“Enter!”

Having passed countless villagers waiting outside the castle, Munisai quickly made his way inside, into the throne room. There hadn’t even been enough time to hand over his sword before entering.

He took a quick glance around the room. To the right stood Hachi, along with a few fidgeting aristocrats he recognized as the supporting faction.

To the left, Hideyoshi was piloting a horde of glaring villagers. While they were all red in the face, their leader was short of combusting on fire, his veins were convulsing on his forehead.

Before he looked at the throne, Munisai immediately went to take a knee, but was quickly interrupted.

“Your Majesty, you requested-”

“Skip the pleasantries, Munisai.” The Shadow Queen said coldly, “There is no time for that.”

Munisai looked up to see Taiga sitting on the throne with her back straightened, and her hands clasping onto the armchairs. Her foot repeatedly tapped on the ground with no signs of stopping.

Seeing her like that made Munisai’s eyebrows twitch.

“What is going on-?”

“Now that Munisai is here as requested, we can finally move forward with our topic of discussion, correct, Your Majesty?”

Munisai was interrupted yet again, but this time, it was by Hideyoshi, his face tightening more with every step forward he took.

The Sword Saint forced himself to keep his composure, but he felt a cold sweat run down his spine.

“Yes, let’s hear it. You asked for this audience on the grounds of discovering a major threat. One that could destroy this clan.” Taiga said with arched brows.

“Yes, that is true, Your Majesty.” Hideyoshi began, “However, we would like to take this opportunity to once again address the route cause of this threat!”

“...”

“Ever since the Sword Saint took in that accursed kid, we have voiced our complaints with no signs of progress. His presence has directly endangered our clan, seen directly by the multiple incidents he caused since his time here.”

Munisai narrowed his eyes while everyone else stood motionless, waiting for Hideyoshi to continue.

“Furthermore, despite our direct opposition to it, Your Majesty has taken steps towards opening trade with the outside world, even going as far as inviting outsiders in for audiences.”

“Hideyoshi! Get to the point already!” Hachi stomped his glaive in the ground and shouted, “What is the major threat?!”

Taiga’s fingernails were slowly digging into the armchair of her throne. She was hoping the threat was a simple ruse to get an audience, but her instincts told her otherwise.

“It is directly because of these aforementioned concerns that this new threat has presented itself.” Hideyoshi paused, before planting his foot in the ground, “We have reliant information that a horde of Umbra Wolves and Umbra Bats are gathering to attack this clan together as soon as tonight!”

“?!”

Everyone’s eyes bulged open at the news.

“What?!” Hachi was the first to voice his thoughts among the countless gasps, “There is no way that would happen! After all…”

“You are right, Commander of the Royal Guard!” Hideyoshi welcomed the outburst, “This cannot be a simple attack or an accident, but a well-planned and organized strategy that came as a result of that boy’s first appearance in our clan!”

“You cannot be serious, Mister Hideyoshi!” Munisai clenched his fist and voiced his frustration, “This has nothing to do with the boy! He’s been cooped up in my Dojo, training day in and day out, barely taking a step outside because of such hate and discrimination! We have made it very clear that he is not a Hyking, and yet you continue to accuse the boy! The small incidents that have occurred aren't that uncommon to begin with!”

“Where is the proof, Munisai?! How can we simply accept your words! When Kojiro was born, did I not present him for inspection to prove his innocence?!”

“Would you simply accept his innocence after inspection, or would you find another reason to blame him for our current situation?!”

“Well, the boy clearly has other markings on his body that may be hiding a Hyking birthmark after all!”

“So you won’t deny it! No matter what, you are hell bent on making the kid shoulder all the blame!”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“ENOUGH OF YOUR BICKERING!”

“...”

Taiga bellowed, putting an immediate halt to Munisai and Hideyoshi’s back and forth.

She stood up, her hands tightly clasped in fists as an aura rose from her body.

“The clan is facing a threat that could wipe us out completely, and you want to spend precious time voicing your complaints to me!”

“Your Majesty, I-”

“I don’t want to hear it anymore, Hideyoshi!”

Faced with the queen’s full authority, Hideyoshi quickly took a knee, but not without biting his lip for a split second.

“From this point onwards, I don’t want to hear a word of who is to blame for this! We might be facing a threat beyond just the monsters of the valley! We need to properly prepare to defend our clan! Let’s begin the strategy meeting!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

While many in the room felt cold sweat run down their backs, one person in particular hid a sinister smile under his masked expression.

We’ll show you…

Tonight will be the end of that boy… And of this useless monarchy!

**👑**

“Hah… hah…”

The boy ran at full speed, not sparing a second to catch his breath or rest his feet.

