Slowly turning his head in disbelief, he turned to face that familiar voice.

Chapter Twenty -

Coming down the alley from the main road, Kiso's uncle Ruddy called out, "Kiso! Yuni! What are you guys doing here?!"

As he approached, a strange expression grew on Yan's face behind them.

"Uncle Ruddy!" Kiso was flabbergasted, he never expected to see a friendly face in this place.

Ruddy, Celes' brother, looked to be in a sorry state. He was wearing the Hanzi academy teacher's cloak, yet it was torn and his face was pale. His ordinarily long brown hair now had several gray streaks running through it and he seemed to have aged a decade since they last saw him.

Regardless, Kiso recognized him instantly and ran forward to greet him.

"Uncle Ruddy, where are my parents? Are they here too?" Kiso immediately asked without hesitation.

Ruddy's eyes reddened, he seemed to be filled with deep regret.

"I... Kiso, your father is..." His body slightly trembled before continuing, "Your father is dead. Your mother was with him when they were captured but she hasn't been seen for almost two years."

Glancing back at Yan, Ruddy's eyes widened and Kiso could tell he wanted to take back the words he just said.

Yan gave him an awkward smile, then walked out of earshot.

Ruddy revealed a grateful expression thinking to himself, "That one's not so bad." Then motioned for Kiso and Yuni to come closer.

"Kiso. You truly should not have come here. Your parents and I fled here three years ago while being chased by the Ichi clan's death squads. If it wasn't for that damned person, your parents would never have been forced to participate in this stupid war." Ruddy sighed and shook his head. "Since you are with Yan, you met Dean Hanzi correct?"

Kiso nodded, he didn't have a bad impression of Hanzi, yet his uncle's story wasn't lining up with his image.

"Then, he probably seemed warm and friendly right?" Ruddy continued.

"Right. He invited us for dinner. Is there something more to this uncle?" Kiso replied.

Ruddy's mouth opened a little, staring off into the distance before coming back to his senses, "He actually invited you two to dinner? Are you certain? He didn't mention anything about a enrollment?"

Kiso shook his head saying, "Uncle, just say it, what is this big secret."

Ruddy no longer spoke out, instead sending a mental message to the two of them.

"Kiso, I'll tell you this. If you enroll in Hanzi Academy, you won't be able to leave." The tone of voice ringing in Kiso's mind was extremely sorrowful.

"That Dean Hanzi grasps an extremely dark technique. As long as a student or teacher agrees to enroll here at this academy, they will become slaves to the Dean's will. This is because behind the Dean, is the Apostle of Death Sect! The 'contract' to enroll here at the academy is actually a technique of the Dean's, called 'Deaths Will'. As long as a drop of blood touches a contract written by him personally, the owner of the blood will be unable to resist whats written."

Kiso's face drained color becoming ghastly white. As he thought back to his feeling of foreboding prior to entering the academy. He couldn't help but wish he listened to his gut.

Yuni's face was equally white, she glanced towards Kiso's face. She sent a mental message to him as well, "Kiso, I'm sorry.. Your parents.."

Kiso's body trembled, he thought he had been prepared for bad news long ago. The ray of hope that he had been given back at Blackspark now seemed more like a curse then a blessing.

Sending another message, Ruddy continued, "Kiso, I know this is a tough pill to swallow. If Dean Hanzi really invited you to dinner, he doesn't plan to let you escape. I can't take any action to save you either, my contract would immediately...." Ruddy's words trailed off.

Eyes growing fierce, he mustered what little spine he had left and continued, "Deaths Will, if the orders are broken, will immediately tear itself to pieces. Just know, the contract is linked with the body of the contracted, your father disobeyed an order of the contract to try to save your mother, that's how he..."

Kiso's breathing was rough as he tried to push back the sorrow from his uncle's words.

His heart was churning in emotion, several different feelings battling for relevance.

Finally, vengeance won.

His breathing calmed and his eyes shone a dark black flickering light.

