We kept on advancing with Poney and she was slowly recovering from her wounds, it would only take some additional rest and most of her strength would return.
"Akashi, your healing technique is really miraculous-" Poney praised my ability and she thanked me already more than 3 times since I healed her.
"Ssh!" I suddenly stopped and gestured to her to be quiet.
After a while of listening, I narrowed my eyes because I could hear Kurome's voice behind the wall right next to us.
"What is it?" She asked me in a low voice.
"It looks like we found Kurome. I can hear her voice behind this wall." I replied while touching the wall.
"?! Really? But we must have missed the entrance somewhere." Poney muttered while putting her ear on the wall, trying to hear Kurome's voice.
"We have no time to look for the entrance, stand back." I said with decisive tone while pouring all of my senses to the wall I was touching with both hands.
...There shouldn't be anyone right on the other side but I can feel someone a few meters to the left so just to be sure, we should move a bit to the right.
I moved a few steps to the right and then took some distance away from the wall, Poney followed right after me, curiously observing my actions.
I condensed the flames in my hand into the spear and changed its attribute from sharp to an explosive one.
"Let's hope no one will get hurt except for enemy..." I muttered and threw the spear into the wall.
*Bang!* The curtain of dust raised and debris flew everywhere around us but the wall itself was still standing although, with a large hole inside it but still standing.
"That's a new" Poney muttered while blocking her ears from the explosion so closeby.
"Another one or two are needed to make decent entrance." I muttered with a thoughtful expression.
"You can make even more of them?!" Poney exclaimed and immediately blocked her ears.
---On the other of the wall---
Kurome was already on her knees covered in cuts caused by herself that she inflicted upon Weneg.
*Bang!* *Bang!*
"?" Weneg turned his head towards the wall where the explosions were coming from with narrowed eyes.
"What is going on?!" The silver-haired girl exclaimed when she felt the wall behind her shake with each explosion.
"...Someone is coming." The blond-haired guy answered with furrowed brows, not being sure if it's another enemy or an ally.
*BANG!* Finally, the last explosion resounded through the entire room, making a big hole inside the wall a few meters away from the shackled prisoners, sending a few debris flying inside the room but no one was hit by them.
Most of the people looked at the newly created hole covered in curtain of dust with a confused and nervous expression.
"Ah, finally, I was starting to rethink if we shouldn't really find normal entrance"
"My eardrums are probably damaged..."
"Stop complaining, I was the one who had to spend energy to crack it open"
A male and female voice resounded through the hole inside the wall and when the dust in the air dispersed, 2 figures were revealed, one was a short barefoot woman who was holding her ears and another was a taller man with red hair and red eyes together with slit pupils wearing a black military uniform.
'...That boy is strong. I need to be careful.' Weneg thought with narrowed eyes when he saw the man looking down at him, observing him with his cold eyes.
----Akashi's POV----
I looked under us just to see that floor was around a meter below the hole and then I also noticed the people who were shackled to the wall.
One blond-haired boy and one silver-haired girl that had her shirt completely tore open, revealing her peaks to everyone in the room.
"Akashi Nii-sama!"
"Poney, Akashi!" Both Tsukushi and Kurome called out to us with a surprised yet delighted expression.
I immediately turned to Kurome just to see her covered in wounds with tattered clothes and when she saw my face she has fallen on the ground from her knees with the closed eyes and peaceful smile on her face. After seeing her lose consciousness, I narrowed my eyes while turning my sharp gaze at the man with 2 horns and long black hair and cane in his hand.
"Kurome! Tsukushi! We are here to save you!" Poney immediately exclaimed with a relieved expression and jumped down from the hole to the room. She wanted immediately run to the prisoners but she was stopped by the Gravekeeper who was most likely the boss due to his stronger aura and weird transformation since most of the Gravekeepers usually transformed into some animal while his transformed parts looked more like Danger Beast.
"Stop where you are. You two got pretty deep inside our Tombs, you must be really strong but I don't think that you are stronger than my bride." He said with a disappointed expression while looking at Poney.
"Poney, be careful, he is extremely strong!" Tsukushi warned Poney so she stopped advancing any further after hearing her warning.
---
'I haven't recovered yet so I definitely can't fight someone like that..no...Even in my recovered state, it would have been just a futile struggle.' Poney thought while gritting her teeth.
---
Meanwhile, I jumped near the place where Kurome was lying and checked on her condition. After finding out that she was just unconscious and had no broken bones or damaged organs, I sighed in relief before narrowing my eyes while glaring at the man who was most likely the reason for Kurome's condition.
"You must be by bride's brother! Nice to meet you brother-in-law, haha" He said while meeting my sharp glare without any problem.
"Bride? You are not worthy of her." I replied with a cold tone and dark expression.
"Oh? It looks like brother-in-law has high expectations but I don't mind showing off a bit of my strength!" He sarcastically said and the moment I blinked her was already near me, ready to punch me in the abdomen.
Although his speed slightly surprised me, I didn't bother to dodge or block it and simply just strengthened my muscles to receive it head-on.
*Bang* I was immediately blown to the wall, creating a small hole in it with my body.
"Akashi?!" Poney immediately widened her eyes when she saw me receiving punch head-on.
"...I probably had too high hopes" He said after punching while turning his attention back to Poney while slowly approaching her.
