The camps of both Vastillo and Hammer were in the mountains, and were separated by a ridge – which caused them to be surrounded by both Froad's awakeners, as well as being chased by the awakener from Musashi.

They were surrounded, and this was just half of the problem.

'This wasn't what we planned,' Song thought, as the two of them were running in a direction that wasn't the one they planned to use in advance – they were moving further and further away from Evergreen Castle. 'We're close to half an hour passing by – we're running out of time now..'

That does not mean that they were able to escape from the pursuit squad.

Thanks to the Icehammer Dark Jake used earlier, they were only able to make a good distance from their pursuers, and not escape them completely.

The perfume also lost its effect when you took an aggressive action, and thus so far, Jake and Song were only fleeing as fast as they could go, without even fighting their enemies.

In the end, this ended up as the two of them being chased by a horde of awakeners.

'Damn it all! I still need to shop. Should I just beat the shit out of them and harvest these fools for points?' Jake asked, his anger gradually building up in the midst of the chase. 'If it wasn't for that Musashi bastard, I might have actually stuck around to fight those fools from Froad – they might have been worth quite a lot of points!'

As Jake and Song continued to evade the intimidating awakener from Musashi, Jake was finding that the stress within him was beginning to build up at the constant evasion, time he could have spent either earning or spending points.

All thought of that subject was removed as Jake and Song heard a 'boom' much closer than they thought: the awakener from Musashi must have gone past the awakeners from Froad and was now closing the distance – fast.

Even at the quick pace of their travel, they knew the enemy would catch up to them at any moment due to the difference in speed between what Jake and Song use and that of their pursuer.

"Crap," Jake declared. "Guess we had better bite the bullet and face the music."

"What do you mean?"

"We're going to make our stand here. I'd rather die on my feet than let him chase us down and kill us tired. If we have an opportunity, we're taking his ass out," Jake said as he made his decision, coming abruptly to a halt before turning around and letting his voice out.

"Hey, samurai boy. What's with the stalker gimmick? Gotten tired of doing that old period drama schtick and you now have to take it out on us?"

***

Jake let out a long pursing breath before taking in another deep one.. and then letting it out in a rather undignified belch.

'Now THAT's the sound of energy,' Jake thought, as every time he drinks a can of Red Cow, this is always the effect on him. 'Okay, moment's over. Time to share the wealth.'

He popped another can and handed it over to Song.

"It's an energy drink. Gulp it down, we don't have much time."

The vice-master of Evergreen took the can offered to him, looked at it for a moment before guzzling the beverage down in a few audible gulps.

"You're not going to ask what's in it?"

"Maybe later, after we kick that guy's ass. That's all that matters now," Song replied as his cool demeanor was replaced with a grim ferocity.

'Oh, man. Remind me to not push this guy to the wall. He totally loses his good looks.'

And as soon as the empty can was dropped onto the floor, the awakener from Musashi arrived in front of them in a puff of smoke.

"So, the two vermin have decided to stop fleeing," the samurai muttered, nearly inarticulate.

"Of course," Jake answered nonchalantly, "can't beat the shit out of you without getting closer, after all."

The samurai laughed, treating the threat as if it was a joke that children said while on the playground.

"Do you even know who I am?"

Jake asked him another question as a reply.

"Some time ago, I ended up in a place called Nohas," he began, "and it didn't take me long before I managed to figure out something. Want to know what that is?"

The samurai didn't answer, instead just giving Jake an indifferent glance.

"What's with the cold shoulder, samurai boy? You're putting me on the spot here and making me look like a fool. And here I thought warrior philosophers would have some deep conversations before drawing swords and slicing each other and some shit.." Jake continued, fearlessly seeking an answer from the kind of awakener standing before him.

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With this statement, the man's indifferent look changed into curiosity – nearly everyone he came across were too scared to speak – what is he about, what does he believe in?

"What is that?" Song asked instead. "I'm curious."

Jake turned to Song and shrugged before giving his answer.

"Oh, it's a small thing. People here love asking others who they are. With all the awakeners who asked me 'Do you know who I am?', I've already lost count."

"Is that so?" Song asked, thinking about Jake's answer, and then letting out a hearty laugh as he quickly understood what Jake was saying – he was actually taunting the awakener from Musashi.

The samurai frowned, almost as if he understood what Jake was saying, and took all his self-control not to visibly react in surprise as Jake turned to Song and pulled out a white bottle with a green cap.

"Yeah, laugh it up," Jake replied, "and while you're enjoying my joke, rub this all over you. Helps keep bloodstains off your armor."

Song observed Jake squeeze out an impressive white dollop of what looked like lotion from the bottle, and then applying said dollop all over his face and any part that wasn't covered with armor.

He smiled as Jake handed him the bottle, and wordlessly did the same thing he did – rubbed lotion all over his face and body, just like the way Jake did.

"You done?"

"Yes," Song replied with a smile. "What a nice feeling. I feel my skin is being refreshed."

"Good to know," Jake replied.

"You never cease surprising me, Jake Smithson. So.. you go this way and I go that way?"

"I refuse," Jake answered, gesturing with his lips to the air. "It's better if you go that way, and I go this way."

"Hmm. Maybe we could meet somewhere in the middle: you go that way, and I go this way?"

"Sounds good."

"All right, let's get this show on the road."

The two of them turned to the samurai, unsheathed their weapons, and smiled before charging forward.

***

When the awakeners of Froad saw the lifeless body of their vice-captain Vastillo, it was then and there that they swore a lifetime vendetta on the awakener known as Jake Smithson.

From this point onward, their sole purpose was to find Jake and make him pay for his perfidy with his life.

