Journey 11# Imperial Soldiers

(A/N: Akihiro isn't evil, he will not kill people for no reason at all. He's more like Anti-Hero but at the same time is not Anti-Hero, he has some correct morality but his ways of doing good (Currently) aren't something modern humans could do.

His path is a gray one. Remember that he will never acknowledge himself as a hero, even if he accidentally saves the world)

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Akihiro, Hajime, Yue, and the Haulia tribe advanced within the [Raisen Great Canyon].

"Um... Akihiro-san, is it okay?" Shea nervously ask.

Akihiro raises his eyebrow, "What is?"

"There will be imperial soldiers after this. If we go there, you're going to fight your own kind... What will you do... Um... For you-"

Suddenly Akihiro interjected.

"You are naive, Shea. In the past, I almost killed my own kind, and I don't feel any remorse at all. The point is, I don't care who they are, if they act hostile against me or my friends, they will die. " Akihiro said coldly, while he was still smiling.

Shea shiver as she heard his words but nevertheless, she was glad that he will protect them.

. . .

Arrived at the imperial soldiers' camp, Akihiro signaled the group to stop. Akihiro, Hajime and Yue walk forward to meet the imperial soldiers.

"Well, thanks for leading those goods out of the canyon. Let the big boys here handle the rest." The platoon leader said.

Akihiro still maintaining his smile said,

"No."

"...I must have misheard... The fuck did you just say?"

Hajime suddenly spoke, "He said no, you dumbass."

"...I see. I finally understand now. You two are nothing but naive little brats! Let me teach you the horrors of this world. That young miss over there, now isn't she a little beauty? After I chop you both limbs off, I'll play with her in front of your eyes until I'm satisfied, then sell her over to the slave merchants after I finish you off!"

BAM!

Akihiro strikes a powerful blow on the platoon leader's chest, the punch effortlessly passing through his chest like cheese.

"You dare?"

The platoon leader's corpse dropped to the ground lifelessly. A cold smile can be seen on Akihiro's face. The other soldiers could only stare dumbfoundedly at the platoon leader's corpse.

Akihiro disappears from his place leaving the other soldiers confused. Suddenly two soldiers' heads got ripped out but the soldiers can't find the culprit.

Finally, they found Akihiro standing menacingly.

"Start chanting your magic! Kill him!"

Akihiro unsheathed his Azaroth sword and before the soldiers could successfully complete the chanting, Akihiro disappears again.

The soldiers began to panic.

Many soldiers' heads flying... Some limbs were cut off to the points they could only suffer... Some were sliced in half...

Only one soldier survived unscathed as he lay on the ground in fear.

Akihiro appears in front of him, the soldier could shriek in fear. Akihiro squat in front of him as he questions the soldier.

"Hello~ Could you tell me what happened to the other Rabbitmens. Even though there should be a lot of them here… have they been transported to the empire?"

"Eh...? Th... They've been taken to the c-capital... I-It's too late for them..." The soldier stammered.

"I see..." Akihiro feigned a disappointed look.

"A-Am I-I free to go?"

Akihiro stares at the scarred soldier with an expressionless face.

(Flashback)

Akihiro is in his middle school uniform. There's some blood on his hand, but his face is full of smiles as if he's happy. Akihiro squatted in front of someone. He was one of the bullies.

"Oh my, what's wrong? Where is your courage, did your pathetic courage run away?" Akihiro sniggered.

"S-Stop! I'll do anything for you! Stop hurting me!" The bully cried out, begging for mercy.

Akihiro put his bloodied hand on his forehead, trying to suppress his laughter but failed.

"A-Ahaa... Ahahahahaha!!" Akihiro's scary laughter makes the bully shriek in fear, the bully couldn't run away, his feet are broken.

Akihiro suddenly yelled in anger, "All of you are the same! When all of you think you are strong, you start to use your measly power to bully those above you. HOWEVER! When you encounter the strong one, you can only beg for mercy as if you didn't do anything wrong. But you met the wrong person. You have made an enemy out of me and I'LL MAKE SURE YOU REGRET YOUR DECISION!"

