Raising a single brow, Kiso queried, “What is this?”

“This is actually the last segment of the Skyshadow technique. It is the offensive application of the technique and also where it gets its name from!”

Chapter Seven –

On this piece of parchment there were several dried drops of blood and the ink was heavily smeared. It appeared to have been written in a hurry by a heavily injured person.

The parchment read:

Junior, my little life is fading, but with my last moments I’ve made a discovery.

Today I was assaulted by a group of bounty hunters who must have mistaken me for their prey! I can only curse my luck… Regardless, in what I assumed to be my final moments, I desperately clung to life, exhausting almost all of my spiritual pressure to constantly teleport away, attempting to escape.

These bounty hunters were just too extraordinary, I imagine they must have been hired by a high-grade clan. As they circled around me for the final time, I closed my eyes, feeling the gentle breeze caress my cheek as I lifted my head and opened my eyes to stare up at the sky.

My spiritual pressure was still outside my body and at that moment, a single cloud blocked out the sun in the sky, casting a shadow over me and the bounty hunters. As the shadow cast over me, I felt a strange sensation. I was rapidly regaining spiritual pressure. Although I still don’t know why that was, I could also sense a change in the nature energy around me. Anywhere the cloud’s shadow existed, I could clearly feel a strong connection to that space.

The connection was much stronger then anything I had ever felt before, even stronger then the incredible effect the night has on our clan. Those bandits were like stars in the night sky standing in that shadow.

At that time I had a thought, if we can teleport ourselves, surely we can teleport others right? Well, I was a bit wrong, although not entirely. Using my spiritual pressure, I attempted to lift those bounty hunters as high as I could, to the ceiling of my external spiritual pressure zone.

My spiritual pressure had been cultivated for several hundred years and even in its weakened state, that ceiling was at least half a mile into the air.

When those bounty hunters reached the ceiling, I simply dropped them all. They did a freefall nosedive into the Earth and most of them died on the spot. One of them survived however, curse my bad luck, he had an innate wind ability and softened his landing.

Right as I used the last of my spiritual pressure to teleport, he threw a dagger, which cut the artery in my arm. Ahhhhh….. I’m really starting to feel a bit dizzy, if only I had enough spiritual pressure left to heal myself…..

The text on the parchment ended there as Kiso instantly understood what his mother meant by offensive application. What he didn’t understand was why she, or any of her clan members, would be unable to use this technique.

“Such a simple thing, why wouldn’t they be able to use it?” Kiso spread out his spiritual pressure and located a small rock on the ground a few meters away from him.

“You just urge your spiritual pressure under the target and…huh?” Kiso stared as the rock sat, unaffected by his spiritual pressure. Kiso was dumbfounded, he had full confidence in his ability to control his spiritual pressure and had fully expected the rock to soar into the sky.

“I really wish that old man had left a better hint. All he did was describe the situation. How am I supposed to figure anything out from that little story?” Kiso understood why the mystery was unsolved, yet he was not discouraged, it was hard to dampen Kiso’s spirits.

“There must be some clue in what he wrote…” Kiso strongly pondered what it could have been.

At this time Celes’ voice called out to him, “Kiso, the old man that wrote the ancient scroll and this piece of parchment was my great grandfather. Every single person in the Winyon clan has attempted to match his feat but were unsuccessful. I myself cannot begin to comprehend how to lift something with spiritual pressure alone.

Celes’ words penetrated Kiso’s soul, he felt slightly defeated for the first time.

“If you two keep worrying about this, you’ll only hurt yourselves, we should all get some sleep!” Yuni suggested sleep, something the exhausted Celes would not argue with.

However, Kiso’s brain could not slow down currently. He doubted he could sleep with so much on his mind, but he didn’t want to cause Yuni to worry so he could only nod his head and lay down.

Even though he laid down, he continued to ponder how to utilize his spiritual pressure in the way the old man had described.

– – – – –

The next morning.

Kiso’s eyes were twitching, everything else had come to easily to him, he could not bear to be unable to do something someone else had already done.

