Chapter 36

Seeing their enemies defeated, Ryuya succumbs to his exhaustion and sat down. He looks at Sukehiro who was now also sitting and sweating on the ground.

"What was that spell, dude?" Ryuya asks with admiration. He has never seen such a deadly attack before. And more, he didn't expect it to come from a 13-year-old.

Hearing the excited voice of his friend, instead of being bashful, Sukehiro looks at him with a poker face. After getting a slap on the shoulders, he finally reveals it.

"If Hisashi can analyze my attacks and Father can dodge them with his super enhanced senses with his dark magic, then I thought that I just have to make my attack undetectable. This is my first try using it on a person." Sukehiro said as he stood up.

"An attack like that is lethal. Although I know that you don't to be left behind by them, do you plan on using it with them in sparring or training?" Ryuya was shocked at him. But what he received was a hit by a scabbard in the legs, almost tripping him.

"I can make it blunt, like a stick or pole." After resting for a while, the two start to move to try and help others on the way and to get to Hisashi who was in the mountain area. As they evacuate some of the people, the two sense someone they knew and look in its direction.

There on the roof, they saw Ichika smiling at them. However, even with how natural her smile is, Ryuya felt something strange. Sukehiro however, ignored it and called out to her.

"Ichika, where did you go to? Did you meet Hisashi?" He asks her sister. She comes down the roof and walks to the two.

"Brother… are you okay?" Ichika asks her brother with a confused expression.

"What do you mean?" Sukehiro replies. On the other side, Ryuya stood still, observing the two.

"Why are you and Ryuya-san helping those devils?" Her questions shock Ryuya and confuse Sukehiro. However, Ichika just points to the citizens who were running.

'Ryuya-san? When did she call me that?' Ryuya thought to himself.

"Those devils? Can't you see them? Grandfather told me that we need to kill them. He even taught me how to do it. Watch." Ichika said as she run to the nearest one.

'Grandfather?' Sukehiro thought.

The two 13-year-olds were shocked at how she just sliced the innocent civilian. Ryuya was the most shocked and he acted fast. He parries Ichika's sword before it cut down the next one. Everyone else who saw what she did ran away and screamed in panic.

Seeing how she failed, Ichika slowly turns her head at Ryuya. Her face was contorted and her expression looked terrifying.

"Ryuya-san. What are you doing?" She asks in a scary tone. This snaps Sukehiro back to what is happening and he screams at Ichika.

"ICHIKA! Do you know what you just did!?" "I killed the devil! Why are you getting angry at me? I did the right thing, didn't I? Grandfather even taught me that!"

Her reply angers Sukehiro even more.

"You killed an innocent civilian! And what grandfather!? We don't have a grandfather!" Sukehiro says, even angrier than her. He can't help but remember Hisashi attacking the bandits. But this time, it's worse. Not only did she kill an innocent civilian and called them a devil, but she also did it without batting a single eye and a smile on her face.

Ryuya kept watching and observing Ichika in case something happens. Ichika on the other hand tries to calm herself down.

"I know that this will happen already. Grandfather said to me that you will not agree with killing them since you were still blinded and fooled by them. Just wait here and I will do it myself. When you meet grandfather, he will make you see how evil they are." She said that as she looked around her clothes.

The two boys just looked at each other with the same thoughts in their minds. 'Blind? Do it myself?'

Grabbing something from her clothes, a black pill appears on her hand. This made the two cautious as they don't know what it was. Before they can take it from Ichika, she puts it in her mouth and swallows it.

She closes her eyes and nothing happens for a while. But after about half a minute, the two felt the change in her Ki as they felt it becoming darker, clouded with darkness. Not symbolic of the absence of light but the darkness that all the Yami clan has, even him. The Dark Sorcery.

Suddenly, horns start to grow on her head and the two retreat back meters away. As Ichika's body transformed, she donned a new, horrifying look. With two black horns on her head, black wings on her back, and black irises, the two finally accepted that her Ki wasn't that of a human… or at least a part of it.

