Bright red flames illuminated the night sky. The sounds of men groaning in pain and women crying for help overcrowded a barren village on the outskirts of the Jime kingdom. Hidden behind a pile of burnt wooden planks was a young boy, mortified from head to toe. He had hair that blended in with the night sky and dark brown eyes. Beside him were two older adults, both female, quaking in fear and holding the boy tightly.
There were small holes between the planks that let the three see what was happening on the other side. Flames roaring and men falling. It was chaos. After seeing a man collapse and his blood gushing out his missing legs, the feet of another man approached them, slowly but surely. The two older adults covered the young boy's mouth with all their force, squeezing his mouth shut with their palms and hurting him. He tried his best to not let out a noise, but the pain was unbearable.
He released a small squirm, which caught the attention of the man standing in front of them. The two adults released their grip and watched as the guy turned around. The dark cone they were hiding in was illuminated by the light from the outside. The planks that hid them from all the chaos were lifted and exposed the three to a man wearing a face mask. The spiky black hair and sagging black pants were those of none other than the bringer of chaos.
Veo.
*
After having clashed with the man after so long, William started getting memories of his past. Memories that had been stored away for so long.
Without making contact with the man, William got close enough to confirm that the shadow holding Princess Ruby was the same man that destroyed his village. The rhythm of his footsteps, the slight groaning of his voice, everything he'd been studying for this very moment. William clutched his hands as his heart rate increased.
Cracking the force field with his right leg caused a burst of wind that pushed him several feet back. He slid back on his feet and listened to Vijan putting the princess down. Before he could regain his stance, five white blurs passed by him at the speed of light. Pissed off, he shouted at them to stop but didn't get any real response until later when Zack reached him.
Zack: [You don't want my help, but don't forget that this is still my kingdom to protect.]
The Paladin pulled out his sword breaker and clenched it tightly.
Zack: [We take him on together.]
After William hesitantly nodded, he disappeared into thin air while Zack ran behind him, hardly catching up.
William reappeared where he had cracked the force field earlier, and with the assistance of Zack's sword being thrown at it, they shattered his barrier into pieces. With the cracked opening, Zack was quick to jump through the hole and grabbed his sword again. Once he landed, the angels reappeared behind him and immediately dashed toward Vijan.
William landed on his two feet beside Zack and tightened his bandana.
William: [Those things better not kill him.]
Zack: [Angels aren't capable of murder, but they should get him really weak.]
With a swing of their light swords, the angels attacked Vijan altogether, but none of them could land a blow. Vijan would easily dodge each one of their swings as if they were moving at speeds comparable to a snail.
Zack: [They don't seem to be doing anything.]
William: [Did they not hit him?]
Zack: [Not once. You go in, I got your back.]
With a nod, William dashed ahead.
Zack had a plan. By the time William would get close enough, he would have the angels disappear and William would get a perfectly timed blow. With all that going through his head, Zack forgot that it was hard to keep track of someone moving at the speed of sound. When he got out of his thoughts, he had already lost William but quickly came to an assumption as to where he was and what time to get rid of the angels.
While Vijan had one of the angels in his arms, Zack vaporized the angel. Shocked, Vijan looked at Zack and noticed he was standing alone.
Vijan: [There was another,]
Before he could do much more, what felt like four sacks of bricks punched his gut and sent him flying toward a concrete building behind him. Crashing into the building and destroying everything around him, the building crumbled over a little bit while several pedestrians ran away. Zack silently celebrated to himself.
Where Vijan previously stood was William with one leg in the air.
William: [I've wanted to do that for the longest time.]
Vijan: [You're beginning to annoy me.]
Vijan stood up from the smoke and walked out of the building. He was hardly injured, but his shirt was torn apart. William was surprised to hear him still standing but quickly caught his footing. Zack walked up to William and the four angels.
William: [Like I care, bitch.]
Zack: [What business do you have with Leviere?!]
Vijan: [I don't need to tell you shit!]
Vijan raised a hand.
A transparent blue shield formed in front of Zack, William, and the angels. A beam of darkness shot out from a magic circle that formed in front of Vijan's palm. The beam bounced off the shield in front of the two and went flying toward the sky.
Zack and William were surprised to see the shield suddenly appear in front of them.
