The Seventh Case

Chapter 1

"Do you need a walking stick, old man? Fighting at your age is a herculean task", the leader of the pack taunted Dairoku who gritted his teeth.

"Kazu, go to the corner and keep Sugu safe", he ordered his grandson who dragged his feet and his sister slowly to the corner of the room and curled himself and his sister into a ball like a foetus curled inside the safety of a mother's womb. But he did not face the same warmth of a mother's touch, only the chilly breeze of death as a shinigami softly breathed behind his neck.

"Here I go!", Dairoku growled and charged at the burly man with his katana stretched out - a clear sign that he was not calm. He had already given away the reach of his sword, but it was not in vain as the katana attached itself to the wrist of the man who howled in pain. The older kenshi swiftly retracted his weapon and drove it straight into his heart, splashing the crimson hue of blood all over his as well as the burly man's chest. All the leader could do was gawk in awe at the sight of the strength of the old man.

"Your date will not miss you. She should be thankful", Dairoku glared as he sheathed his sword before shifting his concentration to the rest of the gang members. The rest of them circled Dairoku and stood at a safe distance, not wanting to face the same fate as that of their leader.

"Charge!", a buxom woman with an eye patch yelled as the de facto leader of the party.

Two of them charged, one man aiming for Dairoku's neck and the other aiming for his chest. Luck favoured him as they approached from the opposite directions and thus all he had to was step out of the way and watch the fun unfold. Killing for no reason was something he hated, but Dairoku could never forgive those who took his children away from him - irrespective of man or woman, they needed to die.... IMMEDIATELY.

"All at once!", the woman yelled again. The party was wary of the old man now. He had taken down their leader without any efforts, and two of their members without even drawing his weapon. It was more than obvious to them that they would require more than one person at a time to kill him efficiently - without losing anyone else unnecessarily.

Dairoku dodged the strikes of the first two that were aimed for his shoulders by ducking, and punched both of them in their family jewels, sending a couple of obnoxious groans which even made the women to flinch in pain and pity for their comrades. Although he managed to take down the two attackers in front of him, the lower position with him down on his knees, Dairoku could not find the time to defend or dodge an attack from behind and took an agonizing slash from his right shoulder to the centre of his spine.

"Fight me with honour!", he growled as he scurried back to his feet and drew his weapon out with rather weak footing as the pain on his back was far too unbearable for a person of his age.

"Nice! We have a handicap!", one of them snickered and charged at the older man with a loose grip on his sword. Dairoku pulled his weapon out with a backward grip and slammed it against the other man's weapon, sending it flying in the air. However, that was what he wanted as at that moment, he was in a vulnerable position. The sly man punched Dairoku in the throat, narrowly dodging his katana's trajectory sending the old man back done on his knees and gagging. Two of them immediately charged and immediately drove their weapons into his chest.

Dairoku howled in pain, and slowly looked up at his attackers. The two of them cowered in fear at the sight of pure, unadulterated rage in his eyes but their limbs failed them at the crucial spot.

"Die", he spat venomously as he severed their arms with a single powerful stroke, and instantaneously decapitated the two of them with another stroke.

"COME ON YOU BASTARDS!!", he roared and charged at them. He spun around the strike of one of them and stabbed the throat of the woman with the eye patch. Dairoku turned his katana horizontally inside her throat, causing the dying woman to gag harder before collapsing into the ground with a rather loud thud as her blood scattered in her two metre radius.