than Edward had expected, it swallowed the entire region into a new layer of smoke.
The shockwave hit the building Edward stood on and crashed into pieces alongside all the houses and stores around that were already broken. Now, reduced to flat land. Fire rose in the remains of houses.
"Don't have done that." From the ruble, Edward stood up. He took more than 25 lives and Edward knew he needed to take a lot more. The massacre on the rainy wasn't close to over. He could not show remorse or act weak right now.
The militiamen close to the explosion were reduced to ashes, pieces of their bodies lied in front of Edward.
Edward readied his sword and reloaded his pistol as he knew more men approached from the west side.
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