Chereads / The tale of Akagami / Chapter 7 - The hunt

Chapter 7 - The hunt

Katsuragi and ryou are running trying to locate the vampires, kimiko is on katsuragi's back, while they are running through an empty street suddenly something crashes right in front of them, they stop, suddenly there is a surge of divine pressure and katsuragi and Ryou can feel the pressure but they both remain calm, finally two vampires arise from the smoke of dust,

"Ah what have we got here?" Says one of the vampires

"It would seem these are the vampire hunters elder brother told us to eliminate" replies the other one

"Eliminate? Does that mean they knew of our plan to come here in the first place?" Katsuragi ponders to himself, the vampires are wearing the same outfit as the one taiyou is facing and have the same crest, Ryou quickly notices the symbol and their cult like dressing

"They're not normal" says Ryou "these two seem to be part of a group or cult of some kind"

"Yea, and not to mention they are alpha vampires"

"We can't engage them yet, kimiko is still here and we're beside too many buildings, we have to find a better place, follow me"

Katsuragi and Ryou both run away at an instant, the speed in which they run is no doubt faster than a sports car

"Oi Oi are you running now, do you think you can outrun us?" Cackles one of the vampires

"Let's chase after them, and have some fun with them".

Katsuragi and Ryou are running away, all of a sudden the vampires are right behind them, katsuragi and Ryou sense them and both turn around immediately but to no avail, the vampires still land heavy punches on them and send them flying, they both walk over slowly to where katsuragi and Ryou landed

"Oh, Isamu when we kill this guys we have to savor our time and drink their blood before returning to elder brother"

"Of course older brother Botan, they should be close to death now"

(Isamu is the younger brother, while Botan is the older one who is considerably taller than isamu, however isamu is more buff and built)

They are now a few feet away from katsuragi and Ryou, they both get up, katsuragi dusts himself and rolls up his shirt sleeve, while Ryou removes his shirt completely and his rock hard abs are visible and is being complemented by his broad chest, he's build is that of someone who works out but is a male model at the same time. 

"I see so your plan was to have us fight in the park to reduce the damage and make sure there are no casualties"

"You ready?"says katsuragi as he unsheathes his sword,

"I'll take the muscular one you take the tall one, go find somewhere to hide kimiko" says Ryou 

"Ok" says kimiko as she runs to hide. Ryou opens his wooden box and unsheathes his two wakizashi's, they have a dragon design on the blades and have a red hilt 

"Those weapons, kid how are you able to wield those cursed blades?" Asks Botan

"What does it matter to you who's gonna die now" replies Ryou 

"You should watch that tongue of yours" says isamu

"Let's get this going, I'm gonna make sure you die by the hands of a katsuragi" says katsuragi

"Brat did you just say katsuragi? You're a survivor? I thought we murdered you guys years ago? Your gonna be a real eyesore later on if we let you live so we're gonna have to get rid of you now "

"Let me just ask you one question, what were their final moments like? My clan that you slaughtered"

"Oh all that I remember before they died was their faces after we raped them and murdered their children before killing them, it was pathetic and such a fun night" cackles Botan 

"I see" says katsuragi as he takes a deep breath and he and Ryou take their fighting stance, as they both let their divine energy flow through their weapons (Ryou's divine energy is blood red), Botan and Isamu both let their divine energy flow through their knife like claws. There's a loud deafening silence and tense aura, suddenly faster than the human eye can see almost in an instant the four of them clash, Botan and isamu kick both of them far apart in order to separate them from each other. Isamu runs after Ryou and tries using his long claws to stab Ryou but he quickly reacts by using one of his wakizashi's to block, isamu grows his nails even longer till it's the same length as Ryou's wakizashi and he lets divine energy flow through them, he licks his nails and smiles 

"Your gonna die this night"

"Shut up and come at me" they both lunge at each other and as his blade and Isamu's nails are clashing there are sparks created from their clashing, isamu attempts to slice Ryou's neck but he weaves it and switches his blade holding method to a backhand as quickly as he can and he swings his blade almost immediately at Isamu's face but isamu reacts in time and manages to doge the attack but barely, Ryou instantly twirls the blade in his other hand and manages to slice Isamu's stomach, isamu leaps back in an instant 

