Light of Dawn

Chapter 39 - Under the Mask

~*~*~*~Noon In the Imperial Treasury~*~*~*~

Sojiro was rummaging through the last of the large vaults of the Imperial Treasury when he let out a frustrated snarl before falling back against the wall and slid down until he was seated. He'd raided all 24 of the vaults in here and not a single one of them had the item that Stark had described. Instead all he found in here were scrolls detailing family lineages and histories of their people. Every single one of them worth a fortune in the human world, but none of them were what he was looking for.

Two days...

That's the amount of time that Stark had given him to find the sword handle of Nocturnal, the legendary sword that was forged by witches long ago. It was supposed to be a secret meant only for the leaders of the human factions and by the witches of the coven, but it was shared amongst the Imperial Guard as well to give them even more reason to protect their Emperor or Empress. None of them actually knew what the sword could do if it were fully assembled but Sojiro couldn't worry about that right now.

In his mind if he could keep Stark from wiping out his people in exchange for allowing him to get his hands on the Nocturnal hilt than they'd be able to rally and all three factions would unite to stop Stark from getting the third. It was a long shot and he knew very well that all the blood spilled in the meantime would be on his hands but it was a price he'd gladly pay in order to protect the humans. That was their purpose after all, to protect the humans, and to value no other life even their own family's above that of the humans.

Not a lot that'd do him if he couldn't find the damn thing. He let out a curse before booting the chest he'd just scavenged before bringing his hands to his head. One day had passed already, and if Sojiro knew Stark as well as he thought he did Stark didn't mean that he had two days to search before he'd attack. Stark meant there was two days to until the attack, meaning Sojiro had the rest of the day today before Stark would storm the palace and take what he wanted, killing anyone that happened to get in his way.

Stark would attack tonight, of that Sojiro was certain and he still had no clue where the hilt could be. There were only so many places that it could be hidden that he had access to, and he'd checked them all. Aside from being in the vaults the only other place that the hilt could be was... He paused at the slight shuffling of his bracelets on his wrists. There were no other places left to look in the palace, at least none that he had access to. But there was a place that only the Empress had access to...

Sojiro stood up knowing full well what he had to do, he just wasn't sure he'd be able to do it without bloodshed. Bringing up his arms he clanged his bracelets together twice bringing out his Skin. The black material came emerged from the white light that had wrapped itself around his body like a blanket. It felt warm to him, and as he looked down at himself he saw the familiar black Skin appear, covering his soft flesh with the tough leather-like hide of the Skin. He felt his body grow stronger, and at his left him he felt the now familiar weight of the long black blade he'd been using ever since dawning this guise. But besides that, there was the unfamiliar weight of a second sword that was strapped to his back with the handle peaking over his left shoulder.

He looked over his shoulder at the unfamiliar blade looking back at him, it's rough binding being sunken in where it'd been grasped countless times by a hand not his own. The light traveled up he neck now as he stared at the sword of his best friend. The light covered his head and face where the black binding of his Skin concealed his face save for his eyes as he looked at Mitsuhide's blade. The memory of Sojiro cutting him down while they were beneath that over pass in the city. He'd finally managed to defeat the one he could never beat, but he'd had to do it under the guise of Oda that he'd adopted to protect his identity.