Chapter 6: At the Tip of His Fingers, Awaits Death
A while later, Emma, Gon, and Killua named the last remaining clan member of what was once the Ogre clan. In a flash of light, the evolving ogre before them went from a teenager into a grown, much muscular figure in red silk under tough scale-like armor, barefooted and steel braces over the calves and biceps. A dramatic change, another success to the naming ritual.
The camp had expanded from their increasing physique and changed appearance. A crowd of evolved ogres - now called Kijin - with more prominent human features and unrestrained smiles, celebrating their newly given names through clanks of their wooden sake cups, dripping delicious fruit liquor. Emma joins their celebration with a drink of water as her throat felt dry after a long cants of naming each and every member. Gon and Killua sitting beside her, drinking their cups of water as well, as the Kijin around them gave their endless thanks. Albeit the Kijins were NPC, for Emma, it was good to see them happy.
"We owe you and your friends our utmost gratitude," the newly kijin chief, Connor said, positioned right beside the young competitors. "You have earned our loyalty. Whatever you need of us, we will grant it. If you seek it, we will even fight for you."
"Oh, thank you," Emma said, delighted to see everyone's joy. "And that's okay, you guys should stay here and build your new village."
"Perhaps, but now that you are with much less stars, you'll be out to look for more, yes?"
"Since there's no monster around here, we'll just have to look someplace else," Killua said to Gon and Emma, their agreement expressed in their nodding heads.
"That would be the best to do, although it's not certain how much more available of wild monsters there will be in other places. From the excitement that happened yesterday, it's possible that any monster that remain here will be in hiding, or leave the forest entirely," the kijin chief warned. "Unfortunately, we know nothing of other plains and monsters outside this territory. We've heard rumors but nothing certain and beyond small things. However..."
He rested his arms over his knees as he sat crisscrossed, "There is one place that all monsters have heard. It is a place where wild creatures reign entirely, endless of them. It is known only amongst us Monster clans, you will not find this info from any human village. Our oldest of old stories tells us that that's where our ancestors came from. It is a place where all monsters of this world are born from: Beast Valley."
This preliminary really loves hamming lore in just so everything would feel more immersive, Killua thought sarcastically. Emma and Gon, however, were incredibly taken by the ogre chief's mention of Beast Valley, listening closely.
"Even the best of human adventurers do not know this place," kijin chief Connor added before a thought came to him, "although, I have heard some stories of it being found by the brightest of humans, and are able to escape it, but that very outcome is a rare thing. Wild and strong monsters not only roam, but traps naturally implanted by nature itself, flowers and naturally grown food laced with poison that can kill at a single bite, even the air itself can be fatal if you chose the wrong path, and in some parts of the valley, the atmosphere alone can crush you if you delve too deeply."
Terrible ordeal, in general, is what awaits at this hidden location. Though such horrible things were described, Emma remained brave as she listens. Knowing that if there were no other available monsters they can reach, this may be their only option left.
"I've never personally seen Beast Valley, or where it's entrance could be. Even for us Monsters, it is a legend. I do, however, know of it's locations based on the stories. The general direction of where the first ogre group - our forefathers - traveled from before arriving to this forest. But it will be up to you to find it's access. Oh, that reminds me, do you still have the tracker?"
Emma nodded, pulling out her tracker from her vest pockets and showing it. The kijin chief smiled, "Good. That device will help you find the general location of where Beast Valley is hidden, and without a doubt, it will be most useful to guide you through that dangerous territory."
Emma held the tracker tenderly, mentally giving her gratitude to the previous chief.
"There is one more thing."
Looking back to the kijin chief, he began, "I would like to grant you three a greater chance to win this preliminary. And so, I would like to offer you something."
He placed a hand over his chest, "A piece of a monster, so that you may have it as a star. I owe you three that much. For that, I offer you my tooth."
He then reached up to his mouth and grabbed the pointy bottom tusk-like fang with his fingers, though just as he did so, Emma sprung up her arms and flailed them in front of them, "Ah! Wait wait! You don't have to go that far!"
Successfully pausing him from doing something that took Emma completely off guard, she quietly breathed out in relief, and added, "That's really too generous. I really appreciate how much you're willing to give, but I can't accept that. I know that collecting stars is important, but don't hurt yourself to help us. Besides, you're not a wild monster to hunt, you're a friend."
Gon happily nodded aside her, "She's right! Don't worry about us, we'll get our stars another way. You or your other members won't have to give us that much, we'll definitely pass this preliminary!"
The kijin slowly puts down his hand, evidently warmed by their words. "I see. It truly is a rarity to be treated with such kindness from strangers, especially those outside of Monster groups. Very well, but please, allow us to prepare you enough supplies to sustain you for the rest of your travel."
After their celebration in the woods, they began putting together their much need supplies. According to the kijin chief, it will take the children a day to reach Beast Valley, so they were given more than enough food and water to last them longer than that. Even when they do reach Beast Valley, it would be considered too reckless to eat unknown natural produce grown in that place. Gon did not worry about this, as his nose could pick up such poisonous toxins with his impressive sniff and Killua being immune to poison altogether. While neither can be said the same for Emma, the Hunters will look out for her while Emma continues her role as their guide with her tracker.