"N-No... Nononnono, pleas-" Before he could finish his begging. Akihiro strikes a punch to the bully's head, knocking him unconscious.

After a few seconds of silence, Akihiro sighed. He needed to control his emotions. As he walked out of the room, there were unconscious, injured students on the floor. They were beaten by Akihiro himself.

The moment he walked out of the room, he smiled like his usual self, as if nothing bad had happened.

"I need to wash myself from this dirty blood." Akihiro muttered feeling a little dejected seeing his uniform has been ruined.

(Flashback End)

"No." Akihiro finally answered.

BAM!

The soldier's head smashed into the pieces, blood splurted to Akihiro's face.

"What a filthy blood, I need to take a bath." Akihiro sighed as he wiped the blood on his cheek.

He turned his head at Hajime and Yue and waved at them as he smiled happily.

"Don't smile when you are killing people, Aki. That's creepy." Hajime told Akihiro.

"Umu." Yue nodded in agreement with Hajime.

"Haha, can't help it! They are so arrogant before I started slaughtering them so it's very amusing seeing their scared faces on their last moments!" Akihiro laughed like a psychopath who enjoyed killing people.

"Stop saying so creepy while laughing, you are scaring them." Hajime pointed at the rabbitmen that could only watch in fear.

"Oops, sorry everyone!" Akihiro apologizes even though he's still smiling and there is some blood on his face and sword.

Suddenly Shea timidly ask Akihiro, "I-isn't okay to just overlook that person…"

Hajime glance at her with an amazed expression as if he's looking at the dumbest person alive. Before Akihiro could answer, Yue immediately told them as if he's defending Akihiro which is true. To Yue, Akihiro is already family for her after all they go through together.

"… Once, the weapon was pulled, the result, even if the opponent was strong they'll be only an inconvenience sooner or later…"

"Th-tha is…" Shea trying to find the answer but knowing that Yue is right, she couldn't find the right answer.

"… In the first place, how can you look at Aki with that kind of eyes even though he protected you…"

It seems Yue was angry. Even though they are protecting them, she won't forgive those who harbor negative feelings toward Akihiro or Hajime. Despite the fact that Yue chose Hajime over Akihiro as a lover, Yue still adores Akihiro as her younger brother who occasionally embarks on reckless activities on his own.

The Rabbitmens felt guilty for being afraid of their protector.

"Fumu, Akihiro-dono, I apologize. It's not like we blame you. It was just that, for us, it was the first time we saw something like that... That's right, we are only surprised by it. " Kam apologizes to Akihiro.

"Akihiro-san, I'm sorry." Shea apologizes, feeling guilty about her question earlier.

Actually, Akihiro never really minds about people being afraid of him; he just doesn't care about others' opinions. But seeing that Yue herself needed to defend him, Akihiro thought he needed to be less brutal.

"Apologies accepted." Having heard Shea and Kam apologize to him, Akihiro smiled, there's no need to resent them for being afraid of him. He knew that it was natural.

After the predicament over.

Hajime went to where the horses and wagons/carriages were, then told the Rabbitmens to hop on. Even though it takes half a day to walk to the Sea of Trees, since there are horses and wagons/carriages, they should use them. He takes out the magic-driven 2-wheeler (bike) from the "treasure warehouse" and links it to one of the wagons/carriages. The party continues its course to the Sea of Trees.

Also, Akihiro and Yue dispose of the soldiers' bodies by burning them to ashes, Yue helps Akihiro gather all the body parts from the soldiers, either the arms or legs that were cut off by Akihiro, and gather all of them in one place.

What is left from the bloodied place is only ashes and a pool of blood.

- To Be Continued

(A/N: Wassup guys, since it's near Christmas. I'm going to make a special chapter! And, it's canon to the story as I plan to make it the setting before Akihiro and others are transported to another world.

Moving on, I see that Red Knight: Servant of Shield Hero is getting some attention lately. So, I've already decided that I'll be focusing on Red Knight: Servant of Shield Hero. About my TBATE fanfic: I decided to pause it, but this fanfic will still be updated every week)

Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes