Chapter 38

Seeing all of his family in the chokehold of his father, Itsuki glares at him with bloodlust and anger in his eyes.

"If you think that you can control my children, you'll be wrong – especially not Hisashi. You may have tricked Ichika, defeated Sukehiro, and somehow got Hisashi, you wouldn't get anything."

"Are you saying that this stray child of yours is more talented than you? Are you tricking me into sparing him, or is that your way of saying that you don't want to fight him?" Kusho wonders but Itsuki didn't say anything.

"Come on, son. I'm not making you do this for fun. Do you see there?" Kusho said as he points at Ichika and Sukehiro.

"Your children's memories of this will be different from reality. You and this town will be remembered as the down of devil and psychos, especially this one." He points at Hisashi.

"The only way for you and your wife to be innocent in your children's memories is to kill the source of all this insanity. Now, what would they think if they see you siding with the devil? Even if you survive, they would think of you as an accomplice and despise you." Kusho explains this to him. However, Itsuki is still unmoving. This irritates him a little and asks him a question.

"Why is it so hard to kill him? Are you much of a coward that you can't stomach killing your 'son'? You almost killed your brother, didn't you? Just think of it as doing it for the sake of your REAL children, REAL family. The blood will always be thicker than the water. You've heard of that." Kusho slowly calms down as he tries again to persuade his son.

"The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. That's the correct saying." Itsuki counters.

"Huh? Are you saying that you won't fight him?"

"Yes. And even if I did, I won't win. If there's a person in this world, that can't ever lose, I believe it to be him." His response pisses Kusho off.

"Then I'll make you fight him!"

…

-Inside Hisashi's consciousness-

'Why are there devil's attacking the town? Why did they take over the mother and father's appearance? It's their Ki but it's not their body. On the other hand, Ichika's Ki is different. Brother and Ryuya's Ki are weak. There are also other people watching us.

All I know is that this last demon has the father's Ki. There are many others here. Why do I have to fight it? Everything doesn't make sense. I don't even know why I want to fight them.'

In Hisashi's mind, everything isn't making sense. He can feel that something is wrong. It's as if, he's not controlling his body. He has experienced that before in his dream and visions but he knows how different it is. This is the first time that he has interacted with this.

Unbeknownst to him, the main reason why he can feel the uncertainty of the situation is because of the little time of the spell to adapt. Compared to Ichika who has been affected by the spell for days now, Hisashi's only been it for more or less an hour.

Moreover, unlike Ichika who was brainwashed for months, he was taken in by force, with his mental condition at its best. Because of this, his body in reality is taking its toll and reducing his strength.

…

"Is this your proud and strong son? I thought he was strong. You said it yourself didn't you?" Kusho said as he watch the kid perform worse than when he fought him.

"Keep holding back and I won't let your wife live." Kusho threatens him. Seeing the blade in his wife's neck, Itsuki starts to panic. He knows how decisive his father is and how he would not hesitate to do so.

Seeing the blade touch her neck and blood drip from the scar, Itsuki immediately casts his spell.

[Dark Sorcery: Yaksha no Ryouiki] (Domain of the Yaksha)

However, it didn't affect his current situation. Hisashi's attacks didn't weaken. In comparison to Gentsu who has the specialized abilities and time to adapt to his move, Hisashi didn't even take seconds to adapt. All he needed was the fire claws and lightning boots in his limbs to match his father, despite him only going defensive.

Half an hour passed by and Itsuki was starting to pant heavily. Minutes ago, his son and his friend as already woken up but before they can help him, Ichika overwhelms them and made them watch the battle.

There are also scars all over his body. In contrast, not only does Hisashi look as good as new, but he also got stronger than he was minutes ago. It shouldn't be a hassle for Itsuki to fight a battle as such and be tired immediately, especially when he's only defending.

However, all the thinking, pressure, and attacks getting stronger by the second are taking a toll on him.

As he blocks Hisashi's next attack, he was thrown off-balance and he flew meters away. Hisashi's fire claws now covered his whole arm and his lightning boots his whole legs. And as a cherry on top, not only is his moves more efficient, but they're also more lethal.

