Surprise Attack

AN: In case some of you have missed it, I posted two pages to vote for the harem and for Oc suggestion, but I forgot one question: how big should I make the Harem? Because there were a lot of different votes and if I only go for two or three most of them will be wasted. Also I made a big mess when changing the place of the Harem page so I lost all comments :'(

<<<Shin Akagawa>>>

Separating from each other, Shin looked at the girl in his embrace, she had teary eyes and a heavy blush on her face due to the previous action.

'She really went and did it, this girl….'

Shin wasn't in any way angry, instead he was really happy, but looking around at the students that were already murmuring and spreading out the voice of what they saw he couldn't help but worry for Ning'er.

The Winged Dragon could not do much about their relationship but they had all the right to put Ning'er in house arrest, that was unless she decided to break off any relation with them.

Feeling her hand grip tighter he looked back at her, she was looking at his face with uncertainty even as she felt his hand on her back reciprocating the hug.

'I should worry about that later.'

Lifting his hand he placed it under her chin as he made her look at him in the eyes.

"I feel like I don't even need to say it but I also like you Ning'er… But for now we should take this in another place."

Hearing his word she recovered from her daze as she looked around at the other student as panic started to grow in her expression. Taking her head he quickly led her out of the place as they walked directly to his house ignoring the looks that the other students gave them.

'They really don't have anything better to do…'

Thinking that he started to feel a little irritation at them but stopped as he realized that there really wasn't a reason to care about what they said. Looking at the girl who was drinking tea calmly while sitting down he couldn't help the small smile that appeared in his face.

Sitting down near her he saw her flinch in nervousness as she put down the tea cup still looking at her hands.

Since the kiss she didn't open her mouth as he could see she was thinking about something important so he planned to let her think and adjust her thought before saying anything, fortunately he didn't have to wait much as the girl suddenly straightened her back in a surprising surge of courage as she turned toward Shin.

Her intense orange eyes met Shin's calm crimson eyes as she flattered once again much to Shin amusement.

Taking a deep breath she fully turned to Shin as he did the same, then after a second she started.

"Shin, I'm thankful for everything you've done to me…" Saying so she looked straight at Shin eyes with a resolute expression as he simply smiled at her waiting for her to finish. "You've helped me with the disease when I wasn't even able to find someone who could tell me what I had…" Remembering the time they met Ning'er smiled, feeling thankful for the disease that brought them together.

"Then not only you completely cured me, you even went as far to give me such powerful cultivation and special techniques to help me grow stronger and one day free myself from the shackles that my family put on me."

Remembering the grievance she felt when her arranged marriage was decided she couldn't help but tighten her fist, seeing that Shin didn't hesitate to hold her hand to calm her down which helped instantly as her hand relaxed her previous anger subduing.

"... Now instead of repaying you I've only caused more trouble for you, possibly making you an enemy of the Sacred family… I-"

She stopped speaking as she felt Shin's hand come down on her head, before he caressed her cheek fondly causing the girl to lean in the touch.

"You silly girl, I'll never think of you as a burden or troublesome, beside I don't fear the Sacred family and even before you came along we never had the most friendly relationship."

Bringing her closer he felt her hand instinctively warm around his back in a hug as he did the same.

"I don't like making promises, especially the ones I'm not sure I'll be able to keep but I promise you that as long as I'm alive I won't let the Sacred family touch you or take you without your consent. And don't worry yourself about other useless stuff like the relationship between the Akagawa clan and the Sacred family, we'll easily survive even if we end up creating a blood feud between each other."

Feeling her shift her body he looked down at her as she lifted herself up to meet him, feeling her soft lips touch his his whole bravado collapsed as he melted in the warm feeling that was growing in his chest.

The kiss was as pure and simple as the first one they had, their lips simply touching as they basked in the warmth of each other.

After separating, Ning'er looked for some more time at Shin before leaning her head on Shin's chest.

"I already talked with Yoru…I wanted to wait until I was stronger, until I was finally free from my and the Sacred family but I guess that plan is out of question right now."

Laughing at how her grand plans went she just sighed before closing her eyes, no matter how she did it she was more than happy with how it ended.

Suddenly remembering something she lifted her head, surprising Shin as she looked at him.

"In my talk with Yoru I also had to accept something…" Shin furrowed his brow as she used the word 'Had' in her sentence but let her finish first. "I know you have several responsibilities as the patriarch and because of that I may not be the only wife but I just wanted to tell you I'm fine with you having other wives but please let me at least meet them first…"

The rest of her demand died on her throat, she wanted to ask for permission to also have a say in choosing a future second or third wife but she wasn't sure if Shin would allow her to, her own insecurities and fear crushed her just as she was about to ask.

