Kiso’s face grew savage as his body flickered and disappeared, reappearing between the girl and the two men.

His arm raised, he barked, “You two! Stop right there!”

Chapter Twelve -

The two men, who had been chasing the young girl with savage faces full of malicious intent, stared blankly at the young man who had just appeared out of thin air.

Kiso's arm was raised at a ninety degree angle, pointing two fingers at the men.

These men were the scum of the earth, but they had a brain. If this young man was able to appear out of thin air, he wasn't someone easy to deal with. While they had the pride of belonging to the Ichi clan, they were just a couple of low level grunts.

Thus, they exchanged glances, seeming to convey each other's feelings through their eyes.

The two men, to Kiso's surprise, feel to the ground in the kowtow position, and pleaded for their lives, "Young master! Your two servants here were just trying to capture the escaped prisoner on orders from our captain! Our brains were broken and were unaware she was related to such a powerful person! Please spare us this one time!"

What added to their decision to plea for their lives, were the sparks of black lightning flickering around Kiso's fingers. The Ichi clan had a clear understanding in regards to the various levels of lightning the Thunderblack clan.

Kiso hadn't expected the insufferable Ichi clan to display humility so readily and was speechless for a few moments. He sighed and turned his neck to face the young girl who had fell to the ground with tears in her eyes.

"Little sister, big brother does not wish to kill a couple of ants who have already decided not to fight, but if little sister was wronged too deeply.... Shall I let them return?" Kiso felt a little bad about leaving the decision in the hands of an eight year old girl, but he was interfering for her sake in the first place.

The girl's face contorted and tears continuously fell down her cheeks. She seemed to be remembering a conglomerate of horrible memories all at once. After several tens of seconds she calmed down slightly and stood up, dusting herself off.

Having been raised the village chief's daughter, she was intelligent for her age and had an arrogant nature to match.

She was half Kiso's height and her current appearance suggested she had been living in a dirty prison cell for several months. Her clothes were torn and ragged, her face was covered in dirt, and her hair which was probably a beautiful blonde originally now appeared brown.

She choked out a few words through her hiccups from crying, "Big broth..hic..er, these two were the ones that personally assaulted my...hic... mother and forced her to..." Her face started to contort again into one that no young girl should ever be forced to display.

Kiso didn't need to hear another word. He jerked his head back and the two men had already raised their heads, the faces visibly drained of all color.

Although Kiso would prefer to make two such men suffer a slow death, in the presence of the innocent young girl he would not dare to do so.

Instead, he asked them, "Tell me, before you leave this world, who is your captain and how many Ichi clansmen are currently in Blackspark village?"

The men were not prideful or loyal creatures to begin with and thought to themselves, "If we're going to die, those selfish bastards back in the village deserve to be brought down with us!"

The larger of the two men spoke out quickly, "Young master, our captain's name is Thenion, he is one of the two major elders of the Ichi clan! As his power is worth several hundred of lowly servants like ourselves, there are only eight other clansmen other then ourselves!"

Kiso studied the eyes of the large man, probing his body with his spiritual pressure to detect fluctuations in his heart. After concluding that the man was not lying, Kiso snorted disdainfully and let the energy in his fingers burst forth. The two men had strange grins on their faces as their ashes scattered into the wind.

Kiso stood pondering their strangely happy faces for a moment before he felt a tug at his waist. The young girl had glued herself to his side and was staring up at him with pleading eyes.

Kiso could sense she wanted to ask him something and smiled down at her, "Little sister Jihu, what is it?"

Sara had told Kiso Jihu's name earlier, but it wasn't necessary. He knew who she was as she had been with her father at the youth trials. Her father was the Blackspark village chief and an elder of the Thunderblack clan, his name was Joro Black. Joro was one of the elders that sat on the same stage as his grandfather during the youth trials. Jihu had been sitting happily in his lap during that time.

A strange look appeared on Jihu's face as she didn't recall ever meeting Kiso before, "Big brother, how do you know my name?"

Kiso's smile grew and he replied warmly, "Jihu, my name is Kiso, you and your father met me four years ago at Thunderblack castle, do you remember?"

Jihu's face brightened and she tugged harder on Kiso's clothes.

"Big brother K....K....Kiso!!! You have to save papa!!" Jihu cried out in a mixture of excitement and distress.

At this time, Sara and Yuni finally caught up, just in time to hear Jihu's words.

Kiso felt their presence and turned towards them. Sara's eyes were a size larger and her mouth hung open while Yuni stared at Jihu, seeming to recall the little girl from somewhere.

Sara quickly recovered and dropped to a knee next to Jihu, "The chief is still alive?! Are you certain Jihu?"

Jihu received another wave of excitement as she looked down from Kiso to see Sara's face. She let go of his clothes and threw herself into Sara's embrace saying, "Big sister Sara your alive! I never thought I would see you again!" Jihu collected herself and stood up walking back a few steps to look a three friendly faces before lowering her waist at a ninety degree angle.

Bowing, she started to ask again, "Big sister Sara, big brother Kiso, after I escaped my cell today I saw my father on the way out! He was still alive...but his body was..." A few drops of water fell from eyes.

Kiso walked forward and knelt down in front of Jihu, raising her head with his hand.

"Don't worry Jihu, I'll save your father and take care of those evil men." He spoke straight to the point with a warm smile on his face before lifting himself back up and turning to face the other two girls.

"You two stay here and look after Jihu, I'll be back." His body flickered and disappeared.

Yuni frowned and complained out loud to no one in particular, "Left behind again, I'm getting sick of that technique of his..."

