Chapter 11: Evolution through Hatred

Before anyone would notice it, Johan just wrapped up on his end. Seeing Kiyoto also finished as well, he contacted another team for pick up.

"We're finished here. We're just gonna need some people to pick them up." Johan finalized as he hung his sunglasses mask.

The journeymen left the territorial city as per their agreement with Johan. The one they saved was allowed to stay since he refused the recruitment and he also needs a hospital to look out for him.

Pho and Pocchi's mask were both confiscated, as well as the other masks found inside one of their secret hideouts. Though this one looks like something that they can just abandon without batting an eye due to how small it is.

Johan radioed in to know everyone's status.

"Got home safely, everyone?"

"Looks like we're it as well, Captain."

Yamato replied, indicating that they're about to commence battle as well. But he doesn't sound too confident.

Kiyoto was getting worried.

"Johan, I think we need to-"

Johan patted Kiyoto's shoulder and interrupted him.

"It'll be a long trip. We're far away from each other, it would take at least a full hour to get there. And we can't possibly leave these people here without the pickup team. But I trust in them, you do too, don't you?"

Kiyoto paused for a while, after a brief moment he nodded at him in response. The two then waited, hoping for the best.

—Going back to Asakura—

Yamato ordered Chizue to stay back since he remembers well that Chizue was not that fit for a fight. Especially, getting in a brawl with a man such as Juzo which is currently confronting them.

Yamato took out his mask which was hanging on his waist. It is a full-face mask with a wide extending hole for the eyes, it's colored silver and has a distinctive animal print on its lower part.

"Fancy mask, hope you won't disappoint." Juzo, as always, does not wear his mask outright. He opened his arms as if welcoming Yamato to attack him. "Let's see what you got!" He grinned widely as soon as he said it.

"That's a bad habit Juzo. Only those who seek defeat, lower their guards like that. Lord Yoshu always strive for victory, as such–"

The man took out his mask in a flash and wore it. It is a full-face mask like Yamato, but has a resplendent design with a lot of flashy patterns.

"I shall also apply the same to myself as his loyal vassal. I, Heinrich, shall deliver you to my lord."

"Jeez, you rich guys always have fancy words coming out of your mouth. Would it hurt you to just use casual words to relay your message?" Sensing the man's context somehow, Fudo grabbed her mask that was also hanging just beside her waist.

Fudo's mask has a simple design with a symmetrical pattern. It has an average sized hole for the eyes and is colored white.

She grabs her second cudgel and performs a refined stance, perfect for an expert. Seeing her form, Heinrich keeps a certain distance from her.

Fudo continuously banged the cudgels together as a sign of starting a showdown. As soon as it stopped, she dashed towards Heinrich and closed their distance in a matter of seconds due to her agility.

Heinrich was definitely on guard but Fudo's agility surpasses his reaction speed, resulting in Fudo to land one to two hits on his body. He slightly groaned as he felt the attack, in which he didn't let it slow him down.

As soon as Fudo spun to do a series of follow up strikes with her cudgels, Heinrich waves a rhythm with his hands which caused a surge of wind to surround Fudo and swept her away, reaching quite a distance. Heinrich followed suit.

"Whoa!" Fudo almost got tossed into a nearby tree but she managed to land her feet to the tree's body and regained her footing into the ground. "Your ways to attack are also fancy, what the hell." She commented.

"It's called refined. Such as Lord Yoshu's teachings."

–Meanwhile on the other side–

Yamato and Chizue vs. Juzo

"Be careful Yamato, this guy should be the one Kiyoto reported to us. He's a skilled brawler with a mask that can restrain you according to Kiyoto."

Yamato nodded in response.

"Oh? I'm delighted to be known by many people, not everyone can be on the [Swords]'s hitlists after all. Since you mentioned him anyway, where is my friend Kiyoto?" Juzo asked while waiting for Yamato to do his attack.

As soon as Yamato puts his hands up, Chizue leaped backwards and took something from her pocket, which Juzo noticed although he couldn't see what she got.

Yamato rushed towards Juzo. The animal print seems to change as he closes his distance with him. Before the punch lands, Juzo felt it in his senses that he needs to dodge this one. As a warrior who listens to his instincts, he did so by jumping over him.

Yamato's punch landed on the ground, causing for it to be destroyed. "What's wrong, I thought you're gonna take it."

