Hyobanshi suddenly felt his eyes roll forward, looking down to see he was holding the hand of one of his samurai brothers. Hyobanshi jumped, letting go of their hand as his sword pulled out of the samurai’s chest.
The samurai stared with a look of pure depression before dropping dead to the ground.
All around Hyobanshi was hundreds of corpses.
All of the samurai that Hyobanshi was fighting alongside were dead, left to be nothing but mangled and destroyed corpses.
All of the tents were on fire or left nothing but piles of ashes covering burned and charred bodies.
Hyobanshi was breathing heavily when he looked down at his sword, coated in so much blood that the steel was no longer visible. He looked down at his armor, which was completely destroyed and covered in blood and guts.
Hyobanshi reached up, touching his face and feeling the blood already beginning to dry and stain his skin.
Hyobanshi dropped his sword and began to rub his face aggressively, clawing it once he realized the blood wasn’t coming off.
Hyobanshi screamed at the top of his lungs.
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“You…”
Hyobanshi snapped back to the present day, looking over his shoulder at Arata who had drawn his sword.
“You were the one who killed my army!” Arata shouted.
Yasuke stepped away from Hyobanshi while the Kotodama practitioners were all clearly afraid despite the unchanging masks.
“I have a darkness inside of me Arata. I left to live away from everyone. I never wanted to be bothered, in fear of it coming out again. I only left my home because I feel I can use this darkness to kill these Demons and save the people of the land…something that I never got to do before.” Hyobanshi said.
Arata’s face was pure rage as he slashed his sword.
Hyobanshi moved with ease, almost as fluid as air as he stepped to the side and quickly appeared behind Arata.
“I will not fight you…but I can not make any promises for him.” Hyobanshi said, his body subtly shaking as his eyes were trying to roll back, but he forced them to stay in place.
Arata gritted his teeth and quickly slashed his sword.
Hyobanshi’s eyes forcefully rolled back as his hand quickly shot up, catching the blade with his bare hand. His palm was sliced wide open, blood pouring out to the ground and running down the metal blade, but after a few seconds the blood was suddenly moving backwards and back into the hand, the cut sealing up instantly.
Hyobanshi stared into Arata’s eyes.
Hyobanshi’s eyes were a deep, violent shade of red.
His mouth grinned open.
“Your men…were left screaming…for mercy…” Hyobanshi’s voice was deep and low, a demonic tone.
Arata was in fear as he tried to pull his sword back, but Hyobanshi’s hand suddenly clenched down into a fist, the blade shattering into pieces and falling to the ground.
Hyobanshi’s head tilted to the side as he took a step forward, Arata being so scared that he fell backwards.
Hyobanshi’s hand moved to his side, tightly gripping his sword as it was slowly removed from its sheath.
“Hyobanshi!” Yasuke shouted.
Hyobanshi lifted the sword up and went to slash down, but Yasuke quickly grabbed Arata and forcefully pulled him back.
The sword hit the ground hard with his blade, lifting it back up slowly.
Yasuke quickly drew his own sword, stepping in front of Arata.
“I know you are in there. Just come on out so we can talk.” Yasuke said.
“Your friend isn’t here right now.” Hyobanshi’s mouth moved, but something else was speaking.
Hyobanshi’s sword swung again, Yasuke lifting his up to block it as sparks flew from the force.
Yasuke stumbled back and blocked another frantic and wild swing of the sword.
Yasuke dodged another slash by rolling out of the way.
“Hey, can somebody tell me what’s happening?” Itachi asked loudly.
Hyobanshi’s head turned and looked at the man blinded by blood and a bandage. Hyobanshi’s body began to quickly make its way over, Itachi stopping as he looked forward.
Hyobanshi’s sword swung out, but Itachi stepped out of the way.
Everyone looked surprised as Hyobanshi aggressively went for another swing, but Itachi once again dodged it.
“How am I…” Itachi started, but dodged another swing before he suddenly punched Hyobanshi right in the rib cage, followed immediately with a jumping kick to his chin as he backflipped, landing on his feet.
