BLOOD SAMURAI

ERADICATION MISSION PART 3 (LIES AND DISHONOR)

As their climactic battle ends, the man with backs turns to each other, awaiting the results of their last clash. The air stood still as the women and children surrounding them looked on in anticipation, hoping but yet still fearing the final out-coming. A sudden burst of blood jets off Kiyoshi's shoulder with the two men standing still as a huge slash appears. The slash is long as it runs down Kiyoshi's shoulder to the lower part of his chest, with parts of his bond showing because of the depth of the cut. As Kiyoshi bleeds on the ground, holding his own to his sword with one hand, Maxwell laughs monstrously, claiming his victory, as he continues to laugh a sudden and sharp pain in his midsection takes him and he too drops to his knees.

He grabs onto his midsection and realized his hands were wet. Looking at them, he saw blood confirming he was indeed cut as well. With the pain intensive, Maxwell realized the cut was getting bigger and that he needed to hold it together to prevent his internal organs from falling out. The women and children around them cried as Maxwell screamed in pain. Maxwell crawls to his ax when he meets up with Kiyoshi, blocking his path. Maxwell raises to his knees and begins laughing, "Guess am done here right"? he asked. "It didn't have to be this way," replied Kiyoshi. With blood flowing from his mouth, Maxwell softly asked Kiyoshi if he would spare the women and children and even protect them, as they had nothing to it and would be vulnerable without the men around. "I promise", replied Kiyoshi.

Maxwell smiled and with that, Kiyoshi, with one quick swing of his sword, cut off Maxwell's head, killing him with Maxwell's head in the sand Kiyoshi pulled out a clear jar with a bronze lid filled with a purple solution and placed the head inside. With his mission complete, Kiyoshi walked off, leaving the women and children to come to terms with what had just happened. As he walked off, Kiyoshi could feel something pulling at his cloak. He turned around to find sketch pulling at him. "Please return master's head," begged Sketch. "Your free now. Why to cling on to a dead master?" asked Kiyoshi. "Sketch was always free. Sketch served master," replied Sketch. "You chose to serve, why?" asked Kiyoshi, confused with Sketch's answer."

Because master saved Sketch" proclaimed Sketch." explain?" remarked Kiyoshi. "Many years go sketch was being transported by salve traders from Pwaters the same people that sent you." cried Sketch as he cradles Maxwell's headless body. "But the master and his men raid the traders and upon seeing me and realizing they were salve, traders killed them and granted me my freedom. But I stayed with the master as no one ever valued my life before, not even my parents, who sold me for three bronze coins and a wet loaf of bread when I was four. Master knew how it felt to be a salve." remarked Sketch, "What do you mean?" asked Kiyoshi. When Sketch relieved the salve mark on Maxwell's leg. In shock and disbelief, Kiyoshi stood silent as Sketch continued."Master raided the town of Pwaters every so often to reduce their strength and resource to at least slow down their influence on the slave trade.

"So you're telling me the people who hired me are salve traders?" asked Kiyoshi. "Yes they are," remarked Sketch. Enraged, Kiyoshi runs up to Sketch and begins choking him. "Are you sure?" asked Kiyoshi as he chokes Sketch." I am," replied Sketch as he gasp for air. Kiyoshi releases Sketch and walks off, resting the jar with Maxwell's head on the ground. "Reattach his head and give him an honorable send-off and if you're lying to me, Sketch, I will come back and kill everyone, ok. remarked Kiyoshi as he left the camp. Sketch, in surprise, dash over and collects the jar containing his master's head and held on to it tight.

With more answers than questions, a confused and enraged Kiyoshi continues on his way when suddenly a young boy, not more than the age of twelve, stands in front of him. But before they could exchange any words, the boy stabs Kiyoshi with a knife in his gut. Kiyoshi pushes the young boy to the ground and pulls out the knife, remarking that he must be pretty banged up if a young boy could land a blow on him. The young boy, now on his feet, declares he would kill Kiyoshi for murdering his father. As Kiyoshi looks at the boy with his dark skin, fiery eyes, and reddish-black hair, he realized this boy must be Maxwell's."You think you can kill me even we your father could not grow strong enough to protect your people first then you can come after me" remarked Kiyoshi as he continues on his way."

One day I will, one day your death will be at my hands," cried the young boy as tears flowed down his eyes." I hope so kid, I hope so." replied Kiyoshi as he walked past the boy with a smile on his. Moments later, with his mission completed, Kiyoshi walks through the desert sand, leaving bloody footprints in the sand as he was still soaked in blood and with most of his injuries healed, He pulls out a stone with an engraving on it which looked like an upside-down fork with three lines running across it. The symbol glowed three times blue before turning green and with that, a holographic image of an old man appeared. The old man was of mixed Chinese and Caucasian descent. He looked to be at least sixty years of age with a muscular slime build that looked like the body man much younger than he was. He looked like a kung fu master that used to be seen in old kung fu movies with a long bread and mustache comb that ran past his chest as he wore a robe like the ones Buddhist monks wear.

