Twin Beasts

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|| CHAPTER 14 | Twin Beasts ||

"Have you ever heard of the tigers of the dead?

"They guard beneath the shadows and stood by the dark in case of danger within the protection of the Ichisaki Clan. They're poor souls of the woods that were hunted by the livings stained by greed, corrupted by wealth and power.

"This story will tell about the vengeful souls of those fanged beasts that were promised freedom and revenge within the clan of the shadows."

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"YES, I GOT HIM–– huh...?"

"What are they... doing...?" Kiryuu muttered lowly and quirked an eyebrow, guessing their plan from the way they moved and acted.

Several men circled their leader, protecting him. They spread their arms. When they did so, brown and black wings appeared, varying in size. The wings covered them and they disappeared from the children's sight.

Eleven disappeared, sixty-one left...

"W-Wh––?!"

"Huh? Where on Gaia's green earth did they go?"

"Argh!!! Just ignore them and help me already!!!" Kyou exclaimed, having troubles blocking and dodging attacks at the same time. Most of the men were now after him, leaving several to handle the rest.

"HIYAAHHHHH!!!" Kumo kicked the ones at the back, throwing them to the pile of defeated and unconscious men he'd been compiling up since the very beginning.

He huffed in satisfaction at the mountain of senseless individuals stacked from top to bottom. Putting his hands on his hips, Kumo tilted his head to the side and smugly stared at his peculiar pile of... creation.

Nine down, fifty-two left...

"Nice kick, Kum–– gah!! Gaia, I'm not ready...!!" Mizuki was cut short by two men striking her from behind. Ducking, their combined attacks barely missed the tip of her standing hair strands and only hit the winds.

Sprinting FAR away from them whilst evading all their attempts to land a hit on her, the blonde pivoted and locked her emerald-green eyes with them.

She quickly blocked them with a spell she often used when adventuring outside, "Aero Modifier Magic: Zephyr's Chamber!!"

A little dome made out of wind quickly formed around her, countering the men's attack, flinging them back. With the winds' help, they were brought away from the wind-user, leaving her unscathed.

"Oof!!!"

"Gah––!!"

"Argh!" the men grunted as Mizuki wiped away drops of sweat that had started to form on her forehead. "Fwahhh!! That was close!!" she cheered to herself and crooned triumphantly.

Two down, fifty left...

"Pay attention, Mizuki! Don't lose focus!!!" Ruka reminded while high kicking some men and casting some spells here and there. "Command Magic: Confine and Bind!!" he chanted loudly at the men.

The ground rumbled and the cavern's ceiling roared a beast-like noise that left its ring to echo endlessly in their ears, banging their inside drums.

Thorny roots and thick vines grew out of the ground, capturing and tying the men, suffocating some to their deaths.

Others bled 'till the point where their soul was taken to the underworld, another stabbed all over.

The sight was a horrifying one to set their eyes upon.

Seventeen down, thirty-three left...

"Ruka-niichan, I thought we weren't going to kill them..." Mizuki spoke whilst sweat-dropping at her brother's action.

The said male stiffened up at the mention of his name. Clearing his throat, Ruka then reasoned nervously, "W-Well, they did say to use any way necessary..."

"H-Hahaha, I don't think this is what they meant though..."

"Stop your chit-chats and help me over hErEeEeEEeeEEEEEeEeeEe!!!" a loud voice cried out, turning out to be Kyou's. The Ichimori male was running around with several men on his tails.

"You know, this kind of looks hilarious," Kumo spoke in a monotone voice, secretly quite entertained at the state his older brother was in.

"HAAAHHHH?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?!" Kyou yelled while panting from running too much.

"Hahaha, let's help him, shall we?" Mizuki suggested to her siblings, Kumo and Ruka.

"Yeah, I'm starting to pity him."

"See? Even Ruka-niisan is quite amused at your state, Kyou-niisan. And Mizu-neesan, Ruka-niisan, let's just watch a little more."