Seeing the girl on his lap go through myriads of emotions he sighed as he spoke up catching the girl's attention. "Ning'er It's true I may end up with other wife and while right now I don't have intention to do so I can't say in the future if it will be the same, just know that I will not accept another woman unless you or any other member of my harem accept her."

This was something that he had seen his father do, even with tons of women literally throwing themselves at him he always stayed true to his feeling and always made sure that if he started another relationship his two wife would be fine with it, at the end he only ended up marrying two women but it didn't mean he only had a close relationship with other ones.

Seeing the girl visibly brighten at his words he sighed mentally happy that at least that went well.

'Now I will have to worry about the Sacred family or more specifically, Shen Fei… He is currently a Gold rank Demon Spiritualist while I've just reached the third star.'

Feeling the girl in his arm relax further he glanced at her face as he saw she fell asleep with a content smile, with a smile of his own he lifted her in his hand as he placed her carefully in his bed covering her with his blanket as he saw her move a little in search of his warmth.

'Sorry… We will have a lot more time after I deal with the Sacred family.'

Giving a kiss on her forehead he gave her a pillow that she hugged immediately still with a rather dissatisfied expression.

Taking out a Soul Gathering Pill he sat down and started to consolidate his own cultivation, after breaking through the orb in the north of his soul realm fully formed and became completely visible, this was the sign of him creating the first Moon of the Seizing Moon Cultivation Technique.

The first moon, like the one the will follow, has the abilities to store soul energy automatically that will later be used by the user during a battle or whenever he needed, giving him an enormous advantage to the people of his same rank as he would always have far more soul energy in his reserves.

Not only would he be able to come forth with immeasurable energy during battle but each moon would work as a 'slot' for Demon Spirit giving him essentially eight slots for demon spirit in the future when he finally forms all eight of the moons.

'I already asked Eiko to find me some good demon spirits but I'll have to ask some more for Ning'er too.'

As she was also cultivating this special technique then in the future she will also have to obtain a various Demon Spirit to fully use this technique.

Thinking back to the Scarlet Flickering Fox he bought back in the market he pondered whenever he wanted to risk it and merge with it or wait until his cultivation grew a little more. While he knew he could merge with that demon spirit the Scarlet Fox rank was a five star bronze rank, two whole ranks above him, if he failed to subdue the demon spirit there was the risk of it causing damage to his soul realm or worse breaking itself under the pressure.

'I should wait at least until I'm a four star.'

Silently circulating his soul force the night passed as he thought about what he would do in the future.

The next day as Ning'er woke up they had breakfast together even as she was still feeling pretty blushful about what he did the previous day, as they finished breakfast they walked all the way to the Library where they encountered Chen Linjian, even as he tried to not ask his glance between Shin and Ning'er were enough for the couple to understand that voices of what happened yesterday reached him.

Smiling wryly, Shin and Linjian had a silent conversation between each other.

"*Ehm* Now that everyone is here we should go, remember that this is a secret expedition so try to not make too much noise or catch too much attention."

Turning to the group Linjian declared in a loud voice as everyone nodded their heads before starting to walk toward the glory city walls. The group was of almost thirty people led by six Silver rank Demon Spiritualists and since they were all walking and not taking a carriage they would take a couple of days only to get there with them walking without stopping.

"Do you think we will find something in the city ruins?"

Hearing the question from Ning'er he thought for a moment, he wasn't that interested in searching for treasure but he would not mind finding some.

"I heard they have been already explored by other experts from Glory City but Chen Linjian would not prepare this big group if he didn't know something…"

As he was talking with Ning'er he glanced around to see the people of the group and much to his amusement he saw Shen Yue walking surrounded with some other older students as he tried his best to not meet Shin eyes.

"Shin!"

Hearing another voice call out to him he looked at the side where he saw Nie Li walked up to him with a smile.

"You also joined the expedition? I didn't know you were friends with Chen Linjian."

Asking that he greeted Nie Li as he probed him with his senses.

"I don't know him that well, I just had some information over the city ruins that could end up useful for him."

Nodding he didn't doubt his words after all he heard how he was able to make the Sacred family lose face by showing Glory city the truth about the Inscription pattern they declare as their invention.

"I heard what you did with the Sacred family. Are you sure you don't need help?"

Hearing his question Nie Li smiled as he shook his head.

"No need to worry for me, even the Sacred family won't dare to kill me in the institute, besides they won't be able to attack my family since it's under your clan protection."

