Mid-Morning

29th June, 112 BNM

Salaman Empire, Main island, Hill region

Provincial border, Daiha town.

Having stayed overnight, Starswirl now wandered the streets of a large village nestled between two steep hills, more like a canyon. The waterfall at the town's west end that then ran as a river through the middle of town was its landmark, the town criss-crossed with a few footbridges, wooden or stone arched, across the 50-foot-wide, deep, slower moving river that ran down the middle of the town, which slowly sloped up the hill rises in the form of many black, brown and dark grey wooden and sloped roof structures, some structures rising higher than others, the smallest being shacks nestled on riverside stone walkways only a foot above the waterline.

Being on the border of two provinces, this peaceful town was always on the alert.

The Grey Unicorn made sure his blue cloak remained fastened, as he also kept his hat in place atop his head. He received the odd look here and there, like any foreigner would in a mostly salamander populated town.

Higher up in one of the temples, Starswirl saw a few Samurai watching him from on high. They were the local police of sorts, maintaining order in this town, both from the inside and against attack by rivals in the province they were bordering yet didn't serve.

Still, the looks he was getting were unnerving, but he continued on.

Up above, watching like hawks, the Samurai guards spoke to one another, their beady Salamander eyes watching the grey wizard as he strode slowly across one of the river foot bridges, seemingly taking in the sights of town in daylight after arriving last night in the darkness.

"Yunikōn wa, watashitachi no keikai-yōdesu." [The Unicorn seems wary of us.]

The slightly younger Samurai spoke to the elder, a female of slightly older age than he. While female Samurai were not allowed to go out on attack missions, they were common in defending territory already acquired and held, given the role of Salaman women in maintaining, and defending the home, extending to Bushido's ways.

"Kare wa gaikoku no ōzoku no hōmon-sha no 1dattara, kare wa anzenda to kanjirudarou. Watashitachiha Rasuku daimyō ga dōmeikuni to shite motte iru mono to seigō 1 o motte iru to omoimasu." [If he were one of the foreign royalty's visitors, he'd feel safe. I think we have one aligned with the ones the Rasuku Daimyo have as allies.]

At his superior's words, the younger Samurai gave a nod to her, as he watched the wizard while she turned to give a quick hand signal.

Lady Yume led the town's defence and order of this town, and her word was law here.

Across the way, on the other side of the river, another samurai warrior saw her hand signal, and began to make his way down the streets.

Submerged in the river, the Ronin watched his prey with caution, hiding under a small alcove in the river to keep an eye on the wizard as he finished crossing the bridge to walk along the upper pathway.

Yet as he keenly watched this Wizard Unicorn, he noticed something odd.

As he peeked out of the water, he noticed some of the samurai marauding the Wizard, in a way they would never do to anyone associated with honoured guests of their Province's Daimyo, Hisao, in this case those associated with the Equestrian royal family.

If they were marauding him, he was under suspicion.

Chack thought to himself that it might be better to wait and see before anything else, but he made sure to swim undetected, following the Wizard unseen in the waters below him.

Starswirl stopped as he saw one samurai, the young male Salamander wearing robes of blue and pink décor, stride out methodically into his path 30 feet in front of him, staring him in the face with scrutiny.

"Dare ga daimyō Hisao ga ni yotte hōmon sa rete iru ōshitsu no taishidearu, to anata wa kare o shitte imasu ka?" [Who is the royal Ambassador that Daimyo Hisao is being visited by, and do you know him?]

Pausing, Starswirl didn't understand the dialect entirely, as he kept quiet for a moment. The Samurai asked again, this time more sternly. Reading the Samurai's mind for a translation as subtly as he could muster, Starswirl worded his response in the native tongue as best he could.

"Bajutsu taishi…no namae wa…asshukurinchādearu-san, to watashi wa…kare ni jibun…jishin o shirimasen." [The Equestrian ambassador's name is Ash Clincher and I do not know him myself.]

