Oritsu Ketsueki typically refrained from interrupting his son's battles; it was his son's self-proclaimed but honorable duty. It was also important to mention that most of Regashi's and Lord Phoenix's battles were heavily distanced from the village, reducing the chances of any civilians getting injured by a significant margin.
But now, the fight was brought to the village.
The ruler of Furusato had a duty, and that was to ensure the safety and peace within and around his village as much as possible—after all, if someone desired to be king or queen of the village, a salient skill required is combat: exceptional use of both their Aura Sense and hand-to-hand combat.
Racing through his village, his vigilant eyes locked onto every person he passed to make sure that not a single civilian was injured by the destructive fight occurring just outside Furusato.
The village always maintained a solid, nigh impenetrable shield erected over every square foot of its land, the only possible entrance being through a guarded gate at the front. But the attack launched on the village was not sent by an ordinary man—Lord Phoenix, a man supposedly destined to rule, managing armies in the nation of Shanti, who also completely mastered and honed his Aura Sense to an immense degree; he was unyielding, and his soul burned brightly in rage. The true concoction for unstoppable madness.
'Woah!' The king suddenly gasped, his eyes narrowing.
A boy, who looked to still be in his teenage years, dashed through the rooftops of several buildings, unrestrained due to the chaos distracting the local warriors.
However, Oritsu saw him immediately, and one simple glance at the boy instilled fear in his heart.
"Kenji!?"
XXX
Tanjo, after a few moments, arrived at the edge of the village, his calculative eyes gazing at the visible hole torn in Furusato's shield. It must have been the entrance point of the attack, and fortunately for the boy, he was still able to leap right through it.
As the jet-black-haired boy angled his knees and zeroed in on the hole in the village's shield—*FWOOM!*—Tanjo had successfully thrown himself into the air with great force.
'Time to see what's holding Regashi up—HAH!'
Just as Tanjo was about to escape through the tear in the shield, a red barrier formed, and his body slammed into it. Before the boy could react, however, a man had caught the teen as he was intended to fall and carried him gently to the ground.
"Kenji! What are you doing!?" A mature-sounding man hollered at Tanjo, making his eyes snap open.
It was Oritsu Ketsueki, the current king of Furusato, holding Tanjo by his shoulders like a lost kid.
"Kenji!?" Tanjo yelled shortly, briefly remembering Regashi's little brother. "I'm not Kenji!"
Oritsu frowned and replied, "What game are you playing, son!? You know you can't rush out there mindlessly! You'll be killed if you get caught in the cross-fire!"
"Listen! I'm not your son! My name is Tanjo Nozomu!" The blue-eyed teenager claimed with a louder tone, wriggling his shoulders in the ruler's hold.
The king tightened his grip on Tanjo's shoulders. "Do you think I'm stupid, Kenji!? You are going home right now!"
"What!?" Tanjo's eyes broadened instantaneously, "no! I'm not your—!"
"Not now!"
XXX
With a powerful thrust, two doors opened inside Furusato's castle, leading into a small room—on closer inspection, it was a bedroom. Tanjo, who was forcefully guided by Oritsu Ketsueki, spun around, glowering at the king.
"Where am I!?"
Oritsu put his hands on his hips. "What has gotten into you, son? You've never acted out like this!"
The bearded man remained oblivious, and Tanjo could painfully see that. Just how identical was he to the king's son? It could not have been that uncanny, especially to the point that both the prince and king mistake him for Kenji Ketsueki.
"Look, when your brother returns, we will be discussing this. I know you want to be a warrior, and so do I, but you can't just—!" Oritsu tried speaking only to be interrupted by a confusingly familiar voice.
"Dad?"
With one of his brows arched, Oritsu Ketsueki shifted his entire body to face the owner of the voice, his breath hitching in shock.
"...Kenji?" Oritsu questioned, now seeing that a boy with jet-black-hair was standing in the doorway of the bedroom. "What… What is happening!? Why are there two of you!?"
"Two of me?" The boy in the doorway asked, now known as Kenji. "Who… Oh."
Tanjo and Kenji shared a gaze. Then the two froze.
They were exactly alike, physically. It was like they were twins, exact replicas of each other, down to each minute detail. The dark hair, the blue eyes, the same cadence of his voice, and even their bewildered state had been mirrored between the two.
'That's literally me…' Tanjo noted mentally, frozen. 'Not like a similar person, or even a relative… it's literally me, an alternate me!'
