“?!”

Lawkey turned around in a frenzy.

He studied his surroundings, but saw nothing.

Occasionally, when he trained at night or went out for his walks, he had come across an obsidian butterfly, but not once was he able to communicate with it.

And yet now, he had heard a voice in his head.

{Her} voice.

But there was no butterfly in sight.

What the hell was that? Did I just imagine it? I have been losing a lot of sleep, but even still…

He thought to himself as he continued to look for a sign. Even if he was more sleep deprived than usual, his instincts were pushing him towards one conclusion.

I did make her a promise too…

He tightened the grip on his sword. Why would Kenzo’s fate even be hung up on his decision anyway?

He couldn’t find the answer.

“...”

He walked to the wooden floor and picked up the towel to dry his sweat off.

The memories of his time with the Phantom Rogues flashed into his mind.

—

- “Dry yourself real good, little Law! We’re having a feast tonight!” Sasaki declared with her arms in the air.

- “Ohh? Are we having more pancakes?!” Young Lawkey’s eyes sparkled as he asked.

- “Again?! I don’t want to!” Another voice cut in.

- “Simmer down! We’re celebrating MY birthday! So, it’s noodles day!” Jay puffed up her chest while supporting her hips with her hands.

- “We don’t want that!” The other three shot back in unison causing a wave of laughs around them.

—

Those kinds of memories always put a smile on Lawkey’s face.

At the very least, he had those to keep him company when everything else seemed down.

He had managed to meet many other individuals that added to those memories.

The nameless Obsidian Butterfly…

Jun and Munisai…

Yasuto, Zenga, Emi and Mai…

Taiga and Hachi at times…

Even Tsutomu and Ichiro...

And then there was Kenzo too.

What would be the right thing for Lawkey to do now?

The people around him wanted him to stay, but the promises he made, the responsibilities that he had to bear, would force him to leave.

No matter how many times he went over things in his mind, he could simply never come to a final decision.

He was trapped in a vicious cycle.

Heh… No wonder I still can’t master the ninth Stance like this… He scoffed inwardly.

Whether he liked to or not, he had a decision to make.

He had wasted too much time in the clan already. If he decided to leave, he would need to check any leads on the Leviathan since the last time he saw it.

Seeing as he was making no progress again, he got up and trained until he passed out as usual.

**👑**

The luminescent light of the rocky cliffs in the Shadow Valley had glowed more brightly to signal the arrival of morning.

And yet, Lawkey had been awake for hours already.

After passing out from exhausting his body, he was choked out of his dream faster than usual.

He tried training some more, but he eventually gave up on that method and cleaned himself up instead.

Currently, he found himself lying on the wooden floor outside of Munisai’s estates, to the left of the main entrance.

He had both his hands over his head while resting a book over his eyes. He tried reading for once to potentially help, but he might have picked up the wrong book.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

After five years in the clan, he still couldn’t get some pancakes, so he settled for getting a book with pancake pictures instead from the Keymen.

Even when he or Jun tried to make some based on whatever recipe he could get, they never came out right.

“Ahhh! It’s so boring…” He sighed, “I’ll just try to take a nap.”

He made himself comfortable and began to murmur, “One pancake, two pancakes, three-”

THUD!

“Get up! No lazing around until everything is done!” A wild Jun had appeared to kick him over the edge.

“Ow!” He let out as his face hit the ground, “Why you little-!”

“I have wolf duty today, so you need to pick up the food again!” Jun declared, her hands on her hips.

She hadn't known Lawkey couldn’t sleep. This was just the routine she had forced herself into lately.

No matter how many times she tried to simply address the situation as it is, she couldn’t find the right words.

She hadn’t been able to for the past five years now…

“Why should I take orders from someone weaker than me?” Lawkey patted his pants as he got back up.

“That again?! Should I remind you who’s the top apprentice in the Dojo?!” Jun ignored her thoughts and shot back like normal.

“I’d like to see you try! Didn’t you get your ass handed to you just yesterday?!”

The two got in each other’s faces, their foreheads almost headbutting each other.

image [https://i.imgur.com/VkpPeAH.jpeg]

“Ehem!” The old man cleared his throat to stop their banter, “As I’ve said many times before, no more duels between you two. Your childish squabble isn’t worth destroying the Dojo over.”

“Dad!”

“Old man…”

Munisai had said that so often, but he knew they had never listened to him. He let out a long breath, then turned to his daughter.

“Besides, Jun, aren’t you running late?”

“Ah, you’re right!” Jun finally realized, “I have to go!”

Realizing the time, she took off towards the gates leading outside their home, “You better do your part, freeloader!”

“Blehhh!!” Lawkey stuck out his tongue and pulled one of his eyelids low.

“Kid.” Munisai called out from behind him as he walked inside, “You asked the Queen to stay here so you could train and become stronger. Mastering the Shadow Sword Style is but the first step on that path. Remember the Principles if you feel trapped.”

“...” Lawkey stayed silent until his teacher was gone.

Of course, Lawkey had gone through all the first Principles multiple times already, but nothing was helping him in his current situation.

“Yeah, yeah…” He sighed while scratching the back of his head.

He just wanted to catch some sleep for the time being.

Then he checked his surroundings again, before lying back down.

“Coast clear! I can just do everything after a short nap.” He yawned, “I need to catch up on some sleep if I want to think straight.”

And then…

THWACK!!