It was somewhat difficult to supply themselves, not that the kijins were not so generous, but because of the children's kind action. The kijins overwhelmed Emma, Gon, and Killua with gifts and even prized possessions that frankly treat them more like gods than honored guests. Emma was baffled by all the gifts and food that were simply too much for all three of them to carry, even though for Gon and Killua they were strong enough to carry the heavy weight just fine, it was just a matter of practicality. Emma and Gon had to politely decline the excessive giving frequently, though she accepted a few minor trinkets given by the kijin youngsters of the clan.
"The area where you may find Beast Valley is there, far west-north from this village and to this mountain," kijin chief Connor points to the drawn map on a sandy-colored paper, a general description of the hidden destination. "You will likely not spot it at first glance, so it'll have to be searched thoroughly. In the old stories, there was a cave around that spot, with small golden rocks - that is the entrance."
He then added, "On the other hand, If your friend there truly has a remarkable sense of smell, then at the entrance, there will be a distinguishing sweet scent that legend says the richest of flowers and fruits carry in Beast Valley, but only that with a strong nose can catch it. It will be a deep cavern, so once you find the cave, it will take a while before you will reach the underground valley."
Nodding along with every given information, Emma memorizes the map at once with a single look over it.
"A few other things for your travel."
Looking back up, she sees kijin chief Connor hand her a dark velvet bag that was about the size of her hand, "This bag is filled with over a dozen enchanted arrows that can produce destructive magical effects to whatever target you fire these arrows at. Along with this as well."
From the pockets of his trousers, the kijin chief pulls out and shows three flat, thin, rectangular shape things, gold and brown spiraling into the dark depths of black at the cover backs of all three. For its front, there were each different picture, with each a section of small information.
Handing her the items, Emma takes hold of them and examines them closely. "Cards?"
Killua and Gon had finished packing up the necessary stuff, they returned to Emma as she was in resuming discussion with the ogre, and saw the cards in her hands.
Killua's looked at them with interest, "Are those-?"
"Support Cards," kijin chief Connar revealed. "They're magical cards that can grant you an advantage. These Support Cards vary from several abilities beyond these three. There are numerous of them out in the world, and you may find them throughout your participation in this competition. Support Cards can range from healing, strength enhancement, summoning, traps, and many other ability."
"Are these what you and Gon talked about?" Emma asked Killua.
The assassin nodded as Gon looked at the cards with Emma. "Yeah, those are the ones. We already used up our last card though the day before we met you."
"Ah. Then you are aware of what these cards are capable of?" the kijin chief asked them. Again, Killua confirmed.
"You can say we've used cards like these before back from where we're from. It was a different style, but it looks like they follow the same general mechanics and uses."
"Then with these cards, they may help immensely you against any unknown monsters you may find yourself against once you find and enter Beast Valley," a sheepish look draw the kijin chief. "It's not exactly our best cards though. It was all we managed to salvage when our village was destroyed. But I have faith you three are clever enough to know how to use these cards effectively."
Emma reads the description of each Support Cards closely. The first card.
Support Card: Tangled Webs.
Card Type: Trap.
Description: A trap card that, when activated, will capture any target in a sticky substance that will tangle and halt the target's movements. To plant trap card, face the card down on any surface, when target crosses its range, it will activate and capture the target. Remove card to safely remove trap. Can be removed by anyone if spotted. Can be activated immediately upon throwing and calling its name, which can only be activated by the last holder of the card.
The second card.
Support Card: Instant Travel.
Card Type: Mobility.
Description: Can have the holder of the card and all who accompanies the card holder within a ten-meter radius travel to any destination upon the card holder's request. General location request is accepted, however, an exact description will have this card transport you to the precise destination.
And the third card.
Support Card: Mystery Box.
Card Type: Unknown.
Description: A card that can become any Support Card at random. Upon activation, it will randomly select a Support Card of any type and awaits to be used. The card holder has no control over what card can be brought forward. Can only be randomized once.
Emma was honestly amazed that such incredible cards could exist. The Instant Travel card sounds especially useful in case either her or her new friends are in too much peril where they may need an easy way of escape. She will have to make sure to be close to them always.
"Thank you, Connor," Emma kindly said to the kijin chief. "I don't know how I can repay you for giving me so much..."
A gentle hold and ruffle of her orange hair. The tickling of her bangs that Emma closed her eyes. "This is my repayment to you," the kijin chief said to her. "You've given us a chance to thrive. I'm glad to have met you, Emma. Go. Win this preliminary. I pray that you and your friends will achieve many things in this competition. If not all things. All of us will be rooting for you."
Emma glowed with a bright-cheek happiness, meshed with a sadness that shimmered in her eyes as she nodded under his hand.
One final parting words between the young competitors and the Kijin Clan, the Kijin cheered after the leaving children, wishing them luck and blessing them with favorable outcomes and fortune. The children bid them all goodbyes, with Emma taking much longer, naturally of course. She expressed hope for the kijin's new life, and quickly joins Gon and Killua who patiently waited for her until she was satisfied. She would have loved to stay with the kijin clan a little longer, but she knew that they had to move on now.