- - - - -

Blackspark village is a smaller village, only a half mile in diameter. Despite its small size though, it's a major fortress in Thunderblack valley. Ten meter high walls surround the entire village and there are only two gates to enter or leave the village.

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Stationed at each gate are two black cloaked Ichi clansmen. They take shifts standing above the gate monitoring the road leading into the village.

The two guards at the first gate are chatting cheerfully standing only a half meter away from each other.

"Do you think those two will kill that little girl first? or..." They knew what kind of men those two were and were taking bets between themselves regarding her fate.

Before they continued any further, they both felt a strong hand grasp their shoulders. Turning to look at the owner of the hand, they saw a young man with a devious smile on his face.

"You two need not worry about that little girl any more..." The young man's smile turned upside down and his grip strengthened.

Kiso had used his skyshadow technique to travel through the wind directly between the two guards in time to hear their bet. After he heard what they said, he placed his hands on their shoulders and gathered his spiritual pressure throughout his hands.

With a scolding sendoff, he released his lightning nature spiritual pressure through every pore on his hands.

The lightning entered the two men's bodies overtaking their own spiritual pressure in the blink of an eye before disintegrating every cell of their body.

If they had higher spiritual pressure, it must be known that Kiso's lightning would not be so effective. But this is Kiso, how could his own spiritual pressure be low? Every person he has come across are like ants to him.

After taking care of the guards on the first gate, Kiso spread out his spiritual pressure to encompass the entire village. He located the other six Ichi clansmen by detecting their earthen nature spiritual pressure.

Strangely, his spiritual pressure wasn't able to encompass one particular area inside of the chief's palace.

Kiso thought to himself, "What is this? Someone's spiritual pressure is high enough to even repel my own? It must be that Ichi clan elder.."

He quickly decided to take care of the branches before confronting the trunk.

Raising three fingers on each hand above his head, he closed his eyes and focused on those six earthen nature spiritual pressures. Confirming their locations, he gathered his spiritual pressure into his fingertips and allowed it to flow out freely.

Six snakes of black lightning shot out in several different directions, vaporizing and obstacle impeding their path. When the lightning reached the six men, they were killed without knowing how or why.

Confirming the results, Kiso smiled and his body flickered and disappeared from the gate's roof.

- - - - -

Inside the main room of the chief's palace there were several disheveled men and women on their knees facing the throne where the chief would normally sit.

On that throne sat an ancient looking man with a murderous look on his face. He was wearing long black robes and his face resembled a naked mole rat, bald and wrinkly.

His cold heartless eyes stared down at the dozen or so people kneeling several meters in front of him, their gazes still filled with fire.

He spoke to the man situated in the middle asking, "Joro Black, haven't you let your family suffer enough? All you have to do is tell me where Mord's son Han is hiding and I will release your family and grant you a swift death."

Joro's eyes were resolute, he had discussed what would happen if their village fell into enemy hands the same day the Ichi clan invaded Thunderblack valley. Although he had suggested that they go into hiding or escape the valley, unexpectedly every one of them balked at the notion intending to stay by his side. He knew the willpower of his family members, and that they didn't fear death.

He lifted his fiery gaze from the ground in front of him to stare into that ancient man's eyes as he spoke the same words as he had countless times before, "Thenion Ichi, Han is dead, you won't find him in this life."

Thenion, that ancient man sitting on the throne, seemed to be at the end of his patience.

He growled under his voice as he finally gave up, "You impudent man, you truly have earned my admiration. If our clansmen were this loyal, I could die worry free. Since you refuse to tell me the truth, I have no use for you." Thenion chuckled a little then added, "Say hello to Han for me."

A yellow colored aura seeped from Thenion's clothes and engulfed him, even his pupils turned a golden color yellow.

On both sides of the kneeling men and women, two giant earthen walls rose from the palace floor. The two walls stretched several meters in every measure. After they rose from the ground, Thenion snorted coldly, then lifted his arms into the air out to his sides, slowly beginning to bring them together in front of him.

As his arms started to come towards each other, the walls shook and began make grinding noises as they moved closer together.

Joro's eyes reddened as he glanced back and forth at the walls and the faces of his closest family. He could see the distress in their faces. If they had not been bound to the ground by strong earthen shackles, perhaps they would even attempt to run.

The walls came within one meter of the nearest kneeling men when they suddenly stopped.

Confused, Joro and his family looked up to see the back of a young man standing between them and Thenion.

The young man glanced back at them, then his face turned ugly to behold quickly snapping back to face Thenion sitting on the throne. Black lightning was leaking from the young man, roaming up and down his entire body.

Thenion's expression turned savage as well and he rose to his feet exclaiming, "Who are you?!"

Kiso saw the methods of this old man and simply would not even give him the satisfaction of knowing who killed him.

Snorting coldly, Kiso bent his knees and gathered all of his spiritual pressure into a single finger, pointing and Thenion's head. The black lightning that had been roaming his body flowed towards his fingertip condensing in a ball an inch from his fingertip.

Sensing the danger, Thenion prepared to receive the attack. He released his spiritual pressure on the walls he previously raised. The moment the young man before him released his attack, he would raise a thick earthen wall in front of him to block.

Kiso had his spiritual pressure zone active however, and noticed the gathering of earthen nature energy on the floor in front of Thenion. He snorted coldly then his body flickered and he disappeared.

Thenion stared blankly for a moment before jerking his neck to his left in time to see Kiso's black lightning ball, now half a meter in diameter, race towards his face.

To Be Continued!!!

Muahaha