Chereads / Hellscape / Chapter 12 - Race against time

Chapter 12 - Race against time

Ajax opens his eyes expecting to see a blade lodged into his chest but he sees Lennox standing infront of him. Ajax gasps in shock before Lennox throws a push kick at Erik pushing him a few meters back.

"It's alright son he just got me in the shoulder" Lennox says as he tears off a piece of his shirt and ties it around shoulder to control the bleeding.

"Do anything like that again I can assure you. You won't be soo lucky." Erik says as he points his blade towards Lennox.

Ajax grits his teeth and attempts to rush at Erik but an arrow shot by Aliyah lands directly infront of him,letting out a beep before it engulfs the area around Ajax in a blue light making him disssapear.

"Goddamn it!" Erik yells out before leaping at Aliyah, Aliyah jumps out of the way and fires an arrow at Erik who parries it with his blade and throws it at Aliyah. Lennox throws out a smoke grenade towards Erik instantly engulfing the area in smoke.

"You know I was thinking of sparing you bastards, but since you wanna protect that guy soo bad you can rot in hell alongside him!" Erik says before stabbing his other blade into the ground letting out an Electrical shockwave.

Meanwhile...

Ajax rubs his head as he gets back up and looks around realising Aliyahs somehow sent him to a cliffside.

"What the hell kinda arrows does that girl have?" Ajax says to himself as he looks around confused.

Suddenly a few shadow shruiken come flying towards Ajax out of the darkness, he attempts to evade them by jumping out of the way but he still gets slashed by two of them. Ajax gets up grunting from the cuts and gets into his fighting stance.

" your instincts are foolish but admirable." Hiroki says emerging from Ajaxs shadow, he swiftly jumps away from Hiroki.

"..."

"You dont talk much huh? No worries I'll get to the point my brother probably already explained everything to you but I will give you my word. I won't kill you if my brother confirms the safety of my family by sunrise." Hiroki says igniting his shadow blade.

" ready when you are." Hiroki says before taking his stance.

A few dozen state soldiers stand guard of Hirokis House to make sure his wife and son don't try to escape. Suddenly one by one the guards outside the house begin to fall into their own shadows, the three soldiers in the house begin to notice the instaneous dissapearances of the soldiers outside.

"You guys seeing that?"

"Yeah what the hell this has to got to be a dream right?"

".."

" Hey newbie go check it out."

"WHA- tsk damn it all." The third soldier utters under his breath before he hesitantly walks off to check outside. He opens the door and instantly screams before getting pulled outside. The two soldiers ignite their electric batons and begin to shake uncontrollably in fear, then suddenly the light in the living room starts to flicker and their both knocked out on the floor with Kazuki standing over them.

"Mm- wha... what is it" Hirokis wife mumbles as she wakes up.

"Hello Reina San I know this may sound-"

"I know you're my husband's brother... Kazuki right?" Reina says rubbing her eyes.

"Yes.. how did-." Suddenly Kazuki is shot through the shoulder.

"Run go GO!" Kazuki shouts at Reina while grunting in pain, Reina picks up her son and runs out the bedroom. Kazuki swiftly picks up the bed and throws it at the window blocking the entire window completely.

"Locate the shooter." Kazuki says commanding his shadow as it becomes a shadowman and swiftly it makes the journey.

After a few moments Kazuki gets notified of the location via the telepathic connection between him & his shadow. He jumps into his own shadow & teleports outside the house to then taking cover behind the house opposite it.

Kazuki looks up & realises the sniper was able to accurately hit him from around forty miles downwards from a forest.

"Of course he has an augment." Kazuki says pulling out his sword and summoning a shadowmn to stay behind at the house & guard Reina & her son.

Kazuki then swiftly dashes out from behind the house, blade at the ready to parry incoming bullets. The first shot is fired but there's a major difference this time, the bullet is electromagnetically charged.

"Railgun too huh?" Kazuki says nervously as he narrowly dodges that bullet it creates a tiny crater behind him, Suddenly a barrage from the forest come at him from five different angles. Kazuki attempts to fall into his own shadow to get away but hidden spotlights are suddenly shined on Kazukis location practically eliminating his shadow.

Kazuki is able to adjust within mere nanoseconds by dodging the first bullet & proceeding to deflect all of them with his blade. Kazuki then throws a few shruiken at the nearby spotlights breaking them instantly, he then falls into his own shadow.

Kazuki then teleports nearby the shooters location just to be safe in case of traps around the shooter. He then sees spotlights shine on the shooter who stands up disassembling his rifle.

"Not too bad I thought you'd be dumb enough to get close." Dominic says re assembling the sniper rifle into an Assault rifle.

" You are under arrest under the order of the royal family of Zephyr for aiding in the crimes committed by the Blackthorne family." Kazuki slowly walking upto Dominic.

"Ha ha I thought it wasn't true but man even though I'm seeing it before me it's still unbelievable! You're trying to turn over a new leaf? You've left countless bodies in your wake, you make your elder sister look like a Saint." Dominic says still laughing in disbelief.

"That was a long time ago." Kazuki says frustrated.

"No no no you don't understand my friend, you're a monster like me.. you can't escape your past you were unforgiving & merciless in your lifetime to believe someone like you can just turn over a new leaf,it's disgustingly arrogant." Dominic says pointing his rifle at Kazuki.

Kazuki without saying a word throws a few shruiken at Dominic, he jumps out of the way and pulls out a remote while pointing his rifle at Kazuki.

"Don't think for a second I don't know when im outcmatched, you take one step closer your sister in law and nephew will be ash." Dominic says standing up & walking towards Kazuki.

"Drop your weapons." Dominic says while pointing his rifle at Kazukis head.

