For one fleeting moment, all around the collected men stilled. The only thing that shifted the air was Sendo’s declaration, stunning the world to silence. If their faces were any indication, the bandits were still piecing together exactly what they had been told and its meaning. The only thing Sendo could hear was the sound of his blood pumping the hot fire of hate through his body, threatening to break him if it wasn’t give it a release.
He obliged.
Blurring forward in a rush, Sendo’s foot crashed forward into the lead mans chest, bodily throwing him into one of his companions where they both were thrown to the floor in a heap, gasping and maneuvering desperately to not impale themselves. Sendo was already in motion while the man still flew to the ground, spinning in a tight circle with War Edge finding its way to his hands. Gripping the heft of his axe the men that had arranged behind him received the full brunt of Sendo’s form with weapon in hand. The look that flashed over their face said that they might just wet themselves.
Not that they’d get the chance.
Sendo charged into their midst, War Edge held across his chest with a roar on his lips. The bandits held their weapons up and attacked, but it meant little. Jumping to the left Sendo pulled himself out of range of three of the bandits, knocking the rusted sword from the grip of the last man in a crushing parry from his axe Sendo rushed into the man’s face. Weaponless, with a mountain of muscle and fury practically teleporting into his face the man had abject fear written across all his features. Grabbing him by the neck Sendo hefted the man to eye level before crashing his forehead into those fearful features an instant later, causing the man to slack in his iron grip. Dropping the bandit to crumble in a pile Sendo felt a crack across his back as one of the others rushed in and struck him with his cudgel. Spinning around Sendo brought his axe to bear, sweeping upward through his spin the man attempted to block but was unable to hold back the titanic strength behind the swing. The razor like teeth of War Edge tore into the mans hip, arcing diagonally upward through his body. Muscle and bone offered little resistance as Sendo followed through the swing, practically tearing the bandit’s arm from his shoulder while bright, arterial blood pumped heavily from the gigantic wound. His torso eviscerated, the man was already dead even if he was being slow about it, so Sendo turned his attention to the others.
Kicking the dead man to the ground, Sendo leaped over the bleeding corpse to meet the two that had been arranged behind him, making a brief note of the fact that two more were charging into the fray while the other two still attempted to find their breath and rise to their feet. Both men in front of him bore pitted, rusted swords which they began swinging hastily as Sendo easily closed the distance. Sendo brought War Edge forward, catching the blade of one man in the center of his axes shaft he felt the other cut into his right arm, opening a wound that sluggishly began to bleed. Ignoring the wound Sendo pushed up and forward, throwing the bandit’s sword and arms upward as the man struggled to keep his balance. Taking a bracing step back Sendo swung the ugly edge of his weapon in a wide, horizontal arc which practically bisected the bandit still fighting for his balance.
The one who had struck him was almost caught in the same swing but managed to jump back, barely dodging a similar fate as his fellow was thrown toward him by the force that had opened his body. However, this dodge would not save him as Sendo would keep the momentum of his heavy weapon moving as it was swung around into a vertical chop that Sendo jumped into. The bandit saw the chop coming and attempted to block it, bringing his sword high to catch the attack. The sheer force behind the attack made a mockery of his attempt as Sendo’s blow ripped the weapon from the bandits grip before cutting deep from the man’s collarbone, the blade stopping midway into his torso. Yanking hard Sendo freed the weapon from the man’s chest, throwing a large arc of blood through the area before turning to the two incoming bandits.
He could see the men’s charge faltering as in the brief seconds that had passed they had seen as their fellows were slaughtered at Sendo’s hands, but they would have no chance to rethink their attack as Sendo rushed in to meet their charge with his own offense. His weapon swung around once more in a horizontal arc of death forcing both bandits to leap forward to the ground to avoid being cut in half by it. This situation though was no better as now they were face down at Sendo’s feet, desperately trying to roll and find their feet. Like the master he was he expertly continued the motion of his swing, carrying the axe high overhead before crashing it down through the left bandits neck, biting it deep into the rock below. Leaving his weapon stuck in the ground momentarily Sendo turned his body and took several large, bounding steps toward the other man who had managed to rise to a kneeling position. Then, at the start of a full sprint, Sendo kicked the rising man with as much force as he could muster. He felt bone give under his foot, as well as possibly in his foot as the bandit was thrown to his back unconscious by the force of Sendo’s foot.
Sendo turned his gaze to the two he had knocked to the ground at the onset of battle. Perhaps thirty seconds had passed since the start of the violence, and Sendo had fully expected both bandits to have descended on him by now, especially considering he had left his weapon perhaps a meter from himself. But no, the men had watched as their fellow bandits were torn down, their blood pooling and throwing off light steam around their corpses, and all thought of fight had seemingly left them. The men were on their knees, weapons thrown to the ground with their arms raised high above their heads. Their eyes were huge, trembling notably in fear which only worsened as Sendo began stalking toward them. Sendo stopped momentarily next to his weapon, wrenching it out of the rocky ground it had bitten into, jerking the body it had gone through slightly with the movement. His weapon once again in hand Sendo turned his full attention upon the cowering bandits, continuing his leisurely pace towards them.
The one he had booted originally once again found his voice, ”Spa… Spare us lord! We meant nothing by it earlier! Let us leave and we’ll never return! Please!” The man spit out as his partner enthusiastically nodded his agreement. Both men’s trembling increased two fold as Sendo finally reached them, his massive stature towering over the men on their knees. The pungent odor of urine was thick around the two, causing Sendo’s face to knot up slightly tighter. Even this slight facial change was enough to drag a yelp from the bandit’s mouth as both began cowering inward even more, apparently to make themselves as small and non-threatening as humanly possible.
