With her hand clamped on her mouth, her brows furrowed in both surprise and distress on her face, Ritta watched as Alloy took slow steps toward Spire. Afraid that she was going to end his life due to her swords still out, she began running toward them, making long agile jumps toward their position.
"Tasue-chan!!" She called out as she looked above. Tasue extended her umbrella on the edge of the rooftop before her face as she glanced down at Ritta. "Follow behind me!!" She demanded, and Tasue began scaling the rooftops all the way down right behind her. She didn't do much though… after three long strides across two rooftops, she took her third jump and unfurled her umbrella that allowed her to glide. Tasue made good distances, skipping over the towners who were waiting to see what the result was. From their position at the foot of the graveyard hill, all they could see was their half-destroyed graveyard, the bones of those who used were forced out of their resting area, and each other's blank and waiting faces. As she continued watching over them, Tasue's eye caught someone coming out of a dusty area, he struggled to move as he clutched his hand on his gut, trickles of dried blood were all over him. She noticed his bow and the rough red hair as he walked in front of a cracked wall.
"DAMION!!" She called out, following up by closing her umbrella and sprinting toward him. Ritta noticed this as well, and as much as she was troubled on the Spire matter, Damion looked ideally worse off. He was bruised all over, and bled from both his nostrils and his mouth.
"Ritta…" He muttered weakly as she grabbed him to help him stay up.
"What happened??" He asked.
"The fight ended a moment ago, I was headed to the two of them just now."
"Aniki won!!" Tasue came skipping behind them.
Ritta began looking around when both she and Tasue caught a glimpse of Maki's unconscious body on the ground not so far from where they were. Tasue arrived to find Damion hurt, which made her start whimpering. She pounced to clutch at him, which made him wince since she held him tight from his gut, which really couldn't be helped because of her height. However, he made a quick smile, ignoring it as he patted her on the back
"I'm okay… I won, didn't I??" He remarked. She glanced up at him and smiled back in her tears. Ritta was about to leave Damion to Tasue when they heard the townsfolk who had already began surrounding the now-former battlefield. They were definitely pissed.
"Kill him!!"
"He caused us too much suffering!!"
"He forced my child's body out of his grave!! It's unforgivable!!"
"He doesn't deserve to live!!"
Alloy had her swords up, but in a relaxed and unguarded state. She knew what they had gone through, and she was definitely sympathetic, but they weren't the reason she fought him. She ignored the shouts as she stood right next to Spire. He used the last of his energy to turn his body, leaving a large patch of grass painted a new crimson, and face up, glancing at Alloy. His torso held a massive X on its center. It still bled, however weakly.
"How… could… someone… so strong… be under that… weakling…??"
"Uh… I wouldn't know." She shyly smirked as her katana retreated, dissipating into thin air. "Today's the day I become his captain after all…" she chuckled.
The girl's answer left Spire speechless on the ground. Alloy then glanced at the still gleaming amber pendant that hung on his neck. She crouched beside him and reached out.
"I'll take this." She said, gripping it and yanking the chain off him. In the next second, Ritta arrived right in front of them. The townsfolk were beginning to stride closer to them but she intervened. "WHO IS YOUR MAYOR??!!" She called out.
A man, old enough to be sixty emerged from the crowd, claiming the role. She pulled him to the side and made a small two-person huddle. The towners began mumbling and asking themselves what she could've been telling him. Meanwhile, she gave him a brief summary of their own feud with Spire and once he stroked his ironically pure black but short beard in thought, he understood. Nodding and announcing a moment later that the saviors of their town were members of a guild, almost instantly, the taunts and threats toward Spire turned to more mumbles and mutters, and eventually, they roared into to praises for Alloy, Tasue and Damion, who finally met again with the red haired boy glancing at his beaten brother then back at Alloy, who looked back up at him and smiled before she rose from her crouched position. He definitely couldn't help but smirk on the situation.She held out her hand and the pendant dangled in front of them, Damion took it and held it on his palm. His smile widened, obviously not as much as Alloy's who then asked.
"Will you join me now??!!"
"Wait." He stoically replied, his smile narrowed to his usual grim position. He then took a few steps toward Spire as he put on his mother's necklace. He crouched beside him.
"Where are their bodies…" He asserted. His brother scoffed. "Spire!!" he demanded.
"I left them back home, I buried them there after I spread the rumor that I had them both so you'd never know."
"How didn't Ritta find out??"
"She would never defile their bodies. I carried them around for a year then returned them when I knew no one was home…"
"I see…" his smile returned. "Maki… did a number on you…" He began struggling again.
"Yeah, I still won though…" Damion then glanced at Spire's daggers, they had stayed behind when he tried to crawl toward Alloy. He stood up and crouched toward them. "You seem to cherish these," Damion said as he held one by the flat side of its blade, "I'll keep one for myself."
He stood up and sighed as he looked back at Alloy, his smile still plastered on his face as he walked up to her.
"I'm in."