Sean: [Quit talking!]
Zack turned and saw Sean holding his wand out while the blue crystal was glowing.
Parker: [We got defense and support! You two focus on attacking!]
Zack started nervously chuckling as Faith tip-toed her way to the sleeping princess lying on the ground. She lifted her head and moved the princess's hair away from her eyes and behind her ear.
Faith: [What's this girl's deal?]
Parker: [FELIX WATCH OUT!]
Snapping back to reality, Faith saw a blade flying toward her at extreme speeds. Before she could react, her usually blue eyes turned purple and the blade suddenly stopped in space. Shocked, Sean shot a fireball at Vijan and watched him jump back.
Faith: [That was close! If I hadn't done something sooner, that would've been the end of me.]
William charged at Vijan and raised a leg as he came close. His form reminded Vijan of who he was talking to. He chuckled the moment he blocked William's kick with his bare hand, clenching onto his feet and gradually crushing them.
William grunted in pain, only then did Zack throw an invisible wind blade where Vijan seemed open, but he quickly jumped out of the way and threw William towards Zack. William fell and grabbed onto his shin while clenching his teeth.
William: [That piece of shit nearly broke my leg!]
Parker: [I got you!]
Raising his staff, a green light appeared around William's leg that slowly helped heal the ache.
Vijan: [Let's make a compromise, shall we?]
Vijan pulled his blade out of the wall behind him with a single hand and began dusting it with his hands.
Zack: [Don't get your hopes up. There's very little we will do to cooperate with you.]
Vijan looked towards Ruby and then at Faith.
Vijan: [I didn't come here with evil intent, but your henchman randomly attacked me while at a tavern. Let me and the girl go peacefully, and I won't have the others come here.]
Faith looked at the sleeping Ruby as her eyes turned back to their regular state.
Vijan: [How does that sound?]
William couldn't help himself but chuckle.
William: [You'd be running away from a fight! I expected more from a member of Hydra.]
Vijan: [Hydra isn't what the world thinks it is.]
William: [You ruin the lives of families all over the northern hemisphere!]
Vijan: [Don't assume that we have no purpose.]
Zack: [I wouldn't call self-pleasure a purpose.]
Vijan gave Zack a blank stare. William's leg finished healing and he stood up.
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William: [Five years ago,]
*
Standing in the scorching heat and the flames illuminating his face, a younger version of the hydra ninja stood tall in front of infant William, his older sister, and his mother. Behind Vijan was the man that William called his father, lying on the ground with both his legs sliced off and a round hole through his forehead.
William and his family trembled at the sight of Vijan staring at them like they were bugs.
William's Mom: [Please... don't hurt us.]
Vijan: [I wish I could,]
He raised his blade into the air and swung it towards William's neck. However, before it could touch him, Rainbow, his sister, jumped on Vijan's body in an attempt to push him away, but the tip of the blade cut across William's eyes.
The blade cut through William's corneas along with the space of skin in between his eyes, gushing out blood and making him scream at the top of his lungs. He lost his vision, and the pain was immeasurable. Nothing like he's experienced before. His tears and some white substance mixed in with his blood, creating an awkward color, and a lot of it.
Rainbow: [WILLIAM!]
William's Mom quickly ripped off a chunk of her clothes and covered William's eyes with them to stop the bleeding. She started freaking out and didn't know what to do.
Vijan: [Get OFF me!]
He threw Rainbow to a wall and looked at her with a hand raised in front of him.
Without being able to see anything, William's hearing became a lot stronger, and through his own cries, he could hear the charging of an energy beam.
Rainbow: [NO!]
That was the last he heard of her. The energy beam shot out and a body fell to the floor. William's mom cried harder. This was the hardest he heard he scream... the most he heard her cry.
William didn't know what just happened, but the pain from the cut was unbearable and he couldn't stop himself from crying. Through his mother's tears, William heard her demand him to run away. As all this was going on, Vijan stared at them with regret, but none of them could see.
William turned in the other direction and began to run, faster than he ever did. He didn't have a destination and he couldn't tell where he was going, but with a boost in his senses, he had a blurry view of the world around him. Moving at the speed he was at made it hard for him to keep track of any potential obstacles that could alter his knowledge of his home village.