"Master Sairon, I completed the mission. But we have a more pressing matter," stated Kiyoshi. "What is it my child? " replied the old man. "We've lied too, ", answered Kiyoshi. "By who?" asked Sairon. "The people who hired us, They are salve traders, one of the men if you can call him that used to be a salve of theirs," remarked Kiyoshi as he got angry at the thought of being played to do someone else's dirty work. "That can't be. They said they were victims of the camp," replied Sairon in disbelief. "So, what do you want to do about?" asked Sairon, who himself began getting enraged because of the situation unfolding. "Tell them I will be back in three days, let them know it had some unforeseen issues that arose, but I should be back at the town by tomorrow. that why I can catch them before they have time to set up and plan," replied Kiyoshi. "Ok will do and for the love of the gods, go take a bath. I could bearly see your face with all that blood that you're soaked in," remarked Sairon, annoyed with Kiyoshi's state. Kiyoshi laughs and remarks that he saw a stream about an hour away in a nearby forest he passed earlier and that he would go clean himself up there."I will send a hawk with some fresh supplies as well" remarked Sairon before leaving. An hour later, Kiyoshi arrives at the stream.

He removes his clothes and washes the blood off his skin, causing the water to turn a crimson red as the blood flows down the stream. With the blood, remove and his cloak and hat off Kiyoshi's appearance could be seen in full effect. The young samurai was of Japanese descent with long blackish-brown hair. His eyes were a sliver of grey that shined in the sunlight. His face was smooth with no facial hair and alone with his body looked like he was handcrafted and molded by the gods themselves only flaw on his body was a scar on his left chest as even the injuries he received during his battle with Maxwell and his men had already healed and vanished even the stab wound from Maxwell's son was gone. As he finishes his bath, a white and black hawk lands next to him with a bag of fresh clothes and other supplies. Kiyoshi quickly puts on his new clothes, which are the same as the ones before, just not soaked in blood. He puts the old supplies in a bag and hangs it over to the hawk along with a lizard that he had caught.

The hawk eats the lizard, nods its head, and flies off with the dirty clothes. Later that night, Kiyoshi resigns himself to a nearby cave. As he organizes himself for bed, an entity appears next to him out of nowhere. It takes the form of a hybrid between a werewolf and a cyclops. With a bulky body covered in long greyish fur, retractable eight-inch claws, it stood well over seven to eight feet. But the most unusual feature was that it had one huge green eye in the center of its head like a cyclops. The monster walked past Kiyoshi and sat on a nearby rock. "Guess you're on guard duty tonight, Tyrook?" asked Kiyoshi. "I am," replied the entity.

"Where are Lilly and Kivuli?" asked Kiyoshi. "Lilly is up in some tree being a lookout and Kivuli has the perimeter covered," replied Tyrook with his creep and deep voice with echo throughout the cave."Now go get some rest, kid, after the beating you took today. You need it," laughed Tyrook. "No, thanks to you guys for helping, ", replied Kiyoshi, annoyed Tyrook found enjoyment in the ordeal. "As I remembered clear someone didn't want our help, it was a simple eradication mission they said," Laughed Tyrook as he mocked Kiyoshi.

Kiyoshi sighed and rolled over and went to sleep. "Sweet dreams kiddo," remarked Tyrook as he turn his back to Kiyoshi to face the entrance of the cave. As Kiyoshi sleeps, he dreams of a time when he was a little boy playing by the river back, catching fish. When suddenly a group of boys bullies him, they throw rocks at him and kick him around. Kiyoshi cries out for them to stop, but they continue. Suddenly Kiyoshi's eyes turn red and the sky darkens. But before the dream can continue, Kiyoshi awakes to find Tyrook next to him. As Kiyoshi tries to catch his breath, Tyrook asked him if he was ok and if he had that dream again. Kiyoshi nodded, confirming that it was indeed the same dream. Resting one hand on Kiyoshi's shoulder Tyrook sighed "Lilly and Kivuli have already returned to the sword I was just awaiting you to awake" remarked Tyrook before vanishing. Kiyoshi composed himself and got himself ready and headed into the town of Pwaters. A few hours later and he had arrived in Town. The people were busy with their daily lives and paid no attention to Kiyoshi as he walked by. As he walked by saw that the houses that were once destroyed by Maxwell and his men raids were already repaired and life moved on as nothing happened. With his destination in sight, Kiyoshi saw a group of men standing in the center of town with young girls on the floor. They were slave traders.

