I was woken up a great noise coming from the capital and I came to realize what day it is. Bluemoon Festival or shall I say Vengeance' attack and so much have happened that I thought that I really lacked in preperation, well after all that has happened I can at least trust my men. Now I shall give my final instructions and conduct my final time, Project Anti Lock has begun.
Now if I remember correctly, out of 5 camps I have destroyed 2 and out of the three, half joined Perseus which he old me via a letter to prove his loyalty. If he thinks I will still believe him then he has another thing coming, I have people I can trust now and I do not need shady dealings with him.
He told to meet by the first break of day and perhaps it is around this time but first I have to prepare somethings first. He told me to meet in the shed just outside the palace, the one where I first met him, he wants to bring up memories now huh?
Not long after I went to meet him and he had already been waiting in that shed for an hour or two if he went at the right time but this did not seem to have bothered him as he stood there still with his fake expressions, now that I see it again the only thing that was genuine in him was his despaired eyes and he made a half assed job in faking emotions but I was far too naïve to notice.
"Well well, how do you do boyo?"
"I have something you might want to hear"
"I hope its apologies for the hell of a beating I got"
Perseus averted his eye refusing to react to my tease.
"As I said Vengeance have been divided and there is also-"
"Percy, Percy will you keep on betraying everyone? Why do you do this? No a better question is whose side are you on?"
"I-,I am on your side , I always have been. I am tricked them for you. You know you need me Spade"
"No Perseus, I need someone with fucking integrity... However there is something you need, Run Perseus! And never come back! Or of course you can deal with them"
I gave the signal and from the bushes emerged the Cebunilla Freedom Fighters, a terrorist group that a Antibeastian told me about, he was a member of it and he told me that Perseus impersonated The Beast and that no one believed him. They were also the person I invited to come watch their 'Leader" as he betrayed them in a flick of a hat.
Perseus did not expect to see the people who he betrayed to suddenly show up and I could not help but laugh as he ran away like the little bitch he is. Now that deals with the CFFs and Perseus, I doubt they will be coming back to join this parade. From inside the shed came out Alfron who apparently has been waiting inside the shed.
"Well you have gotten better at eavesdropping Alfie"
"You didn't need to do that to him you know, he was about to tell you something important"
"You don't seriously still trust him do you? He poisoned the palace including your sister, it could only have been him"
"My father had the same sentiments about you Spade, and that didn't turn out true did it? Look at all Perseus has done, he divided Vengeance, he revealed to you their camps, and just now he was about to tell you about Lacquer I assume"
"Trust me in this Alfron, do not trust Perseus"
"He is my bestfriend Spade, I have to"
I see that his resolve is strong and as long as Perseus don't suddenly turn up then I will leave the subject alone for now. Now then lets start our festivities.
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Perseus ran away from the CFFs quite easily, he know this woods better than anyone after all and he chose the shed for that exact reason because he always prepares a un away in case unexpected things occur. Spade's betrayal however was no surprise and anticipated by Perseus and he was fine with making the CFF his enemy, its a small price to pay to get Alfron's trust.
Perseus would have defeated Spade if not for his annoying pawns so now one by one Perseus shall take them from him and destroy him completely but that is a story for another time, for now Perseus shall let Spade be and bit by bit pull the rug from under him, defeating him once and for all.
"We attack at nightfall men and remember, Rexcarius is the target and leave civilians alone. If soldiers attack you with their blades then you can strike back but keep in mind villagers can be rowdy this time of day so keep hidden until you're inside the palace" Far ahead in the summit of Mt. Monaxia Lacquer instructed his men.
His plan is simple, send a diversion and distract the guards by then the palace would left leaving a small number of people because of the festival, a good amount he can easily push back and in the King's Chambers Rexcarius shall be waiting for him with his elite knights.
Lacquer shall blow up the palace bringing down everyone down with him with an enhanced version of hellfire. This is a simple yet effective plan to defeat his old friend and nemesis and him in the process leaving it all to the three, and with the help of the royals and Spade, Lacquer has no doubt that things will turn out well, perhaps even without the need of brute force which their ways have employed and resulted in so much dead bodies and continue to bring down the innocent.
Meanwhile the festival went on without much trouble despite the guards being lessened by quite a lot but because they are all alarmed, security still remained tight. Sabre looks upon the the towns from the towers of the palace and he sighed, this was the day he feared and the choice he had stalled as much as he could.