Kumo's stoic facial expression somewhat emphasized his words as he sighed and shrugged. Shaking his head, his deep ocean-blue vision stared onto Kyou's panicked form.

"OH, SHUT UP AND JUST HELP ME ALREADY!!! I AM STARTING TO DOUBT THAT YOU GUYS ARE EVEN RELATED TO ME!"

Kumo heaved an exasperated exhale and sneered, "Yeah, I'm questioning that too."

"You know you could just use your magic, right?" Kishi added while taking down his pursuers with a few swift kicks to the back of their heads.

Five down, twenty-eight left...

"Wait, what––?! Huh?!" Kyou yelled from across the room, still running and dodging attacks from behind.

With flailing hands and sweating waterfalls running down his face, he shouted again in addition, "What did you say, Kishi?! I can't hear you–– GAH!!"

He jumped away from a fireball that was blasted at him, followed by continuous throws of small knives aimed at his head.

"WAIT, DON'T AIM FOR THE HEAD!! IT'S TOO PRECIOUS–– ACK!!!"

The young Ichimori male was hit by a whirlwind on the back, causing him to trip and fall. He rolled to the side whilst still dodging attacks.

'Precious...?' all of them thought at the same time, sweat-dropping as to why Kyou would mention such an obvious thing. Of course, his head was precious. He would be dead without it (or he could just walk around like a headless ghost).

Sighing, Kumo slouched forward. "An idiot stays an idiot, I guess. No one these days would mention how precious their head is. It's the most obvious thing in the world," grumbled the boy.

"He's hopeless, isn't he?" Kishi scratched his head and heaved a sigh. Glancing at Mizuki beside him, he was met with the nervous chuckle of the female as she looked away.

"Y-Yes, he is... Hahaha..."

"Oh, dear..."

Kiryuu and Ruka looked at each other before simultaneously sighing as well. "Let's just help him..." the latter suggested and prepared his spell.

"And here I thought that one day, that simplistic mind of his will change," Kiryuu pointed out with a shake of his head.

The oldest of the Ichimoris looked back at the younger adolescent and chuckled. "You know how Kyou is, Kiryuu. Nothing's going to get through that boy's head that easily," he said with a soft smile.

Blinking, Kiryuu nodded. "I guess... there is a positive side to that."

The other five that were just standing there watching finally went to help the poor boy. Ruka chanted a Rune-based spell, "Viridi Silva: Silens Murmure Blanditiae...!!"

At the chant of his spell, the softened gales came blowing at them, kissing their skins cold as the air around them turned somewhat chilling.

Suddenly half of the men's eyes became white, and their hoods fell, revealing their faces. They then slowly walked to the pile of unconscious men that Kumo had piled up before. They sat down on the bottom of the pile, kneeling.

They stayed there, not moving one bit.

Staring at the pile growing bigger and taller, Kumo proudly stared at wonderment at his work in secret. It didn't dawn upon him where he got the odd idea of piling up the men–– it was something he rarely did in past missions.

Fourteen down, fourteen left...

"That was SOOOOO COOL!!! Do it again!!!" Mizuki and Kishi beamed at Ruka, sparkles, and stars visible in their eyes.

The older blonde blinked in retortion, not knowing what to respond with. Their reactions were not what he had expected after he first cast that spell in a long while.

"Thanks, I guess…?" the oldest Ichimori muttered quietly in uncertainties, looking away. After thinking about it more, he shook his head in dismissal.

"But no, I'm not going to cast it again. That spell drained quite a lot of mana from me," Ruka replied calmly while panting slightly. His face was starting to look pale, and Mizuki noticed the difference.

The younger Ichimori strode to her brother and nudged him by the sides. "Ruka-niichan, are you all right? Don't you need to rest?" she suggestively spoke, worriedly eyeing her older sibling.

Shaking his head for the second time that day, Ruka somewhat smiled at Mizuki, assuring her concerned state. "No, I'm quite fine. I can hold on for a bit longer."

