The Shadow of Issu

The Vengeance of a Daughter

“What have you done…” Hase whispered.

The spring water that was seeping from the ground began to took shape and formed into a beast. The creature’s fur was as white as snow, adorned with red stripes instead of black. It had six limbs on each side, with claws gleaming as if they were made of steel, its fangs bared from its mouth like daggers as it snarled in its entrance. A floating shawl materialized from the cinders and arced over its back, resembled that this was no ordinary being, this was a divine creature that stood before them, taking on the shape of a tiger. Its eyes were the color of flames with a gaze—no, perhaps it would be best said that they were the color of persimmons, set ablaze beneath a calamitous yearning. After its transmogrification, it let out a roar as its figure was enflamed in searing fire.

“Yasukagi.” Hina whispered. “The reed…”

Akha caught Hina just enough to swing her away from harm's way as the beast charged, leaving a trail of fire. They stumbled from a distance, the beast turned back and snarled once more, showing massive incisors evidently expressing its desire to sink its jaws in their necks. Akha raised her up, the water that hovered around her sword dropped and turned into a puddle.

“What is the meaning of this?” Hina muttered, her breaths suddenly quickened as the blood from her abdomen seeped to the floor.

“Take her.” Akha spoke to Akane, as she placed her hands over her shoulders.

Hase’s bewildered expression turned to pure infuriation. As Akane approached the Kuzuboki, Hase draws his own Kuratashi, blocking the entrance.

“Grandfather, what is the meaning of this?”

“Goundo Hase,” Akane spoke. “You have desecrated your own Pact of Blood. It seems my previous accusations were true.”

“You do not understand what you are saying.”

“There is absolutely no way that you could have raised Goundo to your command without some form of intercession. The crops fields outside Goundo, their harvest were traded for the persimmons, a fruit known abundant in Goundo, now laid barren across this land—a thousand-year pact with a demon your ancestors made broken by your selfish ambitions. And knowing that this prospect was not sustainable, you tried to find ways to circumvent this downfall, for you knew it will eventually come to an end, and the army that you have raised will all be for naught. Did you not question why I presented a strange solution to your dilemma, lord Hase?”

Hase spoke no words, and suddenly his eyes glared cold with the intent of murder.

“Do you accuse of me of the Yasukagi as well?” He instigated.

“The Yasukagi was deliberately cut down by one who was capable of controlling the spirit inside it—it could not have been you, but it was someone powerful enough to set the spirit astray. You were only the medium.” She pointed towards his robes. “Take it out.” She spoke.

He takes out a reed, the same that Akha had blown to summon the Yasukagi.

“No.” Hina’s eyes turned to disbelief.

Her eyes lifted and met Hase’s, there was great regret inside them, but behind that guilt, a will was carried, not by a grandfather, but by a visionary that would do everything to save Goundo.

“I am sorry, little one. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

“Grandfather… why.”

Hase lowered his head in remorseful acceptance. “There is no more denying it. It is true that I have consulted powers beyond our land, but have I heard any conflicts from my people? No! So much even as a word of gratitude. For a year we had staple harvests yielded from our own lands without the capital’s aid, and raised an army from nothing. But as I realized, there was one more thing that I cannot control here in Goundo, I knew I had to make the most difficult choice. I have no regret in raising you, my granddaughter, but you have always stubborn, following your own mind… you were becoming too strong, too rebellious—it was only until I realized that when this country falls into war— to be finally torn asunder— there will be a moment where my plans for Goundo and your ideals will not meet eye to eye. I cannot wait until it does so, so I had to do this, to end a potential threat to the greatness that awaits Goundo. Forgive me, Hina.”

“You are not the man I once called family.” Hina’s voice was filled with contempt.

“I am truly sorry.” Hase whispered, raising his sword. “But I cannot let you live.”

From across the flames that had begun to engulf the top of the Kuzuboki, Akha faces a demon. The smoke had blurred his vision and tightened his lungs, but his fingers hold steady on the hilt of the Kuratashi. Every step of the Yasu seemed to leave a fiery trace, catching fire as it conflagrated the scene into a blood-red hellscape.

