Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Onogi picked up the phone and replied immediately, "This is Onogi speaking from my office, I copy. Over."

"Sir, please take a look at the entrance camera, we have three visitors who state themselves as men you have summoned for an important business. Over."

Onogi tapped his table and multiple screens appeared. He navigated to the entrance camera. He found three people covered in hoods, standing at the entrance, not that he recognized them, though.

"What business are they here for? Over."

"They state it to be a secret. And they are mages, over."

"Their faces? They would need to reveal their faces, over."

The guard turned to his mate and gestured at him with a nod. The other guard faced Hitori and said, "Take off your hoods."

"We can not."

"Then turn around."

"We can not."

The guard clicked his tongue and turned back to his mate, he shook his head.

"Sir, do you copy?"

"I do."

"They are refusing to reveal their faces, what do we do? Over."

"Send them back," Onogi said. He raised his head when he heard a knock on his door. He clicked the button on his table to open the door. "I have not appointed anyone for such business, send them back."

Kuzu stepped into the room, he opened his mouth but closed it when he heard Onogi talking to someone and saw him behind his table.

"Understood, sir, over."

The guard hung up. He turned to his mate and nodded again. Hitori glanced between the two of them, he was sure they did not get the permission.

Onogi pulled the Bluetooth device, which was a pen, on the table and sighed.

Kuzu frowned. "Who was it?" he asked.

"No one. Just some visitors."

"What did they say?"

"Just forget it, Erabu." Onogi rubbed his head and reached for his glass.

The guard downstairs walked close to Hitori, he stood his ground and looked at the guards.

"Unfortunately, Onogi-san has rejected your request for a visit. In fact, he never appointed anyone for any 'important' business."

The other guard pulled a gun from behind and cocked it in front of his waist. Kakashi opened his hand and so did Eya, she raised it a bit. Hitori noticed the moment behind him, he stretched his hand and grabbed Eya's hips.

She lowered her hand. Then removed Hitori's hand from her hips. Kakashi still stood his guard.

"We guess, you are an imposter or an assassin. You just wanted a way inside, too bad we figured you out. Now leave."

"Assassin?" Hitori sighed and dropped his head. "So the business is what you want to know about, do not you?"

"You can not fool us, leave at the instant." The guard pointed his gun at Hitori's head.

Kakashi's hand sprung on its own, he stepped back and manifested a ball of fire on his palm. Eya moved her hand to the side and drew her wand, she held it by her waist.

Kuzu took a seat and pulled out a cigarette. "You got to tell me, boss. What was the business?"

"I told you, I did not appoint anyone for a secret mission of any sort. They must be some jerks sent to kill me."

"Were they mages?"

"Yes. At least, dressed like ones."

He took a smoke. Kuzu paused, then nodded. "I see. You know the brothers I told you about?"

Onogi nodded. "But the visitors outside are three people, you said the brothers were worked as a duo."

Kuzu took another smoke. "Yeah. Did they state their business? Maybe the brothers brought someone with them?"

"Important business, they said. And they are hiding their faces. Told you, just forget about it."

Kuzu blew the smoke. "If you say so, Masao-san."

Suddenly, the Bluetooth device rang. Kuzu's cigarette fell from his hand and Onogi jumped in his seat.

"On-Onogi-san!" the guard shouted, "come in, Onogi-san! I repeat, come in. Do you copy me, sir?!"

"Fuck." He picked the pen. "Yes. I fucking copy you, shut up!"

"Assassins! Hitmen! T-They are hitmen."

Kuzu grabbed his cigarette. "Are we under attack?" Onogi threw him a glance.

Onogi asked, "Where are they? Did they get inside?"

"No, sir, not here for you! T-They are here because of you."

"Fuck it, what do you mean?"

"T-They... they stated their business." The guard was out of breath, yet he somehow said, "Killed. They killed your enemy."

Onogi narrowed his eyes and angled his brows. "Who?"

"S-Saibai."

Onogi raised his eyes and gripped the pen tightly. "What?"

