Fate: Kill

Chapter 30

Watching the Prime Minister's entourage leave the battlefield with the emperor from afar, Liver of the Three Beasts could already infer what must have been going through that incorrigible fat ass's mind.
'

Escort the child emperor away from the true reality of the country.'
'Kill the threat to power.'
'Lastly, to eliminate any future variables.'
It was such a simple deduction that it was hardly worth praise for the effort. Granted, it wasn't hard to infer the motivations and aspirations of corrupt men and women in Liver's background as a prominent military man. However, it only further cemented his beliefs and assumptions that this dishonest world would forever be mired in conspiracy, betrayal, and loathing…the very same injustice and mistreatment that befell him and his company of soldiers, leading to death or imprisonment.
Almost certainly, that familiar pang of disappointment assailed Liver from deep within, but he'd long since grown numb to it all. Sometimes it was both easier and simpler to just feign ignorance to the man that once existed as an army general loyal to the Empire he believed in. One with brilliant records, feats, and achievements for the betterment of the citizens and fellow soldiers he was sworn to protect.
Then, Honest came into power.
Unbidden, memories of the past came to mind of bribes, stubborn pride, nationality, and loyalty, then bitter exile left to rot in a dingy prison cell.
There was no shadow of a doubt how Liver felt regarding Prime Minster Honest and his twisted works and ideologies, but the very person who saved him from deteriorating behind bars, lauded him for his past victories, and provided him political backing tolerated the Prime Minister. Of course, Liver knew that this had nothing to do with Honest's sway over his general, but simply because even Honest could not contain his general. This was part of the reason he respected his general so much, and even agreed to the notion of being saved and working so devoutly under someone else.
His general was a leader of her own.
Honest could not control her, but could only allow her to do as she pleased. This in a way meant that his general preferred Honest to stay in power lest someone more 'upstanding' tried to interfere in her matters. Hence the reason for his general's continued cooperation with Honest in an almost unsaid agreement.
Any real hope for the Empire to better itself from its decline died from within Liver at the realization, but it didn't mean he was without motivation. He owed his general his life for the debt she'd granted to him. So long as it was his general's will, he would follow through even if that meant aligning himself with the very fat bastard who framed and got him court-marshalled in the first place.
Oh, the irony. None of it was lost on Liver, but neither did his opinion change.
With Honest making an expected retreat to evacuate the child emperor away from the sight of atrocities, his honour guard followed closely behind. This included Liver's own general who was both an honorary member and the strongest member. However, deviations occurred without warning given the tendency of his general to act on her own principles.
Liver raised a brow as he spotted the figure of his general parting away from Honest's entourage a distance away from Kalance plains and uncharacteristically spectating from afar rather than participate. Then again, his general wouldn't participate in anything beneath her notice. If so, why did she stay just to watch?
Did his general gain a vested interest in this short skirmish?
Liver with Nyau and Daidara were in charge of a detachment unit from his general's army formerly stationed to combat the Revolutionary forces in the north, but had since left the main army to participate in this hasty impromptu formal war declaration.
There was nothing grand about any of this, really. As much as Lier tried to discern what was going through his general's mind, he couldn't perceive the notion of this battle leading to anything else but futility.
'So why was his general smiling so fervently at this farce's main actor?'
Lips thinning, Liver straightened his posture and clasped his hands behind his back before returning his attention back to the current proceedings.
Now that Honest had removed the child emperor from the equation, Honest's paid generals in the Empire army had immediately encircled the rather tiny force gathered by another legitimate heir to the Empire; one that obviously wasn't disillusioned to the Empire's current state and sought to rectify it.
Shirou, was the name Nyau had stated in the reports about the child emperor's older and certainly sterner relative. This coupled with the strength of the Teigu Shirou was reported to wield had lit an old ember within Liver's heart.
Could it be possible…?
Can it really happen…?
That kind of world and place forever beyond reach…?
"Shirou of Calla is a ruler adored by the masses and those that follow him," Nyau's own retelling of his espionage report began to play out within Liver's head.
"It's not an exaggeration to say that many in Calla would trade their lives for his without hesitation. This isn't without reason either. He…seems to actually care about those he governs, and actively takes steps to lead them towards a prosperous future. For the sake of lodging and security, he personally hunted what were likely special class Danger Beasts bordering too close to Calla's walls. In every sense of the word, he's an idealist, one that puts the priority of others before himself."
"A King of the People," Liver muttered out the final words of Nyau's analysis.
A just ruler.
Liver could hear the heavy beating of his heart hammering within his ears, and cold sweat perspiring across his brow as old aspirations warred with present loyalties. He stared blankly at Calla's paltry numbers in comparison to the Empire's army and thoroughly restrained himself.
