Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

With the welcome surprise hidden for him, Hitori waited for the guards to turn. Reon and he exchanged glances, then rose out of the bushes.

Reon stepped forward with her gun straight in front of her. Hitori did not bother with the shield, he focused on attacking. He accomplished his plan of killing the guards before they get a chance to fight back.

He fired fire and ice spears. He noticed his ice was weaker than before, it melted quickly and where he needed one spear, he needed two now. But fire, it was blazing as ever.

He might only have one chance, but he can make an explosion. The front guards collapsed with blood flowing from their chests and heads. He had developed endurance for the gore, he could ignore it, but not easily.

He glanced at the sides, looking for any dangers, and just then his wand vibrated. Hitori glanced at it, then at Reon.

No guards were coming from the broken stairs and neither from the sides. He grabbed Reon's arm and pulled her to the side. "We have a message."

They rolled into the woods once again, just a meter away from the front door, but out of the CCTVs' range. She rose by his side and he pressed the wand to his lips.

"Hitori? Where are you?"

"Did you just call to check on me? I was in the middle of an operation."

"But you cared enough to still pick up the call." She had a little tone of mischievousness in her voice. He wondered how she could tease within the given circumstances.

"Is Tamashi not there yet?"

"No, actually, that is why I called you." She paused. Hitori waited for her to continue. "What is your status?"

He sighed. "I thought you called to tell me something."

"I will. But after you tell me your situation. It depends on that, after all."

The bushes hustled. He raised his head and looked over his shoulder. Reon was sitting on the ground with wide eyes and a heaving chest.

He turned back to watch the front and told Eya, "The front guards are out. I do not see anyone coming for backup, I doubt someone is even in the Fort."

"Alright. You should wait then."

"Wait for what? And for how long? And why?"

"You should wait because we want you to. You should wait because Onogi must have set some trap. Because we can not trust him, we can not lose you, and you should wait because we are coming."

Hitori opened his mouth to counter, then the last sentence echoed in his mind. He froze and his mouth remained open. "W-what?" he stuttered.

"How long did it take you to reach? Wait for the same amount of time. And why? Because Atama-sensei said so."

Hitori glanced at Reon, she was sitting straight but was clueless about the situation. "He said? What? How, what happened?" He could not keep his excitement under control.

Eya giggled at his unsettled self, then said, "He is gone, to get Tamashi. He feared he could not face him alone, but when I told him about your position… he ran off. He told us to focus on Hitori and that he would deal with Tamashi."

They were coming with him. Not if the traps or Tamashi wastes him reach them first. So he decided to hold onto his plan, or drop, out and work on a new plan involving six people.

"Atama-sensei will take care of Tamashi, all we got to do is take care of Onogi. So stay put, we are coming to you."

"I will, yes."

"And keep us updated with the changes or if you are heading into a battle. Do not want to arrive and keep wondering where you are if we do not see you."

"I will keep you updated. Just hurry now." They hung up and Hitori spun to Reon.

She was sitting in anticipation, and she was not disappointed.

"They are coming," he said. "They are clear, and they will come to help us."

A smile spread on Reon's face. "Really?"

"We will have support. " Hitori glanced outside, the dead bodies were lying as they had left them. "We just need to hold our ground and look out for traps."

She looked around her, then smiled at Hitori. "We can do that perfectly by just sitting here. Is Kyo-san coming?"

"I did not ask her. But maybe he is coming. We need someone to talk with his father."

With nothing to do but look out for potential guards, Hitori kept staring from the bushes while Reon looked out for any threat from behind.

Hitori developed sadness and guilt for the men he had killed. They just lay there for eternity. No one came to pick them up, no one came to back them up, and no one even cared about them.

Hitori and Reon waited for fifteen minutes till they heard footsteps from afar, yet no one had arrived to pick up the dead guards' corpses. For once, it felt so bad Hitori considered them to be robots. But even robot corpses do not deserve such disrespect.

"Hitori, they are coming," Reon called him.

He gave them a last glance, then turned to the right side. He looked through the bushes, but could not cut through the darkness. But he was sure he was hearing some footsteps. Perhaps Onogi to heck on his destruction? Or Eya with Akira and Kakashi? He leaned forward to take a better look when Reon pulled him back.

"We are not sure about their identity, I think we should stay at some distance."

Hitori agreed with her and sat back. Then they came in closer with a fire lit in front of them. It was them. Hitori jumped out of bushes, then raised his wand at them.

They looked at him, Eya was startled, and Kakashi's arm sprung up as soon as he heard Hitori rise. She stepped back and grabbed Kakashi's arm. He pulled her behind him and tightened the grip on his wand.

"What are you doing, boy?" Kakashi asked.

Hitori held his wand straight and asked for the same of asking, "Prove your identity," he said in a calm voice, unable to hide his excitement.

"Shut up…" he groaned and dropped his wand. Then sighed. "You seriously want identity proof? Who do you think will come disguised? Tengoku is fighting, so is that psycho guy, and Onogi? He must be hiding."

That was a point. Besides, he had proved his identity. Nobody knew what Tengoku was doing and with whom – only the ones who were there – and Onogi was absent.

So he lowered his wand.