Chapter Text
“Aaahhh!!!!!” A soldier’s screams echoed across the hall. The sword was pulled out from the death body mercilessly. A man in the same uniform as the corpse looked down to his old colleagues’ bodies stacking up as a small hill. The floor underneath them was covered in bloods.
Suddenly, a sound of footsteps approaching him could be heard however he didn’t put his guard up, he’s not afraid neither scare of who ever made that sound. In fact, he simply kneels down with 1 of his knee steeps up firmly. He putted his right arm on that knee and bow down, greeting the person who’s walking toward him.
“Prince Narumi, I have executed all of the royal guard as you ordered.”
“Is that so? Well, I also killed all of the servants in the palace which counts more than yours so I win.” The prince stepped on his knight’s head carelessly and pushed it down to the floor.
“Oh~ it seems that you have been training hard since our last duel that you’d lost to me. That’s really impressive”, the knight grabbed his master foot and placed it at his thigh instead. His lips reached for a kiss on the prince’s foot gently.
“You...! Fuck, Hoshina!!” He kicked the knight’s chin hard, making his nose bleed. Furiously, he stomped on the knight’s head again with more force, sending it to crack on the hard floor.
“I was just joking, my lord. No need to be so cruel,” he let out a dry laugh which seems to make his master decrease his anger.
Narumi let him stood up straight, yet his height was still lesser than the prince. While the knight couldn’t stop himself from laughing awkwardly, the narrow eyes of his master makes him shut in instant.
“Where’s that old man?”
“It looks like the emperor and the empress had evacuated before we arrived, sir”
“Tch! That shitty Yogen… so annoying”
Yogen, a special eye which runs in the bloodline of the Akashiro dynasty. Its specialty is predicting the future. However, the longer you use to see the future, the more damage your eyes get. This could lead to blindness if the user misused it for a long time. Despite its danger, using it for 1 day further in the future wouldn’t cost lots of damage to the user.
The present emperor was known for one of the persons who used Yogen like it didn’t cost him anything. Day and Night. He would use it to predict all of the future event from wars to economies which make his power and money grow rapidly like never before. Yet, his deepest fear is that he couldn’t see the future like he used to. That’s why all these years, for money and might, he had been abusing his own son in order for him to see the future continuously, making the child’s eyes damaged from overusing the Yogen again and again. However, it was not enough. It wasn’t enough to fulfill his desire. That’s when things got fucked up. He did something which couldn’t be consider for forgiveness…
Stealing his own child’s eyes
When his world has reached its darkness, one who craved to see and feared to blind refused to end everything here. He killed his newborn child and took the eyes, which has never been used before, to replace it with his old one then used it as his own.
Facing this fact, the crown prince gone berserk on his father who took his sibling, who he cherished the most, away from him before the baby could open its eyes to see the world. Later on, the crown prince had escaped from the palace in that night when the newborn was killed alongside with his closest knights.
“That jerk still have the same freaking habit.” Narumi grin with his eyes wide open. The veins appeared on his face while his emotion from the past starts to rage up.
“Too scared of his own son, he had to use Yogen to see when I will come for him for the past 3 years? Hahaha…” His hair was tucked up before getting squeeze until it’s messy all over. He laughed, not from happiness but craziness. He burst out laughing nonstop like it a maniac.
“Your majesty,” Hoshina called him, pulling him back to consciousness. Narumi’s face was covered it sweats. He looked down on his kneeling knight.
“I think I have some clue where the emperor could be hiding”
“Huh?”
“One of the guards that I killed, leaked where the emperor went to.”
“Can we trust this info?”
“He even begged me to spare him and sold all of his colleagues, so I considered it’s trustworthy.”
Narumi dropped down squatting, being in the same level as his knight. He lay his chin on his hand, looking at Hoshina dead in the eyes.
“Find that old man.”
“Yes, sir.”
[The massacre at Akashiro palace]
Last night, it was reported that the suspect had smuggled into the palace and killed all of the royal attendants, cold-blooded. Blood stains and remaining flesh could be found all over the floors and walls. After investigating the whole palace, the officers found no survivors from this incident however, it was a blessing that the emperor and empress haven’t been harmed due to their visitation of some anonymous person. Regardless for their safety, their location has yet to be announced and the officers have prepared additional shelter just in case as well. In the end, despite the loss of many royal guards and the suspect who is still on the loose, the royal events would be shut down for some times. Additionally, there will be no entrance and depart from the empire in any case at all. This notice will be applied since today, indefinitely.
The news [The massacre at Akashiro palace] has spread far and wide like a wildfire. Nobody don’t know about this tragic incident. Newspapers were given to all of the pedestrian nearby to be read. The paper in his hand started to crumble badly that the person close to him have to pull it out before it breaks into pieces.
“Look, Hoshina!! These peasants didn’t even mention about ME. ME!! The one who planned all of this exciting play!! Why did they only talk about that old man!” Narumi pointed out at the huge title on the newspaper for his knight to see. His complain started to attract attention from the surrounding people.
“You said it has to be covered up right? It’s quite normal that they didn’t know about your presence, my lord.” Hoshina explained while dragging him aside to the nearby venue, escaping the eyes of others even though he got hit a few times for doing that.