Everyone looked at Itachi and Hyobanshi, stepping back to see what would happen next.
“Why are you just standing here not doing anything?” Arata loudly shouted as he ran to Kiki and the Kotodama practitioners.
None of them responded, only watching as the fight continued.
“Hey!” Arata shouted loudly.
Kiki turned to look at him.
She turned back, then began to mutter some words very quickly.
All of the other practitioners put their hands up to cover their ears.
“What in the…” Atrata started.
Kiki shouted the final word she spoke, a sonic blast exploding forward from where she stood.
It wasn’t forcefull, but every person it hit suddenly collapsed to the ground unconscious.
Kiki looked over at the practitioners behind her, who all slowly uncovered their ears.
“Bring them into the village. Apart. We will be asking them all questions.” Kiki ordered.
All of the practitioners bowed before they made their way over to the bodies, lifting them up and carrying them through the large red gate.
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Hyobanshi slowly woke up, his eyes back to normal as he groaned.37Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcb3RAt1BqO
He was laying on the floor of a small home, staring up at the ceiling.
His body was in pain, a soreness that filled every muscle.
The only light came from candles all over the floor, illuminating the floor and walls with a warm orange hue, but the light was swallowed by darkness before it could reach the ceiling.
When Hyobanshi tried to move, his body was forcefully held down.
He turned to look at his limbs, all of which were restrained with thick ropes tied into powerful knots.
Hyobanshi tried to force his arms up, but the ropes were too strong.
“I have him under control.” Hyobanshi said loudly, hoping somebody was inside to hear him.
“That seems to not be true.” Kiki said as she emerged from the shadows, standing over Hyobanshi laying on the ground.
“I can keep him away.” Hyobanshi replied.
“The only way that we will possibly trust you enough to set you free is if that Demon is removed from your body.” Kiki said.
Hyobanshi looked up at her like she was crazy, lifting his head off of the ground.
“You’re going to try and remove it? That is incredibly dangerous.” Hyobanshi said, his neck straining to stay up off of the ground.
“Dangerous for you…or dangerous for us?” Kiki asked.
Hyobanshi sighed and gritted his teeth.
“Both. I have had the Demon inside of me for years. Removing it will be putting me on the edge of death. I won’t die, but it will feel like I am. I will feel sick and weak forever until he is back. Once it is out, there will be no limits to its violent power. It can only do so much with my human body, but you setting it free will be more dangerous than an out of control fire.” Hyoanshi said as he pulled against the ropes again.
“What do we do now?” Kiki asked him, slowly lowering herself onto her knees next to his body.
Hyobanshi stared at the ceiling, deep in thought.
Kiki’s hand slowly moved to touch his, her fingers resting on his palm.
“I know you may not see it…but you are a great warrior. You are the legend that these people need. You are the only person who can keep them safe, so whatever you decide shouldn’t be for you. It should be for them.” Kiki said.
Hyobanshi kept staring into the dark void.
“I will keep it under control. And if I don’t, then you can do whatever it takes to stop me.” Hyobanshi said, shifting his back around to try and get comfortable again.
“We will think of a way to save you.” Kiki said.
“No.” Hyobanshi quickly said, turning his head to look at her mask.
”No saving. If I am unable to regain control, you must end my life. It is the only way to protect the people.” Hyobanshi said.
“We do not sacrifice lives.” Kiki replied.
“You are sacrificing one life for thousands. It is a worthy trade.” Hyobanshi said.
Kiki stared back at him, her fingers still softly rubbing his palm as he laid on the ground.
“Okay…I shall give you my word.” Kiki said after moments of silence.
Hyobanshi softly nodded before laying his head back on the floor. His eyes slowly shut as he took a deep breath.
He laid for a few seconds in silence.
“Can I get up now?” He asked.
“Only if you are on your best behavior.” Kiki replied in a slightly joking way.
Hyobanshi smirked.
“Of course.” He said, his eyes still closed.
Kiki began to softly mumble words to herself.
The ropes around Hyobanshi’s limbs loosened before completely removing themselves from him.
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