A Journey through Kingdoms

CHAPTER 23- ALMOST THERE

"How far are we from the castle, Derrick!?" Tetsuga yells as he has Derrick hoisted up onto his shoulders so the boy can get a better view of their destination, which is far into the distance. "We're still a little bit far, but we're almost halfway!" Derrick informs him as Tetsuga continues to run. "It's been a minute since that guy was on our tail. You think Ecrucio did him in with that explosion earlier?" Tetsuga inquires, seeing as the explosion was big enough for them both to see from a faraway distance. One would assume that to be a deal-breaker in this sort of topic that he had proposed to Derrick. But the boy definitely knew something was up as he glanced back at the direction of the explosion. "I don't know, but we better keep up our pace!" Derrick encourages as he and Tetsuga keep on trudging their way over to the castle. Meanwhile, back at the alleyway, there was now a big crater on the ground. Smoke lifted to the air still. But from the smoke emerged the hunter, now in much worse shape. The outfit was singed and ragged, while the mask on his face now adorned a big, long, slanted crack right in the middle. For Ecrucio's remains. None were seen, as dirt, smoke, and ash were all that's left after.

"Halt! Tell me what happened here! Did you cause this explosion!?" Suddenly, a knight rocked up to the scene. Accuse the hunter of being responsible for the damage. But the hunter was very much not in the mood now as he silently dealt with the knight. Their heads dropped clean off their shoulders as the hunter merely walked past the now headless knight without a glance whatsoever. Then, with a drop and a thrust from one leg, he speeds up tremendously, pursuing the two who were on their way to the castle for the sword. "Mr. Tetsuga! Guards up ahead!" Derrick points out as we move back to the two. Tetsuga, taking the call out. Quickly takes a different route in order to dodge the path of the knights as they march on by. Missing them. "Alright. How much farther are we?" Tetsuga inquires for an update from Derrick as the boy looks over at the horizon to assess. "Nearly there! Just a few more blocks away!" Derrick says. Optimism fills his voice. But as Tetsuga passes by an alleyway,. He was then suddenly struck from behind. Sending him flying into a building and Derrick to fly forward and land straight onto the ground. Ough!!"Derrick grunts as he pushes himself back up, recovering from the sudden launch. He looks over to see who did it and sees the hunter, already back from getting blown up. The hunter's head looks over at Derrick, who stared back with clenched teeth.

The hunter tried to take a step but then turned to his left and blocked a projectile brick that was flying over his face. Suddenly, from the wreckage of the giant hole that resulted from Tetsuga crashing through it, the man bursts forth from it at a speed almost equal to that of the hunter and hits him square in the jaw. "Mr. Tetsuga!" Derrick yells off to the side, amidst the confrontation. The hunter's head reeled back as his feet skidded back a few inches. He then recovers fast as he swiftly brings down his sword at Tetsuga, who luckily dodges it by leaning to the side. The two then clash against each other as Tetsuga throws a punch, which the hunter dodges as well, and then follows it up with a strike to Tetsuga's ribcage, which the man blocks with a kick. He then tries to sweep the hunter's legs, but they are quick enough to jump before kicking Tetsuga right in the face, unfortunately for him. Tetsuga was also quick enough to block it with his forearm as he got sent flying back before recovering with a back roll. "Derrick! Head to the castle! Find the sword!" Tetsuga quickly shouts over to Derrick before getting rushed by the Hunter as they both clash once again. "But!" Derrick was starting to see a pattern now. First the guards out in front of the gate, Ecrucio, and now Tetsuga? He was clearly hesitant to follow it through, but Tetsuga assures him as he yells over at him again.

"Don't worry! I'll be fine!" He says as he dodges a sword slash, which was accompanied by a kick that he catches with his hands. "Don't worry about me!" Tetsuga shouts before twisting his body around the leg and punching the hunter right in the chest as they get sent back by it. Giving them both some distance. Derrick knew their only chance to win was the sword that Ecrucio wanted them to find and use, but he was also worried for Tetsuga's safety as the Hunter had already taken the lives of many. But with a determined breath, he turns away and sprints towards the castle. "No!" The hunter finally spoke as he witnessed Derrick sprinting away. He tries to move past Tetsuga to get to him, but Tetsuga stops him by using his magic to pull him back and swing him to the side as he smashes into a wall. "No, you! Buddy! Like hell, I'm going to let you pass by like that," Tetsuga says as he glares at him as the hunter casually gets himself back up from the ground. Cracking his neck, the two went back at it as they rushed each other. Derrick pants as he pushes his stamina to the limit as he reaches the walls of the castle. "I made it! Now to find a way in..." Derrick mutters to himself as he starts looking around. He glances over at the main gate and sees guards on standby. He knew that going through there would be dumb, so he thought of something else. He takes himself over to the very side of the walls separating the castle premises from the city. Checking around again to see if there were any guards nearby to spot him, he finds himself free to do stuff since there were no guards in sight.

The boy grabs the pickaxe, which was strapped to his side. Luckily, he never leaves home without it in case he sees a mineral he wants out in the wilderness. Although the boy wasn't meaning to use it as a pickaxe as he searched around for a rope,. Luckily, he saw one wrapped around a stack of logs. Though the boy was not fond of stealing items that he had not asked for, time was at its essence, and he decided to untie them. Once he had the rope, he tied it to his pickaxe and fashioned himself a makeshift grapple. He stands at the bottom of the wall and throws it up, getting the pickaxe stuck in between the anti-climb spikes that were lined on top of the wall. Derrick took one last glance at the direction of where Tetsuga was. "Don't worry, Tetsuga, I'll get that sword," Derrick says before turning back around and starting to scale the wall. Speaking of Tetsuga, the man was sent flying away as he rolled to a stop. His body being bruised and a bit battered, he looked over at the hunter, who, despite their ragged and also beat-up appearance, was not showing any signs of fatigue. Visually, at least to Tetsuga's knowledge. "Alright, this definitely seems fair," Tetsuga complains in a sarcastic tone. "Die." With a single word, the hunter rushes towards him with every intent to levitate his head from his shoulders. Seeing as the hunter wanted this to end as quickly as possible, he speeds up to the point where his image disappears from sight. "C'mon!" Tetsuga mutters, recognizing such a move as his eyes started to glow blue as soon as he did. "Hup!' Tetsuga then drops down to the ground, avoiding the cleaving strike of the hunter's sword.

"How-" before the hunter could even question how Tetsuga managed to dodge the attack. The glow on Tetsuga's eyes went away and reappeared on his fist as he proceeded to raise it up high to punch him on the chin, but the hunter was able to move his head back a few centimeters, which was enough for his fist to graze him a little. But then he salvages the attempt by transferring the magic again over to his foot as he kicks the hunter in the stomach. "Ack!!" With a magically enhanced blow to the gut, the hunter gets sent flying back. I was dazed for a moment. "Stay! I mean it!" Tetsuga yells before turning around and running away towards the castle. His game plan? To reach the castle and hope for Cerion's mighty name, Derrick found the sword. The hunter, after recovering from the hit, gives chase, as their fight has now evolved into a chase.