I'm Sorry Maki

[Third Person's PoV]

As they finished their meal, Ash and Maki decided to take a leisurely stroll through the park, hand in hand. Engaged in conversation about their daily lives, they suddenly halted in the quiet area of the park.

"That's quite a gathering. Looks like they've brought company," Ash remarked.

Maki, swiftly retrieving her wrapped sword from her back and securing it to her waist, inquired, "How many are there?"

"About a hundred distinct signatures, and they're not making an effort to conceal themselves. They're headed our way as we speak," Ash replied, noticing the sorcerers in various attire closing in from all directions.

While a hundred encircled them, a few more lurked in the background, observing the situation, poised to intervene if needed.

Ash stood casually with his hands in his pockets, while Maki had a relaxed hand resting on her sword. Ash then inquired, "So, how much were you paid? I doubt you'd risk your lives if the reward wasn't significant, especially considering your numbers."

The apparent leader of the group drew two swords from his back, retorting, "You won't need to concern yourself with that. Soon, you'll be gone."

With a smirk, Ash responded, "Oh, minutes? I thought you'd have more confidence in yourself and your team, but minutes will do."

The individual charged forward, leading the others closely behind.

Maki, with a playful smile, teased, "The one with the most most amount of kills gets to pick out where we would go on our next date." With a swift motion, she propelled herself forward, causing the ground to slightly sink beneath her foot.

Maki withdrew her sword, flawlessly swinging it to decapitate the assailant in front of her without any wasteful movements. She didn't stop and gracefully continued her motions, slicing people in half with just a swing of her sword.

Meanwhile, Ash grabbed the main leader in front of him by the neck and stated, "I'll leave only you alive for now. You probably have the information I'm looking for, so sit tight."

Ash enveloped his body in chains fashioned from his flames, rendering the leader unable to move. He summoned more chains from his fire and connected it to the ground and began swinging them towards the assassins.

His chains moved through their bodies effortlessly. Another individual, positioned at the rear, initiated a curse technique, shrouding himself in a shadowy veil, obscuring visibility.

However, it proved ineffective against someone of Ash's caliber. He aimed the pointed end of the chain towards the shrouded figure, penetrating straight through his head, resulting in immediate demise.

Another individual then declared, "Curse technique: Ethereal Echoes," creating duplicates of himself. Yet, Ash casually raised his hand and dispatched a rasenshuriken, tearing him apart along with all his duplicates.

In front of Maki, one of the attackers performed his own personalized hand sign and uttered, "Domain Expansion: Hushed Sanctuary."

Maki found herself in a domain where everything suddenly became extremely quiet, the silence almost deafening. Leaning backward, she narrowly avoided a sword silently swishing past her face.

The assailant looked shocked as Maki swiftly swung her own sword, decapitating him and dispelling his domain, restoring sound to her senses once again.

Another individual was about to activate a domain, but Maki intercepted, severing both of his hands, causing him to scream in pain. Coldly, she remarked, "You're too loud," before swiftly cutting off his head.

Both Ash and Maki, owing to their extreme speed, swiftly incapacitated all the individuals opposing them.

After defeating the last opponent, Maki inquired, "So, how many?" expecting Ash to keep track.

"I took down 24, and you took down 25," Ash responded, prompting a slight click of Maki's tongue.

"Tsk, you let me win... Fine, if that's how you want to play it, for our next date, let's go up in the clouds and do it," she challenged playfully.

Ash, surprised, asked, "And 'do it,' you mean what I think you mean right"

Maki smirked and nodded,

While Ash smirked back at her feeling excited about their future experience.

Ash then took glance toward the others from the attackers' group, who were attempting to flee. He conjured a bow from flames and summoned 20 arrows, aiming them precisely at those trying to escape, relentlessly following them despite their attempts to flee, causing their demise. The arrows, upon contact, ignited their heads,

Once done, Ash turned to the last remaining assailant, who was tied up and trembling in fear with piss running down his pants and leg.

"Firstly, gross. Secondly, I hope you'll be cooperative in answering some of my questions about this situation," Ash stated, conjuring a small flame on his finger, prompting fear and tears in the captive's eyes.

Ash pressed his lit finger against the captives forehead causing him to release a muffled scream due to the chains covering his mouth.

"Oh right sorry" Ash said unbinding his mouth.

"PLEASE DON'T KILL ME, I QUIT, I QUIT OKAY I WON'T DO THESE JOBS ANYMORE!" He pleaded.

Ash looked at him with a fake sympathy as he said "I'm sorry but it just doesn't work like that, so tell me, Who sent you and why"

"I'll tell you everything okay, so please don't hurt me!" He continued pleading.

"Alright jeez just start talking already" Ash said

"All I know is that the hit came from the Zenin Clan, when accepting the job they said to make sure to keep both girls alive, that they could still be used for breeding. and to do as we please with you but they hoped we killed you"

The area around Ash start turning hotter and hotter while the playful expression on his face quickly disappeared "Are they trying to die? Someone must want the entire clan extinct or something"

The guy on the ground started squirming and thrashing around due to the heat "AHHHHHH, I ALREADY TOLD YOU WHAT I KNOW PLEASE STOP"

"Who was it? Who was the one with the death wish, you better say their name or I swear I'll make you suffer a fate far worse than death."

"HIS NAME IS NOAYA ZENIN, THERE! THAT'S ALL I KNOW, I LITERALLY DON'T KNOW ANYMORE, I DON'T HAVE ANY INFORMATION LEFT TO GIVE YOU"

Ash just continued to look at him coldly before grabbing his head and as he did steam started being released where Ash's fingers were placed due to the heat he was releasing.

"You shouldn't have said that you don't have any more information to give, cause now I don't have anymore use for you"

Ash then light the guys head on fire, turning his head into a skull, to which that skull quickly turned black before turning into ashes.

Maki looked at Ash seriously "We need to leave and find Mai, they're after her as well"

Ash just nodded without ever changing his expression...after a few seconds he said "I'm sorry Maki"

Maki looked at him in confusion "What for?"

"I was going to leave the Zenin Clan for you to deal with but not anymore, from this moment forward I'm going to exterminate the Zenin Clan from this world"