Only three days remain until the end of the preliminary.
Their next destination was set, and so they were off to find the birthplace of all monsters: Beast Valley.
/.\
They traveled for a while. The kijin clan's camp far behind them. They were heading for the edge of the forest, to exit and enter new plains to cross for their headed location. Emma once again takes lead, following the map of her Monster Tracker, remembering the advice of kijin chief Connor to take north until they see a clearing.
"Are you alright, Emma?"
She looked at Gon who offered a worried expression. She nodded eagerly to reassure, "Yeah! I'm fine."
"You were really close with that clan, huh?"
She pondered for a moment, "I've only known them for a little while, but they're good people. It's something else actually..."
She melancholy explains her feelings further, "For as long as I can remember, ever since I was born, I've only ever been around my family. Before I met you guys and the ogres, when I entered this competition, it was the second time that I was by myself again, for a whole day. It was... lonely, and kind of scary. Meeting the ogres helped me deal with this feeling a little easier, and meeting you guys made it a lot better too."
Gon said nothing. Looking down to his walking feet. Killua was equally quiet, an unadmitted feeling of empathy that he related with Emma.
"... I know what you mean," Killua said. "Before I met Gon, the only people I ever talked to was my family and our butlers. The butlers were there to work and guard our house, they look after us when our parents weren't available, but they're just there to work. I'm pretty sure my obsessive mother ordered all of the butlers who got close to any of to always keep it professional. I wasn't really allowed to have friends."
"Really?" Emma asked, surprised by such a living condition.
Killua smiled, it wasn't supposed to look like a sad smile, but Emma saw it as one. "From what you told me about your family, they're a lot different from mine. We're related by blood, but we're not normal people. Sometimes, especially with my other siblings, we would torture and threaten to kill each other like it was a casual Tuesday for all of us."
He saw the increasing shock in Emma's eyes and her parted mouth of disbelief. He instantly reared into a lighter tone, though it was only for a brief moment, "I guess the only family member I'm really close to is my granddad. Other than him there's dad, and... there's our oldest brother, but believe me, it's not the kind of family love you probably know."
Gon frowned deeply at a hated memory, a sight Emma was surprised to see as she remained listening to Killua. "We're a family of assassins. Everything we do, we have to do it without any attachment to anything alive. Even among my own relatives in our big house full of butlers we talk to every day, it was always dull."
It was always lonely.
Emma was distraught as she hears Killua's family life. To be in that big house with nothing but people and his own family and other siblings, it sounds like any other home lived by a big family, but what usually consists of a happy loving family, Killua's family seemed so nightmarish. Threaten and kill each other? What siblings would do that? No, rather, what parents would forbid their child from knowing the preciousness of life? Of having friends? Of knowing love and appreciation to each other as family?
The more she thought of how Killua's life has been lived, the more she understood why he decided to one day leave it all behind, and the more angry she began to feel towards that way of life he was born into and raised without leaving him the choice to live otherwise.
"Do you... do you and your siblings really threaten each other like that? That's... so wrong."
At first, Killua had thought to shrug, but he paused. He stopped, actually, from walking altogether, causing Emma and Gon to stop with him.
"Well..." He began, looking at the sky that was beginning to cloud a dark gray. Rain was coming. "...There was... one other sibling I have. We weren't related by blood, but we were close."
A sibling that did not threaten to kill? That's good! So thought Emma. Gon looked curious, it was a first for him to hear this. "Who were they?"
A solemn reveal in his aquatic eyes. A faint memory that was now resurfacing as clear as day, that had been nailed down and locked away when that needle was inside his brain. He felt guilt to forget her face, her entire existence. He felt guilt.
But he finally remembered, and that was all that mattered. One day. He will see her again, even if his entire family will step in to stop him.
A sudden loud beep emitted from Emma's tracker, derailing the children's attention. "A monster?" Gon asked.
Emma quickly checked her tracker, nodding, "It's up ahead." She looked at them in questioning, Gon and Killua regarded each other.
"If it's a monster, then we have to take it while we still can," Killua said. Gon nodded.
"It'll be risky without knowing what it might be beforehand, but if your tracker could tell us more about the monster and how we can defeat it, then we'll do just that."
Emma agreed, "Then let's do it. We just need to get a piece of it, I can quickly scan it with the tracker, and then we'll regroup and make a plan."
"That sounds good," Gon said. "Alright. Killua and I will take the lead, Emma, look after us from afar."
Emma gets a hold of her rifle, "Okay."
"Let's go," Killua ushered. With that, the children hurried forth. They reached a small uphill of a sort and all three dropped to a crawl and moved towards the bushes. Quietly pushing through and aside for a view, they spotted their monster.
"Wha-?!" Emma covered her mouth instantly. Gon lets out a quiet, surprised gasp.
"You've got to be kidding me..." Killua muttered under his breath.
From below the hill, it was a clearing of the forest. A flat, rockland that reached across the area by about forty or fifty so feet. Upon the rocky land, two figures stood far from each other.
"-Got to be tough if you're able to hold that many stars on you."
One was unmistakable.