"Saibai Hitori. They have killed Saibai Hitori by the orders of Onogi Masao."

The cigarette dropped out of his hand once again, along with his jaw. "What the fuck, who did it?"

Onogi blankly stared at Kuzu.

"Sir, please, s-sir, do you copy?!"

"I do, I fucking do. If they are on our side, why the fuck are you shitting your pants?"

"Because..." he muttered, "they have their weapons pointed at us."

Kakashi was the only one with his hand over their heads. Eya was on her guard as Hitori stated their business.

"What do we do?"

Onogi looked at Kuzu. "Let them inside, they must be the Saiko brothers."

He lifted the pen to his lips and said, "Let them in. Over."

The guard hung the phone.

Onogi dropped the pen and capped his hands under his chin. Kuzu lifted his cigarette and leaned on the table.

"T-They killed him? Just like that?" Onogi wondered.

"The Saiko brothers are psycho."

"But we never ordered them to kill him."

"I know, I did not either. But they went."

"When the fuck did they get to the other side? You were on the other side two days ago!"

Kuzu dropped his eyes. "Fuck. If he is dead then what will happen to Gigi's curse? Argh, why did they have to hurry?!" Kuzu banged the table and chewed on his cigarette.

They heard a knock on the door. Onogi and Kuzu exchanged glances before Onogi opened the door.

They held their breath when three men clad in hoods stepped into the room. Hitori raised his eyes at Onogi as he walked through the room and sat beside Kuzu.

Onogi looked at the person sitting in front of him. "Is it true?" he asked, "that you killed Hitori?"

Hitori did not speak. Eya stood in the doorway while Kakashi stood right beside Kuzu, he felt like he was being ganged on.

"I wish I had," Hitori said, reaching for his hood.

"What do you mean, you have not? You lied to get your way—" His words got stuck in his throat when Hitori removed his hood.

"I did lie," he said, revealing his eyes and dark hair. It was no mistake, Onogi had seen Ryu in the game and videos before, and the person in front of him had the same looks.

Kuzu's eyes widened when he saw the familiar face. "Fuck!"

He shook his sleeve for his blade when he felt a wooden stick against his neck. "Stay. Put. Kuzu Erabu."

Onogi lifted his eyes from Hitori to the man behind Kuzu. "Do anything and you will pay, whoever you are."

"Come on, you know who I am, Masao. I bet you had not forgotten the time you were lying on the cement ground with your hands tangled and your body petrified."

Onogi raised his eyebrows. "No way..." he shook his head.

"Yes, Masao, you are right." Kakashi reached for his hood and flapped it on his shoulders.

"Fucking Kakashi!" Onogi lifted his hand. "What the fuck are you doing with this kid?!" Onogi demanded. "I can kill you right now, you are in my house and not the academy's arena."

Hitori sighed. "This may be your house, Onogi, but right now, it is just me and you in the room. And I have the upper hand."

Onogi lowered his eyes, Hitori was staring at him. When he looked at his chest he found Hitori's wand against his chest.

"And I swear I would not care a shit about those silly forbidden curses. So sit down, we will have a civilized talk."

Onogi lowered his hand. "Civilized? Who are you kidding? You will point your wand and finish us the second you get the chance."

Hitori kept staring at him. The nodded. "Sure. I think, before he has a civilized talk, it is important to make you understand I am not here to kill you."

Hitori leaned forward and lowered his wand at the table. Kakashi pulled his wand from Kuzu's neck, he let out a sigh. "What are you doing, boy?"

He placed his wand on Onogi's table, leaned back, and shrugged. "See, no wand, no magic. Killing you is not the goal."

Onogi gulped. "What about your friends?"

Hitori glanced at them. "Come on. No wand means no magic, Kogara, yeah?"

Kakashi gave him a glare before putting his wand on Onogi's table.

Onogi was unaware of the fact that powerful warlocks would use magic without a wand, in fact, the wand was just equipment to control their flow of magic-- so that it does not burst out like it does without using a wand.