Sendo’s powerful disdain for the bandits only thickened as the men continued to whimper and silently plead for their lives. But, when gifted an opportunity for information like this one, you didn’t pass it up. Sendo was reckless after all, not stupid. “Shut up.” Both men immediately heeded his barked command, ceasing making even the barest of noise. He felt their doe sized eyes upon him, waiting to learn if they would live or die. Sendo bore his gaze fully into the one who had been their spokesman, “Answer all my questions and I might not throw the both of you off the cliffside. Understand?” Empathetic nods answered him, “Good. Now, what have you been doing and where are the rest of you holed up?”
The fear in the mans voice was palpable as he answered, ”We… We came up cause we heard ‘bout the caravans of stuff that come down, all the jewels n shit. Boss said it’d be easy pickins if their was enough of us. Said these mountain folk are a hard people but if we got enough of us they wont stand a chance. Had been workin too. Theres a flatter spot up the pass way ahead that isn’t so close to the cliff, we been campin there. That way no one could get past us and call for aid. Man, we were supposed to been done and gone already, you gotta believe me but the boss said nah theres more here but I’d tried to te-”
The man clamped his mouth shut has Sendo’s hand shot up, palm toward him, interrupting the undoubtedly heartfelt apology how none of this was his fault. “I don’t give a shit about your excuses and I don’t have the time or energy to listen to them. I’m a little tired from slaughtering all your friends after all.” He saw the man cringe inward as his gaze reflexively flew over the steaming corpses that littered the ground while his fellow just continued to stare upward at Sendo, fear written in every feature of his statuesque face. When he saw he had the talkative man’s attention again he continued, “Your boss. Tell me about him and how many more of you there are.”
”The…There….There’s about twenty more of us. Most of em will be further up the pass right now in case any carts come down the pass, we gotta good spot up there. The boss is a big n scary lookin guy. Not as big as you though lord. No he couldn’t hold a candle to y-urg!” The rest of what the man had to say was lost as Sendo’s crushing grip clamped around the mans throat, dragging him bodily up to his feet and cutting off his air.
Dragging the man toward the cliff Sendo stood him directly at the edge before relaxing his hold on the man slightly. Strangled coughs could be heard as the man wheezed air into his lungs around Sendo’s occluding hand as Sendo spoke, “Last warning. Now, tell me everything about those big guys from a few weeks ago. No holding anything back, or you die.” Sendo’s voice was low, almost nonchalant, but it was as cold as he himself felt.
The man’s voice was much quieter with a fist surrounding his throat, but he still managed to speak, ”Two… Two guys came up the pass! Almost as big an mean as you look! We… We stopped like with you, but they fought. They killed a couple of us before we managed to knock one of em off the cliff. When he went it distracted the other guy long enough for Hiro over there to get a good cut in and take the guys hand off. We piled on him and beat him up, decided we could sell em or something on account of he’s so big even if he only got one hand he can still move heavy shit after all. So we dragged him back to camp. That’s, that’s it, I swear.”
Much of what the man said made sense, but that sense did not relieve Sendo’s heart. In fact, it dropped several more tons of weight on it. ‘Eiji was captured?’ The thought echoed in Sendo’s head as he continued to hold the man in his iron grip. His feeling must have written themselves on his face as the man continued, ”You… You said if I talked you’d let me go, right?” The flicker of hope behind all the terror in the man’s eyes was noticeable as he looked as if he’d have been waiting with bated breath if he wasn’t finding it so hard to breath. Sendo eyed the man, mentally deliberating on whether that was all he needed. Satisfied he could work with that, and that he was tired of communing with filth, Sendo responded,
“If that’s what you want.”
Sendo released his grip on the mans throat, giving him a shove to the chest. The hope in the mans eyes died as suddenly as it had arrived as he felt himself begin to stumble out into open air. The screaming echoed up the cliffside as the man fell, while at the same time Sendo turned away from the cliff and toward the remaining bandit. The one that the talkative man had pointed out as Hiro. The screaming lasted for several more seconds before it abruptly cut off. Sendo raised his axe and jammed it into the ground blade first, sticking it solidly in the rock again as he eyed Hiro before finally speaking, “So… You’re the one that cut my brothers hand off.” The light of clarity lit the mans eyes and his mouth began working up and down, whether in denial or apology Sendo didn’t know. He never gave the man the chance. Like lightning Sendo had leapt into the man, driving them both into the ground with Sendo mounted on top of him. Sendo sat up tall over Hiro as he began to bat at him weakly with his arms until Sendo crashed his fist down into his face. Hiro stopped trying to get him off and used his arms to try and cover the assault that had begun but it would do little to stop Sendo’s fury. Fists like sledgehammers rained down into the mans arms and skull as blood began welling out of his broken nose and split lips. He must have knocked Hiro unconscious as his arms flopped down next to his head, no longer protecting it. This simply offered an easier target as Sendo rained his anger down into the mans face, feeling the mans skull begin to crack, eventually break, and then begin to deform under his continued assault.
Standing up, Sendo sucked in large gulps of cold mountain air as he looked down at what had once been Hiro the bandit. He didn’t know how long he had vented his rage on the corpse, as the man was undoubtedly dead, but it had been long enough that Sendo doubted that the man’s closest friends would be able to recognize him through the bloody paste that his face had transformed into. Stepping back, Sendo walked over and once again wrenched his axe from the ground, hooking it back to its sheath before calmly beginning further down the pass to where the talkative man had said their camp was.
After all, not only were their more bandits, Sendo had to save his brother.
[MFT]
[WC: 2497]
[To be Continued…]