“Because YOU told me to! You said that we have to do this in silence so we don’t get caught!!” When blaming on strangers doesn’t work, he pointed his finger at the knight beside him instead.
“Right! I completely forget about that.”
“Hoshina!!”
Narumi pulled the knight collar up and shake him intensely as if he was a stuffed animal. The knight didn’t react to it and deliberately let his master do what he wants like always until he exhausted.
“Huff… then… you know where that bastard hides yet?” The prince let go of his collar and blew out a long sigh, pleasantly.
“We still can’t locate the exact location with all the information we have however, we know that the emperor has to evacuated to somewhere in the south of the empire,” he spread out the map and circled where the emperor could possibly escape to.
“Hmm…”
“Here,” Narumi pointed at one exact place on the map which surprised his knight that he curled his eyebrow.
“But it’s-”
“That old man brought me there once…” He grasped his sword tight.
“...it was a perfect place where this rat would be hiding.” His lips make a forced disgusted smile, thinking back when he first visited that place almost make him want to puke.
“Anyways… I think it’s kind of time to have a greeting with my lovely auntie.”
“What’s your purpose to visit me like this, brother?” A beautiful middle-age woman lifted up her tea drinking while looking at the unexpected visitors who never came to her if there’s nothing he wants from her.
They were her brother and sister-in-law.
“I begged you. P... please hide us. My… my son…. Y…Your nephew! He was coming for me!! If you don’t help me, I will die, definitely!! That’s why I-”
“You come all the way here just to say this?” The woman gently placed down her tea cup. Her sudden calmness sends shiver down the emperor spine. Nervous, he accidently activated Yogen but the future he saw was…
Smack!
A small fist hits the emperor’s chest hardly, sent him flying across the room and smashed his body to the wall behind. The empress saw that the ‘talking’ started to gone out of hand, trying to go supported her husband however, it was too slow. His body was lifted up mid air with his neck getting squeeze tight, blocking the air way.
“Stop it, Hikari! We just want to talk this out. Please give him another chance… Please don’t hurt him.” With no way out of the situation, hopeless, the empress dropped down to her knees, begging her sister-in-law for mercy and stopping her from whatever she planned to do.
Hikari watched her sister-in-law miserably posture then let out a sigh. She let go of her brother’s body and sat back down at her seat, glaring at the married couple helping each other up, uncomfortably.
“What do you want, Sis?”
“A Refuge. The land you ruled is pretty suitable for it.”
“In return, we’ll give you half of our property and all of the south territory.”
The woman’s posture remained the same, not bothered by the offer they’re giving out. The atmosphere turned creepily silent. The married couple gulped, waiting for her respond, anxiously.
“S…Sister… I..I…I can bring back your husban-”
Her hand grabbing his throat again, this time it filled with rage that he couldn’t breathe a single air yet, he continued to speak.
“I…I know a…black magic… mage who can… resurrect... the deaths” The grip on his neck slightly dropped. Her pupils were obviously shivering. The emperor grinned mischievously and continue to trigger her emotion.
“Give me 1 month and I’ll bring back your husband.” His sister let him free from her grasp, she’s wavering.
Isao… he can come back? Impossible.. my brother couldn’t have.. but what if it’s true?
Her thoughts were all over the place. The possibility that this deal might really bring back her death husband. The possibility that her brother is using her. And the other possibility that might happen. It was too much for her to calculated. There’s only one rational way to prove this.
Her Yogen.
.
.
.
“I have decided,” after a while, she finally spoke up. A piece of paper was placed in front of the emperor. He picked it up and read it. It was a contract with some conditions included.
“If you can agree to all that terms and conditions, I’ll help you find a place to hide from Gen”
“You-”
“Let me warn you something,” she sipped her tea then a smile appeared on her face, a smile of a winner.
“That kid can be here any seconds.” The emperor’s face turned white, not hesitating anymore, he cut his finger tip and dropped a droplet of blood onto the contract instantly. It shines golden light and immediately vanished from their sight.
“Then it’s a deal.” Hikari started mumbling something for a while then suddenly a large magic formula appeared around the emperor and the empress. No time for them to react anything, their bodies disappear like how the contract disappear.
Boom!
The building walls where she sat has been destroyed, making a whole big hole on it. Dust clouds spread and she accidently inhale a little of it, making her cough slightly. She waved off the dust from her face when the black shadow creeped towards her.
“Hello, auntie. Haven’t meet you for some time but you’re still look as young as I remember.” The royal sword was tucked underneath her throat. It was more graceful and more terrifying than what she remembers, maybe because the one who wields it was her own nephew?
“And you’re still as madcap as I remember, Gen” She mumbled a spell quickly then released a strong wind send him fly through the hole he made on the walls. Hikari, trembling, supported herself to stand up and tried to escape from the building while her nephew was gone but she has to stop that idea when she felt something nearby. Her hands were raising up above her head.
“Still serving your old master I see. Such a loyal knight you are, Hoshina” A short knife split across her throat, shutting her mouth quiet. It seems like the person behind her doesn’t want a chit-chat or any kind of conversation at all. Why is he so different from her nephew?
“You’re not in a hurry, are you?” Narumi walked back in, chilling. He sat down at a chair in front of her then crossed his legs.
“I have lots of thing to discuss with you, Auntie”