He tripped every now and then, but that didn't stop him from making it out of the village with a couple of cuts around his hands and legs.
He collapsed in front of the village entrance as he felt the heat from the flames hug him. His face was covered in snot, tears, and the piece of red cloth from his mother's shirt.
*
William: [You slaughtered my family.]
Zack looked at William as if he remembered something about him. He had a vague memory of what happened, but Zack was included in the rescue mission.
William: [My village turned to ash.]
William threw his fist down.
William: [I'll kill you for what you did!]
Faith messaged Zack to prevent him from interfering. This was a battle William had been waiting for, and having anyone intrude would be unfair. William had to avenge his family and take vengeance for his village. Hesitant at first, Zack agreed and stepped further back while deactivating his angels.
Vijan: [I'll be honest, I don't know who you are, but I like the look in your eyes. You want me dead.]
William: [You have no idea.]
And just like that, the two of them disappeared into thin air leaving behind a gust and clouds of dust. In the blink of an eye, they reappeared standing in front of one another, William with a foot heading towards Vijan's lower left abdomen and Vijan with a fist going straight for William's face. Through sheer luck, William's kick hit first, sending Vijan flying back a few feet. Hitting the ground, clouds of dust trailed Vijan's feet as he slid back.
He quickly recovered and reached for his sword. Pulling it out of its scabbard, he charged back at William with his sword above his head. Surprised, William dodged the swing without knowing what was going on; leaving Vijan stumbling forward. When Vijan turned back around, William had kicked him again with a powerful blow sending him darting into a building and coughing blood. That attack did a number on him.
Faith and the others watched in awe. This was the most octane, off-the-wall battle they'd seen in person, and couldn't help but compare it to what they'd seen in anime. The explosive strikes, terrain-changing attacks, and hard-to-keep-up-with action made it that much more beautiful.
William ran to Vijan's body, but just as he made it, Vijan quickly dodged William's kick and punched him right in the gut with a fist the same color as his mana. William was sent flying towards the Beginners' Waterfall.
With a chuckle, Vijan went after him.
William crashed into the ground and rolled into a fruit stand with an NPC behind him. Several fruits fell on him and The NPC's shop interface popped up in his face as he felt the ground shake. Quickly recovering, he stood up and guarded his face with his arms crossed.
Vijan slammed a fist onto William's arms, causing his bones to fracture and a strong burst of wind to push against the NPC behind him. Hiding his pain, William bit his tongue with his teeth. Vijan used his other hand to throw William's guard off, but doing so left him wide open. With his hands out of commission, William had to think of something.
This moment of distress triggered a memory.
-
Schhing
A silver blade cut through a dark oak plank right beside William's head. He was helplessly pressing his back against a wall. Standing in an empty room with daggers plastered all around the walls, William hyperventilated without a bandana around his eyes. All of his marks were exposed and his eyes were wide open, but they were a blank white.
There was a man standing with him; he looked disappointed. The wrinkly old man pulled a dagger out of a pouch and sighed.
Old Man: [Listen carefully to the wind.]
He chucked the dagger straight at William's face, forcing the young boy to duck down and cover his head in fear. Though he wasn't crying, his body was trembling all over.
He was having a hard time following the man's directions. The doors to the old Traditional Japanese building crept open, and a short, black-haired male stood on the other side. The old man and William turned his way, surprising him a little bit.
Andy: [This again? Give up on him already. He doesn't have what it takes to avenge his people.]
Old Man: [He's the one that asked me to do this.]
Andy: [I have an idea.]
Andy walked into the room and lifted a dagger from the old man's pouch.
Andy: [Since Assassins and Ninjas are so similar, why don't we spar?]
William stopped shaking and stood up on his feet. Andy was playing around with the dagger as the old man thought to himself.
William: [The best way to conquer a fear, is to face it.]
He confidently smirked at Andy and got in a battle stance.
Old Man: [If it's mutual between you two, I don't see why not.]
Andy got into battle position with a dagger in his hand while William stood weaponless.
[Let the battle, BEGIN!]
-
William pushed Vijan's sword away from getting near his torso, just like he did against Andy all those years back. With Vijan's weapon out of his hand and William's arms hurting like hell, William jumped and kicked Vijan's chin with both his legs, throwing him into the air.
