The Village Disciples

Currently, a meeting between the council of Buraun is being held. The council consisted of ten representatives; each council member attaining their own position in the village.

"Greetings, gentlemen." One of the council members began, clasping his hands on top of the huge oval table in front of him. This man had short black hair, a wide frame, and a black scruffy beard clinging to the skin on his face.

This council member's name was Shinrai Shutoku; the head of the 'Council of Buraun.'

"We have gathered here today to discuss the unfortunate events that have occurred recently. Most notably; the destruction of our collaborating village, Asahi." Shinrai explained, closing his eyes to signify his despair.

With the council room remaining silent, Shinrai continued. "With Asahi being taken out by, what we presume to be an enemy village, we are now desolate of most of our trades that are correlated to our transported rations, to materials."

One of the council members hunched forward slightly, clearing his dry throat. "We should also keep in mind that Asahi wasn't the only village to be razed. Villages all across our nation, Adonai, have been experiencing the same fate as Asahi, and I fear that Buraun could very well be next in line." The council member exclaimed, now seen to have a shiny bald head, oiled and slicked mustache, and a pair of glasses that hid his eyes with the gleam of the room's lights.

"We've already had a group of unsuspecting warriors attack our village as of late. If that is to be used as an indication, then we should be rationalizing how to increase our village protection. The magic barrier environing Buraun is clearly not enough." Another council member huffed out in aggravation.

Shinrai nodded in acknowledgment of the two council members, opening his eyes to view the people at the meeting. "Thank you, Shikko, Hiyo," Shinrai gave gratitude to the members, saying their names in order.

"But there's an even bigger problem amidst this situation; Asahi's trump card, a warrior with the name Heiki Shototsu was reported to be missing by our warriors that were dispatched to the village," Shinrai informed, noticing the malicious glares that were featured in each of the council members' eyes.

"I knew we shouldn't have let that beast run freely! He's probably the one behind the fall of Asahi!" A woman with obsidian-black hair slammed her clenched hands onto the table, yelling abruptly, venom lacing her words. "It's only a matter of time before our own beast does the same!"

The response of the obsidian-black-haired woman seemed to have affected her fellow council members. "Bahh!" A man with unkempt gray hair bellowed loudly. "They aren't beasts, woman! They're gifts from our gods. They were heroes before the damn Takuetsu came and wiped them out!" The gray-haired man followed up his bellowing, pointing a shakey and bony finger in the direction of the obsidian-haired woman.

The woman scoffed, parting her lips to speak. Before any sound could elicit from her mouth, a hand was then slammed onto the table. "That is enough! We aren't here to ramble on about our opinions on the ones with the damn Tansu beasts!" Shinrai interrupted with a shout.

Shinrai breathed in and out in an attempt to soothe his rising temper, then stating, "What we need to focus on is what caused the attack, pinpoint it, and cease of it immediately!"

The room was then encompassed in pregnant silence, all of the ten representatives clouding their minds with various thoughts.

"Well," One representative began, sighing. "One thing for sure is that whoever did it…"

"...Is sure as hell dangerous."

XXX

"Hey, Itami. Do we have any more Awamori?" A voice called out in a yawn.

Two males could be seen slouching up against a cold stone wall, an apparent expression resembling pure boredom on both of their faces. Bottles of alcohol were piled up beside the two.

Both of them both had identical physical traits pertaining to their hair. It was of the color green, a shade of green that'd be seen within a forest.

One of the two did have noticeably shorter hair, his hair only reaching down to his ears in length. He also had a dark-grey eyepatch covering his right eye, a sleeveless black shirt, a wooden stick with the tip shaped like a 'Y' in his left hand, as well as him missing his right hand.

The other green-haired male had longer hair, reaching all the way down to his collarbone. He also attained a grey mail shirt that was made up of several welded strips of iron, a brown headband that was wrapped around tightly on his head, as well as a shiny black ring with green kanji written on the front.

These two green-haired males were called Itami and Doryoku.

"No. I drank the final one" Another voice responded. The source of the voice was the staff-wielding Itami, answering his brother Doryoku's question.

A groan was then heard rumbling out and vibrating Doryoku's throat, his irritation to the news was apparent. "This is stupid, why were we chosen to stay outside in case of any wandering warriors!? I'm sure that any one of us could just take them out easily anyways!"

