Chapter 147: Honor Is A Double Edged Sword!

Chapter 147: Honor Is A Double Edged Sword!

As I awoke this Sunday morning, the gentle morning light was filtering softly through the large suite window, and I felt a soft hand caressing my face. Opening my eyes slowly, I am greeted with a smiling, brown-haired woman looking down at me. This is Jenifer.

"Good-morning, my sweet Master. Time to get up."

Like that annoying feeling you get when you want to ignore the alarm completely and drift right back to sleep, I only respond by pulling Jenifer into me tight, burying my face against her neck to smell her hair while she giggles at my sudden actions.

"Fufu, Master, seriously it is time to get moving," she whispered, her hands resting flat on my chest as she tried to break away. "I have our schedule tight with things to do. Also, we have lunch at the Han's, then sightseeing, until your duel tonight."

I let out a dramatic groan, looking up at the ceiling, "Jen, I fell asleep with a cute angel, then woke up with a heartless taskmaster, help!"

Knock! Knock!

Mei did not bother to wait for a verbal response and just walked straight into the room ready to go for the day. She marched right to the foot of the mattress, grabbed my bare ankle with a wicked grin, and turned to look at Jen while pulling hard on my leg, "This is how you get him up when he is sleepy."

No, she is not actually pulling me out of the bed frame, but extending my leg further past the covers to fully expose my foot, and she immediately started to tickle it without mercy! My full bladder was then heavily tormented by the sensation, and I protested loudly as I scrambled backward.

"Hah-aha, Damn Mary for teaching you that! You are both completely evil, fine I am up already, geez."

Then, after a very quick rush to the adjacent restroom, my official morning schedule finally started.

Getting out of the luxury limousine at the front gates of the Han estate, Mei smirks mischievously at the visibly blushing Jenifer. I look over at her with genuine concern, adjusting my coat as I ask, "You sure you do not want me to cancel the meeting, your walk is a bit... obvious?"

Jenifer, hurriedly straightening the fabric of her clothing, takes my left arm for physical support, and shook her head resolutely.

"No, I am almost 20 and this is normal. This is my duty, fufu. Sigh, I thought a third time would be fine, I did not think about the next day."

The uniformed servants waiting at the main door escorted our group into the spacious living room, where the Han main branch's older sister and her younger brother, who is Jenifer's father, are currently sipping warm coffee. The exact second they saw us enter the room, they stood up to receive us.

The woman sitting in the most important seat of the room, who stood with sharp, assessing eyes, is the true Head of the whole Han family. This is Margaret Han, a 45-year-old woman who resembles exactly what Jen will look like in her 40's. She is exceptionally stern with a bit of cold fairness reflecting in her blue eyes. It seems the rest of her immediate family is not present for the gathering right now.

Beside her stands Jed Han, a 42-year-old man with short brown hair, blue eyes, and wearing glasses. He is naturally Jenifer's father. Her older sister, Donna Han, who is 22, is the designated next Head of her specific side branch, and she looks remarkably close to Jenifer in appearance. Her older sister has also freshly graduated from Star University. Jenifer's mother is Lily Han, and she is the exact same age as her husband, but she is a blonde woman with bright blue eyes.

Margaret Han, scanning the three of us with a critical gaze, said calmly, "Rick Tang, I welcome you to our family lunch gathering. Congratulations on your victory of becoming the next Leader of the Fire Birds. I apologize, but my husband and my children are overseas on a vacation and could not greet you properly."

I can easily tell from her rigid posture that she is a woman straight to the point, so I immediately put my playful, kind side away and answer her with a flat tone, "Well, with the Han family's warm reception, and with Jenifer Han at my side, I would think I would be visiting your family some time in the future, especially when Tina and I come to Crimson again."

Jed, who has met me before in passing, introduces his family to me again to ease the tension. Yes, they were also present at my original engagement party, but my interaction with them back then was not strong, due to me not winning the Tournament yet at that stage of the game.