Hearing this answer, the Salamander gave a curt nod to someone coming up behind Starswirl, as the Wizard turned to see a pair of other Samurai coming towards him, another young male and an elder female, all decked in the same colours of blue and pink robes.

It was the female Salamander who spoke, Mistress Yume, this time in the universal tongue. What Starswirl would quickly find was that, like in many cultures, a local dialect was used for more selective speaking, as it helped with secrecy.

But for visiting dignitaries to Salaman, to adhere to strict security, they were expected to understand the local dialect. Starswirl could fake that with his mind reading helping him learn or mimic.

But the female Samurai regarded him coldly as she spoke to him:

"Daimyo Hisao ordered that any Equestrians who do not know the ambassador he speaks with are to be treated as enemies of the province. So who are you allied with? Daimyo Matsuho's Equestrian allies?"

"What? I don't know what you are speaking of." Starswirl remarked loudly, as he felt tension all of a sudden in the air.

The Grey Wizard saw a few handful of other samurai in the town also watching from afar, along with the more basic archers and simple guards in the town. A town rife with paranoia and fighting by being on the border of Daimyo Matsuho's province, a rival power to Daimyo Hisao's rule, despite them both serving the Shogun of Salaman.

By the Shogun's rules, competition was encouraged, so that those that lived in the time of greater crisis were as formidable as possible.

Chack could wreak great havoc here against a town under Hisao's command if a Wizard was also defending himself at the same time.

The salamander swam slowly to the edge of the water, gearing himself under its murky depths for a jump as he gave a last sense of the air, his touch and vibration detection of the air itself compensating for his lesser vision, like all Salamanders.

Crouching in the shallows, he flew from the water, his sword in hand flying outwards in a sweeping arc as he came down onto the pathway.

The Salamander behind him, the first to confront him, had begun to reach for his sword, right after which Starswirl readied his horn to fire a non-lethal spell.

A sound of clicking metal behind him showed other samurai readying weapons as he turned, most wielding swords but others wielding spear blades, the female Samurai 'leader' one such. But it was a strange splash of something leaping from the water that signalled the start.

A warrior's cry sounded as the sound of slicing flesh filled Starswirl's ears, as he whipped around to see a soaking wet samurai spinning to finish slicing the first samurai down the back, deep into the spine. This one wore leather and metallic armour, clearly more ready for battle than most of the samurai in this town, and especially the peasants and artisans and merchants the samurai presided over.

As the blank mask stared at Starswirl, a grey helmet atop a series of armoured red and brown robes with leather covered feet and tail, he felt it. The flare of prophetic recognition, just like the 5 before.

A flash of green in his mind, as the supposed exemplar of kindness to be had emerged. In reality, he had been stalking Starswirl, thinking he was aligned with Hisao for the same reasons, but now saw otherwise like these locals.

But already, it was clear he lived up to his name of a cruel one. But in the world of Bushido, the samurai code, cruelty was commonplace.

Shouts arose that snapped Starswirl from his brief trance, as he saw the Ronin spring into action:

"THE RONIN!"

Recognising the figure by descriptions, the guards all over the town sprang to action, though as the Ronin leapt upwards, taking on a first guard, Starswirl saw a few samurai approaching him, as the rest prioritised the Ronin, Chack.

Swords were drawn, but it was the female Samurai leader who approached with the look of seemingly arrogant challenge:

"Daimyo Hisao-san shall be pleased when we deliver your head to him."

"You're outmatched, don't even try to-!" Starswirl cut himself off as he heard an arrow whistle past his head, as he then raised a blue hued bubble shield against the archers on the other side of the river.

Ahead of him, the Samurai mistress swung out her weapon, a chain mace Manriki-kusari, the fist sized weight end whistling through the air to smash into Starswirl neck. But the mace end deflected off his shield with a rippling hum, while Starswirl wasted no time in surging the field outwards to send the ones ahead of him flying back.

