The Saint Devil

Chapter 9

"I am the owner of this humble bar, Kein Shimada." says the one that we could name our savior for this day as he turned his view towards us.

"You must be one of the kids that I was told were searching for me."

Another person comes into this room right away after the owner. It's the bartender that greeted us.

He looks towards Taiyo and asks,

"Weren't there two of you there though?"

"But there are two of them, one is under the bar table over there," says Kein while pointing towards our hiding place.

"Yes, A-Akushi, can you get out please?"

"Sure, what happened? Whoa-" Witnessing the following scene I was left without any words.

Seeing the three thugs beaten up on the floor I burst into laughter. Seeing me and Taiyo, the tall man, mister Kein couldn't help but smile at us.

"Are you the one that did this mister?" asks Taiyo with a serious look on his face. It seems that Taiyo is suspicious of the people in this bar.

I can't help but hit Taiyo with my elbow and then apologize for his behaviour.

"I am sorry for him, he gets excited every time he sees someone that he considers strong. Allow us to introduce ourselves. I am Akushi and this airhead is Taiyo, we are fifteen years old."

"He's got some good manners for a fifteen years old kid, meanwhile the other one is the total opposite. But I can see that at first glance the second one is more joyful than the other one... Is it right to act so mature at such a young age?" thinks Fyodor looking at the two youths in front of him.

"Well nice to meet you kids. I've heard that you wanted to talk with me about something. As you can see the night is going to come pretty soon, so what do you think about cleaning this mess, and then you stay for dinner?"

"Yes! I'll gladly accept the free foo-" I don't let Taiyo finish his sentence and instead I hit him with my elbow for a second time. He then looks down and says again,

"I'll be happy to help you clean this mess..."

After the four of us finish cleaning, we take a seat at the barstool.

"Before the food arrives, what about drinking something? Fyodor bring us some apple juice!"

Taiyo quickly interrupts saying,

"I am old enough to drink something else already!"

"Oh sorry! Fyodor, bring him some orange juice instead!"

I try to hide my amusement as much as I can, but Taiyo getting stopped so easily is way too funny.

"So... What did you kids want to talk about with me?"

I don't reply to his question right away, apologizing first for the situation that happened a few moments ago.

"First, let us apologize for the mess that those guys made here, we didn't want any trouble so we ran away but they saw us entering there."

"Oh, are you kids strong?"

This is some weird question to ask some young kids, but I reply right away,

"I wouldn't say "strong"... We are still young. I wanted to ask you for shelter for this night. We came from the Wanborne Empire and just arrived from the Black Desert."

"Huh? The Black Desert? At your age? Interesting... Really interesting. Good, we'll shelter you as much time as you want with a condition. Train with us tomorrow!"

"Training-" I want to ask what this "training" involves but this time I get interrupted by Taiyo which accepts the invitation in an instant.

"We'll be glad to train with you! Yes! Training! We didn't do it in such a long time!"

"Good, I'll get Shouko to guide you to your room after dinner."

After sipping from the orange juice he just got a moment ago, Taiyo asks,

"Who is Shouko?"

But just before we could hear any reply, another unknown face appears at our table with a covered plate.

"Welcome to Shimada's Bar! There is your food!"

Mister Kein turns his face towards her and says,

"You don't have to be so formal Shouko, they are guests, not clients."

"Oh, I see. Glad to meet you then!"

"She is pretty cute," whispers Taiyo to mister Fyodor

"Don't get fooled... She is just a twenty-eight years old gran-" was Fyodor's reply, but he didn't get to finish his sentence. The last thing he saw was a steel plate flying towards him, and a fake smile from the one responsible for it.

"She reminds me of Akushi... Scary!" thinks Taiyo

After we all finished eating and talking, miss Shouko guided us towards our room. You'd think that I would fall asleep easily after a day of running, cleaning, and forming new bonds. Not even mentioning that I and Taiyo didn't sleep in about three days now. All I can do now is stare at the ceiling and think about what happened today.

"Training huh? Didn't do that in a long time... Why would the owner of a bar need training though? He seemed pretty strong though." I whisper to myself before closing my eyes, trying to fall asleep once again.