She just looks at them before she creates multiple balls of darkness meters to dozens of meters away. Then, like a magnet, she was pulled from the ground and she slingshots dozens of meters away from the crowd of people. What happens next devastated the two boys as they saw how Ichika kills multiple people with a single slash of her sword.

The two didn't even have to say a word to one another before they took off and followed after her. Given how fast she moved with her sorcery, the two were unable to catch up and watch how dozens of people died in a matter of minutes.

Getting pissed off, Sukehiro raises his sword and sends a dark blunt slash. But even with strength, he wasn't able to hit Ichika. Next, Ryuya creates his fire wings to try and catch up to Ichika and luckily, he was able to grab her feet before running out of yoryoku and almost falling to the ground.

Seeing the nuisance, Ichika kicks his hand off to make him fall but after a couple of kicks, she was hit from nowhere by an attack and falls to the ground.

Knowing that the one who did it was her brother, she stood up and looks at him with anger on her face.

"If you can't stomach it, you don't have to do it. But don't hinder me!" Ichika says as she raises her hand up front. Suddenly, Sukehiro feels something pulling him and he starts to be pulled in Ichika's direction. Unable to react, Sukehiro was hit by the back of Ichika's sword and flew to the nearest burnt house.

Seeing his friend defeated not standing back up, Ryuya was shocked.

'How did she get this strong!? What is that pill? And what is happening to her right now?'

Then, he sees her pointing her palms in front of him and knew what will happen next. As he get pulled, he did his best to clinch and prepare for the incoming attack. But just like his friend, Ryuya flew and starts to lose consciousness after hitting the impact.

…

-In the dungeon-

"Mother, what do you think is happening out there?" Koyori asks her mother.

"You're a good liar, huh? How many times did you fool me? You acted like you were not worried about him earlier but now, you're scared that you have no idea what's happening. My baby daughter is growing up fast." Furukawa said

"Hehe, I told him that we need to be twenty years old first before we can get married." Koyori blushingly replies. The mother and daughter kept talking but with every minute that passed by, Koyori gets worried.

Suddenly, they felt a shake in the dungeon and Koyori instinctively looks at the entrance. It keeps shaking for a few seconds.

Seeing this, Koyori stood up and happily run as that's how the dungeon opens. Furukawa and Masaru who were watching this felt something different.

"Wait! Koyori!" Masaru screams at her. She just replies, "He's back now. He made me so worried."

The two realized something that she didn't. As an adult, they were also worried for Hisashi. It even hurts them to see how helpless they are and know that the kid is extraordinary and worth staying in the dungeon, even if it's a baseless worry.

Back when Ryuya sent Koyori back home after going to the dungeon, he explained to her how she was needed as the dungeon doesn't open with the key alone. It needs Koyori or Hisashi with the key to open the door. She never had the chance to tell her husband and it seemed like right now, she and Koyori are the only ones who know. That was the reason for her uneasiness.

However, it seemed like Koyori didn't realize this, possibly due to her worry and anxiety.

Masaru on the other hand, was told by Hisashi that they have to stay there for a day or at least until tomorrow. He used to teach Hisashi his sword style and he knows that the kid is attentive to his words and time.

Moreover, if the Yami Clan attacked and they won, he would probably be spent fighting and would not come back until the next day. And if the Yami Clan didn't he would stand by, alert until the next day as he felt how serious and paranoid he was. He would be attentive to time.

And just like his wife, he saw that his daughter didn't notice it and kept running to the entrance. This made them stand up and lean slightly. Then, as Koyori got nearer, the door starts to rumble and it starts to open.

"See, it's opening! Hisashi's back. I told you he'd be okay." Koyori said as she gave an innocent smile of pure joy to her parents. Masaru acted fast and ran towards her. They both thought of the same thing.

'Your key is the one that opened it. It's because you're near enough to the entrance.'

Masaru quickly opens his scroll and takes out his sword. When the door opened, the Hisashi that Koyori was expecting isn't there. However, a middle-aged man was standing there with his arms on his back. She starts to remember where she saw his face but the guy smiled and waves at them.

"Hello. Remember me?" It was Usuma.