Akashi continued his search for the survivors inside the burning city and was able to find a few more kids around 8-12 years old. He always used Kiyomi to transport them to safety.
'...It's no longer safe using Kiyomi to transport them out of here and I also killed some of their members so they should start getting suspicious. They will never find their bodies since I burned them but that doesn't mean that their absence won't be suspicious. Anyway, thanks to Isuku and Orochi's distractions, I was able to save quite a few of those kids.' Akashi thought while "looking" around himself.
"Hm." Akashi looked up just to see Kiyomi slowly landing next to him.
"Hide inside my shadow, the flames are weakening and the smoke is slowly clearing up. You will no longer be able to stealthily fly away." Akashi said and Kiyomi just nodded her head and got sucked inside Akashi's shadow.
Akashi was actually wondering how it feels for them to hide there and he even asked once but they just told him that it's like they have their own world there which was completely opposite what Akashi anticipated. He thought that there is only darkness or that they see what he sees but it was definitely an interesting discovery.
'Although I don't like to leave while I can still hear screams of some survivors, there is no way if I don't want to be discovered. Plus I took as many kids as I could since slaughtering innocent kids is really a bit out of the line, even for the Empire. But I understand that they need to make an example out of them and also that they need to get rid of the roots...They wouldn't want those kids to grow up and join Rebels to get revenge.' Akashi thought and started slowly leaving and before he left the city, he stopped right near the hole inside the wall.
He stretched his arm upwards and send a pillar of flames towards the sky that towered over the entire city. He kept the pillar there for a few seconds before he quickly stopped pouring energy into his hand. He immediately exited the city through the gap in the wall and started running away from the city towards the forest at full speed while holding his hood on.
[Energy: 1490/1515]
---
On the other side of the city, Orochi, and Isuku were rampaging, occasionally killing a few members of the Incineration Squad and members of the Dark Squad. But mostly, they were running away from them while destroying things around them.
However, when they saw the pillar of flames in the distance area of the city, they started retreating back to the forest, making it look like they were afraid of the Incineration Squad's flame spouting weapons.
"Shit! We couldn't even kill them!" One of the members said.
"Don't chase after those worthless Danger Beasts, we need to check what happened back there!"
"What do you think happened, Captain?"
"How should I know?! We already marked the places and storages with explosive materials but maybe we missed something. Leave a few members in this area and the rest follow me!"
---
All the kids were sitting on the grassy ground while resting their backs against trees, all of them were unconscious, some of them were already found like that and some of them were knocked out by Akashi himself to prevent any further trouble.
"...Mm...Kana? Kana?!" One of the rescued kids named Tetsu just regained consciousness and started looking around for his sister but when he saw her sitting next to him, resting her back against the tree while resting her head on his shoulder, he heaved a sigh of relief.
"Oh? You are already up...looks like you are pretty tough for a kid of your age, how old are you anyway?" Akashi said which alarmed Tetsu who has yet to take a careful look around his surroundings since he was focused only on his sister.
'What is this?!' Tetsu thought with a shocked expression when he saw numerous kids in the vicinity, some of them had burns on their arms but that didn't matter since he could recognize some of them and he knew that they were from the same city.
When he saw Akashi sitting in the cross-legged position, an enraged expression appeared on his face. He put Kana's head against the tree so she wouldn't fall and he got up just to take a nearby stick from the ground, taking it into his two hands.
"...A little ungrateful aren't we?" Akashi said with a small curious smile, still sitting with his arms folded.
"You-! I know people like you! You are like those evil government officials. I won't let you do anything to my sister! AAAH!!!" Tetsu said and then started running towards Akashi while releasing his motivating cry.
"HIYAH!!" He swung the stick as if it was a sword in a horizontal motion, aiming for Akashi's neck.
Akashi dodged the stick by leaning his head backward and then when he saw the moment when Tetsu's balance was at its most vulnerable moment after having his attack dodged, he tripped him with only the help of one hand.
"Agh" Tetsu released a groan of pain when he has fallen down while holding his arm which he had fallen down on.
Despite feeling the pain, he quickly stood up and tried to attack Akashi a few more times just to fall down in the same way. Only after around 20 tries, he remained to lie on the ground with a pained expression.
"*sigh* Are you done, kiddo? I am not someone who is going to do something bad to you, I just saved you. And until you cool down, I won't be giving you this" Akashi said while he took the bottle half-filled with ashes.
