“It seems that there’s no more point in talking.”

Without waiting for a response, the leader of the masked figures rushed at Kira, his greatsword held in one hand ripping open a trench in the ground where it dragged.

‘What’s up with this guy? He’s leaving so many openings.’

Kira thought as she met his oncoming momentum by running forward herself. She was about to swing her katana at his exposed torso when a sudden pressure caused her to pause.

That greatsword which almost seemed to have no presence suddenly felt like it was a howling wolf as the masked man gripped it with both hands and slashed upwards. The weight of it alone caused distortions in the air where it slashed, forcing Kira to block the sudden attack, left hand on the back of her blade.

Although she blocked successfully, the impact of that single strike shook her through to her bones and forced her back several steps. The masked man appeared to hesitate for a fraction of a second before pressing his advantage.

Bringing his huge weapon above his head, he smashed down towards Kira’s skull, a strike that would surely cleave her in two. Still shaken by the previous attack, Kira forced her body to move as she dived to the side, the huge blade passing by her and embedding itself in the ground.

Taking her chance, she sliced towards the man’s gut but he moved swiftly behind his weapon, using it as a shield before yanking it out of the ground and stepping back while resting the sword against his shoulder.

“Not bad. I didn’t expect someone so young to be this good. It’s really a shame that you chose to die today, you have such potential.”

Those words shook Kira’s ironclad resolve.

‘Yes, it would be a waste if someone of your talent were to die. Had you accepted my marriage proposal back then you could have prevented this whole situation from coming to pass. However, it is too late now…’

They echoed the words of that other masked man in the minutes before her death, the same one who had brought ruin to her home and killed her adoptive family.

Kira’s usually meticulous self-control cracked in that moment causing her eyes to redden.

‘Once again it’s kill or be killed. I have no reason to hold back anything anymore.’

After Oda Yamato spoke he noticed a change in Kira’s demeanour. Where originally she was smooth and clear as a lake, to the focused fieriness of a torch flame as she argued against him, now she appeared to have the presence of a wildfire, a rampaging blaze that would burn any that dared get close.

Yamato secretly gulped.

‘This is definitely not the kind of aura a seven year-old girl should have. Just what kind of messed-up things did she go through growing up? Hell, she’s still growing up.’

He thought to himself as that gaze filled with killing intent pierced through his eyes into his mind and made his hands tremble. He knew, for one thing, that fighting this girl was the last thing he wanted to do, but it may well be the last thing he ever did.

Kira, oblivious to the effect she was having on the masked man before her, only saw the image of her one true enemy. The fact that he was already dead was a minor detail. Tightening her grip on her sword, she slowly walked forward. She instinctually knew through the red haze that, with her mental state as it was now, there was no way she had the self-control to use her Iai techniques to their maximum efficiency. It didn’t matter though, she still had the rest of her deck in hand.

Suddenly, she brought her sword to her hip and stepped hard off the ground, shooting forward. The masked man had barely registered the change in her speed, let alone the abnormal movement of the air around her, before stabbing his greatsword into the ground to block.

Golden energy surged through Kira’s body and out through her katana as she slashed forwards horizontally, both hands on the hilt for maximum power.

“Wind Rending.”

Her low cry was barely registered by the masked man as their weapons collided and an almost invisible energy ripple shot out from her blade, cutting through the masked man’s body. Although his block reduced the overall force, and hence the cutting force, somewhat, those sides of his body that weren’t covered by his greatsword were left with deep gashes as the cutting wave passed through him.

He coughed up a mouthful of blood and retaliated. Pushing Kira back with his sheer size and strength, he raised his greatsword above his head and gust of wind that crackled with sparks rose around him, his pupils carrying a trace of gold.

‘This is…an Advanced-ranked Skill?’

Kira realised. Without time to dodge, it was all she could do to raise her sword above her head, flat of the blade outwards, and support it with her left hand as the massive strike came down from above her.

