Chapter 12: Big Explosion and Honorable Duel

The sun started to go down slightly when Kagero led us to the mountains where we split into two groups of two and one group of three. I stared at the scenery trying to find said boat, but all I could see was the sand and the waves hitting the rocks, which I found beautiful. I wouldn't mind having a home, well not here but somewhere near a different beach.

"Do you see anything?" Rinko asked walking back from her side of the cliff's ledge not finding the target.

"Nope, all I could see is sand, rocks, and seawater," I said shaking my head, wiping off more sweat, and feeling the sun shining down on me. We then turned to Misao who shook her head. "Well, there is a possibility that they destroyed the boat to leave no trace behind." 

"Regardless, let's head back and check if they found something. If not, then we might have to comb the beach," Rinko said looking wearily at the trees before turning her attention back to me, her eyes softening slightly. "Does it still hurt?"

"Not really," I said moving my shoulders, not feeling any pain, but just a dull throbbing sensation that seemed to be slowly going away. Which pointed out that we need someone that can use long-range attacks even if Rinko and Misao qualify with her kuuton bullets or the Phoenix fire respectively. Having more sounds better and having one that can use magic on a large scale sounds the best.

I pulled out the only, well maybe not the only card in my hand that can use magic, Tanka and Fairy Knights. Fox girl and magic go hand and hand, but Fairy knights have two for a price of one and they might be actual magical girls. They look like magical girls, so that's a strong possibility. Though, I don't know if they actually have useable magic or just 'one big explosion' attack to defeat the boss monster each. 

"I think it's best to wait until we leave the group before summoning more of us," Rinko said and started to explain her reasoning, "It's already suspicious that Misao was nearby after completing her mission." Rinko gave her an apologetic look, "I mean no offense when I said that, Misao."

"It's fine." She shrugged in understanding. "I would be wary also if someone else shows up and might think it's a trap to stab us in the back."

I let out a sigh of defeat at that, putting the card back in my pocket for safekeeping, and followed behind her as Rinko brought up the rear, heading back to our meeting point. About 10 minutes later we regrouped with Kuroyuri and Midori who found the ship. It was a bit further south of the village, past the bamboo forest, near the more jagged rocks part of the shoreline. 

"Hmm? Why are Jubei and Kagero hiding behind that rock?" I asked tilting my head to the side slightly finding it vaguely familiar before being forced to crouch behind some trees.

"Maybe they're spying on someone?" Kuroyuri offered softly trying to get a good look from her position. "I can't see anything. Does anyone have a clear viewpoint?"

"I do. He's not an enemy but he..." Rinko said, trailing off hesitantly for a few seconds before speaking again, "He's supposed to be dead."

"Who?" I asked before we were forced to start moving again, this time running, with my question being left unanswered as we neared their location. 

"It can't be... Hanza!" Kagero gasped staring at a familiar figure near the cliff and took off running surprising us.

"Wait! Kagero!" Jubei yelled out reaching for her but he missed by an inch and ran after her.

"Stop! It's a trap!" Midori yelled out trying to warn her, but Kagero ignored her. Her mind clouded in grief and elation on seeing him again, ignoring the possibility of him being a fake, and reached Hanza first. She hugged his chest with tears in her eyes before they widen in shock when she stared up at his face. His eyes and mouth were sowed shut with tears of blood dripping down his pale face as he walked towards the cliff's ledge.

"Hanza wait, it's Kagero. Stop, you're heading towards the cliff." She told him, pushing on his muscular chest trying to lead him backward, but he kept on moving forward regardless. She didn't know what to do if she moves Hanza will fall to his death, but if she don't, then both of them will fall.

Thankfully, Jubei reached her first and helped her pull Hanza back, "You shouldn't run off on your own like that."

She ignored Jubei as she was focused on pushing Hanza back, bit by bit, and with Rinko's help allowed all three of them to lead Hanza further inland.

"Kagero, let go of him. It could be a trap," Kuroyuri said trying to get her away, but she wouldn't bulge. She glared at us, smacking Kuroyuri's hands away, shaking her head in denial.

It finally became too much and she lost her temper shouting, "S-stop! Stop i-it! Leave us a-alone. H-he must have escaped somehow, yes. He must have been kept alive for information. It's not a trap, not a trap."

Kagero with tears in her eyes stared straight up at Hanza, "Hanza, it's me, Kagero. It's ok now. Your safe," She tried to console him, but she was unsuccessful as he continued to move forward. "What did they do to you?" She stared in horror at the sight of his stomach covered in stitches from one side to the other. They were soon forced to lay Hanza on his back, but he used his legs to crawl very slowly.

I could only watch trying and failing to remember what was going to happen next. I turned to look at Kuroyuri who was facing the opposite direction. I turned around only to see someone wearing a red cloak with a black substance heading towards us.

