Hunter Ambush.

"That was fast wasn't it?" I asked looking at everyone else who was likely thinking the same, I knew they were fast, Tori could fly, and Jason was a shittier copy of his brother, but even then… Since we had no way of knowing what they had found out so quickly the only choice we had was to wait for them to return, the only upside being the short distance they needed to cover, so within a minute Tori landed on the balcony and slid the window open. "It is broad daylight." Haiiro looked at her and she nodded with a scoff. "Our assumptions are wrong, this place is not as simple as it seems," Jason came through the window next. "Firstly, the real civilians were evacuated already, the people who we have been seeing this entire time are all hunters." He shook his head and looked across the room, that was absurd, we had seen well over a hundred people since we arrived here on the shores of Vík. "What about the evacuation then?" I asked and he huffed and looked back off the balcony. "They were never leaving; the bastards are preparing for war," Jason answered with a huff as he rolled up his sleeve. The boat at the dock was set ablaze as well, the only way out for us land dwellers is to head down the shore when this is all over." He added with a small smirk. "I fail to see the humour in any of what you just said." Doctor Cidelle raised a confused brow at Jason whom he had interacted with the least since I have been out and about with them again. "I have no intention of running away from this fight; they want us dead and it takes no small feat to orchestrate something of this scale, even now as we stand here there should be snipers trained on us, they have been watching us since the very start before we even made landfall, and that pisses me off," Jason admitted, smacking his fist in his palm and staring out the windows again. "Doesn't that mean they're not underestimating you anymore?" Tori asked and Jason chuckled. "Well, that only means they were before, I'm sure that had they known the extent of the power we have altogether they would have come at us with everything from the very start," I added and then looked at Justin. "Are you okay with this?" I asked; if there was ever a reason or time to back out then this was definitely going to be that moment. "After this-" "No, it's fine; after coming all this way there is no way I would have been dumb enough to not have made up my mind, and I think the same goes for everyone here, and I actually think this works out in our favour too," He paused and then continued as he took his hands out of his pockets and looked outside like the rest of us had. "If they've been monitoring us this entire time then they know what we want and what we came here for, which means every one of them should have an idea or know precisely where that shrine is, I don't expect them to make it easy for us but that's where the fun part is gonna come in, I agree with Jason on this bit; if they want to make it hard on us and attack to kill then I will play it their way, and burn everything to the ground until the shrine is within our sights." He clasped his fists and needlessly made an epic pose, pointing out to the black shoreline, hopefully, someone was listening in and heard that, otherwise he would have just made a fool of himself in front of all of us for no reason. "If we create a scene then we will have a harder time moving forward, so at the very least keep the destruction to a minimum." Cidelle looked up at everyone, and then at me specifically. "We need information first, and you can't forget that they are hunters be careful." I slid my feet into my sneakers and started lacing them when I felt a snap ring through my head, followed by a slightly nauseating feeling as I leaned forward and stood as if I was falling over, was someone trying to seal me again, so soon? "Something just happened." Cidelle looked around and stood reaching for Gregory and placing his hand on the man's shoulder. "They have an alchemist with them, or rather they have several alchemists working in tandem to cast a large blockade spell around the hotel," He informed us and walked out to the balcony with a chuckle and then looked to his right and waved his hand purposefully. "The idiots gave themselves away because of a simple threat, what amateurs." The doctor laughed and shook his head before flames erupted from the windows three rooms away, and again across the road in a small building. "And just like that, we start huh?" Tori turned to the balcony and leapt off sprouting wings and taking to the sky as quietly as an owl stalking prey. "I will seek out and entrap any alchemic distractions, and suck the dry of any information they might have on the shrine in this town as well as any other across the globe, the rest of you may do as you please without me." Cidelle laughed again, raising his left hand as the building across the road erupted in fire and started tilting over. Even though he was the one emphasizing discretion his very first act was blowing up a building and setting a hotel room ablaze. "Guess I'll lead by example then," Jason took a running start and leapt through the window with a stifled laugh muffled in his throat, this was different than before, they were expecting us and it was likely they knew each of us and what we were "Can you keep up little man?" I asked Haiiro and the child nodded confidently and stood kicking off his shoes instead of fixing them on his feet and then slowly shook