At this time a voice rang out in his mind, it was Quincy, “Young master Kiso, Grimjaw is indeed your uncle’s man, but your father wanted me to give you one more piece of information.”

Kiso sat up and looked over towards where Quincy had been laid out previously.

“Empty.” Kiso looked around, there was no sign of Quincy.

“Don’t bother looking for me young master, I am at the maximum distance my mental communication can reach. The other thing I must tell you, is that your grandfather Mord has already been killed!”

“What?!” Kiso cried out. He was instantly filled with sorrow and hatred, but more importantly, he was worried! He was worried that without his grandfather, his father would be killed by his brothers.

The rift between the three sons of Mord was irreconcilable. They hated each other to the bone due to fact that each of them had different mothers. Each time Mord had remarried, the previous wife had been discarded. The sons that had been left behind could only hold their hatred within their hearts for they were afraid of offending their father.

Everyone who was close to Mord knew, he was truly a despicable fellow when it came to women!

Han’s mother was the current wife and had yet to be discarded, thus naturally he was hated the most.

Although Kiso was not that close to Mord, he was still his grandfather and it shocked his young heart. However, the worry was much greater then the other emotions in his heart.

As if he could read Kiso’s emotions, Quincy’s voice once more sounded in Kiso’s mind, “Your father and your grandmother have both escaped from Thunderblack castle and are heading to a safe place. However, all of those who were allies with Mord, were not spared. I trust you understand what I mean by that. That’s all I was supposed to tell you, please tell the missus thank you for saving me.”

Kiso’s eyes were red as he turned to see Yuni sitting up rubbing her sleepy eyes.

Kiso lowered his head as he dragged himself towards Yuni. Halfway over, a cold, heartless voice attacked Kiso’s ears. “Little punk. Do not think that you are safe! I, Grimjaw, will remember this humiliation!”

Kiso glanced towards the voice, rage bubbling up in his heart. Grimjaw was currently dashing through the grasslands away from him, at least a half mile away now.

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The rage in Kiso’s heart boiled over as he burst forth his spiritual pressure, stretching for precisely half a mile. His body flickered and disappeared.

By the time Yuni had finished rubbing her eyes and let them adjust to the morning sun, a flash of light could be seen in the distance, followed by a miserable scream, then silence.

“This Grimjaw just had to poke me when I was down. I had planned to merciful, but he really caught me in my worst mood, how am I going to tell Yuni and mother?” Kiso frowned as he decided to walk back the half mile.

Although Kiso acted on impulse and rage, he was after all a child. The act of murder was one that only added to the negative emotions flowing in his heart.

However, Kiso was quick to rebound from negativity after all, and his mind quickly recovered to start pondering a few things.

“Why couldn’t that Quincy have told mother this information, why did he force it on me to tell them the bad news?” Kiso was bitter, his impression of Quincy had sunk very low.

Kiso was extremely intelligent for his age however, as his mind began to uncover the hidden meaning behind Quincy’s actions.

A cold look flashed in Kiso’s eyes, “Ah, so he’s just a coward. He couldn’t bear to tell mother of her brother’s death.” Kiso sighed as another though struck him, “But wait, uncle Ruddy was a Winyon clan member, shouldn’t he be able to flee easily?”

As Kiso was reminiscing about those people at the castle who were likely dead now, he had already come into view of his camp.

The sight before Kiso’s eyes struck him like a ten-ton boulder.

Celes and Yuni were not the only ones seated around the fire pit. The third person was indeed a familiar face.

Kiso’s body flickered and the remaining hundred yards vanished in an instant.

“Uncle Ruddy! I knew you’d be able to escape!” Kiso exclaimed excitedly, then frowned as he saw the faces of the two women.

Yuni bawled and ran into Kiso’s embrace. “Kiso! My mother and father, dead!” She tucked her head into his shoulder and Kiso’s heart broke a little bit.

“Mother, Quincy told me about what happened. It seems we cannot return to Thunderblack castle and the spiritual cultivation training locations are likely to be targeted as well. Where should we go?” Kiso got straight to the point.