"...W-What's that?" Tetsu asked with a pained voice, maybe with a speck of helplessness.
"I won't tell you since it would only anger you more, but trust me, it's something you want and something important for you." Akashi replied with a stoic expression before hiding the bottle away from Tetsu's eyes.
"..." Tetsu didn't say anything and only had a thoughtful look on his face, thinking about Akashi's words.
'Something I want, something important...Agh! Could it be...?!' Tetsu felt a mild pain in the head and he just recalled the death of his father which also caused him to figure out what was inside that bottle.
"You-! Give it to me! P-Please!" Tetsu outstretched his arm towards Akashi and said at first with a strong look in his face but that quickly changed when his eyes teared up when he saw Akashi's stoic expression.
"...*sigh* I guess that's one way to calm down, at least feeling the sorrow is better than anger right now." Akashi looked at Tetsu's face for a few seconds before he sighed and gave the bottle into his hand.
.
.
"T-Thank you...Aren't you blind? How were you able to dodge all of my attacks?" Tetsu said after a few minutes of complete silence. Just him lying near Akashi while hugging the bottle and hearing the birds sing.
"Who ever said that I am blind? Anyway, you are quite brave to take up such beating and keep getting up despite knowing that it's pointless." Akashi asked with a small smile while tilting his head to the side before he complimented Tetsu.
"Mm...Tetsu?!! Are you alright?" Kana, Tetsu's sister finally woke up and immediately run up to lying Tetsu, dropping on her knees.
"Kana!" Tetsu's expression brightened when he saw his sister wake up.
Akashi just let them have their sibling moment.
Kana suddenly stood up and approached Akashi
"Um, sir...W-What happened to my brother?" She stopped right in front of him and asked with a determined face but she was constantly fidgeting.
"He is stubborn one, I guess you know that very well." Akashi replied with a small smile while looking at a little girl in front of him. He already got the description of their hair color from Kiyomi. Both of them were blond and Kana had shoulder-length hair while Tetsu had short spiky hair. He also answered in this way because he saw Tetsu's attacks.
'That kid's form wasn't that bad, he sure is inexperienced and let himself get attacked 20 times in the same way but he has some basics which could be only taught by a real teacher, a real swordsman. Even basics can be separated into good ones, adequate ones, and then bad ones. He has good basics so it couldn't be anyone from such a small city, even if his own father was a guard, they have at most adequate basics and most of them are even using spears or firearms.
"...Yeah, he is..." Kana could feel that Akashi's smile was friendly and she couldn't help but reply with a smile while blushing a bit from being embarrassed by her brother.
Kana soon noticed what Tetsu was hugging and so he explained it to her. She immediately teared up but no longer made any sounds of sobbing, she only let her tears pour down her cheeks.
.
.
After helping Tetsu with recovery from his bruises, both Kana and Tetsu nervously stood in front of Akashi who was also finally standing.
"Do you two have anyone who can take care of you?" Akashi asked with folded arms.
"Um, there might be someone!" Kana was the first one to reply with uncertain face.
"Kana! We can't do that, we are already indebted to her..." Tetsu said with a sad expression.
"Who is 'her' you are speaking about? You don't need to be wary around me, whether you want to go or not is something you have to decide among yourselves." Akashi reassured them.
"*sigh* Akame-neechan might be able to take care of us but I don't know for sure." Tetsu replied with a difficult expression.
'Hm? So that's where he has gotten those basics of swordsmanship.' Akashi thought with a slightly surprised expression.
"I wouldn't consider Akame as an option. After all, she is together with those who burned your city and killed your father." Akashi said while shaking his head.
"What?! Lies! She would never help those who did that!" Tetsu immediately started shouting with an angered expression which meant that he cares for Akame quite a lot despite knowing her for at most one week.
"...You know Akame-neechan, sir?" Kana didn't get angry and instead asked with a composed expression.
"That's right, and kiddo, I said that she is together with your enemy but I never said that she helped them to do it or that she helped them knowingly. These are two completely different things, remember that and try to be a bit calmer like your sister. If you want to swing around with a sword, you mustn't swing it with your emotions, anger will lead you only to mistakes and impatience. I take it that she was the one who taught you how to swing around with a weapon, right?" Akashi replied to Kana before he turned his attention to Tetsu.
"...That's right but what should we do if we can't depend on Akame-neechan?" Tetsu asked with a confused and lost expression but this question wasn't intended for anyone to answer, it was a question out of the desperation.
'