"Swoosh Swoosh"

The glistening view of a sword being swung mid-air was going on near a cave.

Takeshi was working hard and was swinging it with great ferocity and vigor.

Two months had passed since he left the Ancient Emperor Style Swordsmanship Academy Village. He has been staying in a cave in the forest north of the serene, peaceful Umikaze Village.

A lot has changed over the course of those three months.

Takeshi met a lot of new people: Sachiko, Aiko, Hamuro, Kiyomasa, and Seijūrō, to name a few.

He formed a beautiful bond with them and the rest of the villagers, something that he never dreamed that he would be able to do when he first crossed over the river to this village.

Takeshi had another life-or-death encounter with a beast and had to be saved by Kiyomasa.

He had successfully failed to do anything about his leg's condition or make a new movement technique to counter his leg's weird movements... And that's a lie.

Well, to be honest, he did figure something out—something in the right direction, something that would change his life forever.

He created his own style, his own way of moving himself, although it's not perfected, it was good enough. He practiced the rough idea that he got while being on his toes, bending his knees. And he was often angry at himself for not being able to do it well.

They say one's vision is not clear when they're angry, and it takes cooling down and settling to see the full, clear picture.

I may have definitely said it wrong, but you get it, right?

Takeshi, at that moment, had his realization, as he was in that posture. It was the key, and everything that happened until then led to that.

Among the lush green bushes beside the cave.

"Wait, isn't this just like how the animals were standing? Although it was on all fours, Its body is built like that, and it moves around like that. Their bodies don't usually extend that much beyond a certain range, like the case with that leopard.

But, when it came to the beast, it was different. It could move just like any normal animal that I've seen till now, and it was able to go beyond that too.

That's why it was able to reach that wild boar. And at the same time, that's why I'm still alive after the leopard attacked me. If it's body had moved like this beast's, I would've been leopard chow back then itself.

And not to mention the claws. It's claws did the same thing, first, it went back farther than my finger could. Wait, my finger can go that far back too. So yeah, just like that, it went back, and then it sprung forward and pierced through the boar's body.

I was too shocked and surprised at the time that I missed it, but it's exactly like mine, except it has claws." Takeshi had stood up and was looking at his legs and then his fingers as he spoke to himself.

Look at this kid, he's having a major epiphany that could possibly change his life.
And he's sad about not having a frickin' claw. Can you believe this guy?
Moving on.

And of course, his fingers aren't exactly like the beast's fingers, it was able to do that at will, while Takeshi wasn't able to, well at least at the time.

Takeshi ponders about this for some time.

"So... If I can do that by partially crouching my body and try moving like it did, and use the extending movement of my body to thrust myself in the way I want...

And.. And in the direction I want...

Hmm, yes... This just might work out."

Takeshi's face suddenly lit up like the moon in the night sky.

He had finally found something that he thought might work out.

Takeshi dusted himself off and readied himself.

Takeshi maintained the crouched position, by bending his knees and pushing his upper body forward, he started to move.

He moved around for a bit before standing up.

"Okay, okay, so something is working, and something... is clearly not.

Hmm, maybe it's because I'm trying this out for the first time.

Let's give it another go."

Takeshi tries it again, and he finds it hard to move much when crouched like that.

He has difficulty in breathing properly, he has to look forward and backward when he places his head like that, and so on.

He continues to move about like this for some time, running around like a madman.

Just when he thought that the idea that he finally got would work out well for him, it felt as if this one too, turned out to be a dud again.

He tried to contemplate the situation, and to that end, he went back to the cave and sat down.

He continued on with his training, keeping this as his main goal.

A lot of time passed, and he developed a way to move like the beast did. Well, not exactly, but it was getting there.

He started out with his full body bent down, with his hands touching the ground, and slowly made himself to be able to run in a half-crouching state, so that he could hold his sword as well as extend his vision range.

It still wouldn't give him a good enough view, but it was a start.

Night had dawned on the world, with several sparkling jewels twinkling away, guiding the forest and its inhabitants along with the crescent-shaped gemstone.

Takeshi had been hard at work, and he was going to lie down in his cave.

A fire had been burning in the centre of the cave, with occasional embers and ashes flying. Takeshi went near his futon and slowly sank in, giving to his tired body.

There was a lot of stuff that was stored in different corners of the caves. His outfits, quite a lot of ointments and salves, along with unused bandages and some leftover food, were stacked away.

"Oi Takeshi"

A voice came from outside the cave.

"Uhh, who is it?" A low, gruntled voice came out in response from Takeshi.

"It's me, Seijūrō."

"Ohh, Seijūrō.
What brings you here? Is there anything going on in the village?" Takeshi slowly got up as he replied.

He walked out of his cave, carrying his sword.

