The Village Disciples

The pressure was overbearing. Yuso could feel his heart thump within his body. Before the youngest Takuetsu left for his induction, Lord Shuji—the current patriarch of the Takuetsu family and its members—instilled extensive detection training in Yuso. Throughout his entire life, Lord Shuji fortified the idea that anybody who did not have Takuetsu blood running through them was less than human. Yuso's grandpa was the strongest warrior, passing down an impressive amount of his strength to his son, who then fathered three children. 

Fortunately or not, Takuetsu's grandfather was unable to pass down all of his powerful magical attributes; his skills were simply too potent to be passed down genetically or physically to another living being.

But the Takuetsu pride was what maintained that missing chunk of power. Not to mention the pervasive fear that every civilian in Adonai and the two newest nations—Shanti and Zebulun—felt upon even glancing at the red hair of the Takuetsu family. 

Currently, Yuso relied on his waves of magic that were expelled in every direction, sensing whether an unidentified individual was nearby or not. This was his first mission. The youngest Takuetsu was trained tirelessly in their compound, but Yuso had never experienced shedding the blood of another person. It was not something he particularly looked forward to, either. 

What perplexed Yuso the most was why they were walking at a standard civilian pace. 

"Increase pace. We're moving too slow." The blue and green-eyed redhead shouted, his voice laced with forced assertiveness and faint anxiety. 

One armored troop glanced at the youngest Takuetsu and said, "But they will detect us much faster if we simply exude more of our Aura Sense to travel faster. We must remain as a surprise for them." 

Yuso reflected on the information, but shrugged off the well-rounded logic. "You're accompanied by a Takuetsu. Surprise or not, they will… die."

The redhead mentally chastised himself for appearing hesitant. Yuso did not want to kill, if he was being honest. However, the pace that he and the group of warriors traveled at was torturous. Yuso knew that people were going to die or be imprisoned, and the dilatory speed of this mission gnawed at his heart unforgivingly. 

Though doubtful, the warriors nodded. 

"You heard him! Increase the pace!"

*SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!*

In less than a second, every single one of the warriors and Yuso darted forward, disappearing in the wind. It was a new experience to feel the wind brush against Yuso's face as he ran throughout Adonai without having to stop immediately. Speed practice was constant in the Takuetsu compound, but the environment in which the youngest Takuetsu used to train was incredibly small. At least for immense speeds, it was. 

It was not long until Yuso and his warriors arrived at their first village: Saikou. Saikou had a recent history of releasing information against the Takuetsu, spewing claims about the brutality of the red-headed bloodline and why the people of Adonai need to reject their rule. Lord Shuji obviously detests such actions, so he sent his youngest son and a group of warriors to fix it. 

The warriors posted outside of Saikou suddenly felt a wall of impending magic, their senses alerting them. 

"The Takuetsu are here!"

Yuso was at the front of his group, dashing toward the village like an unstoppable storm—but he was, once again, hesitant. What was he supposed to do first? Kill the warriors guarding Saikou? Leave them alive? Yuso would prefer if they were left alive. Slaughtering them would not be—

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

Breaking out of his stupor, Yuso witnessed as his warriors discharged beams of light that obliterated the troops of Saikou. Blood stained the ground, village walls, and soared through the air. 

Yuso halted, watching as his warriors continued to raze Saikou.

"Wait!" Yuso yelled, trying to get his warriors' attention. 

*BOOM! BOOM!*

More explosions covered the village, annihilating the villagers and troops that resided in Saikou. Yuso was forced to watch as people were murdered. Not a single person was left for interrogation; the warriors from the Takuetsu compound were simply ripping through the village, all because they rebelled against Takuetsu rule. 

In the corner of Yuso's eyes, he saw a woman with her kids running behind burning buildings, fleeing to the edge of the village. A hint of relief filled the redhead's heart as the mother and her family remained seemingly undetected by the Takuetsu warriors.

Then Yuso's heart dropped as they were found. They did not get far before being turned to ash. 

"...Spare me!" A weak and gurgled voice spat, catching Yuso's attention.

Crawling on the ground at Yuso's feet was a rotund man with blood staining his skin and clothes. His hair was ruffled, and one of his eyes was damaged to the point of total blindness. With his remaining eye, the injured man gave the youngest redhead the saddest look he could muster. 

"...Please!" The man said with a groping voice. 

Yuso racked his brain for ways to spare the man. Interrogation. They could interrogate him. Even if he was just a villager who may not have any meaningful connections with Saikou's militia, that does not mean he could not have any valuable information. 

"You'll be coming with us, sir—!"

*SHING!*

A blade tore through the man's skull. 

One of the Takuetsu warriors hummed and said, "That is all of them."

The youngest redhead stared at the rotund man's corpse, shocked. He watched as the Takuetsu warrior retracted his blade from the man's skull and sheathed it around his waist. 

"Next village." One of the other warriors spoke, wiping the blood from their armored hands. 

Yuso clenched his teeth, his heterochromatic eyes dilating. "What happened to taking some for interrogation!?"

The warriors blinked, staring at the redhead in confusion. Their cold and monotonous expressions struck Yuso deeply, especially after watching them end the lives of thousands in just a couple minutes. 

"Interrogation, sir?" One warrior queried, raising a brow. "They committed a taboo act of rebelling against your family's rule. Death is their punishment."

"We can't reform them!?" Yuso hollered, stepping toward the warriors. They stepped back hesitantly. 

One of the warriors became pale. "Lord Shuji ordered their executions himself, sir!"

Yuso paused, his mind flashing back to his father. Was death all his father knew? His grandfather, too? What happened to reasoning? Why was the Takuetsu family only meant for destruction? The air grew heavy as Yuso exhaled, his heart beating erratically. 

"We will be walking to the next village. Razing Saikou like this was too messy. We'll do a surprise raid like we originally planned." The youngest redhead ordered, recollecting himself. 

Yuso knew he was the one who ordered the warriors to rush into Saikou without any stealth, but he also did not expect the sheer amount of bloodshed that the Takuetsu warriors caused. He needed time to think and formulate ways to prevent further murder. Think of reasonable ways to sway his father's thinking and help the rebellious villages understand how much danger they are in by refusing to concede to the Takuetsu. 

"Onward…!" Yuso hollered, marching in a new direction. 

Leaving the remains of Saikou to burn, Yuso and his warriors marched onward, only thinking of the next village they were to reach. To the seasoned warriors, it was only another day for them. The brutality was expected, but the thoughtfulness Yuso exuded was not. As for Yuso, he remembered what his siblings had told him. To not end up like his father and grandfather. 

The group was as slow as ever, walking through the woodlands of Adonai at a regulated pace. There was no deadline for this mission—they just needed to get solid results, which consisted of villages being purged. 

The day had just started, the sun was still rising in the sky, and so many people had already lost their lives. Yuso stole glances at the warriors around him, noticing the small blood stains on their armor that they missed when wiping themselves off. The redhead looked at their expressionless faces. It was all just a job for them. There was nothing personal, nothing extreme. Just labor. 

Just then, Yuso sensed something in the distance. Movement. Rapid movement. 

"Disperse! Now!"

*BOOM!*

XXX

We love arbitrary endings to a chapter! I'm struggling to space these chapters out, so I'm simply picking when I think one should end and when the next should start. A lot was covered in this chapter, most of it pertaining to Yuso's mentality going into all of this and being a Takuetsu. He hasn't always been a ruthless murderer that does not hesitate to send someone to an early grave. He also did not always have the Shirugeto, as that's been revealed in this and the last chapter. Stay tuned for more!

Have a Great Day!

Peace - Cr1ticalz_