Chapter 130 - Civil War - 2 (Wincester against the Royal Guards)
Minutes before the ground shaking tremors happened that enveloped the entirety of Sagletius, inside Dawn City, an old man who had shoulder-length white hair and a big beard, along with some sharp features, looked around while being seated on a bench.
A man who seemed to be about 27 years old, about 1,92 meters tall, who had sharp features, short black hair, and a goatee that made him look mature, arrived and walked toward where the old man was seated.
"Marshall Nius, everything is prepared. My men are in position along with Prim's."
In fact, the old man was Nius. He looked up at the newcomer, and with a quiet manner, he rose on his feet and began walking toward the direction of the city.
"Brogg, you better go to your men and start hunting down the rats who would start rushing out from their lair at the biggest signal you could imagine."
"Huh, what do you mean, sir? Ahh, wait a bit, marshal, you didn't explain yourself." said Brogg, not getting what Nius meant when he mentioned the war at the biggest signal ever imagined.
Yet Nius didn't stop, only waved his hand to brush off Brogg, which instead made the soldier sign a bit before moving toward his group.
Someone who was preparing to climb a building saw Brogg and asked him, a bit confused.
"What's with that face, brother? Didn't you find the old man? He was standing on the bench on the street to the taverns."
"No, is not that. In fact, I found him. He just didn't explain himself what he wanted to do, only mentioning a big signal that would start the war."
Prim, who looked down at Brogg while hanging with a hand on the building he was climbing, said to his mate. "You are worrying too much. Just get in position since the old man knows what to do. He is a legend in Kaysang, for god sake, never to be defeated except for the Bloody Massacre."
As he said that, Prim began climbing the building he was hanging, and taking a large sniper rifle from his back, he began adjusting his sight on the telescope.
Brogg also moved to his ground forces and saw some of Nius elite soldiers, two blonde guys, one holding a spear in his hand, while the other one a rapier sword.
'Those two should be Anastas and Enjio, His Highness mentioned along with the old man.'
Moving toward those two, they quickly sensed him and turned to him with fierce eyes, but when they noticed who it was, their eyes got calmer yet still cold.
"You should be, Brogg, the one the old Marshall mentioned. Zagreus men, good. We are about to act since our superiors are in position. I am Anastas while the other one is Enjio." said the golden-haired young man who had hazel eyes while also pointing at the spearman who had similar golden hair but blue eyes.
"Good, that you mentioned..."
Right before he tried to speak more, the ground shook so much that he found it a bit hard to balance himself even after all the training.
"Let's go. We have no time to waste. Let's move, Enjio. This day we are hunters." said Anastas while grasping his rapier and beginning to move in the shaking ground without much trouble.
"Right away. Let's move on guys, it is on us to hunt the most Dark Union rats." said Enjio to the rest of the soldiers coming from the Kalerna Mine.
Brogg, who quickly stabilized, turned to his man who was at his backside, and with a serious tone, he ordered them.
"Respect the plan, guys. Get in your designated team and start the hunt."
"Yes, sir!" replied the rest of the soldiers, who quickly began dispersing around the streets.
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Meanwhile, in another zone of Dawn City, right before the earthquake impact, Nius walked like a frail old man toward a darker and desolate alley where most of the buildings were in shambles.
With his hand on his bandaged sword, he pulled a string that bound the bandages and suddenly, the sword began releasing incredible cold air and started glowing with some dark and evil light. Nius old hand began losing flesh, but he quickly covered his hand in Armament Haki, which stopped the sword from dealing him harm.
"You know that you can't harm me, Gram. So stop being like a little shit and work for me like you did for my ancestors for so many generations. I've read everything about you from the notes of my ancestor Charles Galleot."
As if containing a spirit and intelligence of its own, the sword began releasing a stronger light before turning it down, as if not trying to fight Nius.
Nius, who kept moving toward a poorly maintained house with Gram grasped tightly in his hand, finally stopped and, with a cold expression that seemed to be influenced by hatred, raised the sword.
And with a swing back, it began to accumulate an insane amount of energy that was starting to shake the ground.
'It is time I take my revenge, you bastards. No one will be spared. I will kill even the smallest insect in my path.'
Gram, who was held by Nius, prepared for a decimating strike, also assisted the old man in creating more chaos and released even more evil demonic lights.
Doing a jump effortlessly while his sword stance remained the same, he unleashed his sword strike that, from the time it exited the evil sword, it froze even the sky.
'[Calamity Impact]'
The sword strike got closer and closer to the ground, and the house, seeming not to be stopped, the impact was successful.
What followed after that was the screams of pain from many people along with a significant tremor, an after effect of Nius's strike that destroyed the entire house and location.
