Swords clashed against each other but the lives of the two cloaked figures quickly ended before they could put up a fight after being outnumbered and overpowered.
They could not even use the people inside as hostages because they were tasked to bring them back to the base alive and they believed that their enemies did not care about the life and death of the captives.
This misunderstanding helped to ensure the safety of the mother and son within a little more but before they could even act to harm them, they would have been dealt with the moment their attention drifted away from the battle.
Like the other times, the group had arrived to scout the location and await the captives being transported but this time they had used smaller numbers to escort the captives which made them easier to rescue.
After confirming the numbers, an ambush was planned and executed to save the captives before they reached the base.
Since the numbers were so small to fight against, the fight would be quickly over with and would not attract too much attention to themselves so the best conditions were in place to save them without having to fight a restrictive battle while trying to avoid killing the captives within the next base.
Upon laying her eyes on the Sound Clan mother and son, Ki's eyes flickered with a complicated look. "The last hope for the clan.. the last true inheritance of the family.."
It was difficult for her not to be nostalgic about this clan that had some similarities to herself.
As the sole remaining bloodline of her family trying to survive, a family like the Sound Clan was an inspirational tale about the potential of a fallen family that was soon to be on the rise again thanks to their clan head and the talents of her son.
However after the disappearance of them, many targeted rumours spread that defamed and brought down her name followed by many praises for the two clans remaining strong even after the betrayal.
However much like her own situation, those within those clans could not find or gain access to the families rumoured inheritance that had only been passed down from each clan leader to the next.
There were occasions where the clan head had been removed from their place by the elders and were forced to give up the inheritance and family secrets to the next head which continued it to be passed down in the past but the current clan leader never left anything behind that would reveal the location or any kind of way to gain entry.
She did not even leave behind any notes or clues within her own diary or notebooks so the family could not gain access to the families main resources, secret techniques and their large amount of wealth and collection of famous instruments and music scores.
All that they had was what they had always used and trained with so they could not make any big improvements to both of the clans.
Eventually both of the allied clans were rumoured to have fallen after being targeted by someone with a powerful background and everything was burned to the ground leaving no trace behind.
It was rumoured that both families had offended an unknown entity and were removed but after some investigation it was found out that a powerful group named the Spirit Flame Mercenaries were behind it.
There was a strangeness about the groups reason for the massacre as it was stated by them to be an act of revenge but the details were not revealed.
There was one strange thing that had happened many years before the massacre and that was during the time that the mother and son had gone missing, the group had been inquiring about the location the mother and son but were turned away by the two clans stating that they were just bringing up the past to cause trouble.
When people started putting things together they guessed a possibility that seemed almost impossible but also somewhat explained why the leader of the group had suddenly targeted those two clans.
The rumoured person who the mother and son had run away with may have been the groups leader, upon finding out that they had gone missing they searched for clues and answers to where they could be or why they had vanished but the way the clans had behaved during that time was a little unusual.
Instead of looking for her and remaining faithful, they all quickly accepted the new head and heir far too quickly as if planned ahead of time.
If it was an act of revenge then it must of been because he had suspected the families involvement and may have even found something that made him sure of their involvement with the clan leaders disappearance.
It was a classic story of chance meetings and a night spent together through strange coincidences or plots that resulted in the child but because of the plots of others and the difference in status, they were never meant to be.
The mercenary leader must have found out her identity after investigation and cleaning up his involvement during that night because the marriage had quickly been announced and brought forward.
He had no choice but to bear with the thought of losing someone he had been with to someone of a higher status and a stronger backing, not knowing that the woman he had slept with had birthed him a son and never touched or was touched by her husband.
It wasn't until later when she had gone missing that he found out about the possibility of being a father but he could not track down any clues.
The rumoured person who she had run away with was actually him so how could he possibly not suspect the clans involvement?
It was rumoured that the Spirit Flame Mercenaries were later disbanded and the leader also seemed to disappear into history only to never appear again.
Either he had committed suicide, went into seclusion and never came back out, took in a disciple to pass on his martial arts away from the eyes of others, he was betrayed by one of his subordinates and was wounded and died somewhere hidden or he was hunted down by those who had branded him as a criminal.
It wasn't until later that Ki had found out the truth from the Blood Sects records about their involvement which further increased her desire to destroy them.
Like her own family, the Blood Sect or those affiliated with them had worked with or coerced blood relatives to turn against the main family resulting in the deaths of the main family.
Like her own family, the Sound Clan was once powerful or influential in the past.
Like her own family, the inheritance had been lost for good and the bloodline had ended.
Like her own family, the wealth, land and other properties or items were either looted by others or destroyed after or during the destruction.
The only difference was that she had been lucky enough to live on and keep the main families bloodline still going until her death much later while the other had quietly disappeared and been killed unjustly.
There was also that she had avenged herself and her family by her own hands while the Spirit Flame Mercenaries had taken revenge for the already deceased not knowing about the true culprits behind the Sound Clan leaders disappearance.