“Mountain Crusher!”

“Rejection!”

Kira hurriedly countered with her own Skill as the weapons made contact.

The two forces collided and massive waves of energy were flung out in all directions as the two Skills fought for supremacy, the air severely distorting around the point of contact and causing both Kagetsuna and the other white-robed fighters to pause and watch.

SHOOOM!

In terms of pure pushing force, Kira’s Rejection was ultimately stronger and, combined with the mutually rejecting forces emitted by the two Skills, launched the man flying several meters where he tumbled along the ground while losing his grip on his weapon. But could the power of Kira’s high-level Basic Skill compare with an Advanced-ranked Skill? Of course not.

When comparing sheer impact power, even among low-level Advanced Skills, that Mountain Crusher when mastered to at least 50% had a kind of tyrannical strength that most mid-level Advanced Skills at less than 80% mastery couldn’t match.

On top of that, from Kira’s position when she received the attack, she had to withstand the massive downward force of that Mountain Crusher as well as the energy pulsations of the colliding Skills as they tried to pulverise her into the ground.

When the two split apart, Kira was left standing there in the same position, her feet embedded 5 centimetres deep in the solid earth, streams of blood running down her arms from her hands where the violent energy had stripped the skin and bits of flesh from her hands. Her head leaned forward as she vomited out a small pool of blood. Her arms hung at her sides and she only felt pain from them.

Kira didn’t scream, nor did she make any sound for that matter. Although the pain was immense, it was nothing compared to that pain that could completely paralyse her with fear. Slowly and steadily she walked towards the prone and unarmed white-robed leader, her eyes cold and empty.

The man’s mask had been blown off during the energy explosion, revealing a young face that wasn’t particularly handsome but held a pair of piercing blue eyes.

Kira’s bloodlust faded somewhat as she saw that this opponent really wasn’t her sworn enemy from that other life. Moreover, it was the familiar face of that Junior Clan Leader of the Oda Clan himself, Oda Yamato!

As Kira’s fight began, that appeared to be the signal for the other eight white-clothed masked figures to begin their fight with her brother, Kagetsuna.

Kagetsuna kept calm as he carefully observed his opponents with both his eyes and his Soul Sense, looking for any sign of an attack. When the first one came, he was ready for it.

The first figure rushed forward with a simple two-handed war axe, cutting broad swathes through the air as he advanced on Kagetsuna. With a simple duck, Kagetsuna avoided his horizontal swing and raised his sword to block the knee coming towards his face.

The axe-man had decent enough reactions to avoid cutting himself and instead stepped back as he swung his axe in another broad stroke. Kagetsuna easily floated backwards out of range before transitioning into a backflip to avoid two long daggers that impaled the ground where he had stood a second before.

A second white figure rolled forward, swiping up the daggers, before engaging Kagetsuna with a series of fast attacks, aiming for his neck, head and other vitals. While it wasn’t as elegant as the swordsmanship Kagetsuna had seen from Kira before, the speed at which the daggers moved made it more challenging to tell the true attacks from the feints.

As he managed to lock the two daggers against the, seemingly female, fighter, his active Soul Sense warned him that another figure was moving. Shoving against the dagger-user, he dived to the side just as a sickle on a chain cut through the air and twined around the dagger-user’s weapons.

While the sickle-user was sorting out his mess, the closest white figure cut towards Kagetsuna with his long spear. The spearhead was large and trident-shaped, each prong double-edged and especially good at trapping a sword if the wielder wasn’t careful.

“If nothing else, you Oda guys sure have quite a bit of variety in your Disciplines. It’s pretty fun to go against something other than katanas for a change.”

The masked figures didn’t reply and kept up their assault. From the way they were fighting him, Kagetsuna learned a number of things. First was that this group was used to fighting together, unlike those random squads of clan members who thought they could win against him.

Second, they weren’t trying to beat him.

