15th FIGHT: A DEAL IN THE WORKS

-XOXOXOX-

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-XOXOXOX-

'To be honest, I hate pain.

Pain in general, not just when it comes to Martial Arts.

But when it comes to Martial Arts specifically, what I really like, is to win.

Success, Victory, Triumph, Conquest.

But not just win, but to excel, to overcome, and to surpass.

Whenever I felt that I've been strong enough to just lay back and chill with my life, reality quickly comes to slap me back to thinking straight.

Like lately, I started to realize, that if I want to get far and get stronger, I gotta suck it up, and keep fighting on.

After all, with the talent I possess, I'm sure I'll see results if I keep working at it.

Which in turn, leads me to my next question.

-Why do I want strength?

That's what Shintarou asked me during our first training session

And my answer...?

To get whatever I want, of course. There was no point in lying after all.

And what I want... Is Power.

The power to make my life go the way I want it… Or at least have a hand in how it goes.

And likewise, that's the reason why I fight...

Simple, right?

Or rather, I think it is...'

-Myoujou Kurogami's Journal Entry #1 (Excerpt), 2001.

-XOXOXOX-

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-ONE HOUR AGO-

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-XOXOXOX-

-Saiga Furinji.

The son of an incredibly reputable man with few who could match his martial prowess within the Martial Arts World named Hayato Furinji; The Invincible Superman.

Trained rigorously since young by his Father and late Mother in the Furinji Clan Hybrid Martial Arts and the ideals of the Katsujinken/ Life Saving Fist, the ideal of one dedicating their lives to Martial Arts to abstain from the act of taking a life under no circumstances, Saiga would go on to spread his name throughout the annals of the Martial Arts Community.

And just like other ambitious men and women throughout the ages, Saiga possessed a goal of his own, an ideal of sorts he wished to bring to fruition.

These same ideals were as present as they could be even before he touched down on the soil of the Kuremisago Clan, nearly a decade ago when he received a less-than-stellar welcome due to the climate of the clansmen back then.

-Well, 'less-than-stellar' would be quite the gross understatement, wouldn't it?

Truthfully enough though, were he not stronger than his foes at the time, he would've been nothing but another bloody corpse under the hill of corpses slain by the Kuremisago over the years.

But looking back on it, he was able to meet the woman that would soon become his loving wife and the mother of his child.

For a guy that would most likely see nothing but fighting in his entire life, this seemed like the perfect happy ending didn't it?

'It's unfortunate that I couldn't get along with most of them, but this situation isn't so bad.' Saiga thought at the time.

'You win some, you lose some, I guess.'

And even as the years passed, his goals and ideals remained the same.

He wanted to use Martial Arts as a whole to find a suitable way to help the world, as ironic as it sounds.

-No one would willingly listen to any average shmuck on the street would they? And especially one that has neither money nor power to their name at that.

'After all, where words fail, strength and kindness may just be able to make a difference.' Was what Saiga believed.

-But the question was and still is, 'How can we use that strength to help others?'

Saiga was well aware of the truths of the world, from the rotten side to its pleasant alike.

And because he was aware of said truths of the world he had reached a decision.

And that was the decision to join the group called YAMI.

, in which he would co-found the ONSF.

Joining alongside his best friend Senzui shortly before he married the love of his life Shizuha, he wanted the group to function as a mostly non-aggressive pact, a peace-making organization that dedicated itself to helping others with nine of the strongest martial artists around the world alongside an extensive bond with martial artists from all over the planet.

-His goal was to use this group's strength to make a shocking difference in the world.

'Though… There's still a long way until our dream can fully start to bloom.'

Scouring through the several manors that stood on the Kuremisago Lands, Saiga was truly bewildered.

The falling ruined remains of what stood to be houses, corpses of men and women, old and young alike charred beyond recognition.

"What the…"

'These people, they aren't combatants…. They're civilians…' Saiga's blue eyes widened briefly in shock. That tall frame of his he used to quickly saunter through the Kuremisago Mountains came to an abrupt halt as he froze in place.

If it wasn't the smell of death itself emanating from each stretch of land throughout his brief journey then it was definitely these corpses lying about.

'The culprits of these acts… For what purpose would they have to go so far?' Saiga wondered as he clenched his fist tightly.

Something of this caliber, even for the Kuremisago that boasted of 'Talent, Power, and Logic over Emotions' would be considered overboard and needless.

An overly-gratuitous display of strength and cruelty.

'I need to get to the bottom of this immediately.' Saiga thought.

-cough!, cough!-

From just around the corner, someone could be heard heaving heavily in pained coarse bursts.

"Hmn?"

Swiftly rounding about the corner, Saiga soon found the source of the noise.

It was one of the Kuremisago Clansmen that fought alongside Saiga during this entire debacle. It wasn't someone Saiga knew personally, but if it was anything he was certain of, then it was the man's strength.

So to see him in this state...

"S-Sir Saiga…"

The clansman was inflicted with a variety of wounds, ranging from minor scratches, red-purple bruises, inch-deep slashes, and finally, a whole range of bullet wounds.

"Hey… They weren't any fighting that should be going on here… So how did this all happen?" Saiga asked as he knelt next to the clansman.

"Why…"

The clansman breathed out coarsely as if he was using all the strength in his body just to utter that single sentence.

"Why?" Saiga re-iterated the question. That was what he himself wanted to know, wasn't it?