What stood there was the unforgettable person from two days ago. The white silver-haired young man with that taunting visage still sharply wielding. He faces another competitor several feet away.
A man of muscles, much broader than the silver-haired opponent. A dark blue vest with the chest exposed, his small circular wounds - almost like they were pierced by gunshots, but were too broad to be of any bullet, about a tip of a finger size?, marked on his skin that seemed to have healed long ago. Armor over his shoulders, and dark blue pants. His hair was short, dark brown, and somewhat spiky.
His face was broad with bushy brows that furrowed into a frown. His eyes were narrowed and hardened, years of enduring pain and sadness, and yet, a radiant air fell upon him, a righteousness as powerful as the man himself bestow with his body alone.
On his vest there stuck a patch at the left side of his chest, seven gold stars glimmering under the dark cloudy sky filled with rain that was ready to fall.
"You're not fooling anyone either," Garou declared. "A guy with your looks, a blind man could tell a mile away that you have your share of fighting more than a few times."
The brown haired man said nothing, staring at the younger male.
"What? Got your tongue stuck behind your teeth? Or... maybe you know what I'm trying to lead up here."
He gets into a stance, arms lowered by as his fingers closed together, "In this competition, there'll be plenty of people who want to see what kind of strength everyone here has. Hold it against me or don't, I don't care. You should have expected an ambush like this, especially with that many stars you're showing off."
It's him again. Is he going to steal that man's stars? Emma thought with unease. What should we do?
"...I see," at last, the other man spoke. This man, though the children or Garou did not know yet, his name was Kenshiro.
His voice was low, and resonating with the quiet rumble in the sky, a flash of lightning flickered in the clouds. "You must be one of the competitors who's been terrorizing others... I should ask for your name, but scums shouldn't deserve to be remembered."
"Oho!" A light laugh from the dark hunter, his expression exaggerated in mock offense, "Then how's about this scum be the first to leave a lasting impression? If you don't end up dying."
"Men like you are foolish. Come if you dare," the other man pointed at the silver-haired fighter, his frown deepening, "You'll realize that you have already lost."
A strong kick to the ground that resounded a preparing action, "Heh. Pretty high and mighty of you to say that. We'll see who's the loser here."
He dashed forward. A sharp gasp from Emma as Gon and Killua focused and quietly observed. Like a pebble skipping across the pond, closing in as Kenshiro still had his finger raised. The way that the man simply awaited for him, Garou suspected something else at play, and from his lists of experience of an awaiting opponent, some form of counter had to be expected. So just before he was halfway towards the man, he made a sharp turn around with a flick of his ankle and pushed by the toes, his dark wear a haze from his movement.
Let's see he can catch up to this, though Garou will never allow the man that opportunity. This was his intention, and yet when he moved, Kenshiro's eyes followed him. A phenomenal reaction. This man was an experienced fighter alright. Then I'll just have to kick it up a notch!
He continued to leap around him, sizing the reaction speed of Kenshiro as his fleeting form bounces around the man like a hopping, dashing shadow. Fast. Kenshiro acknowledged, yet he remained calm.
It was a short moment of this before Garou suddenly bounced for him, foot shot for Kenshiro's shoulder. Kenshiro immediately reacted, not with a swing of his arm or a throw of a clenched fist. But instead, he turned and short forward a finger that came like a bullet.
However, Garou's foot grazed passed his finger, sliding through the side of his arm and shooting for the face, his wrist grasped tightly as if threatened to tear. A feint! Kenshiro's other hand shot up and blocked the kick as Garou, clutching the wrist, spun himself around the other man's limb and threw another foot for the face, and contact was made as Garou's foot struck Kenshiro's forehead, releasing the arm. Landing gracefully upon the ground, Garou shot himself forward for a follow up.
Kenshiro braced the attacks of several kicks and punches, crossed buffed arms that endured every hit, the eyes of the man shadowed, his reaction untold.
"Is this really the best you can do?" Garou taunted as he continued his assault of fast kicks and fists.
No response as Kenshiro shot forward another pointed finger. Whatever intention or effect was supposed to come from that, Garou avoided the attack. He wondered just how supposedly affective it would be should he be touched by it, but it did him better to never find out. The man was obviously feeling the pain, though was keeping up a decent mask. At least, unless he was more built than what Garou suspects.
Feeling bold, he grabbed the man's arm again and shot up a kick to the chest. Kenshiro, however, reacted much better this time, and forced himself back as the foot flicked across the fabric of his vest with enough force to tear it through, and kicked the patch of his seven stars. Flying upward and out of reach. Kenshiro pulled his still gripped arm to tug Garou into striking range, but Garou reacted quicker, pushing the side hand of the poke strike with a palm slap and slammed his fang-like hand to Kenshiro's side, letting go of the arm as the man was pushed by the heavy-handed force, separating himself by a dozen feet from the Hero Hunter.
Scuffed by the beating that wrinkled his wear, a hole on his vest where his patch used to be, the face of the man in blue vest showed no pain, stoic even as he had so far been on the recieving end of Garou's hits. The Hero Hunter stepped back, a glaring befuddlement against the other competitor as he raised his hand up. The seven-star patch landed in his palm, he brought it down and eyed at it closely, "Are these stars really something you earned yourself? With that kind of lame defense you have?"
