Minutes before lighting struck
Two Hashishins were sent to meet with the new recruit and transfer them to an entirely new city where the biggest Public Safety Association is located. A young girl with short, blazing yellow world cut hair with orange stripes stepped out of the passenger seat, shutting the car door behind her. She wore black jeans up to her belly button and stood on the large hill where they had parked, whilst her front faced the village in the distance. From afar, the warm, saturated coloured lights made her feel welcomed by the village. The hushed air reflected the civilian’s peace making her envious of their quiet lives.
“We better head there quickly, don’t want to be seen unprofessional by our delayed arrival," the flaming haired girl spoke, expecting the other Hashishin to butt in his response after; instead, she was given a silent answer. She turned her head and noticed her partner, with white hair parted in the middle, sleeping in the driver seat. Rolling her eyes at the man’s pathetic sleep look on his face, she let out an exasperated sigh as she stormed to the other side of the car to unleash her anger.
“COULD YOU STOP FALLING ASLEEP EVERY SINGLE TIME, ATSUSHI!?” She yelled with aggression, causing the other to jolt out of their sleep before groaning at the girl.
“You could’ve tapped me on the shoulder to wake me up, punk!” he protested, mistakenly riling up the girl. She pulled herself away from the car door, keeping silent as she took in the clean air. He stepped out of the car, reaching for his trusty axe, which he lifted into the air before resting it over his shoulder before gazing in the direction of the village. His outfit wasn’t very formal compared to his partner’s: a plain white t-shirt with blue jeans, and a black and red checkered jacket tied around his waist.
“My bad. I should’ve taken a nap before we got here,” Atsushi apologized, widening his jaw to take in as much air as possible before exhaling, feeling a small boost of energy rush to his mind. “Anyways. Hoshika, you remember the name of the new recruit?” Hoshika nodded as the two faced each other.
“His name’s Hashimoto Sugo. If you don’t know who he really is, he’s the son of the greatest—” Just as she was about to finish her sentence, lightning struck at the center of the village. Their heads snapped to face the village. Faint screams of civilians alarmed the Hashishins. With no time to react verbally, they rushed to the village.
—
The enemy spoke with an ominous tone that made Hashimoto shiver as his grip on the tsuka loosened. Goosebumps grew all over his body. The figure engulfed by darkness grinned under the abyssal-covered face with its lemon coloured eyes peering over, acknowledging the sword trembling in Hashimoto’s hands.
“Are you nervous?” the dark misted man asked, taking a step back before charging forward with the speed of a cheetah to land a blow. Hashimoto predicted his move, and unsheathed his blade just in time to clash into the opponent’s katana. The Shadow figure spun to build momentum for his other blade to slice at Hashimoto’s legs. Hashimoto quickly gasped before backflipping. Once again, the Shadow Man failed to land a hit. Hashimoto delivered a kick against the Shadow Man’s left hand to knock his katana out of the way. Snarling, the Shadow Man pulled his other arm back to swing his blade forward. Hashimoto scraped his cutting edge upwards against the opponent’s blade, generating a spark, before returning to his stance once his feet made contact with the ground, tossing his katana to his other hand to execute an overhead thrust. Instantly, the dark misted man vanished. A jab through the dark mist led Hashimoto to be startled by the enemy’s meteoric disappearance. A loud buzz echoed which called for the return of The Shadow Man before he appeared behind the boy, carelessly providing Hashimoto no chance of retaliating.
“Oi!” a female voice called from the side, like she was here to save Hashimoto from danger. A flexible band unfurled towards the Shadow man, looping around his waist before the belt buckled tightly on its own.
“What the—?” The Shadow Man struggled to break out of the belt, tilting his chin up to get a good look at the women. She had the strap wrapped around her wrist, with the other hand hidden behind her, and yanked the enemy forward into Himeno's range of attack. The belt unbuckled on its own right when she swung her arm to swat the intruder’s head with a sandal, sending him flying through multiple houses. Hashimoto felt his heart skip a beat, and needed to owe her for saving his ass.
“Mom!” Hashimoto called, running in her direction to stand beside her. “We have to wake up dad before—!”
“We are not gonna wake him up!” she declined, “He’s in deep sleep, that’s all we need from him.”
“Huh?! But everyone is getting killed! We can’t keep him asleep—!”
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“I already told you how our father’s refrained from wielding any weapon! If he’d done so, hell would be on the loose.” Himeno avoided having to call her husband over, expressing her worries through her glare towards her son. Her ears rang, flashing back to when Fukashi told her: “From now on. I won’t wield a weapon ever again.” in order to keep everyone safe. “We’ll have to keep fighting until—”
“You sure do have the confidence to show up with a sandal for combat, especially during what was meant to be a one-on-one battle between me and Hashimoto,” the Shadow Man stated, emerging from the cloud of dust. Sparks of electricity formed from the bottom of his feet then traveled up to his upper body in an instant.
He took one step before he zipped between the two to frighten them with a fake attack, retrieving his other katana Hashimoto dared to knock off onto the ground. Hashimoto scrunched his eyebrows, charging in for an attack. The dark misted man snickered when noticing Hashimoto about to thrust his blade through the glowy eyes, both arms extended to one side, building momentum for his dual blade in hopes of slashing Hashimoto’s body into three. Hashimoto snatched the dagger from his right pocket, hitting against the two incoming slashes with one slash poorly blocked, causing the dagger to fly off his hand, ending up with the opponent’s blade cutting into Hashimoto’s skin and hissed at the pain. He knocked the Shadow Man’s arm away to retract the cutting edge off his flesh, giving Himeno an opening as she jumped back into action.She leapt into the fight, jumping over the two as she whipped her belt around the Shadow Man’s right arm.
