First Strike

––

|| CHAPTER 13 | First Strike ||

"The first move you make is always an important point of your attacks. Of course, the other attacks mean, too. However, once your first strike is taken down, then the whole chain is ruined. Think of your moves, strategies and plans are a must.

"The first plan won't always work the way you hoped it would. Neither will the second plan nor the third plan. Always have a backup plan, as one would always say.

"Shall we move on to the tale? I'm sure you will learn much from the heroes of the past, little one."

––

⠀

"If you thought you had already won, you thought wrong~

"Dear human, think again."

⠀

Shizuka's delicate and subtle, yet firm voice rang in their head. It overcame the loudest of furores and quakes of the collapsing cave.

With a flick of her wrist, Shizuka whispered her own spell to defend her clan and the two others against the crazy woman's readied attacks. A curl appeared from the corners of her lips, signing her confidence in the field.

"Dream Weaver Magic: Rotunda of Memories."

A spell was chanted and a dome was created–– a dome of light.

Since Shizuka wielded the Light element, most of her spells were based on that one rare attribute few would kill to have.

As the dome stretched over them, its glowing form grew brighter and brighter, blinding the eyes of others, even those it protected. The auburn-headed woman grunted in frustration and was forced to close her eyes.

Little did she know, darkening her vision would be the end of it all.

⠀

⠀

⠀

"May you rest in peace and repent for your sins in your second life.

"I pray that the Rulers above will have mercy."

⠀

⠀

⠀

The light dome that was protecting them shrank down little by little, revealing a senseless autumn-headed woman and a heavily torn grimoire beside her.

The gargantuan-sized spirit spell and her ginormous hammer were nowhere to be seen. The platinum-blonde caster wasn't present where she once stood either.

"W-What... happened...?"

"Shizu... ka...?" Mitsuru mumbled under his breath, his quivered teal-dyed eyes darting all over the place to look for his sibling. "... Where did she go?"

Mizuto and Yuzuru were both left dumbfounded at what just happened, blinking continuously. They knew full well that Shizuka was a lot stronger than both of them. She's more of the strategist from the triplets.

She wasn't one to talk about her plans, her ideas. Shizuka's also not one that would rather work with others, as she admittedly worked better on her own.

However, they didn't expect her to go for THIS kind of plan.

Yuzuru blinked one last time before his expression distorted into one of discomfort. "Huh??? What in Gaia's name just happened?" he queried loud enough for others to hear.

Mizuto glanced at his (technically) younger brother and shook his head.

"What did she just do?" Yuzuru added again and grumbled. "If she planned to do this, she should've just told us..."

The light-blue-eyed male beside him sighed and smiled in defeat. "Well, this is Shizuka we're talking about, after all. It wouldn't be Shizuka if she wasn't such an enigmatic person."

"Still...!!" Yuzuru placed his hands on his hips and cocked his head to the side, sighing heavily. "It wouldn't hurt to warn us about that spell; my eyes sting because of it."

Questions were left unanswered and thoughts were left unsaid as the portal from before opened again.

However, the people walking in weren't what they had in mind.

The cloaked group from before appeared again, with a seemingly sleeping yellowish-white-haired Keeper in one of the men's arms. They seemed to recognize the unconscious male as the spirit from before.

–– Seimei no Seigyo-ki.

"Well, well, well... Look what we have here..." 

A deep gruff voice emerged from the silent air as everything in the cave stopped collapsing, including the shaking and the rumbling, leaving it in a quiet state. The rocks and rubbles that were falling all decreased into dust.

Time stopped running and space had halted its work.

Jet-black eyes scanned the room carefully, landing on the group of Spirit Wielders first before finally landing on the unconscious auburn-haired woman.

"I didn't expect one of our strongest would be defeated here... May I ask who defeated her?" the man directed the question towards the three present clans.

"Huh? Why would you need to know that?!" Kishi suddenly exclaimed with furrowed eyebrows. He's obviously upset that the cloaked men kept coming. "Just go away already! You're really ruining my night."

There was no end to their group.

He didn't need to know of their identities, he only needed to know what their purpose here was. The formerly new uniform that he's been wearing had gotten dirty from the earlier fight.

"It's none of your business," the Head of the Ichijou Clan interrupted. "More importantly, what are you doing here, who are you, and how did you get in?" Eito interrogated in a calm but piercing tone.

His facial expression was as stoic as ever. Eito's posture, however, was somewhat in a fighting stance, with his two palms opened and azure sparks lighting up.

Of course, he's still concerned about his 'missing' daughter.