While her male counterpart fell into the river, the mistress dug her other weapon, a Gunsen blade fan, into the paving to stop herself. But ahead, the Wizard vanished in a blue flash, teleporting out.

Seething, the Samurai mistress heard commotion up in the streets nearby, as screams of villagers came with the sounds of clashing blades

A narrow line of red stained the ground as Chack stormed past the Samurai he'd decapitated, his sword sending a faint few trails of blood like paint flicked from a wet brush.

The masked Salamander's brown and red armour, atop his white robes, now had many blood stains upon it. But up ahead, the other Samurai charged him, a larger Salamander likely twice his weight charging him.

Swinging out his sword, Chack visibly was shocked beneath his mask as he saw a set of metal knuckle blades catch his blade, the Salamander's fist locking with his blade. Tekko-Kagi, the claws of death as they were known.

The large Salamander drove Chack's sword down, swinging out his other fist. Ducking, knowing he'd trained against this and most other weapons, Chack let one hand go from his sword as he let the larger male's fist pass his head, and in a heartbeat, he drove his fist, armed with blunt knuckle pads, into the larger male's exposed armpit.

A crack sounded, as he'd dislocated and hit a pressure point in the same blow, sending the larger Salamander reeling back in agony and shock, releasing the katana from his lock in his claw tool.

Around him, as he pulled his sword backwards, he heard enemies approaching. But before anything else, he swiftly kicked out, driving his foot into the chin of the larger samurai brute, disorienting him. But the brute countered quickly, swinging madly out with his claws again.

Right as he saw the claws coming for him, Chack heard, and felt, the air around him. He felt the rush of the claw wearing fist in the air in front, the sensed samurai approaching him from the side, and the archer lined up on him behind.

He sensed the arrow flying towards him from that archer too.

Ducking, Chack didn't even need to see it to smile in success, as the larger salamander hollered as the arrow pierced his upper thigh, the shot meant for Chack's helmet rear, the weak point, imbedding in his leg instead.

Not hesitating, the Ronin slashed his sword in an upwards arc, and blade cut the Salamander's head open from the chin upwards as he'd been staggered mid charge.

A cowering villager screamed as the notably larger samurai was felled of his head, the Ronin charging forwards into combat with another Samurai who defended their village while the archer on a rooftop struggled to get a good shot lined up.

Chack stepped fast, getting around the Samurai while parrying the strikes the younger male Salamander sent his way.

Another whistle as an arrow flew, which Chack heard over the parry of another katana, and his race's greater sense of touch allowed to 'feel' in the air, or water, like a puff of air, where it came from, how fast, and how to avoid it.

As he ducked, Chack backstepped, letting the young male grow overconfident, the sword strikes growing increasingly reckless and more powerful.

Finally, one strike he let stagger him slightly, as Chack span away. But as the young samurai smiled, Chack span in the same direction, his blade spinning with him outwards.

Jumping as he span, Chack's armoured boots came into play, as he kicked the samurai's katana out of the way by the blade midpoint before slashing his own outwards.

The samurai's arm flew off, katana in hand, but as he yelled, the archer let loose an arrow.

Stopping his spin, Chack heard a clicking and a small bit of wood snapping as he stepped, and he saw an arrow had stuck into his boot sole as he span around.

Nearby though, the samurai proved he still had some fight, even with one arm gone. Salamanders had the inate ability to regenerate entire limbs, and everything but the most crucial body parts, given enough time, at the expense of skin toughness like reptiles or even mammal hides. That meant they had a greater tolerance for pain than many, and were less prone to blood loss.

Gasping, the samurai whipped out a Kunai, a last ditch weapon, and with his one arm, hurled it at Chack.

Sensing it, Chack caught it off to the side of his head as he sidestepped, leaving the samurai stunned for words. But as the Kunai came hurtling back, he berated his loss of composure.

Charging forwards as his thrown Kunai pierced the Samurai's brain, Chack seized the young salamander's body and used it as a former living shield against the archer, running to a nearby alleyway out of the line of sight.