Jenifer's mother and father soon noticed their daughter's slightly uncomfortable posture sitting on the couch cushions, and Jen only blushed deeply with shamed eyes under their scrutiny. The only person in the room that did not read the physical signs was her older sister, who must still be a pure maiden and not know the clues of a recent encounter.

When Jed looked across the table at me, I adjusted my posture, looking him straight in the eyes as I said, "Jenifer at my side has been essential to my work in the Fire Birds, and will be working with me for a long time. I hope we can visit more as I believe family ties are important."

The man could easily tell it was coded language for the rice is already cooked, and you cannot have her back under your roof. Margaret, in her transparent attempts to remain relevant to the conversation, spoke up to me, "Well it comforts me to know that the Tang main family won that silly Tournament. If Steven Woo would have won, the shame of our house would have been immeasurable. I also heard you will be dueling with his Japanese sister tonight? She has been such an eyesore in Phoenix City. I wish you luck tonight, and please do not lose. Jenifer cannot be with another Master anymore."

On the surface, her words are not entirely wrong for the political landscape, but really, she is incredibly annoying. That last statement was completely disrespectful to my household. She basically just openly stated that Jenifer would be useless as a used lover if things went south. That is also a direct slap to Mei, who was standing quietly right behind my seat.

I choose to ignore her entirely, and I do not plan to assist this woman with any financial or tactical resources in the future. I will officially add her name to my Black Book. She is absolutely no better than the arrogant Sun family.

Hell, if I know Lucy's operational habits like I think I do, she might be digging deep into Margaret's private files this exact second as I am talking, completely disgusted with the Head Han.

Jenifer's father and mother also seem to be tolerable people, clearly not agreeing with his older sister's harsh worldview. Well, I just have to eat this food and leave. I did my part in showing them their faces today.

Then the awkward meal took place with very little chatter, and finally we wrapped up the first and last visit to Margaret's home. In the future, I will never return to this estate.

In the limousine ride back to the hotel, both women are sitting on my sides. Jenifer is holding my hand tightly, a small smile returning to her face as she said to me, "Thank you Master, for not erupting back there. I did not want to come for my aunt, but to support my father and mother in front of her. I never cared for her pompous personality, and her not having her family there was very arrogant, sigh. Thanks for doing this."

I only smiled warmly at her, wrapping my arms around to hug them both close as our vehicle made its way back to the Hilton.

Meanwhile in Crimson State, Phoenix City...

In an older section of the city from long ago, in the interior courtyard of the Kyusho family mansion...

Smack!

A sharp slap resounded loudly off the courtyard walls, as an angry older man of Japan Empire descent just aggressively slapped his kneeling daughter's face.

His short black hair featured just a slight splash of grey, and he is glaring down at his daughter with red eyes filled with pure humiliation. He, along with his wife, stood there bitterly scolding her stance.

"-I was so ashamed when my son, Steve, lost my family's respect with his cowardly ways. He even spit in the face of Head Tony Feng! And you, my pride, decided to listen to a criminal in prison, and just assumed his words are trustworthy?! Now I have two shameful children... I have failed as a father and Head. Look at your mother! She is also disgusted with you.-"

The woman standing directly behind the man, who is wearing a sharp black suit, is dressed highly similar to her daughter in a traditional kimono.

Other than her eyes being brown, she looks exactly like her daughter, not looking a single day older than 40.

Hinata Kyusho's mother said absolutely nothing, her expression freezing as she pressed a button on a recording device sent directly to their network this morning, blasting the audio into the open air.

["Oh and boys turn off your body cameras just in case our conversation is recorded." "Just hit his head hard enough to put him into a coma and no one would know. We can then hit a pole and make it look like he hit his head on the wall. So my game cheat won't be known. If I don't take him out now, I think he might beat me and I will lose everything. Fuck, my wife Cat Woo, said she will divorce me for cheating her about my skill if I lost." "Fuck! If we don't kill him now, we are screwed!"]