Looking around from the sky as he began descending, he could see from the shambles of stones a lot of body parts flying and also the continuous collapse of the area of the sword strike impact.
'It seems those two rats weren't here. Where are they that they even handed me some small mice to destroy?' thought Nius while landing down and instantly stabilizing his footing on the trembling ground.
His dial snail began calling him from nowhere, at which he responded while stabbing Gram on the ground, turning the nearby area into a frozen world.
"Pops, those two fuckers are attacking us. We are barely managing to parry their charge. We are at the central square."
Before Nius could say something, he heard Vem, who released a cry of pain, followed by an emotionless voice of someone he wished to kill the most.
"Haha, old soldier, do you think we haven't noticed your quiet movements in those three days? You are looking down on us, Dark Union, quite a lot. Say goodbye to your boy's old man because you will meet only their corpse.
Also, before I clean the rest of fools who thought of us as easy prey, the ones you killed at the old hideout are some citizens of Kaysang who insulted us, Dark Union."
When Wincester ended saying that, the call seemed to end instantly.
"Hmph, before you kill those three little guards, I will take your head out, snake." commented Nius coldly, while grabbing Gram with a hand covered in Armament Haki, and with an incredible speed, taking off from the location that had a crater the size of a meteor.
While Nius moved toward the central square of Dawn, from the sky, a body size shadowy portal appeared along with a man who had shoulder-length brown hair, a sharp beard, along with a goatee while also wearing a pair of glasses that exited with a surprised expression.
"Huh, if I wasn't always checking my surrounding with my Observation Haki, I think I couldn't have blocked that strike. Damn you, Allestar Wincester, you planned to kill me by chance, using the hands of this old man? So you want to play this game like this? Fine, I will watch how you handle everything."
Saying that Cranfon Oliver landed on the ground at the lowest point of the crater, with a jump that made him vanish from where he was and appear on the part not badly affected by the sword strike.
'[Shadow Steps]'
Like this, Oliver also moved in the direction Nius took, the location of the fight between Wincester and the three officers of Nius, Vem, Gif and Ramoth.
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On the side, assaulted by Wincester and where one could see many assassins moving quickly around the alleys, looking for their targets, there was a lot of dust and a lot of the ground being destroyed in the centre.
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Three middle-aged men covered in blood, unsure if it was their own blood or their enemies, stood there looking around the dusted area, where they could quickly see a veil of dark smoke enveloping their sight and senses.
In this situation, the first one was Vem that shook and gripped his spear with a frown face while looking at a wound on his body.
"Be careful guys, this smoke seems to have an effect on my Observation, I still can feel his presence, but it starts getting weaker and weaker."
From nowhere in this black veil, a dagger was sent flying toward Ramoth, the great axe wielder, a muscular man that seemed to be only flesh and muscles. In a peculiarly quick manner, he tightened his grip on the axe handle and moved to deflect those daggers who appeared out of nothing.
"This is a half-assed attempt at killing us, Allestar Wincester. That's all you learned in all these years?" remarked Gif while preparing himself to strike Wincester with his greatsword.
Suddenly Vem, who was the only one who managed to awaken his Observation, made a lunge with his spear and later, using the support of his spear, he did a strong kick.
'[Vorpol Kick]'
The figure of Wincester disappeared like a mist, but Vem could see that his expression was cold and sinister, prepared to kill all of them, especially Gif, who was in his target.
"Tsk, damned rat. Come fight me like a man, don't use sneaky, cheap tactics to do damage. It's useless with Vem on my side to even approach us." said Gif in a scornful tone.
Wincester, who was standing of the dark smoke, unaffected by the effects that it had on others, took two daggers from his waist belt and using his [Dark Steps], he disappeared from where he was and appeared in front of Vem, sending a solid kick just like Vem did to him when he tried to kill Gif swiftly.
Vem, who got kicked and sent out of the smoke veil, crashing on the ground, brought himself back on the feet and said to his mates.
"ON GUARD, BOYS, THIS GUY DIDN'T WASTE HIS TIME WHILE STAYING HERE."
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Wincester, who heard this, smirked to himself and thought while turning to strike Gif and Ramoth in their neck areas from the smoke.
'You bet so, peasant. If my grandfather would hear that I lost to some peasants and even failed the mission, probably he would disown me and never assist me to my rise as Elder. Those two guys who awakened their Armament are dangerous to me. I need to take them out as fast as possible, or if they are that capable separate them using my powers.'
'[Mind Jammer]'
An intangible wave pushed toward Ramoth and Gif, who suddenly froze in place, but their grasp on their weapons never lowered.
