The group made it to the dining section of the carriage. It was a very large room covered in gemstone lights and detailed curtains for the windows. A kitchen was at the corner of the section with a little door behind it and in the dining room there were dozens of round or square tables and chairs. To the right side of the room close to the kitchen was a large array of meals for the diners to choose from. Attendants stood behind the counter waiting for eager passengers.
"Wow. So each carriage has a little dining section different from the main dining carriage itself." Said Aki as he faced Merlin's direction.
Merlin was by his right, Awia and Lee were by his left. The group went closer to examine the buffet and make their choice.
"Yes. Awia can we get three bronze coins, that should be enough for three plates of salad." Merlin told the priestess as they reached the counters.
"Sure." Awia exclaimed as she pulled out the bronze coins from her purse and gave them to Merlin who gave them to a female gnome caterer at the counter.
"Three plates of salad, please". Merlin said with a grin.
"Alright, you and your friends take a table and shortly an attendant will get to you". The caterer said to the quartet as she received the coins and place them in a register.
The four chose a small round table and took their seats. Shortly after the dining room's door flips open as the two strangers walk in.
The first stranger was a brown skinned, skinny man with a black jacket and dark green khakis. On his legs were boots and on his wrists were spiked bracelets. He wore dark shades and had a large green Mohawk on his head and a green goatee on his chin.
The second was a larger man of heavier build. He wore a sleeveless black underarmor, that resembled a stolen item. He wore a brown jacket over it. His hair was dark and long, his beard crawny and unkept. He wore dark boots on his feet and the same green khaki on his legs but his was larger. He also wore dark green fingerless gloves.
The two immediately began scanning the room for knights, noting a single knight at each corner of a carriage section. They walked towards the counter and ordered their meals. El Diablo Guild watched them carefully.
After placing their orders the two picked a square table at the other end of the room far away from the group and continued their steady observation.
El Diablo received their salad plates and Lee pulled a roasted fish for each person from his magical bag, which acted as a warm storage. He had several types of such bags. The four added the fishes to their plates and began eating.
Ten minutes had passed since they begun their meal and suddenly a loud sound came from the passenger section, almost like a small explosion. The knights quickly rushed into the next room to analyse the situation.
The two strangers smile at themselves and get up from their seats. The waiter brings two plates of hot chicken soup to the two and they tell him to drop them and go as they continue walking towards El Diablo's table.
The larger man grabs Aki on the shoulder, his physique completely over shadowing that of the young adventurer, he finally spoke.
"Hey, you guys have been making quite the headlines, what do you call yourselves again? Ah yes, El Diablo."
He continues; "My boss would like to see you. Especially you." The man says at he looks at Lee, who just finished consuming a piece of fish and immediately dropped his cutlery.
He looked at the two men who stood behind Aki and Merlin, while he and Awia faced them. He realised he knew them from somewhere but it couldn't be. How could they find him after all these years.
The larger man pulls out a Buugeng, a weapon known as an S-blade, it's a large curved blade with shape edges. He placed the tip of the Buugeng at Aki's neck. A drop of blood leaked from the prickle. Aki was unfazed.
Lee considered running but he knew he was trying to change, to be a better person and with these people that might be possible. He looks at Aki and Merlin and signals them to attack.
Merlin quickly draws his broadsword from the darkness and runs towards the skinny man. The man smiles as he was prepared for such an encounter. He pulls out two thin long razor blades from his jacket and blocks the strike, sliding it above himself from below before returning a kick to Merlin's head from his right. The two fighters put some distance between themselves.
Aki hits the larger man in the crotch with his right elbow. He just stares at him. A bullet wheezes past Aki as he ducks. The bullet lodges into the larger man's right shoulder, it slowly begins to bleed as he struggles to grapple his buugeng. Awia heals the little would on Aki's neck as he takes a stance.
"They aren't using Magic because they don't want to draw attention of the knights, we can make this work if we just.." Lee yelled out to his companions before realising something was wrong.
The two men pulled out gas masks and placed them on themselves. Lee began to feel dizzy and so did his comrades. Aki struggles to move and realises the rest of his guild is already knocked out.
"You can't fight it, jnr." "We modelled this after the alchemist guild's dragon drowning potion. If it can take down a fully grown dragon with continuous exposure, how long do you think you can go." The skinny man said as he burst out laughing.
Aki turned to observe the counter and the attendants and waiters. They all wore masks. It appeared they had been set up.
Aki pushed himself and he gradually pulled himself off the floor. The larger man kicked him on the head, finally knocking him out.
The larger man carried Lee and Merlin on his shoulders while the skinny man carried Awia on one shoulder, dragging Aki along with his other arm.
Aki who still clung to consciousness, looked into the dining room and struggled to life his left hand, in a desperate attempt to reach his scepter which had been left behind at their table.
The two men move through the different sections of the carriage and make it into another carriage. A luxury carriage.
"Wake em up!". A low grunty voice echoed in Aki's head as he received a slap, forcing him awake.
"You'd been out for ten minutes kid." "Interesting. That's the shortest anyone has ever gone out of it." The voice went on.
Aki raised his head, he quickly remembered his situation and attempted to force his way of his bonds.
"That won't work, you see my good second-in-command Grimes, makes it that each time the rope tears they reverse back in time to a state where they never tore". Said the voice in front of him. He took a look at his captor and It was a huge muscular man in a grey suit and red tie. He appeared to be a fair skinned man in his fifties, had gelled back grey hair, smoked a huge cigar and wore golden ring on each finger. Each ring contained a pink gemstone.
The man spoke to Aki as he struggled to break free. "I'm sure you're wondering why i captured you and your friends here, but worry no more."
"Once my precious gunslinger returns to me all will be well or i can just kill each of you till i get to the person he cares for." The man said as he began to laugh. A hard, cold, joyless laugh almost like he was mocking Aki's apparent powerlessness in the situation.
Aki pressed his teeth together as he turned to the right and saw his guild members unconscious and spread across the carpet, all surrounded by armed men in suits.
His mind raced on, thinking about his next move.
"Ghost! Come in here." the man shouted and a hooded man walked in. His legs appeared to be mechanical as that was the only thing Aki could observe, the rest of his body was covered in a black cloak.
"Wake up this one with the brown coat. If he doesn't agree to the terms we'll kill this tied up one and the rest until we run out of them all". The man ordered Ghost, who pulled Lee to the wall away from the crowd and began slapping him awake.
Aki quickly realised the person called Ghost also had a mechanical hand and was clearly a cybernetic human. He begun to ponder on the situation he found himself. He took a look across the room. A large desk was to the right just the armed of the armed men. Their boss sat at the center of the room and the two attackers from earlier stood behind him. The large door leading to the next section of the carriage was behind them all and Aki begun to strategize how to set his guild free as every moment there was a danger to all of them.
"You see there's a bounty on your heads". The man said to Aki as he puffed out large volumes of smoke.
"And i have come to collect." He concluded with a wicked smile. His golden teeth now visible and reflecting the lights from above.