Chapter 10: Bloodbath (1)

Seeing the prisoners, the elderly man sitting on low bed suddenly opened his eyes a little wider and then said in a polite and respectful tone, "Haku-dono, I never thought I'd meet you again, much less in this manner," and started to descend from his low bed. At first, it was unclear how tall the clan leader was, but when he stood, he reached 6.4 feet in height, a stature that could intimidate anyone, but not the two Swords, who were also almost at the same height or slightly shorter.

Witnessing this confusing scene without letting a hint of emotion show on their faces, the two Swords' gazes fell upon the prisoner, whose name was supposed to be Haku as the clan leader described. After looking at him for a while, both swords were stunned, a little bit of emotion leaking from their aloof faces. Then, slowly, realization showed in their gazes. Sword Daiki slowly turned his head to the clan leader, as if questioning. The clan leader simply nodded.

Seeing his nod, Sword Daiki unlocks Haku from the chains. Haku, who had been silent all this time, finally speaks, "Akihiko-dono, long time no see," in a neutral tone.

"You can drop the honorifics, Haku-dono, and speak to me as you did back then," the clan leader said with the same polite and respectful tone.

"Back then, you were a mere child, Aki, but now you are the clan leader. But since you don't want me to use honorifics, I won't," Haku spoke, acknowledging a long-forgotten acquaintance.

"Haku-dono, it has been such a long time since I had a sparring partner. Why don't we spar first and talk later?" the clan leader spoke with acknowledgment of Haku's skill. Seeing this, both Swords exchanged glances and offered their blades to the duelists — one katana to the clan leader and one to Haku. They stepped back, leaving some distance between them, eager to watch the two most powerful figures in the entire history of the Thalasor duel.

"I first didn't realize that he was really Hakuryoku, a supreme, but it really seems that he really is the urban legend himself," Sword Hiro spoke with clarity while holding his hands behind his back, standing in a straight posture.

"Indeed," said Sword Daiki and continued, "but then what was Hakuryoku-dono doing in our clan's ruled village, no less than causing a ruckus in the entire village?"

"Right and wrong. Right because that's what we know from our soldiers, wrong because we weren't present to witness who was committing the actual massacre," Sword Hiro spoke while turning his head to look directly into Sword Daiki's eyes. A small smile appeared on Daiki's face.

"You want to investigate what happened, but we should wait. Who knows, Hakuryoku-dono might reveal what happened himself," Sword Daiki says with a hint of excitement. Both turn their attention to the duelers again.

As the Swords were talking to themselves, Akihiko Akatsuki and Hakuryoku were taking their stances. Akihiko, who was the creator of the Akatsuki style, took his stance, but his stance was a little bit different from Reyoma's. Akihiko emphasized domination, but instead of deflection, it was parrying. He put his sword in front and a little bit higher above shoulder level, almost leaving his lower body open, or so it seemed. On the other hand, Hakuryoku just unsheathed his sword and stood still, not taking any stance, as if not caring about what would happen next.

Akatsuki Swords were looking at the duel, not wanting to let go any chances of inspiration looking at this historic figures fight, after all it was not common seeing their clan leader fight even more so seeing a myth.

The room's incense was still burning. Akihiko closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, then opened his eyes and exhaled. Hakuryoku was still standing, aimlessly looking at Akihiko with his ethereal eyes that didn't have any pupils, just whites.

Then, in just a blink, Akihiko left his place and appeared in front of Hakuryoku, who was at least 6 inches shorter than Akihiko, causing Hakuryoku to look up at him. Akihiko's sword was already raised high above his head, with his right leg, which was in front, raised to its toe. He delivered a downward slash so fast, so quickly, that both Swords of Akatsuki took milliseconds to focus their eyes on the duelist.

Meanwhile, Hakuryoku just stood there unmoving and unconcerned. The moment the sword hit Hakuryoku's head, he bent down a little, making it look like he was lightly bowing. His head was a mess, with his entire skull split in two, his brains peeking out, and blood spraying like a fountain. Akihiko, without wasting any moment, delivered another slash the same way he did before. This time, he made Hakuryoku completely bow with his strike, causing Hakuryoku's entire upper body to split apart.

Amidst the blood spraying around him, any person who had never seen gore might have vomited, even war veterans. The two Akatsuki swords saw Hakuryoku in horror at what had happened to him with just two strikes.

Hakuryoku's split skull was even wider now, revealing his brain matter. Moving lower, his neck was barely hanging on by a little piece of flesh connected to his head. Further down, his spine was split in two in the middle, his heart hanging on the left aorta while his right aorta was nowhere to be seen. His liver was leaking fluids onto the ground, and most of his intestines were already on the floor, yet he was still alive.

But the moment Akihiko delivered the strikes, he backed off with a speed unable to be seen with naked eyes, as if he hadn't moved from the spot where he was standing before.

Swords Hiro and Daiki looked at their clan leader with awe in their eyes. Those two strikes were so powerful that they gave out shockwaves of wind, giving them goosebumps.

Hakuryoku, who was still standing split in half, movement could be seen in his body. All the blood that had spread out was moving back inside his body, while his insides that were falling out also started to go inside his body with visible speed. When everything went inside, his flesh started to connect again, like being zipped. He was still holding his given katana in his right hand and then suddenly spoke.

"Cough... cough... still not dead yet."