Kenshiro touched the side that had been hit by Garou, a minor impression upon him that left him feeling the place for a moment.
"I fought kids that put up a better fight than you. I'm not even kidding!" A snarling grimace, Garou waved the patch in his hand in taunt. "Well? I got your stars. Want to try coming at me for them, or are you going to keep acting cool?"
"...Ten times."
Garou's white brow raised in befuddled.
Kenshiro raises an index finger at Garou and restated, "I have touched you ten times."
In the midst of Garou's assault, what seemed to be devastating hits, Kenshiro had been quietly, without so much as a hint of notice, pressing the tip of his fingers against spots on the leg, the arm, the shoulder, places where while Garou was distracted planting hits. Garou had been fast, but so was Kenshiro. Though how could such small touches be of any effect?
Raising his index finger, Kenshiro also picked up the middle and ring, and started seriously, "Three..."
Garou was at a complete lost. Waiting to see the man's next move.
"Two."
Emma, Gon, and Killua watched with frowning bewilderment and wonder.
"One."
From the final raised finger, Kenshior sets it down, "Zero."
An instant prod from Garou's joints and muscles. An instant prod that turned to a sharp poke. An instant sharp poke that transformed into the shredding of his flesh and splattered blood that blew and coated his entire body with a sickening sound. They were opened as if by blades, they were opened as if by explosives.
"...Huh?" Garou looked down at his instantly bloodied body. "Huh?"
Emma gagged behind her covered mouth. Gon and Killua could hardly believe what they saw.
"Wha... What did you..." The Hero Hunter fell to his knees. A sudden loss of the support in his legs, as if his knees had collapsed. The patch with its seven stars fell from his loosened grip.
"I had touched the pressure points in your limbs and joints," Kenshiro revealed. "You will not be walking any time soon. This assassin technique can penetrate even the sturdiest of armors, causing the human body to react violently, and self destruct. This is the Hokuto Shin Ken; the most powerful and invincible technique from where I am from."
A bloody burst from Garou's mouth, he spat out chunks of his blood. It was like his insides swallowed hundreds of razor blades that were ignited by dynamites. He listened to the explanation of what his body had just endured. You're kidding me... This sort of technique exists?!
To defeat an opponent just by touching him? No wonder that man didn't try to pull back his fist to launch a punch. He didn't have to.
He checked his hands, testing the movement of his fingers. They were still functional, although the pain made it difficult to tell. He could still react somewhat, though he felt his knees to be severely damaged. He didn't feel the bones break, so it may just have been the muscles. Would he still be able to move?
He then heard the approaching footsteps from the man.
"I've only used a small percentage of my ability," Kenshiro added. "Have I pushed any further, you wouldn't even been able to talk. You will take this time to think over all of your wrong doings."
Rain drips down from the sky, a beginning few taps that soon became a downpour of endless drops, dowsing both figures and cleaning away some of Garou's blood.
"If you think what was done to your body was appalling," the dangerous man said, a dark gloom in his eyes that showed no mercy, "Then what do you believe will happen if something like the head was touched?"
Panic raced through Garou's entire system. His beating heart that hurt against his rib-cage repeatedly. Jolted by this impending sense, his palms slammed against the ground to a push, and he forces himself to stand. Deal with it. Deal with it. Just deal with-
As he prepared to raise his arms in defense, another devastating shred of his blood burst from his legs, his knee further imploded and he dropped back down hard, falling right onto his front, face-planted until he lifted half of his upper body up somewhat by the push of the arms against the ground.
"It is useless to stand or run away," Kenshiro said. "While you had tossed your kicks, I had touched the pressure points of your knees. You will take this moment to regret all of your crimes, and say your final prayers."
Garou made attempts to use his elbows for leverage, yet even his elbows were victims of the Hokuto Shin Ken as they imploded as well, and another splash of his blood painted the ground below him. The power of this man's technique will not allow the hunter to escape. The footsteps stopped near Garou's form, the hand with its deadly fingers picking up the seven-star patch in retrieval.
"...Looking at you this close. You're actually young."
When Garou looked up, he spotted two of the man's fingers - an index and middle - were held over the bloodied dark hunter's forehead. The figure of Kenshiro already before him, the eyes of the older man seem to have unchanged, and yet, there was a slight, release of his intensity that Garou thought to be judgmental, a softening pressure from his deriving hate against the wickedness that introduced itself in the form of this now grounded fighter. The man standing seemed almost... confused.
"Your fighting is impressive. Whoever taught you those moves has done well to implement them into your being. That is a sign of a master who has loved his student dearly. So tell me."
His fingers grew closer to Garou's forehead, an inch close to his profusely sweating and bleeding skin.
"Does your master know of your behavior? If he does, how proud is he of you now?"
Garou ignored the words as he busied his mind with rushed ideas to survive this situation. If every time he moved his muscles will keep imploding, then he might as well just live with it. But he's now at the quick reflex of the man in front of him. If he is touched, he's dead. Instant loss at the face of that assassin technique. Ihe hell kind of technique was that for an assassin anyway? It wasn't quiet at all!