Itami glanced over to his complaining brother, "I'm not sure myself, Doryoku. I'm still lost as to why everyone in the village was killed if Regashi wanted to use the village folks' power." Itami rhetorically questioned, closing his eyes and tilting his head upwards.

Doryoku sighed, shaking his head in frustration. He then proceeded to look at his brother Itami. "So, how have you been holdin' up with a missing hand?"

Without opening his eyes, Itami responded, "It isn't that bad. Regashi said that there might be a way to substitute something for my hand." Itami then answered. "It'd be nice if I could just make a new hand with wood, but there's no way to connect wood to the human body's nervous system, among other things."

The sound of a footstep was heard directly above the two brothers, prompting them to snap their body's in the direction of the sound. Itami fueled his staff as Doryoku fueled his ring with their aura.

"I recommend that you don't do that." A voice that was annoyingly familiar to the brothers spoke out, making the both of them drop their assumed fighting stance.

The owner of the voice was sitting on a ledge above the green-haired brothers. The newcomer had short umber-brown hair, white bandages that covered the left half of his face, yellow eyes that pierced through the night's darkness, as well as having a sword that was sheathed on his back.

"Gimu," Itami began. "What do you need?" he then asked, keeping all of his focus on the umber-brown-haired man in front of him and his brother.

The bandaged man hopped down from the ledge above, landing firmly in front of the brothers, looking back up to meet their gaze. "I was simply walking around."

Doryoku adorned a confused expression, "I don't think 'simply walking' consists of standing on ledges and spooking your comrades."

Itami elbowed his brother in the ribcage, "We weren't spooked. We were just tasked with the responsibility to be aware of any invaders."

The brow on the exposed side of Gimu's face raised, "Whatever; I'm not going to make fruitless attempts to make you believe me."

Gimu proceeded to steal a spot on the wall, aggravating for the brothers due to the spot being where they rested previously before the unwelcomed presence of Gimu.

A question then surfaced in Itami's mind. "How was the new guy, Shoto or whatever Regashi called him?"

Gimu's lips molded into a slight smirk, still meeting Itami's gaze. "He wasn't that weak, soft, but not weak. He nearly killed our target. Our target's name was Yuso; The successor of Lucifer, or something like that."

The brothers gained a look of confusion, "Successor of Lucifer? I'm going to chalk it up to an insane cultist who is infatuated with power." Itami inquired, sighing at the idiotic title, 'Successor of Lucifer.'

"Well, he was fairly strong. There were tons of dead warriors littered in the building we first met him in. He had some weird ability to transport things from one place to another." Gimu informed, waving his hand back and forth as a gesture.

"Then what was the new guy able to do?" Doryoku queried, scratching an itch on his arm.

"Shoto was able to control the wind, or at least I think that's what it was. He managed to lift large amounts of rock with some invisible force." Gimu further explained, shrugging his shoulders.

Itami relaxed the muscles in his shoulders, turning around and facing outwards to view the quiet village they were standing in. Furusato Village.

"Gimu, you've been with Regashi for about as long as the fiery butler, Imawashiki. Why did he kill everyone in the village if he just wanted to use their power?" Itami questioned, glancing back at the bandaged man in the corner of his eye.

Gimu breathed in as preparation to speak, finding himself halting as he breathed. "..I don't know myself. I've certainly questioned it a hundred times, but I assume that it happened for a reason."

Before any of the three could say another word, a bright yellow light started to flicker a few feet away from the conversing trio, causing them to look in the direction of the light.

Shortly after the flickering, a flame became visible to the trio, expanding in size as it began to spin in a constant rotation. A shadowy figure within the fire began to form, making a humanoid shape.

"Speaking of the fiery butler," Itami breathed out, looking at the seemingly overly dramatic entrance.

The fire then ceased, revealing a man with black hair as dark as the night sky and red sideburns that trekked down the side of his face, and a black cloak that hid the majority of his torso.

"Hello, gentlemen," The newcomer spoke firmly, a faint smile on his lips. "Regashi is requesting that we all join him inside. He has news to share."

Gimu removed himself from the stone wall. "What type of news?"

The red-sideburned man's smirk grew.

"News about our next big mission."

XXX

Hey! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm using this as a point to transition into bigger chapters! I have an idea for the 'next big mission,' consisting of the Furusato members. Just stay tuned to find out more!

Have a Good Day!

Peace - Cr1ticalz_