"Uncle Ruddy." Kiso sent a mental message, "Tell me, what order did my father disobey? Of the people remaining here at the academy, how many can be considered above my grandfather in power?"

Ruddy's eyes widened, "He.. Disobeyed the cardinal rule of the contract, 'never disobey a direct order of the Dean'. As for people above Mord in power... I suppose you already met some of them, it'd be Hanzi's direct family members."

Kiso revealed a puzzled expression and asked aloud, "If there's such a thing written on the contract, why are so many people willing to sign it with blood?"

Ruddy praised Kiso's insight, replying, "There are many reasons. In fact, some people do indeed turn away. Although those are the ones that bother to read the contract. With Dean Hanzi's naturally friendly attitude when around outsiders, many people fall victim to his facade alone. Others, the ones who read the contract and still sign it, are attracted by one simple thing. Any member of the academy will be given the cultivation method to death nature."

Kiso frowned. Death nature, from what Elder Sage told him, is extremely sinister and affects all living things around it. It causes bloodlust in normally docile people and makes weaker willed people loose themselves completely.

Yuni and Kiso looked at each other. After sensing the nature energy all around them, their heads cleared as they pushed their spiritual pressure through their minds.

Letting out a cool breath, Kiso made an immediate decision. "We have to leave this place."

Ruddy nodded, "Right, nothing good comes of being here. A silly thing like a hidden technique isn't worth it."

Kiso's body stiffened.

"I didn't mention anything about that to Ruddy, how would he?" Kiso's head swiveled as he looked around, finally noticing hundreds of pairs of eyes lurking in the shadows.

Kiso's rage boiled over, they even had his own family baiting him in.

Immediately, he sent his spiritual zone back out, grasping the darkness nature energy surrounding the bodies of the people lurking in the shadows.

Those people only felt their bodies go still as they lost the ability to move. Not long after, their bodies suddenly jerked and flew into the air above Kiso.

Hundreds of petrified students gazed down at the handsome youth, who was holding his arms above his head.

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When Kiso saw the faces of those students, his heart softened. They were all ashen and deathly thin, clearly they were being manipulated. Yet if he showed them mercy now, they would continue to work against him. He was truly in a bind, not know how to deal with them.

Suddenly, a dense deathly aura exploded in Kiso's spiritual zone, buzzing straight for his location. Although Kiso wanted to take vengeance on Dean Hanzi, he wasn't confident in his ability to do so at the moment.

Acting quickly, Kiso flung the hundreds of students across the city, away from himself. At most those students would suffer some injuries, he felt a slightly bad but was forced without another choice.

Grabbing Yuni's hand, Kiso bolted through the alley towards the obsidian tower in the center. When they turned the corner onto the main road, they could clearly see the pitch black tower less then three hundred meters up the road.

The aura of death growing closer and closer, Kiso and Yuni broke through the crowds of weak students, closing the gap to the tower.

As the aura closed in, Kiso turned his head back to see Dean Hanzi floating through the air, holding a sinister looking book in his right hand. His left hand was stretched out in front of him, plumes of dark smoke coiling around his arm.

As he passed the students below them, they didn't even react and continued to march lifelessly along the road.

Kiso and Yuni rapidly approached the tower, frantically searching for an entrance.

At this point, Kiso knew if they were caught, they would never get another chance at freedom. Their only shot was to enter the cave containing the hidden technique and pray that Dean Hanzi had not already discovered its secrets.

Now within ten meters of the tower, Kiso felt a scolding hot pain coming from his chest. He reached his hand into his clothes and removed the empty vial. The vial was blistering hot and trembled violently with every step Kiso took towards the tower.

With an outstretched hand, Kiso held the vial and reached towards the tower crying out, "LET US IN!!!"

An ominous plume of black smoke racing towards their backs, Kiso's hand holding the vial finally made contact with the tower. Luckily he was holding Yuni's hand, or she would have been left behind as the tower seemingly sucked their spiritual energy, along with their bodies, inside.