A centimeter from touch that thinned the hero hunter's breath, movements stilled as a statue even as the cold touch of the rain poured over the Kenshiro's skin to the tip of his fingers, it dripped to Garou's forehead that he damnably flinched at it.
"You would boast taking my life, but you can't fool me. Those eyes of yours."
Wild. Driven. Challenging. That was what showed before, yet at the same time, they were Demanding. Desperate.
Isolated.
Rain fell as thin, crooked streams over Kenshiro's impassive face, the eyes of this assassin reflected from the raindrops as Garou immediately stilled when the man uttered, "You do not have the eyes of a true killer."
Cold. Yet gentle. Hard. Yet soft. Firm. Yet sad.
Not a single ounce of real wickedness shines in either man's heart through the windows of their souls.
Well that done it. Garou said as his heart resolved to stand. Dragging his bursting knees forward with force.
"You have spirit, much more than ordinary scum," Kenshiro said, his eyes narrowing, "There is something that drives you. Tell me. What are you trying to achieve?"
/.\
"How... How did he do that?" Gon asked, amazed by the incredible yet grotesque form of Kenshiro's ability. He listens to the explanation the brown hair man was giving to the fallen dark hunter. "Pressure points... An assassin technique? Can that really be possible, Killua?"
Killua frowned, and intense observance of the scene below, "I've never seen it up front, but Grandad told me stories about assassins that could kill a person with a single touch." Yet it was somewhat ludicrous that this person would call the manner of causing people to explode an "assassin technique", there was absolutely no subtly to it. But it doesn't make it any less dangerous.
Emma's breath was caught in her throat. She was stunned to speechlessness, the horror show of a person's body being shredded open from the inside. It was miraculous that this dark hunter could somewhat still speak and not roll around in agony, to pass out, or was the pain so great that he couldn't even scream about it? She shivered at such a horrifying ability, and that a human could actually perform such a terrible technique that surely does not give any mercy to those who have been targeted by it.
"What should we do?" Gon asked Killua.
Killua looked at the scene in brief silence, "We better stay out of sight. That guy's pretty much done for." He referred to the silver haired competitor, the bottom of that silver hair dowsed in redness now.
Emma looked at the struggling dark hunter, forcing himself to move only for his knees to explode too. She flinched at the brutal display. A pang in her gut and heart at the sight of such a one-sided defeat. The man in dark blue draws closer to the bloodied figure that had also his elbows blown apart, and a quick harrowing realization came to her.
He's going to die...
That cruel attacker who chased had chased them and fought with her friends. That man of savage-fighting style that was both mended with controlled grace. That terrifying figure, the very same who now lies upon the ground helplessly, unchanged in form as this would be the time to call for it, seeing his human face wracking with whatever idea he could grasp.
He was also the one who had protected her from the King Taijitu and let her go, hardly harming her, hardly seemed even wanting to. Mouth thinning as her heart was rapid in agitation, an intensity that shook Emma from the inside. It hurt to look, it hurt her at her very heart.
"There's not much we can do here than just waiting to see if either of them would notice us," Killua stated, "Let's not stick around just to find out what happens-"
He turns to Emma to resume their follow, but finds her missing. "Huh?"
Gon looked as well, "Wha-? Emma? Emma!"
Killua's eyes darted to their whole surroundings, "Where did she-?!"
From their captured attention to the shortly presented fight below, Emma had quickly snuck away from her travelling companions. The intensity in her heart firing up her system that she began to move, to act, before she would ever stop to think about the consequences of this. But stopping to think about it would mean the loss of time, and before she knows it, someone was going to die.
The someone that she doesn't believe has to die. Was this an obligation? Not quite.
It was a matter of having faith in a person, and she didn't have it in her to watch as a helpless person dies before her eyes. And before she knew it, she had fired her four-barrel pistol as lightning sounded across the air.
Flash.
From the stand off below, the awaiting finishing blow being hold off in consideration, Kenshiro was caught by surprise when he heard the sound of what was most certainly not lightning, and yet what came after it had the same, if not an even greater effect. He quickly looked up from the bloodied young man to the sky, through the falling raindrops, a small metallic sort of object could be distinguished if one were to have the sharpest eyes. From that bullet, its surface fell apart in pieces.
And a flash of white instantly blinded the whole area.
Garou did not know what happened, coming to a quick conclusion that a lightning must have struck down somewhere nearby. It seems God has taken pity over him (not that he wanted it), but the moment the area was coated in white light, and the distraction of his dangerous opponent who shielded his eyes from the effects, the strive to battle even while bloodied takes a sharp turn for a more strategic reprieve.
He was willing to stand on his own two feet in deranged determination if it meant that he was going to die anyhow, but against an opponent that could literally "touch him to death," his ways to attack dwindled to very, very few options. He was willing to fight the man still, but with how heavily injured he is, he'll have to play smart and swallow his pride, at least once the opportunity presents itself. There's no shame in retreating if it means he can come back better prepared.
