The King and his merry men

[Yu Kanda]

The streets of nippur.

The strong words of King Gilgamesh were still echoing inside Kanda’s head as he exited the palace. They were carefully chosen yet they created some questions, even worse, some doubts within the exorcist.

“You will go into my city and find any prime. Make them aware that I request an audience with them. You will not fight these primes nor any bandits. Your lives are valuable to me.”

Did the king have use for random primes or bandits? Was he truly worried about the lives of his guards or just an opportunist who has use for some wild marauders who have no loyalty except towards gold. Kanda had to see with his own eyes what was going on in this ruin of a city.

High in the sky the sun was burning down it’s scorching heat, creating an almost unbearable draught. The exorcist uniform was anything but comfortable in this environment. The large black coat did not allow for his body to vent, creating a nice greenhouse effect underneath his clothes. Within seconds after stepping outside into the oven that was the sandbox of the dunes, he could already feel the first sweat drops being formed before running down his back. It was a mystery to Kanda why people would voluntarily live here.

Kanda’s initial impression of Nippur wasn’t a positive one. Poverty created by the aftermath of the war and loss of their king was painfully visible on every street corner. The rags that some of these people were wearing as clothes were painful to see. Within the first five minutes of his exploration through the ancient town he was confronted with several crimes. From the corner of his eyes he noticed a slim fellow, carefully pickpocketing a woman distracted by her kids. A bit further there were clear signs of violence, smeers of fresh blood, ripped clothes.Yet another example how demons aren’t just the monsters he was trained to hunt, but simply humans praying on the weaker specimen of their own kind.

A duo of the king’s guards were surveilling the area. Their sloppy pose and weak appearance were a thorn in Kanda’s eye. The moment the lax guards passed by what was obviously a shakedown the exorcist lost it. His boots dug into the sandy ground as he fast paced towards the duo. Kanda grabbed one of them by the shoulder and pulled him around, forcing the official to face the aggravated exorcist. “What the hell do you think you are doing, aren’t you supposed to be protecting the people of this city?” Kanda shouted. His hands were starting to itch, the amount of self control he had to muster not to punch the living shit out of them was out of this world. The surprised soldier of nippur responded equally annoyed, a mere civilian laying hands on one of the king’s guards, that's unheard off.

“Who do you think you are? Laying hands on the king’s men. You must be new.” His comrade chuckled, knowing what was about to happen. “Perhaps we should teach you some manners with a ‘Nippur hello.” The guard cracked his knuckles right before sending it flying towards the exorcist. Highly underestimating the prime’s ability the pre-emptive strike got countered by Kanda’s itching hand. A loud slap was heard right before the guard ate sand. A glare from Kanda’s eyes followed quickly towards the partner of the smacked down guard who in return raised his hands.”We were just following orders, we’re not to fight the bandits.” The cowardly response was followed by a quick pick-up and dash. Kanda shook his head as he watched the duo flee with their tails in between their legs.

“Yo, General! Still in control of that temper i see?” A familiar voice spoke up. The swordsman turned around and noticed Barry with two other black order exorcists coming up behind him. They were wearing the scout party insignia. It seemed that even with HQ overrun in the moors they were still doing their job,“Barry, what brings you to Nippur?”

The aloof reconasist shrugged, “You know how it is, gather intel, report back. The usual routine, with the current excetion of reporting back.” Barry was his usual self, the carefree joker of the order. Digging his finger deep in his ear he was taking care of an itch. Kanda’s body send a cold shiver down his spine ‘His manners haven't improved at all.’

“Anything to report about this city?”

“Well, it seems that the king returned.” Barry replied, thinking it was news. Kanda sighed in return, “ What about some actual intelligence Barry?”

“Alright, well. Hmm it's a shithole, hopefully they will clean this place up, it has potential. Too bad the King won’t be around long.”

Several red flags went up for Kanda,”What do you mean by that? Won't be around for long.”