From the way they were engaging him in one-versus-ones, only interfering when they had an opportunity and rotating to save energy, it was clear that their objective was simply to stall for time.

‘This is really gonna be tough. Unless I actually try to beat all of these guys, even though their Soul Energy and Life Energy cultivations aren’t nearly as high as mine, they’re just gonna tire me out and I won’t be able to help Kira.’

Once this realisation hit him, he knew what he had to do.

Kagetsuna furrowed his brows as he circulated the Life Energy from his muscles and focused it into his bloodstream. His skin took on a pinkish hue as the internal temperature inside his body rose and the surface of his skin became slick with sweat.

“Overdrive, first stage.”

Firmly gripping his sword, Kagetsuna drove it forcefully between the prongs of his opponent’s trident and, with a vicious twist of his arms, ripped the trident from the latter’s grasp. With a rapid attack that most of the white figures could barely see, let alone react to, Kagetsuna cut across the trident-user’s torso. The blood made a wide arc as it painted those white clothes red and wet the ground as the trident-user fell to the ground, clutching his wound.

Kagetsuna couldn’t help but flinch at the sight of the red streak dying the man’s robe. While he enjoyed fighting, he had never been in a serious battle before, one where life and death was at stake. This was also his first time fighting with the sharp-edged katana and the first time he had drawn blood.

A slight shuffling in the dust was the only warning before the no-longer-smiling youth reappeared before the dagger- and chain-sickle-users from before. As he swung his blade, they began to block. But the resistance they expected never came. Instead, a sharp intense pain came from their legs as metal slid against bone causing them to fall to the ground.

Looking down at themselves, the two unfortunate masked figures saw that the flesh on their legs was neatly parted, revealing the bone beneath.

Then the real pain of having a large number of severed nerves hit them.

Forcing himself to ignore the howls of pain, that were piercing into his mind and heart, behind him, Kagetsuna advanced on the remaining five white-clothed figures. On his third step he nearly tripped and a pained expression crossed his face.

‘No, not yet. It’s too early.’

This technique used by Kagetsuna was one unique to Life Energy. When reaching the Muscle Tempering stage of cultivation, he could greatly raise his physical abilities by rapidly depleting his body’s stored energy. However, with his current level of cultivation, he was unable to get more than a 20% boost to both his strength and speed. Moreover, he couldn’t maintain it for more than an absolute maximum of two minutes at his peak condition without taking a massive toll on his body.

It was around this time that his Soul Sense picked up on two powerful Skills being Released behind him. He turned around to see Kira and that leader, blades locked, the energy fluctuations of their colliding Skills causing particles of earth to rise around them while sending out great gusts of wind. With his experienced eye, he could tell that Kira’s Skill was actually weaker.

Seeing an opportunity, two of the remaining white figures, one wielding a large reaper scythe while the other held a thin sword meant for stabbing, made their move.

“Two-Score Piercing!” [1]

“Execution!”

Wind rose around them as they activated their Weapon Skills. Kagetsuna shook his head as he regained his focus and trod hard on the ground, vanishing before their eyes, only to reappear between them, breathing heavily. Having lost their target and not wanting to injure their allies, those two white figures had no choice but let their fused energies dissipate.

In that moment known as the one where new strength has yet to replace the old, Kagetsuna struck, his katana a blur of steel as he spun it around him, lashing at their guts and drawing streams of blood from them. Kagetsuna closed his eyes as their blood spurted all around him, drenching his black training robe and plastering his hair to his face.

SHOOOM!

Kagetsuna hurriedly opened his eyes and glanced to the side. When he saw the state of Kira’s body, his heart ached and his eyes reddened.

“Kira!”

“Yamato!”

Kagetsuna watched as one of the last three white-robed figures ripped his mask off revealing a face that wasn’t even twenty years-old. As that youth ran forward to try and help his leader, Kagetsuna was suddenly in front of him.

