—[ Sin and Sacrifice ; Act 2;3 ]—

I woke up, yet again, in the serene and perfect environment of the emperor’s suit. I climbed out of my bed, and quickly reached out for the kendo robe that I had thrown on the floor the other day. The Festival of the Hunt was today ; no way I was gonna miss that. I walked over to the door, and opened it. I looked around, and it was still very dark.

The soldier that was guarding my door got up from sitting on his chair, and said ; “Roku? Are you up already? The advisor didn’t tell me to wake you up for atleast two hours!” I stared at him. “Oh, is that so? Alright…I’ll stay in my room.” I closed the door again. I walked over to the middle of my room, thinking on something what to do the next two hours… I guess I could just prepare for the festival. I was still very sleepy, so I decided to jump into the bath again. It got my muscles a lot looser, and I actually felt like I could take on something big, bare-handed. Once I got out, I grabbed a new pair of undergarmets and started doing some rather basic fighting moves — some punches, some kicks, and did some regular push-ups to warm my arm muscles up.

The two hours passed very quickly, and I grabbed a kendo robe, and opened my door.

“I see you’re ready for combat already!” The advisor said. “Yes, yes I am. But I am starving, man!” I said, while scratching my stomach. “I thought you would be. We set up a breakfast buffet, and after that, you’re free to roam the castle. Ofcourse, you have access to your armory, so you will be able to prepare yourself. The storage is also open.” He said, while he started walking towards the dining hall again. I greeted the soldier that was still sitting on the chair, the one that escorted me to the buffet. “The storage, eh? I finally don’t have to pay for some potions!” I laughed, and the advisor did, too.

We ate quite some food at the buffet, and I greeted Almika. Zekerium was still sleeping, he said. The sensei was at this breakfast aswell, and introduced me to Ketro. He would be my rival during the event, and he clearly didn’t like me. “Ah, if it isn’t the prince himself!” He said, grinning, while shaking my hand. “Will you be able to take down some monsters in REAL armor?” His grin became even bigger. “Oh well, may the best man win today, right?” He let go of my hand, and made his way out of the dining hall. “Do not worry, Roku.” My sensei said. “Sensei…” I answered, while looking down to the marble floor. “What is it? Ketro is rich, but you are the prince. He bought his way through the pre-lims, know that.” He said. I looked up to him. “Really? So he’s not a good Page, at all?” I was amazed. “He is a great, great warrior. Yet he would rather see his team mates clear the way through the first round, and abandon them during the team challenge.” He said, while he also made his way out of the dining hall. A soldier walked up, and said that I should get prepared for the festival. I was hyped up, I couldn’t wait to see the other rivals.

—

Once I arived at the armory, the advisor was there.

“Roku…” the advisor said. “There is something you should know…” I walked towards my armor, but looked at the advisor. “What is it?” I asked, not knowing I was rather rude. I grabbed the first layer of cloth armor, and put it on. It felt extremely light, yet very strong. I threw some punches, and started putting on the heavy armor. “The other warrior…Ketro.” He said. “He is my son…” My eyes switched from the armor to the advisor. “He is? …that’s great, I guess.” I continued putting on my armor. I was finished with the body armor, so I kneeled and started putting on my shoes. “Yes, yes it is…but, I know, after your sensei told you he bought his way through…” I stopped. “Why are you telling me this? Look, I’m gonna participate the festival, and clear it on MY way.” I continued again. “…right.” he said, while he walked over to the exit. “By the way, Roku? I have a final gift for you. Please go in the weapon section when you are done dressing up.” He said. I just thought he’d grabbed me a good Neocora, and didn’t think about it too much. Once I put my gloves on, I couldn’t see a red duke anywhere. I figured he’d putten it in the weapon section, so I walked there. The first movement in my new armor felt a bit strange, but I felt more powerful in it than I had felt ever before in any other suit. I then noticed my cape, which hang on the wall. I grabbed it, and put it on.

I continued to the weapons.