While Vijan was airborne, William jumped again and kicked Vijan into the sky with all his strength. This was an attack he used on Andy after sharing a couple of blows. His arms were useless, and the only form of defense he had was his offense.
Vijan was now above the clouds and severely injured. His back, the spot William kicked with full power, could hardly function but that didn't prevent him from making another move.
William grunted in pain while on the ground. The fractured bones were getting to him. The pain was beginning to affect his hearing. He could barely hear something coming straight for him from above. The sound of the object cutting through the wind alarmed him, making him jump away from where the object was landing. Vijan's sword went through the ground that William used to be like a knife through butter.
The old man's voice played in William’s head just as he dodged the first attack.
Old Man: [Listen carefully to the wind]
William confidently smirked as he heard the wind cutting above him.
That wasn't the only sword. Shortly after the first attack, ten, no... twenty more blades came cutting through the wind all around the Beginner's Waterfountain. Using nothing but the sound alone, William jumped and curved around each individual blade like a snake. Knowing the location of each blade before it came close to the ground. However, the last blade surprised him. Ricocheting off another blade, this one came straight for William's face and took a last-second change in direction to evade.
He quickly did a backflip, and like time slowed down, the blade flew slightly above William's nose and cut a string of his hair off. Landing the flip, William took a large gasp as if he had just got out of a chokehold. No more blades came from above.
The ability Vijan used was dubbed Kunai Storm. Any thrown object (usually a blade/kunai), would multiply itself and go towards the same direction the original object went. It's an uncommon ability granted to Ninjas within their first use of a Maxima.
William: [That was crazy.]
Vijan: [It sure was.]
Shocked, William raised his head, but couldn't move afterward. He was locked in place again. After a sigh, Vijan continued.
Vijan: [As much as I would want to fight some more, I don't want to break any more body parts.]
William struggled to get out of the time-stop.
Vijan: [I'll end your life here.]
Pulling his sword out of the ground and putting it up against William's throat, Vijan looked somewhat regretful, like he didn't want to do what he was about to do. But seeing as Ruby was nowhere in sight, he finished William with a single slice, resuming time back to its normal state and collapsing beside William's body oozing blood all over the ground from its chest.
Vijan used up all his mana. He could hardly take another step. Vijan turned to William's body and blankly stared at it. After a moment, he tried to get back up on his feet while saying,
Vijan: [I'm sorry, but I'm doing what I have to do... in order to restore peace.]
He stood up and looked like he regretted what he just did.
-
Vijan returned to Faith and the others while carrying William's body in his arms. Shocked and disgusted, the four could hardly look at him. Vijan placed William's body on the ground and looked at Zack.
Vijan: [The two of us made a deal. If I won, I could take the girl and leave without any problems. Now hand her over.]
Faith looked at Vijan's eyes with fury. Parker turned to Zack and covered his mouth with a whisper.
Parker: [He has close to no mana, we can easily take him out.]
Zack: [That may be true, but a deal made in a battle is a deal that must be kept.]
Surprised, Parker stepped back. Zack released his grip on his sword and turned back to the Ninja.
Zack: [I'm not the biggest fan of the deal, but I'll let you go. As long as you promise never to come back here!]
Vijan walked up to the knocked-out Ruby and lifted her like a sleeping princess. His body was almost lifeless and every movement of his looked to be his last.
Vijan: [I can assure you that I won't be coming back here ever again... but the others. They're a different story.]
Walking through the gates with no one tailing him, Vijan started making his way back to the hideout with Ruby in his arms and little to no strength left to move.
Faith: [Are you sure that was the best choice?]
Zack: [The kid fought bravely. It would be wrong to neglect his final deal.]
Parker: [What if it was a lie?]
Zack: [There's no telling, am I right?]
He put his hands in his pockets and walked towards William's body.
Zack: [All we can do now is give him a proper burial and hope for the best.]
*
The next morning, Zack and the others brought William's body to the graveyard behind the royal castle. There laid thousands of soldiers that died brilliantly in battle and one of the newer additions was William.
Surrounded around the grave, they each said their prayers. Everyone wished him the best in the afterlife and walked away gloomily as the sun was rising.
Though his wish wasn't fulfilled, he will forever be remembered in the minds of those he knew. Reunited with his family, he can Rest In Peace.