Chapter 17

Kiramaru skulked around the manner while avoiding any passing people. He noticed the large amount of people gathering outside of the building which made it hard for him to move around.

‘Everyone seems to be heading towards the main building; my execution should be starting soon. I want to get out of here but I need to find my stuff first. I’m really sick of this hell hole already.’

As he had that thought he noticed three men that didn’t follow the other members but rather chose to stay behind. They seemed to be sneaking into the side building and came out soon after with Kira's sword.

“Bingo.” He muttered excitedly.

One of them seemed to be especially tall but was also slightly muscular, not much larger than Kira but it was enough to warrant concern if a fight broke out.

The other two were leaner but seemed somewhat strong; their only noticeable features were that they were short. The taller one held the sword but the other two walked out with an assortment of logs and small objects.

At a single glance it didn’t seem too obvious but Kiramaru could tell after a further inspection that the one holding his sword was a swordsman. The definition in his forearms and the sharpness of his eyes were enough to convince him.

‘What are they doing, shouldn’t they be heading to the same place as everyone else. Get going already so I can snatch my stuff!’

One of the lackeys holding the log looked to the swordsman with a large grin. “See if you can hit this one clean then!”

He tossed it up a couple of feet into the air and watched as the swordsman cut through the wood using Kiramaru's sword. The slice was a clean cut but the only ones enjoying it were those three, meanwhile Kira had snapped into a silent rage and jumped forward without thinking.

“Nice swing! This next one’s going to come in fast so hit it if you can; if you miss we’re going to laugh at you.” One of the men threw a hefty chunk of wood towards the swordsman at a fast pace but as he brought his arms down for the swing he felt a tight grip holding him back.

With a heavy bonk against the head he was dazed for a moment but noticed the feet of a stranger right beside him. Kira stood angrily beside him with his hand gripped over the swordsman’s wrist.

“What the hell- what do you think you’re doing, it’s dangerous to grab someone’s hands when they are handling a sword, kid!”

“It’s dangerous to take my things, don’t think I’ll let you off so easy.” Kira replied

A chilling air forced the man back; for some reason Kira’s aura gave off the feeling that a mountain had approached them.

The chilling feeling was quickly shaken off when the swordsman turned to Kira and shoved him away. “Don’t go grabbing people you don’t know, what rank are you?”

The other men quickly chimed in with half-assed confident smirks. “Yeah that’s right, we haven’t seen your ass here before so you’re probably some low ranker!”

The swordsman took a step back and held the sword in both hands ready to attack with a real swing.

“I don’t know who you think you are but this is my new sword dumbass, so get walking! I don’t want to have to kill some random runt if I don’t have to.”

‘I called him a runt but that grip was freaking tough! What the hell was that about anyway, but one glance at a real sword and that should be enough to scare him.’ The swordsman thought.

“Give it back you piece of shit.” Kira glared at him with a scornful red gleam in his eyes.

“Piece of- now you’ve done it, you’re dead!”

The swordsman rushed in to slice at him but Kira kept his calm composure and reached out to catch the blade with both hands. He caught the blade between his hands and stopped it from moving further.

“How did- let go and fight me like a man!”

“How can you call yourself a man after attacking a unarmed kid? You really don’t have any shame do you, fine then I’ll just have to kick the crap out of you and take it back!” Kira brought the blade up with all his strength and left a large opening between him and the swordsman.

He raised his leg and drove it into the swordsman’s chin with a heavy upper-kick, sending him flying into one of the shorter men.

The sword fell to the ground before Kira's feet.

“Hey what was with that move, this kid’s got some moves...Who is this kid?”

Kiramaru planted his blade into the ground and left it there as he walked over to the three of them.

“G-get him!”

They rushed him and tried to overwhelm him using all three angles, the smaller two approached him from each side and the taller swordsman charged at him from straight ahead.

Kira went on the defence and raised his guard. ‘Those seals from before really did a number on my strength, I can’t move at all like I could. If I’m going to fight then it will be as a human!’

Kira leapt to the side and twisted back for a low sweep but the enemy jumped up before he could make contact. He contracted his legs after leaping up but immediately extended them out again when in the air.

Kiramaru used the momentum from his sweep to turn his body in a full 180 and faced the opposite direction where one of the other men had approached him from.

The two men were acting on the exact same wavelength as they stared at his extravagant movement with awe. ‘What!?’

Kira jumped upwards while rotating his upper body back, preforming a backflip. His right leg swung out for maximum force on the jump and smashed into the approaching man’s face which fully incapacitated him.

The man who had jumped into the air for a straight kick was unable to move in the air and watched as Kira’s foot continued to swing into his direction with no loss of momentum. ‘Impossible!’ he thought.

A subtle crunch from the man’s face left a satisfying feeling as he was sure that he had beaten them both.

‘These are the moves drilled into me after months of training, getting hit way harder than any of you bastards. I’ve became stronger…but-’

As Kira landed he dodged out the way of a fist that broke through the air with heavy movement. The swordsman had already closed in to where Kira was standing and caught him by surprise.

The swordsman wore a wicked expression as he squared up for another attack. “That kick you got me with was pretty solid, I’ll be sure to bust you head in twice as hard.”