I walked into the weapon section, and I could see my Neocora and Red Duke, both on wooden pillars, in the middle of the room. In the middle of the two pillars, however, there was a shield. “Could it be?…” I said, not knowing I said it out loud. I walked over to it. “…my god!…the Silver Legend Shield…”

I grabbed my Neocora, and put on my Red Duke. I then reached out my hand for the Silver Legend Shield, and grabbed it. I pulled it off of the ground; it was far lighter then I thought it would be. “It’s like magic…” I said. I did some attacks on fictional enemies, and marched out of the armory. I was ready for combat!

—

The guards escorted me to the town, where alot of people had already gathered to see the spectacle. There were some, still seeking help from Perion soldiers to barricade their homes, and asking for ladders, to make their way up to their roofs, to witness the spectacle. There were alot of people that didn’t look like they were from Perion, too; I could see alot of pointy hats, and I could even hear some arrows fly sometimes, followed by people talking about the shots. I looked around, and could see whoever looked at me smile. People even knew my name, and greeted me. “Hello, Rokuji, sir!” some had said. I smiled back at them, and greeted them as well. “You’re gonna win the festival, right? And if you do, you’ll teach me your skills, right?” a little boy told me. “I can already do a final attack! Here, look!” I stopped, and looked down to the boy, who wasn’t very tall. He came up to my
middle, and he had a basic sword. He attacked a wooden crate, and jumped around, aiming for the wooden crate again. He ended up on his butt, sitting on the ground. You could see he was very embarrassed and sad, and you could see tears, welling up in his eyes. “I’m sorry for wasting your time, sir…” he got up, and started crying. He was about to run off, but I made him stop.

“Wait,” I said. “How long have you been practicing it?” I asked him. “Uhm…about a week now.” he answered, trying to rub his tears away. “Only a week, and it already looked like that? Wow, you have talent, kid! Keep practicing, you’ll make it eventually!” I answered, smiling. “Y-you really think so?! Wow! That’s amazing! Thanks a bunch, Rokuji!” He said, with a big smile on his face. He’d ran off, to a group of children about his age, and quoted what I had just said to him, in a loud voice. You could hear the other kids raising their voices out of amazement aswell, and I laughed. We continued walking.

We were approaching the town square, and on our way, I saw several, big cages, with roars and growls coming out of them. At one cage, I asked the soldier escorting me what was in it. “It’s a surprise, I don’t even know it myself!” he said. I swallowed, and continued walking.

There was a big crowd at the town square, and there was a platform on the middle of it. There were several hunters already standing on it, talking to eachother. Once I entered the town square, everyone looked at me, pointed fingers, and started cheering my name. “Ro! Ku! Ji! ~ Ro! Ku! Ji!” the crowd started to cheer. I was rather surprised to see this amount of people being here, and climbed up the platform. I waved at the crowd, and they all cheered. Some even shouted loudly “Yeah! Go Perion!”

A person from the group of fellow hunters behind me spoke. “Showing off to the crowd, hah. There’s no way he’ll make it through the first round.” I turned around. I could see a not-so-tough looking male stand before me. The first thing I noticed, is that he had very strange eyes. Kind of like a Jr.Necki’s ones, but far more mean. I could see he was from the Henesys tribe, as he wore a Black Maro Hat, and a Blue Tai robe. “You just wait, archer.” I told him. “Archer? Oh, please. Get it right.” he lifted his left hand, which was wrapped inside a white glove. “I am not just a mere archer!” He said. “I am a crossbowman!” He shouted, while he quickly lowered his left hand, and showed his right hand, which was hidden behind him so far. He had a crossbow in it, and quickly put his left hand under it, to keep it up. “Oh wow, I am impressed. Is that a Rower?” I asked him, trying to be as friendly as I could be. “A Rower? Ha! How dare you insult my precious Miss Kitty Bang Bang like that!” He laughed, and so did the other participants. “Miss Kitty Bang Bang? What kind of ridiculous name is that for a Crossbow?” A female mage, who was standing next to him, said. She was wearing a blue and yellow robe, which caught my attention from the moment I got on the town square. Her Seraphis cap perfectly matched her Anakarunes’ color theme. “What?! Just you wait! Me and M.K.B.B. will show you what we are made of!” the crossbowman shouted, showing his teeth towards the mage girl, with an angry leer.

“Bwahaha, oh, I’m looking forward to that!” Ketro came on the stage aswell. More people were cheering ‘Perion’ as he climbed up. His armor was almost identical to mine, only all his upper, plated armor was dark. He threw his huge, wooden mallet on his shoulder, and kept it there with both his hands. He turned his head around to me, and grinned.