Shizuka's disappearing antics weren't all that new to the clans. She's always here and there–– in the perfect place where they least expected it.

The interrogated man snickered and braced one hand on his hips, weighing his body onto one of his legs.

Tilting his head, the cloaked leader voiced nothing in response.

Seeing that he had no intention of answering, another Head Clan continued Eito's query. "This place was protected by thousands of barriers created by the first generation of the Sun Tribe. How can that group of yours break it? Explain yourselves."

Another man with honey-blonde hair and dark-green eyes, known as the Head of the Ichimori Clan, Ichimori Ryuusei, firmly placed his statement.

He was wearing a white shirt and black cloth pants. The bottoms of the pants were folded up a few times, revealing his formal dark-brown shoes. Stains of red had dyed his garbs in their colour, a result of the fight.

"Whoa, whoa! One at a time, please, gentlemen," the cloaked leader finally replied. Even if the upper part of his face was covered by his hood, the bottom half revealed a sickening smile that froze the younger ones in place.

"I believe I asked first. Isn't it a bit impolite to ignore my question when I asked you first, hmm?" the deep voice chuckled merrily and its owner's smirk was visible to others. The taps of his foot echoed through the stone room, quiet and deafening.

"And why should WE answer your question? I believe you took one of us over there. Why don't you give him back first?" a man with salmon-pink hair and gleaming violet eyes asked.

Ichisaki Kizuki, the violet-eyed Head of the Ichisaki Clan, wore a simple navy-blue kimono that basked in red as well, several sparks of black down the hems of his hakama.

His violet orbs landed on the yellowish-white-haired male that one of the men carried.

"Hmmm? From what I know, Seimei-chan doesn't belong to anyone~"

"And neither to you. However, he's still one of us. Give him back," a lighter-toned voice spoke up this time.

The mysterious man looked at the source of it, landing on a young man with somewhat wavy, shoulder-length sky-blue hair and indigo-glassed eyes.

A young adult, from the looks of it. Kiryuu was brave enough to speak his thoughts to the enemy who knew no words of "giving up."

"A bold one, I see. Then why don't you get him back yourself then~?" the unknown man mocked the boy, saying his little sentence in a singing tone.

"... Very well, then."

"Ryuu-aniki! I'll help! That man has been on my nerves along with his men," Kishi declared confidently whilst raising an arm, glaring at the cloaked group.

A new and unexpected voice then chimed in excitedly after its owner's older brothers, "Ooh, I'll help too!"

"Fuyume?"

"Fuyume." Hearing her name called, the salmon-haired girl looked at the source of the voice, which was her father.

He had a visible frown on his face, he then stated to the periwinkle-eyed child, "You're not going to participate in this fight. You have done enough in the previous battle, rest up."

"Eh?! I still want to fight, Otou-chan!!!" Fuyume pouted, displaying a pair of baby-doll eyes in hopes of persuading her father.

"A no is still a no, Fuyume. Gather with the Ichijou twins over there," Kizuki ordered firmly to his daughter, hiding both his hands in the others' sleeves of his kimono.

"Hmph! All right then..." the said girl responded with a saddened expression shown on her slightly tanned skin.

The younger Ichisaki scooted over to where Hinata and Konata were, along with their teal-eyed brother there to protect them.

"Ichisaki Kiryuu, Ichisaki Kishi, I hereby order you to take the Keeper back from them. Do it in any ways necessary, I allowed you to do so until this battle end," Kizuki ordered with no hesitancy.

"Yes, Father."

"Sir, yessir."

The two Ichisaki brothers went up to the one that was holding the pale male, trying to free the Keeper from their hands with several plans in mind.

"Hey, now. You don't expect two mere boys to defeat all my men now, do you?" the man mocked again, putting one hand on his hips.

"No, we don't. Ichimori Ruka, Ichimori Kyou, Ichimori Mizuki, and Ichimori Kumo."

Hearing their names being called, they stepped out of the dark, revealing their features. A new individual was seen with the same honey-blonde hair as his father and ocean-blue orbs, completing his uniquely stunning features.

He was wearing a pastel-yellow-checker with brown stripes, loose t-shirt. His pants were maroon and he was wearing light-brown leather, ankle-high boots.

"Yes, Otou-sama?"

"What is it, Tou-chan? "

"Nani, nani~?"

"Yes?"

"I hereby order the four of you to assist the Ichisaki brothers in their battle. Make sure to work together and successfully get the Keeper back."

"Understood," the four of them replied together, following the Ichisaki brothers.

