NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16: Chapter 15: Violence. (REDUX)
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'Sometimes, rather than the crazy elaborate moves that require a lot of set-up to perform, it's the simple yet crazy-effective moves that really, really, really changes a fight.
It just takes one time, one time to get it right...
And one time to turn it into an opportunity.
And that's what I'm after.'
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-Myoujou Kurogami's Oymyakon Travel Journal Entry (Excerpt), 2002.-
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-wham!-
As the head of a Kuremisago Clansmen jerked backwards from a previous blow, Myoujou quickly finished him off with a roundhouse kick.
"Alright, we're done here!" Myoujou said. It was the final opponent he had to face, and luckily for him, it meant that he could preserve energy for what lay ahead
"Yep, that's the last one of them." Shintarou nodded.
All around him laid bodies either writhing painfully or lying silent permanently.
"Hey, Shintarou? Do you know where Uncle Saiga went off to?" Myoujou asked.
"Right now? Nah. But I do think that I might know where he's heading." Shintarou hummed. "Though we should get going, just in case."
"Got it." Myoujou nodded slightly as the two went on their way through the snowy mountains.
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-An Hour Later-
Running up the path, Myoujou couldn't help but notice the amount of snow that was rampantly building up, slowly covering the ground that just earlier seemed to consist of orange-red to gold leaves and dirt.
'Saiga disappeared, and his evil doppelganger is on the loose causing trouble and wreaking havoc...' Myoujou sighed. 'This is just like in that book Shintarou got me called 'Mr. H*de and Dr. J*kkyl', huh...'
'The question now was, as it always was; 'How does Uncle Saiga convince people who never liked him, and would be waiting for any opportunity to get rid of him that he's actually innocent?'
Because from what Myoujou knew about situations like this, innocence is the first thing to get thrown out of the court of public opinion, and the last thing that people who have a common enemy/ scapegoat give a damn about.
'Like, really? Even if we catch this pretender, who's to say that ol' Uncle Soggy doesn't get cast out after all of this is over? It's obvious that the pretender is one of his enemies...'
"Hey, Shintarou? What do you think---"
-swish!-
A brandished spear quite literally cuts through not only Myoujou's line of thought, but also the conversation that he would've had with Shintarou.
"Huh?!"
Myoujou dodged a near-strike on his jugular veins as he reached into his pocket for his sheathed dagger.
'And here I thought I wouldn't be using this.'
As Shintarou countered another spearman rushing at him, a dozen or so figures wielding spears, katanas, and short daggers came dashing towards the master-disciple duo.
'Left, right, left, up, down... Middle!' Myoujou dodged the thrusts of numerous spearmen before leaving a bright red line on the throats of one of them with a single swipe of his short dagger.
-thud!-
---And as one began to fall, soon the rest would as well.
'Left, right, left, up, down...' Myoujou continued to dodge as he memorized where the strikes would attempt to land next.
"Whoa! These guys are really bloodthirsty!" Myoujou barely blocked a thrust with the flat of his black dagger, slashing down in retaliation.
'Okay, let's see how you guys handle this...' Myoujou exhaled.
He was now about to use a technique he and Shintarou devised in regards to using the [Tenrai Shikyou-ryuu/ Four Heavenly Mirrors Style] alongside weapons.
And the perfect move that surfaced in his mind would allow him to dispatch of the assailant weilding the spear currently barring him from getting closer to land a bow.
Simple as it was, it was much more dangerous to perform, which was why he hadn't done it till now, but after feeling the flow of his opponent, he thought that the time was right.
'Now!'
Slipping under the thrust of the spear, myoujou used [FORTIFICATION] on his right hand as he shot it toward the target's vital points
[ARMED TECHNIQUE: BLOODCLOT PIERCE]
-Neck, pierced.
-Heart, pierced.
-Lungs, pierced.
-Kidneys, pierced.
-Groins, pierced.
-Thighs, pierced.
And the result...
-splash!-
As blood continuously flowed from the wounded orifices left by Myoujou, his would-be assailant dropped to their knees before falling to the snowy floor, their breath growing fainter with each exhale.
'It's over.' Myoujou coldly declared his target's fate.
Flicking his dagger as the blood flew off, he turned his sights on the others who charged at him regardless of damage, or loss.
Sheathing the dagger, he picked up the fallen spear as he got into position.
-If your enemies leave you weapons, why not use them?
[ARMED TECHNIQUE: DUAL-THRUST]
Dashing out with a half-thrust that was blocked, Myoujou then burst forward with a fuller, longer, deeper thrust that broke through the enemy's guard, directly piercing them in their vital organs.
-shunkt!-
Lodging the spear into the chest cavaties of the man wielding a katana, Myoujou was about to pull it out until he heard some commotion going on where Shintarou was.
