by Aaron Oster
Roy looked over at Aika. Her head hung limp, her face was a mass of bruises, and blood dripped from the tip of her nose. There were several new lacerations showing through her robes, and she was doing her best to lean to the left, likely in an attempt not to aggravate broken ribs.
He felt his hands pulled roughly back and ropes being bound around his wrists. There was little he could do in this situation, though he still tried to fight. Essence exploded from his skin, shredding the ropes. The Martial Artists who’d been trying to bind him let out a cry of surprise as Roy slipped free.
He activated his Movement technique immediately, launching himself forward and grabbing Aika around the waist. Ignoring her hiss of pain, he threw her over his shoulder, the man holding her so surprised that he lost his grip on her and let go. Then Roy whirled, dashing for the surrounding trees.
“What a futile effort,” Roy heard, before a hard blow caught him in the side of the head, sending both him and Aika sprawling.
He looked up, head spinning as Joan approached, flanked by her subordinates.
“Just for that, I think I’ll break your legs before we head back. Can’t have you trying to run again, now can we?”
Roy wanted to scream. To shout and rage. To tear this woman’s head from her body.
Why was it always the legs?!
Joan stepped forward, malicious glee shining in her eyes as she placed a foot on his kneecap. Then, slowly, she began to exert pressure, increasing until Roy began to feel the join straining. No matter how he struggled, he couldn’t escape. This woman was simply too strong for him. It seemed he was once again going to lose the leg.
“I think that’s quite enough.”
Roy groaned as the pressure increased yet again, and the joint flared in pain.
“I. Said. Enough!”
The entire forest shook with the sound of that voice, and Roy immediately felt the pressure on his leg lessen, though the pressure was not entirely diminished.
What? I recognize that voice, Roy thought, though it couldn’t be who he thought it was. Could it?
“Oh, and who are you? Not to mention, why are you interfering in Itachi clan business?”
Roy heard a loud and very familiar sigh. When he craned his head up, his suspicions were confirmed. Hermit stood in the center of the clearing, his eyes half-lidded, and the ever-bored expression fixed on his face.
“No one of importance,” Hermit said, gaze fixed on her. “As for why I’m interfering…” he shrugged. “I was just passing by and saw something that disgusted me. Naturally, I had to stop it from happening.”
He sighed once again, seeming to take an inordinate amount of effort to continue talking, more to himself than anyone else.
“This is why I left that city. Too much of this garbage. Figures I wouldn’t be able to find peace, even out here.”
His eyes flicked back to Joan, and Roy felt something change, a distinct sense of menace now flowed from the man, a terrifying aura seeming to surround him.
“Let them go and leave before I get angry, and I might just let you all live.”
“What did you say, old man? Do you know who I am!?” Joan blustered, her face going red.
“You heard me. An honorless oath-breaker like you does not deserve mercy. But I’m sure that your ideal will exact its own toll for betraying it. So, what will it be?”
Joan glared at the man for a few long moments, then seemed to relax.
“I don’t know who you think you are, but I don’t see a Belt around your waist. I have no idea how you’ve managed to survive out here, but this day will be your last.”
She grinned, gesturing around to the others with her as though to point out his obvious disadvantage. She gestured, a swift, downward chop of her hand. There was an explosion of sound as all her subordinates attacked at once, darting in to kill the impudent busybody.
Hermit sighed again, then stepped casually to one side, narrowly avoiding the first man, then bent back, avoiding a high kick from a woman. Without straightening, he stepped right, then slowly moved his left arm up, knocking another attack aside. Like this, and with seemingly no movement, Hermit either avoided or deflected every single attack aimed at him.
“Roy. Who…who is that?”
Roy turned his head to see Aika, staring through bleary eyes at the man who was surrounded by blurred figures and flashing light as the Green-Belts did their utmost to end him.
“He’s the reason I survived out here for so long on my own,” Roy replied.
“Is that why he came to help us? Because he’s you’re friend?” Aika asked, sounding hopeful.
Despite himself, Roy let out a snort of laughter, wincing and regretting it a second later.
“I wouldn’t exactly call him my friend,” Roy replied, watching as Joan’s face grew redder and redder. “In fact, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have interfered if he hadn’t happened to be passing through.”
Aika gave him a confused look at that, clearly not understanding what he was talking about.
“I’ll explain later,” he said, turning his attention back to the fight. “For now, let’s just enjoy the show.”
“Don’t you think we should try and run while he’s distracting them?” Aika asked, looking suddenly fearful.
“I wouldn’t bother,” Roy said, waving away her concern. “I’ve seen him take down Purple-level Beasts without even laying eyes on them. I doubt anyone here poses any kind of real threat to him.”
Aika opened her mouth to say something, when Hermit finally decided to strike back on his attackers. With a gesture, the woman cloaked in shining white light swinging a punch at his face violently exploded, painting his surroundings in a fine, bloody mist.
29
The others, seeing what had happened, immediately halted their attacks, jumping back and taking up defensive positions. After seeing a display of power like that, anyone with half a brain would hesitate to attack a man like that, whether he was wearing a Belt or not.
