Contract 10: Final Breath

(Alright before I post we need to wait for Aguila now. We can't continue this unless he is here. Am I to ignore him and let him kill me because he is being inactive? He did not warn us he was leaving for one, and another is we already kept progressing without, let's just wait.)

(If he has been inactive for over 48 hours, assume he has flinched or something, then continue.)

Seeing the large battle unfold before their eyes, the Templars surrounding the large, bearded man and the short man made their escape into the hold of the ship. While the Templars and Assassins were preoccupied with fighting each other, the bearded man began to issue orders.
"Everyone! We can blow up this ship, and exterminate the Assassins while we're at it. However, we would lose our kind as well as the ship. I have a better plan!" He commanded, holding his hands up in the dimly lit hold. On the sides of the ship were cannons, for it was a true War Galleon, created during the Renaissance. They had existed since the 1700's.

Within minutes, a lifeboat had been set up, ready to take the leader away. While the fighting was now occurring around the Crow's Nest, the crew helped the leader into the boat, giving him the oars. The smaller man also climbed in, and the boat was lowered to the sea, where the crashing waves threatened to tear it apart. However, the rower and his assistant kept their cool as they rowed away from the boat.

Their leader now safe, the rest of the Templars upon the boat turned their attention on the Assassin invaders.

(Just saying, since I am currently not occupied since I have nothing else to do to Aguila, I could notice. I am not fighting.)

Ezekiel would turn his head to see the row boat leaving the Galleon. He saw the bearded man's face at last. " Marcus? MARCUS YOU BASTARDO! You abandon me again! Demon Boy, they are leaving us. Kill him whilst I tie up our other friend." he would say, grabbing the rope usually left on deck. He would go towards Aguila and attempt to tie him up. "That bastardo lo zio....Mi abandone una volta, e ora mi ha abbandonato di nuovo! I owe him a punch to the gut, he may be in safety, but I still owe him one. But I must not." he spoke to himself. Ezekiel ASSUMED it was his uncle, but he wasn't too sure. If he successfully finished with Aguila, he would turn around and pull out a throwing knife and aim at Blake carefully.

(Can I atleast tie him up? )

Ezekiel would go to the nearest lamp on the boat (note, ships and the likes commonly have oil lamps.) and would fill it with oil. He would light the lamp and throw it onto the Peasant's boat. It would shatter, due to it's glass casing and would start a fire on the boat. " The boat is burning." he would say, kicking the boat off. Then, he would ready his knife once more. " Shall I take his life? He has no where else to go. If he hops in the water, one of us could follow him. " he would ask. Then he would position himself to where if Aguila gets up or gets free, he could be a bit distant, but not too far and he wouldn't have his back turned. Aguila Roja, Riposa in Pace he thought to himself. Ezekiel didn't take his eyes off Blake but kept Aguila in his pereiphirals(that how you spell it?). He would smell the air. Is he a Sojirou? He seems so familiar. he would think once more. He noticed the Peasant's boat floating towards land. " Should I just let it float away?" he would yell out.

Ezekiel would notice the situation Blake was in, noticed that there was no escape.

Blake was infinately shocked at the grace and precision of Tenchi's route up to him. Unfortunately for Tenchi he was ready for his attack on him. He immediatly did exactly what the Demon was probably hoping that he would do. He bent his head and back backwards to avoid the kick to his face. He then pushed off with his legs to avoid the expected strike with Spata da Lato. For a moment he had the feeling of weightlessness. He smiled at the thought of Tenchi's victorus face turn sour at the realization that there was a rope tied around his waist. Blake pulled up from his back swan dive just in time to see Ekezial throw the firery oil onto his only escape route, the row boat. "Fuck." He said to himself.

Seeing that there was now only one way off of this ship Blake altered his swing, putting his legs out in front of him and holding a dagger to his rope. He attempted to kick Ekezial in the chest, effectively sending him flying backwards into the ocean. If or if he does not accomplish this Blake plans on cutting the rope tied around his stomach and landing squarely on the deck.

