Jiro awoke to a loud banging on his chamber door, half asleep, he asked "What do you want?" "Sir Jiro, you must hurry! The Drakkars are coming!" exclaimed the boy. "What!?" Jiro yelled as he ran to the door and opened it. "The chancellor ordered me to inform you, and to get prepared to assist the king in leading the troops against the Drakkar army." "Okay, thank you, young man." Jiro replied. The boy nodded before scurrying off down the long hallway.

At that very moment, the town of Minoc, twenty-five miles to the southeast. The Drakkar army was almost finished with the town. The townsfolk could barely fight back; the attack was completely unexpected. The people were massacred.

After Jiro put on his kimono and geta, he grabbed his sword and ran out of his bedchamber, down the hall to the royal bedchamber. Jiro knocked on the door. After a few seconds, King Flik opened the door and said "This doesn't look good, Jiro." "I agree, sire." Jiro said, as he bowed. "Your Majesty, I think we should act quickly and position the army quickly, we have to stop them." "Yes." Flik said as he turned to his wife, Lorelai, and said to her "My love, take care of Sakuya for me." Lorelai ran to Flik and they clutched each other in a loving embrace for a few silent moments. Flik released her, then tightened the last strap to his armor and said "All right, let's go." "Yes, sire!" Jiro responded. Flik and Jiro ran down the hall to speak to the assembled troops before the battle ahead.

After arriving in the assembly Flik and his son, Prince Ryo, addressed the soldiers and told his plan of attack. "We can not lose this battle, men! It's all or nothing!!" Flik yelled. The crowd cheered the brave king's words. Flik turned to Jiro and said, "It'll be like old times, fighting together again." Jiro, with a sorrowful look in his eyes said "Yes, but this time the stakes are much higher if we lose....." Flik said nothing for a moment, then returned his attention to the soldiers, "Okay, listen up, Jiro and I are in charge of the cavalry, Xeres and Xander are in charge of the infantrymen! Now let's go and kick some Drakkar ass!!!!" "YEAH!!!" the men screamed in unison as they turned and marched to their appointed positions.

Xeres walked up to Jiro and said, "This is it, Jiro, time to show them what we are really made of." "Yeah, but..." "Don't say it, you pessimistic fool!" Xeres interrupted, then said "We've got to think positive, Jiro." "Yeah, if you don't think positive, then you're doomed to fail, Jiro." Prince Ryo added. Jiro looked to them both and said, "You're both right, I can�t give up before I even fight.� The three of them nodded to each other, and Xeres said "I've got to get going, those grunts can't do a thing without me!" as he ran to join his men. Jiro turned to Ryo and said, "We should join your father now." "Let's go, Jiro." Ryo said as the two men ran to join Flik.

Meanwhile, the Drakkar Army was now only five miles from the castle.

Both Jiro and Ryo reached Flik's side, at the castle's gates. Flik turned to Jiro and said, "Jiro, have the archers ready their arrows." "Yes, sire." Jiro responded then ran to the commander of the archers and delivered his orders.

At long last, the Drakkar Army had come within sight of Masaki Castle. Flik received word of the news and unsheathed his tachi, the Masaki Family's sword: Sakura Arashi. He raised the tachi into the air and waited. The Drakkar front line had come within half a mile from the castle gates. Flik slashed his sword forward and the archers launched a volley of arrows at the enemy soldiers. Wave after wave of men fell to the rain of arrows, but now they were already at the gate. Flik raised his sword into the air again and screamed at the top of his lungs, "Open the gates and stop them, don't let a single Drakkar into the courtyard!!"

As the gates opened and the two armies began the battle, Jiro saw Karin out of the corner of his eye trying to get his attention. He turned to look at her, and his eyes widened in surprise. He stopped dead in his tracks, and was knocked over by a wave of soldiers moving forward. Karin gasped and ran to him, kneeling down to help him up. Jiro looked at Karin, unable to hide the shock and concern in his eyes.

"Lady Karin, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to help. It's my duty to defend our land at all costs."

Masaki soldiers caught up with Karin, and took her by the arm. She pulled away from them in exasperation, her bow still held in one hand. Jiro snapped his eyes to the soldiers and narrowed his eyes.

"You there! Why haven't you been protecting the princess!?"

"Forgive us, Sir Jiro. She would not come with us." Jiro turned to Karin. "Is this true?" Karin replied with a nod. "This is no place for you to be, Princess."

