Chapter 26.2 Slaughterhouse (POV Junko Hoshino) 

POV Junko Hoshino

After a few seconds, the guy somersaulted clumsily over his head, using the weight of the pads and their inertia, and found himself next to Junko, throwing back the guards holding her with two powerful blows.

— There's a weapon amulet on her left wrist. Smear it with your blood.

The woman snatched a simple leather bracelet from her son's hand, dabbed it over her broken lips, and a moment later she had two tantos in her hand. Junko sensed that the weapons were anything but simple, but there was no time to think about it.

With a blade in each hand, she rose to her feet and stepped towards her son, who was trying to dodge a few more guards. Despite everything, the woman's soul did not forget her knowledge, and though it was not easy, she managed to dodge a well executed wakizashi strike from one of the mages, wounding him in the arm.

 After that, at the very limit of her abilities, she made a cunning step, turned her body a little and planted the tanto in the mage's back. If she didn't get help in time, even the mage wouldn't survive with his liver cut open. The second mage lunged at her son, who managed to dodge but not counter.

On automatic, the woman noticed her son's poor movement technique (compared to what she'd been taught) and the way the mage slumped over as he tried to cut the boy down. The battle talismans that someone else had thrown at her had been cut in an instant, with the greatest of ease, without looking, on instinct alone. So, the Tanto is a spiritual weapon of high quality, — the woman also noted on the automatic.

A few gliding steps, a smooth bend forward, and the woman cuts the mage's side severely. He turns his angry eyes to the woman, changes the position of the katana, and immediately receives a powerful blow to the ribs from the other side, which pushes the mage onto the woman. The momentary stupor of her enemy is enough for her, and both tanto's are plunged into the flesh — one into the kidney, the other into the heart. The mage falls heavily onto the tatami, drenching everything in dark blood.

Junko can already feel the growing pain in her untrained body, but it's still bearable, especially since her magic is beginning to return. A quick inspection of the hall for enemies and she quickly approaches her son, who immediately turns his back to her.

 A drop of magic in the tanto and the pads fly apart, freeing her son's hands. The boy immediately turns to face her, and Junko is pleased to see that her son is looking at her with a completely different expression than he did a few moments ago.

A second later, the boy, who is already taller than her, though not by much, hugs the woman tightly, and she easily catches the kinship magic that almost immediately begins to absorb into the woman, filling her with strength and healing her injuries and pain. The woman looks into the younger copy of her eyes, and the boy's face has come to resemble her own with age. Or rather, her male version.

— We have to deal with them. — A nod to the old men. — And then run! — The guy just nodded and moved away.

A step away from her, Sora emits a barely perceptible pulse of magic, and there he has the tsurugi in his hand. The woman turns back to where the old men were, smiling broadly and anticipating sweet revenge. But she discovers that they are hiding, as quickly as their age allows, in an open secret passage in the room where the legendary sword was kept.

Coincidentally, there, on a stand, the woman saw another blade — "The Punisher" — another relic endowed with powerful forces of nature, but only the aspect of destroying all its elements. The Punisher had been passed down from head to head in the Hoshino clan, and had been broken during the last battle in their house, when the defeated vassal clan had summoned four subordinate "oni" to Miyazaki's aid.

The woman rushed to catch up with the fleeing elders, but on the way, she couldn't help herself and picked up the second relic. She immediately sensed that the blade was still broken, with parts of it still in the sheath. Distracted for a moment by her thoughts, the woman had time to notice the secret passage slamming shut. With a growl, she rushed after it and began to tear open the door.

The old men, hearing the blows, just smiled contentedly as they continued their descent. Little did they know that the mansion's protective magic was not working, and the door that was supposed to protect them, and that had previously withstood a VERY large amount of damage, was now just a wooden door, albeit a thick one, but still.

Hoshino Junko would have been pleased to see the stunned faces of the old men as the door gave way and frequent footsteps could be heard on the stone steps. The old men tried to speed up, but it was of little use, just like the talisman seals that could delay the experienced hunter for a measly second.

As the "honored" elders piled into one of the secret underground halls, drenched in sweat and wheezing with heavy breathing, they did not linger to contemplate the priceless trophies, but immediately moved toward the far gate.

They hoped to escape, to hide behind the many enchanted gates, to flee through the underground passages. But they had barely reached the center of the hall when the doors behind their backs opened loudly, sending a rush of blood through their shoulders and sending a chill through their skin and insides.