“I see you have an Orientican styled hat, Ketro. Those must be very expensive these days.” I said, in a sarcastic tone. “Why yes, yes it is.” He grinned, and looked at the crowd. “A horde of wild animals, that’s what they are. They’re worse then the stuff we’ll be up against later.”, he said, while looking at the crowd with despise. “Now, now. They are our fellow citizens, Ketro. Don’t talk to them like that.”, I answered. “Whatever, Rok. You don’t know what it’s been like in this town the last few years.” he answered.

The advisor, who was escorted by a dozen of soldiers, walked on the town square. The big mass of people saw this, and quickly stepped aside, making a much wider path to the stage than I had while making my way here. They were followed by Almika and Zekarium, or just Mike and Zeke. They all climbed up on stage, and the advisor spoke.

“Greetings, people of Victoria!”, he started with, getting a thunderous reply from the crowd. The people cheered, but quickly stopped, to hear the rest of the speech. “Today, we honor the day our ancestors established peace on our island!” He continued. “We honor the day our ancestors, Athena Pierce, Dances with Balrog, Grendel and the Dark Lord established peace between the four nations! And we celebrate that their offspring still guides people to their destiny!” In response, the people began cheering madly. At this point, it was hard to hide my smile anymore, because I wanted to join the crowd and start cheering as well. But I had to remain focussed, just like the other participants. I looked at them, while the advisor spoke. “Today is the day we honor, and fight, to show off each other what we have become over time! Let me introduce our contestants!” The soldiers quickly spoke to us. “Get in line, people!” Some of us sighed, but we did as we were told to. I looked around, and counted the participants. There were only nine people. “Nine? I thought there would be five teams…” I said to myself.

“From the Henesys archer tribe! The archer who fights with pride and honor, before anything! The beautiful female bow-woman…Ashomi!” The girl got an extremely cute smile on her face, and bowed. I didn’t notice her before, but she was wearing a Green Lumati overall, a Green Maro hat, the same as the crossbowman had, in a different color,
though. “She wields her extremely endurable bow, her legendary golden Olympus!” The people cheered, and you could hear several men shouting hard enough to be heard. A lot of whistles could be heard, too. Ashomi winked to the crowd, and giggled.

“Next on our list! Another strong female, who doesn’t like to be pushed around! Give it up for the Ellinia-regioned Ice & Lightning mage, Alias!” The girl with the blue anakarune and seraphis hat waved her Thorns to the crowd, and laughed. “I’ll show that Ellinia is the strongest region! Hahaha!” she laughed, and lowered her staff again. “Equipped with her magical Thorns, the monsters will be in for quite a surprise if they mistake her as an easy prey!” the advisor spoke.

“On to a man who knows how to take down big things in an instant! Give it up for our very own hunter, Sir Ketro from the mighty Perion region!” His face was blank, until he heard his name. He got the dirtiest grin that I had seen in a while, and stepped forward. He grabbed his blessing, and swung it around. He laughed, and put it back on his
shoulder. “He carries his big, wooden mallet, which has been blessed by the mightiest Bishop on victoria before passing away! Give it up for his Blessing!” The people cheered, and I knew I had underestimated him before. I looked to the ground, and continued listening to what the advisor had to say.

“On to our fourth candidate. From the Kerning City region. The man who was called after the only piece of clothing he was wearing when his parents found him just outside of town. He dual-wields the Sai. Give it up for the man who can slith your throat in a mere second… Sock!” The crowd went wild, once again. The bandit walked forward, and
brushed his Red Ninja gear, and his Red Pilfer hat. He got into battle pose, and raised his hands infront of his face. He made a fantastic movement, jumping in the air while turning 360 degrees around, and when he landed not more then a second later, he was holding his Sai. He had one in each hand, and started spinning them in his hands, like
they were toys. He then put them back into the holsters he had for them, and went back to his place in line. He hadn’t changed his blank, careless facial expresion while doing anything of that. The advisor cleared his throat, and went on to the next participant.