Ruka chuckled and patted her head. "I'm the heir to our clan, am I not? I'm stronger than you think I am, Mizuki. Worry not," assured the older Spirit Wielder.

Eyes widening and lips pursed, Mizuki burst into a fit of giggles and nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Who am I to worry about someone who literally caught a whole village worth of undead in his last mission?" she pointed out.

Ruka smiled as well, dismissing the thought of telling her not to bring his missions up again. Truthfully, he never did once like doing those sorts of missions. Either Kyou replaces him or that he just ignores the job that was given.

"Don't... ever bring up that mission again. It was literal hell," Ruka spat and looked away, preparing to unsheathe his sword from its crimson scabbard.

Exhaling through his nose, Ruka relaxed his posture and glanced at his sister, expecting a reply. His younger sibling giggled at the obvious reaction of her brother. Mizuki placed a closed hand over her mouth and smiled.

"Hahaha, noted."

Not long after, several men had woken up. They're conscious once more and had regained their senses.

Alarmed at the sudden change, the teenagers turned their focus towards the awoken enemies and narrowed their eyes. Some growled, others kept their cool and remained collective.

With their weapons summoned in their hands and their Space mediums ready to capture them at any time, it seemed that their fighting aura had changed as well. The younger ones somewhat felt intimidated by their presence but managed to compose themselves as the former charged at them.

The group immediately attacked the six young souls, with them struggling to dodge and attack at the same time because of the numbers of men overwhelming them.

Twenty-three conscious once more, thirty-seven left...

"The great tigers of the Ichisaki Clan, I hereby order thee both as the heir of the Ichisaki Clan... Shirogane, the oldest silver beast, and Shitora, the controller and manipulator of the storm itself..." Kiryuu chanted loudly, raising his right hand high as the other still holding onto his spear.

As the winds shifted and the gravity centred around the blue-headed caster, Kiryuu glowered at the men before him, keeping his gaze sharp and stabbing.

With the dense air, others struggled to breathe and burst into a coughing fit.

Mizuki made use of her wind affinity and helped stabilized the air around her allies. However, seeing that she used a bit too much of her spells earlier when fighting off those men, she doubted she could keep the spell activated for too long.

Kiryuu then closed his palm as he spoke the next part firmly, "I summon thee, Guardians of the Ichisaki Clan! Aid me in my battle as I finish my enemies!!!"

As Kiryuu declared his order, two huge translucent beasts appeared behind him.

One had beautiful silver fur that shone, with charcoal-black stripes that faded into an aquamarine colour. Its eyes were bright gold and its fur was thicker than normal tigers.

The second tiger had black fur with metallic violaceous stripes. One of its eyes was electric-blue while the other was white, with a scar stretching from its forehead down to its jaws. Amethysts were embedded in their paws.

Kiryuu's appearance also changed as a blinding light covered his entire body, enveloping his whole attire of a casual outfit. The rest of the children and the cloaked men covered their eyes from the light.

When the light faded, the one who was standing there no longer had wavy, shoulder-length sky-blue hair and indigo eyes.

The 'new' individual was standing there with pure white hair and glowing red eyes.

He had different tiger ears and two tails visible to one's eyes. One of the ears was covered with silver fur and the other black, the same with his two tails.

Kiryuu was wearing a sleeveless navy-blue robe, with two extra triangular, metallic gold clothes at the ends of the collar. His pants were the baggy white ones, with gold and black seams at the bottom. The belt hung loosely onto his body, adorned with amethysts on it.

The sky-blue-haired Ichisaki's body was bandaged underneath the robe, except for his arms, which had stripe markings on them. His pupils became feline-like, just like the two cat beasts behind him.

A piece of long, transparent light blue cloth was floating above his head, along with his, now long, white hair. His spear remained the same, the only differences were that the end of the spearhead was split into two and the size of it had enlarged.

The children were left gaping at Kiryuu's new form, their eyes wide as well.

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"T-That form...!!"

|| CHAPTER 14 | Twin Beasts - To be continued... ||

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