"Lucien Vosgrave and Idris Vane, the deadly hunters. What you have committed is an inexcusable crime. Surrender now, or death is your only end," announced the general of Hotaru as he slowly unsheathed the large greatsword from his back.
"General." Lucien looked up at him. "We have no hostility toward the people or the kingdom of Hotaru. We are here for the royal family of Flevance. Only them."
The Flevance general's face darkened.
"The Flevance royal family is a guest of this kingdom and falls under World Government protection," said the Hotaru general. "Surrender now. You will keep your lives."
Lucien didn't respond. He was already moving.
He went straight for the Flevance general, who had his longsword out and swung the moment Lucien was in range. Lucien leaned back just enough to let it pass and kept closing the distance.
The Hotaru general wound up to bring the greatsword down on Lucien's back.
The shot came before the swing did. Idris put a bullet close enough to the general's head that he felt the air move, and the general had to abandon the swing and step back. He turned his full attention to Idris instead, which was what Idris had been waiting for.
The Flevance general was fast. Faster than anyone Lucien had fought in a while as the long blade kept coming at him in clean and precise arcs that told Lucien this man had been doing this his whole life. He wasn't sloppy or emotional despite his red face from earlier. The moment the fight started, he was completely switched on.
Lucien took the first few exchanges just reading him. Dodge, step, dodge, let the blade go past, read the recovery. The general was good at covering his recovery too, never leaving himself open for long.
He tried to close the distance, and the general just stepped back and swung low, forcing Lucien to jump back himself.
"You came all this way for nothing, boy," said the general as he reset his stance. "The royal family is well protected. You won't even reach them."
Lucien didn't respond as he just pushed something at him through the fruit. Nothing big, just a small nudge, making the general think his left side was open for a half second.
The general bit on it slightly, shifting his weight just a fraction to cover the left, and Lucien was already going right, sword coming in fast at the man's sword arm.
The general recovered quicker than expected and took the hit on the flat of his own blade, redirecting it, but the force still pushed him back two steps, and Lucien could see his sword arm shaking slightly from absorbing it.
"Your arm won't hold up to that for long," said Lucien.
The general's jaw tightened, and he came forward again, this time more aggressively, the blade coming in combinations that pushed Lucien backwards across the hall. He was strong, and when he committed to a swing, the weight behind it was serious. One of them caught Lucien on his already bruised ribs as he didn't dodge it completely, and he grunted.
He responded by stepping into the next swing instead of away from it, taking it on his forearm and gritting through the pain, and driving his elbow into the general's face
The general stumbled. Lucien hit him again in the same spot, grabbed his sword arm at the wrist, and twisted until something popped. The sword hit the floor.
The general went to one knee, holding his wrist, breathing hard.
Lucien picked up the sword and snapped it.
On the other side of the hall, the Hotaru general was a different kind of problem.
He was slower than the Flevance general, but the greatsword made up for it as the range of the thing was enormous, and Idris couldn't get a clean shot while it was moving. Every time he lined one up, the blade was already swinging back through the space he was shooting from, and he had to move again.
He switched to the pistol and started working at a closer range. The general noticed and closed the distance himself, which was exactly what a man with a greatsword should do against a shooter.
Idris let him come, waited until the general wound up for a downswing, and stepped to the side at the last moment as the blade hit the stone floor hard enough to crack it and stuck for just a second.
That second was enough.
Idris put the pistol against the man's knee and fired.
The general went down with a roar, one hand on the greatsword still buried in the floor, the other going to his leg. Idris stepped back and kept the gun on him.
"Stay down," he said. "We are not here for you."
The general looked up at him, breathing through his teeth, and did not get up.
Lucien looked over at Idris, then at the two generals on the ground, then up at the staircase.
At the top of the stairs, Law was already standing and looking up at the doors beyond. Lucien and Idris walked up as they stood on either side of Law. Lucien's forearms were now bleeding because of the last hit. If not for his relentless physical training and the size he had put on over the last two years, his hands probably wouldn't have been attached to his elbows right now
Lucien pushed the door open slowly.
The royal courtroom was large and lit well, which made it worse somehow. The King and Queen of Hotaru sat on their thrones at the far end. The king's face was completely red, his hand pointing toward them with a visible shake, his eyes wide and fixed on Lucien.
Lucien looked at him. Then he noticed Law had stopped looking at the thrones entirely.
Law's eyes had found the far side of the room. Standing against the wall, clustered together, were a group of people looking back at them with expressions that had passed through shock and arrived somewhere closer to fear.
The Flevance royal family.
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