Kazuki drops his sword and utility belt on the ground.

"Killing a Yukimura will look good on my resume." Dominic says preparing to fire at Kazuki.

" そしてあなたは私を傲慢だと呼びます" Kazuki utters under his breath.

Shruiken Kazuki threw earlier were caught by his shadowmen outside the range of the spotlights and are thrown at Dominic from behind stabbing into arm and back, releasing his grip off the remote.

Kazuki swiftly grabs the remote and throws a spinning back kick at Dominic instantly knocking him out. After a few moments Kazuki ties up Dominic and is about to head out but notices the sun about to rise over the horizon.

Kazuki realising he doesn't have the energy or the time left to teleport both his brothers family and Dominic. He choses to prioritise his sister in law and nephew, Kazuki ties Dominic to a tree and rushes back to Reina and his nephew.

Meanwhile...

Ajax is kneeling while panting heavily with cuts all over his arms and face. Hiroki stands unbothered while cleaning the blood off his sword.

"It seems my brother hasn't kept his word, if that assassin Erik hired has killed him it's likely he'll inform Erik of my attempt to double cross him, no matter ill simply kill every single one of you." Hiroki says running towards Ajax.

"You gotta figure out a way to control it then son that's all I can tell you learn how to send it out in specific amounts in the next few hours." Lennoxs word echo in Ajaxs head, he prepares to charge up his blast but this time controls the rage filling his head. He fires a concentrated ball of fire at Hiroki who attempts to deflect the blast but gets sent knocked back surprised by its power.

Ajax continues to fire singular fire balls at Hiroki who is getting repeatedly knocked back due to the varying strength of each ball of fire. Hiroki then rushes back while grabbing his cloak, it starts to emit a black mist. The cloak increases its width and envelopes around Hiroki seemingly absorbing the fireballs.

Ajax is taken aback by the ability of Hirokis cloak and decides to fire full firebeam at Hiroki, Hirokis cloak then proceeds to absorb the incoming blast with ease as he closes the distance & throws a side kick at Ajaxs stomach knocking the wind out of him.

Hiroki then ignites his shadow blade & is about to decapitate Ajaxs head when suddenly a katana blocks the incoming attack.

" Excuse me for being late." Kazuki says panting heavily.

Hiroki looks at Kazuki, and sees his family behind him, he disintegrates his blade & rushes over to his family & hugs them.

"Forgive me dear I'm soo sorry for putting-"

"Oh shut up its ok Hiro, we're all in one piece no matter." She says hugging back her husband.

"What happened papa I was sleeping." Hirokis son says rubbing his eyes.

"Seriously?" Hiroki says chuckling in disbelief.

" I don't know how. The boy even slept through a gunshot." Kazuki says starting to chuckle.

"Oh excuse me for this Ajax." He helps Ajax stand up.

"No worries I would've done the same for-"Ajax cuts himself off remembering his mothers death infront of him.

"Are you alright Solomon San?" Kazuki asks Ajax concerned by the sudden fear in the young man's eyes.

" no its nothing, either way ain't Lennox & Aliyah still stuck with that guy we gotta go!" Ajax says jogging ahead.

Erik is fighting off both Aliyah and Lennox at the same time, duel wielding his blade. Neither of em able to land a single strike on the other until Erik throws a push kick a lennox and a spinning elbow at Aliyah, she's able to block it but still gets knocked back by the force of it.

Erik attaches both blades & charges at Lennox attempting to stab him but Hiroki jumps infront of him with his shadow cloak absorbing the blade.

Erik then gets dropkicked from the left by Ajax sending him flying towards the wall of the cliff.

Erik stands up & sees Hiroki standing alongside lennoxs group, he thinks about his alternative options in the moment.

" heh soo you've cast your family aside for what Hiroki?" Erik says staring him down.

"Don't worry about my family, but you should be worrying about your assassin." Hiroki says smugly.

Erik begins to scowl, he knows he's outnumbered soo he throws down a teleportation crystal & stares down Ajax just before being whisked away.

A few moments later Kazuki approaches his brothers family to say goodbye.

"Reina San I was gonna ask you earlier, how did you know my name?" Kazuki asks looking down.

"My husband sleep talks alot & many times throughout the night he'd cry out your name, at first I hated you since he'd speak out of fear of you but eventually his dreams would be more.... peaceful. This may sound silly but it felt like he already reconciled with you and you both understood eachother." Reina says shaking her head embarassed.

Kazuki proceeds to take a knee to speak to Reinas son.

"I never asked but what's your name my boy?" Kazuki smiling at at the boy.

"Kenji" the boy says shyly.

"I'm Kazuki Kenji I'm your father's brother." He says smiling at the boy.

"Wow papa has a brother?" Kenji says looking up at his mother. Reina chuckles lightly at her sons curiosity and picks him up.

"I'm thankful of you Kazuki... we really are." She says smiling at him.

"Don't mention it.. now excuse me I have to go tease your husband." He says before walking off.

"We could provide protection for your family if you would like Hiroki." Lennox says to Hiroki.

"No no its alright I've already got that sorted out."

"Oh and thank you for helping us out back there, to be honest I doubted your brothers plan." Lennox says lightly chuckling.

" thats understandable... but anyways good luck on your mission." Hiroki says before walking off.

"Oh and young brother Reina has been telling me about you sleep talking what's that about?" Kazuki says smugly.

"Wha-shut up I don't know what your talking about." Hiroki says sweating profusely and turning red.

Kazuki begins to laugh at his brother, hiroki slowly starts to ease up & begins to laugh alongside him.

"I'll see you around Kazuki." Hiroki says before walking off to his family.