Red Lamp Bar, Youqin
"Gimme another cup" Lotus said as he banged the cup on the table, still sober
"Your majesty, I am afraid I mustn't let you get drunk in light of the recent events. You might just kill yourself."
"Do you think my emotional balance is that weak?" Lotus said as he banged the table, attracting the attention of some other customers
"That's him"
"Yeah, they say his drumbeat had the loudest bang"
" What a disgrace "
" His uncle always comes to pull him outta this bar each time"
" Really?"
" Uh huhn"
" You'd think he's worth it"
" Well he isn't"
" Most definitely "
"And they say the emperor's hated him because of his birth defects"
" That's quite a lot of gist you got there"
"If I don't have the gist no one does"
" What else do you know?"
" He was born with two defects, one was blindness"
" Woah"
" They took him to some mountain sage"
"Haha"
" The other___"
" You seem to know quite a lot about this guy" someone else joined the conversation
" I thought I already said___ woah who the hell are you"
" I thought you had all the gist?" The man in the cloak said, adjusting his sitting position, making himself more comfortable as he crossed both legs on the table
"Wait, black cloak. Y-You're the guy that had z-ze___"
" Yeah zero beats. And if you don't shut up, I can turn that into your heart rate"
The man gulped
" Take it easy on him lad" the attendant who was formerly speaking to Lotus said. He's just a gossipping weakling. A runt. Don't take out your stress on him" he adeed, chuckling
" Mr Attendant" said the cloaked guy
"Yeah?"
" You mind clearing this bar for me, I'll give you the coins for it"
The attendant looked at the cloaked guy for a while.
In the next moment
"Out! Out! Everybody outta here, take yer money and your drunk bodies and your concubines and scram, were closed for today, cone back tomorrow!"
In under five minutes everyone was out of the bar.
"Thanks" the cloaked man said, as he dropped a big sack on the table "Eighty gold"
At that time, a gold coin was considered luxury, Eighty was just borderline lack of prudence.
The man had never seen such a massive sum at once in his life. Save when Lotus dropped a few twenty gold for him every now and then but that was on occasions only
"You want anything else?"
" A bottle of sake and.. whatever the prince drinks"
"Mijiu ?"
" Yeah, a bottle, gimme your finest brand"
" No hitches there"
" Who are you?" Lotus asked
" Myself?" the stranger replied
"Oh he's come" the stranger added as the attendant dropped their bottles for them.
"Drink" he said again
Lotus would never turn down free wine so he sipped from the bottle.
The attendant excused them as Lotus beckoned him to do.
"Attendant!" the man called out
The attendant rushed back over
"Leave, run very very far from here, come back tomorrow"
The attendant sensing danger, packed his belongings and left one extra bottle for them each, suspecting things would soon get out of hand
"Be safe your majesty" he said as he prepared to leave.
" Don't call anyone here dude. It won't be good for you" the cloaked man said
" I understand " the attendant replied as he hurriedly left the bar.
Lotus undisturbed kept on sipping his bottle of 'Cheng's' the finest mijiu throughout all of Chi.
"You seem to be enjoying that" the man said sipping his sake.
"Do you want to kill me?" Lotus suddenly asked
" Why yes I do" the man replied
"We're about the same age from your voice and height" Lotus said
" Yeah, I'm twenty" the man said
" That's one year more than meself" Lotus chipped in
" You're so fast though, why did the drum scream so loudly. You should be less than an S+"
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" I just figured, the drum measures Jishu"
" Can Jishu be measured? I mean it's a skill after all"
" The degree of potency of the Jishu can be measured "
" Well if you put it that way, it's different "
" Ching sealed mine" said Lotus
" How are you so fast then?" The man asked surprised
" It's got something to do with my eyes" Lotus said
" Could this boy here have an Oculo?" The man thought to himself
" Since I was born or at least since I can remember, it's always been with me. My pupils are no ordinary ones" he sipped some Cheng's " And for some reason, I feel the tendency to scream Rosé everytime I want to use it"
" Do you know what that means?"
" I've been trying to "
The man had stopped sipping sake now. He was more interested in the story.
