Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

The walls cracked, its plaster fell, and three men stepped out with wands pointed at Hitori, Eya, and Kakashi. Hitori was taken by surprise. So it was all planned, he thought.

Hitori raised his wand. "Take it easy. We do not need to do this. Just… I." He stopped. Hitori bent down and left his wand and the box on the floor.

Then he turned to Father. He was holding a wand himself, his anger was boiling on his face. Hitori feared Father might snap anytime. He was not here to make more enemies, not especially of a guild when he already has Onogi and a mercenary, and a psychopath behind him.

"We should talk. This should be solved by talk—"

"Oh, boy. Talk. Such a waste of time. Why do not I kill you and end this—"

"Kill? You would not get away with it," Hitori said.

"What do you want to talk about? Today is my son's funeral, I am already pissed and annoyed by that old man's blabbering since the morning. I told him I do not care if he is dead or not, but he does not seem to listen."

Hitori lowered his hands. He moved his brows and pulled them together. "You do not care…?" he repeated.

"Why should I?" He shrugged. "When that bitch got herself raped, he was my last hope. I wanted him to be the messiah of our declining guild. But even that bastard betrayed me. He gave up and ran away with his handicapped sister."

Hitori did not know how to react. He felt the words used were out of limits. But, he was their father, he had that right.

"He deserved to die."

Kakashi stopped whatever he was doing and stared at Father. Eya raised her eyes, then pulled them together in anger. She turned to Kakashi, he looked into her eyes without blinking.

"That box…" Father looked beside Hitori's feet. "Did that slut ask you to get it for her?"

Hitori's heart skipped and beat and started racing. "Akemi-san did."

"Akemi-san—" he scoffed, "so, are you sleeping with her now?"

Hitori turned his head, his teeth were clenched against each other, and he was somehow controlling his anger.

His eyes met Kakashi's. They stared into each other eyes for a few seconds before Kakashi closed his eyes.

"What? Are you trying to use your psychic powers?" Father walked towards Hitori.

Hitori turned and glared at Father. His smile faded and so did his teasing tone.

"Glaring? Are you glaring at me in my own fucking house?" Father gave Hitori a shove while staring into his eyes. "Lower your fucking eyes, dick, or I will take them out."

Hitori did lower his eyes. He looked at the side of the shoulder Father had shoved him in. He raised his eyes with much more anger than before.

"Akemi-san is a respectable woman," he muttered. "And Kamiya was not a tool to achieve things you could not achieve in your life."

Father released his fist and grabbed Hitori's neck. "What do you know, huh? What a shitting, nosy, teenager like you would know anything about me?"

He squeezed it. Hitori opened his mouth to gasp for air, but it was to say, "The perfect example of an incapable man…" he muttered.

Father tightened his grip on Hitori's neck, he grabbed his chest with another hand, then he lifted Hitori off the ground.

He gave Hitori a strong swung and banged his body against the wall. "You are too cocky for a seventeen-year-old. You deserve to be punished…"

A strange psychopathic smile appeared on Father's face. He held his upper lip still as he spread his lower lip, it was a clown's smile. But he looked nothing like a clown, he looked more like Pennywise.

Hitori felt his suit tightening around his armpits. He was worried they might spot the gun in his pants. "Punish you just like I punished Akemi the Slut for having a sexual relationship with the same scientist who raped her. A punishment involving belts, punches, kicks, and magic."

Kakashi hummed in a rhythm. Eya threw him a glance. She widened her eyes, a signal of rejection. Kakashi protested, he could not watch it. 'We need to stop him before he does anything to that boy,' Kakashi said with gestures.

To which Eya replied with a specific movement of her eyes. 'Of course, we will. But if someone has to start it from our side, it will be Hitori-san.'

Father raised his fist and landed a punch in Hitori's jaw. He felt a surge of pain down his throat. It was the same pain he felt the last time his jaws were snapped.

But Hitori held his scream of pain. Father punched him in the cheek the second time. Then he landed a strong punch in Hitori's stomach.

That made Hitori spit over Father. "Um-hm." Father pursed his lips. He used his suit's sleeves to rub the spit off his chest.  Then he pulled Hitori off the wall. "Know your place."

Father's strength was not compatible. He had the arms of a powerful guild master, someone who spent hours in the gym. And when he used Bakuhatsu before his hand left Hitori's chest, it just added power to his throw.

Hitori crashed against the stair wall. His back cracked again and he felt his life force leaving his body.

Hitori brought his hands forward to protect himself as he fell on the stairs. His palm landed on the stair's corner and slid to the bottom stair. He saved himself from falling on his face, but could not stop as he rolled down the stairs.

Eya was watching as he banged against the wall on the landing and stopped. Kakashi leaned toward her and whispered, "I am ready. Just give me the signal."

Eya blinked at him. Kakashi nodded, he moved his right hand behind her and touched her lower back. Then he whispered, "Unbind."

And the imaginary shackles fell. Eya felt a huge weight being lifted off her chest, her shoulders and arms felt light, and she could move.

"Hitori-san will give you the sign, till then, remain bounded," she said.

Atama was walking towards Senso when the people downstairs heard the sound of banging on a wall. The men stopped talking with themselves and the women put a stop on their crying.

Senso opened his eyes and raised his head. His eyes met with Atama's troubled face. They exchanged glances.

Atama teleported to Senso and asked, "What is it? Where are others?"

"While you were outside, Hitori went upstairs to do something. Kamiya's father is upstairs. The Kogara siblings followed them, guided by three men," Senso explained.

Atama clicked his tongue. "Are they engaged in a battle?"

Senso shook his head. "But they might… soon."

Hitori ignored the distorted voices he could hear from downstairs. He pushed himself off the wooden stairs and got to his knees, then squatted. His legs were fine, but his jaw was probably broken, and his body was throbbing with pain.

He was panting for air as he looked upstairs and his eyes met with Eya. She lifted her finger behind her thigh, signaling she was free.

Hitori looked at the wooden landing. He saw his sweat and blood on it. Then another drop of blood fell on it from his mouth.