World of Blood
Akayama drew his sword from its sheath, and the skin surrounding the sheath changed from black to crimson. The sword was made of steel with bloody blades surrounding it, and in the center of the silver sword ran a jagged red bloody line. Contrary to expectations, Akayama had been hiding his real weapon, and now he decided to use it.
Akayama's gaze was sharp toward the person in front of him. After focusing on him, Akayama was so angry he bit his lips hard. Akayama screamed inside himself.
"Has the lightning element become a trend in this era? Why does everyone I encounter use this element? First Jin, then Takeru, and now this guy. Seriously, with all the powers available, this is what you choose?"
The other person looked at Akayama, shocked by his angry expression. His physique was strong, unlike the other members of the Shadow Corps, who had weak builds, and he didn't use dark chains—he used a sword.
Akayama swung his sword and pointed it at him, his eyes filled with disappointment and rage. He said in a sharp tone,
"Before we begin, what's your name? I hate fighting people I don't know."
The other drew his ordinary sword and said in a deep voice with a dumb expression masking his features,
"Kaginosuke. That's my name."
As usual, a calm smile appeared on Akayama's lips, and the pressure radiating from him increased in intensity. His red eyes became dark like cold blood.
Then Akayama dashed forward toward Kaginosuke, and the latter charged at Akayama to block a deadly incoming attack.
An explosion echoed from the clash of energies, a sharp metallic ring resonated from the swords colliding. Their speed was equal, and so was the power of their strikes.
Akayama took a step back, then dashed like a missile, delivering a powerful blow toward Kaginosuke. A powerful metallic explosion almost snapped Kaginosuke's sword in half due to the force, and as he blocked the strike, he spat a large amount of blood.
But despite that, the attack didn't affect him much. A tremendous surge of energy burst from him, and the two launched at each other again. Their repeated clashes produced a loud steel buzzing sound.
With each collision, they came close to killing one another. Their fighting styles were balanced and evenly matched.
Akayama grew more excited by this battle. Finally, someone who entertained him. Even Yusuko, to Akayama, was just a distraction. As Akayama focused and tried to uncover who this person really was, he realized he wasn't from the Shadow Corps and had no connection to them—just a disguised individual. Akayama's suspicions were correct, but the real question was:
"What is his true identity? It's impossible for someone in level one or two to be just an ordinary warrior."
After much thought, Akayama decided to do something important since he reached a certain conclusion—that the person in front of him wasn't human.
Akayama pressed his left foot into the ground, preparing to jump. Then he leaped five meters into the air as if flying. During his jump, the blood of his world surrounded him like a circle, then transformed into bloody fire. The bloodfire headed toward Kaginosuke, surrounding him. He had no solution, even escape was impossible.
Energy gathered suddenly and neared him. Whoosh—BOOM!
An explosion of bloody fire occurred. The blast was so massive that if it had been in the capital, it would have destroyed it.
As the explosion's dust settled, Akayama watched calmly with a smile to see what happened.
To his shock, Kaginosuke was only slightly injured, with just a small cut on part of his left arm.
Yet Akayama wasn't too surprised—at this level, such attacks wouldn't do much damage.
After the blast, Kaginosuke charged at Akayama again, and the sword clashes resumed. But unlike before, each strike from Akayama's sword now released bloody energy and blood. If it touched the body, it would poison it.
This was his magic: "Blood."
But Akayama found something strange during the fight.
"He's not relying on his secondary magic (lightning magic). Contrary to what I thought, he's not stupid like Takeru, who always shows off his secondary magic. Everyone knows that elemental magic—especially lightning—is secondary and not comparable to primary magic."
Amid a powerful clash and the roar of Akayama's sword due to the frequent, aura-charged collisions, Akayama continued thinking to himself.
"Primary magic doesn't differ from secondary magic only in destructive power. If secondary magic represents elemental forces, primary magic embodies life concepts, like blood flowing through all humans, or darkness that follows the absence of light, or shadows, as every body has its own shadow. Many types of magic exist, and each primary magic has a secondary one that's not necessarily elemental. For example, darkness magic has absorption magic, and golden lightning magic has purple lightning. Golden lightning is far superior in power, and due to its destructive force, it's considered primary, not secondary."
Once Akayama confirmed his opponent's true nature and strength, the battle lost some of its thrill. The one he was fighting had only shown a fraction of his power, and even the level Akayama estimated was just a guess.
From the bloody katana emerged overwhelming and suffocating darkness, engulfing the area and covering everything. The darkness became impenetrable, even the air turned suffocating. Akayama's world shifted from a bloody painting to one of shadows.
Yet even that didn't faze him. They continued to fight. In their next clash, the tide turned in Akayama's favor. Unlike before, each of his strikes obscured Kaginosuke's vision, forcing him to rely on his senses. Deep inside, he laughed wildly:
"This battle has reached its peak."