Closing his eyes for a bit, and the instant he opened them, his blue eyes seemed red because of an unknown effect. Wincester moved the soldiers with an increased speed along with a prepared blow that would for sure have them killed in the form they were right now.
'[Adrenaline Rush - Slaying Slash]'
Moving for the kill, with one of his daggers targeting a specific target since they were close to one another. Wince'ter dagger got closer and closer to Gif and Ramoth throats, but to the assassin's surprise, their skin began to turn black in the area of their necks that he targets.
'These are unconscious movements. Damn, these bastards actually got the movement ingrained directly in their soul and brain, that even if I jam their minds, it doesn't affect this protective ability.' thought Wincester
In the last moment, he also strengthened his daggers in Armament, and when the blades made contact with the soldier's throats, they were blasted away, but their heads didn't leave their body.
Wincester, who noticed this, looked even angrier knowing that his last moment haki enforcing was on par with the armament of some fools who couldn't even use their heads for the moment. Yet, there was Vem who entered the black veil, trying to save Gif and Ramoth from Wincester's hands, but from nowhere, he felt the atmosphere around him turn colder and his senses screaming for him "to get the fuck out".
"Good, you are weak since you are not like those meatheads who got armament." said a cold voice and sounded even so angry to Vem.
Vem prepared a high spear stance, where he had a long range to block or attack, but suddenly he felt his head hurt like someone smashed a boulder in his head or hit him with something hard. However, there still wasn't anyone to attack him, but while his focus declined, his eyes could see a shadowy figure of a man appearing in front of him, with a hand toward his throat.
'I need to block. I can't let this guy touch me. MOVE MY BODY, ALL THESE TRAINING AND SURVIVING POPS TRAINING, FOR NOTHING?'
With this scream in his mind, his vision started to come back, and the figure of Wincester staring coldly at his throat was in full sight.
"Too late, even if you gained your clarity from my Mind Jammer, you will still die." said Wincester when noticing that Vem recovered and brought his spear close to his body, preparing to block his attempt at grabbing his throat.
A mechanism was activated under Wincester hands that brought a blade that he later used to cut Vem's stomach.
"ARGH!?" screamed Vem in pain when the blade pierced his body and made a sizable cut close to his ribs.
Later he felt that something entered inside his body, which began stirring inside him even harder, making him scream in pain more.
Wincester gave an evil smile when hearing this scream of pain as if it was music to his ears, yet he could still see Vem facing him and trying to thrust his spear in him, which made him even colder.
"Fool, just drop dead. You are already poisoned with the most potent poison in the entire New World." said Wincester while blocking the spear with his hidden blade.
"You know what, you bunch of plebs? I will poison all of you and later let your old man watch as you die in agony without him even holding the antidote or knowing how to cure and heal you."
"[MIND JAMMER]!" called out Wincester, his devil fruit ability while doing a roundhouse kick that sent Vem flying straight in a building, where some people hiding began screaming and panicking from the shock of seeing the bloodied Vem inside their house.
The golden ranked assassin, Allestar Wincester, after dealing with Vem and letting him slowly die in agony, moved toward the location of where Gif and Ramoth were sent, and with an evil smile and cold eyes, did a [Shadow Step] and appeared relatively close to where they began raising up, freed from the [Mind Jammer] ability.
"Cheap bastard, now I understand how our brothers turned like idiots. You messed up with their minds?" said Gif, who took a solid stance with his greatsword, and also sent a sword slash that had Wincester surprised.
Grabbing two daggers, he enveloped them in armament and stood his ground to block the sword slash that pushed him a lot and even cracked his dagger that was covered in armament. Slightly annoyed by this, he wrapped himself in the shadowy substance before vanishing and appeared right in front of Gif, who was in his guard, ready for his appearance.
Wincester struck the guarded Gif with his remaining dagger and said with a sinister expression and wicked smile.
"Those little ants were just me having some fun. I even had them kill each other, slaughter citizens. Those guys weren't even worth to weird their swords at my throat, but you? You are one of those fools who managed to survive, and after so many years, also tasted the feeling of breaking their limits. But only with Armament, you will lack in your observation that is also fated for the strong to unlock."
'[Adrenaline Rush - Sinister Strike]' said Wincester to himself while he began having his powers increase his adrenaline intake that made him close to a superhuman if he wasn't already one.
'[Mountainous Pass]!' called out Gif in his mind with a steady and confident self.
Gif, who was this dagger strike, covered his sword in armament and using a defensive stance, he blocked in time this small dagger. The clash came with a devastating power that sent a great shockwave blast that took the roofs of the houses in the area and created a significant tremor in the ground that reverberated and could be felt in the entire Sagletius.