He carried his beloved sword that he had quickly picked up. He hadn’t used it properly for months now, but this wasn’t the time to celebrate that reunion.

After all…

If there is an attack… If those wolves are actually heading in to attack the clan now… Then it was all my fault since I killed their Alpha in the first place…

The boy thought as he ran towards his destination.

If it weren’t for me… If I hadn’t come to this clan… This wouldn’t have happened to them…

The tri-colored butterfly, the Shadowy Woman, had led him here, sure, but there had been countless signs of the danger he posed to the villagers, to the ones who took him in.

So, despite it all, why did he stay?

Was it because he was hungry for power?

Or did he want to simply stay close to where {she} is?

Maybe he enjoyed spending time with the ones who took him in?

Whatever it was, that desire he felt to stay could only be described with one word only.

Selfishness.

I wanted to stay.

I wanted to be stronger.

I wanted to be near {her}, even if we couldn’t see each other.

I wanted to enjoy spending time with them, the talks with the old man, the silly moments with Jun…

I was selfish. I wanted to be selfish…

That’s why, if there was an attack that threatened them, especially if it was a result of his actions, there was only one thing for him to do now.

“I’ll take responsibility for it all! I promise!”

With that, the boy quickly came to a screeching halt and looked up.

His eyes widened as he found himself in front of the dark cave that housed a closed off tunnel.

However, there wasn’t anyone else in sight.

No threat, no defensive measures, nothing.

“?!”

For some reason, his eyes looked down, landing on something that shouldn’t have existed anymore.

The very card which that Undying Elder had bestowed upon him.

It was completely restored to its perfect condition, despite him having it cut it into multiple pieces the last time he saw it.

“What’s going on here?!”

“Oh? You made it here pretty quick, didn’t you?”

“?!”

Lawkey immediately turned back to face the voice that appeared behind him out of nowhere, but something was different.

He was sinking…

“Huh?!”

He watched the world around him get further and further away from him until he finally realized what was happening…

He was falling into his own shadow.

“Pretty neat trick, isn’t it?”

The snickering voice asked as the boy continued to fall down, helplessly trying to grasp onto anything around him.

“We’ll meet again soon for our duel, okay? If you can survive playing with little Orthrus that is.”

Before he was completely submerged in shadows, Lawkey saw a hint of his ambusher, the glaring blood-red glint beneath his light brown bangs.

“You!!”

The last thing he saw was a wide smirk plastered on their face.

And then, before he knew it, the world took shape again as the shadows spit him out like a clipped bird that had fallen into the sea.

“COUGH! COUGH!” He tried to clear his dry throat, grasping at air.

What was that?!

He asked himself while rubbing his neck, unconsciously tracing the butterfly imprint again.

He quickly tightened his grip on his sword and stood up, casting an eye around him.

“Where am i?”

It was unusually foggy around him, but the glimpses of the narrow surroundings and the glowing luminescent rock cliffs on both sides helped him establish where he was.

“The Shadow Valley…!”

THUD!

Before he could even properly fathom his current situation, a sudden chill ran down his spine, accompanying the loud familiar thud that came from behind him.

“Grrrrr!”

“Grrrrr!”

No way!

He turned around to face what he had hoped would not be what he thought it was…

“GRAAAAAWWWWWWRRR!”

“GRAAAAAWWWWWWRRR!”

The monster roared, sending twice the shockwave output all around it.

Lawkey planted his sheath into the ground and held out one arm in front of his head to shield his eyes, but the shockwaves continued to push against him.

Dammit! It isn’t as big as Kerberos, but…

His quick observation was correct, it had been slightly smaller than Kerberos, but it had something that monster didn’t, a full set of heads.

It’s not three, but it’s still a two-headed oversized pup! Is this Orthrus or whatever?!

He asked himself as he remembered some of the information his mentor had taught him.

“...”

Meanwhile, Orthrus brought its shockwaves to a stop.

Lawkey quickly readjusted himself and looked up, but his eyes bulged open once again.

Around Orthrus, just slightly behind it, more Umbra Wolves of smaller sizes began to step out of the fog.

And to make matters worse, above them flew a colony of what he assumed are Umbra Bats.

“What the hell is going on?! Did they all follow this damn new Alpha?!”

He asked, quickly realizing how stupid that sounded.

Something is off!

Nevertheless, he didn’t have the time to waste on thinking.

He got what he wanted, although a little more than he could chew.

Heh, who decided that again?

He drew Eclipsed Dawn from its sheath, relishing the feeling with closed eyelids.

And then he opened his glowing emerald eyes with a smirk plastered on his face.

“It’s been months since I used his blade… Since I used my Sign. It’s time to let loose a little!”

“Bring it on!”

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image [https://i.imgur.com/KQmIY8F.png]