“Huh?!”

Before he could even get to counting pancakes again, he was startled by something hitting the wooden pillar behind him.

He sat up to take a look and saw an arrow with a note wrapped around it.

“What’s this? No sender-”

“?!”

He immediately narrowed his eyes as he read the text.

Meet me in the Shadow Valley where the red flag is.

Fail to show up and they die!

Lawkey couldn’t know who this is, it didn’t quite feel like something Kojiro would do.

Nevertheless, he had to go check for himself.

He felt the corners of his mouth go up. It had been a while since he was this excited.

**👑**

He wasted no time in grabbing Eclipsed Dawn and heading to the meeting location.

Traveling through the Shadow Valley had become much easier in recent years, but it definitely did not mean it wasn’t without dangers. Most civilians still did not dare to even attempt it.

And yet, even though he didn’t meet anyone on his way there, he could sense multiple presences around as he approached the red flag plastered under a tree.

“A meeting at a red flag…” He said out loud, making sure he can be heard, “It’s like you want me to know this is a trap!”

He paused, waiting for a reaction, but nothing came.

“Well? Come on!” He turned around as he sensed a footprint behind a bush nearby, “Let’s get this over with!”

He eyed those bushes, then quickly took a fighting stance while reaching for his sword.

As he grabbed the handle, shadows began to envelop around him.

“You should know I’m not in the best of moods right now. I would’ve answered a simple invitation…” Lawkey’s eyes glowed emerald as he began to draw his sword, “but your mistake was threatening the people I care about!”

One Shadow Sword Style - Second Stance!

Evening Autumn Moonbow!

image [https://i.imgur.com/8yef1UA.jpeg]

As he swung his sword in a sharp arc in front of him, a wave of shadows followed to devour the bushes completely.

And yet, what was revealed after the shadows disappeared was…

Nothing? That’s weird… Lawkey thought to himself as he glanced around, I’m definitely sensing multiple people here.

“!”

Suddenly, Lawkey looked up to see a huge boulder falling down at him from the sky.

And then he heard the voice as he got into position.

“I don’t know what those rebels wrote in their letter… and I don’t really care. All I do care about is killing a damned Hyking like you!”

Lawkey wasted no time and quickly readjusted his grip on his sword.

One Shadow Sword Style - Sixth Stance!

Early Spring Moonrise!

He jumped and swung his sword upwards, immediately releasing a wave of shadows to cut the boulder in two.

Where did that come from all of a sudden? It wasn’t there a second ago! Lawkey contemplated, As if it was-

“!!”

Before he could finish his thoughts or land back on the ground, countless arrows surrounded him from all sides.

In a split second, he manifested tangible shadows under his legs and launched himself forward just in time to dodge the arrows. This was another neat trick he had developed with the help of his mentor in the last five years.

Are they using some kind of power to hide? He asked himself as he wasted no time in using the momentum to go into the next Stance.

One Shadow Sword Style - Seventh Stance!

Ceaseless Crescent Moon Slash!

He focused his senses and felt the hiding shadows around him, before sending a violent wave of shadows at his enemies.

“!!”

As the invisible enemies tried to dodge the initial wave, it quickly sprouted a cluster of shadow slashes that covered everything around them, including the escape route.

“Agh!!”

“Blergh!”

Lawkey landed as his attack took out most of his hiding enemies. Some of them looked like they were wearing robes he recognized, but he quickly focused on what was in front of him.

A light suddenly emitted from under him, followed by an eruption of some kind of pinkish spores.

“?!”

POOF!

“You are pretty sharp, but every good hunter must know how to trap their prey.” The voice spoke, but it was still difficult to pinpoint its location.

Especially when…

Is this poison? Lawkey immediately covered his mouth and nose, did I breathe it in already?

“Forgive me though, you are the first Hyking I’m hunting, I might overdo it a little.” The voice paused, then continued, “You managed to take out some of the people who want you dead… It’s fine, they already knew the role they’d be playing. I get the feeling they were happy to give their lives for the cause. They hadn’t even hesitated when I brought it up.”

Suddenly, Lawkey felt footsteps behind him as the spores began to disappear.

“You see, I knew you’d be able to sense my presence if I were alone, so I had to prepare some divergence.”

As Lawkey glanced behind him, a man’s figure began to appear. He couldn’t make anything out beside the hoodie over his head, and the mask that covered half of his face.

“But now with your senses paralyzed…” The man reached out with his hand.

Lawkey didn’t wait, although his vision became blurry, he could still make out a slight silhouette.

He gritted his teeth and swung his sword behind him at the man.

“!”

But what his sword cut was but a mirage of the man.

“I can now kill you slowly…” The real body appeared behind Lawkey, tapping him on his back, “... and painfully…Without even hiding.”

Before he could react again, Lawkey felt a gentle push from behind.

image [https://i.imgur.com/WjOl5AG.jpeg]

He tried to move his body, but he couldn’t stop it from falling forward.

Shit! My body’s too numb! What did he do?! Lawkey asked himself as his face got closer to the ground.

“!?”

A light emitted from the ground again, right where he was going to land.

Those are… Runestones?! He recognized the texture and the type of writing he couldn’t read, Dammit!! Move!!

But all his efforts amounted to nothing.

BOOOMMMM! BOOOM!!! BOOOM!!!

“Aghhh!!”

A series of explosions overwhelmed him.

----------------------------------------

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