"So, I set out to understand it, I became a vigilante, the Executor. My dad and uncle wouldn't let me fight in normal battles, they thought I was too weak. So I did it in secret. They think all I can do is run freaky fast and behead some opps. But I know I can do way more than that" he sipped again.
" They say you were born blind"
"Yeah and I kinda figured it's because of these eyes."
"When you know you're so strong, why be bothered by the incident of today?" The man was surprised
" I'm not here because of the drum, it's because of my family"
" Ooh fractured relationships" The man thought "So sad" albeit apathetically
"I try to relate with them but even my uncle, Tong I who I talk to the most he doesn't really get me. " He was quite emotional now
" Even my siblings are really nice, but they're not quite in my shoes so..." He sipped again
" And when I feel no one understands me, I just come to the ol' Red Lamp Bar and drown my sorrows in a cup or two of some jiu at least that helps it"
The man in the cloak was quite surprised
"While I would love to sympathize with you, I've been sent to kill you and no story's gonna change that" he finished the sake
" I figured, when do we roll "
"Now"
Whoosh
A sword had descended with great speed aiming for Lotus' neck but was met with a dagger
Screech
Their blades released sparks due to the pressure
"You're quite fast. I thought you were crying just now?"
" I don't feel pain dude, sorry if I had you worried"
" No, not at all"
Whoosh whoosh
Their blades collided as they slashed at each other repeatedly, still seated
Whoosh whoosh swoosh
Then suddenly, great silence
Boom
They separated from each other, creating great space between them. They were at both ends of the bar now.
"What's your name?" Lotus asked
"I'll tell you when you've earned my respect" the man said
" Fair. Can you at least take the cloak off?"
" No problem there"
And with that, the stranger visitor threw the cloak off, revealing a handsome young man of around 190 cm. He had short sky blue hair and grey eyes. He wore a sleeveless robe and his arms revealed a series of perfectly organized scars in the form of tally marks. He also wore a bandana on his neck. He had two katana across his right hip and had only yet drawn one, the upper one to fight Lotus
"Why do you have so many scars?" Lotus asked
" Why do you wear that ring, and why do you wear that earring on your left ear? "
" Well one because I'm engaged and two because I feel like it. Your turn"
" You're eng__" the man thought. "Well, they call me the scarred one, and the number of tallies reveals the number of does ive slain"
" How many tallies you got now?" Lotus asked
" Four ninety nine "
" That's cool, alright, shall we proceed" Lotus said, drawing out the second dagger from his hip.
"Yes we may" the man added, equally drawing out the second katana
Ding ding, their blades clashed again. The man's katana allowed him keep distance and inflict damage meanwhile Lotus would always have to step in a bit further giving the man the advantage of safety.
Swoosh swoosh
The man struck for Lotus' neck, who bent his head almost immediately to avoid the strike.
As the sword completed it's arc Lotus sprung up like a hare and lunged towards the man aiming for his neck equally
Ding
Their blades collided once again but instead of gaining distance, Lotus separated his daggers only briefly and managed to scratch the man's stomach
Swoosh
Blood flew
"This dude is fast" the man thought
Pah
He kicked Lotus away
"First strike landed huh" Lotus said as he landed
"You could say so"
The man brought his katana back and stretched them out in front of him placing his right hand over his left such that from the opponent's eyes it looked like an equality sign
"Equality style" he said as he bent his knee
Zoom
An arc of blood rose into the air as the man appeared behind Lotus. Lotus saw his right hip bleed.
Zoom
The man struck again scratching lotus repeatedly.
As Lotus lost his balance, the man kicked his jaw Lotus now hung in mid air and the man was about to slash upwards
"Rising moon" he said
It was then
"Rosé" Lotus said softly
Voom
An X mark appeared on the man's chest. Blood soon after
Slash slash. Lotus followed up with more strikes to the hip and kicked him away as Lotus landed on the floor, before the man could he charged again once more, clenched his fist and sent him flying with a punch to the stomach
Pow!
Bang!
The man smashed through some tables as he fell
The bar, or at least what was left of it was a mess now.
Lotus cracked his neck bone as he made a horse stance, put one arm behind him and taunted the man to come by beckoning to him with his fingers
The man who was lying with his arms still holding his swords in a pile of rubble slowly got up as he held a pillar for support.
