Kuri, An Agent Of The Underworld!

Chapter 4 Kuri, An Agent Of The Underworld!

Outside the capital Taka and Biwa stood thirty feet away from Southern gate. Taka's demeanor was so frosty so cold that Biwa who had initially wanted to scold him for his actions once more, swallowed her words. Taka saw her expression similar to a person who watched as a fly flew up their nose and smirked.

Suddenly he straightened himself, scanned the road ahead with narrowed eyes before tasting the air. Then he paused mid-step; it was very subtle as if he never paused at all. Then he tugged Biwa forward and growled "move it." 

His manner reminded her of hoodlums who lusted after a virgin girl's chastity but she did not dare say anything when she saw his cold gaze and quietly followed after him. 

At dusk, they had already reached the heart forest which was rumored to entwine the hearts of men and women who passed through. Knowing this she frowned because it made her remember some unpleasant things, shaking herself from her melancholic thoughts, she glanced cautiously at Taka and was shocked! 

He just stood there in a daze, his eyes filled with such incredible longing they had weight, and Biwa who was standing beside him could feel it. In that instance all Biwa wanted to do was apologize "Taka I-" Taka cut her off. "Don't bother your highness, the emperor never takes back the imperial edict." 

He was cold again the vulnerability within him was slain, buried under the face of the killer. He didn't wait for her and with a swish of his sleeves, he turned and started working on making camp. 

They were having a meal of roasted fish which Taka had caught and a light soup dish when Taka suddenly spoke. "looks like you didn't heed my warning" His smile was genial and his eyes were filled with warmth but his tone was cold, heavy with killing intent. Biwa knew that things were heading in a dangerous direction, so she wisely moved away from the clearing. 

She didn't stray too far in case there were other assailants. That way Taka could easily come to her aid. The moment Biwa left a fierce battle began. 

CLANG!! 

The sound of a bowl breaking was heard. The assailant had thrown a hidden weapon towards Biwa's retreating figure but was intercepted by Taka's chinaware 

"Warning?"

 The hidden assailant scoffed his voice seemingly coming from all sides making it hard to discern his location. 

"If I was scared of your little display, I wouldn't be seven poison Kiri" Taka showed no emotion when he heard his opponent announce himself; his eyes only revealed a grim look as he unsheathed his sword. The moment his sword appeared by his side he vanished. 

Whizz! Whizz! The air split apart as a rain of hidden weapons fell. Towards the area Taka was previously standing. littering the ground with various metals. Kiri was shocked by Taka's speed. However he was experienced and could be said to have been bathed in blood for many years so he didn't panic. And flew into the trees wanting to use them as camouflage. He wasn't paid to fight that pale vampire hence he he immediately abandoned his battle with Taka and flashed towards the direction Biwa fled. 

"An old dog still wants to learn new tricks how disgusting" 

A cold voice sounded in his ears. Panicked Kiri hurriedly parried Taka's sword which moved like a thought to his unguarded left, Kiri's body reacted on autopilot deftly jumping away from the cold steel. However he lost his footing in the process and the ghostly sword snaked toward his exposed calf causing blood to flow. "You are truly despicable! What would I have towards that young girl" Kiri retorted as he stumbled forward and was met with a sword thrust he barely managed to deflect aside. However, his breath was badly shaken and suddenly he felt very tired but couldn't understand why: he thought back to their skirmish and realized that he had been schemed against! His opponent had forced him to react causing him to overexert himself, forcing out his blood and ki. 

Kiri quickly realized the severity of the situation. If he didn't stabilize himself the energies in his dantian would disperse and he would enter into a state of Ki deviation and explode! 

"Urdgghh" Kiri forcibly spat out a liter of blood but he didn't care. The opponent he was facing was a real villain, he wanted to make him inadvertently kill himself! 

Kiri wanted to curse that mother fucking masked prick who hired him. How was this mission easy? In what way was this hired guard simple? Slowly he had calmed his mind by regulating his breath and managed to dodge the fourth strike that sought to behead him. Kiri knew he was in a disastrous situation, this body guard was a strong expert, Damn I can't believe this young man in his twenties is comparable to a 400 year old expert like myself. If things continue to go this way I'll be killed. it looks like I'll have to use my trump card! 

"Y-You Forced Me! " Kiri roared rushing forward unexpectedly. His rush was so sudden, he caught Taka by surprise. 

Kiri's body grew larger with each step until he became a large ball even his skin was changing color to a solid black. There was even black blood dripping out of his eyes. In mere seconds his body had inflated four times his original size!

 A trail of vapor could be seen rising out of his eyes and ears. 

Taka watched all this with an look of incredulity on his face. 

Kiri covered his mouth as if he was trying to hold something in. 

"Hick!" 

