Chapter Eight: The Shiritsu Siblings

Somewhere within the Monsuta continent, a place thousands of miles away from Kaizen city where the monster race resides, a throne with its attendees is present in the throne room.

On the throne is sitting the dominant king of the entire monster race, the king of the dragons, The Dragon Lord who is feared by all, even the human sovereigns. However, neither he nor his throne can be seen properly because of the poor lighting state of the room only leaving his shadow visible to the naked eye. His overwhelmed existence has filled the room with his pure evil aura, turning it into a chamber of chaos that a normal existence wouldn't dare to enter, not even in their darkest nightmares.

Even with this insanely powerful aura residing in the throne room, some notorious shadows still seemed to be lurking there in the darkness.

Suddenly, an individual enters the room like a silent flow of wind. Wearing a Shinobi Shozoku(*), he is genuflecting in front of the Dragon Lord.

"Greetings, my lord," says he with utmost respect and fear. "I believe I have some useful information."

"Speak up!" replies the Dragon Lord in a domineering tone. His voice is cold enough to make one shiver down to the spine with even the simplest words.

"An incident occurred near a distant village named 'The Waterfall Village'. There was a massive discharge of Nairuji, most like likely in a battle, and it contained some traces of the Fire Elementator's aura. Also, my Lord, it had traces of another aura that this servant couldn't comprehend. But it was …"

The spy is hesitating. But the Dragon Lord is not patient enough to hear him stuttering.

"What is it?" he asks with a hint of dissatisfaction in the tone.

The spy can finally feel the hostile aura getting violent as he starts sweating out of fear.

"The other aura that I couldn't comprehend, my Lord, was similar to yours," replies he while sweating.

The Dragonlord stays silent for a moment.

"Dismiss!"

The spy leaves in haste.

"The time has come for the Fire Elementator to fall as we advance another step towards the foretold day," says the Dragon Lord with pride, confidence, and a shred of evilness in his bold voice. "I shall take back what is mine!"

At that time, a shadow that was lurking in the dark all this time comes forward. A mysterious lady-like figure comes out of the dark shadow, under the white cloak that she was wearing.

"I don't think a mere Elementator deserves your attention," says she with no emotion whatsoever except for sheer chilliness in her voice. This is FrostE, one of the 5 Kages(shadows) who works directly under the Dragon Lord.

"I shall finish this task with ease if you leave him to me, my lord. Except for yours, no fire existing in this world can melt my ice," she continues.

"Very well. I'll leave this task to you." "And remember! Do not disappoint me!" The dragon Lord adds, with a bit of murderous intent.

"Definitely not, my Lord. I shall repay my gratitude through my work."

***

Zack slowly opens up his eyes. He finds himself lying on a bed with bandages all over his body. The room is decently arranged and seems to be a hospital room.

He slowly gets to the sitting position with a headache trying to stop him to move, and looks outside by the window. It's already nighttime.

"Where am I?" he thinks. Just then, his memories from the arena flashbacks.

"I got trashed up pretty bad. Damn it! That hurts." "What's with this city anyways? Is it cursed or something? I am already in bed twice after the arrival, with injuries all over my body." He gets annoyed for some reason.

"Thud!"

Someone entered the room and closed the door.

"Hey, Aki! Wassup?" asks Zack in his usual carefree voice.

"Did I close the door too loud and wake you up, brother?" Aki falters with a sense of guilt that he might have committed.

"Nah, you didn't. I was awake from before." Zack replies.

"Phew! So, how are you feeling now, brother?"

"I am a-okay. Don't you worry about it!" Zack smirks showing all of his shining teeth.

"Ah, okay."

"So what happened after I passed out?"

"Well, the principal took care of the ape when it went out of control. The medic team arrived to help you and…"

"No, no, no. That's not what I am talking about. I am talking about the six who got selected. I mean, I know I got disqualified. What about you? You proceeded to the inner phase, right?"

Seeing Zack's weird expressions while saying this, Akimitsu couldn't hold in his laughter.

"Hahahaha! You should have seen the look on your face, brother."

