A Double-Edged Sword
"Are you sure this is true?" asked Emperor Arjuna sternly.
"Yes, your highness, the intel is indeed true." Answered the man who was assigned to track down the Brethren of Salvation.
Ansh heard all this and said in frustration, "Of all the places, they had to be there. But we have to get them before they flee again!"
"Yes, we do have to, but we can't just barge into another country and start killing, can we?" Emperor said to Ansh.
"So what? We just let them be and wait for them to kill another one of us?" Ansh lashed out, "I do not know how much you care, but I treasure my family's safety more than courtesy!"
"Watch your tone, Prince! You may become the Emperor, but I still am the Emperor!"
"May I say something." The tracker spoke again and the Emperor nodded, "A ship will leave tonight for the Brig's inspection, it is permitted by Khandava's President himself. But there's a loophole in that permit."
"What loophole?" The Emperor was curious.
"The permit allows maximum of two ships to pass through the Brig without much checking. If we fill both ships with troops and pass the Brig, they will be able to reach the 'Kulta' village safely; the village is within one mile from the shores."
"Are you insane? Suggesting we send army troops into Khandava without proper authorization!"
"But we have no other choice, waiting for the authorization will take at least a week! If we wait that long, they will surely relocate. This is our only chance to get them."
"But." The Emperor was hesitating this plan, because this was exposed, a war would be inevitable.
"I will go!" said Ansh and all the generals present were shocked, "I will lead this siege. I'm not coward enough to endanger my family and the Empire's safety."
The Emperor was taken aback by Ansh's sudden initiative, he had no choice but to sanction this plan, "Fine! 2 troops will be sent for the siege tonight, but Crown Prince, you of all people cannot lead it."
"Why can't I?"
"You are to be crowned as the Emperor tomorrow. Most of other nations' emissaries have already arrived and more will be here by tonight. You must be present for the ceremony."
"But, your highness, if I stay here who will lead the siege?"
"General Calix Flores, he's an expert strategist and if old age hasn't dulled my eyes, he is more than qualified for this."
"Your highness! You're choosing an outsider instead of me?"
"He may be an outsider, but I must admit he is more capable than many 'insiders'."
"Are you belittling me?" Ansh said with angst.
"One Can only be belittled by himself. Now, go back to your castle, you will be the Emperor of this land from tomorrow, I don't want to argue with you over every decision I make. This meeting is over!"
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"So, the inspection is now a secret siege, and you are the commander of all the fleets?"
"Yes, my lord." Calix said while simultaneously ordering the troops to prepare for the siege and noting the weapons and necessities in a record book, "His highness, the Emperor has burdened me with this siege's responsibility."
"Then am I allowed to join you?" Blaze asked hesitantly.
"Obviously not." Calix answered reluctantly, "You were attacked by assassins just this morning, its better if you stay in safety of the palace."
"Safety? Safety, you say?! The Crown prince wants me dead. Oh! And of course I should stay here its not like I was ever attacked here inside the castle, was I?" Blaze said sarcastically.
"Well, now I can say I tried." Calix closed the record, faced Blaze and said, "I already have sanctioned your participation, Prince. The Emperor was quite adamant at stopping you from going but with a little persuasion I was able to convince his highness."
"How the hell did you manage that?" Blaze was profoundly surprised.
"Well, revenge for your mother's death was quite convincing."
"But maa is still alive!" Blaze shouted unknowingly, and Calix shushed him.
"SHH! You haven't exactly told them, have you?" Blaze nodded 'no', "Then keep your mouth shut. Taking you with us is quite difficult in itself, now don't complicate any further."
"Aye aye, Captain!" Blaze shouted and saluted Calix.
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A few hours before midnight, the ships were nearly ready to set out for the journey. Blaze was about to board the ship Calix was in, when Calix suddenly came down and stopped him, "Your highness, it is best that we don't sail together. I'm supervising this ship; it'll be great if you look after the other ship."
"Oh! Of course I will." Blaze turned around was about to leave but suddenly he thought something and turned around again, "Calix! You usually call me lord or prince, but you just called me 'your highness'. Is it because we have several people around?"
Calix was somewhat taken aback by his statement, "What? Oh! Yeah, there's a lot of people around."
"Well in that case, I give you permission to call me just 'Blaze', no need for honorifics." Blaze seemed quite happy while speaking all this time.
"I—I will, thank you, Blaze."
All the troops had boarded the ships, and their journey began. Most of the troops had to hide in the interior of the ships to avoid being seen; the very few soldiers who were on the deck, posed as ship crew. Blaze was in the cockpit with the captain of that ship.
