Tanjo raced down the halls of the castle, tuning into his senses to navigate himself. He was told to find the chambers—a corridor full of prison cells. It was horrible that Mizuki was being contained in such a cold, unsanitary cage.
The masked teenager had abandoned all subtle maneuvers and was now darting at speeds that barely revealed his figure, flickering in and out of the perceivable light. Tanjo didn't realize it, but his consistency and speed had been sharply increasing. It's possible that tension and adrenaline, which are common causes of increased strength and power in most humans, have taken effect.
The amount of pain the boy had felt lingered—it refused to leave his mind, a phantom sense of the agony treading deeply within his skin. His mind was brimming with his own body's pleas to stop and take a break. His heart pounded ferociously, his skin prickling.
'I won't stop for a second until me, Mizuki, and Asami are outside these village walls.' Tanjo thought, his blue eyes burning with determination.
Every candle he dashed by lost its flame, diminishing all the light. A mantra was currently ongoing in his head:
'I won't stop, I won't stop, I won't stop.'
Eventually, after a few minutes of running aimlessly, Tanjo found an unopened door; splotches of blood stained the paint of the door, the hands losing their color. This particular door itself was more horrid compared to the rest in the castle—it was steel, concealing.
*CHINK!*
With a single punch, Tanjo knocked the steel door down with ease. Beyond the fallen door, a staircase could be seen. It was dark, with a nauseating smell permeating it.
"The chambers…" Tanjo murmured, clenching his fists.
With a willed breath, Tanjo ventured into the darkness of the chambers, practically flying down the stone stairs. It took less than a second for the boy to land on flat ground after leaving the staircase. Beyond him revealed where he truly was.
'You're in one of these, I know you are.'
Rows of cells could be seen, each harboring a plethora of dead bodies that were rotting as they were bound to the spot where they lay. Briskly, Tanjo surveyed each cell, his eyes scanning every inch of every cage. There were so many corpses; blood had even poured out from some of the cells, leaking through the rusty bars.
Tanjo's brain consisted of nothing but heavy thoughts and anticipation, prompting the boy to holler out into the gruesome corridor, "Mizuki! Where are you!?"
Then he was hit with a rational thought, shockingly.
'He wouldn't speak out. I doubt he remembers me just from my voice—I doubt he'll recognize me with my mask and cloak on.'
Suddenly, using his increased sense of hearing, he heard muffled sniffling. His breath hitched for a moment; however, Tanjo did not cease his search, but he did run in the direction of the sniffling, his eyes peeled open in hopes of spotting a living child.
Then, he stopped.
"...Mizuki."
Huddled in a corner, tears were flooding his young eyes. His scruffy brown hair was dirty, and his skin was layered with dirt and grime. It was obvious to tell that Mizuki was giving it his all to not make too much noise with his sobs, his head buried deeply into his arms.
"Mizuki! I'm here!" Tanjo called out.
With haste, Tanjo wrapped a hand around one of the bars of the cell—*CLANG!*— quickly ripping the barred door out from the wall and tossing it to the side.
In fear, the kidnapped child perked up, and his eyes watered down with his salty tears. With one quick glance, Mizuki's sobs increased, the sight of Tanjo instilling more horror into him; his mask was frightening, his gray cloak making him look like death itself.
"Shhh, shhh! Remember me?"
Slowly, Tanjo raised his hand up to his mask, gently taking it off and revealing his face. The jet-black-haired teenager smiled, glee radiating from him. With an abrupt flash of memories, Mizuki froze as he thought back to the day he was abducted, specifically the boy who had tried to rescue.
Tanjo heaved a heavy sigh. "I'm going to get you out—!"
"Behind you!"
The moment Tanjo reacted, a blade impaled him through the stomach, making him gasp for air. "Gragh!"
Mizuki pushed himself up against the cell wall, his eyes widened as he observed the blood from Tanjo's body spill out.
A gruff voice then spoke, "You are a wonder, boy."
It was Gimu, and he was back to finish the job.
XXX
Itami forced himself up from the ground, grabbing his aching chest. Fortunately for him, his wounds had basically healed—that redhead nearly killed him; thankfully, his brother stopped him and…
…Then what?
He was not now aware of any roaring explosions or flashing red pentagrams. Itami cautiously picked up his wooden staff and walked about, sensing something, anything. He should have felt something because the redhead was using so much magic, but he didn't.
Actually, he felt something; it was small, almost undetectable. It was fading, like a dying fire that was losing its flame quickly. With nothing else to go off of, Itami stumbled his way toward it, his green hair swaying in the wind.
Then he heard a cough.
Lying on the ground, dancing with death, Doryoku could be spotted. Itami did not move, his eyes glued to his brother silently. The staff-wielding rogue did not know what to do, how to respond, or how to think. His brother, his colleague, was about to die painfully.
"...Doryoku?" Itami muttered weakly.
Doryoku coughed again, his blinded eyes searching for the voice.
The fallen rogue smiled. "Brother…?"
"What happened!?" Itami howled, falling on his knees and hesitantly grasping his brother's burnt shoulder.
Doryoku could barely muster a small laugh. "...I, uh, lost…"
"I can see that… Idiot!" Itami's voice cracked, his muscles tensing.
The fallen rogue looked out into space, unable to see. "I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to finish the order."
That was right: the order Regashi had given them was the one that was meant for a completely different person. But instead, a monotonous redhead forced them to deviate from that, leading to… this.
"I…" Doryoku struggled to speak. "I… nearly had him, though."
Something then caught Itami's attention. "Doryoku, where's your ring?"
Doryoku coughed violently, blood spewing out. "It was, uh, stolen…"
So the redhead, after beating Doryoku, then stole his ring? Why was he even after such a trivial item? It was a powerful curse, yes, but almost nobody knew it existed—and the redhead was powerful enough without the ring; its existence was only for Doryoku.
