002 The Dark Omen

At dawn, there was a man wearing a black cloak, a mask on his face with various black and red shapes, and a sword strapped to his waist. Roaming the forest, he heard sounds coming from the bushes around him.

"…" Walking slowly, drawing his sword, changing his stance to one of combat, he approached the bushes holding his sword with his left hand, and he slashed the bushes in front of him to pieces.

As the leaves fell to the ground, there was nothing there, but he felt a barrier being raised over much of the woods.

"It can't be, someone has found this place. I need to warn the others."

As he ran back to his hideout, a fist imbued with energy came towards his back, and the masked man quickly turned his body to the side, arching his back to dodge the punch.

The masked man drew his sword, launching a horizontal slash as a counter-attack from the right.

"A sword imbued with aura… this is problematic."

Just as the sword was about to hit him, he changed the direction of his enemy's attack with the palm of his hands, making the attack rise diagonally, cutting the tops of some trees.

Quickly, the masked man changed his stance, delivering an attack so fast it surprised the stranger.

The slash came from above, and at that moment, he raised his arms and placed them in front to receive the attack, wrapping his arms with aura to avoid severe damage.

"This man is strong, why is he here… could he be a warrior from another kingdom… anyway, I need to kill him quickly."

At the moment they collided, the sword managed to pierce Ryoji's Aura a bit and wound his body, but the collision threw the two away from each other.

The masked man created distance between himself and his opponent while analyzing him, a tall man with black hair, red eyes, with a bag tied to his waist, wearing a yukata.

"He is stronger than I thought," Ryoji thought, blood dripping from his arm, staring intently at the masked man.

"What are you doing in that place?"

"He already knew about that place… wait, how did I not feel his presence before… if the master discovers my mistake, I will die, I can't let him escape."

He advanced towards Ryoji at an extremely high speed, launching several attacks with his sword.

"Maintaining this barrier is consuming a lot of energy, it's better to deal with him quickly."

Despite the attacks being extremely fast and precise, Ryoji managed to dodge them.

"Damn, he is very strong."

"Hmm…"

The sword changed direction, the attacks now concentrated on the lower region of his body, mainly on his legs.

Realizing this, Ryoji bent his legs down, jumping backward, using a tree to stabilize himself, he propelled himself jumping higher using the trunk of the tree as a floor to gain more momentum.

"I still have a chance to kill him."

The masked man saw Ryoji in the air, then he threw his sword into the air with all his strength, aiming for his enemy's heart.

"Throwing his weapon like that, he must be desperate," Ryoji reflected, with raised eyebrows, eyes wide open, there was no time to think about why he was doing this.

The blade came at high speed, and although he was in the air, Ryoji managed to turn his body, just enough to avoid the sword, cutting only a few strands of his hair.

"My turn," Ryoji clenched his fist imbued with Hon, falling towards him.

The masked man reached out, leaving Ryoji confused. Suddenly, he felt a blade touching his back, and in just half a second, he spun his body in the air trying to avoid the sword's edge.

The sword returned to its owner's hands, while Ryoji now had a significant wound on his body, extending from his back through his shoulder and ending on his forearm.

The cut was deep, rendering his left arm almost entirely unusable.

Meanwhile, Ethan and his mother were leaving their house, heading to their work on the other side of the forest near the Helldom mountains.

They passed close to the barrier that Ryoji had raised, yet they did not perceive it or see any change in the place; it was as if they were not there.

Ethan had stopped, fixing his gaze in that direction. Although he could not see anything, he felt a great amount of energy there.

"What's wrong, son?" Hina looked to the side but saw no one there.

"…it's nothing," the boy replied, joining his mother and avoiding the puddles of water from the previous day's rain.

"Then let's go."

Exiting the forest, they saw the Helldom mountains, so large that if someone climbed to the top, they would be able to see the entire Korvak region.

"It seems they have already arrived," Hina said.

In front of the gate blocking the passage to the tunnel connected to one of the mountains, there was a crowd of people, mostly adults and elderly, with few children there.

Hina and Ryoji approached a woman named Ana. She was tall, dark-skinned, with long black hair and brown eyes, watching her son come in her direction.

"Good morning, Ana, haven't they arrived yet?"

"Good morning, I heard some noises coming from the door; they must be arranging the place," Ana replied.

Time passed, and the gate ahead remained locked, some of the people present began to complain, as they would normally be working by this time.

"Are they really there?" the old man wondered.

"How long will this last, what a pain," grumbled Pusky, scratching his nose with his little finger.

"Are you taking good care of your mother, Kid?" Ana said, smiling as she placed her hand on Ethan's head and stroked it.

Ethan turned his face, removing her hand from his head.

"Of course, I am," Ethan grumbled.

"Good boy, you should carefully treat those who love you… just like I do."

Ana grabbed Ethan by the neck with her arms, giving him a light noogie on his head.

He became irritated, trying to escape from Ana's strong arms, while Hina laughed at the scene before her eyes.

Suddenly, the gate began to open.

"Finally, today they took quite a while to open the place," Ana said, releasing Ethan from her arms.

"…you're annoying," Ethan grumbled, fixing his tousled hair.

"What did you say, brat?" Ana looked fiercely at Ethan.

"Nothing."

The crowd began to enter the place, one by one, leaving only Ethan and Hina at the end.

Hina entered the place, but looking back, she saw her son standing still, looking at the gate.

"Come on, son."

Realizing, Ethan followed his mother.

As he descended the stairs, Ethan felt that something was wrong, yet he followed her.

His senses were alerting him to danger; Ethan hesitated for a moment but continued to move forward.

His blood was falling to the ground, wetting the plants and rocks beneath his feet.

Despite this, Ryoji was only surprised by the masked man's talent.

"Now die," he prepared to launch the final attack on his opponent.

"…I didn't imagine he could do that with his blade." The masked man disappeared from his field of vision, reappearing very close to his body, delivering a downward slash.

"Goodbye."

The moment the sword touched his hair, Ryoji had moved faster than the swordsman's eyes could follow, moving behind his opponent, he lightly touched his opponent's back.

"Distort."

Activating his talent, with a simple touch on the skin, the inside of his body began to be destroyed, based on the amount of energy Ryoji transferred, sending a frightening amount at his fingertips, causing his body to explode and the pieces of his body to be thrown away.

"I think that was too much for him," Ryoji reflected, with blood all over his body, both from his opponent and his own.

Bending down, he picked up the masked man's sword, and standing up, he began to accelerate the healing process of his body using his energy.

"It's a great sword… I heard some people passing by earlier; they must have entered the tunnel… let's see what's down there."

Soaked in blood, with the upper parts of his clothes torn, he went to the entrance of the tunnel.

"…That sound, it seems like they're killing people down there… possibly to hide their tracks… I've never seen that mask before, who are they? Things have changed a lot while I was away."

Sighing, Ryoji extended his hand toward the door, and with a voice as light and beautiful as birds singing at dawn, his aura began to envelop his body.

With a slight opening of his lips, a single word came out of his mouth.

"Distort."