They happily restarted their journey, leaving the battlefield behind them, now almost halfway to Thunderblack castle.

Chapter Fifteen -

Cold descended onto the world once more.

Kiso and Yuni are in the last leg of their journey to Thunderblack castle.

During the last few miles they had encountered several more death squads, which Kiso took the initiative to deal with. The individual strength of these death squads were all at a laughable level and Kiso could deal with them in any number of ways. He even relied on ordinary physical attacks and his Skyshadow technique to take care of one of them.

As darkness continued to polish the sky, Kiso and Yuni were stealthily making their way towards the back of the valley.

Kiso's spiritual pressure zone, extended to its max range, finally started to swallow the outer wall of Thunderblack castle.

Stopping, Kiso held out his arm, motioning for Yuni to stop as well. He whispered, "Yuni, we're within a half mile of the castle. We'll rest here for the night then sneak in before dawn."

Yuni nodded, her face was barely visible in the darkness, but if Kiso could see it, he would see her eyes burning with determination.

Kiso once more materialized some blankets, this time in the center of some tall brush where they would be hidden from night patrols.

Neither of them had the peace of mind to flirt this night, as they attempted to get as much sleep as they could.

- - - - -

Early morning, before the sun welcomed itself back into the sky, two dark silhouettes darted from a cluster of tall brush.

Kiso wanted to arrive at Thunderblack castle at least half an hour from daybreak in order to use the darkness to infiltrate the castle.

The outline of that familiar castle grew larger as Kiso and Yuni rapidly approached. The former pristine walls were visibly damaged even in the darkness of the night. Torchlight dotted the tops of the walls, slowly moving back and forth.

As they finally reached the base of the southeastern wall, Kiso quickly went over a simple plan with Yuni, "Alright, I'm going to shadowstep up to the top and when it's safe I'll let a rope down to you. When we're in, our goal is the central throne room as that's where I detect the largest spiritual pressure. The second elder of the Ichi clan is sure to be there." Kiso started to turn to observe the surroundings one last time when Yuni grabbed his hand and said, "Kiso, if we can't win..." Kiso cut her off with a lighthearted laugh, "Yuni, we have to at least be confident! It's true this elder is likely to be stronger then the other, but they are called the two pillars of the Ichi clan, how great a difference could it be?"

Yuni's face didn't lighten, rather she shook her head and cursed Kiso for lacking caution. As they say, the cautious man will always live longer then the overly brave.

She didn't stop him though, instead releasing his hand and giving him a firm nod.

Kiso turned back around and his body flickered, disappearing.

Atop the wall, Kiso reappeared directly behind a torch bearing guard. The guard was whistling a merry tune while leisurely walking, when the breath feeding his whistle suddenly vanished. A perplexed look on his face, he lifted his free hand, feeling his throat his expression grew ugly.

Spinning around, large amounts of blood streaking down his neck, he felt only felt lightheaded as the word turned sideways, then dark.

Kiso wiped a small dagger on his leather pants below his pitch black cloak as he stared at the lifeless corpse. He gathered spiritual pressure in his hand, lowering his body and placing it on the dead man's torso. A low 'bzzt' was barely audible as the man's body disintegrated leaving a pile of ash that began to scatter into the morning breeze.

Satisfied, Kiso materialized a rope from his ring, and walked to the edge of the wall. Once more verifying the absence of guards, he started lowering the rope to Yuni. Casual thoughts eased Kiso's mood, "It's a good thing Koho looked out for us, she even gave us things like rope, hahaha...."

Sending a mental message to Yuni below, Kiso felt the tension of the rope tighten and he began to pull her up.

When Yuni reached the top, Kiso started point in various directions, "There are around fifty people on the walls alone, I can clearly sense around three hundred throughout the castle as well. From the looks of it, the route with least resistance would be over there....or over there.. or over there.." As he pointed at the last location, Yuni's eyes shone fiercely.

She quickly whispered, "Then we'll go that way!"

Kiso sighed and they started stealthily making their way towards the old captain of the guards private quarters.

As they descended the wall, Kiso sent a mental message, "Yuni, lets stay silent for now, if we come across anyone, do not hesitate!"