Cursing, the archer went running after the Ronin across a few rooftops, searching down alleys with his bow at the ready.

As he ran over a sloping rooftop, right as he leapt across the alley before the one the Ronin had gone into 10 seconds ago, something sharp went right up his robes, as the Ronin had waited beneath in the alley and thrown the Kunai up in anticipation, right between his legs and up into his personals.

Howling, the Samurai fell, torso catching the roof ledge and tumbling down into the alley, where Chack's blade was quick to meet his neck before he even stopped rolling.

Starswirl ran through the upper rooftops, not wanting to fight any of these warriors. His shield was up, but he'd also put up a temporary invisibility field, he didn't want to risk any confrontation, not until he'd found that Ronin.

Down below, in a plaza, he saw a small fight taking place as that Ronin had sprang out into the pathway leading out into the hills further up from the village, dashing up the steps with 2 samurai in pursuit of him, and the odd arrow flying his way.

But up ahead, there were 3 other Samurai waiting, a trap had been sprung.

And yet the Ronin, if anything, charged towards them even faster.

A flurry of blades, and 1 of the Samurai lost his head within 4 seconds, while in another 8 the second lost an arm and his head in a single swipe, the Ronin knowing where to strike even if they were wearing armour.

The third put up more of a fight, as he had continued to parry and backstep in time with Chack's attacks. Yet the Ronin was simply more skilled, no other way around it.

A swift kick to the 3rd Samurai sent him flying down the steps, as Chack saw the samurai mistress heading up the steps towards him, a pair of archers behind her.

The remaining samurai warrior, not including those remaining in the town to restore order, retreated to his mistress's side. Mistress Yume had proven herself a leader and trainee of many samurai, leading this village, and teaching across Daimyo Hisao's province. She knew many weapons and skills, but her main tools were unusual.

Standing at the ready, further up the steps, the waterfall running nearby, Chack saw Mistress Yume gesture for the others to stand back.

She wielded her twin Gunsen battle fans, her own specially crafted of harder metals so they could be folded and used as clubs, and also be unfolded and used as blade edged weapons as she span and wielded them.

"Watashitachi no Daimjo wa yorokonde teki yunikōn no ue ni anata no tame ni kaiketsu shimasu." [Our Daimjo will happily settle for you over an enemy Unicorn.]

"Hisao wa Daimjo sa rete imasen!" [Hisao is not Daimjo!]

Chack's angry reply from beneath his masked face sparked the beginning, as the 2 archers and other samurai stepped back while Mistress Yume stepped forwards, giving her twin Gunsen fans a slash on the ground to show force as she surged towards him. They were as sharp as his sword, if not more so.

A flurry of the multi-coloured circular shaped fan blades came at Chack, who repeatedly backpeddled and parried them, his blade slipping off them easily due to their shape, giving Lady Yume many times to get too close to cutting him where his armour was thin.

No time was wasted, as Lady Yume grabbed an overhead swing by Chack's sword in both fans, forcing the blade down as she then kicked with one foot, disarming the sword from his hands, before she swung out with her blade fan.

Ducking backwards, Chack winced as the fan blade sliced his armour and slightly slashed his chest, not a deep wound luckily. As Lady Yume then hurled one of her fans at his head like a giant throwing star, Chack felt the edge graze his hand as he barely sideducked to avoid it. As she charged him, her other fan swinging, Chack braced himself as he kicked out.

The fan blade's edge came through his leather boot soles slightly, and his foot felt slightly cut, but he'd had worse and survived in the past. The boot had locked the fan in place, and before Mistress Yume knew what occurred, Chack swung his leg around in a roundhouse kick in a full spin, pulling her remaining fan away from her, and coming round again.

Her own fan sliced open her cheek, as she reeled back in pain and bleeding while Chack quickly wrenched the fan off his boot. Nearby, the archers lined up shots, but Chack wasn't having any more fighting full stop.

