A Force Beyond Waters

Chapter 13: Bandits and Blade

Time went by as Zangeki searched the wilderness outside of his village.

He searched around every tree, every corner, ever hiding area, etc.

He could not find anything, and he did all of this as he moved at very fast speeds without getting tired, thanks to his Fastman genetics.

After some more time, Zangeki could not find the bandits and was ready to return until he saw some men walking back to a campsite.

Normally, someone would ignore these men, but they looked strange and wore criminal-like attire, so the samurai had to investigate.

Following behind them with stealth, Zangeki hid by a tree and made it to their campsite.

There, he saw a group of a dozen men, all armed with weapons, some with bladed ones.

All of them looked like typical criminals, but two of the men there stood out.

One man had many battle scars and had a katana and kusarigama as a weapon, the man also looked like he was once a samurai like him.

The other man looked more like he was some sort of skillful martial artist as he was more muscular than the rest and wore armored gauntlets and footwear.

Zangeki knew that he had to be careful of those two, as he assumed they would be strong, due to their looks.

He could handle the rest, so, with quick thinking, zoomed around from tree to tree, as a sort of quick distraction for all of them.

One of the men noticed this and asked, "Does anyone hear that?"

"Hear what? The wind or something else?" another of the men asked.

"No, it's not the wind. Well, it somewhat was, but it sounded more swift and faster than regular wind. Maybe... something's here."

"Or someone." Said the samurai-looking man, who stood up with his hand on his sword.

His name was Takematsu Hakai, a 27-year-old former samurai of the Oni no Hana Clan, the same clan that attacked and killed Chairo's family and his father, Hakai being the one who did the killing blow.

Takematsu Hakai was born into the Oni no Hana Clan, which was a lineage known for their ruthless nature and skilled swordsmanship.

From a young age, Hakai was trained in the ways of the samurai, honing his combat skills and developing a reputation as a formidable warrior.

As he grew older, Hakai participated in many village raids and wars against other clans.

The more the dark path the clan had chosen grew, the more their methods became increasingly brutal, Hakai growing with it.

However, at one point he decided to quit being a part of the Oni no Hana Clan since he wanted to live his own way of life, yet he still remained an ally and availability to the clan if they ever wanted him when taking on raids and wars against enemies.

After leaving, Hakai would then travel across the lands of Japan and engage in countless battles to get better and better at his swordsmanship.

His encounters, battles, and deadly victories against various martial arts masters and warriors of different disciplines allowed him to become a fearless fighter with not a single care for anyone's lives, except for his own.

Hakai had no remorse for what he had done, and nothing could change that.

Now, the former samurai was with his criminals, unprepared for what was coming to them.

"Go see what it is." He said to one of his men.

The latter did so and searched, but found nothing.

Catching everyone off guard, Zangeki quickly came out from one of the trees and attacked, slicing one of the men's arm off.