"What are you saying?" James asked, pointing his blade at Dina.
Dina didn't look troubled as he continued, "I am your uncle, James."
James scoffed, "Uncle? Is this part of your strategy?"
"Draw your weapon. I will wait for five seconds."
Dina sighed, "Really stubborn." Then he pulled out a pair of handguns.
James lunged at Dina and executed a flurry of sword techniques.
Dina simply dodged as he calmly shot at James's feet.
James evaded the shots and charged again at Dina with fiercer attacks.
James and Dina traded blow after blow. James now had plenty of holes in his clothes, but his body remained unharmed.
Meanwhile, Dina had several cuts on his body, with a particularly deep cut on his face, from which blood trailed down to his neck.
"James! I'm really your uncle!" Dina shouted while dodging James's gleaming blade.
James was certain that Dina was simply trying to deceive him. Master had told him his family was dead, killed by the empire's top brass.
How could an uncle just pop up out of nowhere?!
"Lies!" James shouted as he stabbed through Dina's thigh and grappled him to the floor, effectively subduing him.
Normally, James would kill his target immediately, but seeing the man's eyes, James faltered as he smirked.
"If you're my uncle, what proof do you have?"
"If you can't prove it, I will slowly kill you with our organization's Scorpio poison!"
James looked coldly at pinned Dina, whose white coat was now stained with blood as he gasped for breath.
"I - In my pocket..."
"You would recognize it..."
James eyed Dina's pocket and reached in before taking out a pendant.
"This!" James's eyes trembled.
"How do you have this?"
He realized the pendant was identical to the one he had.
"Now do you believe me?" Dina asked.
James hesitated as he decided to listen to Dina.
Soon, they both headed inside the house as Dina bandaged his wound with a first aid kit and Dina told James about everything.
"It was all a lie?"
James sat in shock as he processed the information. His parents were killed not by the empire but by his master himself.
Master couldn't have lied to me; that means this guy is lying! James eyed Dina with cold eyes.
Dina calmly spoke, "Would you really kill me? Your last relative?"
James hesitated again, "But this can't be..."
Then Dina smiled, "Why don't you team up with me?"
"Let's take revenge on blood hand together!"
Then Dina showed him a photo of his parents and talked about them.
James started to believe him as the proof was right before his eyes, and he made up his mind.
Master, you lied to me and killed my family...
His eyes turned cold as he said to Dina, "Okay. Let's work together... Uncle..."
Dina beamed, "Great!"
"But how do we take revenge with just the two of us?" James asked.
"Simple, you just have to plant these on their base." Dina handed James a round button.
"An explosive?" James guessed.
"Yes, big enough to explode a two-story building."
"And I have over 3000 of them. So far I'm just lacking ways to plant them."
"That's where you come in. You, a member of the blood hand!"
"I see..." James studied the small bomb that looked unimpressive.
"Alright, leave it to me, uncle."
"Okay!"
Then Dina and James would talk with each other some more as Dina told James how he only found out about James a month ago and had been trying to find a way to communicate with him.
James was moved by Dina's sincerity and felt warmth in his heart.
Then James departed from the town and entered the train heading back to his house.
He dialed up a number and waited for the person to pick it up.
The phone rang, and a voice was heard, "Yo~ did you finish the job?"
James steadied his breath and tried to sound as guilty as possible, "...No, the target escaped."
"Haha! It's fine James. Surprisingly that man can escape from our number one assassin."
"We better prepare better next time!"
"Yes..."
"Anyway, let's have dinner in a week. And take a good rest in the meanwhile, James~"
The phone was hung up as James was left alone again.
James watched the train scenery flash by rapidly and soon he reached his house.
James decided to give his master a surprise in a week's time where he would blow the whole organization up. That would be his final gift to him.
James carried the bomb now inside a storage bag to his secret room and sharpened his array of blades.