In a widely different world than that of Karna's, where people fought with words and financial power, a graveyard was unusually crowded.
A single gravestone that stood out from the others was now occupied with hundreds of people. But even after the graveyard was flocked with people, except for the drizzling sound of the rain, not a single mutter could be heard from the crowd.
They seem to be waiting for someone. After five minutes, their delay came to an end as a large limousine was just parked outside of the graveyard.
From it, a man came out holding an umbrella, and opened the passenger door. As the door opened, a burly yet handsome man exited the vehicle.
He was wearing a luxurious set of clothing but his face portrayed none of that arrogance. He walked towards the grave that everyone was standing in front of.
Instantly, the crowd divided into two and a clear path was made for him. He came to the front of the grave and there, stood another man who had the same attire as him.
The other man looked at him and welcomed him.
"So, you've come. Brother would be happy seeing you here."
The Burly man looked beside him and returned his greeting by giving him a light hug.
"Sorry to make you all wait"
He then noted that an umbrella was still being held above him.
"What are you doing? I can't come as an arrogant prick in front of our brother. Can't you see?"
The secretary who held the umbrella quickly took it away, fearing that he'll offend the person.
Two workers who were in charge of cleaning the graveyard looked at the incident unfolding.
One of them was an old guy in his 60's with white hair and a short, messy beard. Beside him was a young man who nudged the old man to ask him something.
"Uncle, who are they? Aren't there way too many guys to pay tribute to? I mean it isn't even a funeral. Whose grave is that?"
The old man was smoking a cigarette. He took a puff from the almost drenched cigarette and looked towards the young man.
"Do you know about the strongest in japan?"
At the old man's question, the young guy made a face that seem to be totally oblivious to the question.
"Tch, young people these days, so forgettable. He was the most powerful Yakuza in all of Japan. He united most of the clans within Tokyo and many other cities and created a huge criminal syndicate. He also went up against many attacks from the triads and Korean gangs. He is known in all of Asia, and you don't even know him?"
At the remark from the old man, the young guy rubbed his head sheepishly.
"Well, as you know I always stay at home, so I don't get to hear that many things. It's only because I need emergency money to buy a new laptop to write novels that I took this part-time job. So, why don't you tell me about him?"
"Well, he was known by many names such as immortal dragon, tiger of the east but his enemies mostly liked to call him the strongest as he was always good at everything. He never lost a fight and kept his honour. He was said to be so skilled in swordsmanship that he could cut down heavy guns with his sword alone. I don't know what happened but a few years ago he took down his own family and left this Yakuza business. But the group 'castle' that he made still stood as the strongest."
"Woah! Really?"
The young man exclaimed at the uncle's words and looked at the hundreds of people that calmly stood in front of the grave.
"Do you know those two guys at the front?"
The old man pointed at the two men wearing luxurious black suits ahead of the group.
"Um, no. Who are they?"
"The man who came before is the CEO of the Yonda motors, and the one that came now is the owner and the largest shareholder of Hansung electronics."
"Woah! Hansung?! Really?"
"Yes, they were his right and left arms…"
When the old man finished the hundreds of people that gathered around that one grave bowed down together.
"We pay respect to the senior brother."
The shout of nearly three hundred people shook all of the surroundings.
Not only the graveyard but the road surrounding it also instantly became busy as people got down from their cars and vehicles to see what happened. People peeked from their houses towards the graveyard as it was in the open.
Three hundred people bowing in front of a single grave and paying tribute was a situation that not a lot of people got to see every day.
The burly man at the front upon shouting could see a faint silhouette of a shirtless man who stood at the top of the grave, his back facing all the three hundred people and there was a long katana in his hand. His well-defined muscles and numerous scars truly made him look like a formidable person.
Upon seeing it, the man's fanatics seems to be intensified as he shouted in an even louder tone.
"AND MAY YOU BE 'HONORED' IN HEAVEN"
"AND MAY YOU BE–"
"AND M–"
Numerous shouts rang out throughout the neighbourhood as the earth shook and the people kept watching.
Tanzaku Gai
"Hold on! Karna kun, since you've got a new sword why don't you show us how much you've improved your kenjutsu?"
Kazuya requested Karna with great exhilaration and her eyes– shining with ever brimming hope– made Karna unable to reject her.
"But Kazuya-"
"I'd love to!"
Karna cut off Kyo before he could finish because he too was pretty excited to use his kenjutsu with the new sword.
He didn't know why but he felt unusually happy today; it almost felt to him like when he was back in his world with his brothers.
It was a feeling that made him feel like he belonged here. And since he was happy he wanted to use his sword as it is what he always did.
They got out of their basement and went towards the courtyard. The winter breeze was swaying wildly and the snow, which covered the trees, made the courtyard serene yet appealing.
In the midst of all of this, Karna stood with a beautiful golden katana. His black hair was tied in a bun behind his head and his golden eyes looked more focused than usual as he got into his favourite stance.
In front of the gazing eyes of his parents, he took the basic stance of the "Shinsoku Kenjutsu" – a kenjutsu created by Karna after merging his previous life's laido with the Yagami clan's kenjutsu.
He bent his right leg slightly forward and his left leg was used as a support.
The sword was grasped in a congruous manner with both of his hands; his right and dominant hand was placed a few centimetres beneath the guard with his left hand following along.
Karna then swiftly moved as he thrust his sword forward and executed two quick diagonal slashes from top right to bottom left and from top left to bottom right.
He then spun 180° and did a swift yet devastating spinning slash, which sent wind pressure scattering around the area.
He went on performing all the kenjutsu moves created by him.
At the end of his display, after almost all of his movements were finished, he took a deep breath and relaxed his hold on the sword. He narrowed his eyes and looked at the sword.
'Will I be able to pull it off?'
Karna wondered as he wanted to do a move that he created inspired by the 'jeet kune do'– the personal martial art of Bruce Lee. It was a combination technique where he has to invest all of his strength and focus. His source of concern was his current body, which made him unsure if he could execute the technique properly.
'Let's do it! if it seems that my body won't be able to take it, I'll stop the move immediately.' He thought as he took a deep breath and calmed himself.
'Hiss~
After he exhaled the breath, he instantly moved his right foot forward and his grip on the sword became less firm than before. With his current grip on the sword, he could move the sword nearly of his size more freely.
He thrust his sword forward with great speed, which made it look invisible to the naked eye.
Kazuya at Kyo's side only saw Karna's hands getting blurred.
With both of his hands, he moved the sword in front of him like a snake as he performed more than ten violent slashes at that instant.
After many quick jabs, his grip on the sword became much fiercer than before. He grabbed the sword firmly with both of his hands as he did a devastating upward slash.
It was so powerful that when Karna's sword was moving through the air, the surrounding air around the blade exploded because of the sheer speed of the movement.
After the upward slash, his hold on the sword hilt shifted, and he bought down his sword for a downward slash with an equally stronger if not more powerful force.
Because he used chakra while performing the kenjutsu, it became even more powerful.
SCHICK!
When he finished all the air around him exploded, and from wherever his sword went through before, the air was divided into two.
THUMP!
Karna fell on his butt with exhaustion. It wasn't because he ran out of stamina or something; his weak body wasn't able to take the burden of using such a high-class technique that required a huge amount of strength and developed muscles.