Shoyo: ‘Nagare-kun, you really have led me to a weird situation without even realizing it’

Shoyo: ‘On one hand, I am glad to finally see Koutarou again after all these years, but I really wish it was under different circumstances’

Shoyo: ‘Is this really going to lead to Nagare becoming stronger? Will he ever reach the same level as Naito?’

Long ago, there was a swordsman who came closest to killing Shoyo for good.

A man called Naito, an exceptional gem among all others.

As far as Shoyo knew, he was the ultimate, the greatest swordsman who he ever faced.

But alas, he did not finish the job before his untimely death.

Now, all of Shoyo’s hopes were on Nagare’s unknowing shoulders.

Shoyo: ‘If it helps him become as strong as Naito, I am willing to do anything’

If there was even 1% chance of Nagare reaching Naito’s level, then Shoyo would do everything in his power to that end.

Still, not even in his wildest dreams did he expect to end up as a member of such a strange team.

Nagare Shirosaki, the young man who was Shoyo’s last hope for salvation.

Kai Sura, a one armed swordsman who seems to have his heart set on revenge. Shoyo could tell as much, having once experienced something similar.

And Koutarou Yama…his former disciple.

Yama: “Our mission is more of a quest than a singular mission as far as challenges are concerned, but all of it converges upon finding and destroying the Demon Blade”

He proceeded to open up a map marked with countless markings, each one indicating a danger zone.

Nagare: ‘The entire map is filled with nothing but danger zones! Just how dangerous are this guy’s quests anyways?’

Yama: ‘We will take the safest path, but that path is also the longest. We will have much less chance of encountering any of the Legendary Monsters, but we will be guaranteed to encounter multiples of lower to middle level monsters. Individually, they may not be much, but they frequently attack in groups, so keep your eyes open. If you encounter one; that means more than likely that there are hundreds if not thousands of them in that territory’

Kai: “Wow”

Kai and Nagare: ‘He is an expert, all right’

Kai: “As expected of a Guardian”

Nagare: “But Jing Fu is a Guardian as well, and he did not seem to be that strong. I have doubts that Yama is any different”

Though, Nagare had no idea that Jing Fu was one of the weaker Guardians….

Half a day later.

Just a little after they set off on their quest, they were attacked by a swarm of giant scorpions.

Their shells were as hard as iron.

Each one was tough, Nagare barely managed to fight off a few of them.

Kai did not have much progress either.

Slashes were nearly completely ineffective on their shells.

Stabbing the scorpions barely managed to kill them.

As for Shoyo, Nagare had no idea what the hell he was doing; climbing on the back of one of the bigger scorpions and riding it like a steed.

The only reason their group managed to remain intact and unharmed was because of Guardian of Ice, Koutarou Yama.

Yama’s sword chopped through them as though they were made of butter. Many of the struck scorpions ended up frozen before shattering into pieces. If they did not die by the cut, they would die by the ice. It truly was a fearsome power.

Nagare was not even sure what kind of chi could freeze anything on contact.

As far as he knew, there were only five chi types and their derivatives, but this was something entirely different.

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Yama’s ability was truly befitting of his title as the Guardian of Ice.

Skewering the meat of the fallen scorpion, Yama prepared a bonfire.

Yama: “Just in time for dinner”

After the fire was ready, he started to nonchalantly cook the scorpion meat.

It was truly a majestic sight, a Guardian surrounded by countless corpses of monsters while he ate one over a bonfire.

Kai: “Still not convinced?”

Nagare: “I take it back. He is insanely strong”

Nagare: “Is every Guardian like that?”

Kai: “I wish. Only two are close to his level”

Yama: “Aren’t you going to cook it first?”

Shoyo: “Cook?”

Shoyo was currently stuffing his mouth with what remained of a giant scorpion. It was rather amazing to see him easily bite through the steel-like shells of the monsters with his razor sharp teeth. Contrary to his skinny looks, he was quite the glutton.

Yama: “Trust me; it tastes better than eating it raw”

Shoyo: “I will take your word for that”

Nagare: “Uhm, Mister Yama”

Yama: “Koutarou is fine, Nagare-kun”

Nagare: “Koutarou-san, if it is ok for me to ask, what kind of chi you use?”

Yama: “?”

Nagare: “I have heard of five elements and their derivatives, but it is first time seeing this element. Is it by any chance an affinity derived from mastery over water type chi?”

Yama: “I think you are confusing me with Shisui san, Nagare-kun. I hold no power over water”

Nagare: “Then how?”

Yama: “Simple. My chi type controls nothing but temperature, specifically lowering temperature of my targets”

Yama proceeded to pick up a leaf which immediately became covered in a shell of ice.