With incredible speed, he pointed his sword at Akayama and shot forward like a cannon. Akayama quickly reacted and countered with his own blade. In a powerful and terrifying clash, the darkness scattered, and Kaginosuke's katana broke.
Suddenly, steel blades emerged and turned into strange magic of a dark blue color. Kaginosuke tried to trap Akayama with the shards of his broken sword—and succeeded. But Akayama absorbed them using his shadow magic. He laughed hard and said in a raspy mocking voice,
"Hahaha... You're now in my world. Do you think you can hit me?"
Kaginosuke laughed too and said,
"Kahahaha! Just because this is your world doesn't mean it's impossible."
Akayama smiled again and said in his calm voice,
"Show me what you've got. I'm tired of fighting weaklings."
Akayama released half of his power. Kaginosuke only saw his shadow as he swung his sword with a deadly strike, slicing through the air and darkness in his world.
Kaginosuke backed away, then charged at Akayama using only his body. He abandoned his broken sword and launched himself. When he reached Akayama, he punched him hard in the stomach with his injured left hand. Akayama spat blood fiercely, but despite having broken through his strong defense for the first time, Akayama grinned slyly and said in a sharp voice,
"Heh... Looks like you fell into the trap."
The darkness surrounded him like a cage. It was like prey caught by the hunter. As Akayama stood watching the terror in Kaginosuke's eyes, the darkness tried to consume him—unlike before.
When Akayama thought he had caught his prey, a strong light burst from the darkness. Then an explosion followed, shattering the illusionary world Akayama created. They returned to the rooftop where they had been fighting. Kaginosuke's clothes were mostly torn, his body wounded, and blood was pouring from him, staining his black cloak red.
Akayama laughed.
"Hahaha... Finally, someone who understands my pain. When my clothes got soaked with blood, no one else noticed. But now..."
But as he laughed, black smoke covered his vision. He jumped back, then smiled and said in a low, sarcastic voice:
"Ki ki... See you later."
Akayama looked confused, but then felt something strange. When he looked at his body, he saw a deep cut on his chest. His clothes were drenched in blood. He looked up at the sky and, for the first time, laughed genuinely. He always faked it, always wore a fake smile—but now, he truly enjoyed this fight.
Back in the heart of the capital
The attack was still ongoing, but the samurai managed to fight back. One of them killed a member of the Shadow Corps, but suddenly, that member turned into a horrifying monster and lunged at him with its fangs. The samurai froze in fear, his body trembling, unable to react—he realized his end had come.
But in a split second, the beast froze into blue statues.
A man appeared, not wearing armor, just ordinary clothes—a silky white kimono blended with sky blue, a wide round ronin hat with a pointed middle. His long white hair flowed down, the right side of his face was burned, with burn scars across his body. His left eye was black, and his physique looked like a seventeen-year-old. He smiled and said,
"Looks like you're having some fun, you bastards."
The samurai bowed. This was the second commander, nicknamed "The New Yusuko," Roko. Roko managed to freeze all the rampaging monsters with absolute ease—it didn't even take a second.
In the ruined headquarters
Takeru was panting heavily, his body covered in blood. He said in a low voice,
"It's hard to breathe or rest because of this damn attack."
Though most of his strength had been drained, he managed to kill all the monsters—barely.
Inside one of the destroyed buildings
Two members of the Shadow Corps were hiding. Kaginosuke returned. The other looked at him and calmly said:
"Looks like you got injured, Number Fifteen. But from what I know, you were supposed to die—you're the weakest among us. Let me ask you one question..."
He said in a serious, heavy voice:
"Who are you? None of your movements resemble Number Fifteen."
Suddenly, Kaginosuke gave him a strange and terrifying look. He grabbed the man's face, squeezed hard, and lifted him off the ground. The man screamed,
"Aaaah… What are you doing?!"
He grinned wickedly and said in a deep voice:
"Truly... his fight was fun."
He crushed his head with force. Blood sprayed like a waterfall.
The second member stared in horror, his body trembling, frozen in place, not understanding what just happened. Even the head of the crushed man disappeared, and his body fell.
"W...Who are you?" he asked.
Suddenly, the torn clothes vanished. Dark blue clothes appeared, woven with lightning symbols. His golden hair shone brightly. He had light facial hair starting to grow, his hair covering his eyes. The other froze in fear. Looking up, he saw diamond-like blue eyes.
He approached and said with a smile:
"I am... the Lightning Ruler, Ryujin."
He exploded the other's head too. Ryujin looked toward the building where Akayama had stood and said in his terrifying voice,
"So, see you later... Ki ki ki... Looks like you figured out my identity from the start. But don't worry, next time... I'll crush you."
End of Chapter