In this universe, Tanjo's name was Kenji. And he was the son of Oritsu and Hana Ketsueki, the king and queen of Furusato during this time? What was infinitely more frightening was the idea of his brother being Regashi.
It couldn't be. His very own brother, inflicting so much pain on him in his own universe—the brown-haired prince being an evil rogue. What happened?
Perhaps this universe is different. It was possible for Tanjo to be related to Regashi in his universe, but what were the chances? Though, what were the chances of that being true in this particular universe as well?
Then Tanjo thought back to Kronos and his words:
'...I'll give you the credit of hypothesizing that Regashi might have the same history as in your own universe…'
Those were Kronos' exact words during Tanjo's last encounter with him. The God of Time may be elusive and cryptic, but the teenage boy doubted that he was a liar, even more so with the coincidences being too consistent to be fallacious.
"So you were telling the truth… and now, after feeling it, your Aura Sense is a tad different from Kenji's." Oritsu said calmly, his tone apologetic.
Tanjo's eyes darted to Oritsu's face, scrutinizing every detail in his brain, shock enveloping the poor boy. The sudden realization that Oritsu Ketsueki was his dad—his actual, biological dad—was astounding. But that would then mean that in Tanjo's original universe, he's dead, along with his mother.
How did Nozomu find Tanjo? Why didn't the old man ever tell Tanjo about his true family? How did his family die in the first place? So many questions ran rampant in the teenage boy's mind that his arms began shaking erratically, tears pouring out of his eyes.
It was cruel, really: Tanjo found his real dad, but in an alternate universe where he cannot indulge in reuniting with one another like father and son, or even with his mother. And his brother, Regashi Ketsueki, was actually nice—a benevolent man!
Wait… Tanjo's a Ketsueki! His last name was not Nozomu; it was Ketsueki!
A sharp pang of pain filled the boy's heart. Did he want to accept the name? Old Man Nozomu still went through trials and tribulations when raising Tanjo, and fatherhood was far from an easy style of living. And, with the death of his actual family in mind, Old Man Nozomu was not prepared to be a father in the first place, which means that he went through the struggles and saved Tanjo on his own accord, willingly.
What now?
"Tanjo was your name, correct?" Oritsu asked, breaking Tanjo out of his thoughts.
"Y-yes." Tanjo stuttered, still gazing at an alternate version of his biological father.
With a heavy exhale, Oritsu rubbed his nose. "Well, then I better let you go—!"
*BOOM!*
With a violent quake, the entire castle shook on its foundation, with a loud explosion radiating through every hall of the edifice. Alerted, Oritsu leaped out of the room, quickly followed by Tanjo, leaving Kenji behind in a state of fright.
It took only a second, but both Oritsu and Tanjo ended up in the throne room of the castle. Regashi was lying on the floor, lacerations and bruises damaging his skin, his eyes dazed. Above the prince, there was a hole in the ceiling, presumably where Regashi had ungracefully fallen.
"Regashi!" Oritsu called out to his son, "are you all right!?"
The prince jabbed a thumb into the air, answering his father's question mutely. After a moment, a groan escaped Regashi's lips as he forced himself upward, stretching his body and eliciting multiple cracks in his bones.
"Lord Phoenix is very angry with me…" Regashi chuckled, his eyes landing on Tanjo. "Why are you here?"
"Oh?" A deep voice cut through the room. "A family reunion? How sad that the queen won't be here to die as well."
Looking up at the hole in the ceiling, Lord Phoenix could be seen standing tall, glowering at Oritsu, Regashi, and Tanjo from above. The man was truly intimidating. Even now, Tanjo still cannot rival the power of Regashi or Oritsu, for that matter. Tanjo may have fought High-Class rogues, but the royal family was in a whole other league.
Asami could potentially clash with them, but she was not here. Not in this universe.
"Well then, no point in squandering any more time… Perhaps I'll start with the younger brother!"
Lord Phoenix trained his hand at Tanjo, his gloved hand brimming with his red Aura Sense.
"Goodbye, Ketsueki!"
XXX
I'm starting to like where this is going! I'm cutting this short to successfully stretch this fight out into a more lengthy chapter. I have this entire battle planned out, and I have a desired duration for it, but I do not wish to combine half of that with the unveiled truth of Tanjo's pedigree. What will happen next? Stay tuned to find out!
Have a Great Day!
Peace - Cr1ticalz_