'What a fool.' Liver couldn't help but inwardly comment.
Nyau had disclosed the lethality of Shirou's Teigu, but a ranged Teigu was only truly effective and deadly when used properly. How could it be possible for a bow user to not be vulnerable in the middle of an open field?
Honour? Righteousness? Integrity? None of that mattered in battle.
Yet why then could Liver feel traces of admiration for such foolish bravery and illogical action stir from within him?
The apathy that plagued Liver's hardened and numb sense of morality shuddered something fierce in this moment.
'Let this be the end of it all,' Liver disparaged, hands balling into fists in confliction. 'Your loyalty is to the general. So don't look, don't think, just act as your dictated. NONE of this will amount to anything in the end anyway.'
The cruelest torture was to give a despairing man even the feeblest bit of hope.
Shaking his head, Liver hardened his resolve.
With the Empire's numbers, an all-out assault was surely to commence within mere moments.
Shirou, Calla, and her allies stood no chance at victory here. The outcome was set from the start. Formal as this declaration of war was, Honest was nothing if not crooked and thorough.
So then, where was the despair in Shirou's eyes?
For all his attempts at reading the newest legitimate heir to the Empire, Liver couldn't spot a shred of panic or unease in Shirou's demeanor. Instead, Liver could only watch in vapid fascination as Shirou took center stage of his gathered forces and stared down the Empire army.
Was that a sword in hand?
"Nyau, this wasn't in your report," Liver frowned glancing to his left where Nyau stood alongside Daidara. "Didn't you say that he used a bow-type Teigu?"
Nyau chocked out a response, confusion and disbelief warring within him as his mouth opened and closed. "H-He did. I swear," he grimaced. "He must have switched Teigu's or something."
"You say that as if doing so is easy. Wielders do not choose their Teigu, the Teigu chooses its wielder. I also suppose that it's another unrecorded Teigu not accounted for by the Empire's records. Another lost unknown in the divisive war of the past?"
Nyau dared not answer, still reeling for his apparent failure to have gathered sufficient intelligence before retreating in his infiltration into Calla. The discovery of Shirou's heritage may have had a lot to do with his hasty retreat, but that was just an excuse.
"Sorry, Captain," Nyau could only sigh.
"See to it that it doesn't happen again, and take this lesson to heart." Liver merely nodded before turning his gaze back ahead of him. "A bow or a sword-type Teigu, what difference could it make in this kind of warfare and ba-"
The words died in Liver's throat, coming out as nothing more than a croak.
Shimmers, golden and pure, manifested all at once, reflecting off of glittering motes of light no bigger than grains of sand. Like snow they danced and twinkled upon the edge of twilight, appearing all around in an encapsulating luster and gentle heat.
The aspirations and dreams buried deep within by the darkness of a tainted world were laid bare in the glow.
Liver found himself swallowing, incomparably taken in by the inexplicable sight of what he'd long since thought he'd abandoned. Shame welled up from his heart; doubt arose in his mind.
The light spoke to him, bathed him in his splendor and radiance as it did to all present. The secrets of their hearts and characters couldn't be hidden in its light; no truth unanswered or unjudged.
The wickedness from within felt only dread, yet stronger than even that was the brilliance threatening to spill out. The light spoke of home, of purpose, of meaning in an era fraught with violence and hardship.
What was your dream? What had you once fought for? What was the point of your prior achievements?
-When had even hope been snuffed out in the despair?
It was a light of reflection, causing even the most hardened killers steepled in the corpses of their sins to take heed of what they'd lost and what mattered.
"This light, this distant prayer…" The words escaped Liver's lips unbidden before his gaze focused at the center of it all and the sword that he wielded unlike any Teigu before. If a Teigu chose its owner, then a Teigu such as this sword held in Shirou's hands spoke clearly without words regarding this Emperor's character, integrity, and morals.
"A True Emperor," Liver visibly wilted, shortness of breath causing a pained grimace to mar his features.
"The Revolutionaries are enthralled." Daidara commented mutedly.
"The army generals are panicking," Nyau supplied in contrast, features dim.
Liver said not a word as the panicked Empire generals ordered to open fire. Yet bullets and steel were met again by the unexplained. An iridescent shield, a symbol of a petalled flower of all things manifested to protect those in harm's way.
"Flowers will bloom upon this land of plenty such that all who see it will know of the Empire's prosperity and grace..." Liver recounted the founding words of the First Emperor.
"Imperial Arms will safeguard our Empire. My shield to stretch upon my people, my sword to pave the way…" Daidara continued.
"The missing Teigu of the Empire- that shield and sword…" Nyau's eyes widened, but it would seem that he wasn't the only one to arrive at a sudden conjecture. The Empire's highest military officials and politicians all inwardly shuddered in alarm.
Silence ensued at the implication, none speaking until the results of inaction became clear in Nyau, Liver, and Daidara's minds.
"If we don't act now, the Empire's advanced guard are going to be wiped out and the encirclement broken," Nyau muttered uneasily. "Liver? Captain, your orders?"
"…"
For the first time since his emancipation, Liver stood rooted from an age-old adage he'd long since believed he'd discarded, his mouth dry and throat parched.
Old dreams, die hard.