The main difference is the lightning in his eyes became a different color. Instead of it being blood red like his hair, it was of color gray. No one knows what it mean but nobody cared.

Kusho looks at his son with disappointment written all over his face. At first, he knows that Itsuki is merely playing along. However, as time passed, he saw how the kid starts to overwhelm him and his defense become serious.

"It disappoints me that you're right. The kid really is stronger than you, but he's not a Yami. Since this is the best you can do, why don't we finish this?" He said as he starts to grip Yuna's neck harder and walk towards his son.

"NO!" "LEAVE HER ALONE!" "LET GO OF ME!" Itsuki screams. Along with him, the cry of two teens can be heard overwhelming the silence. However, they can't even do anything as Ichika kept holding unto them with her overflowing strength.

Kusho then stops in front of his son, he takes out his katana and aims it at the still struggling Yuna. As he slowly moves his sword, Itsuki held his breath back.

Just when the sword was about to stab her, a large surge of yoryoku gathers within Itsuki's arm's length. His sword then turned black and he quickly thrusts it into Kusho's head.

However, when he thought that he managed to kill his father, his sword merely passed through it like an illusion, and behind him, another Kusho appears. He's still holding the same Yuna but was now pierced with his katana.

Seeing this, Ryuya bursts out in flames and tackles Ichika down to the ground. Finally catching her off-guard, he even reinforces his arms to hold her down longer as Sukehiro takes his move. He takes Ichika's sword and closes his eyes. He also focused all of his remaining yoryoku down to the very tip of the sword. He managed to finish his attack and he waits for its effect.

Kusho however, watches as the others struggle in vain. Having seen through the attack, he managed to reinforce his back before it hits him. However, he still stumbles forward causing him to release Yuna. He was expecting a following attack from his son but he looks back only to see him holding his wife.

"You wasted your only chances just to mourn a dead bitch." Hearing his father's spiteful insult, he looks at him in anger. But it quickly disappears when he hears his wife's voice. By that time, Ichika has also now broken free and subdued the two even harder.

Hearing his wife speaking, Itsuki can't help but release rivers of tears in his eyes.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I shouldn't have involved you with this! I should've warned you earlier when I knew it! Don't leave me! Yuna! Please! Don't leave me!" Itsuki's cry resonated with the two teens, especially Sukehiro.

Watching his father hold his dying mother's body brought tears to his eyes. He wanted to do something but he was being held by his sister who was being controlled. Lastly, his little brother who he thought was stronger than him was also controlled, standing and looking at what was happening with dead eyes.

"It's… okay. Take care of them. Make sure… that our kids… grow up strong and… healthy." Yuna said as she keep coughing blood. Seeing this, Itsuki panics even harder.

"NO! Don't say that! You have to live! We'll be back to our house and our life again!" Itsuki said, trying to convince her.

"We'll watch our children grow! We'll accompany them with raise their children! And spoil our grandchildren! Yuna! Just hold on! Yuna! Yuna? Yu-" Before he can finish what he was saying, Itsuki was lost for words. Now, he can't feel Yuna's presence with his Ki, and her eyes aren't moving anymore.

Seeing this, Itsuki's vision fell blank, and his brain snapped. Not in a rageful way, but in misery. Kusho also sees this and decided to finally dispose of him.

"NO! DON'T! LEAVE FATHER ALONE!" Sukehiro screams as he struggles to break free. But it was also useless as Kusho succeeded in killing him, without an effort.

"Don't snap like your father did. It would be a pity if you do. Now for the dessert of the night. Dispose of him." Kusho said as he points at Hisashi.

The two teens reacted quickly and fiercely with this as they try to break free of Ichika's shackles. Ryuya drains his yoryoku to release fire but it was consumed by Ichika's darkness. Sukehiro reinforces and strengthens his body with his darkness but it was also useless.

Finally, the six appeared around Hisashi they all stabbed him with their swords, and they succeeded without any trouble. However, an unsurprising person appeared and they all looked at her.

"Hisashi?"