"What?- What do you mean why?" Saiga asked once more, drawing a crisp breath that hung in the air through the increasingly plummeting temperatures of the Kuremisago Mountains.

"My wounds… the others… killed… Everything…. Even our own group… why did you… kill them…" The clansman coughed. "Why… did you… betray us…"

"!?"

"A... A traitor?"

It was truly the last thing that Saiga wanted to happen at this moment, but the more he thought about it, the more he understood.

He wasn't the smartest cookie around, but that didn't stop him from realizing something was amiss.

'Somebody disguised as me, is going about and killing everyone.'

"This… There seems to be some kind of misunderstanding here…" Saiga tried to reason with the dying clansman as he attempted to patch him up. "It wasn't me who did all of this."

"Haah.. no need… these wounds… are too… grievous…" Though the clansman seemed to believe that Saiga before him had inflicted such heavy injuries, he didn't seem to hold any hostility towards him, continuing to speak with him as calmly as he could possibly have at this moment.

'I know that. I know that very well.' Saiga thought as he hid a grimace.

Looking at the man before him, Saiga knew very well that he didn't need to bother examining him.

-No matter what he did, this man was not going to survive till tomorrow.

But even then, he felt that he should at least try to patch him up, even if it was ultimately out of courtesy.

It was just something that he felt he needed to do.

"T-Thanks... Saiga… sir…"

"..." Saiga couldn't help but frown.

Wasn't he just thinking that he betrayed him and his fellow clansmen? So why is he thanking him?

It couldn't be for the failed attempt at patching him up, right?

"There's no need to thank me…"

"Hah… It's just me having my desserts for what I've done in my life… I never expected… to have a peaceful death after all…"

"..."

"Though… just when I was able… with the rest… to become something… other than a killer…"

"..."

The clansman began to blabber intelligible sentences as the light slowly left his eyes, and his body went still.

"..."

-sigh.-

"Damn it." All that was left in the frosty air was the tired sigh of Saiga. "The culprit. I really need to find the culprit of this. And while I'm at it, I need to find Senzui."

Closing the clansman's eyes, Saiga give gave a short prayer for him before continuing on his way.

As much as he wanted to give the man a funeral, he knew that now wasn't the right time.

He didn't get much in the vein of information from the clansman and wasn't able to find much about what was happening, but from what little information he received, he got the gist.

-They believed that 'he' was the one going about killing all of them. The mercenaries and clansmen alike.

The Kuremisago they fought against was one that prioritized cold-hard 'Logic and Prowess' over the likes of warm-fuzzy 'Feelings and Emotions', to the point where they fought to eliminate everything out of their clansmen's life that didn't entail fighting and gaining power in an attempt to rise even higher than the esteemed heights they had gained within the Martial Underworld.

But even then, the likes of this— And to go after non-combatants as well…

So for that to change…

Either there is dissension within the ranks, or this is an order from one of the elders.

Picking up the pace, Saiga briskly went on his way as minutes continue to pass, searching for Senzui and where other allies or infighting could be.

The frisk temperatures of the Kuremisago Mountains continued to plummet as white snow matted the ground and trees around Saiga, but nevertheless, Saiga eventually reached one of the places he planned on checking out.

"This…"

What entered Saiga's eyes, was the same as the previous buildings.

-Destruction.

Thanks to the snow, the flames that once raged on various sections of the buildings were slowly dying, fizzling out of its fierce dance as the charred remains of wood and surrounding dead bodies lay strewn about.

"Not this again." Saiga frowned.

'Was anyone left alive through here?' 

And soon enough he would find his answer.

-rustle, rustle-

Walking through the damaged manor gates were two figures, a somewhat familiar master and disciple pair.

The master of the pair was a man who stood well over two hundred centimeters, easily past the six-foot-seven area even. He wore an ordinary black tracksuit, and had shaggy black hair that rested above his shoulders, not to mention his lazy brown eyes that seemed to take everything in stride, not having a care in the world as he moved his gaze towards Saiga.

To Saiga, if it wasn't for the sheer amount of muscles the man had underneath the tracksuit or the pressure that emanated off of his being that just screamed about his strength, he would've probably believed that he was just some tourist somehow visiting the Kuremisago Mountains, due to how out of place the man felt with the current general climate.

And for his disciple…

Frankly speaking, Saiga had a feeling of deja-vu whenever he looked at the boy.

Or rather to be specific, he felt that he met someone that looked rather similar to him.

Was it the wavy mess of black hair of his that seemed darker than the night itself? Or maybe even the boy's amber-brown eyes that shone like gold? The boy seemed young, not a day over the age of thirteen, and stood about one hundred and seventy centimeters tall, around five-foot-seven with tan skin and a well-trained physique that stood out even with his baggy red coat, perhaps even more due to the accumulating nicks and tears that lined it causing even more skin to be shown.

This kid to Saiga seemed to be a kid with a chip on his shoulder, a kid yet to finish growing into his skin as he had lots of things on his mind, appearing to be on guard against almost everyone.

And with the boy's thick black eyebrows with a sharp look in his brown eyes of his, the kid gave off a strong feeling of stubborn determination.

How his life would play out, however— was left to be seen.

'The Phantom Titan; Shintarou, and his disciple, that boy named… Kurogami, right?'

'Weren't most of the mercenaries supposedly killed?'

Moving towards the two, Saiga had just one thought on his mind

'If so, then just what are these two doing here?'

-XOXOXOX-

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15TH FIGHT: A DEAL IN THE WORKS END

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-XOXOXOX-