"Not fair, Aki! You cannot tease me like a child. Stop it!" says Zack, feeling embarrassed.

"Alright, alright, hahaha. So, this is What happened.

Akimitsu is telling Zack what happened afterward.

The spectators are cheering out for who knows what. Probably because they enjoyed the outer phase that just ended.

"What a magnificent battle that was! Not something you get to watch every day!" Liam loudmouth starts his commenting.

"As we all heard, concluding the Outer Phase, the six seats i.e. the six new participants for the Inner Phase have been chosen. And they ~ are ~…."

Everyone is curious to know the new addition to the spotlight.

"They ~ are~

Fumihiro Kodou! [showing off his looks, finger combing his hair]

Akimitsu Fujin! [standing with his Naginata]

Unagi Shiritsu! [Barely standing with her left hand on her right shoulder over the wounds]

Usagi Shiritsu! [Standing firmly with both of his Katanas touching the ground]

Zuko Hasegawa! [Standing with pride and heavy injuries]

And~,…you are not gonna believe this, but! He's the last man!

And his name is Zack Roshida..!!"

The crowd stays silent. Some are wondering why someone who passed out didn't get disqualified and some are gossiping about it.

"You all must be wondering why someone who was knocked out didn't get disqualified," Loudmouth says. "Well, the reason is simple actually. That's because he is one of the last six, even if he is unconscious."

...

...….

Listening to this, Zack's eyes start glowing out of happiness. He almost jumps out of the hospital bed.

"Aw! Aw! Aw! It hurts!"

But his body doesn't let him do so.

"Hahaha, brother, take it slow." Says Aki. "Oh, by the way, I almost forgot. Some people are here to meet you."

"To meet me? Now that's something unexpected."

The pair of siblings, Unagi and Usagi, wearing considerably formal clothes enter the room.

"Sorry to keep you guys waiting, ahahaha," says Aki to them.

"It's a trivial matter. No need to worry," Usagi replies in a prideful tone yet full of gratitude at the same time.

"No, it's not alright! I almost died back in there waiting!!" shouts Unagi, in her usual 'tsundere' mode.

Usagi face-palms in a helpless way.

"Don't mind her," he says.

"You guys talk. I'll go and meet the doctor," says Aki and leaves the room.

While inside the room, Zack is confused.

"So, who are you guys again?"

"Forgetting about us is natural since we haven't been properly introduced yet," Unagi replies. Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by his sister.

"Besides, what more can you expect from an idiotic pervert," she adds facing the other way.

"Hey! Who are you calling an idiotic pervert?!" speaks out Zack being irritated by some girl he doesn't know.

"You, of course." Unagi gives a mocking smile and adds, "I didn't think you'd lack the intelligence to understand even that simple sentence."

The visible veins in Zack's forehead show that he's getting more and more irritated by the moment and he lets that irritation burst out.

"You are the pervert! You are the idiot! You damn gorilla girl!

That's right! You are the girl from the street that day, who tried to kill me, aren't you?"

Hearing that aloud in front of her brother, Unagi's face turns red in anger and embarrassment.

"You are the one who jumped on me, you disgusting pervert!"

"That was an accident alright. I tried to explain but you! the forever have-to-be stubborn gorilla out of a girl wouldn't even have the patience to listen to me!"

"What did you say?!"

They keep arguing like kids until Usagi interferes.

"Unagi, that's enough," he says.

"Well, whatever!"

Since Unagi couldn't talk back to Usagi, she had calmed down despite being annoyed with the so-called pervert in her eyes.

"I apologize for my sister's misbehaviors," Usagi apologizes in a humble gesture that illustrates his proper sense of manners, worthy of being of the Shiritsu Family. "I think we should introduce ourselves first."

She finally stops. Zack also stops arguing. Usagi continues.

"I am Usagi Shiritsu and this is my younger sister Unagi Shiritsu. We are from the respectable Shiritsu Family. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Ahahaha, the pleasure is all mine. I am Zack Roshida from a nearby village. You can call me Zack," Zack replies.

