The sun had set, and a short drizzle began. The sound of tiny droplets striking the ground was accompanied by a fierce clash.

  Kosuke went to strike Jarad’s legs, but Jarad jumped and, while in the air, threw a kick at him. Kosuke dodged it as well. Jarad landed, jumped back, and began charging blood for an attack.

  Kosuke’s eyes glowed as he gripped his sword and pointed it downward. He charged at Jarad with a sideways motion, his body leaving behind a blue streak of light.

  Once he was close enough, Kosuke went in for an upward slash, cutting through Jarad’s left eye.

  Jarad, now furious, quickly charged a small amount of energized blood onto his right fingertip as he said, “Blood manipulation: crimson blood bullet.”

  The bullet shot straight for Kosuke’s chest, but he quickly blocked it with the side of his blade. Though he stopped the attack, the force of the bullet pushed him back quite a distance.

  Jarad noticed how Kosuke had quickly lost his breath, which led him to slyly say, “What’s wrong, you old fart. Are you done already!”

  “Just wait,” he replied. “You haven’t seen anything yet!”

  He held his sword tightly in front of him as he took a deep breath. He charged toward Jarad, and as he got closer, his sword became enveloped in wind.

  He jumped into the air, and right as his sword made contact, he yelled, “Wind style: breaker hurricane!”

  A giant tornado formed, followed by a short shower of blood.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Kosuke sighed and sheathed his sword as he walked toward the boys.

  He noticed Yuichiro holding a dead person in his arms and asked, “Who is this?”

  “She is our mother,” he replied as he began to sob. “Our lives were already hell. Why did she have to leave us!”

  “I’m sorry that I didn’t make it in time,” said Kosuke as he looked away.

  “It’s alright, it wasn’t your fault,” Tsushiro said as he stared at him with a blank expression. “If you don’t mind, can you tell us who you are?”

  “Well, I’m an Ashura Samurai. Have you never heard of us?” he asked, only for them to nod in disagreement. “We fight the djinn. Heck, we’ve been fighting them for hundreds—no, thousands—of years.”

  “That still doesn’t explain your weird powers,” said Tsushiro.

  He looked down and said, “So as to fight the djinn, we possess three weapons. One is the Ikkion Blade, a sword that evolves as we grow stronger.”

  He was interrupted by Tsushiro, who said, “What do you mean by ‘evolves’?”He sighed and said, “For now, just think of it this way: the stronger the user gets, the stronger the sword becomes. Now, back to the explanation. The second weapon is not a weapon per se, but an art. It is the spirit arts that we use to augment our fighting techniques. The tornado you just saw was an example of a spirit art. And finally, there is the use of spiritual energy to perform spells through Sihir. Are you satisfied now?”

  “I guess,” he said, thinking for a few seconds before adding, “but why are you here? Why save us?”

  “Well, you see.........,” he said, before suddenly feeling a sharp pain in his back.

  He turned around to see a fully healed Jarad standing some distance away, a blood spike protruding from his back.

  “Were you too busy with your little lesson that you forgot about me?” Jarad said while chuckling.

  Kosuke, in shock, said, “I killed you. How are you back!”

  “Aren’t I the one supposed to ask the questions, teacher?” he saidsarcastically. “Here’s another question for you: what benefit do you get from telling those brats any of that if you’re all going to die right here?”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” he said as he removed the spike from his back with his right hand and crushed it, “because it’s you who will die here today.”

  Jarad then got into his fighting stance as he said, “Bring it on then.”