"Shit! We have to go, now!" Kuroyuri said alerting everyone to the danger and she pushed me closer to Rinko as the black substance reached us. It smelled something like charcoal if that makes any sense, but nothing else happened for a few seconds until Hanza started shaking and steam poured out of him.

"It's gunpowder! Get away, now!" Jubei yelled, tackling Midori and Misao, who were the closest to him before jumping off the cliff.

I grabbed Rinko's arm as did Kuroyuri but Kagero still stood near Hanza, frozen in shock unable to believe it. I moved without thinking, dragging her towards us as Rinko and Kuroyuri followed a few seconds behind, barely making it as Hanza exploded, a bright light engulfed us all with a violent shockwave with black smoke covering us. I felt my body giving away, and my last thought was that I never had a chance to fuck any of my Taimanin.

The smoke soon cleared showing that there was nothing on the cliff other than the scorch marks and craters from the explosions. "Now that's how you kill someone," Zakuro said with a laugh and soon left not long after with a smirk on her face knowing that some are still alive. She only need a few to get rid of Yurimaru and then she'll just kill those that survived. Two birds one bomb.

What she didn't see since she was far away, was the katana stuck between a tree branch with the ninja wire attached going down to the edge of the cliff. Jubei, Misao, and Midori were hanging on to him or the wire itself waiting until there were no more explosions. 

"It seems that it's finally over," Misao said looking up at the cliff before looking around trying to find everyone else. After that, they started climbing up one at a time until they all reached the top.

"I hope the others are ok," Midori said when she realized that they were the only ones there. She couldn't help herself and looked down at the ocean below wondering if they made it out in time or not. 

"You can come out from behind that tree now," Jubei stated suddenly, staring at a tree further back. It was a tense few seconds before someone revealed himself. He is a tall and intimidating ronin dressed in traditional white samurai robes with long black hair.

"It seems that I didn't underestimate you, Kibagami Jubei. My name is Mujūrō Utsutsu and I seek an honorable duel with a sword master of your caliber." Mujūrō said in a calm tone with his eyes closed. He drew his sword in that instant and pointed it at him.

Jubei quickly replied, "I'll take up that challenge. I'm not in a good mood right now and I need something to vent on." He stepped forward ignoring the small twitches of pain from his body as he started running towards the bamboo forest with Mujūrō following him, leaving Midori and Misao behind.

"Ugh, men and their pride," Misao said exasperated as she rolled her eyes, watching them leave before looking at Midori. "Should we follow them?"

Midori was quiet for a few seconds waiting for someone else to arrive or attack them but when they didn't, she sighed and replied, "Why not. Maybe Rinko and the others teleported into the forest or somewhere close by."

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'Is he really blind? Or is he faking it to lower my guard?' Jubei thought, doing the complete opposite as he watched Mujūrō matching his pace as they entered the bamboo forest. 'Maybe he can see without his eyes? It's possible, I've seen weirder things than this since I took this damn job. I should get a raise, 100 pieces of gold isn't enough for dealing with this weird shit.'

Mujūrō expertly moved without being hit by the bamboo and spoke with a condescending tone, "You lured me in here trying to use my blindness against me, but it won't work. I don't need my eyes to kill you."

Jubei ignored him as he jabbed and swept, aiming to see how fast Mujūrō can react to an attack, but Mujūrō ducked under the first swing and jumped high in the air that was aimed at his legs. He looked up trying to find a trace, only to see Mujūrō was in front of him.

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Jubei tightened his grip about to attack again when his sleeve cut apart, leaving his skin untouched. Jubei became warier after that since he didn't see Mujūrō's attack.

He bent his knees slightly, getting ready to move as he removed all the fake openings from his stance, trying to figure out the best way to use his blindness against him. Jubei started attacking again, but he gritted his teeth as all of his attacks were either blocked or dodged. He was forced to jump back, watching the blade miss his eyes by mere inches feeling the wind caress his face.

"Is this the best you could do? I thought a master-level swordsman like yourself would have been more of a challenge,"  Mujūrō said before he grunted as a katana went through his chest from his back.

"Guh! I didn't, bluh, expect that" Mujūrō said coughing up blood and fell down dead as Midori appeared behind him cleaning off her blade.

"Why did you do that?!" Jubei yelled out glaring as he walked up to her, "I told you that he was mine."

"We have higher priorities than your little duel or did you forget?" Midori questioned poking Jubei's chest, staring straight into his eyes.

"I didn't forget," He denied, smacking her hand away, "I had it under control. You didn't have to intervene in my duel."

"We don't have time for you both to mess around. We need to find everyone else and regroup before facing the enemy," Misao said picking up the sword and checking the pockets for anything else of interest. She found a pouch containing a few coins and nothing else. 

