Saikichi shifted his attention towards his son, Lokei Yoshe . He stared at him for a while and his gaze felt like pure disappointment. Expected from a choosing father.
"And now, to my useless son," His voice was hushed but carried a definite hint of irritation. "Since you've decided to work alongside the opponents, maybe it is time for you to finally experience the kindness of your own blood."
Saikichi moved his fingers in an elegant movement, forming a silent sign above his palm. His lips didn't move but the words were clear for one person's ears only.
Sanori.
She stood among the crowd of guests in the neighboring hall, her staff coiled at her side, as Anzo's voice echoed in her head.
Go and kill your twin brother. With this act, you shall prove yourself worthy of becoming the heir of the Yoshe Clan. I shall grant you even more power than before. Unless, of course, you've forgotten about the restrictions of your powers.
Her gaze locked onto her brother's face and for a moment, she said nothing. Then she gave a small nod in response to his words.
"As you wish, Father."
Sanori turned back and started walking towards her twin brother, her staff held in a firm grip in her hand. Lokei turned at the approaching figure and was the first to realize who it was. A small smile spread across his face as he took in the sight of his sister.
"Sanori? What are you doing here?"
She gave no response to his questions. Mischa narrowed her eyes at the expression on her twin's face, noting how tense her body language was.
Lokei's smile faltered.
"...Sanori?"
Her twin stopped several paces away from him and raised her staff.
Lokei barely had time to react as Sanori brought her staff down against him.
Lokei quickly pulled out his own staff and blocked her blow, sending him sliding back a few feet.
"Sanori?!"
She said nothing.
Lokei quickly recovered and faced his sister. Her face was emotionless, devoid of any emotion, but her eyes told a different story.
"What's gotten into you?" Lokei asked as Sanori brought her staff up against his again.
He blocked her strike.
"Sanori, tell me!"
Lokei barely managed to dodge her next blow and countered with one of his own. Sanori said nothing. Lokei looked up at her face. She wasn't mad. Not exactly. It wasn't just anger he saw in her dark eyes. There was something else.
A desire. A want. A need.
Sanori's hatred was palpable, rolling off of her in thick waves that made Lokei's muscles tense. He looked up at his sister and clenched his staff in his hands with white knuckles.
Lokei had known Sanori his whole life. He knew her well. He knew what emotions she wore and when they were fake. He knew when she was lying. He knew when she was being serious. Which made what he was seeing now all the more bewildering. It was as if he had become an obstacle in her path, stopping her from getting something that she wanted with all of her being. Something she thought she needed.
Lokei swallowed hard.
"It's about father isn't it?"
Sanori's eyes narrowed at him and Lokei's eyes widened slightly at her reaction.
It was that look. That look that he always associated with her being in pain. The look that said that he was the cause of her suffering. And the look that made him understand just what it was she wanted with all of her soul.
"I'm the reason you're here."
Mischa drew near and took a step towards her sword. Lokei didn't even glance her way and stopped Mischa's incoming attack with his leg.
"This is sibling business." His voice was dark as he faced Sanori. "You're an outsider so go back to where you came from and leave us be."
Mischa's eyebrow lifted in surprise.
"Excuse me?"
Lokei gave her a sidelong glance.
"I said, stay out of this."
"Are you kidding me?! You want me to just walk away while whoever this is tries to kill you?!"
"Yes."
Mischa clicked her tongue in annoyance.
She didn't know Lokei very well; nor did she know Sanori. But she did know what he meant when he said leave it be. They were siblings after all. Whatever was going on between them wasn't something she could just barge in and fix seeing as she didn't know the 'history' of the feud.
Besides, the look in Lokei's eyes as he stared at Sanori, told her this wasn't just some petty dispute.
With a sigh, Mischa stepped back.
"Fine."
She turned her back to the siblings but kept her attention on them.
"If you die, don't blame me."
Lokei chuckled.
"I wouldn't dream of it."
Mischa walked away from the arguing twins. A tense silence filled the air as the combatants turned their gazes to each other. Sanori's grip tightened around her staff as Lokei lowered his stance. Their mouths were set in firm lines as they silently stared each other down.
Brother vs sister.
Twins who grew up together now stood in opposition. The tension between them was palpable. Sanori took a step forward and met her brother's gaze. With a grunt, Lokei charged forward and their staffs met with and with that, the Yoshe twins began their battle.