If it was anyone else then they would have felt Nie Li words a little rude as it seems like the Akagawa clan was there simply for the protection of Heavenly Marks Family but Shin didn't really care about that after all it was the truth that the Akagawa were currently protecting the Heaven Marks since they were still the one with the biggest usable fields even after the newly made contract with the Alchemy Association.

The group continued walking as the three talked between each other with Shin asking what happened these days that he skipped school as he and Ning'er weren't really aware of all the things that happened.

Chen Linjian was able to easily lead the group outside the city and bring them all the way north toward the Ancient Orchid Ruin City but even as they sped up everyone was a Bronze rank, with only the other six being Silver ranks, so they had to make a stop at night time to sleep.

The place they stopped at was a big forest, the group divided into smaller groups as they started to set up their own tents. Shin was coming back from the river alone while Ning'er was setting up the tent, Nie Li seemed to disappear somewhere as they arrived.

Hearing the cracking of a branch getting stepped on, Shin continued walking like nothing but his hand moved to his hips where his sword laid inside the scabbard.

This forest was filled with Demon Beast, because of that he didn't trust himself to keep his sword inside his spatial ring while he could have it at his hip ready, obviously he also had a couple of spare sword and an halberd inside the ring so him getting caught off guard without a weapon would not happen.

Hearing another step he turned around in a flash as he drew out his sword, the moonlight shone through the blade as it stopped right in front of a person's neck.

"Ah-"

Looking at the stunned girl Shin tilted his head before taking back his sword, with long purple hair and purple eyes filled with surprise, Ye Ziyun.

"Ziyun? I didn't know you were also here…"

Even if he saw most of the people in the group he wasn't able to check everyone's identity so he missed Ye Ziyun who was walking around surrounded by her senior sisters.

"Shin! You scared me!"

Seeing her getting angry after she recognized him he couldn't help but laugh in his mind thinking 'Weren't you the one that sneaked behind me…'

"More importantly where have you been these days? I didn't see you in class."

Walking closer she asked with a little concern, for her Shin was the first friend after Ning'er so not seeing him during class stung her heart as she wasn't able to spend time with her friend.

"Sorry, I've been busy with things and concentrating more on cultivating."

Ziyun pouted but as she was about to answer she felt Shin suddenly grab her and move her from the place where she stood. She was about to scream at him but stopped as she saw an arrow pierce the ground where she was standing before.

"What is it!?"

Her mind suddenly panicked as Shin brought her behind him, from the shadow of the tree branches three figures fell down landing a couple of meters of distance from Shin.

"Who are you people!"

He obviously knew they wouldn't answer him but he hoped that his screaming would alert some other people around, of the three people two were one star Silver rank while the other was a five star Bronze rank infinitely close to reaching the Silver rank.

"Ziyun… Run back and call for help, I'll hold them up."

Whispering that to Ziyun he didn't take his eyes off form the people in front of him, if he were to give it his all he would probably be able to hold them off for some minutes or even escape but as long as Ziyun who had yet to reach the Bronze rank he wouldn't be able to even fight let alone escape but unfortunately for him Ziyun was still too shocked and scared to move immediately.

The first to attack was the bronze rank as he immediately appeared in front of Shin, slashing his sword horizontally, Shin blocked his strike drawing his sword upward as the sound of metal clashing sounded out in the previously silent forest.

Thanks to the Prime Titan Body Technique Shin body could be considered a bronze rank treasure in itself so resisting the higher strength of the five star Bronze rank was quite easy especially when that person didn't use his full strength in the previous strike.

"Go now!"

Raising his voice he didn't look behind Ye Ziyun as he released the soul energy inside his first moon, the soul energy exploded out surprising everyone as the azure color of soul energy surrounded him. Feeling the danger the other two moved to attack him completely disregarding Ziyun who finally recovered and ran back toward the camp.

The bronze rank that was in a deadlock with Shin gritted his teeth as he felt the pressure on his sword increase but as he was thinking of stepping back he felt a shiver come up from his spine.

Under the gaze of the two Silver rank four red lines appeared as they rushed toward the Bronze rank, the place where they met the guy's blood was drawn as four deep wounds appeared on his body.

"Ahhh!"

Screaming he let go of the sword as Shin seized that opportunity to plunge his sword onto the man's neck. The two Silver ranks stopped on their feet as they saw the sword surrounded by blood.

Shin moved his hand as the blood of the guy moved by itself converging on the tip of his sword, the four crimson lines returned as they stopped around Shin sword dancing in the air.