“You certainly are bright Kiso, it seems you already know what you need to do. Indeed, right now, we need to all cultivate and raise our power. Although we are individually stronger then any of your uncle’s men, they have too many men for us to consider taking back the castle.” Ruddy spoke out, a flash of fury in his eyes.

“Kiso, it is true that we need to spend our time cultivating right now. Although the major cultivation spots will be heavily guarded now, there is one place your uncles would never dare to step foot in.” Celes spoke the words but seemed to fear them as they passed her mouth.

Kiso’s mind raced as he recollected a map of the Thunderblack valley he had viewed a few years ago.

“You don’t mean….” Kiso’s eyes widened as he stared to the east.

“Right, we cannot waste any time, I imagine there are hundreds of assassins combing the valley right now.” Celes nodded her head also turning to look towards the east.

In the east, the tallest mountains around the valley can be found. Their peaks are thousands of meters tall and cannot be seen on a cloudy day. Halfway down those mountains, their color changes from dark gray to black.

That black represents the border to the ancient Byuki Forest, a forest millions of years old. Its trees are so thick it would take 10 men holding hands to completely surround the tree. On the forest floor, so little light makes it down, the ancient Byuki Forest gets its other name, the forest of eternal night.

The reason nobody dares to enter the forest is because it is the only location in the valley that contains spiritual beasts.

Spiritual beasts are ferocious and hate humans to the bone. Any random spiritual beast is generally ten times more powerful then a low level blue bolt stage clan member.

Yuni’s red eyes finally sobered up as she looked up at Kiso, “Big brother, I will not rest until I have become powerful enough to slaughter everyone remaining at Thunderblack Castle.” Her voice didn’t waver and she seemed to gain an unshakable resolve.

Kiso looked down at Yuni, started awake as his thoughts drifted away from the ancient Byuki Forest, “Yuni, big brother can imagine your pain, although it was my family that killed yours, I no longer recognize them as such! I will go with you when you return for your vengeance.”

Celes and Ruddy looked at each other before sighing and secretly coming to a decision.

“Kiso, you and Yuni will have to continue from her by yourselves. Your mother and I must return to the Winyon clan and report this matter to the elders. We also imagine that your father has gone that way as well, if we do not support him, he may not find refuge there like he imagines.” Ruddy spoke as Celes lowered her pretty face, a hint a worry in her eyes.

Celes was worried for Kiso and Yuni, as they would now have to fend for themselves in the most hostile environment known to Thunderblack valley, but she was even more worried for Han! She knew full well that those spiritual beasts would not pose any threat to her son, who could simply teleport away anytime things got dangerous. She also knew that Kiso was reliable and wouldn’t let anything happened to Yuni. Therefore the only thing on her mind right now was racing towards the Winyon estate in the north.

“Kiso, Yuni, come here for a moment.” Celes raised her face and stretched her arms out to either side.

Kiso and Yuni let themselves into her embrace and enjoyed a few minutes of warmth they knew they wouldn’t feel again for some time.

The next moment, with a smile, Celes’ body flickered and disappeared. Rudy smiled as well, then a single line left his lips before he disappeared as well.

Kiso and Yuni stood there, stunned, Ruddy’s words still fresh on their minds.

Yuni turned to Kiso and inquired, “Kiso do you think what your uncle just said was true?”

“He has no reason to lie, we’ll have to wait and see though, we can’t let ourselves be slaves to hope.” Kiso replied, then started walking to the east.

– – – – –

A few days later, two tiny silhouettes stood at the edge of a mountainous wall of black woods.

“Now that we’re here I’m actually kind of nervous…” Kiso thought to himself, putting on a brave face for Yuni, who turned to look at him, strangely smiling.

“Kiso, somehow, I think this is going to be fun!” Yuni had fully recovered from her earlier shock of learning her parents likely perished.

Sighing, then nodding, Kiso said, “It seems the spiritual pressure inside this forest is much higher then normal, perhaps we won’t need to stay too long.”

The two tiny silhouettes penetrated the black wall as they entered the forest.

To Be Continued!