Lokei and Sanori separated from the last clash, and their staff remained in their hands. Both stood motionless for a few moments then Sanori bent down, and then she rushed at her brother. Sliding one hand along the center of her staff, she sent the opposite end whistling toward his chest.
Lokei knocked the incoming blow aside with the lower part of his staff, Sanori reversed her grip, the other end of her staff came flying at Lokei's jaw but he leaned back, letting the blow pass him.
"Close one," he said.
Sanori swept her staff low. Lokei jumped.
Rather than land in a crouch, he bent his knees, planting the lower end of his staff to the floor and used it as a pivot to swing around Sanori. He landed behind her and sent a powerful down blow toward her shoulders. Sanori turned and crossed her staff against the blow, twisting her weapon sideways to send Lokei's staff wide.
She followed up with a series of quick attacks, each aimed at different parts of his body, a lunge at his stomach then a horizontal strike at his ribs then a reverse blow at his shoulder. Lokei blocked the first, stepped back to miss the second, and met the third with the center of his staff.
Sanori opened her mouth, letting her staff twirl freely in her hand before catching it on the other side and sending it skidding up and over Lokei's head. Lokei slid his staff along the floor, hooking Sanori's ankle and sending her up and over, her own momentum carrying her weight forward.
Sanori was ready for it when it happened and jumped over his outstretched staff.
She dropped to her feet and drove the butt of her staff into the floor, using the rebound to propel herself forward. Lokei's eyes nearly popped out when she did it and he crossed his staff in front of him as she brought the upper end of her weapon to meet his chest.
The impact sent him backward and Sanori didn't stop as she whirled her staff around her shoulders and brought it down diagonally across her body. Lokei blocked, and she reversed the motion and brought the other side across his body.
He blocked that, too, and met her next blow to his shoulder with the center of his staff. Sanori took a step closer to him, almost side-by-side, and then shortened her grip and drove him backward with the staff. Lokei staggered, and then Sanori spun her staff around her back, catching him behind her own shoulder.
She gave a sharp twist, sending his weapon flying sideways, and used the opening to sweep her leg behind his. Sanori flew over it and landed back on her feet in a loose crouch and while in midair, she rotated her body and brought her staff down across his back.
Lokei raised his weapon to meet the blow and it sent him to one knee. Sanori bore down on him with her staff, and Lokei gritted his teeth.
"You're really serious about this," he said.
Sanori's eyes didn't show any emotion.
"You should have realized that already."
Lokei's grin reappeared.
"Then let's stop holding back."
Lokei shoved her staff away from him and leaped back. He changed his grip, moving his hands to one end of the staff rather than the middle. Sanori narrowed her eyes on him. Lokei charged, and she charged to meet him, her staff crossing against his in a wide arc and used the momentum to spin his staff and sent the other end skidding across his palm.
Sanori barely got out of the way in time.
Lokei took a step forward and pushed against her weapon, knocking it aside before driving his staff up and over her shoulder, she jumped back, but Lokei was right there behind her, his staff flashing past her temple. The two were a blur to the onlookers as they danced around the room, their staffs knocking against each other, slashing, lunging, parrying, and twisting in a series of increasingly fast grips and feints.
No one could tell who had the advantage over the other and even so, Lokei didn't seem to be trying to kill her. Sanori saw it, and her face hardened.
"You're still holding back."
"Because you're my twin."
"And I'm trying to kill you."
"Yea. I know."
The two charged each other again, the staff collided with such force that the whole room trembled. Several guests stumbled backward.
"Get away from them!"
It was too late.
Sanori circled Lokei's staff and sent him backward. Lokei managed to brace himself, planting the staff to the floor and vaulting over a group of chairs, landing among the auction guests. Several screamed and jumped back, but Sanori was right there, the staff sweeping across the room, shattering a table and sending broken pieces scattering over the floor.
Lokei ducked under the next sweep, but the staff still caught one of the guests in the shoulder, knocking him off his feet, the crowd went wild.
"RUN!"
They tried to get to the doors, but the battle raged on. Lokei whirled his staff around his body and sent it toward Sanori.
She blocked, but the force of the blow sent her sprawling into the crowd of running guests. Two unfortunate guests were caught in the wake of her momentum and were tossed to the floor.
