Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Atama closed the door of his office and teleported to his table. He slammed the paper in his hand on the table and took a seat. He pushed the ink on the side of his table, it crashed on the floor and spoiled the beautiful white floor.

Atama flipped open the newspaper and took out a letter that was stuck in between the pages. The sender's name was missing, but Atama knew who had sent him the letter.

He read the letter, and when he was done, he sighed. Atama leaned over his table and grabbed his white hair. What is his deal? He asked himself. Why does he keep sending me the letters?

He removed his glasses and looked at the wall on the right side. He imagined the blue and black wand sitting in a compartment waiting to be used. But he was not going to use it.

Hiro…  you would have told me what to do. And so would have Kaori.

He closed his eyes and dropped his head. He felt stuck and helpless. He could not share this issue with anyone and he could not come up with a solution either.

Just why don't I remember what happened?! He grunted and banged the letter on the table. Why? Why? Remember, try to remember, invent a spell that would suck your memories, do something, do anything!

He grabbed his hair and pulled it to the edge of coming out, the pain made him stop. Just what happened on that planet? And why can I not remember anything?

He crushed his hair in his fists, not trying to pull them, but trying to wrinkle them. Then he heard it under his grunts. He heard it.

He heard Hiro and Kaori talking, not to him, but with themselves.

'That is our last resort…' said Hiro.

'Hm,' she replied, 'if we fail, if we do fail, dear, then this is our last shot. We need to do this no matter what.'

'We will do it, honey, but if we fail… if we do… if we are unable to seal Akuto, or if he breaks through our seal…' He was having trouble saying it.

So she completed it for him. 'We will lose our boy,' she said, 'so no matter what, dear…' she paused, 'we need to stop him.'

'Can we not think of a way to kill him somehow?'

'We tried, did not we? We tried, honey, but you know it, too, we can't kill him.'

'Oh damn… what if he comes out?'

'You know it…' she said and stopped.

Silence. Atama opened his eyes. He looked down at the table and saw the heading on the newspaper– Massacre at a Birthday Party. Killer Unknown. Eight-Nine Killed, Five were Injured, and the Hall Burned Down.

Then he saw the letter near his chest. He leaned away from the table and got up. He clicked his fingers and cleaned the mess of ink and muttered, I don't remember doing it.

He walked to the wall on the left and tapped a combination of magic dots. It created a decorated triangle, and soon the compartment clicked open. He grabbed the iPhone and punched Tengoku's number.

He picked up the call instantly and said, "I believe you got my letter."

Atama glanced across the room and found the letter still lying on his white table. "Although I do not remember reading it, I believe it is your letter."

"You better read it, since that mission failed, I need someone to hear me."

"I am not all-ears, so stop talking and hear me out."

That was depressing and disappointing at the same time. "Shoot, you old man."

Atama ignored it and continued, "Can you meet right now?"

"In the sense… right NOW? No, I can not. You see after I lost my only partner, I decided to take the path of Indian Yogis of Himalayas and deserted myself—"

"I told you to shut up and listen. I do not care about your partner whatsoever. For me, you are a mercenary, and the best one. So I want to see the best mercenary complete his task."

Tengoku kept Atama in dead silence for a minute. "You are a rude old man," he muttered, "can you show some sympathy?"

Atama ignored him again. "You want to know what to do next, right?"

"Yes… but I thought you did not remember reading my—"

"If we can not meet, I do not want to delay the mission anymore, so listen to my plan."

He waited for Tengoku's reply. Atama was surprisingly calm and was talking as if planning his student's murder was a usual thing for him. So he waited some more.

"Did you fall off the mountain you have deserted yourself or something?"

"No…" Tengoku replied, more severe than before. "I am considering your plan. I doubt I am mentally stable or emotionally healed to execute a plan."

"Do not give me that shit…" Atama groaned.

"Okay, I have considered all of the possibilities and I think… I will… execute the plan. Shoot it at me."