"Not deep enough" says Ryou 

"Such remarkable sword art and speed, you switched to backhand during an instant and you were still fast enough to nearly cut my face in half, and you were still able to cut my stomach in that instant. But Its strange, no matter how hard i try I can't sense any divine energy from you, you don't have divine energy, the divine energy on that sword isn't yours, it's the divine energy of the blade itself, the cursed blade has its own divine energy"

"Ah so you've figured out, but what good does it do you?"

"Nothing just felt like flexing my knowledge"

"So if your done shut up and let's continue"

Ryou handles his blades very skillfully as if he had been a swordsman in his previous life, Ryou up holds his blades and goes for a swing at Isamu's neck and meets the second with a swing to his eye, isamu dodges the first one and meets the second attack with his nails, the weight of it sent Ryou back, back,back, and back but couldn't knock his blades out of his hands, Ryou is eventually pushed back and immediately tries slash isamu but his attack is parried and he's claws manage to find Ryou's flesh as he slashes his mid section.

"Your gonna die if you continue fighting with that wound"

Ryou says nothing he is totally submerged in the fight, he charges at isamu and throws one of his blades in the air and engages in serious combat with him, Ryou grabs the sword before it lands and cuts open Isamu's forehead swiftly, he attempts to chop off isamu's hand and he tries dodging it, but before the blade reaches him Ryou quickly retrieves his blade before it comes close to touching isamu(feint) and uses his other blade to find his flesh and cuts clean through Isamu's forearm, isamu looks in disbelief as his arm falls off and rolls on the ground.

"Ahhhh" isamu screams at the top of his lungs

"This bastard that was a feint, by acting like he was gonna cut me with his other blade and made me dodge it, he then quickly used his other blade to cut of my arm while I was distracted and of balance, this bastard is dangerous. The wound isn't healing those damn blades"

Isamu tries to ignore the pain, he charges towards Ryou at an inhumane speed and pours some snow in his eye before punching his stomach but Ryou uses his right arm to block it but it doesn't work, Ryou flies and breaks through a bench and stops when he crashes at on a tree, he tries to get up and then realizes his right arm is broken

"Shit it's broken"

Isamu lands some feet away from him after jumping a long distance, 

"Now it's over for you, you only have your left arm left"

"That doesn't change anything"

They charge at each other again in an attempt to kill themselves, isamu attacks consecutively as he has lost his cool after losing his arm, Ryou is not attacking rather dodging all of his attacks and waiting for an opening, he continues dodging till Ryou starts getting more sluggish and tired and he finally finds the opening, he dodges the attack and instantly cuts of Isamu's other arm swiftly and precisely then goes on to cut his calves, isamu goes down on his two knees and can't move anymore, Ryou walks over to his front and stares at him with both a looks of disgust and pity.

"Why do you guys keep attacking Kyoto what's your main purpose?"

"Even if you kill me it doesn't matter, elder brothers and father are here the plan has already been set in motion, your deaths are inevitable everyone in Kyoto is gonna die including y-"

Ryou cuts his talk short and cuts the upper section of his torso in half and cuts right through his heart and lungs and his whole body topples to the floor and is now lifeless

"This fate was inevitable"

Ryou goes to pick up his other blade and starts making his way to meet katsuragi.