With his arm caught, the Shadow Man channeled electricity through his body, allowing the current to be carried around his legto land a severe kick against the side of Hashimoto’s waist. The force sent him crashing through his Uncle’s store and into a crowd of swordsmen that terrorized the civilians.
“I’ll get rid of you first!” Shadow Man glared, his hooked arm grasping onto the belt. With immense strength, he pulled Himeno from the air and slammed her into the ground. Blood splattered on the demolished street after she coughed. She quickly freed herself from his next move by unwrapping the belt around her wrist and took a couple steps back, with only a sandal left to use. Other weapons such as katanas were located at the Public Safety Association, however she didn’t want to risk wielding a proper tool for a reason, even the thought of being chased to the building could get others and herself killed. She had no choice but to resume back in the fight.
“I ain’t going down that easily,” Himeno chuckled, and spat blood to the side to clear her mouth before launching forward. She tried swatting him again, but her sandal ended up getting cut in half by his attack. Now she’s empty handed. Shadow Man swung his katana repeatedly in hopes of successfully slicing the other, but she hopped, ducked, hopped again before swiftly turning a full 180 to dash towards a street lamp.
“Hah! Don’t back out now, bitch!” the dark misted man darted instantly to her direction, falling into her next move. She reached for the street lamp and gripped firmly, spinning herself around to harshly kick the Shadow Man’s face. Right after the kick, she built up strength to give her the ability to detach the lamp from the ground and smash it down against her opponent.
“Take back what you said before I crush you again.” Himeno smirked.
“Oh ho ho, you're fun to fight!”
—
Hashimoto grunted whilst laying on his back, reaching for his weapon quick enough to slash the enemy swordsmen that were going for him. He got back into his position, took a deep breath, and threw himself through a line of charging fighters. His hands quaked each time he slashed opponents, and wasn't aware of his body’s exhaustion building up. He lifted himself up on a roof with barely any stability, and in the corner of his eye met the two Hashishins parkouring over houses.
“They could be back up!” he muttered to himself, taking a deep breath before lunging back into the direction of his enemy.
—
Himeno had no use with the street lamp anymore since half of it was busted after her attack. Shadow Man swung his katana from the side as Himeno swung the street lamp against it. Both her right hand and the street lamp got cleanly chopped off. She groaned from the pain, and risked picking up one of the swordsman’s katana off the floor with her other hand to pierce through his chest. However, he was completely unfazed by it. His sinister laughter grew, reflecting just how insane he was in the head.
“This ability.. the power it holds is magnificent! None of your attacks have affected me! How fascinating is that, Himeno Sugo?!” He exclaimed, facing the sky as he opened his arms out. Her eyes caught a glimpse of the two Hashishins parkouring on each crumbled platform before the dark misted man concluded his self-praise, ready to slash Himeno into bits but she quickly moved. Himeno purposely tripped backwards to fall on her back. The perfectly timed fall caused his swing to slice through her beautiful long hair, unfortunately leading to its sacrifice. She forced her legs against his chest to repel the Shadow Man into the air and leaped high up with him.
Hashimoto’s eyes locked on his target, launching himself in the air as the two Hashishins, Hoshika and Atsushi, battled through many swordsmen throughout their obstacles before uniting with Himeno and Hashimoto, high up near the clouds surrounding the Shadow Man.
“Don’t be startled, we’re by your side!” Hoshika called out to Hashimoto, unsheathed her burning blade whilst Atsushi prepared to swing his axe. Hashimoto pulled his blade back, and Himeno kicked the air to allow her sandal to slip out of her foot then grabbed it with her left hand.
“You fools… a one-on-four won’t guarantee you victory!” Shadow Man declared to the four commencing their pounce. His blades glowed brighter than the sun with electricity engulfing it, blinding everyone’s vision before laughing once more.
“I’ll strike you all with me. I’ll make sure to chop you all into pieces if either of you survive this. Say your goodbyes!” The charged up blades clashed with each other to summon a lightning strike against his weapon which electrocuted his surroundings. All the fighters in the air were getting repelled away from him. Atsushi crashed into the village’s Public Safety building, Hoshika landed through the roof of a house, Hashimoto slammed into the storage house in front of his own house, and Himeno collided into the street concrete. Despite the impact, she managed to stand back up after the second bounce against the ground, feeling extremely nauseous from fighting for too long. Hashimoto crawled in-between the rubbles of the storage house to free himself; he had lost his blade under the debris, which was a problem. His eyes met Himeno who tilted her head up as her vision darkens. The dark misted man zapped back down from the sky at Himeno, each katana contributed to her end: one stab through her heart, the other stab through her lung.
“MOM!” Her son cried out, his eyes widening at the sight of her demise. Her bloody gargles and cries repulsed Hashimoto; his stomach churned, his body grew heavier, and he felt the need to puke out his insides.
Hashimoto wasn’t the only member to witness her death. Her husband, Fukashi, stood at the entrance of his house, extremely overwhelmed after his eyes captured his wife’s last moments, then darted his vision to the murderer:
“Who.. the hell are you?”