Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Hitori hated that idea. How could he let someone he just met take his prey? So he stepped for his prey.

He first lowered his wand, then adjusted his shirt. "Why do you get to kill him?" Hitori asked. He gulped, being intimated made his throat dry.

Tengoku cocked his gun, then fired at Migi without giving him a chance to reply to Hitori. Then he raised his katana and charged at Migi.

Akira shouted, "He is open. This is our chance, Hitori!" He turned to Hitori. "Kill him while he is busy fighting the Guardian."

A branch took the bullets and withered into dust. Then a vine rose from the ground, straightened, and dropped into Migi's hands.

Tengoku smiled. "So this is how it is going to be." He clenched his katana, then threw Akira a glance. "You are not getting a chance, boy."

Akira paused and glanced at Tengoku, intimidated, yet stared into his eyes. "Yeah? How about this?" He pointed his wand at Tengoku.

Without caring, Tengoku focused on Migi. His katana struck the vine, then he turned and swept the blade under Migi's legs.

Migi jumped, then brought a tree's root. It tried to reach the katana's blade, but Tengoku was fast enough to pull the blade back.

He jumped off the ground and pulled his katana from the back with all of his force. Migi pushed his right leg back and leaned. Now he was flexing his butt.

The vine tightened again, like a metal blade, but just not sharp – it had a pointed tip, though – then the katana came.

He applied force in the opposite direction, trying to push Tengoku back. But the katana started pushing Migi down. The vine started to fall apart, it started tearing into two.

Roots and branches crept towards Tengoku from the ground. Dust and leaves mixed with the air as they rose.

Migi's arm muscles flexed as he applied the last push of his force and pushed Tengoku. When the roots and branches rose to power, Tengoku swung his leg and rolled away from him.

With a grin on his face, Tengoku landed on the ground. All this time, Akira was holding his wand but could not fire. None of them could. But only Kakashi had noticed the gunfire had stopped.

"What happened, brat?" Tengoku looked at Akira as he rose. "This is a fight between me and Migi. A boss and his junior. I will deal with you later."

Akira stuttered a reply, "We are more in number. We will kill you if Migi can not." That name sounded stupid, Akira thought.

"Of course, you would not get such a chance, I told you, did I not?"

"What the heck is your problem?" Akira threw his hands on his side. "How can you be so arrogant even when you are covered by your enemies?!" he asked.

Hitori knew the precise answer to that. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the dismembered shield and the robots turning their faces toward him.

Tengoku scoffed, "Why do you think he opened the shield, idiot? So that we could fight in peace while you deal with my men."

A chill ran down Hitori's spine as the robots turned and loaded their machine guns. The men who were firing at the house from the front yard had also changed their position and now moving towards the side yard – it was not a yard, actually, but what if I make it one?

Eya was in no condition to create a shield and hold against the machine guns. And they did not have a massive weapon to vanish everyone in an instant. What they had, they had already used it.

Tengoku laughed as he lifted his katana and took his stance. "I do not know how he can use magic, but before he was your Guardian, he was my junior." Then he bolted towards his junior.

Migi looked at the vine in his hand, then shook his head. "Time to level up." He bent, eyes straight on Tengoku, and opened his hand beside him.

A branch lifted off the ground, followed by roots and vines. The roots started wrapping the branch in spirals. For the finale, the vines covered the branch, then ended around the thick end.

Migi grabbed the thick end and rose to face Tengoku. Their weapons clashed with each other, leaving everyone else spectators to their battle.

Hitori turned to face the robots and men charging toward them. He glanced at Kakashi and Eya. He spread his arms, then shrugged.

Reon stepped forward. Eya and Kakashi followed her. Akira left Tengoku to fight Migi and turned to regroup.

"What do we do?" Hitori asked as everyone closed in, from every side. His men were still preparing for the attack, so they had some time to think about the future moves.

"Shall we do what we did the last time?" Akira asked.

Eya and Kakashi rejected that idea. It would cost a lot of mana and it is not necessary for such a low number of people. They had to come up with something else.

"Shall we wait for Kyo-san to come? He would have Draco with him, so a breath of fire will burn everything and everyone."

"Yes, but we do not know when he is coming," Eya said. "And look at them," she pointed at the men in front of them, "they would start firing any moment! What do we do till then?"

"Shield—?"

"Do not even say that," Eya snapped. "Oh god. I will die from mana drain!" She threw her hands in the air.

Hitori could not come up with a plan either. He knew it was his job to take action, but what could he do?

A guy around nineteen years of age came forth to the front-line guards. He was wielding a handgun and a frown on his face. He strode across the yard, towards Hitori.

Hitori turned when he heard the angry footsteps in the silent clanking of a blade against a branch. He could not recognize that face, but it seemed personal.

The boy raised his gun and pointed at Hitori. "You bastard!" He pulled the trigger, and Hitori ducked the bullet.

"What the…" Hitori glanced at the bullet which went towards Tengoku, which he deflected with a swing of his katana.

When Hitori turned around, the boy was on him. "You took everything from me!" he shouted as he brought down his fist at Hitori.

Hitori raised his wand and fired an explosion spell. Even after taking the spell head-on, nothing happened to him.

Hitori created a shield and blocked the punch. Then he rose, took a good look at his face, and said, "I do not even know you."