The seven who were only up to the first stage of their dance, were in actual fact at this time observing the stranger, they knew that he was good, so why was he not killing masses? That is, unless he was holding back. They heard the masters reach the balcony on the forth floor, and each seeing that their number had been and were being decimated, they all reacted in anger and shock; they leapt from the fourth floor, slowing their decent in their own separate ways. The green city clan master allowed himself to plummet three floors before lightly placing his sword on the first floor railing, the sword bent slightly and using that force he sprung up slightly and proceeded to land gracefully on the floor. The beggar clan Masters just hopped from floor to floor. The venom clan masters one with metal claws and the clan leader, with one hooked hand and one hooked sword just jumped diagonally from the fourth floor to the second, then landed in a guarded crouch position on the floor, all of their landings were perfect, not the slightest wobble, all perfectly composed, rounded and unbroken.

All this was clearly observed and noted in the eyes of the seven dark, they also noted that the stranger was clearly moving towards the masters, they glanced at each other and exchanged a barely perceptible nod, then they ended it.

Blood Knife seemed to blur, and spin in a circle and then he stood still as all the people around him fell to pieces.

The circle that Whip’s whip’s enclosed seemed to grow in an instant to enclose all those all near him, and there seemed to be an explosion of strips of flesh, as that was what his weapon did, it literally stripped the flesh off you, to the bone, when the white ball dissipated, all that was left tottering were people or hulks of what once were humans who looked as if they had been skinned.

There was a blur off in one corner, and there seemed to be skulls everywhere, then stillness as all the people had the perfect outline of a skull stamped in their bashed in heads and through their bodies, some even had a perfect skull shaped hole where their heart once resided.

Claw seemed to become a continuous ball of steel and he literally shredded everyone , so that when he stood still there was not a thing left standing, only strips of flesh, bone and metal fluttering to the ground.

Tornado’s circle of black steel seemed to take on a human colour and when he stopped one could see why, he had impaled everybody on his maces and when he stopped pn the end of each mace were the impaled remains of the attackers. He held his maces slanted towards the floor. There was a sickening slurping sound as one by one the bodies slid off his maces.

Storm rider finished in style, he ended all the fights by a single cut to the throat he cut everybody in the exact same place, and he seemed to just be frozen i9n one position but he seemed to appear everywhere. He returned to his original position and sheathed his swords, only then did a unified gurgling sound accompany a wave of collapsing men.

Shadow seemed to be everywhere at once and when he stopped he stood still. The bodies of his attackers all fell, but their heads remained in mid air. He had used their swords to split one another (the pointed end of one into the hilt of the next and he had pilled heads to each segment and finally he had embedded the “head stick” into the pillar.

The attackers finished, all the seven emerged all from bodies falling/decaying rapidly around them. There was not a single drop of blood on them. In a flash they had formed a circle around the stranger, yet all facing the approaching masters. “We all seek to kill them, if you wish to do so alone we understand.”

Hunter saw the seven finish off the last of the low level foes. Now there were only the masters left to face. Hunter advanced towards them, katana drawn, when the seven surrounded him. He was unconcerned by their actions, confident in his abilities, though curious as to why, until they spoke.

“My quarrel is not with you,” Hunter stated calmly, “Though if you do not stand aside, or if you interfere in my fight with them I will kill you.” It was not said as a threat, nor as a boast, merely a statement of fact. Time for the seven to decided.

“We understand, do not disappoint us” that said, they all shimmered and reappeared at the doors in a perfectly still stance, like statues, their masks and their eyes betraying nothing, no emotion, they were still and seemed unconcerned with what was about to happen, they were certain that this stranger had the ability to take out to masters, and they wanted to watch him, also to make the fight fair they made themselves the referees. One thing was clear though, until business was finished, nobody dead or alive would enter or leave the building.

As the seven had withdrawn Hunter now turned his focus to the masters. With his left hand on the hilt of his wakizashi he approached. The masters spread out, weapons to hand, and encircled him. He made no move to stop them and let them surround him. This was what he had come for. These people could offer him the challenge that he had been missing for so long.

As one they attacked. The wakizashi flew clear of the scabbard as his blades swirled around him deflecting their attacks. He remained motionless, save his arms. Even his head remained still, eyes staring ahead. His arms however whirled around him, shifting attacks aside so that they were missing him by the smallest of margins.