“Why did you stop attacking!?” Joan demanded, stepping forward, her fists clenched in anger.
“Um. Did you not see what he just did to Unchi?” one of the men asked, his eyes wide in horror.
“Was that her name?” Joan asked callously, “I’m shocked that someone so weak was allowed in my squad. Now, do as I command and kill that impudent nobody!”
The others hesitated, unsure of who they should fear more. They didn’t have much time to wonder. Vanishing from sight, Joan appeared before the disrespectful man and lashed out with a powerful attack. There was a boom as Qi entered the man’s body, shattering his Core and sending him flying, his eyes blank and unseeing.
“Now. Are you going to disobey another direct order?” she yelled, whirling on the others who were staring at her in shock and horror.
No one dared hesitate for long, moving to attack Hermit once again. The man himself, however, straightened from his slouch and held up a hand. The approaching Martial Artists all slammed into an invisible barrier that suddenly sprang up in their path.
Roy watched in interest. This was the first time he’d seen a Containment technique, though he had a feeling there was a bit more to what Hermit just did than just that.
“Truly despicable,” Hermit said, genuine anger flashing in his eyes. “To think that someone in my own clan would go so far as to kill one of their kin completely unprovoked, and in such a gruesome and shameful manner. The punishment you deserve for such a heinous act cannot be expressed by mere words alone.”
“I don’t know what nonsense you’re spouting, old man. I don’t know who you are, but I am one hundred percent sure that you are not an Itachi. The clan would not suffer a weakling such as you in our ranks!”
Hermit sighed his usual sigh, then gestured. The invisible wall holding all the Martial Artists in place suddenly shifted to the side, sweeping them all off their feet and out of the way. He then turned his gaze back on Joan, his black eyes beginning to burn with dark amber light, tinge
d with red.
“I am ashamed that the standards of the younger generation have slipped so far while I’ve been gone. It would appear that I have no choice but to go back. For that alone, you deserve to die a thousand deaths. But, seeing as you only have one life to take, that will have to suffice.”
Joan growled low in her throat, and her entire body was shrouded in darkness, tendrils of black peeling away from her skin. The ground itself began to tremble from the sheer power contained within that technique and even the luminescent plants began to lose their light.
“What is that?” Roy asked, feeling the crushing weight of Joan’s technique pressing down on him.
“A Full-body Qi technique,” Aika said, panting hard as she, too, tried to fight against the crushing power being exuded by the woman.
Joan began to laugh, spreading her hands to the sides, mocking the man who stood before her, seemingly defenseless.
“I hope you’ve said your prayers to whatever god you believe in, because you’re going to be meeting them very shortly!”
Hermit stood straighter as the light in his eyes began spreading across his whole body, shrouding his skin in the same dark amber light.
A barrier of rainbow-colored light flashed up around the two of them as Joan shot forward, colliding with Hermit in an explosion of power that tore up the ground in all directions, uprooting trees and sending them crashing through the forest.
Roy looked to the side, seeing Aika’s arms raised, her face a deathly pale as she fought to keep her barrier in place amid the backwash of force coming from Joan’s attack.
“Wow! Why can’t you fight like that?” Geon demanded as a thick, choking dust filled the clearing, blocking their view of the fight.
Roy desperately wanted to see more, but it seemed he would be unable to with all the debris in the way. He would just have to resolve himself to seeing the result, which he was sure would come out in Hermit’s favor. He was just annoyed that he wouldn’t be able to witness that psychotic woman dying first-hand.
There was nothing he could do, so he simply lay back and began cycling the enormous amount of Power Essence that was being generated by the fight. At least he would get something out of this.
***
Joan staggered back as soon as her first massive attack hadn’t so much as scratched the man. That was fine with her. It wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying if he’d died right away.
She darted in once more, the Darkness Qi shrouding her body and pumping through her veins, lending her all the aspects of her three Body techniques combined and enhanced many times over. A spike of darkness extended from the end of each fist as she struck, aiming for the man’s vitals.
He, however, didn’t so much as move to block, likely too slow to even keep up with her lightning-fast attacks. Joan felt a sense of glee as over thirty blows landed in the span of only three seconds – a new record for her. Each blow was targeted at vital areas such as the temple, neck, heart, and spine.
She flashed around the still man, hammering away at him and laughing manically the entire time. In her mind, she was already dead, so why not take as many down with her as she could? The Itachi were merciless when it came to failure, and seeing as she’d been in command of the outpost, it would be her head on the chopping block.
At this point, Joan was too far gone to even be considered for a more lenient punishment, such as a lashing or assignment to latrine duty in Yanagi City – the home of the main branch of the Itachi clan. That was why she hadn’t hesitated to kill one of her fellow clan mates, despite the fact they were supposed to be family.
“You ready to die, old man?” she cackled, stepping in front of him and gathering a nimbus of power into her fist, concentrating the technique into a single spot.
This one attack would be enough to reduce an entire city block to rubble, so killing a single man would be easy in comparison.
