Chapter 3

Taiyo's blades cut down monster after monster. Goblins, Trolls, Dire Wolves, none were exempt from his fierce attacks. He grunted and growled with each swing, decapitating monsters left and right. Their numbers slowly dwindled, as did Taiyo's energy. But he didn't care. He stabbed both his blades into the stone floor and rushed at the few monsters left standing.

There were 7, all carrying a weapon of some kind. 6 goblins, and 1 Troll. With a roar Taiyo ran head long into the group, jumping and slamming his heel right into the Troll's head. The power behind the kick wasn't enough to take its head off, but nearly split its head in half. He turned to his right, picking up two Goblins by their throats, slamming their heads into one another.

They were disoriented, but still cut at his arms in an attempt to get his grip to loosen. Taiyo looked down at his arms with a blank expression before slamming both of their heads into the ground. Over and over again. A Goblin took the chance to stab Taiyo in the shoulder, earning it a devastating knee being slammed into its skull.

He casually threw the Goblins over his shoulders, seeing as they'd finally died. Before any of the rest could react, Taiyo launched at them, grabbing one by the head and throwing it into the cave wall with enough force to crack it. He pulled the small dagger from his shoulder and stabbed it through another Goblins head, before throwing it into the wall Goblin's eye, deep enough to kill it.

As for the last Goblin, He tackled it to the ground and mounted it. He reeled his fist back and....

*WHAM*

*WHAM*

*WHAM*

*WHAM*

Taiyo didn't stop. Left. Right. Left. Right. Right. Left. The Goblin's body twitched before turning to ashes under Taiyo. But Taiyo still didn't stop. His fists pounded away at the concrete ground as his expressionless face was replaced with a sad one.

Tears started to swell up and leak from his eyes. His blows grew more powerful, causing his knuckles to bleed. After a few seconds, he collapsed. His arms flat on the ground, and with his head resting on them, he cried. Taiyo couldn't help but think about every bit of advice he'd gotten from his Grandfather. Every lecture. Every bit of advice he'd given him.

--Flashback--

"Taiyo, I ain't gonna be around too much longer, and I don't want Bell to grow up looking up to an old man past his prime. That means you'll have to be his role model. Be the man you want your little brother to be." Taiyo's grandfather calmly spoke, giving the boy a warm smile.

--Flashback over--

A small smile spread across his face. "Ah.. If only he could see me now. Crying myself into a headache." He slowly wiped his tears. "You want Bell looking up to a cry baby or a man? Can almost hear the shouting now." He said as he started laughing, despite the tears still leaking out. "Someone like me crying? how embarrassing." He laughed again before standing up slowly. "The old man would be ashamed of me, feeling like an emotional mess right now! HAHAHA!" His tears ceased as a loud laugh erupted from his mouth.

"Guess you've got a better view to watch me put on a show from now, huh old man?" Hearing the words come from his own mouth hurts, but not as much as before. "I'll become a man that Bell wishes to be and can be proud to call an older brother!" Taiyo shouted, holding his blades over his shoulders and walking out of the cave.

Every lecture given to him had been preparing him for this. Sitting around in his own self-pity would do nothing but waste all of those lessons."Get ready for a show old man." Taiyo declared, pointing a blade at the sky before wincing. "Oh yeah. that." He said as he remembered that his shoulder was stabbed mere moments ago. "This is gonna be quite the ride.." Taiyo sighed.

--10 years later--

A large male stood in a large field covered in sweat. He had his long, white hair tied in a ponytail and wore no shirt. He continued to swing away with his blades. Alternating between swinging them like a pair of nunchucks and swinging them like two swords. After another 30 minutes of this he stopped, propping both blades up on his shoulders. "phew.." He gave a fatigued sigh as he lay down in the grass. After a long day of training, he'd take a nap in the field if he wasn't interrupted.

"Big brother!" A young voice yelled. Looks like a nap was out of the picture. Taiyo opened one of his eyes to see the owner of the voice, his younger brother, Bell.

Taiyo was paranoid that Bell would be too eager to be like him so much that he exterminated most of the monsters and dangerous animals around the village. He also broadened the size of the village, cutting down trees left and right around the village.

--Taiyo POV--

"Hey Bell. What's up?" I asked, giving my little brother a smile as I sat up, leaning back on my hands. "The village chief wants to see you for a bit!" My brother's tone was full of excitement. My smile dropped ever so slightly, but not completely. "Let's head to his office then, little brother." I replied, walking over to him and tossing him up on my shoulders. I could hear his laughter as I darted off in the direction of the village chiefs office.

The village chief. An annoying old bald man with no attractive features. He made Makio and her family leave the village just because her father refused to work for him. Suffice to say that I don't like the guy.

--4 minutes later--

--3rd POV--

"Stay here Bell. I'll be in and out so it shouldn't take more than 10 minutes." Taiyo said as he smiled down at his brother. "No problem, big brother!" Bell responded. With a quick head pat, Taiyo walked into the office, the smile gone from his face. "What is it?" Taiyo asked, folding his arms.

The older man looked Taiyo up and down before responding. "You look bigger. Been working out? You're a real training machine." The older man replied while licking his lips. Taiyo cringed a bit at this. "Flattery does nothing but waste your time as well as mine." Taiyo replied, turning around to leave.

"J-joking joking! Let's talk business young Taiyo!" The old man scurried from his seat towards the towering figure of Taiyo, making him sigh and lean against the wall. "Now again, what is it?" Taiyo replied calmly. With a sigh of relief, the Chief continued. "I can give you a comfortable life Taiyo. You and your little brother. All you have to do is work for me." The village chief said softly. 'This little bastard...' Taiyo thought. "For the one hundredth time, no. I could care less about working under you." Taiyo replied, holding his head down and closing his eyes.

The village chief had been trying to recruit Taiyo to work for him for a few years now, ever since he'd become the 'protector' of the village. With Taiyo, a little manipulation here, and a little bit of lies there, he'd have the perfect minion. Taiyo was everything desired in a man as well, so he could double as a bargaining chip for wealthy women.

"So inflexible Taiyo.. I'll grant you anything you desire, all you have to do is work under me." A small smile grew on the Chief's face. With a sigh, Taiyo turned around again. "If this is all, I'm going." Taiyo replied, turning around to leave once more. This is how it went with all of their previous encounters. But this time, things would be different. "That girl. Makio, was it?" The village chief asked with fake hesitation. This gained Taiyo's attention once more as he turned around. "I'll even bring her and her family back to the village! Bet she's grown into a fine woman by now..." The village chief said in a lecherous tone.

Everyone in the village knew of the Chief's weird "attraction" towards young people. He had a habit of staring at both young men and women with a perverted glare. Taiyo was no exception to this.

Taiyo only looked at the man as a vein popped from his forehead. 'Perverted old desperate bastard..' Taiyo thought. Breaking his wrinkly face in seemed like a good idea from where Taiyo stood. With a sigh, he turned around and made his way to the Chief. The calm expression he wore gave the old man relief. "I knew you- Gak!" Before he could finish, Taiyo was in front of him, holding him up by his neck so they made eye contact. "I said no. A man your age should know when you've been rejected." Taiyo stated calmly before throwing the man back on the ground.

The village chief couldn't process any of what happened fast enough to respond, he simply massaged his neck with sweat dripping from his face. "Send my brother to retrieve me again, and I'll leave you with more than a sore neck next time." Taiyo said calmly, walking towards the doors. "Y-you.." Before the chief could finish, Taiyo left.

But of course, there wouldn't be a next time, since Taiyo planned on this being his and Bell's last day in the village.