--- The sunrise came, bringing with it a new day to learn more and also train more.

"So you've woke up?" are the first words that we hear in the morning, coming from the owner of the bar, mister Kein

"You two sure sleep a lot," adds Fyodor while smiling at us from his usual place behind the bar.

The only thing we could say after just waking up was a simple "good morning". In contrast to yesterday, the bar had many clients this morning. Everyone from the bar looks so busy... However, mister Kein turns towards Shouko and shouts while taking off his gloves,

"Shouko! You're in charge of the bar 'til we finish our training!"

"Wh-What? Don't do that! There are too many clients!"

But while showing her a peace sign from the bar's door, Kein says,

"Have fun!"

I and Taiyo, as well as Fyodor, follow mister Kein, leaving the bar.

We then went to a plain area that was situated just behind the bar's building. Apparently, it was Kein's property as well, and it served mostly as a training field.

"I'm curious about way too many things... Why does a bar owner need training, or..." I think, telling my second thought to mister Kein

"What training will we be doing?"

"It's easy, mock fights! Probably just one on one fights." replies mister Kein

"Woohoo! Didn't do that in a long time! I'm so excited!" says Taiyo full of enthusiasm.

"Nice, if you are so fired up, I'll be your opponent. At the same time, Akushi and Fyodor will be fighting each other," says Kein with his hand under his chin.

"What are the rules?" I ask, with a puzzled expression.

"Oh... Do your best, just don't kill each other." is the simple answer that mister Kein came up with.

". . . really?" even I am sometimes questioning his personality.

"Now, if you don't have anything else to add, let's start!" shouts Kein, marking with those words the start of our mock battle training.

I draw my sword nodding

"Come, show me what you've got!" shouts Kein while facing Taiyo.

Taiyo starts running towards Kein with incredible speed, his knife just barely scratching Kein's cheek.

He then turns back at mister Kein and says,

"I thought you'd be stronger. I am sorry but I win this..."

But hearing Kein's voice, Taiyo's eyes widen.

"Rule one of combat: Never underestimate an opponent, nor show your back to him."

Taiyo's mistake got him in a situation where mister Kein's katana was being held against his neck from behind.

"How comes? You shouldn't be able to move!"

"Oh, didn't I tell you I am immune to most types of poison?"

Kein jumps back, presumably giving Taiyo a second chance.

"So this is how you play? Nice then!" says Taiyo rolling up his sleeves, revealing the small crossbows underneath.

He starts shooting continuous waves of arrows while slowly approaching mister Kein. However, Kein not only blocks all of Taiyo's arrows with his katana but he also counterattacks every single time with the force of the wind generated by the swing of his blade.

Small cuts appear on Taiyo's body and clothes out of nowhere.

"How did he cut me? He didn't even hit me. Wait, it can't be..." thinks Taiyo realizing something

"Are you perhaps... A "chosen"?" asks Taiyo while stopping the arrow assault.

"So you've realized? Not only me but Fyodor and even Shouko as well."

"Three of you?!" shouts Taiyo not being able to believe the words that came out of Kein's mouth.

"Pretty low chances to happen, right?"

Taiyo gives up the idea of attacking from afar while approaching. If Kein blocking an arrow meant a counterattack then he decided to take him on in close combat... but it wasn't a good idea...

"Not only you blocked all my attacks, you even had a second sword that you didn't use by now!?"

As Taiyo said, Kein drew a second sword which he used to attack Taiyo while blocking with the other.

"For a kid of your age, you are incredible. Not many got me to unsheathe my second blade even in the army, but this is the end..." says Kein, just before throwing his blades in the air, and with some fast martial arts, immobilizing Taiyo.

"I've lost my honor, so please, kill me..." like always, Taiyo's words after being defeated remain unchanged.

"Umm, alright," says Kein with his hand under his chin.

"Don't listen to him, mister Kein! This is how he is after losing!"

Kein moves his look towards Akushi and Fyodor that are fighting on equal terms. He carefully watches over their battle, admiring Akushi's clean and beautiful sword skills.

"At such a young age... Akushi is a truly interesting boy," says Kein while being mesmerized by his fighting style.

