Madara looked around. This was the type of battle that left him wishing for peace. It was not a clash of two enemies of great power and skill, this was slaughtering sheep, something that sickened him. Apparently rumors spread fast, as troops were starting to look for someone who killed Tenryuubito. Currently he had the blood of nine on his hands, plus that of a few soldiers who saw him. A lone Marine ran past him, and Madara grabbed his gun while sinking his other hand into the man's guts. He collapsed, and didn't get back up.
While he had never worked a weapon like this 'gun' before, he had seen it in use, and the principle was simple enough. You pointed that thing were you wanted the bullet to go, and pull the trigger. Reloading was a bit more tricky, but one shot and a decent club was really all Madara expected from this thing.
He looked around for a suitable target, and smiled. "What have we here?" He muttered. It was an entire flock of Tenryuubito, two men and two children, three of them wearing round helmets, the last man wearing what looked like the top half of an egg. Madara aimed for that one
Focus, activate Sharingan, calculate movements, make sure that it was a clear shot, correct aim, FIRE!
Roswald was running for his life, gently pushing his children ahead. Shalulia was looking around in terror, while Charloss seemed grumpy to leave the buffet-table. Roswald knew that his daughter was the sharper one of the two, and that she had heard the rumor that someone who was killing Tenryuubito when he had been informed. The fact that they had already spotted three dead Tenryuubito as they rushed along was doing nothing to calm them. Screaming, shouts, the sound of burning buildings, the sound of bullets being shot wildly into the air, everything was pandemonium! To his right ran the host of the party they had visited, Saint Lucist.
Secretly, Roswald blamed Lucist for all this. That stupid sword he had bought in an auction and bragged about the entire evening had brought the calamity onto their heads.
Suddenly, the sound of a single shot, a sound that should have drowned in the maelstrom of noise, rang through the air. Lucist stumbled, the sword slipping out of his fingers, and fell to the ground, where he laid motionlessly. His head had turned, and Roswald could see the hole in his forehead. Shalulia screamed.
Roswald looked around in panic, not believing that one would really dare lay hand on one of them, let alone murder them, praying that it had been a stray shot and a lot of bad luck that ended Lucist's life. He was disappointed. He saw him.
The man was tall, wearing a red armor of sorts, his long, spiky black mane flowing in a small breeze, his eyes, black as coals, promising horrible pain. In all the running, he was the eye of the storm, calm. Almost leisurely he started walking towards them, as if he had all the time in the world. Roswald pushed his children behind him and looked around for an escape-route. There was none. The man had, while still casually strolling towards them, snapped a Marine's neck, grabbed his sword, and gutted a Tenryuubito that had blindly run past him.
It was this act that told Roswald how dangerous this man was. It was not that he killed, nor his remorselessness when it came to killing, but the ease with which he did so. He ended lives with such carelessness, as if he was squashing flies. This man cared for nothing, one could read that in his eyes. Where were those admirals, vice-admirals, captains and everyone else that should come when Mariejois was attacked?
Roswald looked around, and spotted the blade Lucist had dropped. He grabbed it.
Madara raised a brow. Was this man seriously intending to fight him? No. Instead, he presented the blade to him, as an offering. How curious.
Roswald gulped, swallowing his pride. His children were more important than any pride. "Please, spare our lives. We have done you no wrong. Take this, but spare our lives. This is a Kitetsu of the First generation, one of the best blades in the world. Take it, but spare my children."
Madara looked at the blade. He took it out of the man's hands, who stumbled back and out of the blade's reach. After unsheathing it, he saw that it was indeed a marvelous sword, better than any blade he had seen in his own world. It held an intoxicating shimmer, with a hint of danger. Madara grinned. "It's cursed." He stated.
Roswald paled. "How did you...?"
Madara's attention was still focused on the blade. "One can feel that. It does not want to be in unworthy hands. Very well, I will spare your lives. Also, I have my honor. Children are innocent and should not easily be killed."
Roswald sighed in relief, before his eyes widened in horror. Charloss had taken his gun and was aiming it at the man. "Shut up! Die!" He called as he fired.
Madara effortlessly dodged, broke the boy's hand, smashed his helmet, and pressed him against the wall, a good foot over the ground. "Foolish boy," Madara hissed, now angered. "a weapon is not a toy! Do you even know what it means to point a weapon at another?"
Roswald was praying that his son had the sense to shut up and not draw this man's, no, this monster's ire any more than he already had. But Charloss sneered arrogantly. "I'm a Tenryuubito, if you touch me, an admiral will come."
Madara looked him in the eye. "Boy, up to this point, I have killed eleven Tenryuubito. Do you really think it will make any difference if I snap your neck?" Roswald, Shalulia and even Charloss were horrified. Madara ignored them. "But answer my question, boy. Do you understand what it means to point a weapon at another being?"
Charloss looked at him, fear in his eyes, but his arrogance unbroken. "Yes, it means that I kill you."
Madara backhanded the boy with enough to knock loose a few milk-teeth. "YOU ARROGANT IMBECILE! How conceited can you be?" He calmed down, and unleashed his hatred. "Now listen fool, and listen well. Pointing a weapon, any weapon with lethal force, will give the following message; I want to kill you. I want to kill you enough that I am giving up all moral protections that have shielded me, and I am prepared that, if you are superior in this battle, you kill me! Pointing a weapon at another means that you are putting your life in two hands, yours and your enemy's!"
He looked at him, and Charloss wet himself at his next words. "By shooting at me, you have put yourself at my mercy, and I am not a merciful person."
Shalulia gulped and ran to Madara, slamming her little fists against his leg and torso, as high as she reached. "Let my brother go!" She shouted.
Roswald whimpered. They were doomed. Still, he walked beside his daughter, and pulled her back, trying to shield her.
Madara looked at them. Then he tossed the boy to his father, who collapsed under his son's weight and speed, while Madara went down to one knee, so that he and Shalulia were on eye-level. He pulled off her helmet, the girl shaking in fear. Then, to her shock, Madara patted her head. "That's a good attitude. Family is important, and it's good to see that you try to help your sibling. A bond of siblings can be a very beautiful thing." His mind wandered to his own brother, then, with a frown, to the rest of his family. "However, sometimes one has to look at relatives and decide whether or not one wants to be like them. Are you standing behind all decisions your family makes, and if no, can you bear staying around them? Are you prepared to go down with them should you decide to stay? Those are question every member of a family should ask themselves." He shook his head. "What's your name, girl?"
"Shalulia." The girl answered.
Madara gave her an honest smile. "My name is Madara Uchiha." He ruffled her hair one last time, then stood up, his new sword in hand. "Perhaps we will one day meet again. How that meeting will go is up to fate, and you."
Roswald stared at him. "Who are you to challenge heaven itself?"
Madara laughed. "I challenge nothing. I walk my path in life, and if heaven tries to block my way, I will burn down heaven."
With those words, he vanished. Literally. From one moment to the next, he was simply not there. Roswald, after checking that his son was unharmed, ran up to his daughter and gave her a critical look. After ensuring himself of her health, he hushed them to run, and reach a place where they would be amply protected. He never wanted to see that monster again.