Juzo chuckled. He then finally took out his mask and wore it. "Haha! You're one hell of a puncher I see, I already got a sense of your strength so I think it is customary to pay it in return." Juzo pumped himself up and sprinted towards Yamato, then turned it into a lunge.

The print from Yamato's mask changed once again, as soon as it happened, he became more agile. He swiftly eluded Juzo's vision range for his mask to take effect.

But with every battle, Juzo just keeps on learning. In his fight with Kiyoto, he relied too much on his mask that he almost basically ignored how he can duke out unrelenting blows like how he always was.

As a response, Juzo landed on all fours and applied a force that pushed himself from the ground, up to Yamato.

"Is he an animal!?" Yamato exclaimed.

"Bhahaha, you're one to talk! Though I'm more like a predator!"

As soon as Juzo's about to catch up, his vision gets blurry all of a sudden as if he's getting static. To be exact, he can't pinpoint Yamato's exact location.

Juzo activated his mask since he's close enough, yet what he caught was an afterimage. "Heh! Neat little trick."

The culprit is the hidden Chizue, her ornament allows her to disrupt someone's senses but not to a critical point. She keeps her distance in order to avoid detection, since her ornament has quite a long range.

"Hm?"

Sensing an incoming attack, Juzo upped his focus. Chizue thrown him into confusion by disrupting his senses, which seems effective as Juzo can't exactly feel anymore where it's coming.

"Tch, you're making this difficult."

Having no choice, Juzo clawed at the direction where he last sensed the attack. But it didn't come there, instead he got directly hit from behind.

Juzo was thrown away and rolled to the ground, Yamato didn't let him rest and sprinted as he followed him. The pattern in Yamato's mask changed once again, he then proceeded to grab Juzo and hurled him towards a thick tree. He's done it like he was just throwing a twig.

Yamato's mask allows him to copy the aspects of every wild animal registered to the mask, the pattern changes regarding to what kind of wild animal he is copying. In the last case, it was a gorilla.

"That weakened him! Just a bit more and he's sure to be knocked out!" Chizue informed Yamato.

"I know! Just hide for now, we can't let our guard down with him. Compared to me, he smells like a real wild animal."

From the smoke of dust, Juzo emerges. He is currently limping in the direction of Yamato as he mumbles something to himself: "Lose, lose, lose…me? Again? Heheh. No, I can't be that weak."

Yamato and Chizue both thought of the same thing: that this man, Juzo, is now considered a high ranked threat. His aura right now speaks for itself, a suffocating pressure of mixed hatred and passion.

"Chizue…we need to finish him as soon as possible!" Yamato and Chizue are of one mind. Without any more delays, Yamato dashes towards Juzo with his mask displaying a print of a jaguar. Meanwhile Chizue prepares for an assist if necessary.

Juzo glared at the charging Yamato but then he eluded his sight once again, while Chizue also threw his mind into confusion.

"Now." Yamato silently mumbled to himself as he saw the opportunity to land yet another hit. His mask now displays a print that resembles a lion. But then he saw a glimpse of Juzo's eye glaring in his direction, making him change his track.

Yamato was surprised about what he saw, he never thought that it's still possible for him to actually follow his movements despite his state and Chizue's disruption. Displaying some vigilance, Yamato pinpointed Juzo's most unguarded area and threw his punch.

Everything went black for a while, the second thing he knew he was going to lose in just a matter of seconds. By that time, there was an internal scream that happened inside him. A call for power.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!"

Juzo lets out a deafening warcry. As he stood his ground.

"Urgh!" Yamato and Chizue both covered their ears as the screeching sound almost pierced their olfactory nerve.

As soon as the sound went out, Yamato realized that he could not seem to move. As if there are chains coiling around him, chains that are hot like it's fueled by something.

"A-argh. What the-!"

"Yamato what's happening! Move away!" Chizue shouted worriedly at her teammate.

As far as the two can see, Yamato is not even in Juzo's sight which makes Yamato question why is he being restrained right now…and the answer just turned his sharp gaze at him.

"....." Yamato is speechless.

There is smoke emerging from Juzo's mask. The chain that is engraved in his face extends itself tremendously as it envelopes his entire body. He then grinned in a grimace way.

"I feel more alive than ever."

Yamato and Chizue looked at him with despair. Juzo….has evolved.