The crew upon the boat yelled and leapt off the side as an oil lamp came flying at them, smashing to smithereens on the wood. A wave smashed itself against the boat, splitting up the burning and charred wood. Left with nowhere to go, the bearded and small man grabbed one of the remaining floating pieces of wood that bobbed around the ocean.

Wiping his face free of seawater, the bearded man gave a loud roar, as he pulled himself onto the floating wood, half of his body still in the sea.
"Those cursed Assassins, and even the Templars turned on us! We must escape, while we still can. The coast is within swimming distance, especially with the wood we have here." He commanded, his ginger beard waving about in the water.
"Yes, sir, of course, sir. It's quite saddening, what this situation has become. At least, I hope the rest of the Templars on board are still loyal to us."
With that, the two started swimming toward the coastline.

The Templars on board readied their blades, leaping toward the attacking Assassins and betraying Templars with renewed vigour.

[We attacked the boat that Blake was on before, but I suppose we could just take the ship the hard way.]

Tenchi's foot clshed with the wood, leaving a heavy footprint where he stomped onto the wooden floor. His opponent, Blake, had leapt off, a rope around his waist to save him from a death fall. Tench was ready to leap down and kill the man, however, he noticed that the Templars were turning on him, which simply sickened the demon to his stomach. He leapt down and grabbed onto the rope that Blake was using, allowing himself to swing for a few moments before he landed on the ground, bending his knees so that he wasn't hurt by the high drop. He looked up at the Templars and redrew Spada da latto, not understanding why Blake insisted on constantly running, now, but not caring. Instead, the blood that was on his blade was cleaned with his tongue as he eyed every single Templar that surrounded him, his hidden blade sliding out from beneath the sleeve of his right hand. He used his adrenaline rush to increase his focus so that he could absorb everything on the battlefield that could be used to his advantage before he gave the Templars a sadistic grin.

"Ezekial! You take care of the foolish traitors! I shall handle the Assassin..."

The man twirled his long dagger skillfully and tossed it into the air, the blade spinning and flipping before it came downward, the blade pointing towards the ground. Tenchi caught the blade with easy and leapt into the air, doing a 360, before landing on the ground in a strange batle stance. His hood fell off, revealing his long, flowing black hair. Now he truly looked like a demon, and those who would stand before him would have their souls snatched from their bodies. The seabreeze surrounded and danced around the boat, lifting the cape and hair of Tenchi, making it seem almost as if he were calling upon the cries of hell as the wind howled and wailed like the dying were returning to Earth. He then looked up to Blake, his eyes colder than stone and reseambiling a demon from hell.

"It's just you and I, assassin."

"Come at me!"

[Oh, NVM my post then, only regard the Templars attacking you.]

Turning around to the face the Demon challenging him Blake decided to go into a defensive position, having learned his lesson of agressively attacking. He proceded to place his weight on his back foot, eject his hidden blade, and put his hands up to gaurd himself. "So," he said, "It would appear that we are at an impass. Both of our missions have failed, the bearded man has left us to die, and now neither of us has a way of this ship short of jumping off the side. So, what happens now? For I wish to leave, I have no more to do with this ship, and I am certain that neither of us wants to die. So what shall we do about this."

Ezekiel smiled and quickly turned and threw a dagger at one Templar's head, spinning around. This would make Ezekiel's cloak fly up and he would grab his two daggers. Holding them upside down. He would dash at the templars, jumping and sliding inbetween the other templars turning and stopping himself, quickly getting up. Performing a cartwheel, he would use some of the momentum to strike one templar and then would do a circular motion to attack the other. Each attack aimed for a vital organ. The first would be towards the spinal cord and the other would be towards the skull. These attempts were performed with great agility. "Not sure, but I think that was my Uncle Marcus. Demon boy, are you perhaps, just wondering, a Sojirou? I thought your family were assassins and I have never seen a foreign templar before. I am only assuming this." he would rant, not taking his eyes off the templars. Since there were two, one would have to deal with the attacks from the dagger and the throwing knife. He aimed at the one he attack first.

