"Let me go! Let me go!" Churu screamed at the top of her lungs as she aggressively shook the man off of her. However, no matter how she struggled, it was all for naught. She wasn"t as strong as before. She doesn"t have her divine powers. Just what kind of problem did she put herself to?"Let me—"
"Silence!" Before Churu could even scream her nth shout for help, her vision went black as a strong impact landed on her nape. She was certain that he never intended to kill her, but that moment, Churu died. Or rather, her host"s body died for the second time.
"Oy, did you kill her?" Just then, two men riding on their horses appeared behind the man who silenced Churu.
"I didn"t. I just silenced her — she"s too loud." Confident that he held his strength back so to not kill her, the man was unaware that although he held himself back, it killed Churu"s frail body.
"Be sure not to kill the good, that was what the master ordered." The other man from behind muttered as he sped towards the deepest part of the forest.
"That steed was tailing us — kill it!" Still hearing the noise Kaze was making not far away from them, the man who held Churu captive emotionlessly uttered. The other man executed his order as he made a turn to kill the horse that was tailing them even without a rider.
Little did they know, a monster was on her way to wreak havoc.
****
"Churu, wait for me," Tora whispered as she hopped from one tree to another at lightning speed. Although she doesn"t have her steed Kaze with her, Tora"s pace wasn"t any less slow than the men as her adrenaline rush kicked in.
Aside from an unexplainable rage that overwhelmed her heart that slightly made her vision turn red, her worries towards the little girl overlay every other emotion in her heart. There"s only one thing she has in mind, retrieve Churu in one piece — alive.
"I"ll certainly send these vermin forth to the other world!" Tora swore, made an oath which she would surely do. How dare they try to harm Churu, not to mention, under her watch? She would kill them, exterminate every single one of them and make them regret it for the rest of their lives.
Tora continued on her pace to where the elderly man instructed. However, as she followed Churu"s abductor, she saw Kaze"s figure lying on its own pool of blood. Hence, she immediately jumped from the tree and landed near Kaze.
"Kaze!" Her steed was still alive, but he had inflicted injury on his foot and a deep slashed on his body. Kaze wasn"t clad in its armor hence, there was nothing to protect it. If it was a normal horse, it would have died.
Tora"s boiling point had reached its limits as a dark aura exploded within her. By the looks of it, Kaze dodged the fatal attack, but it was enough to immobilize it. Abducting Churu was one thing, but now they showed no mercy to her steed as well.
Without a single word, Tora cut the sleeve of her clothes, revealing her scarred and inked shoulders. The mark of the Chisaka family engraved on her skin. She wrapped it around Kaze"s injured foot; the rest of the piece of cloth, she used it to stop Kaze"s bleeding.
"Don"t die, Kaze. I will return to tend to your injuries." She whispered as she stroked Kaze"s fur. Kaze weakly nickered as a response. Tora then broke her wooden container in half by her sword and poured water in it — placing it beside Kaze"s head so he could drink.
After stroking him a bit more, Tora slowly stood. The night was coming and it would be her advantage as she could easily find the group of imbecile"s hideout. Tora"s eyes sharpened and afterward, she sprinted towards the direction where they took Churu.
She noticed that the group left her tracks to follow hence, from sprinting Tora resumed on hopping from one tree to another. Fortunately, she noticed those tracks because the information the elderly gave her would lead her astray.
She went deeper and deeper into the forest until the night came.
Tora heading forth despite that the surrounding was nothing but utter darkness, until the full moon shone, giving light to the dark night. Soon, from the distance, Tora stopped. She stood on the tallest tree"s branch as she gazed forth to the area of the forest that had torches as light.
"Huh," She scoffed inwardly upon laying her eyes on the flag. It was the mark of the infamous underworld group that her people had been keeping an eye. However, the leader of the group was elusive and none could locate his real base.
After all, the war five years ago caused enormous casualty to the imperial military. Hence, Tora wasn"t focused on this group yet, and they could only arrest their foot soldiers. However, since they lure her in their own volition, she would gladly serve them what they deserved.
After a second, Tora leaped to another tree, heading towards the base. She soon landed on the land after minutes of jumping from one tree to another. As soon as she landed, three men who were patrolling the outer base jumped back from the figure that appeared.
"Who are you?" One man said, his guard instantly rose.
"He sent me here." Tora raised her hand before she slowly reached from her behind. However, the men already drew their sword. Hence, Tora dropped her sword to ease them temporarily. Since she has no weapon that could be seen around her, they thought that she would bring out an invitation letter from the master.
Alas, the next second, Tora didn"t show a letter but a pouch. She tossed it forward, which made the thing inside it rolled to the man"s feet: it was a dismembered head! The head of the elderly that was tasked to distract the merchants and travelers.
Even before the three men could react, Tora stomped the sword"s handle from the ground which made an impact and fly back on her hand. Within the next second, she dashed forward and slashed them to their vital parts — a sure kill.