Adopted Soldier

Ken was about ready to head to Oliver's supposed play after doing his regular practice swings. Once he was done he was about ready to go, but then he sensed numerous presences approaching him. They were quite a few of them, and it was obvious that they were here for Ken, since he was the only one living on this mountain.

Ken took out his favorite blade, and sighed. 'What do they want from an old man such as myself? The way things are going, I'm going to be late.' After a few seconds of waiting, Ken saw who his unexpected visitors were. These people were wearing the old uniform of the Empire, and were heavily armed.

'Ah, I see...' It was pretty obvious who these people were. Ken could had a few guesses why they came to him.

Once the group of soldiers reached Ken's home, the leader of the group of soldiers stepped forward.

"Sir Ken, it has been a while." Ken looked at the young lad before him, did he know this boy? As he stared long and hard at the Empire Soldier, he finally remembered who he was.

"Oh! If it isn't little Billy, what are you doing here?" Ken was happy to see the boy who told him that he would create a sword style much stronger than his. It has been several years, and the boy was now a man.

"I've been well Sir Ken. It seems like you've improved greatly Sir Ken."

"Oh, just a little bit, so what brings you here? You even brought some soldiers with you." Ken was eyeing the soldiers that were hidden behind the trees.

"I'm here to ask for you help to show the slaves of the Empire their place." As if it was timed, the moment Billy said this Ken could hear the sounds of explosion from the distance. Numerous rising smoke could be seen in the direction of the populated area of the city.

"I see, so you guys have finally gone mad..." Ken drew his sword, and took a stance.

"What are you doing Sir Ken? Do you plan to go against your own country? Aren't you a man of the Empire?" Billy sounded like he was really confused by Ken's actions.

"I'm a human being, before I am a man of the Empire, and the Empire has thrown what it means to be human, and became wild dogs that bite on everything." Ken said this with a stern expression.

"I see, so Ken Seto has become an enemy of the Empire, how unfortunate... Kill him!" Billy signaled his men to start shooting at Ken. Yet the moment he gave the signal for the attack, Ken suddenly disappeared from his sight.

Billy then sensed danger, and was about to block whatever was coming, but then his body slid diagonally to the right. He was sliced in half, and before his consciousness faded into nothingness he heard Ken's disappointed voice.

"Here I thought you would have created a wonderful sword, but it turns out it was wicked."

...

Seeing their commander die, didn't stop the Empire Soldiers from attacking Ken. They didn't stop since Empire Soldiers were expected to fight until their bodies break. So even if their commander died, they just need to follow the last order given. Ken was already aware of this mentality of Empire Soldiers, so he used the trees as cover, while dashing towards a nearby soldier. Once he got near enough Ken would proceed to slice the soldier in half, one slash one kill.

Yet even seeing their comrades being cut in half, as if their bodies were nothing but butter, didn't deter the soldiers. They just kept on attacking Ken. Even for the sword master, this was a difficult battle. Even though he was stronger than this unit of soldiers by a lot, still in the end Ken was only human. He was getting tired as he kept on running and dodging enemy fire.

Yet even in this state he kept on hacking at them. As he continued to hack and slash at the enemty soldiers, Ken was improving his swordsmanship. The more stamina he lost, the more he focused on attacking more efficiently to conserve his stamina.

After a short while Ken noticed something horrible. He was actually beginning to use the same sword style as his eternal rival Ryu. When he noticed this, Ken couldn't help but laugh at himself. So in this situation he actually used the same sword as his rival.

'In the end was he right? No, the sword isn't just for killing it has other purposes as well. It is a form of life an art. I guess his way and my way can both be right...'

When Ken thought of that he felt like he was about to gain some sort of enlightenment, but because of the disruption of the soldiers, he couldn't quite grasp it yet.

...

It took Ken more than an hour to clean up the soldiers that invaded his mountain home. Right now there was only one soldier left alive. The last remaining Soldier was being pinned down by Ken.

"I only have one reason why I kept you alive. I want you to deliver a message to your compatriots. Tell them that if they step foot on my mountain they better be prepared to die."

After saying this Ken released the soldier and watched him retreat.

'Now I better get ready for the incoming visitors.' It was pretty obvious that this kind of threat wasn't enough to stop the crazy soldiers of the Empire.

'Will this be my grave? Well I guess it's alright. Setsuna, Oliver, and Sayaka, I have already passed on most of my techniques to them, so it doesn't matter if I die, my swordsmanship will live on... I guess my only regret is that not once have I won against Ryu."

Ken shook his head, to stop thinking such thoughts. Thinking of dying wasn't like him.. He just needs to survive, so that he could have another match with Ryu.