From the central throne room, a powerfully built man was overlooking the castle walls outside from a thin aperture in the wall. He was casually scanning the dark scene before him, appearing to be in deep thought. In his mind he wondered, "There has to be a way around..." His pondering concluded prematurely as he noticed a string of disappearing torchlight, heading in his direction.

A strangely excited expression grew on his face as he quickly summoned his closest subordinate.

An equally large man casually walked over from the shadows, speaking with an extremely deep voice he queried, "Is something wrong Danstun?" A genuine tone of worry in his voice.

Danstun, the remaining elder of the Ichi clan, laughed and pointed out towards the ground. "Take a look Vohan, it seems we have a visitor!"

Vohan's face grew excited as well, these two close friends were extremely fond of fighting and the boredom associated with guarding a castle was driving them crazy recently.

The sun finally broke the seal of darkness on the horizon as light began to spill into Thunderblack valley.

As the light slowly reached Thunderblack castle, Danstun and Vohan stared down at the two silhouettes wreaking havoc on their men.

Jaw slightly lowering, a cold sweat on his back, Vohan took a step back and was about to run off to help when Danstun stopped him, "No need to act Vohan, they're already outside."

- - - - -

Kiso and Yuni stood side by side staring up a large flight of stairs.

At the top of the stairs a gigantic pair of large oak doors were the only thing separating them from the last man responsible for leading the attack on Thunderblack valley.

In the courtyard used for official ceremonies such as weddings or receiving foreign ambassadors, Kiso stood, arms crossed. Although he was extremely confident in his strength, a strange thought clouded his ordinarily clear mind, "Somethings off, how could such a puny number of enemies overtake our clan? And they're all so weak too..."

Yuni on the other hand was leaning on one leg with her hands behind her back, a rare devilish smile painted on her face. It could be seen she wasn't the least bit worried.

Right as Kiso was about to take another step forward, the oak doors moved first. Or rather, they blew from their hinges as two giant boulders came crashing down the stairs heading directly for Yuni and himself.

Kiso's brows slightly clenched as he raised his already charged fingertips instantly releasing a dazzling bolt of black lightning. The boulders cracked and fell into seemingly a million pieces, scattering around the courtyard. If it was anyone else, they wouldn't think twice, but this was Kiso, he knew his power and he quickly rose his guard thinking, "I only cracked these boulders, they are definitely not ordinary stone!"

The moment the two boulders exploded, two large burly men slowly walked out of the empty archway as they began to slowly descend the long flight of stairs. Not just those two, but the sudden explosion had alerted all the surrounding Ichi clansmen as well and they quickly started rushing into the courtyard.

Kiso stood, calm, as two hundred or so black cloaked men and women surrounded them in a half moon formation with the open end facing the flight of stairs.

When the two large men reached the bottom, the slightly larger of the two stepped forward, throwing off his cloak.

With his body now visible, Kiso's face slightly changed. The man's arms and legs were as thick as tree trunks and he had large, visible scars all over his body. His abs and chest were seemingly chiseled from solid stone, covered in a bronze layer of skin. His face wasn't particularly attractive, but it was rough and manly, giving off a wild aura. Most surprisingly however, was that this man appeared to be only in his early twenties!

The man suddenly shouted, "You two must be tired of living! To actually come here alone...HAHAHA" He laughed extremely loudly, accompanied by the laughter of nearly every other person present.

Their laughter shook the courtyard for nearly ten seconds until he suddenly stopped laughing. When that man stopped, so did everyone else, clearly they held him in extremely high regard.

Kiso summoned his own fighting spirit and called out with a powerful voice, "This one's name is Kiso Black, son of Han Black! I believe you know my grandfather as well.." A sinister expression painted Kiso's face as he mentioned his grandfather.

The large man looked slightly startled for a moment before recovering.

He laughed while speaking this time, "Kiso! I've heard that name before! Your grandfather seemed to hold you in high regard!" His laughter growing in volume, "He even warned me you'd certainly take revenge for him!"

Stepping forward, the other large man lowered his hood and interjected, "Kiso, this is the grand elder of our Ichi clan, Danstun Ichi! My name is Vohan Ichi, son of Thenion!" A savage look replaced his previous indifference, it seems they already received word from Blackspark.

Kiso, after being taunted by Danstun, smiled and laughed as well, "Vohan, your father didn't mention you, it seems you weren't particularly high in his mind!"