So with that, Garou forced his arms to move, forcing his legs to move, ignoring the pain like white noise as blood pours out from their open wounds. Fueling himself with energy, his body rushed away from the surprised man, moving almost four-legged, and drags himself out of the area in a brisk second.
The moment of the light show, Gon and Killua were caught off guard by it. They knew at once for it to not be lightning, and their thoughts trailed immediately for the one who could have caused it. Her mentioning of a bullet that could cast the blinding effect.
They hear rustling from the bushes beside them, and the voice of Emma sprung out. "Gon! Killua!"
Killua started, "Did you actually-!"
"We got to go! Now!" She takes his hand before letting him finish, then Gon's hand as well, and together, they hurry down a path, ushered along until their coherent thoughts revived and ran alongside her. The children ran through the forest with their white light overhead their saving grace. At its eventual fade, Kenshiro's eyes adjusted, and he found himself alone.
He saw the blood trail that no doubt belonged to the hero hunter, the evidence to this shocking, "What?! He could still move?!"
No man could make it farther than a foot before he would already realize he was completely immobile, and yet that competitor was able to get as far away as he did.
Grabbing his side that had dealt with that powerful strike from the white-silverish hair opponent. "He's strong. To have overcome the damage and still be able to run..."
Moreover, there was something else about that young man he noticed. Identified. It left him here in place, for a single moment, as he simply looked at the bloody trail in thought.
After this moment, Kenshiro turns away from the trail and walks off calmly, resuming his journey as a wanderer and continuing through the rest of the event that yet beholds.
/.\
"I can't believe you did that..." Killua stated as he takes lead, Emma and Gon following behind. Though the trees that stood tall above their heads did much to protect them from most of the rainfall, there were still droplets of the cold drops that were starting to soak their shoulders.
"Honestly, you're too soft, Emma," the assassin scolded. "You can't stop to help everybody you see. Especially guys who attacked us!"
Emma looked to the ground, a slight frown of her orange brows, "I know, but..."
Killua sighed, "Look, if you're still thinking how that guy kept you from being eaten by a monster, I'm pretty sure he didn't do it just to be kind. He thought you had his stars, so he kept you alive."
"But then he left me alone," albeit, Emma was prodded with those harsh pokes, but otherwise, that person spared her.
"Sure, but you don't owe the guy. He's an opponent, don't think he'll be grateful if he sees you again." Killua lectures.
Gon spoke up in defense of Emma, "She just wanted to help. If she does feel like she owed that guy, then she can give it if she really wanted to."
"It's not that though," Emma corrected, earning a look from the boys as she frowned deeper, more sullen, "I just... don't think he should have to die, and I don't think he's a bad person either."
"It wasn't any of our business," Killua argued. "Even if he might be a guy that has some likable qualities, hat doesn't make him a good person. Take me for example."
"But you are a good person," Emma countered. "You look out for us. Even if you and your family are assassins and you probably did some bad things, you're actually more than that. You're a good ally, and a good friend to the both of us."
Gon smiled with a little laugh. Killua, taken aback by her unhesitating words, huffed out in exasperation, scratching his head to rid the feeling that compliment gave him. "Man, you really are weird."
Emma puffed her cheeks determinedly, assured that she was not wrong and will not revoke those words. Killua resumed his way, "Whatever. What's done is done. We can't change what happened."
He spotted an overgrown tree with its strong roots picking itself up, allowing a cover that looked big enough for all three to take camp, bushes in the middle of where they can enter.
"Come on, lets find some cover until the rain passes-" He pushes aside the bushes in entering the under tree.
Garou sat inside, huddled against the wall of roots. His arms crossed over his knees. The torn flesh apparent but the bleeding seem to stop, yet still hideously mauled with exposed under-skin. His hair dripped with rainwater and blood as he stared at the children. They stared at him back.
And then bolted right out of their and to another direction, Gon and Killua picking Emma up quickly by the arms before she even had the chance to turn around, and carried her bemused self as they flee.
"Why the hell did we have to run into him?!" Killua demanded as he and Gon glided over the grass with hasty feet.
"Don't ask me! How should I know?!" Gon shouted back.
A dotted expression on Emma while her arms were in a tight hold by theirs, seeing her legs faliling. She saw the figure of the silver hair competitor jump from tree to tree. Before she could warn the boys, Garou jumps a hefty distance and was ahead of them instantly.
Gon and Killua stopped at once, an angry expression as Garou landed a few feet in front of them, glowering down at the children.
"It's you brats from yesterday..." Paling widened eyes and a disturbing furrow of his silver brows, he looked even more vicious and ferocious with his battle wounds.
Killua clicked his tongue behind his teeth, I forgot his senses are insane, he thought to himself bitterly before speaking, "You sure you want to try fighting us again? Maybe you should focus on recovering first."
Garou answered, pointing at them, "I still owe you brats some payback. Don't think I'll be as easy-going this time, even with kids like you."
"Stay behind us, Emma," Gon told Emma as she looked over his shoulders, released then by the young Hunters as they glared at Garou.
"And I haven't forgotten what your friend there did either," Garou said, pointing at the orange hair child he heard be called Emma - wait, that kid was a girl? Huh. Kind of had a boyish like appearance, but anyway, he disregarded that thought. "I'm still pretty sore about you taking my stars. I've warned you too. Now I got to live up my promise."
