WebNovels

Chapter 18 - Holder of the crown.

(A mouse escapes it's trap)

The city of souls filled with sounds of metal clashing and walls breaking, one would assume it were two armies at war and would only be far off in terms of numbers. Renzo fends off most of those remaining ten bandit chiefs. Fujima attempts to defeat his swift attacker, Riku and escape. And Keiaru's path to Fujima is blocked by four more with the task to kill her.

"Move!" *clang* She grew increasingly agitated, uncertain if Fujima could escape his kidnapper, but these assailants of hers are relentless. They managed to cut her every time she swatted one of them away with a swipe of her heavy blade. "Just..."

"Move out of the way!!" The 'iron sandal' leader, Yūriki, shouted as he dove behind the ruins of a once fine diner. Shortly after, a green wave of energy swept past, brushing against the building like harsh winds. The Yūriki leapt out of his temporary cover to charge in and drop kick Renzo. On the opposite end, The shaggy haired woman charged in with a sadistic grin, her narrow blade pointed forward. But quicker than the two, Renzo positioned himself to catch them but an arrow whizzed past his face.

The momentary distraction allowed the two attackers to slip past Renzo's blade and start a close quarters combination. The unarmed man unleashed flurries of kicks, each time he needed to change his balance the lady stabbed at Renzo. This strategy was effective at stopping the man from flinging the two... for a while. As another arrow flew straight for the center of Renzo's head He quickly caught the incoming kick before swiping his weapon knocking the arrow off course. Then he weaved past the woman's blade as she made an attempt to stab him, kicking her in the gut and chopping the back of her neck.

Now it was just Renzo and the remaining two. The shogun swatted an arrow out of his path before preparing to fight his hand-to-hand combatant, Yūriki.

Fujima couldn't fare any better however, though it is impressive he hadn't been knocked out immediately by Riku. Though it was like a mongoose fighting a scorpion, unfair. Fujima could keep up with the sounds the bandit barely made between steps but couldn't predict speed the bandit used so freely. But as he watched, Fujima could see Riku slow down in the few instances he had to turn. That's when he hatched his plan "I don't know how to work this... but." digging into his shirt, he clutched something in the hand he held his knife, in a way the bandit couldn't see. 

The fight was left to a test of patience, Riku had started to play with Fujima at his increased speed zig-zagging so Fujima loses track of him and attempting to strike from behind when Fujima was helpless. But a creeping sense of danger lingered in his head "Is the king getting impatient?" he glanced at the balcony at the highest room in the castle. There, he saw his leader watching their fight. His heart sank, panic overwhelming his caution "I gotta end this!" he thought, in the middle of flanking Fujima's right.

Fujima watched and waited, listening as hard as he could, for the slightest rubble on the surrounding roof, the subtle blur passing by, and the eventual attack from behind. Then, 'skiff' Snapping to his right, he saw the blur charging straight at him "Not yet!" he thrust his knife forward forcing Riku to stop all of his momentum and turn, but it was too late. Fujima flicked his right wrist up, revealing a stone that burst into a bright flash of light. The ball of light crashed straight into the bandit burning his eyes. "You blinded us both!" Riku exclaimed, but that was not the case. It was spirit light, non physical, unseen by the naked eye of Fujima who wasted no time wrapping the bandit in his net and swinging him with said net through a wall head first.

With a sigh of relief, Fujima started toward Keiaru to help. The air fell heavily around him as he moved and only grew unbearably so when he heard metal splitting flesh. The tearing sound echoes in Fujima's head along with the repeated urge to run. He would've but someone appeared before him, their skeletal hand moving through the black fog before him. The fleeting dreadful moment caused Fujima to fall under the weight of the new air. Through the fog, a red glowing eye appeared, shortly revealing the man it was attached to.

"I expected better of Riku. But at least he proved you weren't hopeless..." He kneeled down before Fujima, who held weakly onto his knife, it shook in his hand as he pointed it at Horeou. The man smirked, "You'd do a lot more pointing that at yourself."

"For you." Fujima retorted, a new firm hold on his knife that refused to point elsewhere. He held his net just behind him clenching tightly to it. "I'm guessing you're the bandit king?" he shuffled back as Horeou took a step forward.

Horeou glared at the knife like it were some childish toy "I'm going for a broader title. Spirit King sounds nice." Another step closed the distance between the two "I'll need you to get that title. maybe afterwards you can have a place by my side, you, and those royals." As the man got closer the weight of the air lessened, replaced with a cold presence still unnerving. As the fog thickened to a black abyss Fujima couldn't feel his own presence. He couldn't feel his heart beating, or his once heavy breaths, he felt one thing... he felt lost, in the abyss.

Keiaru stopped abruptly as she saw the dark dome of fog surrounding Fujima's presence. She quickly had to duck under the swipe of an axe and parry an incoming blade, but the third dagger slipped past her, grazing her thigh. She grit her teeth, parrying another blade aimed for her arms. The axe wielder tried to slam his blade down on her, to his mistake. The weakened structure of the house was broken further by the man which he fell through and was stomped harshly on the back of his head before he could rise. Then the dagger wielders tried to rush Keiaru but were swatted through the walls by the sharp end of her blade, ensuring they would not rise. Her swift destruction of the four bandit's formation came to an end when she mustered all of the strength in her good leg to dash toward the last bandit, only to feint a strike from above and chop his neck, finishing with a boot to the side of the head.

The group was finished and now Keiaru had to catch up to Fujima, she stumbled due to her thigh being cut stammering up to the unstable roof to find Fujima and that black fog.

Once she was on the roof she tried to tune into the spirit world but the glowing city flickered between it and its grim counterpart but that wasn't what startled her, the fog had the face of a woman in it and Fujima's presence was gone along with the mass of dark energy with him. "Fujima!!" a surge of adrenaline propelled her to his last location the black fog dissipating once she arrived. But Fujima was truly gone.

In the distance Renzo heard her shout Fujima's name, his gaze sharpening as he charged at Yūriki his fist cocked back. Yūriki was able to muster a defense but the force that so easily thwarted his attacks assaulted his arms, shoving them apart as the flat end of Renzo's blade bashed against his ribs, the chain of cracking flowing in the air.

Renzo considered attacking Kumotaro but decided to use that energy to meet with Keiaru as soon as possible "Give up if you wish to live kid." Renzo warned as he passed the archer with ease. His feet planted with each step in his sprint toward his daughter.

Standing over Fujima in a room lit by blue flames Horeou's voice pierced through the Fujima's soul "You are the only one who can open the gate Fujima. You were born for that purpose." A hand cupped his shoulder, cold and pale. "But you need to see the world first." A dim purple glow began to emanate from the pale hand, illuminating Fujima's veins from where it touched.

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