"Prisoner 41," the guard announced as the man in black chains moved forward It was a dark place where the only visible light came from a window fifty feet above in the ceiling. The guard lifted the prisoner's chains and started to guide him towards the door. He advanced through a black corridor filled with hundreds of guards. He stopped at the end of the corridor, picked up a thick folder. He browsed through the thick folder for the name of the prisoner. 'Claus' the soldier thought as he found the prisoner's name. A hint of confusion flashed through his mind 'Why is his name marked red and as high alert. There shouldn't be a convict such as this here.' Even though he was confused the guard was loyal to his job, he decided to ignore the confusion and started to sign as the procedure stated. While he was signing the papers he saw a figure approaching him.
"General Baldwin," the guard saluted a slick black-haired man wearing a crimson uniform.
"At ease, soldier." General said, "So the prisoner is ready to be transferred to the gallows?" General asked the guard pointing at the prisoner.
"Yes general." The guard answered. "This prisoner is sedated and ready for transport" Hearing this the general felt satisfied. "Forgive the Transgression, General, though I have to ask, why is such an esteemed and decorated officer such as yourself here to guard a common prisoner."
The General burst out laughing at the guard's question, though he was respected the guard by answering the question " 'Why' you ask, this here is no ordinary criminal my friend." A hint of sorrow flashed across the general's eyes "You see I have survived hundreds of battles, I've lost thousands of brothers to madman. But this man here was the only person that made me fear death. He may be in chains and poisoned right now. But for him ordinary people would be considered as ants to be squashed between the fingers."
The guard's eyes widened. His breathing grew uneven. His knees started trembling. He started to sweat uncontrollably So much so that a puddle soon formed. For the guard General Baldwin was God among men. The entire kingdom was built through the general's strength. He thrust the chains and papers into the General's hands, his fingers slick with sweat. Without a word, he spun on his heel, his boots slipping on the stone floor. His breath came in shallow gasps as he staggered away, knees buckling beneath him.
The General lead the prisoner out of the prison towards the bridge built over a moat. As he was crossing the bridge 16 guards followed them towards the carriages. The general took the handcuffed prisoner inside one of the carriages while the other guards boarded 4 other carriages. After boarding, he put on a mask. Then, the carriage was flooded with a gas, Claus the prisoner saw the General breathing heavily through the mask as Claus's eyes began to close. As soon as the prisoner was asleep the general opened the window of the carriage. Soon, the gas dispersed. The general removed his mask and ordered "commence the ride."
The carriages started moving towards the direction of Gallows. The ride was going to last for hours after this. So, the General started to meditate he accumulated his ki energy and distributed it across his body.
After a few hours, General opened his eyes, he could hear the soldier's making a noise outside the carriage. The carriage slowed down and came to a halt. The General opened the window to see what was going on, a soldier approached the carriage and said to the General "Sorry for the halt sir, there is a broken carriage up ahead. One of our is approaching the carriage to remove it."
"Okay, keep me posted." General Baldwin's head showed a sense of distress. The General close the window and looked at Claus. Claus was wide awake looking at Baldwin. "I guess the military is incompetent as always." Claus remarked as he adjusted his posture and straighten his back.
General Baldwin looked at Claus and asked him "twenty years… twenty years we have trained, eaten and fought together so tell me Claus why… why did you betray the military."
The Prisoner smirked his jagged teeth showing, "You remember mission firebird, Baldwin?"
A hint of nostalgia flashed across Baldwin's face. He remembered it well the last mission he did with Claus. Baldwin nodded and Claus continued.
"We returned heroes that day, you who led the mission that day received the credit." Claus continued, "They threw a huge celebration party for us in the capital. I left the party" "I couldn't have been less interested. So, I hurried home and there it was my...my….. my home burnt to crisp with a corpse inside." Grief struck Claus; his once-straight posture slowly curled inward in like a ball search for only sense of warm it could find.
"Who was it?" Baldwin asked with a shaky voice.
"The kingdom itself" Claus answered
"What do you mean?"
"AMBUSH!!!!" A screech was heard from a soldier outside. The carriage started to move. It picked up pace. General Baldwin quickly readied himself for upcoming conflict.
"I ask you Baldwin why should I ever serve the kingdom." Claus spoke menacingly, "No, my friend I refuse to serve….. I.. REFUSE….TO…..DIE."
Suddenly, the carriage tilted backward; its rear wheels were gone, the horse running scared ahead. Claus punched Baldwin in the face. Baldwin blocked the punch and kicked Claus on the shin. Claus clenched through the pain and kicked the floor as hard as he could. The carriage split in half leaving General Baldwin on the broken half of the carriage that fell on the ground.
Baldwin looked around to see the chaos, he could see that almost all his soldiers had fallen, the carriage driver's body was visible behind him pierced by three arrows.
He quickly removed the crimson sword coiled around his waist like a belt and used his ki to coat the blade he then thrust the blade towards the carriage. It reached Claus's Knee piercing through making a hole.
Claus simply removed the blade as he watched as distance between Baldwin and him increased.
Baldwin started to run towards the moving carriage. He could see the distance between the Claus and him increasing. As he tried to reach the carriage he was impaled by spear on his arm. Baldwin stopped in his tracks and looked behind to see seven people staring at him weapons drawn.
Baldwin sent out a pulse of ki through the ground to feel his surroundings. He could feel everything that touched the ground 50 metres around him- tiny animals in the forest on the left, birds in their nest on the tree, even a small puddle on the ground creating a smooth soil. 'No hidden enemies yet' Baldwin concluded.
While he analysed the surrounding the blade of his sword retracted from the hilt as other side of the blade expanded parallelly to the retracting blade. It stops retracting as both blades reached the same length. "You guys are going to regret this, since today is the day, you decided to meet 'Urumi' my sword." Baldwin stated coldly.
Baldwin's weapon was a dandpatta or a flexible blade that reached 8 metres. The hilt was made of hard metal. The blade was split into two overlapping segments. When one side retracts, the other side extended outwardly, maintaining overall length. A locking mechanism allowed the user to control length of whichever blade the user willed.
Baldwin went aggro, he slashed the air towards one of the attackers with a mace. The attacker blocked the blade with the mace. The blocked blade retracted as the other side of Baldwin's blade pierced through the attacker's eye impaling his head.
The two men wielding spears ran towards Baldwin. he retracted the blade to the center and slashed at the men. Urumi collided with the spears but as if possessed by snakes it coiled the spears and advanced towards the carotid artery on the neck causing a spurting fountain of blood and leaving the men unable to breathe.
The other four who carried swords advanced towards Baldwin cautiously, Baldwin closed the distance between the men and slashed two of the men on left they tried blocking the sword but Alas, Urumi slithered around to their vulnerable organs. The Last two men slashed General Baldwin he dodged their blades by spinning to the right and creating momentum and path for Urumi to slash the attackers from the right. Urumi slashed through both their heads simultaneously.
Baldwin wiped the blood of Urumi. He lifts his hand, tapped the bracelet on his wrist and brought it near his mouth "Code Black, we were ambushed. The prisoner's poison wore off; he used his Ki to break the carriage and escape. Requesting an immediate manhunt. Do not engage, Report back if you find the perpetrator."