Satsui no Hado? What's that?
Mai looked at Hanzo curiously and couldn't help asking.
Hanzo was momentarily speechless. Looking at Mai, he sighed helplessly.
"You... never mind. Back then I thought Akuma was already dead. In this era, it's normal that you don't know about it."
After saying that, he sighed again.
He didn't like his era. To avoid the war at the time, he had spent most of his life around South Town in America. Because of that, even though the Shiranui-ryū owned so much land in Japan, it had never been properly developed and the family had only remained at a mediocre level.
His granddaughter even had to take part-time jobs in her daily life…
Of course, their connections were still there. If they truly wanted to do something, rising again wouldn't be difficult. But if a martial arts family gave up martial arts entirely and focused only on other businesses, they might very well repeat the fate of his son.
Back then, when his son died tragically, Hanzo had even suspected that someone had targeted their family property. That was why he had accepted a blond, blue-eyed foreigner as a disciple and even planned to marry Mai to him.
After all, judging from the man's personality, he would most likely marry into the family. That way Mai could keep the family estate and the child she had with that talented man might truly revive the family.
But times had changed.
In his era, the incidents involving the Satsui no Hado had shaken the world and the top martial arts schools had been famous across the land. Yet even before he died, those schools had already begun to decline. Now that he had been dead for so many years, they must have fallen even further.
The reason was simple.
A martial artist could easily deal with a policeman carrying a handgun.
But what about rocket launchers, submachine guns, machine guns and missiles?
What martial artist could resist those?
If you only practiced martial arts to protect your family property from being taken away, then there was no problem. Even if you killed someone while defending yourself, not many people would care.
Just like the person who killed him, he was still a famous figure even now.
But if you used martial arts to bully others or seize what you wanted, then you were finished.
The state would suppress you. Families and martial artists willing to serve the government, combined with modern weapons; no matter how strong you were, you couldn't fight against the power of a nation.
So, the disappearance of many martial arts families was only natural.
For example, the once-famous Kusanagi clan and the Yagami clan had both declined. In the past they had ruled entire cities and regions, but after Tokugawa Ieyasu crushed them with his armies, only the Kagura clan seized the opportunity to rise step by step. While the others gradually faded into obscurity.
In fact, in his generation there were even rumors that members of the Kusanagi clan could barely protect their own small households. They no longer had any special industries at all, declining even more severely than the Shiranui-ryū.
If even the Three Sacred Treasure families had fallen to such a state, it was no surprise that other schools had declined as well.
But the Satsui no Hado still needed to be explained to Mai.
"Satsui no Hado is the surge of killing intent, a power that can devour one's true nature. In our world there are various mysterious powers and the Satsui no Hado is one of them. By constantly digging deeper into killing intent and sensing its power, one can push their body beyond its limits. However, this power has a terrible side effect: it causes a person to completely sink into killing intent, abandoning all relationships and humanity, seeking only to kill more people in order to increase their killing intent and become even stronger. But people like Ryuji and that man just now, those who can use the Satsui no Hado to such a degree... have never appeared in history."
At this point, Hanzo's expression grew grave.
"The enemy just now was someone who had been consumed by the Satsui no Hado. After training it, he went mad and killed his own master. It's said that his wife also died trying to stop him from killing his son, but I don't know what happened after that. However, there is no doubt that he killed his own master."
Hanzo's words made Mai fall silent.
Killing one's master was an extremely serious matter in any martial arts school. It would be condemned by everyone. Even if your master were a heinous person, in the East Asian cultural circles killing your own master would still bring criticism…
Unless that master had murdered your parents. But even then, there would still be people who looked down on you.
After all, there was the debt of upbringing and the gratitude for teaching and guidance, something martial artists valued deeply.
Killing one's master is truly a grave sin.
"Then Ryuji…"
Mai pressed her lips together as she looked at Ryuji. She had no intention of giving up on him, just as Ryuji hadn't given up on her back then. Sure, part of the reason Ryuji wanted her was because he desired her body, but now that they were already in a relationship, desiring her body was actually a good thing.
"I don't know, because those two have already exceeded my understanding."
Hanzo spoke with a serious expression, but upon hearing this, Mai rolled her eyes at her grandfather.
"If you don't know, then don't say things like that! What if Ryuji has already mastered the Satsui no Hado?"
Hanzo: "..."
Looking at his granddaughter rolling her eyes at him, he couldn't help recalling the girl who used to ask him about everything and treat him with the utmost respect. He sighed again.
She has grown up. I can't keep by my side anymore.
He sighed with emotion, but when he noticed that although Mai was worried, her body still remained on guard, Hanzo nodded in satisfaction. It meant his granddaughter hadn't been completely blinded by love, which was quite good.
But at that moment, a sudden change occurred in Ryuji.
A violent wave of energy burst out from his body, spreading in all directions. For an instant, both Mai and Hanzo even seemed to see the phantom of a gigantic skull appearing beside him.
The violent shockwave directly blasted both of them backward. If they hadn't been on guard already, that single shock would have seriously injured them.
When Mai and Hanzo steadied themselves again, they saw countless waves of energy were spreading outward from Ryuji's body, with him at the center. Everything around him began to tremble.
Especially the wooden pavilion and the nearby pond, which shook violently as if struck by some invisible force.
And Mai and Hanzo could clearly sense what it was.
Killing intent!
~~~~~~~~~~
You can support me by subscribing on Patreon and read up to 20 chapters ahead.
patreon.com/Ranabir_20