The Truth Behind "The Covenant"

A few hours later...

Yūto woke up in a hospital room.

He tried to sit up even though his body still felt weak.

“What happened to Suyou?” Yūto muttered.

David was looking at Yūto through the window from outside the room.

He quickly entered.

“Yūto, how are you feeling?”

Yūto held his head.

“I think I’m just too tired. My head still feels a little dizzy.”

“I already talked to the doctor. He said you don’t have any serious injuries. You just need to rest for a few days. After that, you should be able to go home."

Yūto nodded.

“Then, what happened to Suyou?”

David was silent for a moment before he began to tell the story.

A few hours earlier...

Sirens rang loudly.

A group of police officers and Japanese soldiers surrounded "The Covenant"’s hideout.

“Stop!! This place is surrounded! Surrender now!” the commander shouted through a loudspeaker.

The police and soldiers began entering the area to stop the fight between the two sides.

They also moved toward the area where Yūto’s residence was located.

Several members of "The Covenant" managed to escape and hide in the forest on the mountain slope.

Suyou and several of his men were eventually arrested.

The operation went smoothly.

Meanwhile...

“You think you’re the only one who survived the harsh streets of the capital?!” David shouted.

David quickly charged toward Louis.

Swoosh!

Jab!

Jab!

Bam!

Louis had no time to dodge David’s fast jabs.

David then finished him with a powerful uppercut.

Louis was knocked backward and immediately passed out.

Ring... Ring...

David’s phone rang.

He looked at the screen.

“Boston?”

Click.

“Hey, David. Where are you? I’ve already coordinated with all the police and soldiers in Japan,” Boston said.

“Yes, I’m here. Come through the back of "The Covenant'’s hideout. There’s a door there that leads to my location."

“Alright. What about your son?”

“I don’t know yet. I just finished dealing with the situation here, and I’m heading to Yūto now.”

“Alright. I’ll take care of things here first, then I’ll come to you."

“Thank you, Boston."

“No problem.”

The call ended.

David immediately continued toward Yūto’s location.

Along the way, he saw Takeshi lying weakly on the ground.

“Takeshi! Are you alright?”

Takeshi nodded.

“Don’t worry about me. Go help Yūto.”

“Alright. Help is coming soon. Just wait here."

David continued running along the road until he finally reached the seventh pavilion.

There, he saw Sakamoto lying motionless on the ground.

Meanwhile, Hayabusa Jin was sitting quietly inside the circle drawn on the floor.

David carefully walked past the seventh pavilion.

He then approached Sakamoto.

David shook his body gently and called his name.

“Sakamoto... Hey, Sakamoto...”

David tried to wake Sakamoto while remaining alert because Jin was still there.

Sakamoto slowly began to move.

“Hmm... What is it?”

David let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness you’re alright.”

“I was just resting. Why did you wake me up, Uncle?”

David looked confused.

“How can you rest while your enemy is still alive?”

Sakamoto looked toward Jin.

“Oh, he’s already dead.”

“What?! He’s dead?”

David was shocked.

Sakamoto nodded.

“He was a very strong man. If he didn’t have a heart problem, he might have defeated me. He suffered a heart attack during his final attack. When he was about to fall, he somehow walked back into the circle and sat down in a meditation position."

David looked toward Jin.

“Alright, then. I’m going to Yūto’s location. Are you coming?”

Sakamoto shook his head.

“No. I want to sleep a little longer, Uncle.”

“Alright. I’ll go first.”

David continued on his way until he reached the gate of Suyou’s residence.

David opened the door.

Inside, he saw Yūto lying unconscious on the floor.

David immediately ran toward him.

“Yūto!”

Tears began to fall from David’s eyes.

“How is Yūto?”

“He’s only unconscious,” Kenji replied.

David let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness...”

David then hugged Yūto.

After that, David stood up and looked around.

“Kenji, please take Yūto and the others out of here. I want to talk to this man.”

David looked toward Suyou.

Kenji carried Yūto.

Aoi and Ryu also left the room, leaving David alone with Suyou.

David stared at Suyou.

“Why did you do this, Suyou?”

Suyou turned toward David.

“David! If you had never entered her life, Mikoto would have been with me!”

David was silent for a moment and took a deep breath.

“Suyou, you know what? She once talked about you in front of me. There was one thing Mikoto didn’t like about you...”

Suyou stared sharply at David.

“Tell me!”

“You always wanted to be someone else. You never tried to be yourself! That’s why Mikoto left you...”

Suyou fell silent for a moment as he remembered Mikoto’s words.

“Suyou, the world can be cruel. It can make you feel like every path is closed and make you feel like you don’t matter. But if you remain true to yourself, one day life will begin to recognize your existence. As long as you believe in yourself, the universe will help you find a way out,” Mikoto said.

Suyou remained silent and thought about it for a moment.

“Yes... In the end, I could never defeat this world!!”

