Chapter 35

His father's greatest and worst spell was the 'Chains of the Devil'. It enables him to control anyone by putting his concentrated mana into their brain. With that, he can control all of their senses, essentially also controlling them. What's worse is, how difficult it is to dispel and counter.

"You should thank us you know? Your pitiful children won't grow up here as a weak, normal, citizen but a member and heirs of the greatest clan in Hino Country, maybe even the world."

"Heirs? Even if you succeed, would you really want a puppet of an heir? Once Father releases that spell, you won't get your way to my children. And I won't let you, not over my dead body."

"I'll get over your dead body then and kill you now. Seeing everyone dead, can easily be blamed on your stray. By that time, they would be broken even the slightest words of father would take over them. Now, ready to die?" Gentsu said to him as he opens his scroll. The dark violet yoryoku surge he releases out of his body.

[Dark Sorcery: Majin no Kagemusha] (Demon God's Double)

Seeing four more people around him, Itsuki knows that he can't hold back anymore. He opens his scroll and dark yoryoku spreads out of it too. The dark yoryoku turns to particle-like lumps and creates a transparent domain similar to the one covering the town.

[Dark Sorcery: Yaksha no Ryouiki] (Domain of the Yaksha)

Seeing the familiar move of his brother, Gentsu's wicked smile turned even more sinister.

"When we first saw that spell, we thought you were so amazed by Father that you're inspired by his spell. But we know now that you created that spell for the sole purpose of opposing Father. The domain of absolute nothing. Aside from you, everyone inside loses their bodily senses." Gentsu said as he tries to remember how many times he was defeated by said spell. His sinister smile was added by a hint of anger caused by the humiliation.

Seeing that his brother didn't reply, Gentsu became even more pissed and he raises his katana.

"Here I go brother, ready or not, here I come! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" The playful and confident façade of Gentsu disappears as his true personality comes out. His crazy personality reveals itself again in front of Itsuki who prepares himself to defend.

As the two engage in battle, Ichika's expression changes from a stoic and emotionless one to her normal and cheerful self. She watches her father fight his brother for a second before she leaves, jumping roof by roof.

…

"Ryuya, you're finally here you fucker! I've been looking all around for you. Have you seen the others? These people are a pain in the ass." Sukehiro says when he saw Ryuya running to him. He dodges multiple projectiles clad with dark sorcery.

The man who attacked him bends backward to avoid Ryuya's sneak attack. The man then jumped before the others attacked the two.

"You dumbass! Why did you have to call me? I could've taken him out with ease." Ryuya shouts as he defends against an attacker.

"You're the dumbass. They can feel your presence with their Ki. Doing that is useless." Sukehiro shouts as he turned offensive.

"If I didn't try, it would be hard to kill them. I killed some along the way and my yoryoku is already below half of my reserve. I wanted to save as many people as I can but if I, myself become a burden for exhausting myself, would I even be able to save them?" Ryuya said as he remember how many people died in front of him. After eliminating two out of three attackers he met on the way, he saw how the last town's people in his vision drop dead.

In a fit of disappointment to himself, he added fuel to the already burning fire… no, more like adding fire to fire. The houses split in half, the air so hot it can cook an egg, and the fire so strong it almost burned some of the corpses to ashes.

"I'm a disappointment as a prince. But I can't break down here and let my friends die in me. I won't let you die before me you fucker!" Ryuya said before he sees his friend fly through the nearest house, destroying its walls.

As he saw an attacker with a dark cone spear covering his hands attack him, he defends with his sword. Just when the attack hits, he felt his arms and legs tremble and shake. Luckily, he was able to roll to the side but before he notices it, a different attacker came down the air with a big war hammer.

The impact of the attack causes him to puke blood from his mouth. The constant use of imperfect Zetten along with a not strong enough body tore Ryuya's muscles and it gave up after receiving a strong attack.

Before the man can follow an attack, a dark flying slash came and he defends himself with his hammer. Out of the rubble, Sukehiro walks out feeling disoriented. He was hit from the side by the heavy hammer earlier and he almost passed out.

He jumps towards the man with the hammer with a dark yoryoku clad on his katana. Seeing this, the man defends himself and retreated a few steps.

"What are you doing there, Ryuya? Just when I thought that you're stronger than me 'cause you can kill at least one of these bastards."

Due to the attack, Ryuya was still down on the ground, trying to get up. Half of the way there, Ryuya smiles with a bloody mouth.

"You bastard. I just catch them off guard with one strong attack. Stop holding back. You're stronger than me. If you kept saving your strength 'cause you think that it's weaker than Uncle Itsuki and Hisashi, then you're doing it wrong. Every single one of these goons can take out two to three middle-rank samurai. Let's not die before we see their leader. Or at least before we get to where Hisashi is."

Ryuya says with difficulty as he still feels the pain all over his body. Seeing that his friend knew it all along, Sukehiro smiles and removes the dust on his head.

"Then don't let your body give up here. If you think that you're reaching your limit, surpass it. Surpass your limits. Let's both get stronger." Sukehiro says as he readies his sword. There are four attackers. Among the four, the one with the hammer is much stronger than the other three.

With this, he looks at him as if locking in his target. Due to the absence of his scroll just like Ryuya, he wouldn't be able to use the spell's strength in full. However, their attackers are all humans too and none of them seemed to be defensive-focused fighters.

All that said, he reinforces his stance as he maximizes his Ki to the fullest and feels everything around his surroundings. He also closes his eyes as if it enhances his sensing abilities. With all of that locked and loaded, he raises his sword and a large amount of yoryoku covers it.

The attackers all were cautious as they all prepare to defend. What they all saw next made them knit their brows. Sukehiro slowly but surely slashes his sword into the air. But, the thing was, nothing happened.

After fighting him for minutes, even while holding back to not injure him much to kill him, the four managed to make him use some of the dark flying slashes and they know that it's his specialty. But this time, no slashes came out of the sword and the yoryoku enveloping it simply vanished.

Moreover, even if a flying slash did come out, the sword wasn't pointed in any of their direction. Noticing that nothing happened, everyone including Ryuya was starting to think that it was a fluke. Just when the man with the hammer moves to attack again, he felt severe goosebumps.

Nevertheless, it was all for naught as before he can do anything, he saw his vision divided into two. The others watch as the man's body was split into two from top to bottom. They all consecutively look back to Sukehiro but what they saw made them panic. He has once again, raised his sword and slashed it down the air.

This time, Ryuya has also disappeared and the two on the ground felt something on their back. Before they knew it, an arc of flame phased through their abdomens and their upper bodies fell to the ground.

The last one is the guy on the roof. Given that he specializes in projectile weapons, he has positioned himself there. But seeing how all his allies died, he was in a panic.

He jumped away hoping to dodge the mysterious strike of Sukehiro. But like before, it was all for nothing as his body was also sliced into two before it falls to the ground below.