The plume of black smoke smashed against the wall where Kiso and Yuni had just been, then dissipated.

Dean Hanzi hovered in the air, staring in disbelief at the tower.

He waved his hand motioning for someone to come forward.

When that person reached his side, he lifted his hand and smacked the young girl with a terrifying amount of force.

A huge hand shaped welt appeared on Yan's cheek as she bowed and apologized, "Grandfather, I'm sorry, I notified you as soon as I noticed a change in that boy's heart. It was too late by the time I realized you had already attacked his mind. You should've told Yan your intentions before you left..." Her head hung low as her cheek throbbed in great pain.

Yan was a diamond in the rough that was the Hanzi clan, her heart was truly soft. She didn't mention Ruddy and secretly hoped for Kiso and Yuni's survival.

- - -

Inside the tower, Kiso and Yuni are currently falling in pitch black darkness.

Kiso spread his spiritual zone out, only to find that he can no longer sense the outside world.

They had seemingly entered another space entirely.

Kiso could still sense the cylindrical walls around him yet he couldn't feel the bottom.

Still holding Yuni's hand, he grasped the darkness energy around himself, slowing his fall until he held himself in the air.

Yuni wrapped her arms around his neck and although Kiso couldn't see her face, he could feel her heartbeat. With a slightly panicked voice she broke the silence, "Kiso, where are we? What just happened?"

Kiso took a deep breath replying, "We're trapped."

He started to use his Skyshadow technique to quickly lower them through the 'air'.

As they floated downwards Kiso thought to himself, "Uncle Rudy's words most likely weren't lies..Mother..Father.." Silent tears fell from his eyes, as he held Yuni slightly tighter.

After the time it would take to eat two bowls of rice, Kiso's spiritual pressure zone finally touched the bottom. The bottom seemed expand from the small tunnel they were in into a large cavern. At the bottom of the cavern, Kiso could feel a large lake with a few scattered 'islands' around the middle.

Kiso also sensed something far more thought provoking, a human! There was actually someone sitting on own of those islands down in the cavern.

The scary part, was that human was peering up through the darkness, like it could sense Kiso and Yuni approaching.

Kiso's curiosity was piqued, he couldn't be bothered whether or not the human could sense himself.

As they entered the cavern, a brilliant picture came into view.

On the roof of the cavern, hundreds of thousands of tiny lights filled the area bellow with a beautiful dull blue hue of light.

Yuni gasped and she blinked several times, pinching Kiso's arm.

"Ouch." Kiso complained, pinching her back.

Yuni giggled, "Not dreaming!"

Shaking his head, Kiso looked down at the largest of the islands amidst the lake. Seated in the meditative position on the island was a young man, staring up at them, a look of surprise on his face.

Kiso guided them to that young man's island, landing a few meters away from him.

The young man stood up, tilting his head to the side he asked, "Did my father send you two?"

Kiso revealed a puzzled expression, then quickly realized this must be the Kamien young master.

Shaking his head Kiso replied, "No, my name is Kiso Black and this is Yuni. We came here escaping from Dean Hanzi. Before we engage in any useless banter, I wonder if you'll answer me one question?"

The Kamien young man tilted his head in wonder, then replied, "If it's about the contract with Hanzi, the moment I came here, the link was lost."

Kiso nodded, that had indeed been the question, yet he still asked, "Then, how exactly did you get in here?"

The young man smiled, then stuffed a hand into his clothes, retrieving a small metallic vial.

Kiso's eyes lit up, lifting his hand, he opened his hand revealing an identical vial in his own hand.

The young man's body trembled and he spoke with a wavering voice, "Kiso, Yuni, my name is Julian Kamien, the first prince of the Kamien Empire. If you are in possession of the vial, do you by chance.... Also have the other part?"

Kiso looked at Yuni, then back at Julian before replying, "What other part?"

To Be Continued!