Diving forwards, Chack tripped Mistress Yume onto her back as he charged, hurling her own fan from his hand into the face of one of the archers 30 feet away before he could even finish the shot, the arrow flying wildly into the nearby waterfall, while he ducked to avoid an arrow fired by the further away archer.

Yanking up his sword, Chack dragged his sword blade first across the ground, severing Mistress Yume's arm, a non-lethal blow.

Turning around as he heard her screech in anger and agony, Chack gave a smile as he readied his blade against the archer and Samurai nearby. Down in town, he noticed more samurai coming, and he felt a tingling of battle fill him.

Right before he readied to charge into battle though, he was surrounded by blue light. The tingling wasn't normal this time.

Later that same day

When the Ronin had disappeared in a flash of blue light, a few keen eyed villagers recovering from the shocking attack had seen a similar blue flash atop one of the towers near the battle.

As fate would later show, Mistress Yume was wounded, but not dead, though she bore a great shame from her lost arm, defeated but not having an honourable death, failing to defend the village yet not suffering the same fate as her warrior underlings who had been killed by the same opponent.

As a loser in a fight against an attacker who threatened what she sought to defend, and in such a dishonourable way of her enemy leaving her wounded, she fulfilled the way of Bushido later that day, and took her life by the sword.

But before she committed Seppuku, she herself detailed the message of the attack to the Daimyo, one of many attacks over the past few years, nearly 20 now, committed by this Ronin. And this time within 2 days of an attack on the province capital.

Still, with constant threat of inter province warfare, a single Ronin killing Samurai, and any bystanders who happened to get in the way if need be, was a relatively lesser danger to the collective province.

Needless to say though that arrest and kill warrants were dispatched for the mysterious Grey Unicorn, and the Ronin once again raised in bounty.

Daimjo Hisao was allied with the Equestrian royalty, and this Unicorn was not identified as one associated with them. Likely one of the 'freelance' nobility who had their own agendas in Equestria, despite also serving as duty bound allies to the royal family against the New Gryphon war enemies over rich territory between their lands.

In the loosest of terms, the Equestrian royal government had ordered penalty for harming any visitors to other countries 'directly' associated with the royal family and their associations, but not other nobility's 'private' armies as they were called.

Those who bore the Equestrian royal crest were safe, those who did not were treated as hostile. And in other provinces in Salaman, other Equestrian nobility fulfilled the role of trade and ally, whilst the other nobility were treated as enemies, and the royal family's associates treated as neither enemies, nor allies.

By trade allying with the Equestrian royal family, Daimjo Hisao's warriors were to treat any Equestrians not sporting the 'ambassadorial' crest agreed upon as hostile to his province.

All the while though, danger lurked all the time in the neighbouring provinces, as local warfare brewed as always.

Early Afternoon

2 hours after Daiha town skirmish

29th June, 112 BNM

Salaman Empire, Main island, 20 miles south east of Daiha town

Mountain paths

"And I told you already, you need not have interfered! AND STOP FOLLOWING ME!"

"You know passage to a safe haven, and do you even know what gratitude is?"

"You dragged me from a fight I could win, why should I thank you for that!?"

Starswirl would have blown a nerve had it been anypony else besides this exemplary being. But this Salamander walked ahead of him was treating him like a nuisance.

When Starswirl had summoned them away to a nearby hillside he knew existed, Chack had, wisely, only used harsh words to protest. While Starswirl had tried to explain he was helping him, Chack thought of him as an inconvenience against his successful hunt.

The only reason Chack hadn't attacked him was because of the body count he'd racked up, and that he knew Starswirl was not aligned with Daimjo Hisao, surprisingly.

The knowledge of them both being hunted by the Daimjo's soldiers, most likely, meant they had to go into hiding. This didn't seem to bother Chack much, as he'd been the one to suggest it.

