Rupture: Rise of the Demon King by Milo Woods Read Free Book Online

funny?”
    “Thought you were taller.” His laughter subsided. “I expected more from the Irenic hero. You can’t even use magic, can you?”
    How did he know? “Just answer my questions!”
    The man lowered his head. His hood shadowed his face, giving him a menacing stare. “Get out of my way.”
    A sound behind Seeko caused him to look back. A figure approached at a jog. Mori drew close, a silver rapier hanging on her left hip.
    Seeko almost groaned. “Mori, can’t I just get a moment alone?”
    She came up to his side. “Seeko! I’m glad I caught you! This guy is bad news!”
    “What do you mean?”
    “He’s an awful person! I saw you following him and I came to warn you!”
    “Why? Who is he?”
    “He’s Yoshino! I’d recognize that hair and those eyes anywhere!” Mori moved to shield Seeko and drew her rapier. “Stay away from him, you monster!”
    Yoshino smiled. “I didn’t want any trouble, but since you children keep insisting on it, I have no choice.” Yoshino raised a hand to the sky, warping the air around it. A sword quickly materialized in his grasp.
    Magic! Seeko thought. He’s going to kill us!
    Yoshino brought the sword down gracefully. “Ready your blade, Mori.”
    Seeko reached out to her. “Mori, no! Don’t!”
    She hesitated, then flung herself at Yoshino.
    It was over in seconds. Yoshino shifted to the right as she dashed forward, backhanding her with the flat of his blade. It was almost too fast for Seeko to follow. She fell to the ground, landing of her stomach, and did not get back up.
    “No!” Seeko cried out. What could he do against someone like him?
    Yoshino cocked his head. “You care for Mori? Poor girl.” He smirked. “How lovely. As for you …” He raised his free palm. Air coalesced in front of the palm, and then a ball of air fired forward at Seeko. It smashed him in the stomach, sending him into the cobblestone.
    A dazed Seeko stared at the sky. Yoshino approached, invading his vision with a palm pointed at his head.
    “You are very interesting. You say you’ve seen me before? Hmmm … I’ll have to think hard about this. I usually never forget a face … Anyway, we’ll meet again, Seeko. But for now, good night.”
    He fired another pressurized ball of air at Seeko’s face and all went black.
    / / / / /
    “Get up, hero. ”
    Seeko opened his eyes. Tenumi’s cold face stared down at him, disappointment etched on her face.
    “You skipped magic training again. This is the fifth time you’ve done it. You think we aren’t watching you?” She helped him up. “If you could use magic, you wouldn’t have gotten into this predicament. You could have beaten him.”
    Yeah right, Seeko thought. Yoshino destroyed us. “How’s Mori doing?”
    “She’ll be fine. She can use magic. She recovered before you and healed herself.”
    “Where is she?”
    Tenumi headed to the castle, motioning Seeko to follow. “She headed back.”
    “Why didn’t she wait for me?”
    “She didn’t leave with you.” Seeko caught a hint of a smile on Tenumi’s face, but as he stared at her it disappeared. “She’s a lord’s daughter. I assume she didn’t want to be seen walking with you. She wouldn’t want people to think strangely of her, now would she?”
    People already thought strangely of her, Seeko assumed, since she wore that skimpy red uniform. “Uh, alright. I don’t see why she didn’t heal me or use magic during the fight.”
    Tenumi ignored him and started toward the castle.
    Seeko kept his head down on the walk back. He had just lost the man who knew the answers. Somehow, Yoshino was connected to him.
    When they arrived at the gatehouse, Tenumi said, “From now on, you will not be allowed to leave the castle without my permission.”
    “What? No! You can’t do that!”
    “Shush. You can’t go around alone like that. What if you had been killed? Then where would we be? Hero-less. I do it to protect, not to punish.”
    It made sense, but didn’t make