Saltire Rebels blowing the Warhorn

Skuph is the capital city of the Skuph Empire which spans across three prominent nations and numerous small kingdoms of the large North East continent. The capital is as glorious as It should be, owing to the fact that the only Empire of the continent is named after this city only. 

It is a city built on the coast, emerging centuries before, with the facilitation of sea transport and could be called a starting point of this enormous man-made living habitat. Expanding from the port, it stretches for a healthy thirty miles, corresponding to the outer part of the capital. This outer city is the habitat of lower and middle rungs of society where residential as well as commercial buildings are built, albeit a little more closely packed together giving rise to numerous alleyways, which also gives asylum to the dark side of the city.

But further outward from a thirty-mile radius, lies the real core of the city that stands out like a lotus growing in the middle of the muddy lake. Inner walls stretching up to thirty meters separate the real Skuph from its shell, that is, the outer city. The inner city is a true display of luxurious architecture, worthy of being the capital city of an empire encompassing a whole continent.

Built around the magnificent Royal Castle in the middle, the inner city is built in a planned way with the craftsmanship of the buildings boasting the finest of the current era. Surprisingly, the royal castle is just a few miles in area in the center while most of the city is open to people from all walks of life, of course, that is if you have enough money or an appropriate identity. This resulted in it being one of twenty-four-seven bustling cities of the empire, thus earning Skuph another name - Everdawn Capital.

In the inner city, in the northwestern district which is an area famous for the residences of the lesser nobles of the Skuph Empire, a hard chase was going on with several figures wearing leather vests, indicating their identity as royal Shadow Guards, chasing after a similar black donned figure who was fleeing like a phantom in between the wide corridors of the buildings. 

The moonless night accompanying an uncanny silence finally got disrupted when the Foremost Shadow guard was unable to hold himself back any more and raised his hand to point towards the fleeing figure.

Like a bright sparkle, a yellow thin string of energy materialized in the thin air, extending from his index finger and quickly reaching the unguarded back of the fleeing figure. It struck the running man, who jerked violently like he was hit with a strong electric shock and crashed into the wide Courtyard of a nearby posh building. 

The highly trained guards immediately circled around the intruder, not giving any opening to the still-dazzled man. Without wasting any time the lead guard raised his hand to fetch a gleaming dagger from his hidden pocket. 

By this time the figure in the center, slowly stood up and flexed his body joints. It appeared that the earlier attack did not affect him other than making him lose his bearings for half a second. The encircled man, despite being outnumbered and cornered, leisurely chuckled in a hoarse voice,

"Oh, are you really sure you can even use that before me?"

Before the Shadow guard could argue back, he inadvertently flung his hand away as the dagger from his hand flew away like it was a piece of scalding metal that had burned his hand accidentally. Within seconds, the thrown dagger began to melt into liquid metal like some invisible fire was burning it. But the surprising thing was that there were neither flames visible nor were there any signs of dagger metal turning red.

To the astonishing gasps from a few guards, It was creepily melting like hard ice turning into water at room temperature silently. 

"A SOOTHSAYER!!"

The man in black once again chuckled in his rough voice, "So Mr. Shadow even with your substandard Soothsayer eyes. I am positive, you can see the difference of power between myself and yourself.

Even all of you are not worthy of taking a single blow from me. Why do you think I lured you all here? To get a few seconds of a lead? Nah, it was to wipe out you lot to make up for my failure of today's mission."

"Woah woah…so your Strategy really worked, Sir Edward. A higher-up of Saltire rebels really came to take a bite at the obvious bait."

A sudden voice interrupted the nervous silence, which made the men in black frown while the shadow guards including the one in the lead position relaxed visibly. A figure strolled leisurely into the view from the corner of the building. A young man who was wearing long red robes accentuating his soft handsome features, but it was actually a slight ghost of a smile on his thin lips that attracted the attention of all the onlookers.

"Young master Rook need not flatter myself. After all, it was very obvious yet compelling bait for the rebels of the Saltire group to bite on. With their underground activities for the past few years, I think we are quite familiar with them now.

Therefore for this bait, they have to send someone high-up, or if we may be lucky this might be the leader himself sending himself to our doorsteps."

Now it was time for the black-donning man in the center to tense up like a cat, as he found another newcomer, who was a middle-aged man sitting on the far wall of the courtyard gracefully. He was wearing a similarly fashioned high noble robe, but it was donning a calm green color. 

The man in black clenched his hand in secret, as his brain worked overtime to materialize a strong spell that could help him even the odds before him. But on the surface, he just tensed slightly and mocked in an unbridled manner.