Coughing up a mouthful of blood, Kagetsuna slowly advanced on him, a fine layer of steam rising off of his body. His figure was hunched and he had a serious expression on his face. Combined with his bloody appearance and weapon, he looked just like the demon he was nicknamed after.

“Even if the heavens and earth try to interfere now, there’s no way I’ll forgive you.”

š“It’s actually you. I didn’t think that the Oda Clan would be stupid enough to send its heir to do this kind of dirty work.”

Kira’s cold voice cut through Yamato’s mind.

“You don’t understand. When father got word of your refusal, he was beyond furious. He believed that by sending me, I would get the job done. If I didn’t, then I wasn’t worthy of becoming the Clan Leader of the Oda Clan. Returning in failure is basically seeking death.”

“So I’m just supposed to give up my life because your father has issues with you? I don’t think so. If it’s between your life or mine, mine is infinitely more valuable to me.”

Kira pointed her blade at the pathetic-looking Yamato who was laying on the ground, preventing him from rising while she spoke.

“How about I make you a deal? Leave me alone and I’ll spare your life. Then I’ll try to clear up this confusion with your father.”

“D-Deal!”

Yamato replied without hesitation. He valued his life more than anything. Besides, he still hadn’t found a girl that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. This was the sole thing keeping this average person going.

“Good, then let’s-”

SPTCH!

Yamato stared in surprise as he heard a strange sound and the world tilted at strange angles. His last thoughts were,

‘Oh look, there’s my body.’

Kira’s reddened face blanched as the head of Yamato disappeared from in front of her, his neck spitting blood, some of which sprayed onto her small face.

“That kid was always going to be useless. No use having a pawn without the ambition to be a king.”

“Who’s there?”

Kira looked around desperately for the source of the voice. When she turned back to Yamato’s body, there was a hooded figure in a purple robe standing there, a strange wavy dagger in-hand that was softly dripping blood.

Kira hastily stepped back, only to have her body hit something solid. She turned around to find that same figure behind her, somehow having crossed the distance in an instant. Kira weakly swung her sword but only cut empty air. A hoarse screeching sound rang out repeatedly as Kira turned once more to see the hooded figure’s shoulders bouncing up and down. It appeared to be laughing.

“HeeHeeHee. Little girl, your reflexes are good, abnormally so. Come, join us. We will give you whatever you desire until you become strong enough to take it for yourself.”

“I’m not interested. You’ll pay for what you did to him.”

“Who’ll make me pay? The Oda Clan? HeeHee. They’re already under our thumbs. That power-crazed fool couldn’t care less about whether his own son died but, if it gives him an excuse to wage war, there’s no doubt that we’ll assist him. Ooooooh pawns like those are the best!”

“Yamato may not have been the strongest or most talented but he was at least willing to listen to reason and do the right thing.”

In the short time since Kira had learned Yamato’s true identity, she’d replayed everything he said in her mind. It had suddenly dawned on her that what seemed to be threats were actually his attempts at avoiding a situation where either one of them had to die. It also gave away that there was some misunderstanding between their two clans.

However, this madman had shown up and diplomacy was thrown out the window.

“Ah, but wait, if there’s to be a clan war, he can’t know that I killed his son. HeeHee. Looks like it’s time to clean up all the witnesses.”

Disappearing from Kira’s sight again, the purple-robed figure became a blur as he dashed past her and Kagetsuna, cutting down those last few standing, white-clothed Oda Clan youth such that fountains of blood were spurting from them. Arcs of blood filled the sky as he also stabbed those defeated members till they stopped moving.

Kira and Kagetsuna hurriedly stood back to back with pale faces while witnessing the massacre right in front of them, pulses racing as the purple figure stood before them once again, calmly licking the blood off his strange dagger.

“Yeck. Killing ants is so unsatisfying and just dirties my fingers. You two, on the other hand, have such potential. I might just let you live…if you agree to join us.”

[1] Score - a unit of twenty.