"His house," he started, "plan to attack his house. It would not be an assassination anymore, I want you to go all-out."

"Do you understand what you are saying? Have you taken the consequences into account?"

Atama looked down and exhaled. "Do you know what I always have a plan B ready?"

"You may, but you need to run through the plan and look at it logically."

"But when you went into the Forest with Onogi, I had not prepared for a Plan B. I was sure you would complete the mission, plan A would be a success."

He was surprised and felt trusted– then guilty of letting down a customer who trusted him so much.

"So I have been working on the Plan B since you failed to kill Hitori. I have looked at it from every side. Just follow what I tell you."

Tengoku considered it. "You trusted me, I will trust you with this one."

"I want his death to be a full-blown fucking murder. Do nothing to his house, be sure of that, and do not try to hide in his house or around his house if he is not around. I want it to be a murder, a head-on murder,"

"Are you not getting too gruesome? A new fetish, old man?"

Of course, he ignored him. "No one should know what happened to him– but don't assassinate him. Let him see how he and his pals die."

After a long pause of consideration, he said, "I will get to work as soon as I climb down this wall."

Atama was convinced, so he hung up the call.

Onogi grunted in his bed. He was having the worst time of his life, or so he thought because his father was yet to come downstairs. He was not aware of what his father was doing and he did not dare to ask either.

But he did dare to ask his servant, to which the servant replied, "They are going through the video recordings from the day of the invasion. They have recognized the invader, be rest assured, they will hunt him down."

Although Onogi just nodded and let the servant leave the room, he thought in his mind: As if that old man will hunt that bastard for me. He just wants to see the face of the person who did this to his so-called son. No way he will go out of his way to hunt him.

He knew better than anyone his father was not going to make a move, h was just checking the tapes without any motivation to hunt Hitori. Increasing the security? Probably yes. He needs to bring new guards and make the staircase fireproof.

If a teenager could enter his fort, then anyone could. And although Kamino did not have many enemies, his son sure did. He could lose his life thanks to his son's enemies.

Onogi was staring at the ceiling for a few minutes, knowing his father would not do shit, he was trying to come up with his next step. Of course, he was not giving up. Just as Kakashi had said, he was going to strike back.

If only I had… Kuzu, he thought. But shit, what is it that differs me from that third-class mage? Skills? Magic? Hell no! Brains? I am smarter than him, I bet. Then what?

He diverted his attention from coming up with a counter plan to finding his flaws. Then suddenly, an idea struck him and he was shifted back to coming up with a counter plan.

Right! Exactly! I need men. I need good men! Hitori has only a few, but they all are skilled and devoted, and loyal to him. I do not need someone who would be ready to die if I pay then a few thousand yen, but someone who would want to die to save me.

Of course, he had one. But no one wants to die for an arrogant boss. So he was stuck.

He stretched his hand and reached for his iPhone on the side of his bed. He punched Tengoku's number, yes he had learned it by heart and called him.

Pick it, pick the call, pick it, please! His wish was fulfilled. Tengoku picked up the call.

"Masao?" he said.

"Tengoku? Yes. I need your help. I think we should resume our mission—"

"We are not working together anymore, kid. I heard what he did to you, you should rest till you can walk again."

Onogi was left speechless. He did not know how to respond to that. So he just muttered something, "You, you can not do this! You know he killed my best man along with your best man. You know how I feel, I know you do!"

"Yes, I do, kid, and that is why I am telling you as someone more experienced than you: this can not happen."

"No, no, no, listen to me—"

"Forget about vengeance, Masao, it will fuck you up." Then he hung up the call.

Onogi crushed the phone and threw it on the floor. "I don't need anyone's help," he grunted, "I will fuck her, and I will do it alone!"

He jerked his arm and it sent a jolt of pain down his spinal cord, then the next he screamed– that disturbed his father and angered him– which was the worst thing to do.