David quickly interrupted him.

“It’s not that you couldn’t defeat the world. You couldn’t defeat yourself. The world will respect you if you remain true to yourself and believe in what you stand for.”

Suyou lowered his head.

“Easy for you to say... You never experienced what I went through...”

Suyou remained silent for a few moments. The room became quiet.

Then, Suyou began to tell his story.

“Since I was a child, my parents never cared about me. They were always busy with their own activities. I felt like I didn’t even exist!”

Suyou took a breath.

“When I was ten years old, my grandfather asked me to live with him. That was when I finally felt like I was important to someone. I felt like my world was perfect...”

Suyou looked away.

“Every day, my grandfather always took care of me. He taught me martial arts and swordsmanship. In fact, my parents were much stronger than my grandfather, but they refused to teach me anything.”

Suyou took a deep breath.

“But I was grateful that I could live with my grandfather, even though it didn’t last long.”

“What happened?”

Suyou turned toward David.

“When I was fourteen, my parents forced me to go back home. My grandfather tried to stop them. But my parents went too far. The shock from what they did caused my grandfather to suffer a heart attack.”

David lowered his head.

Suyou’s eyes began to fill with tears.

“My grandfather was taken to the hospital. When we arrived, those bastards, my parents, refused to pay for his treatment.”

Suyou’s face was filled with anger.

Tears began to flow down his cheeks.

“Those two devils took away the life of the only person who cared about me and loved me! Because of them, his treatment was delayed. I screamed and cried, begging the doctors to help my grandfather. Finally, one of the doctors agreed to treat him for free.”

David raised his head and looked at Suyou.

“What happened next?”

“My grandfather was pronounced dead.”

Suyou wiped the tears from his cheek.

“I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry, Suyou. What happened after that? Did you continue living with your parents?” David asked.

Suyou stared sharply at David.

“A few days after my grandfather’s funeral... I killed them! I killed both of them and buried them in the backyard!”

David took a deep breath.

“After that, I kept training and became even stronger. I read every book my grandfather owned. I studied all of them. After I turned eighteen, I started defeating many dojos so that they would fear me!”

David remained silent as he listened to Suyou.

“You know what? No one could defeat me back then. Eventually, I earned enough money from fighting against many dojos. I wanted to build my own dojo.”

“So you created "The Covenant" because you wanted everyone to submit to you?”

Suyou stared sharply at David.

“You’re wrong. At first, I didn’t use the name "The Covenant". I changed the name of my dojo because of Kenzo Saegusa."

“Kenzo? What does he have to do with it?” David asked in confusion.

“At that time, I was twenty years old, and I had already defeated almost every dojo in Japan. Almost everyone I defeated kept telling me about Kenzo Saegusa, the strongest man. At first, I didn’t care. But over time, I became angry and wanted to defeat Kenzo.”

Suyou looked away as he remembered what had happened.

“I went to the Saegusa residence. It has a small dojo with an old wooden sign that said ‘Saegusa.’ I entered and met Kenzo. At that time, I thought I would easily defeat him, but...”

David frowned.

“I was completely defeated by Kenzo. What was even more humiliating was that Kenzo only used a sword with the reverse side of the blade.”

“Then how did the name "The Covenant" come about?”

“After that fight, I promised Kenzo that I would stop interfering with other dojos and would make sure I never did anything evil again. Then I named my dojo "The Covenant" as a reminder of my promise to Kenzo. In all my twenty years of life at that time, that was the first time I had ever felt truly afraid. But in reality, Kenzo wasn’t a frightening person. He was someone who often smiled whenever he spoke to me."

“So that’s how it happened. But why did you turn your organization into something so evil?”

“Because the only person I feared was already dead! I had no reason to fear anyone anymore!”

“Then what about now? Do you still want to continue your crimes?”

Suyou smiled.

“When I was twenty, I was truly afraid of Kenzo. As time passed, I became stronger and braver. But now, at the age of fifty, I feel that same fear toward Yūto. It feels as if Kenzo has come back to watch over me through Yūto’s body...”

Suyou took a deep breath.

“I admit all of my mistakes. I also admit that I was defeated by Yūto. He could have killed me. In fact, Yūto defeated me with the reverse side of his sword, just like Kenzo did. Perhaps this is how my story is supposed to end...”

Bang!

“David!!” Boston shouted as he broke through the gate of Suyou’s residence.

David turned toward him and smiled.

“Are you alright?” Boston said.

David nodded.

Meanwhile, Suyou lowered his head, regretting everything he had done.

At present...

“So, that’s more or less what happened after you passed out, Yūto,” David said.

Yūto remained silent and thought for a moment.

Yūto took a deep breath.

“So his life wasn’t easy either. He had old wounds too. There was no one to help him heal those wounds. I feel sorry for him.”

Yūto then looked at David.

“Alright. After this, I’m going to see Suyou."