Unfortunately, by the time they caught up to the awakener from Musashi facing off against this awakener as well as Song from Evergreen, they were made to stop.

"You will all stand and be witnesses to my defeat of these two upstarts," the man from Musashi declared, and with his power, he rooted the awakeners in front by the power of his stare alone.

Most of the people of Froad don't understand the language the man from Musashi used, but there were a few in the back lines who were able to translate, and thus spread the message throughout the troops.

Living in Nohas will lead you to learn a lot of languages, since awakeners from all over the world are summoned to the tutorial area, and you need to communicate in order to survive the calamity-class monsters.

"The name is Kinjo Toshihiro. It is the name of the man who will take your lives," the samurai declared, the tone of his voice a thin veneer of courtesy hiding a deep well of elite arrogance underneath.

Jake's understanding of Japanese was spotty, but he knew enough to throw the bastard off his game.

"And my name is way beyond your pay grade, period drama guy," Jake answered pompously. "Way beyond the pay grade of someone who cuts down awakeners he's supposed to be backing up."

"Backing up? Those are just ants. How can a giant concern himself for the affairs of ants?" Toshihiro replied, the casual disregard of the awakeners he cut down filling his tone.

Jake didn't bother to answer such a garbage question: summoning his Aqua Blade instead.

'This piece of shit isn't worth talking to anymore,' he thought as he considered the samurai's equipment, 'yep, he definitely has 'period movie reject' written all over him. Hakama, haori, sheathed katana. Based on what Song told me while on the run, it's the typical armor set you see those awakeners from Musashi wearing.'

'They're so hyped up about their swordsmanship that they don't think they need armor; all they need is a sword.

Being behind the times is part of their 'period movie reject' schtick, I guess.'

The stance he took up was simple; Jake couldn't even sense aura on the weapon, and there wasn't anything special about the weapon itself.

However, he found that his first strike was parried with little to no effort.

"CRAP!"

He put a lot into that strike – diamond Swiftstone, Bankroll-powered aura, trained footwork – all to try and crush that katana in one fell swoop.

Instead, his momentum was used against him, the parry sending him back and off-balance.

Jake knew he was in trouble when the samurai readied himself to strike, and swung as he was backpedaling..

..only for a sword sheathed in red energy to intercept the strike: Song flowed in the shadow of Jake's first attack to discourage an attempt at a riposte, after defending against the first attack.

The samurai used the momentum of his sword swing to deflect Song's sudden attack; while he was unperturbed at what his enemies planned, the power behind Song's own attack surprised even him.

'This guy is stronger than I expected,' Toshihiro thought, anticipating that Song wouldn't be able to block his sword properly, estimating that Song's own strength was short of his own.

However, instead of stepping back from the deflection, Song was able to flow into it and strike at the samurai once more, defying Toshihiro's expectations.

'Is this the effect of the energy drink?' Song asked, surprised at how quick he was able to recover and counterattack. 'I feel energized, like I could do things I normally couldn't – maybe we can win this!'

This development filled his eyes with hope that they could beat this terrifying awakener – and resolve that they need to do what they can to try and make sure that happens.

"Hey, he's not your only dance partner in this disco, samurai boy!" Jake said, joining the attack after Song took a swing at the Musashi awakener.

As Jake battered the samurai's defenses with a barrage of slashes, Song found himself thinking that Jake was someone he could rely on – braver and stronger than anyone, someone he could trust to watch his back if they managed to get out of here alive.

'We have a chance to win – no, we're going to win!' Song thought as he readied his energy as soon as the barrage of slashes pushed the samurai back.

"Seems I've underestimated you," the samurai said, drawing a second sword from the sheath on his waist, this one slightly smaller than the katana he held. "From here on out, I'm fighting for keeps."

The hopes Song had of their victory vanished instantly as soon as he saw that stance.

"Niten Ichiryu," he whispered.

***

You would think that having the samurai wield another sword would be a mere cosmetic change to his force, but you would be mistaken, because as soon as the Musashi member switched to wielding two swords, he discarded all fancy technique, and was now a wall of tempered steel, his weapons slashing over and over again.

Song was barely grazed, but the force of it sent him flying.

"Crap," he said, pulling himself up after throwing up a large glop of blood.

'Internal damage. This isn't good.

It's not even covered with an aura.. even with the drink giving me power, he's still too strong..

Damn it..'

Song tried to hold onto consciousness, but failed as the shock of the attack knocked him out.

"Shit!" Jake cried out as his armor saved him from a violent death by disembowelment.

That was the good news, but the bad news was, the armor couldn't save him from the brunt of the pain from the attack, as the thrust hit his solar plexus.

Jake backed up and fell to his knees, his power beginning to flicker within him and his head starting to spin, the side effects of the Red Cow beginning to kick in.

'Shopping.. My Flyers.. my bike..' Jake thought as the end came upon him. 'What a lousy way to die – couldn't even get to open a package before the end.'

"Well, that was fun," the samurai said. "Looks like you vermin gave me quite the workout after all."

He took strides towards the kneeling Jake and prone Song, savoring the kill, but as he prepared himself to finish these two ants off, something unexpected happened.

Several awakeners sprang from the bushes, swinging their weapons at the samurai, only for their attacks to be immediately blocked.

Several more awakeners emerged as soon as the first eight were blocked, same result.

He blocked those attacks with ease only to see an orange flash before him, before something sent him hurtling back at great speed.

'A weak attack. But it was made solely to throw a target a distance away..' the samurai thought as he stood up and waved the smoke out of his eyes with his sword, only to see other awakeners before him, swords out.

Jake barely made out the sudden entrance, but he could hear a familiar voice.

"Pick yourselves up and get the hell out of here!"

"Liam.." Jake whispered. "..is that you?"

***