Her mother dropped the digital recorder straight at Hinata's feet, her voice dropping to a freezing, cold tone, "-Now, tell me, how will Tony Feng deal with us? And tell me, how will the Fire Birds deal with us? Tell me, how will Tina Feng deal with us?-"

Hinata Kyusho only tightened her fists against her knees, her body trembling because she heard the raw truth right now with her own ears. Her brother had completely turned black into white, and now she had foolishly aimed her lethal sword at a hidden, powerful Dragon. With her head lowered to the ground, she asked her parents, "-Shall I end my life then?-"

Her father, completely angry at her words, scolded her fiercely, "-So do you want your mother to have to fight Rick Tang instead of you? If you die, your stupid honor must be upheld, and she would be forced to fight him, so no, you may not commit suicide. You will fight your challenge you made in our name.-"

Her mother aggressively threw down her own personal sword, featuring a polished white handle, onto the wooden floorboards and said, "-You foolishly gave that man your weapon, so you will use mine. If our clan will be killed for your move, then so be it, but we will die with honor in the very end. I and the rest of the family will not be put to work in a red-house, and we will fight to the death if they come. Maybe by some stroke of luck he may even win. The outcome for you is bad either way, humph. Perhaps you may even have an honorable death and the family is spared.-"

Hinata Kyusho silently picks up the white-handled sword and the digital recorder, then stands to leave the area, bowing deeply to her parents before heading off to get ready for the fight.

After her physical form fully disappeared into the corridor of the east wing, her mother turned her head back to her husband, her voice low as she said, "-I find it hard to believe this Rick Tang will win.-"

Hinata's father shook his head firmly, looking out toward the falling snow as he countered, "-No, he has a legitimate chance. This young man has defeated multiple Masters and killed them in sequence, two of which were Master Laura Long and the Sea Temple's Logan Chen. The other Masters do not breathe anymore on this earth. He was also very confident to fight Hinata, knowing her exact skill level. We will go to the fight location ourselves. The anonymous sender said to witness it with our own eyes. Even Steve resorted to cheating due to not being his match, let's get ready. I want to salvage our remaining face.-"

"-Yes husband. Oh, and I heard even the Snow Temple is sending disciples to the West, is it because of him?-" she asked, adjusting her clothing.

"-Don't speculate on unverified rumors, or you might follow your daughter's path,-" he warned flatly.

The two parents turned away from the courtyard, heading straight into their designated north wing to prepare for the trip.

Later that night, exactly fifteen minutes before the official duel schedule...

Mei made sure the Katana I was using was in the best possible physical shape, executing a rapid maintenance check. Fortunately, Hinata had taken excellent care of the steel blade before handing it over to my custody.

Removing all of my heavy training body weights and hidden firearms from my frame, I ready myself mentally for the high-stakes encounter. Mei will carry loaded guns in her coat just in case things get messy on the perimeter.

I have to go into this specific scenario assuming I can get hurt or even die. I heavily doubt it will happen, but I can't afford to be cocky on the roof. I am wearing my sleek Neo-Matrix Bodyguard outfit, and I firmly hold the now ready sword plus scabbard in my left hand.

Jenifer looked down at her glowing phone screen, tracking the latest security feeds before she told me, "Hinata Kyusho and her parents have arrived with some guards, our Fire Birds have confirmed it. Shall we go first then?"

I exhaled a steady breath and nodded my head, then the three of us walked directly to the elevators to head straight up to the roof.

As I wait in the freezing cold air, I think about how the art of the sword is both incredibly complex and yet very simple at its core baseline.

The main thing to remember about the sword is that it basically only has nine possible strategic strokes or slashes.

From the top-down. From the bottom-upward. From the upper-left to the bottom-right. From the bottom-right to the upper-left. From the upper-right to the bottom-left. From the bottom-left to the upper-right. Horizontally from both left to right. And finally the direct stabbing-thrust straight into the center! That is absolutely it, simple mechanics with heavy complications.

So the complicated part for beginners is rapidly knowing where the blade is coming from, but for true Masters and beyond, predicting this is child's play. So how do you deal with the nine moves? Parry or Dodge, simple as that. Predicting exactly how long their blade extension is remains vital to this endeavor. Now as soon as your physical defense is chosen, a good swordsman will instantly counter with their own one of nine moves. So it functions as both simple and complicated.