"Well, I'll be damned!" Shintarou frowned in a rare showcase of confusion. "I expected the explosives, but why are you guys running at us with them?"
"Huh? What the hell?" Myoujou raised an eyebrow.
"Myoujou! Lend me your spear, will ya'?" Shintarou asked as Myoujou tossed him to weapon he pulled out of the fallen clansmen.
"Hyuup!" Shintarou tossed the spear at the clansmen, downing him.
But his expression grew incredulous as he saw more clansmen running at him with similar weaponry on their body
"Hah. No wonder these numbnuts are lacking personnel 'round these parts." Myoujou chuckled darkly.
"Watch it kid, they've got--" But before Shintarou could finish his sentence, a flash of light envelops not only the two of them, but all the other fighters on the field.
"Die, Outsiderrr---!!!!" And with the roar of another mad clansman that entered the ears of the two who retreated a distance...
-BOOM!-
A deafening explosion rings out, as although Myoujou wasn't in the blast radius to be entirely affected, he still felt himself moving... downwards?
'Weird. It's as if the ground itself was...falling. Oh, no.'
---And as the ground below him lost strength and fell, gravity soon took over, and a snowslide commenced.
'Damn it.' Myoujou winced. 'This is gonna hurt.'
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-???-
'Seriously, where the hell am I now?' Myoujou thought as he got up, dusting off nearly a foot of snow above him.
'Doesn't seem like Shintarou's around here either...' Myoujou tried sensing Shintarou's presence, but it was to no avail.
'A snowslide?'
Myoujou at the wreckage of trees, roots, snow, and bodies around him, sent tumbling down due to the explosion.
'Damn, it really happened, hahaha!' Myoujou chuckled silently.
It wasn't because he found this situation funny at all, it was quite the opposite in fact.
---He went up this mountain alongside Shintarou to work alongside him, only to go downwards due to the truth, but went up the mountain again alongside Saiga...
---Only to get sent down this mountain due to a damn snowslide triggered by an explosion!
"Hahahaha!" Myoujou laughed again. "What kind of bullshit is this!?"
"Don't tell me I'm gonna have to climb that damned mountain again!? Wait, what was it they call it in those books? 'One must imagine Sisyphus happy? Something like that?"
'Anyways." myoujou pushed himself off the ground only to feel a slight pain in his shoulder.
"!?"
'Oh.' Myoujou realized. 'It's dislocated.'
"Ah, well."
-click!-
"Hissssss!" Myoujou, using his left hand forcefully set his right shoulder back in place. "That's gonna bruise."
It was painful, sure. But Myoujou had felt worse.
Besides this was not the time to be worrying about little injuries like this.
'Saiga was planning on meeting with his wife and kid, right?' Myoujou thought. 'If I was Shintarou, not only would I meet him there, but I would also expect myself as Myoujou to go there as well if I survived...'
Now, there was only one destination in mind, but there was a slight problem
'How do I get there, though?'
Myoujou began to walk as he wracked his brains, searching for answers, but as soon as he had made a few steps, he came across a rather... suspicious figure
It was a tall yet lean man, that much he could see from the snow.
But he could also see the hints of blonde hair and a two layered suit that the figure wore as well.
In all respects, it was a familiar figure indeed, but Myoujou who knew better understood that this wasnt who he thought it was.
"Well, well, well..." Myoujou frowned as he checked his right shoulder. "Look who it is..."
'Luckily, I'm still in fighting circumstances.'
"You're the guy playing as Saiga, aren't you? Myoujou taunted as he got into a comfortable fighting stance. "Is it because you secretly wish you were him as well?"
"You know, with a wife and kid? I mean, I've never met her, but I bet she's a beauty. What do you think, hmmn?"
"Hooo." The figure exhaled. "Still. Alive?"
"Oh, so you're finally dropping the guise? That's nice, so I don't have to rip that mask off, then."
"No bother." The doppelganger flexed his wrists. "I'll deal with you quickly."
"Besides, not only do I have more of these masks... But death is the only thing that awaits you."
-swish!-
Myoujou dodged a straight punch that conncted into the trunk of a tree, causing splinters to explode in different directions.
'Yep, that's the guy.' Myoujou's face turned serious 'I'm gonna have to fight for my life again.'
"Let me tell you something, faker. You might be strong, sure. But I've got no intentions of dying!"
"Got that!?"
-swiish!-
In that moment, both figures dashed into eachother, colliding fiercely.
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Chapter 15: Violence. (REDUX) [END]
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15th Chapter Out!
Here We Are!
ITS A NEW YEAR AND IM BACK
DAMN, HAVENT BEEN HERE SINCE LAST YEAR (idc if its unfunny, i had to make it im sorry.)
Nearing The Climatic End
This Arc Will End In About 3 Chapters.
Thank You, And Stay Tuned~
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