CAZADO: BOOK ONE (WATTYS 2023)

Chapter 26

Dear Dean,

Thank you for allowing me to use the King's library. The King and I have not been on the best of terms of late as I was unable to complete the task of removing the rest of the Behemoths from the officials. I have not found their leader. Please give this letter to Shaki at some point. She may be better at finding out who is behind the desire to overthrow the King. We will not allow any revolutions. And remember, resistance even by family members and friends who have nothing to do with this group shall be met by death. No excuses.

We will destroy the enemy,

Eagle

I closed the letter and tried my best to reseal it. I placed the letter in my pocket and slowly went up the stairs, wondering what I would tell my friend when I saw her. I found them much sooner than I'd expected. They were all in the dojo preparing themselves for training. My two Guandao were on the floor next to them. Thankfully, Carlos was able to retrieve them for me from the facility. I know I may have never seen them again if he would have left them there. In the state I was in, I would have been unable to get them back.

The training machines were already beginning to move, so I made a quick dash to pick up my guandao but the first machine was in front of me before I could get to them. But as if by instinct I felt myself drop and slide underneath the machine's legs and rolled. I flipped myself up and sprinted, my eyes set on my guandao. Another machine tried to get in the way, but Maverick was there to stop it by quickly building a wall of ice between the machine and the spot where I was standing. I finally reached my Guandao, but it was too late. 

Another machine was standing there before me. I looked around for help, but Maverick was busy fighting against a machine and Shaki was fighting against two. There were four of them. I turned to my right and noticed Carlos standing on the other side playing with some liquid metal. I knew he would be a waste. These machines were specifically made by 4536 so they would not be stopped by liquid metal so easily. 

I dodged the first punch and was able to dive under a roundhouse kick that would have taken my head clean off my shoulders. Even though it was training, I knew 4536 would not be playing games. I rolled to the side, dodging another kick that would have connected to my ribs and attempted to grab a guandao, just missing it. The machine must have realized what I was doing because it moved to the left, standing directly over the guandaos.

"Great," I thought. I knew my other friends were busy and to be honest, Carlos did not seem like he could help in any way. I wish he would have kept the sticks that he used, but he no longer saw any use for them. He said he had tossed them, but they would have been helpful at this time. Not that he could win on his own but at least distract the machine until I had retrieved my weapon. Then it hit me. Like a bright burning star, the machine's fist exploded a sensation of pain onto my face. I flew backwards and fell in a heap near a pile of soft pillows. If it were a good day, I would have landed on them and not next to them. But it was not a good day. Instead I had fallen on the metal floor. I could feel pain rush up my right leg to my spine and my face went numb. I knew this was not good, but there was no way I could stop this fight. 4536 would not allow it, and he was in control.

I lifted my head and realized the machine was standing right over me. Carlos was nowhere to be found and Maverick and Shaki were both busy. It was the first time that I felt like I was the weakest link. Or maybe I had felt like this before. I was about to put my hands up in surrender but then I remembered again who was in control, so I waited for the next blow, but it did not come. Instead something else happened that completely took me by surprise. I noticed a dim light at first that continued to grow brighter and brighter. It came from where Carlos was standing. I looked over and so did the machine, who, if he had human mannerisms, also looked puzzled. There was liquid metal spinning around Carlos' arm and it slowly formed a cannon. As this happened, a large ball of energy was forming inside. Blue electricity was flying all about him until the light quickly shot towards its intended target...