"So, can you recall who we are now?"[Usagi]

"Yeah, totally! You guys are from the tournament, right? And I also met her on the street… and tha~t was, well~"

Zack recalls what happened in the street and feels awkward looking towards Unagi who was raging on fire hearing Zack mentioning the accident on the street.

"Well, it was alright. So you guys got through the outer phase, right?"

"Yes, thanks to you, Unagi can participate in the next round. We are deeply indebted and thankful for what you did for my sister. Thank you very much," Usagi bends forward as a sign of respect, sincerity, and gratefulness.

"No, no, no! It's not a big deal. I would have done the same for anyone. Besides, I don't know how I even did that. You don't have to thank me."

"What do mean? I am afraid I couldn't grasp the meaning of the last part of your speech, Mr. Zack"

"I mean, when all that happened, I somehow knew that the ape is going to attack that way and it'd be unlikely for her to be able to survive that. It just suddenly came to my mind that I could save her, and then, everything happened in an instant. I couldn't control my body. You know the rest."

"I see. I don't know if I could put sense to your reasoning with normal logic. Perhaps, it was your keen sense for helping others that led to this. But the fact doesn't change that you saved her. We are forever grateful to you for that."

"Ahahaha! Now, don't pester me that much. I am not that great, ahah-haha-hahahaha," Zack starts smirking like a kid out of goodwill and embarrassment.

"Yea, I know. Perverts can't be that great." And Unagi just had to start the fire again.

Zack's face changes from pleasing to angry again, in a matter of mere seconds.

"What was that?!" he replies with haste and anger.

"Unagi! I said that was enough!" says Usagi to stop her from starting another argument.

"Alright, alright. You don't need to be so serious."

"Oh, I forgot to mention, Mr. Zack, we brought something for your use," says Usagi, as a person wearing a traditional Yukata* enters the room with a plate covered by a piece of cloth in her hand.

"Ah, you didn't need to bring anything~," says Zack, flustering on the outside. But in truth, he is pretty happy about it.

"Please, accept this. This is a small token of our appreciation and gratefulness," Usagi replies in a humble tone.

The person holding the gift plate comes near Usagi.

"I noticed that somehow, You were missing a weapon. That is why we brought this," he adds and takes the cover off the plate.

A pair of short axes shines out of there. The handles of the weapons are nicely curved from the middle to the edge while the head of the axes has some mysterious designs curved on their body along with their sharp edges. Overall, the axes leave out a noble aura.

"It's a pair of grade 3 single-handed battle axe. These may be only grade three but are masterpieces forged by our family's top smiths. I thought they will be a great match for you," Usagi continues.

"Tha.. thank you," replies Zack while his inner self is sobbing thinking, "I hardly know how to fight with axes. But I guess, something is better than nothing."

"Thank you very much again," he adds.

"It's my pleasure, Mr. Zack. I hope we can be friends in the future," says Usagi stretching his hand forward.

"What are you talking about? We already are friends, aren't we?" Zack replies shaking Usagi's hand.

"Yes, of course. I am glad you think that way. But we have to leave now. Hope you get better in time."

"Don't worry. I may not look like it, but I usually get healed in no time. Thank you for your goodwill though. I appreciate it."

Usagi leaves the room with a not-so-visible smile that he only keeps to himself.

"We are even now. Don't think I am all that grateful and all to you like my brother, hmph!" Unagi says out of nowhere and follows Usagi out.

It's the first time for Zack to have a conversion like this. So it was a bit tiring for him even though he learned the proper course of manners for these situations from his Grandfather.

Being finally free, he lets out a sigh of relief.

"That was not so bad, I guess."

Aki enters the room.

"How did the conversation go, brother?" he asks.

"Pretty smoothly, Aki. What did the doc say, by the way?

"Well, he said that you should be fine by the morning. You just need to take a check-up in the morning before going to the arena."

"I see, hahaha. That's good news. Now, it's high time I had a weapon, don't u think so, Aki?" says Zack with excitement and a mild smile full of confidence.

At the same time, at a place stacked with goods and almost no light, something unusual, straight shaped, mysteriously and tenderly starts glowing on and off and then finally gives a stable and bright glow as if it just came to life from nothingness to fulfill its long lost wish.