"Jiro, for once would you please stop calling me that. I am Karin Masaki, nothing more. My title should mean nothing."

Jiro shook his head sadly. "But it is that title which you loathe so much that sets us apart, Lady Karin. If I can do nothing more for you, then I must at least keep you safe. I will not be held responsible for what I would do if something were to happen to you. Please, Lady Karin...I beg of you, let them take you into the castle, where it is safe."

"So it is alright for you to die for this cause, yet I must be kept alive at all costs? And why? Because I am the Princess?? Is that how it will always be, Jiro? It shouldn't have to be that way."

"Karin, do not speak such things. I promise you that once this is all over, you and I shall meet again. Do not count me out just yet."

With this, he strode forward towards the enemy. Karin ran up behind him and spun him around. Giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, she took her flute and slipped it into his hand. "Take this. For good luck, you could call it. Hold it for me, and let it remind you of me until this is over. When the fighting is done, I will be waiting for you to return it to me."

With Karin's blessing, Jiro continued out the gates to fight.

Where is that coward, Vlad, has he no courage to lead his own men?! Jiro thought to himself.

The battle didn't last long, the kingdom's army was too small when compared to their attackers. After only a few hours, the kingdom's army was devastated, wave after wave of their attackers had taken its toll on the soldiers. Flik, Ryo, and Jiro now stood there nearly exhausted. Xeres and Xander reached Jiro and the others and asked, "Flik, what're we gonna do? We're being decimated!" Flik thought for a moment, and ordered, "Xeres and Xander, go get Draker Allus, he's supposed to be here by now!" "All right!" Xander screamed "I was hoping you'd say that, Uncle!" Flik grinned and said, "Go now, time is of the essence!" The two men nodded and rode north towards the forest path to the kingdom of Allus.

Jiro turned to Flik and asked, "Your Majesty, I think we can split up the next wave of attackers if I command a small platoon of men and attack their right flank." "That sounds like a good idea, Jiro. Proceed!" Flik ordered. "Thank you, sire." Jiro responded before riding away from Flik and Ryo and their men. "Good luck, Jiro!" Ryo yelled. Good luck to you too, Flik and Ryo...

Minutes later, Jiro reached the right flank of the advancing army. "All right men, this is a hit and run attack; so let's do what we can for the kingdom, but don't waste your lives!" Jiro and his men charged the soldiers. Indeed, the right flank split from the main force to challenge them. Nearly fifty of the enemy charged Jiro's small platoon of sixteen men. "Okay, men, there's been a change in plan; we're gonna stop these guys first then run!" Jiro charged the first mounted enemy, drew his katana and slashed at the man's horse. Jiro flew past the mounted soldier and as he passed, the horse's head fell to the ground, as did the body of the horse and its rider. Two of Jiro's men surrounded an enemy and killed him.

Several minutes later, Jiro stood gasping. Only nine of his men survived the fifty-man charge. "We did pretty well, now let's rejoin the others," complimented Jiro. The men agreed. Just that moment, several arrows filled the bodies of his remaining men; killing them instantly.

"What the hell?!" yelled Jiro as he turned to see eleven other men, each with bow and arrow in hand led by a woman. "Hmm, is this that bothersome Head Knight that King Vlad speaks so horribly of?" the woman asked aloud. "I believe so, Lady Nina." responded the man next to her. "Okay, you five," pointing at the men to her right, "..fight him with your swords. I've heard that he was incredible in battle. Let's see if what our lord said is true," she ordered.

The five men dismounted, drew their swords and faced Jiro, then laughed at him. Jiro smirked and asked "Do you guys think you'll still be laughing when I remove your heads from your bodies?" They turned to him with cold eyes. "Hmm, five on one, isn't that a little unfair?" The soldiers that laughed at him and nodded in agreeance. "Yeah, you guys're gonna need.....say at LEAST fifty to beat me. I mean, you guys are idiots, probably can't even use those piece of crap swords in your hands either..."

Nina then smirked and nodded to the other men. All of the other men dismounted and faced him.

Me and my big mouth!! Jiro thought to himself.

Jiro ran for one, then jumped to the muddy ground, the back of the blade braced against his shoulder as he slid across the slippery ground between the man's legs. Jiro felt the warm blood of the soldier splatter against his bare back.

He stood and slashed to his right, cutting two of them in half at their waists.