Unlike a standard fist fight, a high-stakes duel with swords can end in one or two moves, due to the raw deadliness of long sharp swords in general. The only way a sword fight will be extended is through highly accurate, precise parries and constant dodging. One single mistake and you are dead, simple reality.

I look straight up into the dark night sky, seeing a few scattered snowflakes fall down and melt moments after landing on the cold surface. I breathe out a thick cloud of white steam, listening to the murmurs of the spectators who gathered here for the show.

Bill, Diana, the Red-Suit guy, and many other important noble family members of Phoenix City who enjoy this kind of raw display have arrived on the scene. The basic fact that the Vice Leader of the Fire Birds is taking part in this fight is highly rumor worthy. So representatives from the other three Syndicates have come to watch, as well as a few Tang family side-branch members tracking my movements.

In my quiet moments of internal reflection, I was completely unaware that my face had naturally gone into that expressionless mode of absolute focus. I then see the heavy roof elevator doors slide open, with three Japan Empire natives exiting onto the concrete walkway. Oh, I did mention before that Steve's mother, the first wife, was Eurasian, right?

When the three people saw me casually standing there holding the sheathed blade in my left hand, with my bright-blue eyes actively scanning their every single physical movement, all three felt a sudden heavy gaze, like a massive Dragon or some Divine Guardian Beast was seeing straight through their souls. This is a heavy psychological phenomenon that all Master Level practitioners feel the exact second I intensely watch them.

Hinata Kyusho instantly felt an invisible Iaido strike coming from an imaginary-slash aimed directly at her left shoulder where my eyes casually glanced at, and she knew the feeling from yesterday's meeting was real.

Her mother's eyes widened slightly as she said in Japanese, "-Dragon?-"

I adjusted my stance against the cold wind, answering her back perfectly in her native language, "-Human.-"

All three individuals were thoroughly surprised I spoke the dialect so well, though with a tiny bit of Eurasian accent heard in my pronunciation. Her mother flatly asked, "-You are a Master of Kenjutsu?-"

I offered a calm smile, responding casually, "-Sure, why not? So are you ready to fight, Miss Kyusho?-"

About a quarter of the watching crowd can actually understand the Japanese conversation, but the others merely look on curiously at Hinata as she slowly comes toward the center of the roof where I am standing.

The entire place went completely quiet as we are now standing only ten feet away from one another. She and I slowly sink our weights down, entering our respective Drawing Stances.

Her brows furrow deeply, because I am utilizing the exact same style of Kenjutsu she is practicing. Her mother, also being a Master level entity, noticed this style choice and squinted her eyes in pure horror. This specific art originally came from the isolated Japan Empire, and is absolutely not spread to total outsiders.

The backside of both of our hands, palm-up, flow down the hilt wrapped grips slowly, then our left wrists slightly turn the Katana still resting in the scabbard, tilting the blade-up. Both of our thumbs then gently snap the metal guard, whose sword—the specific one I am currently using—has a decorative tassel attached to it.

Click! Click!

Slowly, inch by inch, our feet slowly slide along the concrete to find the absolute best physical spot for the sword-draw. This specific action, out of all the attacks, is the most pivotal moment of the duel.

The freezing cold weather allows me to see her breathing pattern clearly, and this is the biggest physical tell of what her body is planning, and exactly when she will make her move.

Slowly both of our turned up hands rolled over to tightly grasp the hilts. Hinata, despite the freezing temperature of the roof, is sweating a bit on her forehead under the heavy mental pressure.

Her sheath is tucked into her Obi-sash, but I am holding mine freely, bringing mine horizontal with a sharp glint surfacing in my blue eyes. I purposefully made a slightly different draw stance than her at the very last moment, but it was already too late for her to recalibrate.

Shing! Shing!

Her mother wanted to scream out a warning to her to not step in but move back, but the drawing-steel was far too fast for anyone in the crowd to catch properly with the naked eye!

