218 The BANdit
Somewhere in Bosco
A tall muscular man with lightly tan skin stood atop the roof of a five story building, completely naked, looking down at the crowd beneath him. The man had pale blue hair and scarlet colored eyes. On his lower left abdomen was a red tattoo of a fox and running down the left side of his neck was a long scar.
"Why'd I have to lose my clothes to get here in the first place?"
The man sighed as he crouched over, paying attention to the people beneath him walking through the street. His eyes brightened up as he noticed one particularly tall man wearing an outfit that caught his attention. The outfit consisted of a red leather jacket and red pants with metal studs sewn into them along with red shoes.
"Oh man! Glad to see someone in this town has some style! And he's my size too!~♫" The scarlet eyed man said cheerfully. He raised his hand up pointing towards the man wearing the red leather outfit. The outfit suddenly shot right out of his body, causing the man to fall flat on his face butt naked. The man got up from the floor, receiving stares and comments from the surrounding passerby.
"Eww a streaker!"
"Get this pervert off the streets away from our children!"
The scarlet eyed man on the roof laughed and put the clothes on himself. He stretched a bit, getting a feel for the fit of the clothes.
"Perfect. Now I can start looking for him."
He jumped down from the roof, landing in an alleyway. He walked out to the street and noticed a surprisingly large amount of armored men had started patrolling the street.
"Hey. Got a question for ya." The man asked, directed at one of the armored men. A few of them turned around to face him and were surprised at how tall he was.
"What is it, civilian? Make it fast." One replied.
"Sorry, I'm new here and I'm wonderin why all of you guys are here." The scarlet eyed man asked.
"This city, Silva, along with all of Bosco now belongs to the Alvarez Empire." The soldier responded.
"Huh…interesting." The scarlet eyed man scratched his head. "Hey you guys wouldn't happen to know where any good taverns are around here would ya?~♫"
"Of course. There is one just down the street that way." The solider pointed down the street to his left towards a building with a sign up front that said "The Bannered Mare."
"Thanks for the help! I could use a drink!~♫" The scarlet eyed man said happily as he began walking towards the bar. The soldier nodded in response then looked at the tavern he just pointed to.
"It'll be a while before the invasion happens…maybe I have time to-" The soldier reached into his back pocket and realized it was empty. He began frantically searching his other pockets, causing the other soldiers nearby to approach him.
"What's wrong?" One of them asked.
"My wallet is gone." He responded.
—
The scarlet eyed man entered the Bannered Mare. He looked at the wallet he got from the soldier and the money inside of it.
'I can't tell if this is supposed to be a lot of money or not.'
As he approached the bar, he noticed a lot of soldiers hanging out in the back, clearly drunk, speaking loudly about the conquering of Bosco.
"WOOO! WE COMPLETELY DESTROYED BOSCO'S FORCES!"
"THEY SENT THEIR STRONGEST GUYS TO FIGHT US AND COMMANDER AUGUST HAD THEM ON THE GROUND IN LESS THAN FIVE SECONDS!"
"YEAH BUT DID YOU SEE GOD SERENA ROAR AWAY AN ENTIRE BATTALION?! THAT WAS THE COOLEST SHIT!"
"ALVAREZ IS THE STRONGEST! I DON'T GET WHY THE COMMANDERS WERE ALL FREAKING OUT BEFORE ABOUT SOME SHORT BLOND KID WHO TRIED TO STORM THE PALACE BEFORE THE INVASION OR SOME SHIT!"
"Hey what's this you're saying about a blond kid storming your palace?~♫" The scarlet eyed man suddenly appeared next to them, putting a hand on the shoulder of the soldier who made the comment. The soldier looked towards his other buddies and saw they were now all on the floor, not unconscious, but unable to move.
"W-what happened to my body…" One of the soldiers said.
"I can't even lift a single muscle…"
"T-They called him the Blond Demon…I-I don't k-know anything else-" The soldier immediately fell limp onto the ground.