The muscles in his abdomen glistened with the sweat as the sunlight shone on his body. It was very prominent and well developed now. From a scrawny boy with a skinny body to a strong and sturdy man with a rather firm body, it was some development alright.

"No, there's nothing happening in the village, but something could happen." Seijūrō replied, making a serious face.

"Huh? What? Stop scaring me man."

"Well, you remember the beast that attacked you about two months back?"

"Yeah, I do. It was a really good near-death experience after all." Takeshi said as he scratched his head.

"Yeah, so it's like this. Kiyomasa was training in this forest, somewhere a bit further north from here. And he saw it again—the beast.

Now, the Kiyomasa I know would've charged in and killed because I teased him about it, but he seemed rather serious, which was unnerving for me to watch. He said it's ki signature was several times higher than when he fought it.

And he thought we should take care of it, so he asked me to call you up and meet up with him there." Seijūrō spoke in a rather serious tone.

"Ohh, okay, let me just... wear this, and we can go there right away. Have you informed the village?" Takeshi spoke as he changed into his haori.

"Yeah, about that, I don't think it's a good idea to get them involved, they might panic, and it'll be even harder to deal with freaked-out geezers. We should take care of it and handle it ourselves."

"Yes, that is a good point, but what if this is beyond our league? If this turns out to be too hard for us to handle and we don't call for help, it'll kill the three of us and wreak havoc in the village."

"Oi, oi, this is definitely something we can do, okay? I'm the Minamoto clan's heir, and the both of you are... well, I don't know what clan you guys are from, but you two are strong enough to go against this. We are doing this alone, and we are killing it.

And if you are too much of a wuss, then go tell the people in the village and try to get help that God knows when will reach here." Seijūrō lashed out in frustration, as he didn't have a direct reply to the issue Takeshi had raised.

Seijūrō was aware of the issue too. This was something that crossed his mind right after Kiyomasa spoke to him.

He thought that if Kiyomasa, who has the ability to go toe to toe against him and is probably the only other person whom he respected as a peer, other than Takeshi, were to say something like that in such a serious tone, then it was really bad news.

But there was nothing that could be done here. Usually such cases of beasts with strong auras are reported to the army or any other higher authority that is close enough, which is most likely the Sword Emperor that is in charge of that particular region of the empire.

In the event that the Sword Emperor isn't present, it is passed down to his generals or underlings. Depending on the level of threat, a samurai or a legion of a particular realm is dispatched to curb it.

Usually wild animals running amok and wreaking aren't that big of an issue to deal with, requiring a Sword Emperor's involvement, and are probably handled by the lower-tier generals. But it is an entirely different case when the beings are demonic.

Although most of it are baseless rumours and imaginations of people and them exaggerating it further, but the empire kept most of the real incidents under wraps.

The blood bees explosion a few years back were one such case where it wasn't possible. As there were multiple spawning locations and hits being taken in a lot of places, the empire had to issue the edict that blood bees were in fact a rare but naturally occurring insect that lay dormant and away from the public eye but was awakened after the war.

As for the beast here, whether this beast was a demonic one or a normal one, it was yet to be uncovered.


******


"Huff, huff"

"Shing shing"

"So how much more time till we get there?" Takeshi asked as both of them ran really fast through the forest. Takeshi and Seijūrō were using karuiashi to make themselves move faster, but not too fast as to give them away by making too much noise.

"Well, I guess it should be right around my leg... HOW THE HELL WOULD I KNOW THAT?" Seijūrō replied angrily as he was running. It was clear that the nervousness had caught up-to him.

Takeshi understood his emotions and tried to reply in a calm manner, in a comparatively calmer tone. The image of that beast was very well imprinted in his mind that one glance at it was enough to induce fear.

"Okay, calm down, Seijūrō, calm down. I just want to know till where we have to go, you know? This forest extends for like a long, long distance, so...

Also, you do know exactly where we're going, right?

Right?" Takeshi's face was a huge mixture of fear, concern, and doubt. Seijūrō's look in response to it wasn't very reassuring either.

"Well, there should be some sort of landmark. I had made it right before I left."

Takeshi stopped and ended up a few steps ahead of Seijūrō as he stopped to look around.

Seijūrō walked a bit further and then back. He then said:

"Oh right."

Seijūrō went to the right of where they were and pushed aside a bunch of tall bushes to see the landmark he had left.

It was a cross that was engraved on the bark of the tree, beside which there were a couple of lines that turned at some point here and there, drawn in some manner, seemingly made using a sharp object, which was most likely Seijūrō's sword.

"Ahh, this is it. So..." Seijūrō ran his fingers through those lines as he licked his lips.

Takeshi came closer, stared at the engravings, and got further confused.

"What does that even mean?"

"Ahh, well, never mind that. It's something I use to remind myself of routes and all.

So, yeah, go a bit more straight from here, then take a right into the forest, and then a left.

