Shogun’s body lies on the floor, blood stains his futon and tatami mats. Everybody there was still shocked from what happened. Asata broke the silence by rushing to the shogun’s side.

  Asata: Nobusuke-sama! Please hang on, I will get help.

  Nobusuke: It’s okay, I… I know I won’t… survive...Asata…

  Asata: Yes, Nobusuke-sama.

  Nobusuke: I believe… in my dream… you’re one of the heroes… fated to save the world… so… please… save it.

  The shogun’s breath and heartbeat stop after he finished that sentence. The shogun is no more.

  Asata: NOBUSUKE-SAMA!!

  The sliding door opens, and Nijou walks into the chamber.

  Nijou: What happened?! I heard a loud noise… NOBOUSUKE-SAMA! Asata, you traitor! You will pay for this treachery!

  Nijou draws his katana and charges at Asata with the intention to kill him. However, before he get too close to Asata, a wall of ice formed in front of him. Blocking his way.

  Nijou: Don’t stand in my way, foreigner! Or I will have to cut you down too!

  Luna: Asata is innocent in this, I cannot let you harm him!

  Nijou slashes his katana at Luna, Luna creates an ice shield to block it.

  Luna sees an opening and gets closer to land a straight punch on Nijou, Nijou couldn’t evade it and it landed straight on his face.

  Nijou made a feint and managed to land a kick on Luna’s left arm.

  Luna takes a step back to make a gap and shoots a sharp ice knife. Nijou makes a slight sidestep to avoid them and dashes towards Luna.

  Nijou swings his katana at Luna’s feet, Luna jumps over that attack at the right moment.

  Luna managed to land a roundhouse kick at Nijou’s head, forcing Nijou step backward to create space.

  Nijou Slashes his katana to make a fire arc that shoots at Luna, that attack lands at Luna and pushed her back one step.

  Once again Luna shoots a sharp ice knife at Nijou, this time the attack hits Nijou’s left arm.

  Nijou dashes and jumps before he swings his katana down at Luna, Luna creates an ice shield that blocks it successfully.

  At a close range Luna creates a big ball of ice and shoots it at Nijou, it hits him directly and pushes him back until the end of the room, where the ball of ice explodes and encapsulates him in ice.

  Luna: Asata, we need to leave!

  Asata: Nobusuke-sama… why… no, I failed… again.

  Luna: Asata, snap out of it! More guards are coming, we have to leave now!

  After gritting his teeth, Asata stands up and run towards the chamber’s door, Luna immediately follows him. Both of them quickly make way for the secret passage, once they reach the room Asata activates the gate and both of them jumps to the teleportation portal.

  They exited the portal to the small alley they came from earlier. Once they walk to the main street, a rapid loud bell is ringing from the castle.

  Luna: That’s the sign. They’re gonna be looking for us now, what do we do?

  Asata: We need to go out of town, the guards are gonna be searching for us.

  Luna: Good idea, but where?

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  Asata: I have a… hiding place I used to use with my friend. We’ll go there for now.

  Luna: Let’s go quickly while the gate guards still don’t have reinforcements.

  Asata and Luna run in between the confused citizens towards the closest town gate. The two samurai guards there notice Asata and Luna running towards them.

  Guard 1: Halt! No one shall leave the town now!

  Guard 2: If you try, we will stop you by force.

  Asata is not listening to him and draws his sword.

  The first guard slashes his katana vertically at Asata, Asata sidestep to dodge it and swings his katana back, it wounds the guard’s left shoulder.

  Asata kicks the first guard to push him back, and shoots an energy ball from his sword’s thrust. The energy ball hit the first guard right on the chest.

  The first guard lunges toward Asata and slash his katana, Asata quickly steps back to evade it.

  Asata sees an opportunity and swings his katana at the guard’s chest, it was a fatal hit and the guard fell to the ground, defeated.

  The second guard slashes at Luna, Luna creates an ice shield to block that attack.

  Luna moves in and manages to land a one two punch right on the second guard’s face, then take one step back.

  The second guard swings his katana again, Luna ducks under to evade it.

  Luna jumps and lands two kicks on the second guard’s chest.