 (At the other end of the park)

Katsuragi and Botan are going at it matching each other for strength and speed,

"I can't cut through him, even though my blade is made of silver metal Its still not affecting him unless…"

"Such marvelous swordsmanship and skill, you truly are a member of the katsuragi clan, show me more"

Botan makes a long blade like shape on his palm out of his divine energy. They clash again, Botan clearly has the advantage as he is more experienced in fights

"I have a hundred and fifty years of experience boy, you can't best me in combat"

Botan lunges a quick strike with his blade, katsuragi manages to dodge but barely as the blade still cuts some strands of the tip of his hair, he quickly regains his balance but Botan doesn't give him a moment to rest, he lunges at him again this time katsuragi weaves the attack and swings his sword at at Botan's forearm but it barely scratches him, immediately Botan takes advantage of this split second and cuts across katsuragi's chest but katsuragi doesn't react to the blow that Botan dealt him, instead he gripes his blade harder and doesn't take his eyes of Botan, he suddenly moves so quickly it looks like he teleported and even Botan can't keep up with his speed, katsuragi appears right in front of Botan with such speed that even Botan can't react, and he slices Botan right across his mid section, and follows it up by swinging his sword in an attempt to decapitate him, but Botan reacts in time and grabs his sword with his hand, katsuragi let's go of the sword and punches his stomach and follows it up with a right hook to his jaw which sends Botan flying till he crashes into a tree. Katsuragi walks towards him and picks up his katana which probably fell of Botan's hand when he was sent flying, Botan gets up 

"How, how were you able to cut me"

"You were constantly reenforcing your body with divine energy which made it hard to cut through you, so the solution was simple I just had to increase my divine energy output and make it more intense than yours"

"I see your not just skilled but you also have sharp intuition, typical of a katsuragi, your exceptional, your gonna make the perfect vessel"

"Don't mention my clans name from your filthy mouth"

"I won't be able to heal for a few days because you katsuragi's are just built different when it comes to hunting vampires"

"By the time I'm done with you, you won't even be able to talk"

"Ha, let's finish this you brat"

They clash again both hoping to finish this off in this struggle, they are exchanging deadly strikes, Botan slices the katsuragi's forehead, he keeps attacking continuously relentlessly but katsuragi finally parries the final attack and swings his sword at Botan's face but he uses his mouth to grab the sword and kicks katsuragi in his kneepit and causes him to go down on a knee, botan immediately tries to kick his head but katsuragi grabs his legs and uses his elbow to break it, Botan doesn't react to the pain yet instead he uses his blade to cut katsuragi's arm but it only grazes it, katsuragi pulls him towards himself and uses his knee on his stomach which causes Botan to release the blade, he grabs hold of his katana immediately and chops of Botan's other leg. Now Botan is completely handicapped and exhausted, he can't fight anymore, he starts crawling trying to escape from katsuragi.

"I have to escape I can't shapeshift anymore cuz I don't have anymore divine energy left"

Katsuragi walks coldly behind Botan while smiling cynically. 

"Please spare me, have mercy on me" Cries Botan,

Katsuragi starts laughing hysterically

"Oi, Oi don't tell me your scared" 

Kimiko is watching everything and suddenly starts feeling pity for Botan 

"This feeing I'm getting from katsuragi kun, his laugh and smile they're not the same, they're evil, I have to stop him if not-"

Katsuragi chops of Botan's other leg,

"Ahhhhh"

Kimiko jumps in front of katsuragi in an attempt to stop him

"That's enough katsuragi kun, he's eventually gonna bleed out and die so there's no need to take it any further" 

Katsuragi scoffs then starts laughing maniacally 

"Oi kimiko don't get in my way, this doesn't concern you"

"He doesn't have to suffer like this we can ju-"

"Oi if you don't move I'll kill you"

Kimiko's heart starts beating faster as she is scared and can see in his eyes that he won't hesitate to kill her

"Get out" says katsuragi as he walks past her and uses his Katana to chop of Botan's left and right arm. He turns Botan over to lie on his back, he then uses his arm to gouge out his two eyes 

"Ahhhh" 

"You screaming already? But this isn't even half the pain my family felt when you murdered them all, didn't you enjoy it?"

He cuts off his left ear and his lower lip, after some seconds Botan doesn't make any sounds again

"Guess he's dead"

There's a sound coming from the bushes, katsuragi picks up his sword but it's just Ryou who comes out,

"How about the brother?"

"Killed him, kimiko please I need you to heal up my right arm"

"S, sure thing"

She heads over to Ryou and starts using her divine energy to heal his arm

"All that's left now is Taiyou" says katsuragi.