"Ah...*crack* That's all you have got?" He immediately snapped his head back at me when he heard my bored tone just to see me completely unscratched walking towards him while cracking my neck with a small smile.
"?!...What are you boy? That punch was enough to kill any fragile human and no matter how high endurance you should have at least received small damage, your human body still has limits." He asked me with a slightly shocked expression and wide-open eyes.
*Gasp* Everyone gasped when they saw how deep was the hole I created after my crash yet I was standing and walking as if nothing happened to me at all.
"I guess I am a bit special human, nevertheless, I deem you unworthy to pursue Kurome if that was your all" I replied with a small smile.
"Tch! Don't become too arrogant, boy!" He gritted his teeth and shouted at me while he disappeared from his position.
"Die!" I heard his voice from behind me and I could feel something dangerous quickly nearing my head.
"Pff" I just released a smirk while waiting for his attack to connect.
When his fist connected with my head, or should I say when it should connect with it, my head suddenly dispersed as if it was just a hologram.
"WHAT?! An afterimage?!" He shouted with a shocked expression.
"I am already behind you~" I said in low voice with my drawn sword and cold smile.
*Screech* A crimson-colored slash of energy appeared in the middle of the room advancing through the entire room stopping only after being buried numerous meters inside the wall and ceiling.
[Health: 679/760]
[Energy: 889/1365]
...
*Splash* We both regained our distance from each other.
"To think you would be able to survive such an attack just by sacrificing your arm...You are really different from others but still not enough to pursue little Kurome-chan~" I said while looking at his cut off arm lying on the ground near his legs with a stoic expression.
"Akashi! Be careful, he is using some strange curse!" Tsukushi suddenly shouted at me with a worried expression while looking at me with wide-open eyes.
"Hehe, too late! The stronger my opponent, the stronger curse!" He started creepily laughing and strange black markings appeared near his shoulder where his arm was cut off.
I immediately felt chill down my spine.
[Fire Form]!
[Energy: 689/1365]
I didn't hesitate even a second and used my skill. My body suddenly turned into a figure of flames, pure flames.
His markings started to glow a bit and suddenly my arm made of flames has fallen off.
"WHAT?! What the hell are you?!" He shouted while looking at my body of pure flames with wide-open eyes and shocked expression.
The others weren't any different.
---
"Is he even a human, this is unbelievable! And what was that crimson energy that came out of his sword?!" The silver-haired girl exclaimed with a dropped jaw.
"...This is insane. Is this power of a select team?" The blond-haired guy muttered with a terrified expression.
"...He and Kurome aren't part of the select team. They came from the Capital to help us..." Tsukushi replied with a dumbfounded expression before glancing at Poney who was looking for any good opportunity to help Akashi.
---
I looked down at my cut off "arm" lying on the ground or more like burning on the ground.
I crouched down and with the other hand, I took it from the ground and reattached it to my shoulder. The flames immediately reattached as if nothing happened before.
"What does it matter?" I replied but since I didn't even have a mouth, only a deep changed voice came from the flames, making it even creepier.
"So I take it that your curse reflects any physical damage you receive back to your enemy. That's how you defeated Kurome and since your body is enhanced by the Danger Beast's genes, you have higher regeneration and you are tougher, making use of it against strong enemies with more fragile bodies." I muttered while canceling my own transformation, making my body appear on the flames' position in the original state.
"...Grrr, you and your Empire do whatever you want. Barging inside our tombs to steal the treasures within. I will never forgive you!" He lost his cool and shouted while pouncing at me.
"You have-" I said and then kicked off the ground to meet him head-on. He struck his hand with sharp nails at my face but I easily dodged by tilting my head to the side and then slashed my sword at his arm once again.
*Splash* "-lost your cool" I continued my sentence from before with cold eyes when we passed by each other and stopped with our backs facing each other. Another arm has been cut off and he was left without any way how to attack except for kicks.
"Oh! Finally, the big bad guy down! Good job, Akashi!" Poney exclaimed with a happy smile and her fist held high up.
*bang* "Tch, who the hell are you calling bad guy? You are the ones who invaded our tombs without any provocation! Who the hell are you if we are bad guys?!" He has fallen on the ground with a face first and then replied while gritting his teeth. He was bleeding from his mouth but his transformation has yet to wear off. He didn't even try to activate his curse again.
"You are not bad guys?! What about those captured girls on higher levels of your tomb?!!!" Poney immediately started shouting at him with an enraged expression.
"...Poney?" Tsukushi muttered while looking at Poney with a surprised expression.
"Heh, I can't control what everyone does within this tomb plus you are the ones who provoked us so I think it's fair for you to suffer and we also need to procreate plus we can't just involve normal humans. So it's your problem for invading us." He replied with a mocking tone.
"You-!" Poney wanted to say more but I interrupted her.
"I sympathize with you, you were in right to do whatever you wanted with those prisoners. You were, after all, winners. But then don't call us bad guys when we invade you and you lose." I said with a calm tone while I struck my sword into the ground right next to his head while looking down.
"A-Akashi?!" Poney immediately called my name out with a surprised expression after hearing my words and she wasn't the only one.
"...What are you talking about?" He was clearly confused that I can sympathize with him so he looked up just to see my cold red eyes with slit pupils staring down at him.
"In this world, winning is everything. Winners are validated and losers are denied. This is the way of this corrupted world." I said in a completely emotionless voice while glancing at all people inside the room.