After thirty seconds he struck back. His eyes suddenly snapped right and his katana changed course slightly as it went to block another attack. One of the masters staggered back with a deep gash across his chest. The man stared at the wound in amazement. He hadn’t seen Hunter’s attack, only felt the effects of it.

As that master was recovering Hunter struck out again, only this time behind him. Another man fell back with a hole stabbed clear through his right forearm. Every two seconds a master would reel with a grievous injury. Only four remained untouched, the two Venoms and the two best Beggars.

Some Hunter wasn’t just inflicting cuts and stabs. One staggered back missing his left hand, another their right arm cut off at the elbow. A third collapsed as the left leg fell away. The next strike was fatal, as one fell away without his head. Another was cut in two. Each attack was now deadly and with every supernaturally fast strike a master died.

Only the four remained. The fight had lasted less than two minutes, and there were only four masters. In one motion Hunter sheathed his blades and knocked the four back. “I offer you this challenge,” he said, “any one of you may challenge me, and I shall fight you with one arm behind my back.”

The Beggar’s stopped to consider his offer, but the Venoms had no patience. Both attacked. Hunter’s arms shot out. His right blocked the Venom leader’s attack, his left plunged into the chest of the other Venom. He withdrew his hand hold the man’s heart as the lifeless body collapsed. Furiously the Venom leader attacked, but he fended her off with his right arm as he held the heart over his head.

Tilting his head back he squeezed the heart, letting the blood run into his mouth. He tasted its sweet tang as he gulped it down. The Venom leader tried to increase her attacks, get one past his defence, but to no avail. After squeezing all of the blood from the heart he tossed it aside and licked him lips. Smashing the back of his hand to the bridge of her nose he caused her to involuntarily close her eyes for an instant.

When she opened them he was gone. Stunned she looked around for him when she felt something hit her in the back. Looking down she saw a hand emerging from her chest, holding her heart. Hunter pulled his hand back through her body and let her collapse to the ground. Holding the heart above his head he drained it as he had the previous one.

Tossing it aside once finished he turned to the shocked Beggars. “My challenge still stand,” he told them.

“I accept,” said the leader, “on one condition. Regardless of the result he goes free.” He pointed to the other Beggar, to indicate who he meant.

“Agreed,” said Hunter, putting his bloodied left hand behind his back. Despite knowing that he would die the Beggar leader took a ready stance and attacked. Hunter’s feet never moved as he dodged around his attacks and deflected others. Having only one hand and not moving his feet, a stipulation that he had not stated but silently set for himself, increased the difficulty to a point where he was having to work to fend off the man’s attacks.

After a minute of defending only Hunter changed it around and went on the offence. The skill, speed and ferocity of his attacks force the Beggar to stop attacking so he could adequately defend himself, and even then he was struggling. Rather than step it up and use his inhuman strength Hunter just kept up his attacks, interested in seeing in how long it took the master to make a mistake.

It took nearly five minutes for the master’s defence to crack. He missed a block and one of Hunter’s punches got through, hitting with enough force to break the man’s ribs. Now injured as well as tiered he couldn’t fend off Hunter any longer, so Hunter finished it quickly, grabbing the man’s forehead and wrenching his head to on side, breaking his neck.

Letting the master fall Hunter turned to the seven. “This man is to leave here unharmed,” he said, pointing to the sole surviving Beggar, “He is under my protection for the next twenty four hours. Anyone seeking to attack him shall have to deal with me.” He waited to see what the seven would decide.

“Agreed” and with that they vanished. Leaving behind only the bodies of the attackers, not a weapon, not a body of a dark clan member was left behind. The dark army had left leaving the venom to tend to their wounded. For when Shadow had sent all the people out of the building except the seven he had turned the scales, so that the dark clan had almost totally wiped out the venom. Their withdrawal had been quick and efficient.

All that was left was a knife, a jet black affair stuck point first into the saddle of the stranger’s horse, the hilt was tied to the reigns, the knife had a blood red Chinese character 7 crafted into it. After that nobody dared to challenge the dark clans for a long long time.

Hunter Waited for the seven to leave before turning to the sole surviving Beggar. “You have twenty four hours,” he told the man, “use them wisely.” With that he walked to the balcony and leapt down. Walking calmly to the walls he leapt atop a roof, then up onto the wall.

Bounding from wall to wall he soon was outside the now desolate fortress and landed beside his horse. Turning to look he saw the knife, the number seven on the hilt. Untying it from the reigns he slipped it into his belt before mounting his horse. Turning the steed around he headed off. He had to inform the Chinese government that it was done, and collect his due payment.