his mane-like hair while his ears grew out and his tail fluffed to its full length. "Let's go then." I looked across at Gregory who would be staying back with Cidelle and the at Justin who had yet to leave and a moment of silence fell on us both. "Are we going?" Haiiro asked impatiently staring out at the burning building, and after a nod to the boy we both ran just as Jason had done before; leaping through the window and off the balcony. "I never asked, but what exactly can you do?" I asked him as he stood after a sloppy fall. "I have never fought, but there is no better place to be than at your side," He shook his shoulders to loosen up and flexed his arms a bit it was a gamble having him out here with me but I needed to see what he could do, I needed to know if he was better off back home or with us. It was an immoral decision that I had made after he relentlessly begged to accompany us and debated leaving on his own if we left him with Lisa and the others, he was in a way; spoilt, and I had given in to his tantrum after he almost blew a hole in the Henderson household, maybe it was a mistake, but he needed to grow stronger somehow even if he was a kid, he wasn't in a position where he could be treated like a normal human boy, he needed this, one way or another, and I wasn't much better off, I had a total of five months altogether when it came to experience the only difference with us was the fact that I had actually fought powerful opponents while he had run away from all the fights in his previous life and then was eventually caught and sealed away, when it came to an actual fight I was more experienced and leagues more powerful than the cub following me. "Alright then, Haiiro, I will allow you to take point, and in the future, you can ask Justin and everyone else to teach you how to fight," I looked back at him as we started running in a random direction into the town. "Um…" He stuttered. "What about you teaching me Seiya, I know you have barely lived any time at all with your true self but you are still Kitsune, whatever you have learnt is something that I will likely need to learn as well, and that aside, the brothers fight too barbarically, even though I have never seen you fight I doubt you are that kind of savage." He seemed sure about what he was saying, but as he was talking all I could think about were the brutal fights I have been involved with so far. Victoria was torn apart over and over again, Allister was victimised before I incinerated him into ashes, and June was borderline assaulted, she ran off scared after the fight, and the only reason she survived was because I snapped out of that rage in time, I could never promise the same result a second time though; she caused the death of millions, including Rose, one of the very few humans that I liked and was looking out for, had it been someone closer to me like my uncle then the Jubokko would have been the least of anyone's problems, I would have rampaged just as Shiro done had back when she had a body, and that thought scared me a little especially thinking that the focus of my anger would not have been humans… but it only scared me a little. "Seiya how exactly have you been learning all this time?" Haiiro asked and I slumped as I thought about it. "Well, I never mentioned it to you but I didn't grow up with my mother, she was killed when I was a baby, and I was taken away from home and sent to the very person who killed my family, I was raised there-" "How could you tolerate being in the same place as the person, I imagined that with your personality you would never leave a grudge unsated." He seemed shocked at what he was hearing, and it caused a stiff chuckle from me who had indeed not let the murder of my family go unanswered. "No, it is not that simple, the one who killed them, my foster father -had my memories erased before my powers fully awakened, effectively resetting my entire mind and personality, so I had no idea about any of it until just a few months ago, as my former selves put it; I was stripped of everything that made me who I was, including my core memories." "So, you have no memory of your mother then, the woman you showed me at uncle Jerard's house…" He mused sadly. "I have so many memories of my own, I remember the moment I first gained the sense to recognise and speak to her… her love…" "I never experienced any of that, she died before she could give me the mark of kin, so as far as kitsune went you are the closest I have ever been to true family, so when I was aware of the full truth and understood what he had taken from me, I killed Alexander, and it might have been a mistake, but I wanted his family to witness and live with the actions of their patriarch so I let them all live, I know they're gonna come after me eventually, but it would be wise of them to leave the last of my family out of it this time, otherwise there is no telling what I will do to them and the rest of the family, all of whom I know and am aware of since they foolishly raised e s a triplet a allowed me to meet the lot of them. "I would have wiped away their entire bloodline and killed even the dog if I got my hands on the humans who killed my mother, they do not deserve to live, mercy is wasted o the likes of those scum." Haiiro spat bitterly, and that resonated with my original intentions, but I was trying to be better than they were, I was no genocidal maniac, and I didn't want to be one either, not on that account, not when I had a choice.