The Blood Lotus Special Technique first form gave the user the ability to control petals made of blood that would be as sharp as a sword and as fast as an arrow, there wasn't a limit on how many petals one could control but currently Shin could barely control four, when one first materialized the petal they would use their own soul force but with practice one would be able to increase the number simply by using the blood of the enemy slain, like in this case where Shin used the Bronze rank's blood to condense another additional petal.

The two silver ranks looked at each before they both started to merge with their own Demon Spirit, one transformed into a green colored bear while the other into a red colored lion.

The bear swung his paw as four claws made of wind shot toward Shin, the four petals shot forward at the same time meeting the bear attack as they created a small explosion. Using the power of the Explosion Shin jumped back as he wanted to use that to escape but before he could make it far a wall of fire appeared in front of him.

"You think you can escape after killing our brother!"

The red lion-man screamed as he appeared in the air above Shin diving to him with his paw-hand open ready to kill Shin.

Pointing his sword in the air he poured his remaining soul force into the last petal that had yet to fully form who under the rush of soul force shone brightly before shooting at high speed toward the man.

With the sound of an arrow piercing wood the man-lion fell on ground holding his right shoulder that was now bleeding profusely.

Taking the chance Shin stepped forward trying to escape but his step faltered as he felt the drawback of using almost all of his soul force in the last attack.

"Take this you little monster!"

Turning to his left he saw the bear man appear with his mouth open as a green orb of wind was charging ready to launch at Shin, feeling the danger he didn't hesitate to draw his sword as he drew out the remaining of his soul force.

Shin felt his soul realm tremble as the previously calm lake inside of it surged with Crimson soul energy, his previously Azure aura changed to a deep crimson as the five petals once again appeared at his side.

He couldn't see it but his eyes at that moment changed to a full crimson with the white of the eyes becoming black, the two attacks were launched as Shin was struck directly to his chest and sent flying against a tree coughing blood.

Looking up he saw the condition of the bear-man, where his right eye once was a palm sized hole could be seen as Shin could see the other side of the forest form it, not only his right eye but he had even two deep wounds on both side of his neck along with two similar holes in his stomach.

The man changed back to his human form as he fell on the ground no longer breathing.

"Haa…" Sighing heavily he looked down at his chest as the clothes were completely destroyed revealing a red Gold ranked armor.

"I'll have to thank Naoki for this…"

As the patriarch it would be stupid for him to go around with anything less than a gold rank armor with him, the only reason why he wasn't wearing a Black Gold or Legend rank was that they were too heavy for him to always wear.

Hearing more footsteps he saw Chen Linjian along with the group of Silver ranked people and other people behind him, seeing him he immediately rushed to him as he looked him over, after seeing no great wound he sighed in relief.

"What happened? Ziyun told us you were attacked by three people but where are they?"

Taking a breath he pointed toward the dead bear man before speaking.

"One is there, he was a one star silver ranked Demon Spiritualist, there is another Bronze rank dead and the other Silver ranked should be still alive but he is way too injured to attack right now… If you search for him you may find him."

Hearing his words Chen sucked a cold breath, as far as he knew Shin was just a one star Bronze rank a couple of days ago how could he have thought two silver rank and a peak bronze rank and even kill two while leaving the other one so injured that he had to escape?

'I underestimated him…'

Looking at the dead man he silently awed as he saw in what condition he was, from his injuries he could deduce that Shin was able to overwhelm him with attack at his body and neck before dealing the killing strike at his eye if only he knew the truth he wouldn't be looking at Shin with simple awe.

Taking a Blood Recovering Pill, a specialty of the Akagawa clan, he started to recover from his injury as he felt his soul realm already starting to gather soul energy into his moon.

'This technique is way too strong, with just a single moon I'm able to fight off people three ranks above me. What would happen when I fully condense the eight…'

Thinking that he shook his head, before thinking about what will happen in the future he should concentrate on what is going to happen now in the present.

"Why is everyone here? It can't be that you all came just because of the three attackers?"

While he could understand the Silver rank and a couple more people he could see other people that weren't even people that had yet to reach the bronze rank.

"We are leaving early, the rest are already getting prepared to leave, are you ok or do you need help to walk?"

Standing up he showed his arms as if saying 'I'm fine' but after seeing Linjian not convinced he smiled wryly.

"Most of the damage was taken by my armor, I'm only a little tired as I used too much soul force but I'm good to go."

Finally convincing him the group returned to the main group as they were already waiting for him, Shin in the meantime changed clothes with a spare he had in his spatial ring so after recovering while walking he seemed as good as new even if his soul energy reserves were still quite low, but nonetheless he was quite satisfied with the out come of this fight.