Hiroshi hid behind a tall, dark spruce tree. It stretched so high, the young man could hardly see the top. It was a perfect spot for an ambush. A counterattack.
He looked over to his second-in-command. He couldn't guess what she was thinking at all. Wisteria was a blank canvas. Totally concentrated. At least, that's what it looked like.
However, Hiroshi knew better.
Wisteria was a good person. Almost too good, morally. Hiroshi knew that his admittance to his lost one would still be running through her head.
"What Hiroshi always like this?"
"Who was this person he cared about so much?"
"How much did they really mean to him?"
Questions like that.
And Hiroshi was absolutely right. Wisteria was unfocused and nervous. Not only that, she had no idea why Pedro was doing this. She and her family had known him for years, and he never caused an ounce of trouble.
"Maybe Hiroshi's view of humanity has a slight correctness to it," she thought to herself, her mind at unease.
Hiroshi began speaking to Kuro-Yami.
"Hey, what should the gameplan be here?" he whispered to his friend.
"Simple. Wait for Pedro to get agitated. Make a misjudgment. Then make your move," Kuro-Yami answered, wanting to give Hiroshi the best chance at success. Hiroshi hesitated for a moment, before focusing out towards the dark forest once more.
He had to be ready for anything.
Nature was so beautiful, but scary as hell when you're staring into a dark abyss.
"Are you sure he's coming back here?" Wisteria asked Hiroshi, a twinge of nervousness in her voice.
"Certain. He wasn't suspected at all by us, according to his terms of the events. He's going to come back here to tie up his loose ends," Hiroshi said coldly. Wisteria froze.
"You...you're using the demons as bait?!" she shouted at him, while still keeping her voice down.
"If that's the way you want to interpret it."
"Why?!"
"Because I want him to get distracted. He's going to be too focused on Arnold and the others that we will step in for an easy kill," Hiroshi stated, trying to reason with her.
"Also, what if Pedro has accomplices that we are unaware of? Arrest him in the village and we never get those names."
"Well, you better be right. Your last wrong decision got demons killed."
Wisteria shook her head, but seemed to accept Hiroshi's reasoning. Her head turned back out into the dense tree line.
"Hiroshi? Somebody is heading this way."
Hiroshi smirked. It was time. He signaled to Wisteria to nock her bow, to which she obeyed the command. The figure walked closer and closer, seemingly unphased. Hiroshi knew that was good news. He nudged around the circumference of the tree as the figure pasted by.
He wore a very smart suit, black suit, black tie, seemed to be professionally tailored. Not the kind of suit a lowly villager would wear at all. And yet, here was a lowly villager, wearing one.
Pedro.
Hiroshi held the top of the hilt of his katana tightly. Anger began to fuel up inside of him. He was full of lies and deceit.
"Arnold?! Where are you!?" Pedro yelled out into the forest. "Come out now! That's an order!" He sounded violent. Fierce. Just as pissed as Hiroshi was. Hiroshi signaled to Wisteria with his hand. "Move in. On my mark."
The crouched down low and moved slowly forward.
Arnold kissed the foreheads of his children, and gave his wife a big hug. He didn't cry, but she began to. He had to stay strong, because he knew that this was the end of the line for him. He told his wife he wouldn't be long, in a calming, soothing voice. Arnold came out of the tattered tents, looking utterly defeated. He put up his remaining arm in a surrender.
"I did what you wanted. The humans don't know of your involvement," Arnold told Pedro, confidence in his voice. Hiroshi's face seemed to drop slightly. He could see the pain in the demons face. It upset him.
Demons were more human than humans were.
"Not good enough. You were defeated. I can't have you people leading evidence back to me," he told the demon coldly, pulling off the musket off of his back, and aimed it between Arnold's eyes.
"Why can't you just leave us alone?!" Arnold begged, hoping Pedro would have a change of heart.
"Because. I don't care about your lives. You were just tools to help give me status," Pedro hissed, as he pulled the trigger.
At that moment, a hand of the darkness reached out at breakneck speeds, and got in the way of the human and the demon. It blocked the bullet, splitting it in two.
"Wisteria! Now!" Hiroshi yelled out, and Wisteria let the drawstring go, the arrow whistled through the air, aiming for Pedro's face.
Pedro turned around, and laid his right hand out. He pointed up to the sky. At first, Hiroshi was completely baffled at Pedro's reaction.
Then, the arrow changed course, going from near perfectly horizontal to a straight vertical line to the sun.
"W-What?!" Wisteria gasped. "Pedro?! You have magic?!"
"Always did," he smirked. "You always were a smart girl, Wisteria. How did you never figure that out. Well, I suppose you had no way of finding out. After all, us lowly villagers all outside the capital aren't allowed to use magic, right. I think that's bullshit."
"However, with all the money I have accumulated, I can start over, and give Lightley what it needs! Not some stupid leader like Hiroshi!" Pedro continued, laying all his thoughts on the table.
Now Hiroshi was really mad.
He pulled the sword towards him with the darkness hand, and Pedro just about had time to jump over it, and pointed his hand to the left, smashing the katana into a tree. Hiroshi pulled the blade back into his hand. The tree swayed slightly, before leaning to the right, about to fall on the tents.
"Hiroshi!" Wisteria cried out, devastated at the outcome.
However, Hiroshi was unphased.
"Wisteria...keep him busy," Hiroshi said, running over to the massive tree. "It's time to test my true strength with your power, Kuro-Yami."
The demon inside his mind smiled a big, goofy grin.
"Let's do it, my friend!"