2. Value of Life.

THE NEXT DAY.

"Young master Harugi Shoniko has arrived!" The head house guard, a humble but huge man, bellowed as the gates were pushed open.

All the maids stood in line at both sides of the flowery path which led from the gate to where I and my uncanny family stood.

I swelled up as my brother came through, always shining in his garments like the angel he was. He was taller than most, and by that I meant taller than all of us in our household, branded with those muscular outlines of his — he looked and walked like a born slayer.

"My son." Father spread open his arms with a warm smile as he received him, slamming his red, gigantic overall in my face at the same time.

Harugi didn't utter a word as he took the embrace, if anything, he seemed moody. From the way his shoulders dropped and his somewhat heavy eyes looked straight, I could tell something wasn't right with him, something really bad to get such a cheerful talkative to not say a single word to his family, even after being away for nearly nine months.

"Who's the handsome swordsman?" Jinoke chipped in with her left palm over her lips. Like usual, she couldn't read the room.

A fellow young swordsman stood about four feet behind Harugi, he had on the signature blue haori over his clothing by which slayers were identified. Though Harugi still stuck to his blood red haori even after joining the corps, insisting it made his long black hair pop out more.

But the young slayer behind him didn't care to look our way, he just stood casually as he sight saw.

"Sora," Harugi bent a knee in front of me as his brows dropped over his sad eyes.

"You lost didn't you?" He asked.

Damn, he asks the most awkward things straight out of nowhere.

"Yes I did. I'm sorry I didn't meet your expectations." I faked teary eyes too.

"No, don't apologize. I'm sure you did the best you could. Yuta could've gone about things at a more comfortable pace." He replied, brooding.

Pace, what pace? Are you really trying to comfort me?

Of course I didn't say any of it out loud.

"Sora," he called again with an unusually hollow tone, then gently as I'd ever seen him, he placed his right hand on my shoulder and sighed.

"We need to talk."

***

"Sora, how well do you understand the Slayer Corps?" Harugi threw out the first question as we both sat opposite each other in one of the spare rooms.

"The Slayer Corps?" I hummed in a short breath. Harugi always loved discussing whatever he could about them with me, even before he joined the corps. But the face he had right now didn't look like someone who wanted to talk about fantasy and dreams.

"Well, they were formed after the discovery of beasts whose basic abilities surpassed human power. Which led to the discovery of Axeon, then the various applications and so on." I gave him a pretty basic explanation, because it was all I could remember right now under his heavy gaze.

What happened next, I never would've expected in a million lifetimes.

Tears slowly rolled down his cheeks but he quickly wiped them as he looked away. I had never seen him in such a dreary state in a long while, no, I've only seen him this sad when mother died.

What tragic issue must've caused him to drift so deep again?

"You were always too smart for us, for yourself too. Now the whole nation knows it." He said amid sniffs, then he looked straight at me.

I didn't know what to say, basically because I didn't understand what was going on. So I just kept mute and my brother did too.

"What's going on Harugi-san? Why are you home?" I broke the silence.

"It's not easy for the corps right now. Beasts are becoming more intelligent than we anticipated. Selected few can now decide when they need a hostage to torture for information. It's crazy." Harugi said.

"No way..." I replied.

"The Shogun has now placed everything on a need to know basis, with people who know too much being taken care of, one way or another." He added.

"That's alarming, things must be really hard for you Harugi-san. Don't worry too much, you're a great slayer." I tried to comfort him, but deep down I somewhat knew that wasn't his concern, he knew he was a great slayer, and everyone reminded him of that every day.

Finally making a straight face, he continued.

"The slayer I came with had a sister about your age, born with exceptional wits, but sadly she wasn't cut out to be a slayer too. Four weeks ago, his family's home was raided by crawlers, and his sister was taken captive."

Woah, that's really sad. But why is he telling me all these?

"Three days later, one of the shogun's record houses was hit, and precious details were taken from it. His sister told them about it, she committed treason." Harugi stood from his seat.