Also, we can only use karuiashi till we get to the spot where we turn left, after that, we might get into it's range, so we have to suppress our ki as low as we can and sneak in, got it?" Seijūrō turned to look at Takeshi and made a face, seeking confirmation.

"Okay, got it, but just curious, where is Kiyomasa exactly?" Takeshi asked him.

"Well, he said he'd wait for us near the beast's location and that he'd keep an eye on it. As much as the idiot that he is, I don't think he will engage it." Seijūrō let out a nervous chuckle.

"Also, what did you mean when you said it's range?"

"Well, you know how we can sense another person's ki signature? Well, that's because we have an innate range around our bodies through which we can expand our senses using ki. And knowingly or unknowingly, we do that, and we sense objects, people, yada, yada.

And we can train and increase this range and our ki usage efficiency. Well, obviously, we can't sense inanimate objects yet, but we will in the future, so you get it, right?

So, when we subconsciously do that, just like us sensing other people's ki, the beast will also pick up our ki signatures and detect us, which is not something we want."

"Ohh okay, I got it. Let's umm, go on, I guess, we shouldn't keep him waiting." Takeshi nodded as he replied.

Seijūrō nodded back in agreement, and they both set out again.

They headed straight from there, after which the road that was formed from the clearing slowly started to vanish as a result of the bushes and shrubs that grew there.

They ran past despite that, further in, and then stopped a couple of paces ahead. Seijūrō pointed to the spot and let Takeshi know that this was the spot to turn right.

They moved again, and after quite some time, they reached the place where they should start to be more cautious than ever.

"Huff, huff

Okay, so here goes, we have to keep ourselves hidden from this point on."

"Got it."

Both of them lowered their ki to their capabilities and walked further to the left side.
Although they had lowered it, it wasn't low enough to go undetected, which would require a lot more practice and being in a higher realm.

Meanwhile, at the place where the beast was...

The mysterious beast, which was sleeping until then, woke up. It didn't move, but it slowly opened its eyes. Its blue-colored eyelid opens slowly, revealing its mystical red and black, alternatively colored eyes with a peculiarly shaped pupil.

Kiyomasa was hiding amongst some bushes, keeping an eye on the sleeping beast, which was emanating a sinister, dangerous aura despite being asleep.

'Where are those two idiots? It's been quite some time since that muscles-for-brain idiot left, don't tell me he forgot all about this and went there to spar with Takeshi.

Good god, I really chose the wrong person to pass this message. Well, I'm sure atleast Takeshi will have the ability to sense the danger since he had first-hand experience with this beast.' Kiyomasa thought to himself, while crouching.

Some time later, the duo arrived in a sneaky manner and got behind Kiyomasa.

"Where the hell have you two been?" Kiyomasa accidentally let out his usual tone.

"Shhh" Takeshi and Seijūrō both put their index fingers in front of their lips, indicating to lower his voice.

Kiyomasa spoke, in a muffled voice:
"Where the hell were you two? And why did you take so long to get here?"

"Well, we had to take off some time to find the way." Takeshi whispered.

"Hahh, I told you not to use those stupid lines as landmarks for routes." Kiyomasa frowned at Seijūrō as he spoke.

"Oi Kiyomasa, you don't get to tell me what I should or shouldn't use, got it? Humph.

This works for me better, and it's better that I alone understand it." Seijūrō spoke softly, making a proud face.

"Actually, I understood it a bit." Takeshi said after Seijūrō went on for quite some time for the effect.

"Of course you did, not only you and me, anyone with the slightest amount of common sense will figure it out." Kiyomasa exclaimed.

"You definitely did not. You only understood it because I explained it to you what it was. I'll bet you anything that you won't be able to figure out anything."

Kiyomasa and Seijūrō went back and forth on this and was interrupted by Takeshi.

"Guys, guys, can we just set that aside and focus on the issue here?" Takeshi shook both of them and made them snap out.

"Right, right. We have to focus here and figure out a way to take care of this beast." Kiyomasa calmed himself down.

"Focus and figure out? The three of us are here, let's just beat the shit out of it." Seijūrō's voice suddenly got out.

"And this is exactly why I don't want to work with you." Kiyomasa replied, and Takeshi face-palmed himself.

Just when all this was going on, the three of them noticed a sudden spike in the aura in the surrounding area. It clearly belonged to the one that they were all cautious about, or rather, the one before whom they were clearly making a fool of themselves.

A reddish-black aura cloud surged from the centre of the clearing, and a tremendous voice came from there.

"GRROWWWRRR!!!"

"Oh boy.
That's the last audience we needed for this fracas."

Takeshi looked at the cloud-like aura emanating from the beast's body and gulped in his own sweat.

"Well, umm... that's that, I guess?"


"Be-beng..."


To be continued.