Lokei stopped dead-center for a moment.
"Sanori!"
Sanori didn't stop as she stepped over the unconscious guests and attacked again.
Lokei raised his staff to block her blow, and the two clashed again, staffs crossed, eyes locked. The two were so focused on each other that they didn't realize how far things had gotten until another blow sent Sanori tumbling through several chairs.
She got right back up and brought her staff up. Lokei ducked, letting the staff fly past his head, but it still caught one of the other auction guests. The shriek of the woman was lost in the din of the crowd and more guests ran for the doors, but some couldn't get away. The two siblings' staffs flashed as they battled through the growing chaos, leaping and whirling in wide circles.
From up on the stage, Saikichi watched the two.
He made no move to stop them and only watched as they battled through the auction hall, laying waste to the furniture and sending guests scattering like frightened roaches.
He watched his children battle with grimly intent faces, their staff clashing again and again. Their eyes were locked on each other, and nothing else seemed to matter to them.
Yet, the fighting was still not to kill.
Sanori took another sweep at Lokei's legs.
Lokei jumped, but Sanori was already there, spinning her staff around and bringing the butt down across his back.
"Sanori!" Lokei cried, but she didn't stop.
Instead, she took a step back and then launched herself at him again, staff crossing against him in a wide arc. Once again, their eyes didn't leave each other as the two battled, sending the auction hall into utter chaos.
Saikichi's gaze followed them.
Lokei attacked Sanori, and Sanori countered his attack, their staff clashed.
Anzo's expression didn't change in the least. In fact, he seemed almost entertained by the sight of his children battling.
"Interesting," he muttered.
He watched as the two fought on, neither showing any sign that they were aware of the chaos they were causing, neither one seemed inclined to stop.
Meanwhile, their staff continued to flash, their movements growing even more reckless as the fight continued.
The battle between the twins continued and neither gained any ground on the other. Lokei knew Sanori's patterns as well as she knew his, they had trained together, fought together, and fought against each other.
They even learned to read each other's moves without the need of words. Every time Lokei anticipated her attack, Sanori was able to anticipate her countering move and every time Sanori tried to catch him off guard, Lokei was already moving.
Their staffs met again and again, they parted, then charged once more and again, another clash, another parry, another perfectly timed strike. The more they fought, the more it became obvious that they were evenly matched. Sanori's breathing began to come slower and heavier, from her expression alone one could see that she had enough.
"Cloudbound."
Her Seidan powered through her, making her staff in her hands feel lighter.
Not smaller or weaker, but lighter and with this Sanori advanced, her movements coming faster than Lokei had expected. Lokei barely had time to react before she was out of his reach, his eyes widened. He raised his staff and brought it down where she had been hitting her sidearm.
Lokei was thrown back, barely blocking Sanori's next strike and before he could counter, she was there again, a strike arcing over his head. He blocked, barely, then countered, but she was already on the move again. Lokei's feet danced back, his heart hammering in his chest.
He couldn't read her anymore and that was thanks to Sanori's Cloudbound, this was keeping her weight from impeding on her movement, allowing her to shift from one strike to another faster than he could follow.
Lokei tried to anticipate where she would come at him from. He barely had time to raise his staff, the impact sending a shockwave down his arms. Sanori took advantage, delivering a wide sweeping strike. Lokei jumped over it, but was there waiting for him when he landed, only barely blocking her next strike.
'She's faster than me.' He thought.
Lokei's teeth were clenched.
It suddenly occurred to him to use his strongest technique, that being End Strike.
It could only be used once every forty minutes, but if he used it now he had a chance to finish this fight.
Unless he missed but that was the problem. If he used End Strike and missed he would not have another shot at countering Sanori's increased speed.
Plus, using End Strike now, if he missed, he would have wasted his strongest technique.
'Damn it.'
Sanori attacked again, Lokei blocking, the force sending him stumbling back. He barely recovered in time to avoid her staff as she came at him, eyes narrowing.
'If I use End Strike now, I might waste it but if I don't use it, I might not live long enough to use it properly.'
Sanori's face was calm and steady, unfeeling. She took another step forward, Lokei tightening his grip on his staff. For the first time since the battle had started, he wasn't thinking of how to counter his sister, but how to live through her increased speed.
