Chapter 33

Seeing the house empty, Hisashi quickly ran around the town. By then, it was already as dark as night and many people were confused and some were even scared. In their eyes, the night came faster than usual and such a thing isn't a good omen.

Fortunately, he saw his mother who was panting and resting on the side.

"Mother, what happened? Did you find Ichika?" Hisashi asks.

"Not yet. Your father and the others are still in the woods. I haven't seen them since this dome appeared." Yuna said while panting.

"Don't mind that then, come with me. I'll get you somewhere safe. This isn't the best time to rest."

The two then left and headed to the dungeon. By the time they reached the wood, the dark dome has become solid-looking. Passing by quickly, they continue to run… when Hisashi tackles his mother to the ground.

He quickly stood up and felt his cheeks wet. There was blood dripping from a cut. In front of him, an old man stood with a sword in his hand. Looking at him, he found his features similar to the ones in his dreams. He immediately takes out his swords from its sheathe and Yuna who has recovered ran to her son's side.

"You reacted to that? Did you feel it or just you're just lucky?" The old man asks him. Seeing that the kid isn't answering, the old man sheathed his sword back. An action that made Hisashi's eyes squint.

"I'm the only one here, stray. Since you survived my initial attack, I don't need to hide and do it again. Now answer my question." The old man said.

"Why should I? Who even are you, old man? Did you just call me stray?" Hisashi said, though still on high alert. He has no desire to believe this man especially since he's from Yami Clan.

"Cause that's what you are, a stray? You know that yourself. Why did you get pressed? Did your parents never teach you to always respect your elders?" The old man said.

"I don't care about you. Move a single inch from there and I will stab this sword into your heart. Now, what do you want from us?!" Hisashi said as he raised his voice. His presence also got stronger which is something the old man felt and made his lips curl upwards a little.

"You already know me, don't you? And you just want to get information from me. You're smart, kid. But you're too much like your father. In Yami Clan, we do things quite differently. We subdue our target and then torture them until they give us the information that we needed.

But since you want to know what we want, I'll tell you what we want. I want to kill your mother." What the old man said made Hisashi even angrier and killing intent rushed out of his body. But this was ignored by the old man.

"Not just your mother, but also your father and everyone else in this town including the elderly and the children. Your brother, sister, and the prince survives though as he still has his use. As for why, the thing is, I'm growing old. If I'm even a bit younger, you and your mother there would've been dead right now. So, to pass on the legacy, I would need a successor.

It used to be your father, but he became too attached and soft. He failed to do his mission which caused our clan's removal from this country. Luckily for me, he gave me his two talented offspring. You should see how talented your sister is. You're also talented, unfortunately, your blood isn't that of our clan so you have to die, understood?" The old man said it as if it was nothing. As if everyone involved just has to accept it. Still, he didn't move an inch from where he was.

"Where's Ichika?" Hisashi said. The old man was displeased seeing that Hisashi is still as tense.

"Don't worry about her. She and the other members of the clan have already engaged your father. She's our ally for now. But by the time I killed you and everyone else here, she and your brother would finally be integrated into the clan. Given that y'all are dead, they also have no more attachments to follow as your failure of a father did."

After hearing this Hisashi's eyes glows red and red lightning appeared. A second later, countless balls of light appeared around him and his mother and it levitated up. They flew closer to each other before finally looking like they merged into a bigger ball of light. It flew higher and closer to the dome of darkness that covered the town.

"That's useless. Unless I run out of yoryoku or I lose consciousness, that dome would stay there no matter what." However, the old man's expectations were disrupted when instead of hitting the dome, the ball of light glowed.

"Analysis Magic: Merge"

The balls of light all gathered and became one ball of light. Then, a blinding light followed which surprised and blinded the old man.

"Explode."

…

A fire dragon appears on Ryuya's sword covering it. With his sword pointed at two of his enemies in the front, he activated his Ki to its full extent. Instantaneously the two moved to opposite sides of him and Ryuya reacted fast.

With quick footwork, he dodged an incoming attack coming from his right side. Subsequently, another attack came rushing at him. He then swung his sword to counterattack but was only met with equal force.

A wakizashi covered with darkness countered his fire dragon sword. He quickly took his distance again to avoid the coordinated attacks of the two.

'A technique to conceal one's presence. It's not unique to them, but their clan uses it the best. If not for the hints of killing intent, I wouldn't have been able to follow their general position.' Ryuya thought to himself.

The Yami Clan's affinity for assassination and concealment skill far surpasses that of the Minami clan. However, they also tend to for bloodlust when fighting people. Although to Ryuya who was trained for childhood, those bloodlusts were their weakness, an average samurai wouldn't be able to feel the hint of it.

Suddenly, the dark sky lit up and a large ball of light can be seen illuminating it. Ryuya knew who it was instantly and snapped back faster. He attacked one of the Yami Clan attackers. The guy was able to react but it was too late as Ryuya managed to cut his chest deep.

Ryuya then spun back managing to defend himself from the other one's attack. However, this time, he was caught off guard. As the latter's weapon slides off, an arc made of darkness appeared. He reacted quickly and moved.

However, the attack still managed to cut a part of his forearm. The two then stopped and looked at each other. Ryuya also notices how the man he injured uses his sorcery. A lump of darkness seeped through his injuries. It was slow but the man was recovering from fatal injuries and burns.

'I have to kill these two to reach Hisashi.' He thought to himself. He also dispels his fire dragon sword.

'In terms of physical strength, they are just slightly stronger. In terms of the sorcery, I know that they're holding back. They're only targeting my limbs but not my vital areas, despite me almost killing one of them. However, if I can use those two at the same time, maybe I can take them out.' He prepares as he took a stance.

'I hope this doesn't hurt after.' After doing so, his back lit up and a yellow-orange fire came and start forming from it. A second later, it became two large dragon-like wings made of fire. He also blows fire out of his mouth to his katana enveloping it in a raging but controlled fire that was shaped like a blade, adding sharpness and ferocity to his katana.

This alerted the two enemies and they took their stance. However, what took them off-guard was when they felt the increase in Ryuya's strength. Suddenly, Ryuya disappeared and he reappeared beside the attacker who injured him. The latter reacted fast, raising his dark wakizashi to defend himself from his enemy's attack. However, it was useless as he was cut like butter as his chest and his body and blade were split in two.

Ryuya's attacks made a circular pattern. However, the circular blade of fire quickly expanded slicing everything in a 10-meter radius. This means that the other enemy four meters away from the first one had his body sliced too.

"Zetten."