"You could too."

Wait, you're not serious. Me? How can a worthless son dare tip the balance of this supernatural war?

"I would never betray you brother. I swear!"

Before my eyes, Harugi's body flickered, or vibrated, I'm not sure.

"You won't betray me huh? That's quite a claim to a stranger." He said with a smile as his face totally changed! I don't mean his expression, not his mood, his actual head!

"Aah!" I jumped off my seat as the rest of his body changed too.

Few seconds later, Harugi was gone, and the young swordsman who followed him home now glared at me with a threatening smile.

"I promised Harugi to comfort you till it was time to die, but screw the both of you. He didn't put up a smile while he slashed my dear sister's neck open, did he?" The stranger scoffed in my face as he drew his katana slowly, just to watch me squirm.

Axeon allowed a slayer to manifest abnormal abilities in one of four ways: Speed, Precision, Strength like most of the slayers from my family, and finally — Illusions, the most abnormal of them all.

This guy is an illusion technique user?

What is he talking about, where's Harugi?

"What are you trying to do? Who are you?" My left foot brushed the mat as I took a step back.

"Where's my brother?" I asked and he tilted his head towards the closed sliding doors.

"Right there." He replied, walking towards me.

"Stay away! Don't come any closer." I tried to kick the center table but it just wouldn't move.

Is he really trying to kill me in my own home?

"The Shogun gave your crippled family a choice. They either send you to him, where you'd serve as a slave or prisoner, or they give you an honorary death themselves." He chuckled.

"That's a lie!" I yelled.

There's no way my family chose their pride and reputation over my own life. I know I'm a joke to them, but there's still no chance. We're family, regardless of whatever misfortune, we share a bond!

"Struggle please, I haven't laughed since your brother killed my sister." His smile faded instantly and the grip on his sword tightened.

Swallowing back my heart, I ran for the door and managed to slip through his reach by mere inches.

"Harugi-san, big brother, I'm here, open up!" I banged on the door repeatedly as desperately as I'd ever been.

This must be a mistake. I'm here Harugi, I'm right here!

"That's enough Sora. Go well."

........

Huh?

"Get back here." The other slayer yelled at me as he grabbed my hand and hurled me across the room. Crashing into the center table, I toppled it over and landed on my face.

Groans were all my windpipe could produce as blood dripped from my nose and mouth, soon, everything became blurry.

I'm about to be killed by a stranger in my own home, with my entire family not just present, but in consent. There's no worse way to go than this. A failure like me didn't stand a chance from the beginning.

I clenched my fists while trying to get off the floor, even if this was the ending they wrote for me, I can't just accept it!

"So," the bastard's voice hit my ears. Immediately, he grabbed my neck and effortlessly flipped me over to face him. My vision became worse by the second, I couldn't even see his katana's blade anymore. I may have lost too much blood.

"Any last words you trash?" He sneered, all while standing so tall over me.

I can't believe this. Is it so easy? Taking someone's life. Or did they even consider me a living being before?

"Your name, your name please." I forced the words out of my mouth.

"What for?" He asked.

"Name." I whispered and he must've thought it was my last wish.

"Musashi. The slayer who will take your life, is named Musashi." He scoffed with a grin.

"I see. Musashi, Musashi..." A smile crept onto my lips as I looked at him in his glorious state.

Now, I'll see for myself if it's so simple to take someone's life.

"Musashi," I called again.

"Burn."

Before my very eyes, he was engulfed in a rage of fire that pleased my heart, the yellow light it brought cleared my vision in an instant. He stood so close that I could feel the warmth of the fire as one word slipped through my mouth.

"Beautiful."

"Aargh! Aargh!" Musashi screamed in pain as his fingers squeezed his haori, trying to take it off, but it was too late.

I released a grunt as I got to my feet and looked down at his burnt corpse, wriggled in painful poses and with a wide mouth forever screaming in the spirits.

With a glance at the door, I couldn't help but admit how unaffected I felt after taking another human's life. So now —

I'll take four more.