Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 92392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
And then the worst thing happened. . .the ghost appeared near one mine. The baby girl in her pink onesie sat cross-legged. Her curly hair lifted in the night breeze. More blood dripped down her temple.
She watched both armies with those dark calm eyes, turned her face toward me, and stuffed her thumb in her mouth.
Okay. . .real or not. . .I’m fighting this war for you too.
She blinked like she heard me and. . .for a few insane-driven seconds. . .I actually hoped she did.
“Get ready.” My brother lifted Totoro and pulled the trigger guard back. A spark caught at the barrel's mouth. "Now!"
The whole tree line moved.
All the Claws, except the twins, rushed out first.
Masked.
Fast.
Roaring.
The Fangs sprinted and got to the Claws’ sides with their own battle cry. Kaoru a streak of pink hair behind the Kuchisake. Yoichi a flash of ancient gold. Satoshi a low iron silhouette. Rin in white with both hooked-braids swinging like signals at his back.
Behind them, the Scales poured from the trees in hundreds. Solid red, black, and gray masks flooded past the tree line in a wave that did not stop and did not slow.
And behind the Scales, deeper in the dark, the Silent Ones rose from their patient stillness and came forward in red hoods that ate every shred of moonlight.
Across the field, Akiro's men snapped their views to the forest. Their confident faces changed. Their guns came up too late. Their ranks moved too slow.
A man with a rocket launcher lowered the weapon and stared in shock. It might have been the masks that shocked him first. . .or the sheer size of roaring men racing toward them. . .and then he was dead. . .I didn’t even know how Yoichi had gotten there so fast.
I swore he’d been several feet away still heading along, but. . .Yoichi zipped forward and ripped off the man’s head with his bare fingers so fast I shuddered unsure of how he could do that. So fast. . .I wished I had told the twins to change their kitsune masks and not chuckle at him further.
And then the Silent Ones sped ahead of the Claws and Fangs, shocking us all. Their red hooded capes lifted as they ran, and within three strides they were no longer running at all.
They were damn near flying.
Oh.
The lead figure planted one foot against a fallen log and launched into the dark air above the field. I caught a quick glimpse of her long gray hair and knew it was a woman. The red cape opened behind her like wings. She cleared fifteen feet of grass without touching the ground. Her hood went back into place, swallowing it into shadow.
Then, she landed on a man with a rocket launcher.
He dropped the huge weapon.
A blade flashed once from beneath her red cape, and the man's head was gone from his shoulders. The Silent One had already pushed off the falling body and landed on another before the first body hit the grass.
Two more red figures came up behind her and even used the dying man's body as a stepping stone. The other picked up the rocket launcher and began blasting some of Akiro’s troops.
Fuck yeah.
Akiro's men started screaming.
And the Silent Ones who had somehow got to the men before everyone, were easily removing the threat of the rocket launchers. Each kill was so fast and so clean that the field could barely keep up with how many launcher-bearers and mine-placers were already dead.
Reo’s gaze darted from side to side. “Seven launchers down. No. Eight.”
Kenji bobbed his head. “The mine-placers stopped placing mines. Some of them are running away.”
I grinned. “But, most of them are dying.”
Perhaps, I’ll accept the Silent Ones’ apology after all.
I took in the wider field.
The whole of it had become chaotic motion.
To my left, Toma had reached the all-red assassin and the two of them collided in a flash of curved blades and ogre horns. Sparks lit up between them. Steel met steel three times in two seconds.
In the center, Kaoru was a blur of pink hair around violet. He moved like he was dancing with a partner who didn’t yet know they were going to die.
Further out, Rin walked through enemy soldiers in a bored stroll. Men who came within reach of his braids or tried to grab him, fell directly to their knees gasping. Rin stabbed them in the chest as he passed without breaking stride.
Some guy shot Rin’s way.
Rin turned, blurred to the man, and whipped his hooked braid at his neck. The sharp tip slashed at his eye.
The man screamed in horror, dropping his gun, and crumbling to the ground. Next his skin began to bubble grotesquely. Tons of bumps appeared along with green pus.
Ugh. . .that’s so fucking disgusting.
Rin nodded at the man and continued on, not even stabbing the poor guy out of his misery.