Apparently he had a cycle of kill, travel, hide and recover, rinse and repeat, all across this province. His hiding spot region was where he'd been heading, and Starswirl had been following, despite Chack's protests.

Still, Chack had resigned himself. He had an enemy of Hisao at least, and not an ally. If Starswirl had been an ally, Chack would have already attacked by now.

Up ahead though, the mountain path beckoned, winding up to what looked like smoking mountain peaks and a plateau.

Here though, there was the reason why this passage was known only to Chack. Only he'd been wandering enough to find it, and climb it.

Turning to Starswirl, Chack gave a last unimpressed look from beneath his mask and armour. He'd yet to show Starswirl his face, as he then spoke to the Wizard:

"If you wish my advisement, Wizard, then like I do you should remain hidden for a month. Though if you so desire to go back your magic seems to grant you a fast way of doing so."

"Here is where we part ways, or go on together to one of my better hiding spots, one of many in case you have plans to sell me out."

"I'm surprised you're helping me out, after that horrendous display I saw you commit. I thought you'd sooner cut me down."

"I know Unicorns, especially ones who are like you in power by tales I hear. Not a fight I could win. But Hisao views you as an enemy, which means we have a common state of being."

"Not by choice. I have many questions about this time, things to find out about the world, why I'd be targeted. I once served the Equestrian royal family, a long, long time ago. A lot has changed for me."

"Before you say more, I suggest a change of location. Once there, we can converse if you so desire, though it has been a while since I've had a companion."

As Chack began to slightly walk ahead, Starswirl quipped with mild disapproval: "What, did you disagree with them and cut them down?"

"Don't be so quick to judge others Wizard, especially when you and I don't know each other's names, and you not even my face."

Pausing, seeing that the Ronin's blank mask seemed to gesture up the path, or back the way they came, Starswirl mentally resigned himself. He needed to find save haven before he could begin his forays to try and gain a semblance of the state of the world, let alone this province, and this Ronin was offering it due to him not being an ally of the province leader.

"Starswirl, the Bearded."

Sensing the name given signalled the Wizard was coming with him, Chack gestured to the path, while remarking:

"Chack."

Pausing, Starswirl asked upfront: "Are you removing the mask then?"

"You'll earn that once we reach the hiding spot. As I said, we'll have plenty of time there to exchange. Like why wizards wear such strange attire on their heads for example."

As the masked Ronin laughed to himself, Starswirl grumbled as he followed, muttering under his breath why everyone was so enamoured by his hat he'd picked in in Pahrii centuries ago.

But needless to say, the month or more in hiding, laying low until the 'heat' died down, meant he could at least get to know Chack. He certainly lived up to the cruel aspect the prophecy warned of.

Though given the behaviour of the Bushido code, Chack wasn't that much crueller than those who still served a master as Samurai.

Despite the bloody start, Starswirl looked forwards to a month of peace perhaps, if Chack's words were right. It would make a change from the more chaotic exemplar beings of the past 2 times.

The Wizard and Ronin continued up the mountain trail, towards the smoking plateau that Chack had one of his many hiding locations in, with everything one basically needed to live.

Author's Notes:

A stint of chaos, and now they have to lay low in the mountains. Unlike with the Magic arc though, it is something they did, not something an attacker did.

Needless to say this isn't new to Chack, as he has seasons of kills and hiding out under his belt in his spree of killing and maiming to harm Daimyo Hisao's provincial rule, for his own reasons he'll reveal next chapter.

And truth be told, despite him being a cruel one who will become kind, the Bushido were not exactly the kindest of adherents to begin with. He's not exactly a truly 'far-fallen' warrior, just disillusioned and with his own agenda, to be revealed in the next chapter as stated already.

In that next chapter too, Starswirl will have travelled incognito with his rapid teleport travel, finding out exactly why the provinces ally with different Equestrian families as part of a greater problem.

Suffice to say, what goes on in Salaman becomes somewhat of a foresight for events to come in Equestria.