Taka felt the need to rub his eyes. His opponent had somehow contracted the hiccups mid battle, what was truly bizarre was that the sound was coming from the assassin's enlarged stomach! 

"Hick!" 

"Hick!"

 Kiri's stomach let out two quick hiccups in succession and his stomach expanded even more. Just when Taka thought things couldn't get much stranger, Kiri started to strangle himself! 

 A trail of vapor finally exited his mouth as Kiri was no longer able to keep it in. 

"Urrrrrrrrrrrrph!" 

He let out a large burp and exploded!! 

A shockwave tore through the area and metal shards and weapons flew out of Kiri's body. Taka endured the brunt of the shockwave and was thrown backwards, using the momentum of the shockwave he somersaulted twice and landed ten yards away in a standing position. He stepped back to avoid the rain of iron and blood but was still nicked in some places: suddenly he saw a chunk of flesh and blood come together to form a humanoid figure with no hair, elongated ears and whites for eyes; its body rose from the ground seemingly with no legs. It was obvious that this assassin had cultivated some kind of demonic art forcefully transforming himself into this creature! Taka instantly grimaced. 

This complicated matters.

 Hoooooooooooooo!

 A fierce wind blew, rocks and debris were thrown in the air. The large trees were uprooted and the ground was split apart. The force caused the earth to cave in destroying that section of the Forest and creating a massive crater.

 "Evil Wind!" Taka was astonished as he thrust his sword out releasing over a hundred strikes in a single second destroying the incoming debris and uprooted trees turned into spears. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, however the whole area had been affected by evil wind. Turning even the smallest blade of grass into a weapon capable of slicing through a giant boulder. Not wanting to be caught off-balance, Taka twisted his body in ways that shouldn't be possible and navigated his way through the yin-covered projectiles raining down on him. Finally, he stood unscathed above a ruined forest standing proudly on the single tree left upright. Taka scanned the area fifty meters around him in a full circle trying to decern where Kiri was. 

BANG! the tree underneath him split into a million pieces. Taka immediately reacted, leaping as far away from the tree as possible. However, it was too late a cold black claw plunged into his back and crushed his heart! 

Taka's still warm body fell from the tree before it was pierced by a fallen tree with jagged ends pointing upward. The creature that burst from under the tree was extremely cautious. It surveyed the entire area but found no hints of life in the near vicinity before it finally decided that Taka was truly dead. After a minute squiggling sounds came from the body, a human head popped out and the creature's head shrank back into his body. A minute later Kiri stood proudly, however from his elbows to his knees he was covered in the creature's black skin. A side effect of whatever technique he used. 

"Wraaaaaaaaah!!!" 

Kiri roared in exhilaration, he was the final victor as always! Once again he reigned supreme while his enemies rotted in the dirt!

 His celebration was short-lived however.

Chichichichi!!!! 

A sharp sound immediately sounded throughout the area. Kiri narrowly avoided being decapitated as the sword ki continued forward and destroyed another hundred acres of forest. "Oh? you managed to dodge it, have to admit I'm impressed.'' Taka's playful laughter floated in his ears. Instantly Kiri whirled around trying to counter but his reaction speed was too slow and a solid kick was driven into his rib cage shattering all of them in the process. Desperate for a way out he gathered energy into his dantian causing his stomach to bloat and released another blast of evil wind.

" It seems you're getting pretty desperate, however, you don't have a chance" 

This time with a single slash of his sword the evil wind was split in half. 

 Kiri growled and pounced at Taka wildly. It seemed he was well aware that if he didn't win he would be buried here. He suddenly burst forth with all his potential. His attacks were fierce and destructive causing shockwaves every time he clashed with Taka's sword but he wasn't able to break Taka's defense and was helplessly controlled.

"Akuma Rampant!" Desperate Kuri let out a fierce roar. Black ki exuded from his body, encasing him in a cocoon before he shot into the air. The dark energy rolled through the air in waves giving out cold energy. This cold energy gathered before the whole area felt like a tundra. When the cold energy reached its peak the black cocoon came hurtling toward Taka from above. Taka, however, wasn't fazed in the slightest. Then stamped his foot into the ground intending to meet Kiri's charge however something no one expected happened. 

Ba duump! A sound akin to that of a heartbeat sounded from the cocoon which halted in midair. For a few moments nothing happened and then the cocoon burst apart! 

Kiri flew out of the cocoon coughing up blood and was completely shriveled up, obviously he had suffered a backlash! Kiri quickly crushed something in his palm, black runes covered his body in a shroud of smoke instantly his wounds healed, he seemed fine except for his excess coughing. Kiri didn't waste his opportunity and quickly fled the scene. Taka was so surprised he didn't give chase, instead, he turned toward the south in the direction Biwa fled, took a few steps, and fainted on the spot.