Kiso's words were like throwing a torch into a pool of oil, instantly igniting Vohan's rage. The other Ichi clansmen were equally angry as they all started to summon their spiritual pressure, causing the air to begin to distort as the earth essence began to condense all around.

"STOP!!" Danstun suddenly cried out, his voice seemingly infused with spiritual pressure, causing everyone present to feel slightly dazed.

Vohan turned to look at Danstun, a puzzled look on his face, he couldn't understand why Danstun would stop them.

Danstun turned to meet his gaze, pausing for a few moments, before turning back to Kiso. Walking forward a dozen more steps, the distance between them shrank to five meters. At this distance, Danstun could now clearly see the faces of Kiso and Yuni, his gaze stopping on Yuni.

"Such beauty!" Danstun's eyes widened and he secretly made up his mind to keep her alive to enjoy for himself later.

The lust in his eyes was evident, and Yuni's face changed as Kiso quickly warned, "Looking at her with such eyes, it seems I'm not the only one tired of living!" He added a cold snort as his body began to emit sharp black sparks.

Danstun was familiar with the levels of the Thunderblack clan and seeing the black sparks, his face slightly changed, growing excited. "This one actually seems to have some ability...I might be able to actually have some fun!"

The black sparks on Kiso's body grew longer and started to roam around his body like an evil serpent. He was growing impatient and wanted to rid the world of this despicable man as quickly as possible.

Raising an arm, Kiso points at Danstun's face exclaiming, "Go die!"

A black lightning serpent instantly flashed forward from his fingertip, diving straight for Danstun's face.

Before the black serpent could reach its target however, the millions of shards scattered through the courtyard suddenly rumbled and rose into the air.

Tens of thousands of them flashed as they sped to intercept Kiso's lightning.

BOOM!!!

The black lightning serpent suddenly collided with those shards of rock, charging them and causing them to explode. The effect however was apparent, Kiso's attack had failed.

The courtyard was now full of floating shards of metallic earth. Hundreds of thousands of them clustered closely around Danstun's body and he coldly snorted saying, "That's it? That's the legendary power of the Thunderblack clan that held them at the top of the western realm for thousands of years? LAUGHABLE!"

Thousands of tiny rocks began to grow illusory as they sped toward's Kiso.

Kiso's face had long since changed, ever since his attack was so easily blocked. He quickly sent a message to Yuni telling her to back away as he began to use his Skyshadow technique to dodge the barrage of tiny metallic rocks.

No matter how powerful Kiso's ability was, Danstun's was a seemingly perfect counter. Kiso couldn't think of a single way to get close enough to attack.

If he wanted to shadowstep close and use his Blacklight sword, he would suffer collateral damage himself. Those hundreds of thousands of tiny rock shards protecting Danstun were like an impenetrable fortress!

"This damned man! He's infinitely more powerful then that Thenion! How could they be considered on the same level?" Kiso cursed in his heart as it grew cold.

What he didn't know, is that Thenion was the previous clan leader and was only a pillar of the clan in name.

Suddenly Kiso's spiritual zone felt something off, as he reappeared after using his Skyshadow technique, he found himself completely surrounded by tiny metal rocks. He panicked and started to shadowstep away, but it was too late, hundreds of tiny metal rocks bore through his skin, some even pierced muscles and tendons.

If Danstun had wanted to, he could have easily killed Kiso just now, but how could such a malicious man let him off that easy. He avoided piercing Kiso's vital spots, only severing his tendons, leaving Kiso in a bloody heap unable to move a muscle.

Yuni screamed in terror and started to run to Kiso while shooting her multi-colored negatively charged lightning at Danstun, but to no avail. The metal shards blocked her lightning as well, then began to race towards her.

The metal shards attached themselves to Yuni's arms, tying them behind her back while simultaneously rooting her feet to the ground rendering her helpless and immobile.

Kiso stared on as rage and terror began to boil to the extreme, but he couldn't do anything. He still had spiritual pressure, but his attacks were already proven useless and he couldn't even move his arms to direct his lightning anymore.

Danstun lived for this, his sinister smile grew ear to ear watching Kiso's face as he slowly made his way in Yuni's direction...

To Be Continued!!