Ezekiel would also note, " How about a temporary truce? We should pay Marcus a visit. We could still strike him with our cannons. He is no ally if he betrays us. " he would say. Then he would mumble in italian. The sky would darken and cloud up. His breath was cold. The signs of rain.

Watching the Half-Breed Templar fend off the soldiers aboard the galleon Blake found himself agreeing with his little speech. "I agree with the Half-Breed." Blake said to Tenchi. "I am under orders to kill that bearded man and I am sure that you feel no love for him either, now that he has abandoned you and is trying to kill us all. So, I believe that if we all form a truce and finish off the remaining Templar soldiers quickly then we will still be able to get to the War Galleon's cannons on the lower deck. We do not even have to hit him. He is only in a hastily crafted lifeboat. If all three of us fire a cannon at him at once then the explosions will send waves at the boat that will tear it to pieces. After that we can merely let him drown and take this ship into port. That way no needs to die and we all get what we want. Agreed Demon Tenchi?"

Seeing the battle erupting on the War Galleon, the bearded man and the small man in the boat knew it was time to act. The bearded man stood up, reaching into his robes.
"Are you sure, Dialosso?" The small man gasped, grabbing his arm and preventing him from completing his manoeuvre. Dialosso angrily pushed him away, pulling out a golden, glowing orb from his robes.
"Of course I'm sure, you idiot!" He kept himself straight as the waves crashed against the boat. "It is you, Peturico, that is afraid to do anything! If we do not eliminate the Assassins and Templars at the same time, we'll lose the war to them. I'm afraid that they already think of us as traitors, and while this isn't true, I can still show you at least how I plan to take over Italy!" And with that, he raised the orb high, toward the ship.
The orb gleamed and glowed brilliantly, another white orb surrounding it, growing ever larger and larger...

It was the Apple of Eden.

Ezekiel's eyes would widen as the glowing orb would show. He would see a growing sphere, as it was bright as hell. He started running. " Sir Tenchi, Peasant. A word of Advice,......RUN!" he would say. He assumed it was none other than the apple of eden, seeing as it's a strange, spherical power. This was an assumption. But he sighed, noticing it was not Marcus, but a man known as Dialosso. He dashed to the other two. "I can create a diversion for one or two of you to escape. Start fighting, Take both of your selfs into the water, then swim away under water. Make it look good." he would say in a whisper. He would go into the hold and load each of the cannons very slowly, but this was a slow process. Not knowing if he had time, he would hear the crackle of thunder. Rain had started falling.

He would fill 2 extra lamps up with oil. and he would light them. Whilst in the hold, he payed attention to how large the sphere was. In the past, the Apple of Eden took away life the longer the weilder used it. And the boat would be quite a ways away. This would be enough time for a diversion. Maybe that bastardo uncle isn't so bad. he would think to himself. Then, he would begin lighting each cannon. Once he would finish, noting that the cannon's wicks burned slowly, he tied the lamps to him and ran out the hold. Prepping his daggers, he starting climbing the crows nest by using the daggers as leverage. He would jab them in the beam to climb and he would ascend quickly. The lamps were covered in order to keep them burning. There was enough oil for his plan to work.

Blake got out of his fighting stance as he was listening to the Half-Breed's plan. "Thank you kind sir." He said as he made a deep bow. "If this plan of yours works then I will expect to see both of you at the sogghignando cinghiale bar when this is all over." Blake then proceded to jog over to Aguila Roja and cut his bonds. "Go," He said Aguila, "Go over board and swim to the main land. This ship is about to be destroyed by the Apple of Eden."
He then turned to Tenchi and said, "Well Sir Tenchi, we had better make this look good. When I come at you dodge and kick me in the face overboard.Got it?" Blake reentered his fighting stance as he finish talking, putting only his dagger Blood Wolf up and resheathing his hidden blade. He prepared the oncoming swim.