“Alright! The following perso–” the advisor was cut in his sentence by the crossbowman. “I’d like to introduce myself to the crowd, because I just know you won’t be able to make enough splashing and suitable intro for my greatness.” The crossbowman said. He walked up to the edge, and the still cheering crowd became a bit less loud. “Here goes”, he said. “From the Henesys archer tribe, also! The one who carries the very humble Miss Kitty Bang Bang itself! The fastest hunter on the face of Victoria! Give it up, for Ceth!”, he shouted, holding his golden Rower high above his head. I could now clearly see his cape, which was covered by his blue quiver, holding his arrows. His cape, it was as dark as his Maro. I looked, and wondered. Could it be this, selfish and conceited crossbowman that saved my life? It couldn’t be. Meanwhile, the crowd started laughing , and you could hear the name of his crossbow several times in a row. Ceth got annoyed, and closed his Necki-like eyes a bit. “Just wait! I’ll show you what M.K.B.B. is able to do!” He said, while Ketro sighed. “Less talking, more action! Come on, let’s get these introductions over with!” he shouted to the advisor. Ceth looked down to the floor, sighed and walked back in the line.

The advisor continued, and was still confused over what just had happened. “Right, uhm..” he was totally off the hook. “Oh! Right! The introductions!” He looked to the next one in row, and that was me. I looked to the advisor, and nodded.”Also. Many of you know that the King of Perion has been taken down, and Perion is free once again.” The crowd started talking about this matter for a few seconds, and many looked at me, with strange looks, like if they didn’t know what was going on. “On this place, the King himself should have been. However, since his royal highness cannot participate due to his sudden death, we have a suitable replacement for your entertainment!” Most of the Perion villagers already started cheering, but the people from the other towns didn’t seem to understand it. “Please give it up for his royal majesty’s offspring, Prince Rokuji of Perion!” The Perion villagers that knew started screaming their longs out, however, most of the visitors from other regions didn’t understand at all, and seemed confused. “His son has stopped King Shiji the Great single-handedly after he defeated his well-trained Kargo! It was because of this man, that our kingdom is currently free from King Shiji’s crusade of evil!” Everyone suddenly became silent, and then started cheering altogether. Ceth lowered his Rower, and laughed. “Oh, great! Finally think we have a chance of winning, and his son pops up!” He said in a sarcastic way, followed by laughter. The advisor continued and described my weapons. “He is using the legendary Neocora, which the Aircutters of old times first used! His shield was once worn by Silver, the legendary axe fighter! Let’s see if he can write history during today’s festival!” The crowd cheered, and I looked over to Ketro for a bit. He was surprised once he heard about my shield, and was obviously bothered by it. But before I had time to talk to him, the other participants had to be introduced.

“While healing is usually the way you restore AFTER a battle, the following mage from Ellinia used it as a fighting tactic! Give it up for one of the most amazing fighters against undead creatures… Inaznum!” The mage nodded his head playfully to the crowd, while laughing, and casting a very bright spell on himself, which lit up the entire town square for a bit. Even though the sun was already shining on Perion brightly, the spell was still very beautiful to see. Inaznum was wearing a White Calas robe, and a golden headpiece known as a Golden Circlet. It had a dark gem in it, matching his Calas. “His equiptment for his healing attacks are his beautiful Esther shield, and his Cromi!” The crowd cheered, and some mages in the crowd threw up their pointy hats.

“The next two participants have both gotten in during the Sleepywood Wild Card competition, which was held after the pre-lims had ended!” the advisor continued. I looked over to my right, and I could see both Zeke and Mike with big smiles on their faces. Mike was rubbing his stomach, which was located under his Blue Crusader Chainmail. He
had a top-knot in his hair, which he didn’t have at first. It looked very silly, but it was an effective way of getting rid of your annoying hair without cutting it. Zeke, which was already holding his Zeco high up in the air, causing people to cheer for him, was wearing the exact same robe as Mike was. It looked very cool, yet you could see Zeke’s armor was a bit too big for him. “Both candidates are from the Perion tribe aswell, and are excellent guards! We were very surprised to hear they won the Sleepywood tournament!”

“Next up, we have…” he looked past Zeke and Mike, but there was no tenth candidate. “Hehehe, the moron is late again.” Sock said. “Why can’t you thiefes ever just get somewhere in time?” Alias said, while she was looking at the yellow gem on her Thorns. “Hey! What’s that?!” someone from the crowd yelled. We all turned around, and looked.