Lokei spun his staff around his body, deflected Sanori's next hit and lunged towards her stomach and for a moment, it seemed like he'd landed a hit but Sanori moved to the side and his staff flew harmlessly past her and Sanori retaliated by aiming a strike towards his ribs.
Lokei twisted his body to the side in an attempt to reduce the impact, but it still sent him staggering back but barely had the time to steady himself before Sanori was on him again. Lokei blocked high only for Sanori to easily shift her angle and strike low; he jumped back, barely avoiding the blow and as he landed, he sent his staff sweeping towards her legs in an attempt to trip her up.
Sanori stepped over it
Before Lokei could pull it back, Sanori brought down her staff across his shoulders. He grunted in pain as his arm went numb and stumbled backward.
'She's too fast!'
Lokei tried to read her next move based off of the years they'd trained together, knowing her style and the places where she'd be most likely to strike, none of it seemed to matter anymore.
It was as if Sanori was constantly one step ahead of him, anticipating all of his moves.
Each time he thought he had an opening, she'd shut it before he could use it and somehow, it seemed like she was only growing faster. Lokei grit his teeth and forced himself forward.
It was time to stop running.
He sent a flurry of attacks in her general direction, switching up between lunging strikes, sweeping blows and wide slashes to throw her off her game, for once, he'd managed to force Sanori on the defensive.
Lokei sent his staff up and over his shoulder, aiming a strike towards her upper body.
Sanori blocked.
Lokei flipped his grip and attacked from the other side only to be blocked again.
Lokei pressed forward, sliding his shoulder past her guard in an attempt to throw her off balance. All it accomplished was Sanori twisting her weight. She spun her staff in her hands before bringing it across Lokei's chest.
Lokei staggered back but before he could recover, Sanori struck across his thigh, nearly sending him to his knees. He dropped to one knee, his staff keeping him upright as he caught his breath. It wasn't just her speed that was getting to him.
Lokei's body was still recovering from his last fight against Saikichi's Cloud Clones, and now he was being forced to fight against someone who knew the way he fought.
Someone who had trained beside him for years, someone who knew exactly how to exploit his weaknesses. Sanori advanced on him without another word. Lokei looked up at her.
'This is it, huh?'
He forced himself back up to his feet, his grip on his staff shaking with either exhaustion or pain.. He couldn't tell which, but he wanted to win this fight. Not just for the sake of winning, but to finally prove that he wasn't the useless son that his father thought him to be and with every passing moment, that victory seemed to grow more and more distant.
'Is this what it means to be a real prodigy?'
Lokei watched as Sanori adjusted her grip on her staff.
'Just how far ahead of me are you?'
Lokei had no idea,. maybe not even Sanori herself knew what her full potential was but there was one man who did know that being Saikichi Yoshe, their father.
The man who'd observed their growth since the moment their abilities had manifested, the man who'd weighed their potential and determined which of his sons was worthy of carrying on his name. He'd looked at both of them, and decided that Sanori was his heir.
Lokei was a waste, a failure. The one who would always come second best, the one who would always be beneath her. Saikichi had made sure that neither one of them would forget that. Lokei pulled his staff forward, the words still burning in his mind from his father's words.
'Utter trash.'
His eyes darkened.
"No..."
Sanori paused and Lokei raised his staff, forcing his aching body to adopt a fighting stance again.
"I haven't lost yet."
For once, Sanori's expression actually changed. It was a small shift, but enough to show that Lokei's words had struck home. She lowered her stance before vanishing forward in a blur of motion.
Lokei's eyes widened and he barely had time to raise his staff in defense of the next strike before it came.
Sanori's staff struck again.
Lokei raised his weapon to block, but was sent flying backwards by the force of the blow. He barely had time to react as another strike came hurtling towards him and then another. He tried to anticipate her next move, tried to read her, tried literally everything but nothing worked.
Sanori knocked his staff aside and hit him across the ribs. Lokei stumbled back, his heart hammering in his chest. His arms ached, his legs felt like lead and for a moment, he felt as if the world had gone hazy due to the sudden wave of tiredness that washed over him.
'What am I supposed to do?'
He had already fought Saikichi's clones to the best of his ability and now he was having to face his own twin. Someone who knew his every weakness, who could see him as clearly as he could see the opponent in front of him. And yet it was obvious who was better, faster even.