  The second guard lifts his sword high before swing it down for a strong attack, Luna takes a step backward and successfully avoid it.

  Luna shoots an ice knife and it hits the second guard right on his chest, and that guard falls down to the ground.

  Asata: Now, let’s go while we can!

  Asata sheathes his katana and runs, Luna follows him out of town. The two of them running together under the moonlight in the dark of the night.

  At another place, something else is also happening under the pale moonlight. Somewhere in Su, far away from the crowd of people in cities, in the depths of one of the forest lies a ruin forgotten by time. The stone pillars are still standing between the grasses and wild plants on the floor, much of the roof no longer look like how they should be, but the entrance is still open.

  Inside the ruins, the situation is only a little different than outside, grasses fill the cracks on the floor and small animals run around. This place is dark if not because of the light from a torch that a woman is holding. She is wearing a long-sleeves-red-top and a mini skirt that makes her easy to move, her short hair lies perfectly still in this windless ruin, her glasses reflect the torch’s light, while she seriously study the murals carved on the wall.

  All of a sudden, someone came in from the entrance’s direction. A beastman, a hybrid between a human and a wolf, the lantern he carries shows his blue-white fur body. His whip is strapped on his waist, ready to be used.

  Wolfman: Remind me again, what are you researching in this place, Lei?

  Lei: Have you heard of the legend of the 10-headed dragon, Soruu?

  Soruu: Look at me, I’m not even from Su.

  Lei: The legend has it that thousands of years ago, a 10-headed dragon terrorized the land that we now know as Su. It destroys villages and eat the cattle, it brings fear to every town he passed, and some towns are destroyed just because it wanted to.

  Soruu: That sounds horrible, did anyone try to fight it?

  Lei: Many great fighters did, but none of them survived. Until, one day, a fighter with a different ability than anyone else, shows up. This man can absorb the fighting techniques from anyone he kills, making him stronger after every fight. So, he challenged and killed strong fighters he met.

  Soruu: Wait, I thought he’s gonna fight that dragon. Why is he killing people?

  Lei: That’s his plan. If just powerful fighters aren’t strong enough, then he needed to gather the power of many. He continued his hunt until he has gathered the power of 100 strong fighters in him, then challenged the 10-headed dragon.

  Soruu: Sounds cruel but I like his idea. What happened then?

  Lei: a very long battle ensued as the fighter used everything he had to fight the dragon. The legend said the battle went on for 7 whole days, before all the dragon’s heads are severed, and the terror finally ended.

  Soruu: That’s a very interesting legend. So you’re here studying that history?

  Lei: Follow me for a bit, I’ll show you something.

  Lei leads Soruu to the inner part of the ruin. She took him on a winding path because the straight path is blocked by debris and vegetation. She took the path down until they must have been deep underground. The place is dark and humid, and small critters jump away from the torch lights as they walk.

  Soruu: Where are we going? We are so far down.

  Lei: We’re almost there. Ah, here we are.

  There is a pair of doors in front of them, these doors are carved with half of a dragon’s head on each so together they make a dragon face baring its fangs to whoever come close.

  Lei: Open it.

  Soruu obeyed and push the heavy doors. Inside was a big chamber that’s nearly empty, other than the altar near the side of the wall right in front of them. On the altar, is something Soruu didn’t expect to see. It has lost its power and terror in this form, but looking at it this close, it’s clear what it is: a dragon’s skull.

  Several charm papers with writings that Soruu can’t read are attached to the skull. However, he knows enough about traps to know that those are magical protection.

  Soruu: What? Why is the dragon’s skull here?

  Lei: What we know is that there is a story that says after the dragon is beheaded, the skulls are scattered in ten different ruins. This is the only one we’ve found.

  Soruu: I see. This proves your legend, huh.

  Lei: Yeah, and after this we are looking for the other 9.

  Soruu: Is this why you hired me and the other guards?

  Lei: Treasure hunters are gonna flock to this place once they hear about it.

  Soruu: That’s great, but for now let’s head back up to camp. They sent me here to tell you that dinner is almost ready.

  Lei: You should have told me that sooner! Come on, let’s head back.