While the six of the Ichimori siblings and Ichisaki brothers faced the cloaked men, the rest of them teleported out of the underground cave with Kizuki's magic.

As the battle began with only the chosen teens, Kiryuu summoned a long spear, with dragon scales covering its firm shaft.

The scales that rowed down faded from red to blue, each one of them. There were a pair of gold ribbons dangling on the shaft's end.

The older Ichisaki attacked the hooded man from before, who seemed to be their leader. The man blocked the attack with his bare tan hands. He charged again relentlessly, only to be blocked again and again.

⠀

⠀

⠀

And... again.

The leader grabbed hold of Kiryuu's spear tightly, making him unable to free himself. Gritting his teeth, the older Ichisaki struggled to keep his grunt in and the impact was somewhat surprising to him.

"Tch––!"

He was never one to usually got hit by another's attack. However, it seemed that this time, he couldn't evade nor escape.

"Whoa! Easy there, fella. Don't need to be aggressive, now. There's plenty of time, let's take it easy, shall we?" the cloaked leader suggestively spoke.

He then smirked and tilted his head. "Mm, you're a quiet one, aren't you? Also, you haven't answered my question from earlier––"

"Less talk, more action, Old Man!!!"

Kishi unexpectedly charged at the man from behind Kiryuu, with a wide grin on his face, revealing his pearly white teeth and his sharp canine teeth.

"HAAAAHHHH!!!"

One of the men went to attack Kiryuu since his spear was blocked and grabbed by their leader, thinking it was his chance.

"Oh no, you don't!! Not on my watch!!" Kumo side-kicked the man, knocking him far away to the other side. Huffing in satisfaction at his small victory, Kumo smugly looked down on the defeated men and turned around.

One down, ninety-nine left...

Kumo went off to hold off the others while Kiryuu and Kishi handle their leader. "Oh, Gaia! Just how many of you guys are there?!" Kyou complained boomingly whilst holding off several men with his spells.

"Terram Formatam: Dorso Inter Terram!!"

The ground broke into two, with sharpened crystalline stones emerging out from below them.

They stabbed the enemy in the stomach, leaving them quickly unable to move as their blood was absorbed by the stones.

Five down, ninety-four left...

The ends of the stones became deep-red. They quickly returned to their normal colour as the children's wounds and scraps healed immediately.

"Thanks for that, Kyou-niichan!!" Mizuki thanked him from the other side, attacking her enemies down with a wind-based attack. "Aero Modifier Magic: Distorting Gales!!"

White breezes circled her hands as she brought both of them down towards the enemies. The breezes turned into violent ones, slashing the enemies from all sorts of directions, killing them instantly.

"U-Uh..."

"Did you just kill them, Mizuki??" Kyou questioned awkwardly.

"I... guess…?" Mizuki shrugged with a guilty expression, sweating waterfalls furiously, "I didn't know the spell was that strong! It was one of my weakest ones!!!"

Eight down, eighty-six left...

"Well, either your spell was too strong or that they are just too weak," Ruka told his younger sister, in an attempt to comfort her.

"They're THAT weak?!"

"I guess so..." Kumo responded to his older sister from the other side of the room.

"Viridi Silva: Folium Turbinis Vasti!" Ruka chanted his Rune-based spell, creating yellow and green leaves that appeared out of nowhere. Each leaf looked like a carved emerald, shaped into a leaf. The leaves all charged at the group of cloaked men, lifting them.

The leaves then whirled into a tornado, shredding the men's cloaks and then flinging them in every direction. Some even ended up on top of another, also knocking them out since they were thrown too hard.

Fourteen down, seventy-two left...

"Oya? I also did not expect my men to be down that easily. Better train them harder later then~ What should I have for dinner later?" the mysterious man, also known as their leader, mumbled to himself while effortlessly holding off the two Ichisaki boys.

"What are you mumblin' about, old man?! Keep your eyes on the fight!" Kishi announced with a booming voice, jumping at him with a clawing movement.

His hand, his right one to be precise, was covered in the black fog-like aura. Before he landed on the man, a sharp claw made out of the shadow was formed with him chanting a spell, "Void Magic: Umbra Claw!!!"

The shadow claw seemed to effectively slash the man, making him stumble backwards, releasing Kiryuu's spear. This allows him to move freely again.

"U-Ugh!!!"

There was blood dripping from his abdomen. The blood, however, was not the usual red. It was black. Similar to the ones that came out of the auburn-haired woman's scythe.

"YES, I GOT HIM–– huh...?"

|| CHAPTER 13 | First Strike - To be continued... ||

––