[KH/FF] Treachery of Fate: Blood and Betrayal

Chapter 86

Pre-Chapter Author’s Note: You may want to refer to the syndicate map if you’re confused on where some things are taking place.

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Before departure, Akinori and Akito split everyone into two groups, taking into consideration their powers and performances in the training exercises. Once that was done, everyone quietly filed out of the Caelum household in their respective troupes—Akito’s taking on the left side of the road, with Kurogane and Wasurete co-leading, and Akinori’s on the right, with you and Fai co-leading. Both groups occupied the roof and sidewalk, everyone interchanging their positions depending on how agile they were.

The march towards the syndicate was going to take a good twenty minutes being that it was on the west side of this sector of Hollow Bastion. During then, everyone kept up a good pace, not stopping once in their strides. They made no noise either, making you smile at how well they had gotten espionage techniques down within a short time, even with their weapons and equipment latched to them.

The night was silent. Only the breeze of the intermediate wind made noise as it ruffled the trees—leaves rustling against one another, branches tapping against vacant houses, rubble of deteriorated buildings clattering away from their previous spots. The fact that there were no wandering fiends surprised you. Yes the dragon twins reported that there hadn’t been any for a few days, but it gave you a slight uneasy feeling; what if Ryuushin knew already that you were coming, and he was preparing?

‘No…No that’s just giving him too much credit,’ you shook your head as you ran, jumping at the end where the unstable rain gutter of a house bounced, making you lose balance as you descended down rather than fly across.

Saix—who at the time was the closest to you—swiftly turned around and grabbed your wrist in one swift motion, swinging you onto the rooftop you were supposed to land on. With a grateful smile, you silently thanked him, in which he nodded, the two of you running with the group once more, returning to the front of the pack within minutes.

You knew you were close when entering the abandoned industrial district—remembering vaguely how it looked from the time you had gotten kidnapped by Jihl. Along the horizon, getting bigger and bigger, you saw an edifice ascending into the sky over several barely smaller ones. As you approached closer, you identified it as the syndicate.

The buildings themselves were made of thick metal and a dull gray color. The compound was obviously much larger than the outline made by Isamu, and was surrounded by an at least twenty five foot wall before the fifty foot wide moat. There was only one entrance located on the east side—the wooden drawbridge—and covering it from the outside was a gate made from black metal bars. Smoke expelled from the four mako reactors on the western corridor, and in what appeared to be the middle, lights shined brightly, yelling and cheering echoing throughout the mute surroundings.

The road led you to the structure’s southern wall. Once coming to the dead end of the street, Akinori and Akito returned, the two groups merging into one as you and Wasurete took front, Kurogane and Fai taking back. It was land only now, zigzagging through alleyways until coming to the run down building across the eastern end.

This one had been abandoned for a while, and looked to be a storehouse. Its bricks were worn with rubble surrounding it. The windows that were scattered along the three story high depot were broken in a variety of forms: shards of glass hanging from the frames with its remnants on the rusted metal fire escape stands.