"Two San Soothsayers…hmph even you won't be able to capture me today."

"Oh, so would three San Soothsayers suffice?" a warm feminine voice came from the top making the all present shudder in fear. The familiar voice was not all expected here, even the Young Noble named Rook and Sir Edward stood straight in slight shock and respect towards the newcomer.

All the officials present bowed slightly, greeting the lady who had appeared at some time on the balcony of the courtyard building overlooking the whole area. 

"We greet the High Princess! "

Hearing the voice and greetings which basically confirmed his suspicion of the newcomer's identity, the cornered man smiled helplessly to himself. He didn't even bother to hide anymore as he crumbled any resistance he was building to put forward.

He instead turned around towards the building and bowed his head in greeting,

"This lowly rebel greets the High Princess, younger sister of the reigning Emperor. "

"Hmmm…even the rebels of the Empire have such etiquette. Color me impressed." 

The lady in white smiled coquettishly, which was like a flower blooming in the gloomy night. The sharp brows and brown eyes of her face widened in such a way that it increased the beauty of her already perfect features multifold.

But no matter how beautiful she was, no person present dared to glance towards her directly. They stole a glance from the corner of their eye and sighed inwardly at her divine beauty. Only the man in black looked at her directly without fear which made Princess further chuckle.

"Looks like this sir has already accepted his fate to surrender peacefully. After all, I'm not fond of violence. It is a sign of great intelligence to recognise an impossible Situation. "

The man in black shook his head as he replied boldly,

"Of Course, I know the difference between what is possible and impossible. Your Psionic Pressure is enough for me to gauge the difference between us. I am not exaggerating but even though we are both San Soothsayers, the difference is like heaven and earth. 

And only because you want to capture me alive that's why you are bothering to waste time chit-chatting to complete some strong spell to subdue me alive. But alas….."

The man in black sighed peacefully as if he had already accepted his death at this moment. Only a slight regret was tugging in his heart remembering the words of his Master, who had advised him to not take action so hurriedly but he hadn't listened and fallen for such obvious bait.

But it was still good, he could at least give these high and mighty people a glimpse of what was coming for them….

"Don't bother High Princess, there is just not enough time. 

As for etiquette, My Master had given me something just for this type of situation. Take it as the first sign of greeting from my master, leader of the Saltire rebels."

He raised his hand to fetch something from the inner pocket of his clothing. There was a piece of gold metal molded in the shape of a phoenix on his palm, which soon began to shine and vibrate violently. There was a hint of madness in the eyes of the man as he laughed out aloud,

"It is a gift from the destroyed kingdom eleven years back, a San Artifact that had evolved after accepting the sacrifice of the souls of the last princess and the whole city. It is the same artefact that had dawned one of the greatest calamities on your empire. 

Today it emerges again, and this would mark the beginning downfall of your Empire, Princess. 

Now take a bow! Soul Sacrifice!"

Even before man began to start his speech, Sir Edwards who was the farthest away had begun to raise his hand to burst out with all of his power at once. No need to hear his words, as he had already recognized the artefact in his hands.

And it really was a divine Calamity!

There was a clear sign of panic on his face, an expression of fear that had never been seen before on his calm and indifferent face since his noble birth. He crushed all kinds of natural limiters of his body and pressured his mind, to manifest a barrier on the balcony where the High Princess was, looking at the self-detonating man with suspicion and surprise. 

Young Noble was completely whited out like he has seen a ghost similar to frozen by fear shadow guards. Princess was somewhat better mentally but only because she was unfamiliar with the incident that occurred during the crushing of Cross Kingdom eleven years back. If she was, then she wouldn't be here standing like a frozen deer but instead running away with all her might. 

"ITS ... .BAD! PROTECT PRINCESS…"

Sir Edwards yelled with all his might as he ran towards the man, while focusing on rapidly thickening the barrier around the balcony, though he was completely unsure if the barrier was of even use or not. 

At this moment he hated his choice of position so far away from that intruder or he could have stopped him in time before he triggered that damned Artifact. But it was now all for nought as the rebel man's physical body vaporized in a second, the artefact swallowing his soul as sacrifice next. And then it burst outward with an energy wave that drowned them instantly, all barriers, and shields acting like air for this energy blast. 

Though it looked like a long process, the explosion occurred just half a second after when the man finished his speech. There was simply no time for anyone to react as the most powerful among all, Rook and Princess only managed to conjure a paper-thin shield before them before it burst out. 

"IT'S OVER…" was the last thought in Sir Edwards's mind before the light from the silent explosion swallowed all.