Jubei and Midori stared at the floor for a moment before he spoke first, "I'm sorry that your lover and your friends are either missing or dead. It's just, I'm not used to dealing with this supernatural crap and I think the heat is starting to get to me."

"I'm sorry too," Midori reluctantly apologized, "But John isn't my lover. I'm just worried about everyone, but bickering over it wouldn't help us find them. We should go and search the surrounding area for any clues."

(15 minutes later)

A small snake slithered through the bamboo forest searching for something and paused, sticking its tongue out tasting the air. It turned left and pretty soon found Mujūrō's cooling body and Zakuro stepped into view. "It's such a shame that you died, I wanted to kill you myself."

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(John POV)

"Damn sun," I groaned in pain, feeling my eyes burning from the sunlight shining down on me. I frowned laying on something hard, rough, and hot.

I slowly opened my eyes before hissing at the sun's brightness forcing me to blink a few times until my vision returned to see me lying near an unconscious Rinko. Our faces were inches apart, I can feel her warm breath on my skin and all I needed was to lean forward a bit to capture her lips. I didn't move, I simply stared at her beautiful face and paid particular attention to her soft pink lips.

"You're so beautiful Rinko," I whispered softly to myself before freezing when she opened her eyes groggily and leaned over me.

"Such a nice dream. Hm? Am I still dreaming?" She sleepily asked herself before leaning down and kissed me before freezing with her eyes popped open in shock. She pulled back with a squeak, flushing in embarrassment, "I'm not dreaming, am I?"

I didn't say anything and resumed kissing her and trying to transfer my mana to her by lip contact. It must have worked, surprising her when she felt my mana healing her bruised body because she let out a muffled moan and our kissing got more heated. My tongue battled with hers before dominating and traveling into her mouth.

[-300 MP]

[+300]

[6,989--> 7,289/8,400 HP]

My hands moved up to her waist, leading her to lay on top of me, and then my hands trailed down to her luscious ass. She bit my lip lightly in response when I squeezed her cheeks and I retaliated by smacking it, muffling her shocked gasp before she pulled back a few seconds later to glare at me. We both froze up as someone rudely interrupted us.

"As interesting as this is, we don't have time for you to have your fun, Rinko. We still have to find Midori and the others," Kuroyuri said teasingly causing Rinko to pause before quickly getting up and starting fixing her clothes much to my disappointment. 

"Ah, y-yes," Rinko stuttered looking everywhere but at us. "Do you know how long we've been unconscious for?"

Kuroyuri looked up at the placement of the sun and the surrounding area before speaking, "It shouldn't have been that long. Maybe it was about 20 to 30 minutes, give or take 15 minutes."

I stood up slowly, grunting in pain as all of my muscles twitched painfully with each movement. I stared at my health frowning at seeing it less than half and the time it will take to refill.

[6,689/21,000 HP]

"Kagero, wake up," I said walking near her and started poking her shoulder with the sheath of my sword, but froze as a kunai placed was near my throat in an instant.

"Next time, don't touch a ninja when they're sleeping or unconscious. They will attack you by reflex," Kagero said with narrowed eyes and waited until I got the message before removing her weapon. She stood up stared at me and spoke her mind while glaring angrily at me, "Why... why did you save me? You could have let me die and no one would blame you."

"I didn't think about it and my body moved by itself," I said shrugging and leaving out the part where she deserves a happy ending instead of being killed off for drama.

It seemed to have the opposite effect and made her angry instead. "Are you that desperate to impress me that you're willing to kill yourself?" Kagero asked scornfully while poking my chest with each word not giving me a chance to speak. "It's useless for you to even try. My whole body is filled with poison so powerful that even a single kiss from my lips would kill you instantly. No one can touch me unless I want them to experience the most painful sensation ever."

"I'm not trying to impress you, Kagero," I said glaring back at her, grabbing her hand and pushing it away from my chest. "I'm not that desperate for a woman's attention enough to risk my life. Besides you're not even my type," I stated, staring at her chest for a second which she caught before looking back into her eyes. 

"You bastard!" Kagero yelled, feeling offended, as she couldn't help but compare herself with the other women in our group and found herself wanting.

I caught her hand just as she was about to slap me and we kept eye contact for a few seconds before she shook her hand free, looking away from me, and mumbled something I couldn't hear.

"Where are we exactly? This place looks familiar, but I don't know why." Kuroyuri asked us assessing our surroundings closely.

I didn't know how to tell her that we were near the place where Rinko saved Kagero, but it seemed that we didn't have to when she took a step back gasping as the memory surfaced.

"I know where we are. I'll lead us back to the village. It shouldn't take us more than 10 minutes or so," Kagero stated in a cold tone, her hands clenched tightly.

We all drank some much-needed water thanks to the blazing heat. After that, we all ran after her, surprisingly meeting no resistance along the way, but we kept our guard up regardless.

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