*Knock**Knock*
"May I come in, Prince?" a familiar voice asked.
"Yes, come in." And in came Calix and his guard Shyam, but Blaze was quite confused to see him on this ship, he asked, "You told me that we should sail separately, what are you doing here?"
"After you left, I had a thought. I've promised the Emperor that I'll keep you safe. And I can't be fully sure unless I'm with you, so I decided to join you. And nonetheless, I have already everything I was supposed to, the ship crew can manage the rest." Calix smiled at Blaze, "But, is this decision of mine problematic to you?"
"No! Why would it be? Its great that you're by my side."
"That's delightful to know." Calix walked and stood right beside Blaze as they both looked out the window in front of them, "The night sky looks quite pleasant today, doesn't it?"
"Yes. Yes, it does."
"May I ask you something, my lord?" Calix asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, ask awa…. Wait! 'My lord'? Again? Didn't I just tell you to call me Blaze?"
"Oh?! OH! You did. I apologize, my lo…. Blaze."
"Yeah, now ask away."
"Do you think, just because someone uses a few unethical methods, their soul is damned regardless of their noble cause?"
"That, is a quite difficult one." Blaze said, thought a bit and spoke again, "But, if I had to give an answer, I must say it's like a double-edged sword. If ending up in hell is something you must avoid, then no matter how noble your cause was, you may give up on it. But, if your cause meant enough for you to not care of damnation then you complete it; no matter how you do it, once you succeed, even if you end up in hell, you'll be satisfied. Knowing that what you did was worth going through hell."
Even though Blaze didn't have much confidence in his answer, it amused Calix, "You really are an interesting person, Blaze."
"Blaze? See? Its so much better when you use my na…." Blaze's sentence was left unfinished, as Blaze felt a sharp sensation in his stomach, and once he looked down, he was dumbfounded.
It was Calix who stabbed him. Blaze fell down onto the ground, the captain tried to rush to help him, but was immediately shot in the head by Calix's guard.
Blaze couldn't grasp the situation he was in, even the injury was peculiar. The place where he was stabbed did hurt for a few moments, but the burning sensation that travelled through his veins soon exceeded that pain extremely.
"What, are, you doin?" Blaze struggled to even talk, "Everyon, on the, ship must've heard, the gun. You, are, done."
"Now, now, don't struggle so much to speak. I do appreciate your concern for me, but I Have prepared thoroughly this time."
Blaze looked confused, and Calix continued, "No one heard the gunshot, matter of fact, no one can. You see, every soldier was ship has been poisoned; most of them are probably dead by now, and the unfortunate ones that are still alive can hardly breath. So I'm not much worried about them. You are the one that troubles me."
Calix pulled out the knife from Blaze's stomach and said, "Now, you may be wondering why use 'Zen Blood' when I could've just shot you in the head. Well, that is just to be sure; you are a special case, even for a 'Royal Blood', you survived being impaled, immediately healed from it, you survived a full-on explosion and healed, again. You even ate the same poisoned food as the soldiers on this ship, but that still did nothing. But this."
He held up the knife covered in blood, "This 'Zen Blood' will infect every single one of your 'royal blood'-cells and turn them into a poison capable of killing the likes of you."
"Brother, the we're nearly at the Brig." Shyam said.
"Oh! Already." Calix stood up, looked at the Brig a few miles away from them and looked at his watch, "Now, I do enjoy talking to you, but Shyam and I must jump off this ship right now. In about, 130 seconds the Brig will fire their canons at this ship and it will sink, with all the dead soldiers and you. But don't worry, you'll die of poisoning before you drown."
Calix and Shyam were leaving the cockpit, and just before shutting the door Calix said, "Goodbye, Blaze Kamiyama. You have been a pleasant acquaintance."
*Slam*
Blaze was the only one alive on the ship now, he laid on the floor, unable to even move a finger. He knew he was defeated, he lost; he was about to die.
Blaze counted backwards from 100, anticipating the cannonballs Calix had talked about, "100, 99, 98." He could do nothing, even the promise he made to Sarang, he couldn't keep it anymore, "38,37,36." He even told Twee to wait for him in the forest, now she will be waiting; forever.
"9,8,7,6…."
*CRASH*
The cannonballs crashed onto the ship before his expectation, and just in a blink of eye, the whole ship sank. Blaze's body fell into the ocean, his eyes were still open. he saw the other soldiers' corpses float beside him. The water started filling his lungs, he gasped for air.
But alas! It was too late. Blaze's body sank even deeper, as he took his final breath.