The captain stood, face-to-face with the disgruntled S rank.
"Do you feel like paying this year?" the captain tried to feign confidence, but it was useless. He had to fear him. He was only B rank after all.
"No", the old man spoke calmly while raising his hand, unleashing an attack.
Luckily, the captain managed to duck in time, as for the chariot - several yards behind him - it was sliced cleanly in two.
"Ah", the captain tried to keep calm. "An open top carriage, I always wanted one."
A second slash was launched at the captain's face, slicing through his helmet and scarring his face.
Takara instinctively called vines from the nearby forest to bind the man, only for them all to be sliced the moment they got close.
"Be careful", the captain warned, as another slash grazed his arm.
Akuma saw things differently. He saw this as an opportunity to try out some of his new skills.
First, Weather summoning.
The clear sky turned black, filled with horrible storm clouds, crackling louder than any thunder had before.
Lightning shot from between the clouds, towards the old man.
It was far too fast to be dodged. Surely no one could have done so.
Akuma had finally acknowledged how powerful this skill was, but that his opponent was not to be underestimated.
A slashing attack launched itself at the lightning bolt, splitting the plasma into two beams, neither of which hit the man.
Meanwhile, Takara continued to lash vines towards him, and help cover the guards as they tried to escape.
Next, Akuma activated beastmaster. Suddenly, he understood the true nature of this skill perfectly.
It allowed him to communicate with nearby monsters, and he automatically gained authority over them. Maybe this was just the skill he needed.
Within moments, hundreds of low-tier rat monsters swarmed the estate.
Akuma had chose the right core.
But still he doubted himself. Would it be enough?
The old man grunted as though the fight was becoming an effort. With a flick of his wrist, every single rat was sliced, reduced to chunks of flesh, scattered across the ground.
Just who was this man?
Akuma knew that S tiers were strong, but not this strong. This was closer to the strength he imagined from the saikyo.
If an unknown guy, not affiliated with a clan, and a whole tier below the saikyo was this strong, then just how strong was the saikyo?
Next thing he knew, Akuma was watching idly, as slashes ripped through his colleagues, and he was completely unable to intervene.
The slashes were shallow, not deep enough to kill them, but more than deep enough to send them unconscious.
Then, the slashes hit him too.
They were painful. More painful than anything he had ever know - even the griffin's death.
He began to feel his consciousness slipping away - was he really going to die here? Already? Maybe he never deserved to be the saikyo.