"Shit!" Blake said. "That bastardo left us all to die! Ezekial we must leave now or else we will be dead!" As he said that Blake reseathed his dagger and started to run towards the side of the ship. As soon he reached the side of the ship that faced the port and away from the Apple, Blake jumped and swan dived off of the boat. He instantley started to swim for land. "That bastardo of a commander is going to die some day soon. That I swear on my honor." Blake thought refering to the bearded man with the Apple of Eden.

Ezekiel had thrown the oil lamps onto the boat in order to burn it. "Bastardo Tenchi, I will be back for you. " he said silently. He dived into the water and swam for land. There had been a seperate route from Blake and he had taken it. This would be to ease up the attack. So that the two were not cornered. He would find a bridge and he would climb it. No guards new he had been considered a rebel. But noone would consider the fact the attack was for no reason at all. They are betrayed, not Diasollo. Diasollo had betrayed them. Why else would he randomly send those templars? And to think that Tenchi was their ally. He had swiftly moved through the alley.

Next, Ezekiel would try to get as far away from the templars as possible, attempting to go cross city and would attempt to sneak on a boat to escape the city.

As soon as Blake dived off of the not so mighty War Galleon, appearing to be headed towards the port that was close by, he changed directions and starded to swim as fast as he could to reach the boat that the bastardo Templar was on. As soon as he cleared the side of the Galleon he went into stealth mode, barely making a sound in the water. Suddenly he felt an intense heat at his back. When he turned around to look at what it was he saw that the entire War Galleon was being engulfed with flames. He took a moment to admire what Ezekial was doing, if we could not have the Galleon then neither could anyone else. Blake then began his stealth swin towards the row boat once more.

Blake was exhausted by the time he reached the Templar's small boat. He silently put his hands onto the bottom of the boat preparing to leap onto the top of the boat and assassinate all of the Templars on board.

As Aguila came from nowhere in front of Blake, "I was.... Busy." He said smiling at the person, Aguila smiled and said, "Have you taken care of our target, I whipped out some templars, mainly knocked them out, so you could to the rest"

As long as the bearded man held the apple, it grew ever brighter and brighter until a white orb surrounded everything, including the boat. As the man clenched his hand upon the apple and allowed his mind to set its intents free, there was a shocking explosion from the boat as it was blasted into smithereens. Planks of wood, sheets and more flew through the air, threatening to shred whatever came into its path. At this, the man and his accomplice ducked down, and in time to hear the voice of Tenchi.
"That is good, but I will not need your protection from now on. I have enough power at my disposal, thanks to you."
He then span around and aimed to grapple the Templar, with the help of his accomplice. With his free hand, he'd aim to activate the Apple of Eden again to kill everyone in the immediate area, except him. Due to the way the Apple shows its power, it would not be possible to see this intention before it was too late.

Blake heard the fighting above him on the boat and decided to make his move. He leaped up just in time to see Diasollo's arm cut off by the Demon Tenchi. He vaugely heard Tenchi mutter something about flipping the boat but was convinced that that would be a mistake. He saw that both of the Templars were still alive. He decided to remedy this situation. Landing on the side of the boat in a crouch he drew his small dagger Blood Wolf and proceeded to stab up through Diasollo's throat and into the base of his skull. Immediatly after he completed this action he made a side leap on top of Diasollo's lackey and plunged his hidden blade right between his eyes.

As the two Templars aboard the boat were attacked, taken by surprise, the bearded Templar took this opportunity to unleash the Apple's power, just before he was stabbed in the arm - a shot that would sever it. As his arm clunked to the bottom of the boat, it was left holding the Apple.
"You idiot!" Diasollo scowled at Tenchi. His comrade was swiftly dispatched with via a strike to the stomach area. Through the pain, he clenched his eyes, lost his balance and fell overboard with a mighty splash.
As Diasollo clutched his arm, he span around to see Blake, just before he was stabbed between the eyes. The other attack toward his lackey missed, for he was already overboard.
"You..." Diasollo gurgled, his eyes flickering toward the apple that was rolling around on the bottom of the small boat. "... Misguided.... fools... Doom..."
With that, he collapsed overboard, also creating a mighty splash. The remnants of his blood covered the wooden boat.

The Apple was ticking.