Would he still side with Lacquer or save his king? Sabre had admired Lacquer for so long and this shall be his chance to fight along his captain one last time and see him in his true glory once again but then to side with Lacquer meant betraying Rexcarius and should things go south, him and his wife shall be executed for his betrayal. To choose the man who even in war still had kindness enshrouded over him or the king with the bright smile of which darkness linger.
The choice was clear for Sabre, the one he made in the very beginning. Sabre did not always make the best choices but now he needed to make his choice the best. He took his platoon who used to be Lacquer's therefore they knew it was a coup worth fighting for. Sabre and his men left the palace and following Lacquer's orders left the Palace partially unguarded while they spread confusing wearing masks.
When twilight comes, Sabre will fight alongside Lacquer and they either die a death of blazing glory or win in a magnificent feat. As for now he shall say goodbye to his wife and say his farewells, everyone told him he would amount to nothing but now he stood as one of the people who gets to fight along and witness the greatest fight that the citizens shall never know.
Zyderine walked in the palace and saw Crystal and Alfron syncing their magic for the great showdown, Myrtle and Ria gathering their underlings and prepping them for what was to come and she felt as useless as she did the day before knowing the poison still affects her and try she may, it would be of no help in a fight. She is not good enough to be part of this she muttered to herself.
"Ah Zyderine I have been looking for you!"
From behind her Spade came walking, he had made a swift recovery like her but still his bruises has not fully recovered and to some extent he still walked limping.
"Do you have something for me?" She asked hoping that she could still play a part.
"Of course, you are the key figure you know"
"Surely you jest"
"Look, Lacquer is not the only problem we have. Although you are not in the condition to fight, before anything else you are a leader Zyderine and I want you to lead the knights, I have his majesty's permission. You are to use his men and make sure that the Bluemoon festival moves on smoothly. I trust this to you but should you need it, Blade shall be in your service. I'll be leaving it to you now then"
"Where will you be if I need you?"
"Well I will be nowhere for the most part so I doubt you'd find me but I know you won't need me. I trust you"
Patting her shoulder Spade left her and Zyderine felt her heavy heart just a little bit lighter and clouded head just a little clearer, faith is a powerful thing if you present it at the right time.
As she left Blade had been waiting for her from the outside along with a considerable amount of knights. She could not help but smile at the thought that Spade trusted her so that he would offer his right hand and that her father would entrust to her the oversee of the biggest event of Cebunilla.
In the past she would simply shut herself in the palace annoyed by all the noise but now she walked confidently with her group of armed men and patrolled the area, she felt a nice tingling in her pulse as people would look at her with awe. For the most part things were the same as usual and peaceful but then more and more occurrences would call to her attention all at the same time causing albeit small but significant chaos to the festival.
First was a group of petty thieves in broad daylight that openly stole food from the stalls and jewelry from the customers. Of course she had to send knights after them but then bandits from everywhere would arrive and despite catching a great amount of these troublemakers, someone still managed to free all the prisoners and they wreaked havoc in the festival.
Zyderine sighed in exhaustion as things seemed to be going badly and Blade walked towards her with two captured bandits in both hands and looked at Zyderine with worry.
"I can't handle this after all" She sighed.
Blade just continued to look at her holding the two unconscious men in awkward positions.
"We need to find Spade"
"Master Spade entrusted this to you Princess and I know that he would not make a mistake in this. What are your orders?"
Blade stayed strong despite her conceding so she decided to try just a little bit harder. Spade did trust her but for what reason, what could she possibly have that she could use? She thought of what Spade would say and she smirked because knowing that narcissist he would probably say 'you have firsthand experience of my knowledge' and then something clicked on her.
She did not need to capture the bandits but instead she needed to find a way to make them of use. She needed to negotiate her way in this hindrance and then use her weakness and make it her strength, then she can finally get to the middle of what she assumed is a conspiracy or perhaps a diversion.
She took two approaches, one using negotiation and the other interrogation. Blade became amazed as when she acted he could have sworn he saw Spade with his passive aggressive approaches and cold figure despite the taunts and from a far Spade looked to Zyderine and grinned, he made the right decision leaving it to her and he called on Shadow.
"It's time for us to make our move as well"