His brother who was born without an Aura Sense!
It was a hidden fact, but Doryoku was born without magic—he could not conjure any aura prints nor fuel himself with any magic. He was deemed defective by their own family.
"Was I a good partner, brother…?" Doryoku mumbled softly.
Itami held back tears. "You were never meant to become a rogue… I never wished a life full of murder, especially for you!"
Doryoku retained his smile, only listening to Itami rant.
"Our family rejected you, so I did all that came to mind: flee. I convinced you to leave our family in the middle of night—I'm the one who led you down this path!" Itami confessed, clenching the ground beneath them.
Itami's breath was labored.
"Ever since we found our curses, I thought we'd be fine. I thought we could live normal lives again…"
Doryoku started to lose consciousness. "Don't blame yourself, brother. You're supposed to be the stronger one, after all."
Finally, Doryoku succumbed to his injuries, his breath collapsing as his heart pumped one last time. Itami's own breath halted, his eyes full of grieving tears.
"No… I was never stronger than you… I lied to myself and you."
Itami clenched his fists tightly, anger surging within him.
"Brother!"
XXX
With his sword lodged in Tanjo, the bandaged warrior, Gimu, looked toward Mizuki with his remaining eye, sighing.
"You're only putting the brat through more trauma—!"
Before Gimu could finish his sentence, Tanjo threw up his right hand; his thumb angled back and shot a beam of magic, which happened to arbitrarily be purple. The beam knocked the swordsman into the cell adjacent to them, which also ripped the sword from Tanjo's stomach.
Instantly, Tanjo thought of a plan—a reckless one. He quickly wrapped an arm around Mizuki, holding him tightly, and with his free hand he formed a red Genso-Kyu—*BOOM!*—blasting a hole through the ceiling of the cell, successfully leading them into the ground up above.
'Need to get out of here, and fast!' Tanjo thought to himself, hopping through the hole in the ceiling.
Surprisingly, the hole from the chambers led directly outside the castle, but still inside Furusato. Tanjo immediately fished for his mask from inside his cloak, covering his face once more.
"Where's Asami!?" Tanjo shouted, his head turning in every direction.
Tanjo then heard a thud behind him. Shifting his body slightly, the boy spotted Gimu landing on the ground behind him, clicking his tongue, annoyed.
Gimu twirled his sword. "You can't escape me, boy. I've seen your face, I'd find you even if you somehow make it out of here."
'Great,' Tanjo thought sarcastically, assuming a stance with Mizuki still in his arms.
With all that he had, Tanjo held Mizuki as protectively as possible and dashed away at immense speed. Gimu only narrowed his remaining eye sternly before bending his knees and following suit.
Gimu never lost sight of Tanjo, who was going much too slowly to possibly run faster than the bandaged swordsman. Gimu found it humorous, but he suppressed any chuckles he could have had in order to concentrate on the boy and the brat in his arms.
To prove his speed, Gimu vanished into thin air, reappearing in front of Tanjo instantly. The swordsman reeled his sword back, swinging it at the teenager. Tanjo narrowly avoided the slice, his feet sliding in the ground.
'He's too fast for me. There's no possible way for me to fight… I'd need to just find Asami and escape!' Tanjo contemplated, his eyes stuck on Gimu.
"What now, boy?" Gimu taunted, pointing the tip of his blade at Tanjo.
Tanjo stood still, formulating any viable plan for his current predicament. He was stumped, as all appeared fruitless when putting Gimu's speed in mind. Although one plan stood out more than the others.
Tanjo huffed. "Never tried this before…"
Sticking one hand upward, Tanjo forced out a transparent barrier that was randomly chosen to be blue—it looked like a massive, protective bubble. Tanjo put his index finger and his thumb together, proceeding to snap.
*SHIIING!*
The bubble-like barrier glowed brightly, blinding Gimu immediately. Grunting, the swordsman stretched his free hand out and sent a blast in the direction Tanjo was standing, hoping to disperse the light.
Fortunately, it got rid of the blinding light; unfortunately, Tanjo and the brat were gone.
"Shit," Gimu cursed. "At least he knows he can't outrun me."
On the other side of Furusato, Tanjo was sprinting, hellbent on escaping the village. He could trust that Asami would make it out; she was strong and—!
*SNAP!*
In an instant, a wooden root wrapped around Tanjo's leg, stopping him from advancing any further. In response, Tanjo layered one hand with his Aura Sense and broke the root with a slash, freeing himself.
"Not this guy again…" Tanjo mumbled, glancing behind him.
Itami, the grieving rogue, retracted his extended arm, lowering his staff. The rogue's eyes were shadowed, his green hair falling over his face. Though his teeth were visibly grinded together.
Suddenly, Gimu landed right next to the green-haired rogue, staring Tanjo down.
"You," Itami said, "are dead!"
XXX
Quite a bit happened, but all is going smoothly! Well, for me, at least. Sad to see Doryoku finally die, but I really wanted him to have a few last words, especially to his brother—it also revealed their backstory slightly. I was planning to indulge myself in their past more, but it would only halt the current progression and it'd be badly timed. Perhaps I could do a side story about their past? Oh, well. I'm not entirely acclimated to killing characters; it doesn't help that Doryoku has been around since Volume 1—which has already been a year from now—only to finally end him. Any more impactful deaths in the future will probably ruin me entirely, maybe to the point of tears as I am completely attached, emotionally, to each and every character I have written. Now look at me, rambling to get a few extra words into this. Ignoring my sad display of my thoughts, I really do hope you enjoyed today's chapter and are enjoying the story overall and stay tuned to see what happens next!
Have a Great Day!
Peace - Cr1ticalz_