Barry scratched the bottom of his chin before answering, “You know, not everyone is happy to see king what's-his-face back on the throne. We already overheard that someone bribed one of the guards in order to stop him. I give the king guy an hour before his reign comes to an abrupt halt.”

A vain on Kanda’s head started to visibly throb ,” And you didn't think to take action?!”

“You know what General, no, no we did not take action. You know why? Because it’s everyone for themselves out here. Bandits, rapists and fucking power hungry primes are everywhere. After the Black order fell in the moors it was every exorcist for themselves. Don’t go acting all high and mighty without knowing the full story, ‘ex-general’.” The anger filled words were harsh ones. It wasn’t like Barry to lose his temper like this, he is supposed to be the mellow member of the order. This time however he was moments away from fuming.
“Face it Kanda, without the black order we are just regular folks here with fancy parlor tricks.”

The swordsman grabbed Barry by his uniform, pressing it against his throat. Kanda’s stern eyes pierced the scout’s mental defence, invoking fear from the highest level. He knew damn well what Kanda was capable off. “Listen here you little shit. I don’t care that the order fell and was without leadership. You’re an exorcist and you have a divine duty, a duty which you cannot ignore. There shouldn’t be some person in power that tells you what to do, you should feel it deep inside of you. This new attitude you have developed disgusts  me.” The other two scouts attempted to peel Kanda away from Barry but the swordsman was too steadfast, he didn’t move an inch. “You dare to disgrace the order? I will give you a single chance to redeem yourself. Either join me and stop whoever is after the king or get rid of that uniform before you bring more shame to it.” With those words he dropped Barry on to the sandy grounds. “As for you two, on me, we got a new mission.” Kanda turned towards the palace, showing Barry his back. A small cloud of sandy dust was created as Kanda and the two scouts dashed off back towards the palace.

The Throne Room

Reaching the palace the three exorcist stormed the gates, the single guard that was stationed at the entrance decided to stand in their way. “Move!” Kanda shouted as they rushed closer. The guard stood his ground and pulled his sword. A graceful dodge followed by single mighty blow was enough to knock him to the side. There was no time for a discussion. The throne room was close, from a distance a loud shout was heard, “FOR THE GLORY OF TIAMAT!”

‘Damnit, tell me we’re not too late.’  The thought went through Kanda’s mind as he drew his sword and allowed the innocence energy take over. Kanda's body was covered in white-yellow lightning energy. His swords became one with the body consisting out of nothing but the innocence. Majestic angelic wings sprouted from his back and something resembling a halo appeared above his head. A bright light emerged from his eyes as he shot forward. Both the scouts were left in the dust. For both of them it was the first time seeing the angelic form of the general.

The doors of the throne room blasted open as the exorcist forced his way through. Every eye in the room was immediately drawn towards the radiant angelic figure, creating a perfect opportunity for the King to break free. A well placed elbow in dave’s stomach was enough to break free. “What madness is this?!” The king shouted. Gilgamesh was not blind for the new threat that appeared upon his sacred ground. He saw the angel of light dashing towards his general direction at high speed. The king took a proper stance, preparing for impact. He did not expect the deity like creature to flash passed him. The royal eyes were barely able to follow. A few feet away from Gil he saw Dave being crushed into the ground by what appeared to be an ally.

Slowly the energy dispersed, revealing Kanda to be the one disrupting Gilgamesh’s meeting. The exorcist picked up the unconscious body of Dave, throwing it at the king’s feet. “Your guards are shit....Your highness.” A certain tone was clearly heard. Kanda started moving towards his allies from the order, who were clearly wearing the same uniform as him.

Gilgamesh stood tall near his throne, quirking an eyebrow, “Halt swordsman, you’re not done here.” Kanda stopped walking and turned around, his brothers of the order stepped next to him. The king showed a confidence grin, “ I knew i liked you.”

From outside the throne George Michael's careless whisper started blasting from Victor’s speakers, filling the room with the melodious sound of the saxophone. The assassin stood at the entrance, receiving a look from all eyes gathered, including the king’s.  “What? I thought it was fitting.” He spoke with the biggest grin on his face.