Sasaki and Saigo stood in front of the bandit, They were as ready as they ever were. Saigo whispered to Sasaki "Hey, Are you alright? I can do this alone if you can't fight".
Sasaki started smiling "Heh... A bandit cannot do anything to me... I'm a samurai"
"Let's see what are two samurais capable of"
They both started attacking the man, and the man swung his sword to land a blow, he missed every hit.
"is that what you're capable of? At this point, you cannot even look at the king"
"You both are cowards, why can't you fight like a man?"
"we are. You're just too slow to catch us"
The bandit pulls out his gun...
"So... You are no longer a man, Are you? Hahahaha"
They both started jumping and dodging his attacks, Sasaki stood in front of him pointing his sword at his mouth. While Saigo stood on his back pointing his sword at his neck.
"Any last words?"
"go to hell"
The bandit suddenly shot at Sasaki's stomach where he got his wound earlier.
"Sasaki started collapsing and lost too much blood..."
"You're next...Brat" the bandit told Saigo.
"What did you do to him?" Saigo with a shocked reaction.
"Are you blind? Hahahaha... I guess you can't see your friend dying"
Saigo's eyes were full of anger, he was struggling to keep up while his friend was in bad shape.
"Keep fighting... Saigo... don't worry about me"
Saigo pushed the bandit into the hill to prevent Sasaki from getting damaged and for him fighting alone with the bandit, they both fell. both of them were pretty okay because it wasn't too below. and they were both strong enough, they both stood up to each other, the bandit used a smoke bomb. but he didn't realize he made a trap for himself. saigo stabbed him in the back, "Now who was the coward? You. you are not only a coward. you are a fraud. You use dirty tricks in battle. You stabbed on Sasaki's back so now I stabbed you back for the payment" the bandit slowly collapsed. Saigo started kicking his wound again and again, the bandit was feeling like he was in hell. getting kicked by the hell guardians.
But it didn't last long. it was all fun games till the bandit slowly put his hands into his pocket. he brought out a grenade*(1). saigo stopped kicking his wounds, his eyes were wide open. and the bandit quickly grabbed Saigo's legs, to not run. the grenade Blew up. The bandit turned into ashes, and there was no evidence left of his existence, sadly, Saigo didn't make it either, he was covered with blood. lost one leg and both of his arms. since he tried to escape. there was no burning sign on his body. he was barely alive, he was giving his soul.
Sasaki heard the explosion and came down to see what happened. his heart broke down into pieces. he held the body to bury him, and he realized he was gonna get killed anytime soon if the Asai clan heard of this accident, no one would believe in him, after what he said last night, and after he lost every piece of evidence for defending himself, he went down to bury his friend, Saikyo and Yuno saw him. "Big bro? and who are you carrying?" "he is..sa-"
the body fell into the land. Yuno saw his dead brother and he was traumatized. "Sorry but... I killed your brother". yuno ran into the city and he called out his clan. saikyo said "What have you done, big bro? You know what's gonna happen?"
"I couldn't stop myself. he owed me you know."
"you? killed Yuno's brother? YOU?" Saykio yelled at Sasaki
"SAY THE TRUTH... I KNOW YOU CAN'T DO THAT... I KNOW THAT'S NOT WHAT SASAKI WOULD DO FOR MONEY"
Sasaki started tearing up. "I-i-i did-didn't kill him I swear. it was the bandit. the bandit did this. he b-b-blew himself along with Saigo"
"I'm such a weakling... I couldn't do anything... a bandit could kill my friend, a bandit could make this mess... I don't wanna die... I wanna become stronger."
"Don't worry big bro, I believe you"
Saikyo ran into the city to tell the truth, but it was too late. Asai clan started taking action. there were a lot of them, they would never listen to a child like saikyo.