Her fist flashed forward and slammed into the man’s open palm. There was an explosion of darkness as Qi was sent scattering in all directions, the man redirecting her most powerful attack with little effort. Joan’s eyes widened in shock as the man let out yet another tired sigh.
“Yes. It seems like standards really are slipping these days. In my time, a 1st Dan Blue-Belt would have far more power and control than that. But I guess that’s the price one pays when living away from society for a few centuries.”
Joan simply stared, too shocked to even move as the man lowered his hand and sighed once more. He sounded bored and somewhat disappointed.
“Who…who are you?” she asked, taking a faltering step back.
“Well, seeing as I am about to kill you, I guess it couldn’t hurt to tell you,” the man said, his aura suddenly shifting from dark amber to a blazing red-gold.
Joan was driven to her knees, the breath knocked from her lungs, and the technique she’d been holding, crushed beneath the intensity of that power. She stared up, tears streaming from the corners of her eyes, and her heart pounding nearly out of her chest. The visceral and primal reaction of fear was so strong that it was hard for her to even think, let alone breathe.
Then, something shone at the man’s waist. A Belt colored a dark brown containing ten gray slashes at one end were suddenly tied onto his waist. Something sparked in Joan’s memory then, even as she felt her fear redouble. Memories of stories that had been told to her as a child played in her head. A single story stood out the most, a story about one of the clan’s founders, the man who had singlehandedly destroyed one thousand clans and carved out an empire for himself along with his two brothers.
But that was impossible! This couldn’t be him. He had died over five-hundred years ago, killed in the last war between the Seven Great Clans of Buryoku. Yet here he stood, very obviously not dead. His Belt was a dead giveaway, if nothing else, though there were a few more stipes on there than the stories had told.
Joan watched as the very air seemed to catch on fire, and she felt her body beginning to burn up in the immense heat radiating from this legendary figure. It was no wonder she hadn’t been able to sense anything from him. Someone like him would use a form of energy so pure and powerful that her body was breaking apart at its mere presence.
“I…know you,” she gasped.
“Finally recognize me, do you?” he asked, still sounding as weary as before.
“You…You’re…The Sage of Ruin, Itachi Hakai!”
The man shrugged.
“Such titles don’t really suit me anymore. But yes, I was once that man. What gave it away?”
Joan lifted a trembling hand, now blackened, burned, and skeletal as the last vestiges of life faded from her eyes.
He looked down to his waist, as though surprised to see the 10th Dan Brown-Belt tied there.
“Huh, it looks like I exerted myself a bit too much and manifested it by accident. Thanks for pointing it out. I wouldn’t want anyone else to see…” he trailed off then, looking up as his Belt faded from view. “Oh, you’re already dead.”
He watched as the woman’s body turned to ash, holding its shape for a mere second before it burned away.
“You really should contain yourself, you know. You could have killed those children huddled behind that flimsy shield over there.”
He sighed, containing the power radiating from him and turned to peer at the odd couple.
“But I didn’t,” he replied.
“I can’t say the same for the rest of the people, though.”
Hakai, or Kai, as he liked to think of himself, turned to see that the Core had indeed been right. The Itachi clan members he swept to the side had all been burned to a crisp and were even now turning to ash.
“Oh well. It’s not as though it was any great loss. Even if they had lived, I would have been honor-bound to destroy them, so I guess it’s for the best.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re slipping in your old age.”
Kai simply shrugged, completely containing his aura once more
and waving away the dust.
“I’m tired of this. I think I’ll go take a nap.”
And with that said, he turned and began heading back to his camp.
30
“Where did everyone go?” Aika asked as the dust finally cleared to reveal a thirty-foot swath of bare, upturned earth.
“Beats me,” Roy replied, forcing himself up and into a sitting position.
Knowing Hermit, he’d probably just left after killing everyone. He had little patience for people, so he wouldn’t stick around to chat once he was finished with his business here. He was a bit surprised to find out that he was a member of the Itachi clan, though. He’d been under the impression that they despised any who were weak and would kill them simply because of that.
He’d spent an entire month living near the man. Though the hermit hadn’t exactly helped him, he hadn’t hindered him either. In fact, it was only thanks to him that he’d been able to regain the use of his Martial Arts.
“Now that was one scary man!” Geon said, his voice sounding oddly shaky in Roy’s mind.
“What do you mean?” Roy asked.
He got a questioning look from Aika for that seemingly random question. But when he pointed to his chest, she nodded her understanding.
“Didn’t you feel it? The power coming off him was absolutely terrifying. It was like standing next to the sun!”
“No. I couldn’t feel anything,” Roy replied. “Not even with the new technique you told me about.”
“Really? How strange. Well, I can’t really tell you how strong he is cultivation-wise, but I can tell you this much. Sure as I am a Dungeon Core, that man was a Sage.”
“Are you serious! A Sage?”
“A what?” Aika asked.
“It’s a term Geon’s mentioned before. Though he hasn’t gotten specific about it, I think it’s the title given to someone who’s more powerful than a Supreme.”
“Seriously? Are you saying that man is stronger than the leader of the Tonde clan?”
