The Unbreakable Bow

The repeated cycle of the boy getting thrown away then him trying to retaliate then getting thrown again continued as the only victim so far of this fight is the old buildings of the village like the humble tower that came falling down .

Aefrine, who by this point got used to the impact of so-called one shot sheath that the enemy claims it to be so , got to his feet despite the blood emerging from under his hair dripping slowly elegantly and mixing with the gentle rain on his face . He prepared his arrow once again,while Ryuji casually destroyed the mass of falling bricks of the before mentioned building, but this time aiming to the cloudy sky .

He shot the arrows that divided itself into five and again he controlled their direction. One went straight for the head , two turned a bit yet still were heading for the head however the last two turned about one hundred and thirty degrees and then continued it straight movements . In response, Ryuji didn't wait for the arrows to come at him to cut them , instead he activated his canons once again which would have resulted in the same outcome if Aefrine didn't choose a different strategy.

In the moment Ryuji prepared his canons, Aefrine made one of his arrows into a string. The arrow kept going forward a bit slower but its length quickly increased until it reached the bow and connected with it . Thus , when the sheath came again for an another clash , the bow and it's owner flied in the other way . Yet , the shogun barely missed as the very end of his weapon touched the boy 's cheek making a soft cut in it . Aefrine got pretty far away from his opponent whose location got verified by the destruction of yet an another cottage and his army who suspiciously haven't changed their position since the beginning of the fight . They seem like their leader is definitely not losing this fight .

In this short time , Aefrine thought about the situation that he got himself into . First of all, the fuck was he doing? How the hell did he got himself into this situation? Just how? He was fighting for his life , yes , but did he just try to kill someone.

Never in his life, he had purposefully tried to physically harm anybody except once and greatly regretted it afterwards. His only purpose in life since the last eight years was to protect and maintain this lifeless village even if it meant stealing anything missing from the houses of the original villagers from the passing caravans which resulted in the otherwise remarkable trade route of "Druim Éadarglas" becoming quite unusable .

At night , he warders the empty streets, chasing any wild beast that searches for easy prey or food . And in the day , he either feeds the domestic animals of the village or he checks each room for anything out of place or hides in the bushes waiting for his next victim . That was pretty much his last eight years . He was cursed to guard the village until his heart has stopped beating which it simply wouldn't. Or that was the case , before he knew of a power that can change fates . Could he finally free himself from his curse ?

Maybe they can help me ? Aefrine thought about his enemies like his allies in a totally childish manner of thinking . Not like they will let him leave peacefully in both cases. He went eastwards. Swinging as fast as he could , he noticed that the army has finally started moving and further away he heard a soft bang that of course meant one thing , he 's coming. He arrived at edge of the village and waited , then he jumped about three meters high unconsciously. Lucky he did , for a heavy swing came and smashed most of the ground he was standing on .

"I had enough of your tricks , I will break that bow of yours !"

Threatened Ryuji as the boy continued flipping away as much as he could. He closed his eyes when he landed and with his ears he focused on the shogun 's words . He sensed his voice and read his soul like a shredded book with a mix of randomly placed words.

The lord's heart was fulled with irritation and pride as well as disgust. But the more he focused, he found what was deep inside. It was shame and sadness with some topping of anger . But what concerned him the most , was the fact that the Lord's soul was different. An insect's soul is different of that of a bird and by that same method, the Lord's soul was inhuman. Aefrine knows a human's soul when he hears one but this one is definitely not human. The problem was he couldn't know whom soul belonged to . It was something Aefrine had never met in his life . He could sense all the other soldiers coming but they were all human even Miyamoto. It was just Ryuji with a drastically different soul type. Aefrine now wonders what is under that mask. But now wasn't the time, he decided to make his move.

He quickly got down and bended his knees and returned upwards. The Lord advanced again and the magical silk of the sheath and glowing essence of the bow collied in a brutal manner for few seconds. Until Aefrine moved his right body whilst partially block the sheath with his right arm. In addition, he lifted his right leg , turned it 300 degrees using his other leg and kicked his enemy ,who was going forward tue to his own strong strike, in his head forcing him back one step . It was quite easy for him to target his head since height difference between them was almost non-existent. One could say that the shogun's height was below average.

It wasn't a challenging assault for the well-experienced warrior but it was a unexpected powerful kick for a teen even if he had trained his entire life . Ryuji immediately prepared for the next assault , just to find Aefrine in the air . The youth hit the head again with his bow while shooting another arrow quickly afterwards, it was very hard, yet even with his unusual strength it wasn't enough to deliver a finishing blow .

However, Ryuji felt something rap around his leg . The next moment, he felt himself fall into the ground and something rapidly pulling him from his foot . It was an arrow Aefrine had prepared when he bended downwards and shot during his ambush with the bow and it had connected with the arrow that Aefrine had shot just moments ago .

It has pulled him into the village 's well . Aefrine didn't wait to see the result, he hit the ground running into the nearby woods . After hiding from sight , he launched three arrows to his right and after some time switched their directions upwards into the village. And when he turned to continue his retreat, he heard one big bang , so mighty that the ground shaked beneath his feet . He looked for a second to see two long enormous pillars of light purple fire giving a color to the surrounding objects coming out of the place that where there used to be a street .

He didn't see anything else due to the density of forest 's leaves ,branches and the thick rain . Aefrine didn't need to see anything else , he had seen enough for one night. So , he continued running not daring to look behind.

Meanwhile, Ryuji who threw away his weapon once out of well ,has just destroyed a street and went flying for real this time thanks to his cannons 's firepower which once in a certain altitude turned all the way to Ryuji 's shoulders ,aiming for the side of the forest which three arrows came flying out . Two flaming canon balls from which dragion-shapped fire would appear ,were launched and upon impact they destroyed a section of the forest in a blink of an eye. The Lord landed , smashing the floor .

Miyamoto hastily appeared in front of him asking while presenting to him his sheath that he had thrown :" Here ,My lord ..... I thought we were supposed to bring much attention as there scouts following u-" "

FORGET THE SCOUTS, HE HAS THE KEYS , send the army and find him "

shouted the lord in a clear tone of anger .

"But sir , if you hit him the keys must have been destroyed sir ." Said Miyamoto pointing out a important fact .

"I'm sure he's alive somehow , he doesn't seem dumb enough to give away his location, search the woods , he must have a hideout or something. I rather have the keys destroyed than in his dirty hands "

Answered the shogun back in his normal calm tone . In meantime, Aefrine was swinging through the branches , using every muscle , he has to increase the distance between him and the village with his only regret being not having a chance to say goodbye to his once home .

Leaving behind an almost ruined center of urban gathering , and cold purple flames eating up the remaining vegetation of what used to be a forest releasing thick smokes that could be noticed in the rainy dawn from miles, Aefrine continued his advance into the unknown...