Chapter 104

“Excuse me?? Do you know how long I’ve waited for this romantic moment? Don’t ruin it!!” “I was just askin’…” Then the pair heard Milo’s voice. “Bisco! Pawoo! Over here!!” The voice came from the south gate, which was in the midst of closing when Actagawa came careening out of the sky, swinging his greatclaw and tearing a great big hole in it. “That’s our ticket outta here,” said Bisco. “You can tell us off later!” “Tell you off? What for?” replied Pawoo. “Well, for breakin’ the walls?” “Who cares? Just hold me tighter!” Gaboom! A well-placed mushroom arrow catapulted the pair through the rift and past the city walls. Milo and Actagawa caught them both in midair before landing on the sands of the Northern Saitama Iron Desert. “You kidnapped her?!” “Yeah.” “Nice!” Milo welcomed Bisco with a beaming smile. “Now let’s get out of here! Nuts will follow us by himself if he has to!” “But where can we go?” asked Pawoo. “We’re enemies of Imihama and Kyoto both.” “To Kagoshima!” said Milo, whipping Actagawa’s reins and spurring him on. “The Benibishi are supposedly starting a new country over there. Let’s go check up on them.” “Kagoshima?!” “It’s a weird-ass place,” said Bisco. “Can people even live there?” “That’s why it’s perfect! We help them revitalize the land, and they can protect us from the government! …Uh-oh! Look out!” Explosions to the left and right kicked up sand, narrowly missing Actagawa. It was the howitzer cannons mounted atop Imihama’s walls, sending shells arcing through the air and raining down around them. “Whoa! Don’t they care we got a hostage?!” Bisco cried. “You two, focus on the road,” said Pawoo. “I’ll take care of this.” She reached for Actagawa’s luggage, pulling out a spare staff, and stood tall, raven hair streaming in the wind, as the cannon’s next shell fell directly toward her. “Hi-yah!!” Thwack!! As nimble and precise as a black cobra, and as fast as a whirlwind, Pawoo swung her staff, repelling the shell back toward Imihama. The resulting explosion caused the surrounding walls to shudder and collapse. “Hmph. Weak.” “P-Pawoo?! What have you done?!” “That’s overkill, even for you!” “Who cares? The whole city can perish for all I care.” Pawoo ran her fingers through her hair and gazed at her work with callous indifference. She looked different now, like a huge weight had been unburdened from her shoulders. “They should have been demolished a long time ago,” she said. “There was no need for walls after the Rust Wind went away. All they did was keep Imihama locked up and blind!” “Weren’t you in charge of that place not three minutes ago?!” “The distant past!” she roared, launching back the rest of the shells. The explosions lit up her glittering smile and the storm in her eyes. “A distant memory. My mind is now fixed solely on the future yet to come!” The flash of flame and smell of burning steel stole the boys’ words clean away. She’s like a fireball. “…Uh-oh! Bisco, at this rate she’s going to level the whole city!” “We’ve gotta get Pawoo away from here, fast!” ““C’mon, Actagawa!!”” Hearing a determination in their voice unlike any other, Actagawa took off at top speed, scuttling across the desert sands like a crab possessed. Pawoo stood atop him, looking back at the city. Then she reached up and, with her long nails, dug into the flesh at the back of her neck, feeling the pain. With that pain to soothe her fears, she watched as her past receded over the distant horizon.