Turning around, Emma responded, "I remember. Even so, I'm really glad you got away mister."
Her brings a halt to their spirits. Surprised, Gon and Killua looked behind them with baffled looks, "Huh?"
Garou took a pause, blinking at the little girl who smiles at him. He watched in further muted wide-eyed as she walked up, passing between her two friends expressing shocked reaction, and stops right in front of him in his blood-coated state.
"H-hey! What are you-?!" Killua stutter in disbelief. Gon's passion derailed at her unforeseen action, watching her in widely confused curiosity.
Emma faces up close the bloodied young man who looked down at her. His wild eyes regarding her in blatancy.
"It looks like you lost a lot of blood, are you alright?" she pointedly looked at the ripped open flesh through his dark clothing. The fact that he would still move despite his injuries, he really was something else despite how obviously terrifying this person was. "Oh, by the way. We found your patch."
Gon and Killua harshly flinched at her telling. Garou's eyes widened further.
"But then we gave it away."
The young boys gawked at her bluntness. The dark hunter's eyes might as well pop out as he listened. A slow, teeth-clenching smile stretched the bottom of Garou's face like he could break his own jaw, "You gave them away...?"
"Most of them anyway. I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?" The audacity of this little child. Garou's strained grinning teeth creaked at their tightening close of his building anger.
"There were people who needed it and we weren't sure if we were ever going to see you again, but now that we found you, I think it was best that you should know."
Reaching into her vest pocket, Emma takes out her patch of three stars, and points to one of them. "The only star that was left that belonged to you was this one."
What is she-?! Killua stared incomprehensibly.
What can only be seen as a mad move, she walked closer, picking out two gold stars from her patch, and reached for his other hand. Garou observed her in astound silence, as she gently takes his hand - himself too baffled to react - and places two of her stars in his palm, closing his fingers to hold them.
"Here, you can have these," she patted his knuckles, "That should give you a good head start if you still needed more stars."
Garou stilled. His mind completely left him.
"Wha..." Killua started, "H-hey! What are you doing?! Are you actually going to give him your stars?!"
"Sure," Emma answered, turning to him. "We're going to find more later anyway."
"That's not the point! Did you forget that we fought with this guy yesterday?!"
"No, but we shouldn't get side-tracked. Besides, we all have the same goal, why should any of us fight?"
"Wha-? Are you being serious?! What makes you think he's even going to just let us go?!"
"He probably won't. But even so," was her simple response.
A startled, gawking pause of disbelief, Gon steadily leaves his defensive posture as he watches Emma and Killua have their discussion. Listening to their given points they remained steadfast to.
"It'll be a long journey where we're going, and dangerous too," Emma reasoned. "So we should avoid too many fights and focus on ourself, plus, we don't need to hurt other competitors."
"That's what this guy has been doing! You literally just saw it!"
"Well yeah, but that doesn't mean we have to do it too."
As they talked (one yelling and the other not budging), Garou slowly raised his hand to himself, uncurling his fingers to see, the golden shine of the two smalls stars in his palm while he hears the worded debacle outside his focus. Eyeing back at the orange hair girl moving her arms up and down in appeasing effort, the boy in white who assertively pointed his finger at her, their stubborn discussion continuing without pause, and the boy in green at a total loss of what to do as he simply watches his companions argue.
I messed up.
He looked back down at the stars given to him.
I messed up real bad.
This was just pathetic. Not to these children, but to himself. To be pitied by a little girl, for her to relent two of these stars and then have her back to him. First his humiliating loss against that man and his explosive touch, and now this treatment?
How is he supposed to be the Ultimate Evil if he can't even scare a couple of kids? They weren't even guarded around him anymore as they were trying to comprehend this girl's misguided attempt of compassion. He has totally lost his fearing effect on all three of them.
He can't let this go on.
He has to correct this.
Only one way...
Yellow chrome sharp gaze fell upon the orange hair girl. His face shadowed with malicious intent. Clutching the stars in a tight squeeze with his ring finger and pinky, he extended three of his other fingers for her head.
I have to deal with them.
They were all competitors. Opponents he has to overcome; Evil is unforgiving, and must not be soft on anyone. He saw the eyes of the boys sparked in alarmed. Good. This ought to instigate them, and finish where they left off.
"Anyway, I think we should bring him with us!"
He stopped his closing reach, freezing him in place as he looked on. Gon and Killua, who were ready to react, were once more deflected by their own shock at Emma's sudden exclaim. She turned around for the bloodied hunter once more, his fingers like the fangs of a wolf for the feeble figure of the little rabbit in his view, not even fazed by those dangerously razor sharp grip.
"How about it mister? We know a place where we can get more stars." Spreading her arms apart in invite, she spoke whole-heartedly to the white haired devil cloaked in blood as the rain falls all around them.
"Why don't you come with us? Let's go to Beast Valley together!"
Doomed words should never be said, and yet she said it with a smile.
Competitors Introduced:
Kenshiro (Fist of the North Star/Hokuto No Ken)
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