Faking Death

The area was quiet for few seconds, then...

"The emperor huh...?" Old Two muttered to himself with a wry smile. It could be said that in this Yunjhu Empire that tittle holds a great deal of weight. That's only natural as the emperor is person that holds all the power in the country. Some even joke that in the Empire one needs permission from the emperor to even be able to breath.

The emperor is a scary enemy, however he didn't have much hold on Kreal city - because of many reasons - so after giving it some thought Old Two wasn't as worried as he was at first. But that's besides the point, the main point was Old Two just couldn't think of a reason the emperor would target him.

True Old Two has done a lot of bad things in his youth, but he hadn't done anything to provoke the emperor's personal attention. He'd provoke the imperial family though so maybe that's it. It is said that the imperial family always pays a debt two fold and grudge three fold.

It was strange but thinking about it that way he understood. Besides back then he'd offended the imperial family and the old emperor back then has changed. Maybe this new guy is quite vengeful unlike the other one.

Anyway it didn't bother Old Two much he just about to relax but the next words Elizabeth added stunned him.

"He even convinced the Realm Knights to help," she said.

"Realm Knights?!" Old Two sucked in a deep breath and didn't know she he raised his voice.

In the Returning Realm there are many kingdoms, empires and nations. These nations all has their soldiers they use to wage wars. However the Realm Knights stand above them all - not under the control of any country or kingdom - as the guardians of humanity against otherworlders.

The Realm Knights are very powerful that if one country was able to control them the Human Realm would have been united under one flag a long time ago. Thus every ruler is secretly glad no one could control such a force while also wishing they could do so, after all it is known since ancient times that the strongest person in the works is one in control of the strongest weapon. However despite the many leaders of various countries and empires trying to win their favor, the Realm Knights refuse any attempt to make them involve in the Human Realms politics.

But though aloof there are matters Realm Knights are happy to lend a hand to the many emperors and kings. Whether to stop demonic beasts or to capture a notorious criminal Realm Knight are willing to lend a hand. It is said that they use it as practice since it's not every day otherworlders come to bother them and they need to keep their skills sharp.

"That bastard emperor! Meddling in affairs of small folks like me, doesn't he have anything to do with his time?" Old Two cursed and said. He found it strange that the emperor will go out of his way to call Realm Knights to deal with him.

'Is this girl lying?" Old Two thought. But his intuition told him she's being truthful. For someone like him who has gone through danger countless times in the past he trusted his instinct a lot.

Seeing him worried for the first time Elizabeth was secretly relieved. She didn't know what to do if he still seemed uninterested.

"Afraid now?" She mocked.

Old Two was angered. "Afraid? Of course I'm afraid. If it's one in one I'm not afraid of anyone but those dogs come in packs" Actually that was a lie; Old Two wasn't the strongest in the world. Don't talk of the higher ups of the Realm Knights, those monsters in ancient sects could defeat him with a single hand.

'Hmph that's why I learned a lot of escaping skills, if not I would have died a long time ago,'. Luckily Old Two is someone that is vast in escaping techniques. Even this Avatar was cultivated to perfection for this sole purpose. A wise man is like a lizard that knows when to shed its tail to save his own body.

At this point Old Two already made the decision to sacrifice his Avatar. Nodding his head he looked at Elizabeth with a meaningful look. "Is good of you to told me this girl. As you can see you can't deal with me, and though I might be able to kill you it'll not solve my problem. So I have decided to fake my death,"

Old Two didn't waste time and told the Avatar to stand still then turned to Luka and said, "Lend me your spear,"

"What do you want with it?" Luka asked.

"I need to kill it with your weapons,"

Luka hesitated and looked towards Elizabeth, it was only after she nodded that he tossed the spear over. Old Two naturally saw the exchange between the two and didn't care. He clicked his tongue.

"I'll be bothering you this time old friend," He said then held up the spear and swung down at his avatar. Despite looking human the avatar just stood there and didn't even flinch as the spear fell down at it.

With a clean sound the spear cut its neck, blood spluttered like a fountain. The avatar staggered, the head fell first followed by the body.

"That's it," Old Two let out a breath, blood leaking from the side and of his mouth.

The whole people standing there where stunned. He really struck down his avatar just like that. Yamato felt like he's seeing his father for the first time while Elizabeth and the rest of the mercenaries felt a new found respect for Black Hand.

Forget that he'd giving them a way to live but his ruthlessness satisfied them. The Silver Eyes are group of lunatics that have seen many battles. To live through those battles over the years they had to make sacrifices, leaving behind many metaphorical tails to save themselves.