And Hitori knew that. He used it to his advantage. It did not matter whether they submitted their wands or not, if Onogi makes a move, they could kill him anytime.

Hitori turned to Kuzu who was beside him. "Your blades, Kuzu." He handed his blades.

Onogi sighed, his hands trembled as he made himself a glass of his cocktail mix. He brought it to his lips and took a bird's sip, he just touched the liquid to his lips and pulled it apart.

"What do you want?"

"Explanations," Hitori said. "Kuzu, Tengoku, Kamiya, Akemi, and Kiku. Murder. Explain."

Onogi put his glass on the table. "Yes, Erabu came to the side to kill Akemi, Kamiya, and you. He failed and got his best men cursed by that woman." Onogi pointed his hand at Eya, she was standing by the door. "If she is with Kakashi, then hello, Eya."

"Move forward."

"That is her," Kuzu shirked, pointing at her. "She cursed Gigi! It was her! I know her from Hitori's house, they two were there, I fucking know them. Oh, you are good as dead—!"

"Fuck off, Kuzu. We did what we were supposed to. This was a part of the war."

"Fuck your war!" Kuzu stood from his chair. "Cure him. I want you to fucking cure him! Use the countercurse now!"

Eya stepped forward. "He got cursed, it was his fault. You should not have come there in the first place if you were never ready for your death."

"You bitch!" Kuzu took a step.

"Erabu!" Onogi shouted, "do not move."

He threw a glance at Onogi. "But she—!"

"We will find the countercurse somehow." He nodded. "We will."

Eya glanced at Onogi. "Of course, you will. Besides, I could not curse him perfectly. He is partially cursed."

"And how does that help?"

"He will feel the pain. Sever pain, more like torture, for his sins. He will wish he would have been better dead than suffer through the effects of a partial curse. But no matter what, he will not die." She shook her head.

Hitori frowned. 'We need to talk, I see.' He turned to Onogi.

"Tengoku. I do not know what the fuck you have to do with Tengoku Kagaku. He is a mercenary, that much I can tell you."

"I know that much."

"Someone must have paid him to kill you. Not us. We like to do our shit ourselves."

"Did not look like it though, I found you had appointed someone to kill me and were surprised when he showed up. I want to know, Onogi, that your hate against me lies in the game only."

Onogi lifted the glass. "This was a conflict between me and Akemi, then another conflict formed between Kamiya and Erabu. It never had anything to do with you. You got your ass involved in this. I have no choice."

Hitori nodded. "What about Kiku then, do you know anything about her?"

"Who the heck is this? Your girlfriend who got killed? I know nothing about your maid—"

"She was my sister," Hitori interrupted him, "if you had to investigate about me, at least know that she was my sister."

"I had nothing to do with her, but I would have killed her now if she was alive."

"Telling the truth, are you Onogi?"

He took a sip. " Use your fucking curse if you think I am not."

Hitori nodded. "Okay." He leaned forward to get the three wands on the table.

Onogi dropped his glass and pointed his finger at Hitori again, Kakashi raised his hand behind, and Kuzu jumped forward to grab his three blades.

Hitori turned and casually got up from his seat. "See ya." Hitori raised his hand.

Everyone was dumbfounded, they stared at Hitori with wide eyes. Onogi lowered his hand and Kuzu dropped back into the chair.

Onogi sighed and sat. "You may be a badass bigshot in the gaming world, Hitori..." he said, "but here, this ain't your game."

Hitori handed Kakashi and Eya's wands back to them and then dug his wand in the side. He turned to Onogi and looked into his eyes.

"What is the difference? My heart races the same when I am fighting a murderer hand-to-hand in the game and when I am talking with a murderer face-to-face."

He pulled his hood and teleported out of the building. "That was a nice fight, though, I swear I have never fought such an all-out battle ever since." Kakashi and Eya followed him.

Onogi dropped his head on the table, then supported it with his hands. Kuzu gulped and rubbed his neck.

"Erabu..."

"Y-yes?"

"When are they coming?" Onogi asked.

"W-who, sir?"

He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Where are your Saiko brothers?"