Kiyoshi, enraged, grabbed onto his sword by being clammed by Tyrook, telling him now is not the time as they had already reached their destination, which was an old little shop. Inside the shop was a young man cleaning. When Kiyoshi entered his line of sight, he got scared and dropped the broom he had on the floor.."Good morning blood samurai, we were not expecting you for two more days, Mr. Peaks is not here" stated the shopkeeper nervously. "So where is Mr. Peaks?" asked Kiyoshi. "I can't tell you that," replied the shopkeeper as he got trouble forming his words. "If you don't tell me, I will kill right here," shouted Kiyoshi as he puts his sword to the shopkeeper's neck. "Do as you must. I can't tell you where he is" replied the shopkeeper, scared and choking on his words. "What kind of man is so scary that even a threat from the blood samurai isn't enough? " asked Lilly. "Am not sure but am going to find out" replied Kiyoshi "Listen here ShopKeep if you don't tell me where Mr. Peaks is or I will release every demon in my sword to run havoc on this town and trust me it will be worse than anything Mr. Peaks can do to you" shouted Kiyoshi demanding to know where Mr. Peaks is. For a moment the shopkeeper looked puzzle-like he was deciding which fate was worse. After a while, with fearful tears running down his face, the shopkeeper presents Kiyoshi with a map to Mr. Peaks' home. "Thank you," replied Kiyoshi as he left the shop with the shopkeeper in a corner, crying.

As Kiyoshi walked through the forest on the way to Mr. Peaks' home, it saddened him that had to use such extreme measures to get an answer. He looked absolutely terrified, Kiyoshi thought to himself as he approached Mr. Peaks' home. When he arrived, Kiyoshi realized it was no ordinary home that Mr. Peaks lived in but a massive castle-like mansion. A medieval castle-like design with purple and gold walls was the design of the mansion, which was at least two hundred feet in height. The mansion was so wide that looking directly at it you could see the full thing.

The walls surrounding the mansion were black and stood at least thirty feet tall, with a huge double gate in the middle. "No mere shop owner can own a place as this," Kiyoshi thought to himself as he took a deep which caused his grey eyes to turn red as he jumped over the massive wall. On the other side of the wall, two armed guards greeted Kiyoshi with spears and ordered him to stand down. Kiyoshi, already annoyed, walked past the guards, cutting off the tip of their spears with such speed that the guards hadn't noticed, causing them to be frozen in fear as Kiyoshi enters the mansion. Inside the mansion, armed guards surrounded Kiyoshi with spears and swords, and at the center of the mansion on the top floor is a chubby man which a blue well-made suit. The man was middle age of Asian descent, he had blue eyes and a poorly grown mustache and bread as he sat on a throne-like chair. "What brought you here so early? I wasn't expecting you for two more days," asked the chubby man. annoyed Kiyoshi stated the man lied to him and that he used him to do his dirty work. "And" replied the man, "You of all people want to call me evil, so what if we are slave traders? that how my family ate for hundreds of years and you kill people for a living, so we are the same," remarked the chubby man. "We are nothing alike Mr. Peaks, " shouted Kiyoshi in anger. "But is done is done. I just wanted the truth," remarked Kiyoshi as he tried to calm down. "You are, and thanks to you, there is an entire camp of salve waiting to be captured," remarked Mr. Peaks joyfully. "What do you mean?" asked Kiyoshi.

"You killed all the men in the camp, right?, well now the women and children are mines for the taken" shouted Mr. Peaks as he laughs loudly. "Don't you fucking touch them, you bastard! " shouted Kiyoshi with his blood lust overflowing. "So what if I do?" asked Mr.Peaks and an instant Kiyoshi flew across the mansion and pulled his sword around Mr. Peaks' neck. "Repeat yourself, you bastard! " shouted Kiyoshi. The guards quickly surround Kiyoshi, demanding that he let goes Mr. Peaks right now. "Tell your men to stand down. You and I both know I can kill you and everyone inside here before any of their weapons touch me". remarked Kiyoshi. Mr. Peaks smiled and signaled his men to stand down. "Now listen here you fat fucking asshole you going to leave those people alone because if you don't I will drag you and this fucking town straight to hell, you got that?" remarked Kiyoshi as he continues to push the blade of his sword into the man's neck causing small amounts of blood to run out. Mr. Peaks agrees and Kiyoshi leaves. As Kiyoshi leaves, Mr. Peak ushers one of his men over. "Call the peacemakers, tell them we got a present for them," instructed Mr.Peaks.