The exact split second our blades were being drawn, I rushed forward aggressively and targeted her right-side space. While my physical draw went horizontal from my left to my right in a massive, sweeping wide-arc, her blade was coming down at me with an overhead chop from top to bottom, but my sudden direction change had made her aiming path incredibly difficult to adjust.

Slice! Whoosh! SMACK!

My strike landed first, and I had cleanly cut her right arm's Kimono-sleeve completely off her frame! Then I rapidly ran past her position. Hinata's downward slash cut the very edge of my red scarf, but my body was nowhere near the trajectory, so it may as well have been a total miss.

But I was absolutely not done with my forward move. My physical body had been turning clockwise, and using the hard scabbard resting in my left hand, I flipped it like a heavy club, and I nailed her left arm very hard in the exact spot she felt me look at the moment she originally arrived on the roof!

"Hah!" she gasped out.

She heavily felt the blunt impact, and let out some sound in pure surprise, realizing too late that I had planned that exact physical move from that very first moment. Both of us immediately sank right back into our defensive stances, ready to pounce again. I muttered in Japanese again to mess with her head, "-Kata number 7, Hidden Dragon!-"

I only said that phrase to intentionally slow her internal thinking a bit, because I by no means am actually doing that specific kata. Who the hell tells their enemy exactly what move they are doing in a real life fight?!

Before she could process the fake call, I executed a rapid forward tumble across the roof, letting my Katana perform a wide, swinging downward slash that mimicked the rotation of a giant saw-blade.

Because I am rolling forward so incredibly fast across the ground, she cannot easily back away from the radius and must choose to block the steel with one or both swords, but her left arm is incredibly sore from my previous club strike, so she will naturally do a Roof-Block to stop my blade coming for her head. With her sword going exactly where I want it to go, I immediately used the seventh move now, and a heavy Dragon Tail leg sweep targets her legs!

Clang! Sweep! Thud!

She cleanly blocked my blade with her steel, but she could not stop my low sweep, which was the real attack all along. She landed hard on her ass on the frozen concrete surface, but she managed to use her momentum to break her fall.

With quick thinking, she fiercely thrust her Katana straight at my chest, hoping to get a fatal stab in while she was still scrambling to get back up. But I parried the tip effortlessly with my own steel, then instantly sent a precise front kick directly into her hilt, sending her white-grip Katana bouncing far away across the roof!

As her right hand was forcefully kicked to her left, she desperately grabbed for the short-sword at her side, pulling out the Wakizashi with blinding speed to salvage her position. But my left-hand scabbard, which is significantly longer than her short blade, bashed heavily into her hand, again sending her secondary weapon clattering right near her other dropped weapon in a mocking display that proved I did it on purpose.

Just as Hinata was frantically going to use her bare-handed Kyusho Jitsu on me, the tip of her own primary sword was firmly pointed directly at her face, stopping her futile attempt to get back to her weapons. I speak in Japanese once again to end the fight, "-You are defeated.-"

On her knees, she looked over toward her silent family, then up at my indifferent blue eyes. She closed her own eyelids, exposing her neck in a forward gesture to be formally beheaded for her loss, saying softly, "-I accept death...-"

I raised her sword high in an overhead arc like I would remove her head from her shoulders, and swung down with maximum speed. But instead of cutting her with the Katana, I slammed my right knife-hand onto her neck, striking the exact pressure point to instantly knock her out cold.

Thud!

I did not bother to catch her limp frame as she collapsed flat onto the concrete, but looked directly to her stunned parents while resting her captured sword on my shoulder, "-I win, this sword is mine now.-"

I turned around to look at Jenifer, a calm smile returning to my face as I held up the frayed end of my clothing, "Sorry, I lost Scarf-chan!"

I then turned on my heel and left the rooftop completely alongside my lovers and subordinates, leaving the Kyusho family utterly bewildered by the mercy. They stood there watching their daughter passed out on the roof, her mother silently collecting her own white-handled sword from the concrete, while some of their personal guards hurried over to collect the unconscious girl like a sack of potatoes.

The father looked at the scene, letting out a sharp breath before ordering his men, "-We are leaving.-"