He tips the sword and flies a swing towards the beast, only to be deflected by fangs that exceeded the maw of the creature. Sparks flew and Akha repositions once more. The creature fastens its claws to the ground and threw its jaws towards the swordsman. He held the blade forward to catch it, but the force was enough to launch him back. Akha pushes the blade, releasing it from the Yasu’s grip and delivers a wide swing, but the creature dissolved into smoke while fire launched from the air to strike him.

From whirling ash, it materialized in front of him.

Akha rolls away from these torrents of fire, but a stray blast caught him by the shoulder, searing his flesh while the smoke burned his face. The swordsman grunts, holding a hand over his face. The pain swelled across his body, but he ignored it.

Hina draws her sword, limping as Akane tries to hold her up. Hase begins to shed his own coat, and reveals his Tuzan, the white ceremonial coat that Hina wears as well.

“I was to kill the diplomat and her swordsman here, but it seemed that your inner Goundo blood has come at the most unfavorable of times. It falls unto me, the true ruler of Goundo, to finally end those that threaten the glory that awaits this land.”

“Akha…” Akane whispers, facing back. The strategist realized, that only those with a blade art could face a Yasu of that level. His own skill as a swordsman would only do so far as to delay the beast, and one’s stamina could not last forever, as a Yasu’s hunger for flesh is eternal.

“You are the only one who can defeat the Yasukagi.” Akane tells her. “That is why Hase wanted Akha to defeat you in the duel. Akha does not have a blade art, he cannot deafeat the Yasukagi.”

Hina lowered his gaze, and looks back to a struggling swordsman faced against an ageless demon as the top of the Kuzuboki was crowned in flames. The smoke thickened and it ladened the sky like a storm, darkening everything around them. Hina looks forward, where Hase emerges from the smoke, blade already swung with an intention to end her life.

Hina reached her sword to meet her grandfather’s, deflecting it away as five blades of water followed. Hase sidestepped each one and took on a stance, readying himself to strike again.

“Do you know how to fight?” Hina asks Akane, who stood there with eyes widened.

“No!”

Hina smiled and released herself from Akane’s arms. “I jest.”

Akha’s chest tightened and his muscles had started to give out. Though it was an open place, the smoke was something that could not easily be disregarded. He was beginning to lose focus and the beast seemed to regain strength with every second it is wreathed in its own flames. Claws upon claws extended, and horns began to protrude from its body emerging from its stripes that glowed fiery red.

The swordsman fell to his knees, the sword piercing straight to the ground as he propped himself upon it. He gazes from the other side of the Kuzuboki and he sees Hina strike steel with Hase. Akane was running to him.

“Master Akha!”

“Get away, Akane.” He shouted. “The fire will burn you.”

“Hina is the only one who can defeat the Yasukagi. That is unless…”

She was stopped by a wall of flame that suddenly rose from the tears on the floor. Akane stood there helpless as she stares at the flame-engulfed Akha and the wounded Hina, all fighting their own battles with shadows cast upon their faces. If only she had listened. If only she had followed the heed of that strange voice inside her once more, and this would have already been settled from the start.

If only he had told Akha to not kill Hina.

But what else was she to do? Even if Akha was to withhold himself, Hina would be bent on to kill him, and the Pact of Blood can only be secured through one victor. One had to die, and Akane could not afford to dispense Akha—even if it meant sacrificing the coalition of the Goundo army to Ogana.

“Akha, listen to my command!” She screamed from beyond the fire. Akha raises his head, almost gasping for breath. “Kill Goundo Hase.”

“But the Yasukag—”

“Do it!”

“Understood.” He spoke and unsheathed the blade.

He turned his back against the flaming creature and binded his eyes to Hase. With a wind-like speed, he dashed and joined the fight as suddenly three swords crossed. A surprised Hina and disoriented Hase gasps in surprise. They pushed the edges of their swords against each other, sliding from them as sparks flew while they backed from each other after releasing a full swing.

“What are you doing, Akha?” Hina questions him in anger.

