Munisai couldn't believe his eyes, he couldn't fathom how a kid got into the Shadow Valley. And not just that, but he also somehow survived crossing it despite it being filled with monsters of different sizes and grade ranks.
And then there is the one who rules them all and the entire valley…
To survive that journey and even break through the gate…
"Something doesn't feel right…" Munisai mumbled to himself as he put his hand on his sword handle, reflexively tracing the texture with his fingers.
"Dad?" From her hiding spot, Jun called out to him in a trembling voice. The weight of social norm and etiquette broke away in the face of danger as she addressed her father in a more familiar tone now.
Before he could turn to face his daughter, the one-legged Sword Saint suddenly felt the hair on his body stand up straight again.
Munisai quickly turned toward the kid once more, feeling the cold sweat run down his spine.
The boy, on the other hand, was nonchalantly just looking around as if searching for something, or someone.
"Then, why did I just-?!" As Munisai was trying to pose his question, he saw it.
A giant silhouette of a monster that was barely being covered by the cloud of dust rising higher than where the ancient village gate stood.
The once seasoned swordsman's fingers started to tremble, he could never forget this feeling, that figure.
THUMP!
The kid, who just dragged his own body through the rubble and dust past the destroyed gate, suddenly heard it behind him.
The familiar sound of giant footsteps.
"?!"
"No way, it survived?! And already caught up with me?!" Lawkey turned to face it as he shouted to no one in particular.
"GRAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWR!!" Not wasting a single second, the monster roared, sending heavy shockwaves of air around it. And as if to reveal its form, it cleared away all the dust blocking its body in the process.
It was a giant wolf, with long pointy fangs and yellow eyes that housed thin vertically-shaped pupils. Weird luminescent rocks were attached to its tail and the sides of its long body. They looked oddly similar to the glowing rock surface of the Shadow Valley.
However, those weren't even the weirdest things about it.
No, it additionally had two head-sized scars on each side of its neck, scars that did not seem very recent, but at least a few years old.
As the resounding shockwave pushed him back and put distance between him and the monster, Lawkey quickly stabbed his sword in the ground and held onto it as tightly as his aching muscles allowed. At some point, he had let go of his chest box to free his other hand. He made a mental note to look for it and retrieve it later.
For now, he needed to focus on what was in front of him.
In the back, where Hayashi's stand stood, Jun ignored her father's previous advice and made her way to him, dragging her feet through the shockwave one step at a time.
That roar, the feeling welling up in her stomach… Those were familiar to her as well.
Even if her mind didn't remember it clearly, her body still did. Sweat began to run down her face, her hands shook and trembled as she focused on where her father stood, fighting the shockwave too
"That's… It can't be…!"
Munisai mumbled to himself as he dug his feet and crutch in the ground. He held his right arm high, trying to shield his head with it.
And then…
As the giant wolf's roar came to a stop, the shockwaves immediately subsided with it.
"?!"
Munisai was taken aback by a tug on his sleeve and quickly turned towards it.
"Jun! I told you to stay hidden!" Without realizing it, he raised his voice at her, making her flinch for a second.
With one shaking hand on her father's sleeve and the other on the hem of her white kimono, Jun lowered her head down and tried to take control of her trembling legs.
Watching her, Munisai bit his bottom lip, knowing full well the feelings his daughter must be going through, the memories that might be flooding back in.
I have to do something!
This time… I have to do something!
He thought as he clenched his fist and tightened the grip on his crutch.
Just then, the Sword Saint's eyes constricted as he heard a mere boy taunt the monster.
"Are you going to keep getting in my way, you damn monster?!"
Ignoring everything else going on behind him, Lawkey pulled out his sword from the ground, finally free from the shockwave and able to move around again.
"Fine, for making her use all that power and stealing the time we could've had together…"
He pointed Eclipsed Dawn forward, his eyes glowing emerald.
"I'll kill you!"
The dust and rubble began to settle in the aftermath of the ancient gate's destruction, but the tense situation did not allow for anyone present to let their guard down for even a second.
As for the monster itself, an enormous and strange looking wolf, it stood towering over the surroundings.
It was almost as big as the giant gate itself.
"Grrrrrr!"
The giant wolf growled, its face frowning and its teeth oozing in saliva from top to bottom.
It glared directly at the one person it was after, squinting its yellow eyes at him.
The one that caused many of its pack to sacrifice themselves to save it, to save their Alpha.
It was its job, nay, its responsibility, to avenge them.
And that wasn't the only thing it was here to avenge…
"Glare at me all you want, it's not going to do you any good, you oversized pup!" Still holding up his sword, Lawkey scoffed as he returned the monster's glare with his own.
As he tried to remember his training to use his powers, the Shadow Manipulation Sign as he was told it was called, he concentrated his energy in his feet, calling upon the hidden element.
Some time had passed since his encounter with the Undying Elder, which thankfully meant some of his energy had been replenished.
It wasn't much, but it would have to do.
As if obeying their master, the shadows visibly began to distort and move from under him.
Whooosh!
Not wasting another second, Lawkey kicked off the ground behind him, jumping toward the opponent that relentlessly chased him through the entire Shadow Valley. The one that forced his new little companion, the tri-colored butterfly that saved him, to use all {her} power and disappear.
He wasn't about to let that go unpunished, not on this day.
It didn't matter how exhausted he felt, how much pain he was in, or the heartache that tugged on his soul from all the loss he had experienced in just one ordinary day.
He made up his mind.
Accompanied by the rising shadows, his body whipped through the air as the giant wolf followed him with its eyes above its head.
"What is that kid even doing?!"
Munisai couldn't help but question what the boy was attempting to accomplish on his own against that giant wolf. Not only was he a simple kid, but he was clearly battered and injured all over. Anyone could see he had no chance.
Besides, he was obviously not trained properly in the sword either. As the Sword Saint and the clan's sword instructor, Munisai quickly noticed the lack of technique in the boy. Actually, it would have been pretty obvious to anyone who underwent any form of sword training.
While he did move with a certain skill, he was not drawing on any specific techniques he had learned. It was as if…
That kid… did he grow up on the battlefield?!
Munisai assessed with wide eyes as he watched Lawkey swing his sword downward towards the giant wolf's neck, shadows swirling not far behind.
He can use the Shadow Sign too?!
Slash!
Lawkey landed his attack on the side of the giant wolf's neck, putting his back into pushing further in. He felt his blade sink deep into its flesh and cut through a good chunk of it.
Or at least, that's what he thought.
"Grrrr…"
Quickly jumping back, Lawkey heard the giant wolf growling again. It didn't feel threatening, but did not feel like a weak growl either.
What the hell?!
As he landed and looked towards it again, the giant wolf turned its head to face him, ignoring a bloodied wound on its neck.
Even Munisai stood in puzzlement at the sight. No matter how one looked at it, the monster had just been wounded. The blood from the injury was flowing out its neck and dripping on the ground beneath it.
And yet, instead of anger or a painful expression, the corners of its mouth were as wide as they could get.
It continued to growl without making any moves.
"Grrrr…"
Lawkey's pupils suddenly constricted to a point where they were barely visible anymore.
It can't be…! This annoying bastard!!
He finally realized what was going on, what the low growling and squinted eyes meant.
It was looking down at him.
The beast was laughing at him.