"Blond Demon? That's all I need to hear. Didn't expect to get this much information from a foot soldier." The scarlet eyed man walked out of the bar, holding a bottle of booze in his hand. "Forest Wyvern Ale? I bet the Cap'n would love this!~♫"
—
The scarlet eyed man found himself at the outskirts of the city. In front of him were hundreds of tents and barricades set up with thousands of soldiers walking about.
"This must be their main outpost. If I find their boss, I'll definitely learn where the Cap'n is!~♫"
The scarlet eyed man approached the entrance to the outpost, where two soldiers were standing guard. He continued walking forward, with the soldiers having no response to him walking right by them.
—
An officer stood in front of a huge map of Ishgar with many lines drawn on it all directing towards Fiore. Several other soldiers were listening intently to him.
"So within the next few hours, Commander August will give us the clear signal. At that point, we are to rally and convene with him, God Serena, and Jacob. Then our invasion of Fiore will start. Tell this information to your squadrons!"
"Yes s-" The other soldiers froze as they noticed a very tall man suddenly appeared behind their commanding officer.
"What's wrong? Why did you all-"
"So based on this map here, all I gotta do is head west and maybe I'll run into the Cap'n?~♫" The scarlet eyed man commented. The officer immediately turned around and looked up at the tall, pale blue haired man staring at their invasion plan map.
"Who the hell are you?! Soldiers! Kill him!" The officer shouted, drawing his sword from his hip and slashing at the intruder's neck. The blade immediately snapped upon coming into contact with his skin. The other soldiers who were now charging at him stopped and all stood looking at him with dumbfounded expressions.
The scarlet eyed man turned around to face them with a smirk and the officer immediately jumped back.
"So…for whatever reason, the Cap'n deemed you guys as enemies. I guess I can have a little fun with you guys first.~♫" The scarlet eyed man tilted his head, cracking his neck as he widened his stance and raised his arms out to both sides.
"HUNTER FEST!"
—-
Eastern Fiore
God Serena stood with four figures on the ground in front of him. One of them was Jura, with the one of them being Draculos Hyberion, an older gentleman with clean cut dark purple hair, red eyes, and a well groomed mustache. He had pointy ears and a tattoo on his forehead reminiscent of a cross. He wore a button up dress shirt with dark slacks and a bow tie. Over that he wore a black cape with a high raised pointed collar.
The other was Wolfheim, a short older man with a long green beard and glasses who wore a light colored vest, dark slacks, and a peculiar large hat with a dark blue rim. The last was Warrod Sequen, a man who looked more plant than man, having skin like bark and a head like a tree, and wore a long yellow robe.
"Oh come on! Is this the best you can do?! I didn't even need the help of the others!" God Serena said, referring to the two individuals standing in the distance behind him. One of them being August, the Wizard King, and the other was a tall middle aged man with short black hair and a five o clock shadow. On his forehead was a tattoo of a skull and he wore a dark blue spandex turtleneck under a full black suit.
"Guess being a Wizard Saint doesn't count for much huh?" God Serena taunted.
August's eyes suddenly widened and he turned around behind him.
"Jacob, do you feel that?"
"I do not possess your hyper sensory magic capabilities." Jacob replied.
"All of our troops that were supposed to be behind us in Bosco. Their magic signatures have vanished." August said.
"So the enemy somehow got behind us? And managed to take down one million of our men?!" Jacob questioned.
"I am unsure. But for all of our men to disappear that quickly…it must be someone formidable." August turned back to God Serena.
"God Serena-" August suddenly froze as he felt a hand on his shoulder. Jacob was also frozen as a tall man was now standing behind them with a hand on each of their shoulders. 'He got behind me without me sensing him?! Does he possess a magical power like Jacob's? No wait…there is nothing but empty land behind us from here to Bosco…that could only mean…'
God Serena noticed that August went quiet and turned around. His eyes widened with surprise as he saw a tall man right behind both August and Jacob.
"And just who might you be? Interrupting my grand spectacle!" God Serena exclaimed. A smile formed on the scarlet eyed man's face.
"I'm Ban of the Seven Deadly Sins. So which one of you guys knows who the Cap'n is?~♫"