“My master’s command.”

“Then what of the Yasukagi?”

He answers without a word.

Hina’s nodded without a smile. “You still truly are a Bladesworn.” She spoke in a tone that acknowledged the resolve that has overcome the swordsman in that moment. Akha raises his sword to his ear, and the two came at Hase without a single breath wasted.

Hase deflected both swords coming in. Even in his later years, his strength as a swordsman had not waned, even if his health had deteriorated. There was a cold glare in his eyes that reflected the warlord inside him, and the endurance of his parries and the force behind his strikes proved that he was an equal, even for the both of them.

“The outsider joins.” He spoke. “But it matters not, for it was my first demand to begin with. I will end the two of you here and now.”

“Grandfather.” Hina calls to him, as if speaking not to the Hase that she sees before her, but to someone else, someone trapped inside that shell of a man. "You have long been buried along with my father."

Hase no longer answers her and instigates with a gap-closing attack. He turns around and strikes Hina with his Kuratashi. Akha follows behind him, targeting for his exposed back. When his sword lands, Akha feels the rattle of steel rather than the softness of flesh stopped by the thickness of bone. He looks down and sees that Hase had drawn a Rakatashi and blocked the attack.

Hase spins and swipes the swords towards them which they evaded. 

“I have sacrificed too much for Goundo…” He muttered beneath worn breaths. “There is no turning back, the flames… they call me.”

As Akane’s eyes witnesses in anticipation, she had already foreseen what would come next— Hase’s skin began to reveal markings that came by shifting dark lines crawling from his core to his extremities. He screamed in the process. Whether in pain or by his acquisition of such power, his voice resonated across the dark midday sky as flame and haze overwhelmed the peak of the Kuzuboki tower.

Akane looks behind her, and the Yasukagi stood still, its own body dissolving into embers. The cinders did not traverse through the wind directionless—it went somewhere, directing this accumulation of flaring ash towards Goundo Hase himself.

The markings on Hase’s body began to glow bright red as the ash seeped into his skin and dissolved within those patterns. The veins on his neck and arms snaked and swelled, as any form of physical infirmity that tolled upon the ruler’s old age was suddenly taken away. He grew in stature, arms and legs extending as his back stretched until he stands there, both half-man and half-demon, his clothes burning like embers.

His eyes were lit like the Yasukagi’s, and the markings on his face revealed two more eyes that flared the same malice-stricken hue.

“Icathian arts.” Akane whispers. “Though still rudimentary in form…”

Hina and Akha tipped their blades, wary of their new-found adversary that none no longer recognize human.

With haste, the two charged the demon, only to be stopped with Hase’s own Kuratashi. He backed away, ran his blade across the ground and it was instantly crowned in flames. He returned the provocation, and delivered a swipe towards the two who side stepped from the glowing-hot blade. Akane warned the two from a distance.

“Watch out!”

The ears of the initiated took the message, and in a matter of seconds, the two, mid-air, directed each other away from the direction of Hase’s attack, and instantly, a conflagration was released from the burning air as the fire tore half of the Kuzuboki’s roof apart, even exceeding the border as the flame flew beyond the footings.

Akha recovered first, and dashed to end Hase where he stood. But the demon’s eyes shifted to him, and in that space where the swordsman intended to strike, a wall of fire stopped him. As he leaped back, his face stinging from the scalding heat.

“No use. With those eyes, it is impossible to land an attack.” Akha speaks.

“The rain that stemmed from the spring deterred the Yasukagi…”

Akha turns his eyes towards Hina. He remembers Akane’s tale.

“The River Blade.”

Hina nodded, and she raised her blade where she drifted her palms above it. Droplets of water emerged from the broken floors, but Hina dropped to a knee as she let out a gasping breath of air.

Akha looks towards the wound that he had inflicted upon her. Regret was not a prospect welcomed by the Kinu, but as he watches her struggle to keep herself standing, winding the blade in her hands to channel the innate talent that dwelled within the Goundan swordsman—he knew that this was one of those times when being human was most important.

He tore a portion of his sleeve and wrapped it around her waist. He tightened it and spoke.