"I'll admit you are ruthless enough Black Hand," Elizabeth said. "However wouldn't it be odd that we killed you with one strike? The avatar isn't even injured."

Wiping his lips with his sleeve, Old Two shrugged. "It's odd but that's why they will believe it,"

Elizabeth thought about it for a moment then nodded as she felt the truth in his words. Sometimes a battle between experts wouldn't be head on with both sides going all out, many times experts are taking out in an ambush. It is not strange to kill Black Hand in an ambush but it will look strange to fight and kill him head on. After all if Black Hand didn't want to fight it is almost impossible to stop an expert like him from escaping.

After Old Two cut down his Avatar things wrapped up quickly. The mercenaries started tempering with the battle field to wipe out any sign that will dispute the story they'll tell the government later.

"Can I take the body if you don't need it?" Old Two said. With this he can heal back the Avatar.

Elizabeth nodded. "Of course old man, we will only present the head later on. You can go ahead,"

"Is that alright?" Yamato couldn't help but ask.

Saldo grunted. "Yeah kid we could just say we destroyed the body later on. Anyway they never ask about the body, these days people only want the head."

"They only ever want the head even in the past," Luka grinned. "For many reasons too. The head is easy to carry, it is the easiest method to confirm death, and it could also be used as a trophy,"

Yamato was starting to feel sick and didn't want to hear it anymore. "Are we friends now?" He asked.

Elizabeth nodded. "Don't worry Yamato I promise we won't bother you or the aliens again,"

Hearing that Yamato was relieved, he turned to Tila and dragged her away from the others. "What are you going to do now?" He asked after they were far enough he thought the others couldn't hear them.

Tila glared at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean you can't stay here anymore. Come with me until Master returns,"

This time Tila gave him a puzzled look. "Come with you where?"

"To my house of course,"

"In the city?"

"Yeah,"

"Eh? But wouldn't my appearance cause problems?"

Yamato smiled. "Don't worry about it, the only problem is to get there, my mother is a master in disguise and can make you look like a human. Also we'll leave a letter to Master so when she returns she'll not be worried. I know this is abrupt but we can always stay here when it's day but you can't sleep here at night,"

"So you thought it through huh?"

"Yes, I promised Master..."

"Fine, I'll go," Tila cut him off with a scowl but she was also excited inside. She has always wanted to see the wider world for a long time but couldn't.

Yamato sighed in relief. "It's settled then. Thinking of it you should pack your things. Also change into something that will cover your whole body,"

"Wouldn't that draw attention?"

"There are a lot of weirdos in Kreal city anyway. Trust me, no one will look twice at you even if you walk around naked,"

Tila was surprised. "So humans don't care about modesty?"

"We do. But no one will stare at a kid right?"

"Pervert!" Tila glared.

Yamato grinned. After informing his father that he wants to bring Tila back with them, Old Two didn't refuse. The three of them left the safe hut and started making their way to the Katrina's house, leaving behind the mercenaries who were still working on making Black Hands fake death more believable.

After the battle the mercenaries suddenly became friendly. The satisfied smile on Elizabeth's face as she stored the avatar's head in her space ring gave Yamato the creeps. That aside, between her and Old Two everyone seemed satisfied. They even shared jokes with each other before separating.

In the end it took almost an hour for Tila to pack her things. When they finally emerged from the house they saw Old Two quietly standing in the middle of the woods as if in deep thought. Yamato locked the front door before walking over to him.

Old Two noticed them and turned around. A peculiar expression fell on his face as he saw Tila. However one couldn't blame him.

Tila was dressed in jeans, a blue blouse, a wide hat and an improvised mask - which was basically a shirt with cut outs for eyes and nose - covering the face. Yamato had explained the whole situation about she and Katrina to him so he understood.

Tila noticed Old Two's gaze and suddenly felt nervous. "Is it no good?" She said quietly.

Yamato was surprised. 'When had this little witch care about others opinion?' Normal she's usually rude to him and also cold to her mother. He suddenly had a realization, if there's one thing good about all this trouble with the mercenaries, it was that it showed him a different side of this bratty daughter of his Master.

True she was still rude but her glare was less heated and her words has less bite. As Yamato was thinking of that the three left the place. Today they'd engaged in a life and death battle, sacrificed an unfortunate avatar and made peace with crazy mercenaries.

Somehow they came out with only a few bruises which was a miracle.