"Akushi has a strong resolve and trained with me in the sword art ever since we were little. I didn't defeat him once in over seven hundred mock battles."

"You are really good, kid! Maybe I should speed up the pace."

Fyodor started using his claw-like daggers to attack Akushi with better speed and accuracy. If they were on even ground by now, Fyodor has now a slight advantage.

"I can't defend myself from all the hits! Maybe I can try that skill now..."

For a brief moment, I give up my fighting stance like I didn't even know how to hold the sword anymore.

"You are full of openings!" says Fyodor while charging Akushi to give him a clean hit, but just at that moment...

"Parry..."

Akushi's sword looked like it moved on its own as it was a part of his hand. He parried Fyodor's quick attack leaving him with an opening long enough for Akushi to deliver a good s***h.

"Incredible," says Fyodor getting up from the ground, with a hand on his wound. Then he backs a little and gets something out of his pocket.

"Is that... A bottle of vodka?" says Taiyo with a questioned expression.

"If chief used his "chosen" power... I'll use mine too." he then started to drink from the bottle, with his powers coming outside in the form of shadow-like clones as he drank.

It wasn't only one or two shadows, but tens of them.

"He can generate shadow clones?!" says Taiyo with an excited tone as he saw Fyodor's powers.

"So you're not going to talk about the fact that he needs to drink to activate that power...?" says Kein while looking at Taiyo with a puzzled expression.

"The shadows are a part of me so I have to drink for all of them," says Fyodor, while approaching Akushi at a high speed.

A big wave of hits covered Akushi.

"This is bad... I can't keep up..." I think while trying to run away from the dozens of shadows following me.

Even if I try to destroy one, another one would appear. I am powerless in this fight.

"You can't hide it, kid. You are like us, and that power is yours to use, so show it now!" shouts Kein while looking at the powerless Akushi as he ran away from the shadows.

"So you knew? You knew that Akushi is a "chosen" as well?"

"It's easy to tell for the other ones. We realized from the second he came into the bar..."

[Chief, two kids are searching for you. They don't seem to be from this place and also... one of them is like us.]

Those are Fyodor's words that Kein recalled just now while looking at Akushi running.

"Tch... I guess I have no other choice!" I say while taking a bit more distance between myself and the shadows.

"Come... The light that destroys the depths of hell. Uriel!"

As I say my chant, a curved sword appears from the light inside a sheath of the same form.

"Gather!"

The light started gathering around my sword while inside its sheath. The emitted pressure was incredible.

"I won't let you!"

Fyodor starts attacking Akushi with another wave of shadows, but Akushi didn't move an inch since he started the "gathering"

"Akushi is... pretty special for even a "chosen"," says Taiyo while looking intently at the fight between two "chosen" powers users.

"Why are you taking so many free hits?!" says Fyodor while approaching Akushi to deliver a final hit on him.

"Gather complete..." I say taking the sword out of its sheath.

It was somehow, a long straight sword, way different from the sheat's curved form. With the sheath still in his hand, Akushi lifts it towards Fyodor and says,

"Light... Cannon!"

In the second he unleashed the gathered power, all the shadow clones disappeared in the light...

"That's bad! Fyodor, back down!" says Kein while taking his katana out of its sheath, getting in front of Fyodor

"Wind wall!"

  The light engulfed the battlefield. A big crater was formed where the light cannon was used. Behind the big wall made out of wind created by the "Wind Wall" ability, almost unharmed are standing Fyodor and Kein.

"The fight is over. That was quite the firepower if you ask me," says Kein while approaching Akushi. He then looks straight down into Akushi's eyes and asks him,

"What is your goal?"

With no place to hide, and the moment requesting the truth to be spoken, I look straight up at Kein and say,

"I will... Be a true king, and I will create a place where I and Taiyo, and also other kids that fell into despair as we did in the past can belong to."

"This kid... Such terrifying power and beautiful skill at such a young age, and eyes full of fire that reflects his resolve... Maybe he can change something in this unjust world." thinks Kein after hearing Akushi's resolve.

"I see... Fyodor! Take care of the bar for me for a while! I will go watch over them and... Help this little prince grow into a king!"