The other students began to choke as they came out of their trance. It was a race to see if he could pull the powers out before the demonic energy killed the others.
A part of him wanted to ask Masaru for help, but he didn’t dare risk it. That lunatic might very well finish off Koichi’s students.
Just for fun.
No wonder Masaru had chosen Ryuichi. Had he known, or just sensed this power?
Koichi felt the sweat roll down his back as he wrestled with the weight of energies he hadn’t gone up against in years. He wasn’t prepared for this.
His katana grew hotter and hotter. So scalding, he could barely hold on to it. The heat blistered his hands.
Don’t let it go, he chanted to himself.
If he did, the darkness would take Ryuichi, and he’d lose them all.
Grinding his teeth, Koichi held his ground over the boy and forced him to his knees. Finally, he saw color beginning to return to the white eyes.
Taka was the first to break free of whatever had been holding them prisoner. He ran at them, but Koichi knocked him away before Ryuichi fell.
Furious, Taka glared. He gestured at Ryuichi, who was now on the ground, panting. “Kill him!”
The first answer to everything.
Sometimes it was the logical answer. Sometimes it was the only answer.
And other times it was just a stupid answer.
Luckily for Ryuichi, this fell into the third category. Especially when no one really knew what they were dealing with.
Never go up against something until you know exactly what you’re dealing with. For that matter, don’t tangle with someone unless you know who or what they are, and what they’ll do. This was the first rule of combat, and the quickest way to die painfully if one failed to heed that wisdom.
Demons didn’t always die the way one thought they might. Sometimes “death” meant “unleashing,” and that could become an even bigger nightmare.
Something could grow even fiercer and eat you when you tried to run.
Again, Koichi blocked Taka from reaching his target. “You trust me?”
The boy scoffed. “No!”
Fair enough.
That would have offended Koichi more had he not deserved it. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t exactly given the Kai-dan a reason to trust him.
None of them knew his real skill or his background. Why he was really at Hanzo’s school. All they saw was a drunken loser. A failure.
And for the first time in years, it sickened him to know that he’d earned that reputation.
That he deserved it.
Beware the mirror. The truth shown there is often hard to face. And even harder to swallow.
“Fine.” Koichi sheathed his enchanted blade before Taka realized what it was and asked questions he didn’t want to answer.
The other five Kai-dan were now coherent, except for Ryuichi, and no one needed to know anything about what Koichi had just learned regarding the kid. “We have to keep this a secret.”
Masa shook his head. “He’s unclean!”
Normally true. Those like Ryuichi were to be shunned. However... if Ryuichi was what Koichi suspected, he wasn’t demonic, like they were thinking.