Lokei gripped his staff determinedly, searching for some opening in her defences.
There was none.
"Is this it?"
The confidence and determination that had blossomed within him when he had decided to fight back was now vanishing rapidly under Sanori's blows. What should he do? Had there not already been any moves left, any openings to exploit?
Every strike had failed and every opportunity to attack had flown past his grasp. With each new attack, his opponent was forcing him further and further back.
He was becoming what his father had said he always became.
Useless.
Lokei flinched slightly at the hated word. Useless people couldn't fight because they had no skill, or because they had lost the will to fight. Lokei thought he might almost fit into the second category. He couldn't fight against Sanori. And, Lokei thought, with some strange sort of fear, maybe it would be nice if that was something that would never change. His staff lowered slightly in Sanori's direction. She took advantage of his moment's weakness and moved forwards, aiming a strike at his ribs.
But suddenly there was a voice in his head.
"How beautiful."
Lokei halted, surprise flooding through him. The voice was strange, deep and dark. It carried a strange amusement that was quite unlike the tone of any battle that he had ever been in.
"You're slowly finding your way down the path of despair. And that happens to be my favourite path to victory."
Lokei's eyes widened.
"Who's there?"
He looked around, searching for the source of the voice that had appeared in his head. Sanori stood right in front of him, staff raised, saying nothing. Nor did Mischa, who stood a little way behind Sanori, watching the fight.
"Oh? You can hear me?*
The voice sounded more amused than ever.
"How fascinating, indeed."
Lokei's breath caught in his throat.
"Who are you? Where are you–"
"Well, I'm about to have some fun," the voice interrupted. "So don't stress yourself too much. Just let me do what I do best."
Lokei tried to move. He tried to raise his staff and step back from Sanori. He tried to demand answers from the strange voice in his head. But something was wrong because he couldn't feel his hands. He tried to grip his staff tighter but nothing happened. Then he looked down at his hands and suddenly his whole world seemed to be spinning.
“What...?”
He tried to grip his staff but found his body no longer responding to his commands and Lokei had the unpleasant feeling that, as Sanori prepared to strike, his life was about to change forever.
Lokei's fingers twitched, one after another, they curled around the staff he was holding His head lifted, ever so slightly, and he looked at himself not Sanori, not the carnage but himself and he wore a faint smile
"Interesting"
The voice within took a moment to study its new vessel.
"This body is remarkably well trained. Its martial arts are exquisite, its instincts keen, and an element of unpredictability is well woven into its movements. Yet its Seidan control leaves much to be desired.
And its understanding is even worse. Perhaps this is to be expected, it has yet to even understand its own abilities in the first place. What fascinates me most however, is the lack of a Sanctum."
Lokei's gaze swept over the battlefield. The overturned stalls, the scattered weapons, the corpses strewn across the rubble, and the mass of panicked guests scrambling to get away, were all a lovely sight for him.
"It seems you still see things as your human self would. Everything is still as it appears to be, how very sad."
Sanori stood a few feet away, her staff at the ready. He did not answer. His eyes swept over her, taking note of her stance and the ebb and flow of Seidan within her.
"There is so much this body must learn but that can all be remedied. After all, I am here, would you not agree?"
He took a step forward, his gaze sweeping back to the chaos that the manor had become.
"My time here will not be wasted in the least"
Sanori moved without hesitation and instantly went for the attack, she had already won in her mind.
Her twin brother, Lokei, was tired. His movements had slowed and his breaths had come in sharp gasps, making it difficult for him to match her speed.
There was no point in wasting her energy.
Sanori's staff shot forward and towards Lokei's head but somehow he moved and just barely, but enough for Sanori's staff to miss his head completely and instead pass by his side.
Her eyes widened.
'What?'
Sanori quickly whirled around, bringing her weapon back around for a second strike.
Lokei bent backwards, her staff passed by his torso. She hadn't hit him, and not because of a well-placed block either, because she hadn't seen him move at all!
Sanori stared at Lokei in disbelief.
Only a few heartbeats ago she had been attacking with a speed he hadn't been able to match. If anything, her blows had been coming too fast for him to dodge at all, let alone block!
Yet now, how the hell did he dodge?
For the first time since she had engaged him in this battle, Sanori hesitated, the pause was small, less than a second in fact. A pause enough for Lokei to reach where she was standing.