Charge
His lunge was blocked
Pah
Lotus sent him flying with yet another kick
Swish
Lotus' daggers which now looked like beams of light pierced through the man and struck a wall
"Arrgh!" He screamed as he landed
As he landed Lotus stretched out his arms and the daggers came flying back.
This time he slashed at the path he believed they would take to make up for his la k of speed. The two continued this gor about one minute before Lotus appeared behind him again to send a kick flying straight to his neck
Pah
The man landed on a wall this time as Lotus' daggers flew into his hands
"I'm waiting" Lotus taunted as the man stood.
" You have earned my respect" he said, coughing up blood
" My name is Sogesuke Ubuyashiki. Remember it!"
With that, he saw the sake bottle on the table, grabbed it and drank the remaining content.
Clank
He smashed the bottle
Again, he readjusted his swords and made an X with his arms, raising his katana and spinning them. He adjusted until they made 90⁰ as he said "Elephan-tusk"
Whoosh
Like a charging elephant - but faster he dashed at Lotus
Lotus' eyes glowed pink as his pupils spun and he slowly avoided Soge's attack before stabbing him in the gut.
"Hmph" Soge groaned as he coughed up blood
Soge also stabbed Lotus in the same area. Blood flowed out. But Lotus did not groan
"What?!!" Soge thought
"Like I said, I feel no pain" Lotus said as he stepped out of the reach of Soge's sword. "Around here, we call it TPC"
Bang
He slapped Soge unconscious
----------------------------------------
Around two hours later Soge woke up on the floor, blurry eyed and unchained
"Is this heaven?" He thought
Until he caught a glimpse of Lotus sipping Cheng's
"Shit it's not" he thought albeit regretfully
"You're awake bro" Lotus said
" Why didn't you use your Jishu? Thought you didn't need it?"
" You said yours was sealed. I fight fair, it's not your fault that old man Ching sealed your Jishu" Soge paused
" Why didn't you kill me?"
"Why would I?"
" As if you're some novice to killing"
"Never said I was"
" Oh so you wanna torture me, don't tell me that because I didn't use Jishu you want to fight me weakened to see my full stren___"
" Actually it's because, I dunno, I just find us kinda similar"
"..."
" Why did you wanna kill me though?"
"I was paid to "
" By whom ''
"Never mind that boy"
" Are you from around here"
" No, I'm from the second dimension"
"Why are you here then?"
"..."
" Tell me about yourself"
" Why in Yksdrasil would I open up to a stranger"
" No particular reason "
" Fine. Around five hundred years ago in the second dimension, there were two great sword families, The Surd clan and the Ubuyashiki clan" he stood up slowly and grabbed a seat
"There still sake?" He asked
Lotus tossed him the extra bottle that the man brought out. Soge gulped half of it down and continued
"They were never on good terms with us. Shinsuke the progenitor knew, so he asked us to be careful around them. He was an overmortal y'know. So around a hundred and fifty years ago, at nightfall'', all our defences were down, they struck, they murdered the Ubuyashikis. My great grandad escaped though, he tore open a hole to the third dimension and we escaped here. Years passed, they died, they had my dad, they had me. So now I seek strength to put them to an end. But alas I am just, not strong enough" he sipped from his bottle
" Soge, I've been thinking, I want to do the old DJ y'know, I want to be the strongest in the Faterealm. I wanna see Yksdrasil for myself. Dunno maybe find Ichyksius. Yeah, that kinda stuff"
"My dream's similar"
They both finished their bottles
" Let's make a promise" Lotus said
"We will see each other again, only at the top or at the road to the top"
" We'll become allies"
" And we'll spar one more time"
" Or more if fate permits us"
And with that they made a pact with blood
"Lotus"
"Yeah?"
"Never look back. Because, I've always got your back. You spared my life. I'll repay you"
" Thanks bro, I think I'll call you Sosu"
" Absolutely not. My name is Sogesuke"
"One more thing, stop scarring yourself. Go get a book or something, the scars are so unartistic"
"Whatever you say"
They took different routes out of the bar. It was the start of a great journey. The journey to Yksdrasil the quest for true power.