We saw a person, sitting on what seemed like a monster, standing on the peak of the Chikara mountain. “Heheh. It’s him.” Sock said. “Are you sure?” The advisor asked. “Sure as heck.” Sock replied. “There’s only one fool that would lead himself and his Lioner off of that cliff.”

There was complete silence all over the town square. Everyone was looking at the final contestant, standing on the top of the mountain. The Lioner he was riding walked towards the edge, and looked down on the town square. “What do you think he’s up to?” Inaznum said. “Simple”, Ceth said. “He’s stealing MY great entrance.” Ashomi laughed. “Sorry Ceth,” she said, while still laughing. “Some people are just way better in impressing the crowds!” But the laughing didn’t last very long.

“What is he doing? Do you think he’ll…” the advisor spoke. The Lioner on top moved even closer to the ledge, and looked down the steep cliff. “He’ll be here in 15 seconds, starting…” Sock said. “What?! Is he jumping off Chikara Mountain?!” The advisor shouted. “Is he insane?!”

“…now.”

The Lioner started running at that exact moment, and left behind a huge trail of dust. You could hear the crowd was surprised by their sudden “Oooo!”, which they gave altogether. “WHAT! Man, I wish I thought of that…” Ceth mumbled. “If he takes that much time on planning his intro, his skills must suck.” Ketro said. “Why’s that?” Mike asked. “Simple. He wants us all to be very impressed by his entrance, so we won’t notice his attack force sucks.” He said, and turned around. “Please, can we just start already?”

The Lioner was already down the mountain, and was running over the open plains. You could now see the person riding it; he had his hair in a very strange looking ponytail, and Silver armor. “LET’S GO!” He had shouted while they were nearing in on the stage, and his Lioner leaped into the air, flying towards the stage. “Oh man! He’s gonna crash right into us!” Inaznum shouted, panicked. “Quick! Evacuate the stage!” The advisor said, and everyone jumped off. I looked up, in the air, and could see he started falling down.

“KETRO!? Get off the stage!” I yelled. “No, that’s what he wants.” he answered, while still being turned with his back towards the falling Lioner. “Suit yourself, fool!” I said, while I jumped off the stage.

“The final participant has…landed.” Sock said, and on the exact moment of his final word, the Lioner Crashed straight on the stage.There was a loud shock among everyone watching, and a big cloud of dust on the stage. You couldn’t see anything, only hear people cough. Once the smoke started to lift, Ketro was still standing on the exact same spot. The Lioner had landed only a few inches away from him. The final participant jumped off, and stood in front of Ketro. “It was hard to decide whether to land on your head or to let you keep your life,” he said. “You crazy ol’ Page.” He grinned. “Still up to no good, I see.” Ketro grinned aswell. They shook eachothers hands, and greeted eachother. “Nice to see you again, Ketro.” “The pleasure is all mine, Naerius.”

—

Once we all climbed back on stage, the advisor introduced the last participant to the crowd. “Right! The last participant came right on time, with quite a surprising entrance! It is the infamous Assasin, who goes into a killing frenzy in the blink of an eye! Equipped with a Blood Red Avarice claw, it is our tenth and final partitipant! Give it up for Kerning City’s Naerius!” Naerius laughed, and petted his Lioner. He kneeled at it, and checked one of it’s pockets. He got out a black bag, and his hand went to check if it was full of Tobi throwing stars. It was, and he attached the bag to his belt. “Alrighty now,” Naerius said. “Let’s get this party started! I have a date tonight, so we’d better hurry!”

—

The contestants;
Henesys
Ashomi ; Bow-Woman
Ceth ; Crossbowman

Kerning City
Sock ; Bandit
Naerius ; Assasin

Perion
Sir Ketro ; Page
Rokuji ; Fighter

Ellinia
Alias ; Ice Lightning Mage
Inaznum ; Cleric

Sleepywood Wild Cards
Ilmika (Mike) ; Axe Fighter
Zekarium (Zeke) ; Spearman

— End of 2;3

– Rokuji
Thanks goes out to Ceth for spellchecking again, and many thanks to the few readers that are loyal to me! ^_^;;