"Oh? That look, it's of shock. Why is that?"
Sanori's pupils were constricted.
"Is it because you thought you were fast? Ah, yes. That's understandable, considering you've spent this whole fight trying to convince yourself that your speed was something better than mine."
His fist halted right in Sanori's stomach.
"Well, I'm sorry, but you're just wrong about that."
The voice in Lokei's head was momentarily quiet, the smirk on his face only stretched wider before he spoke, this time with thinly-veiled contempt in his voice.
"You're nothing more than a snail in my world."
Lokei's fist moved.
It didn't move much, but what movement there was sent Sanori's body flying off the floor and colliding with the roof of the auction hall, sending the guests there screaming. Her staff clattered to the ground next to Anzo's Yoshe's head as she shot, unconscious, past the auction hall guests and into the raised walkway where the auction was being held.
A hushed silence fell over the crowd as Sanori Yoshe finally slumped onto her backside at her father's feet. Lokei watched her limp form for a long moment before looking up towards Anzo. Across the ruined hall, the young man's right hand fist was still poised just where Sanori's stomach would've been if she hadn't blacked out, the strange smile still resting on his face.
Lokei could not comprehend what had just happened. He hadn't wanted to punch his sister, and he certainly hadn't wanted to knock her out cold! Even now he could not understand how he had moved fast enough to punch her in the stomach, let alone knock her unconscious.
All he could do was look on, from a distance, as the entity controlling Lokei's body laughed once more, it glanced over at Saikchi, the smirk growing slightly
"Now then. You must be the father. How interesting."
Saikichi glared at his son and Lokei stared right back, a smirk played on the young man's face as he lowered his hand, seemingly content with what he had just done and for a moment the two men just stood there then Sakichi's expression darkened
It wasn't that he cared that Lokei had knocked Sanori unconscious, it wasn't even that he cared that his son had finally bested his sister for once in his miserable existence, even if it was for a fraction of a second.
It was the fact of how he had done it
Saikichi's eyes narrowed as he stared at his son. He had watched the entire fight, and had seen the desperation in Lokei's eyes as he struggled to keep up with Sanori's Cloud bound. He had watched helplessly as his son stumbled back, fought desperately against strikes that a competent Seijinist would have easily dodged and then in the blink of an eye, it was all over.
Lokei had dodged Sanori's attack, not with the desperate luck of a man who had just barely avoided death but rather with frightening ease, leaving Sanori herself stunned.
'Impossible'
Sanori was undoubtedly the fastest fighter in the current generation of the Yoshe clan
Even among those who had mastered their Seijinism, few could rival her swiftness once they had engaged Cloud bound.
Saikichi knew this, he had tested the two children, watched them fight from a very young age. He had determined who would take up the mantle of the Yoshe Clan and in all his years of watching these two grow, fight, and improve, he had never once thought that Lokei had possessed the skill to do what he just had
"What the hell happened to you?!"
Saikichi's eyes swept up and down Lokei's form, searching for some kind of explanation. There was nothing different about him, save for the fact that he had just bested Sanori in a fair fight.
But something about him felt... off. No, not off rather,wrong
His breath caught in his throat, that couldn't be right. For a moment, the man before him no longer looked like his useless son. It felt as though some impossibly powerful presence radiated from him, something that sent shivers of ancient realization deep into Anzo's bones.
It was a presence he knew, though he had never felt it in person Hearing about it, reading about it, was one thing but to actually feel its power emanating from a living being was something else entirely
It sent a strange feeling of both awe and fear into his chest, it was a feeling long buried in the back of his mind, hidden by years upon years of stories told to wide eyed children at night, and old dusty scrolls detailing the legendary tale of his clan's foundation.
The founder.
The man who had founded the Yoshe clan, whose name had been lost to time, yet whose legend had not. Saikichi's hands curled into fists, his expression dark
'No, that can't be possible'
For a moment, it felt as though he was standing before the founder himself. Standing before the man whose name had been lost to history, forgotten by time itself but that was impossible. The founder had lived in a time long past, and the man before him was none other than his son, Lokei Yoshe.
The worthless piece of trash who had bested his sister in a fight. His eyes darkened, trying to suppress the unease curling in his chest.
"What the hell are you?"