“I will buy you time.”

Hina, astonished by this unexpected action from Akha, smiled and closed her eyes. She stood straight up. “I will be counting on you.”

As Akha turns his back to Hina, he sheathed his Kurutashu and walked towards Hase, who waits spiraled in blazing fire from the other side of the ruination. Hina takes another deep breath, and the fire that crept beneath her feet began to disappear. Water once again emerged from the cracks, seeping into her Kuratashi as the clouds above them churned. The winds grew strong, and the flames around Hina were extinguished slowly with every breath that escaped from her lips.

Hase began to take notice as he looks up, his blade was crossed with Akha.

“No.” Two voice came from his mouth.

The demon knocked Akha’s sword from its own, and proceeded to make its advance towards the wide-open Hina.

“I am your opponent.” Akha reminded as he dashed to Hase’s side, cleaving his blade where Hase instinctively leaned back to evade. Hase turned his attention back to Akha, who was deterring his path towards Hina.

The flame in his eyes burned with animosity, staring at Akha as if he was merely an insect.

“Nuisance.” He uttered and swung an attack so fierce that flame once again spewed from the force of his swing. But Akha emerged from this burst of fire, with sword thrusted towards his torso, his arms had been burned and scorched from the flames. Hase’s own eyes could not have seen beyond the fire, and so the entire blade was sent buried deep into his stomach.

“Clever boy.” The demon spoke, Akha pushed the blade deeper until even the hilt went through.

But Hase did not fall, instead he swung his sword again, only for Akha to tumble behind him and grab the sword from where it protruded. The demon faced back to where Akha stood, with one knee to the ground, and his hand covered over the gaping wound Akha had left.

Picking up his Kuratashi, Akha shook the blood off his sword and sheathed it. Suddenly, rain poured.

“Grandfather!”

Hase turned back and there he saw Hina. The rain around her stopped midair to form shapeless blades while her eyes glowed cyan like spring water. The flames around her had died down and smoke replaced from where these blazing spots had once conflagrated. The embers around them grew cold as rain continues to pour. In an instant, the demon recognizes its old foe.

“Goundo Muzio” He whispered, an ancient name that once called the Goundo Spring from where the Yasukagi was planted.

“Your contract with the people of Goundo ended when my grandfather sought to release you from the land. Here, I will end which exceeds that broken pact.”

With blinding velocity, the water blades made its course towards Hase. He deflected the first wave, but many quickly formed from the rain that even the demon's eyes could not follow. The ceaseless attack pierced his arms and legs with ruthless streams of cutting waters. 

Finally, the force overtook his advance, Hase crossed his forearms before him like a shield trying to impede the incessant water blades as he stood his ground. Blood pooled from beneath Goundo Hase as the flames around him diminished.

Akha followed with an attack charged behind him, in response, Hina dashed from the front. Hase’s demonic eyes were watching both swordsmen, the two were aiming to sever his head. His instincts prompted him to block Hina’s incoming attack. He raised his defensive stance forward, and relied on his Rakatashi to block Akha's diversion, but Akha’s was never aiming for his neck. He unsheathed his blade and struck Hase by the calves, the demon fell to his knees.

With a grunt of pain, he raised his face and met the eyes of his granddaughter.

“I’m sorry, grandfather.” 

With a powerful swing of the river blade, the world turned silent.

The rain continued to pour, a smile bore on Hase’s face.

“Perhaps my greatest sin was doubting you, after all…Well done, granddaughter.” He spoke, the rain trickling upon his face. He raises his own head towards the sky, droplets running down from his face. The markings on his arm began to dissipate, and his stature returned to his former gaunt and fragile constitution. The smoke around them began to clear. Hase looks forward and sees Hina drenched, her eyes red.

“Is that you, Hina?”

And with those words, the ruler of Goundo fell to the ground, the flames had all been extinguished. Akane rushes to Akha tending to the wounds and the burns that afflicted him in the fight.

In the rubble and the ash, a young girl cradles the cold body of her grandfather, her cries echoing in the rain.