Next, he slashed another man across the head diagonally, part of his head slid off and hit the ground.

The next man stood there, shocked. Jiro held his sword with the blade down, and uppercut slashed the lone soldier, splitting him in half from head to groin.

The remaining six now surrounded him. Jiro charged one, then thrust his blade into his stomach, piercing the man's armor. Jiro kicked him off the blade, turned and slashed another man's legs off at the knees. He sprinted towards another, then as the man raised his sword to defend, Jiro cut off his sword-bearing arm at the wrist. The man screamed in agony and fell to his knees.

Damn, three left. he thought to himself.

The last three men charged Jiro now, Jiro jumped at one and slashed the man from his left shoulder to right waist; splitting him in two. He then kicked one man in the mouth and slashed the other across the neck, severing his head. The last man lay there on the ground, spitting out teeth and blood. "You shouldn't have come to Masaki," he said coldly as he walked to the man. The soldier began to stand up, but Jiro kicked him back down, this time on his stomach. "See you in hell," Jiro told the soldier as he thrust the tip of his sword into the man's spine.

Soaked in the blood of the fallen soldiers, Jiro turned to face Nina. "Impressive, Head Knight Jiro." she said, clapping. "I think you'd be more useful in the Drakkar army," she said to Jiro. "Shut up, prepare to be reunited with your men," he said with an emotionless expression on his face. "Tempting, but I've got bigger fish to fry," she told him, then turned her horse and began to ride off. "Coward!" yelled Jiro to the woman, but she kept on.

"I owe you, too, Nina. We'll meet again . . ." said Jiro aloud.

Suddenly, a woman stepped before Jiro, with a challenging stance.

"And who might you be?" asked Jiro, expressionlessly.

"My name is Kalista," she shrugged as she pulled her scythe before her into a fighting stance.

"And is this Kalista ready to die?" asked Jiro as he brought his weapon fluidly before him.

"I don't know," Kalista grinned, "Let's find out," with that the fight began.

"You should not have come here, to this land, to hurt these people.." Jiro said as he parried yet another one of Kalista's swipes. "You Drakkars hold no apparent honor as I've seen, attacking not only with no warning, but without meaning." Kalista's head swooned, the truth was more painful then the small slash he'd made on the exposed skin of her arm. Pulling herself together she continued to parry his next few attacks.

"It was not my choice as you should know, being in a kingdom yourself." she said, as he thrust the point of the blade towards her abdomen, but she dodged, then turned and was about to thrust her weapon into Jiro's chest, when he elbowed her in the chin. She was knocked to the ground.

"Get up, I'm not finished yet." Jiro said with a smirk.

There was a sudden burst of yelling from the Drakkar army in the distance interrupting the brief pause in their fight.

"But I'm sorry to say this will all have to wait for another time, and another place Jiro." standing up, then cart wheeling with a round off to the side, she pulled the nearest soldier from his horse. Pulling herself up by the horn of the saddle, she took the reigns in one hand, urging the horse into a frenzied run.

Jiro then dropped to the ground, exhausted. "Damn, that was tough," he said to himself.

Minutes later . . .

"Yo, Head Knight!" it was Vic, whom Jiro had recently asked to defect from the kingdom of Drakkar and invited to the Masaki Kingdom. Vic�s long black hair flowed in the wind with his crimson red cape, his red eyes giving Jiro an unerring stare. He had a flintlock in his right hand, pointed at Jiro. "What is this?!" Jiro asked. Vic said to Jiro, "My master, Vlad, wants this kingdom, the royal family, and you dead. So I joined this kingdom; waiting for an opportunity to kill you all and destroy this kingdom. Heh, Vlad is doing an exceptional job out here, don't you think, Jiro?" So, he's here after all. . . he thought to himself. "I'll kill you, you lying son of a bitch!" screamed Jiro as he stood up and readied his katana.

"No...you won't." Vic said, as he fired off his matchlock, hitting Jiro in the chest.

He fell to the ground from the shot and looked at Vic, barely maintaining consciousness. "You see, Jiro, nobody insults Vlad Drakkar and lives for much longer afterwards." Vic said, mockingly. "Ugnn..." Jiro grunted as he slipped into unconsciousness. Jiro lay there, lifeless.

"Hmph, you weren't as tough as people said you were." Vic stated, before riding off to meet up with the Drakkar army.