Just to demonstrate further, he proceeded to place his hand upon a small lake, turning it all into solid ice within a few seconds.

Nagare’s eyes opened wide in shock.

He knew that mastery over chi allowed one to achieve inhuman feats, but what he saw now….it defied imagination.

Yama: “By drastically lowering the temperature of an object and the moisture around it, the ice is created. Water is most susceptible to my chi, though I have no control over the water beyond that. That is pretty much the gist of my elemental affinity”

Nagare: “Is it possible for me to learn such style?”

Yama: “Sadly no, not unless you have an affinity for ice.”

Nagare: “Is it not common like the other elements?”

Yama: “In our Order, I am the only known swordsman with ice affinity. According to the geezers, in our Order’s long history, I am the sole known user of this style”

Nagare: “It is that rare?”

Yama: “Well, I wouldn’t be so sure. My master possessed the same chi affinity; in fact, he was the one who taught me everything I know”

Shoyo: ‘Koutarou having ice type chi is probably my fault’

During their long travels, Koutarou, as a fragile human child, ended up in many dangerous situations that almost ended up getting him killed.

Each time, Shoyo was forced to use his blood to heal his student’s wounds.

Those who are compatible with Shoyo’s blood could be healed by it and luckily, Koutarou’s body did not reject Shoyo’s blood.

It happened so many times that Shoyo lost count.

Eventually, this practice led to an unexpected side effect.

While Koutarou did not gain Shoyo’s Yaksha trademark regenerative prowess, he did develop the same chi affinity as his master.

Human beings are limited to five elemental chi types and their derivatives, with any other type of chi being exclusive to monsters. Ice type chi was no exception.

Of course, being infused with monster blood may have had other side effects as well…most obvious of which was Koutarou’s hair, which ended up half white, just like Shoyo’s.

Yama: “Demon Blades sure are annoying. Kill one and the Progenitor just makes another”

Nagare: “What?”

Yama: “Aside from the ones numbered 1-5, others are nothing special”

Nagare: “Huh? Koutarou-san, what do you mean? You are talking as though you have killed Demon Blades before….”

Yama: “I have, several in fact, the ones numbered 7, 8, 9, 10, and couple of times, repeated numbers since Progenitor keeps finding replacements. Progenitors sure make my job so much more tedious”

Nagare: ‘Shoyo mentioned this before; that there is more than one Progenitor, but this can’t be true….’

Nagare: “Progenitors? You couldn’t possibly mean there is more than one, right?”

Yama: “Well, duh, there is more than one, seven in fact, but some idiots of the Order are still convinced there is only one, despite how many times I tried to tell them”

Nagare: ‘So it’s true?! There is more than one?! This is a nightmare!’

Nagare: “Then how come we ever hear about one Progenitor from all the reports of other Demon Hunters?”

Yama: “Each progenitor occupies a separate territory, or kingdoms. Our kingdom simply happened to be within the territory of one of the Demon Progenitors, Necron. Progenitors do not usually step over the bounds of each other’s territories”

Yama: “Each Progenitor has his own group he leads aside from the countless demons they have created. Necron has Demon Blades; others have groups called Claws, Marks, Fangs, and such.”

The more Yama told Nagare of what he knew, the more speechless Nagare became.

Kai: “Yama-san, if the Order is not aware of the existence of multiple Progenitors, how do you know?”

Yama: “My master and I used to travel all over the place, even the other kingdoms, so encountering demons there was inevitable, and each one had different marks depending on the territory. My master taught me the distinction between them and who the Progenitor each mark belonged to”

Kai: “Just out of curiosity, who was your master?”

Shoyo: ‘Kouta, are you going to expose me now?’

Yama: “Master Yoma, obviously”

Shoyo: ‘Oh, I forgot just how bad he is at memorizing names’

On one hand, he wanted to scream out and bring his knuckle down on Yama’s forehead. (‘My name is Ryoma, not Yoma!’) But on the other hand, he was a little relieved.

With how poor his ability to memorize names was, there was no way he would suspect that ‘Ryoma’ and ‘Yoma’ were in fact the same person.

And he never told Koutarou his first name.

Shoyo: “Yama-kun, how exactly did you become a Demon Hunter in the first place?”

Yama: “It’s a funny story, really. I ended up stumbling across a Demon Hunter who was about to be killed by a demon. I simply killed the demon, obviously, but then the Demon Hunter kept stubbornly insisting I come join him to become part of the Order. After bribing me with food, I reluctantly accepted.”

Shoyo: ‘So he recruited you on the spot, wow’

It was hard to believe the reason Yama was a Guardian was by pure accidental encounter.

Shoyo: ‘Following your stomach, huh. You are my disciple all right’