“At the end of the day, if you can have a nice laugh afterwards, then it’s all good”

* * *

Nagare: “Be one with the flame, feel it burning on the inside”

Nagare: “Ignite!”

Naturally, nothing happened.

All he did was end up looking really silly in front of a bonfire.

Nagare: “Nothing again, huh”

Shoyo: “You know that shouting louder is not going to make any difference, right?”

Nagare: “Shoyo! Weren’t you sleeping?”

Shoyo: “I am not now”

Nagare: “You have your eyes closed even when you are awake, how am I supposed to tell the difference?!”

Shoyo: “It is not that hard to see without using your eyes, you know”

Nagare: “How do you even navigate?”

Shoyo: “I sense chi around me, it gives me good enough of a picture”

Nagare: “Really? When I close my eyes, all I see is darkness”

Shoyo: “Then you are lucky”

Nagare: “How so?”

Shoyo: “Sometimes, I wish all I saw was darkness as well. But instead, all I see are things I would rather forget”

Nagare: “You know, we are partners, but I know next to nothing about you”

Shoyo: “Are we not supposed to be best friends by now?”

Nagare: “Best friends who don’t know anything about each other”

Shoyo: “True”

Nagare: “Are you married?”

Shoyo: “Are you hitting on me?”

Nagare: “Shoyo!”

Shoyo: “No, I am not. Considering how long I have been around, that is a little surprising”

Nagare: “Any family?”

Shoyo: “I have two brothers….well, I had two brothers”

Nagare: “That’s rough”

Shoyo: “That sword you carry, it is your family heirloom, is it not?”

Nagare: “Yeah, it belonged to my brother, and to my father before him, and his father before him”

Nagare: “And now it is all I have left of them”

Shoyo: “None of us chose the circumstances of our beginnings, but I daresay, we have some degree of choice of our endings”

Nagare: “How would you like to meet your end?”

Shoyo: “I wish to leave it up to you”

Nagare: “What does that supposed to mean?”

Kai: “Are you two done talking about how much you love each other?”

Nagare: “Kai! You were awake too!”

Kai: “Who wouldn’t be, with you two talking so much?”

Nagare: “So much for me and Yama san being on guard duty”

Kai: “Where is Mr. Yama?”

Nagare: “He went to scout the area”

Kai: “He is pretty amazing. Our order is lucky to have him in our ranks. Whoever was his teacher must be pretty proud of him”

Shoyo whispered: “I am”

Nagare: “One day, I want to be just as strong as Yama san.”

Kai: “Do you really think you can? Even among the Guardians, he is one of the best. Reaching his level sounds like a far-fetched dream”

Nagare: “I don’t care how difficult it is. No matter what it takes, I have to get stronger”

Shoyo: “You can try PP Training”

Nagare: “What?”

Shoyo: “But it will only make your lower body stronger, not much use for a swordsman”

Nagare: “What?”

Sometimes, Shoyo’s words made Nagare question just how his brain functions.

Shoyo: “Cherry boy, huh? No worries, you will understand one day”

Kai: “Besides, you don’t even have the same affinity as he does, so your style would be radically different from his. But at the end of the day, all it boils down to is martial arts, swordsmanship styles and the like. They are humanity’s only way of countering the power of monsters”

Nagare: “What if a monster learned martial arts?”

Kai: “Then we will have a monster unlike any other to deal with”

Nagare: “Good thing that is never gonna happen”

Kai: “Agreed”

As if in response, Shoyo sneezed.

* * *

Assassin Lin Kuan: “There is no way one of them is a Legendary Monster”

Assassin Bou Fei: “Our amulets are never wrong, our leader said so”

Hiding on top of the trees, the two assassins were concealed from the sight of Demon Hunters. Erasing their presence is an essential skill that every assassin had mastered. Unless someone specialized in detecting chi, they would not be found.

Lin Kuan: “But if it is a Legendary Monster, then we might have a once in a lifetime opportunity”

Bou Fei: “Or a big disaster and we have to run for our lives”

Lin Kuan: “Just think of it, if we bring in the head of one of the Legendary Monsters, we will not only get the reward but can also become the Shadow Killers!”

Many organizations existed within the kingdom. Among them, not a single one was as feared as the Shadow League, a guild comprised of the world’s greatest assassins.

They did not fight on the side of justice or any kind of order, only to get a bounty for their kills.

The ten strongest members were called the Shadow Killers.

It did not matter if their target was a human or monster, the Shadow League’s members would swiftly dispatch the target.

Bounties varied depending on difficulty of the missions.

The ones that had the highest bounties among monsters were the 7 Legendary Monsters.

Each one is said to be able to take on an entire army and win.

Head of one of the Legendary Monsters was worth at least million gold coins, enough money for three generations to live in luxury.

Lin Kuan: “None of them look like a giant rat, so not the Shadow Vermin”

Bou Fei: “Not the Crimson Ogre either”

Lin Kuan: “Black Dragon is said to be a humanoid, but none of them looks like a bipedal lizard”

Bou Fei: “Not the Battle Beast either, they are too small to be him”

Lin Kuan: “None of them have wings, so Divine Devil is out of the question”

Bou Fei: “They don’t seem to have any mismatched body parts. Very unlikely to be the Chimera”

Lin Kuan: “Which leaves…”

Lin Kuan and Bou Fei: “The Yaksha”

It is said to be a monster that could disguise itself as human and fool anyone not careful enough to notice.

From what their leader has told them, long ago, there used to be countless such wild monsters roaming the world. Monsters with no natural weakness, savage warriors that were a menace to humans and monsters alike.

Best of the human heroes worked together to purge those monsters from the face of the earth….all except one.

Out of all the Legendary Monsters, Yaksha is said to be the easiest to find but hardest to deal with.

Bou Fei: “There are four of them. Which one is the Yaksha?”

Shoyo: “I will give you a hint”

Right behind them, a man with closed eyes snuck up without them even noticing until he talked.

Bou Fei and Lin Kuan: “! ”

Just how he was able to sneak upon two highly trained assassins who had erased their presence?

Shoyo: “Now, now, take it easy, I am not here to fight”

They started to throw shurikens at him, but he simply swatted them away with a tree branch.

Bou Fei: “Die!”

It was meant to be a sword stab that pierced through the Yaksha’s heart, but what he hit was merely an after-image.

Somehow, he simply vanished before reappearing right behind him.

Shoyo proceeded to put Bou Fei in a choke hold.

Shoyo: “Time to take a nap”

Without any air to breath, Bou Fei collapsed like a sack of potatoes.

Lin Kuan: “Bou Fei!”

Shoyo: “Don’t worry, he is still alive”

With his sword in his hand, Lin Kuan was facing off against a Legendary Monster, knowing full well he might not go back alive.

Shoyo: “No need to be so on guard, young man”

Lin Kuan: “Step away from him!”

Shoyo: “As you wish”

Shoyo simply kicked Bou Fei’s limp body away.

Shoyo: “Now you have a choice. Fight me and face a certain doom or…”

Shoyo: “You can hear my request and leave this place in one piece”

Lin Kuan: “What is your request?”

Shoyo: “Smart choice. Tell your master, ‘hello’, from me”