A Personal Request

Blazingly bright, the sun beat down on the back of Emil Castagnier as he trekked the seaside in solitude, searching for that annoyingly persistent axe wielder, Sasaki. Although the Knight of Ratatosk has defeated the warrior time and time again, he continued to request scrimmages, proclaiming that "A swordsmen is never defeated until he accepts it willingly!", or something along those lines. Emil found this rather peculiar.

A figure in the distance comes into his vision. It stands.

"Musashi! I see you come alone!" exclaims Sasaki vivaciously – the ever-passionate swords school trainee he is – thrusting his heavy-bladed axe towards Emil to indicate him, sans party.

"Yeah, Yeah…. Just like you requested…" Emil sighs, slumping his suddenly lead-weighted shoulders dejectedly.

The Axe warrior guffaws, jerking his dead slightly to flip part of his disarrayed blond bangs from his eyes haughtily. "Indeed! And now, the true strength and sword craft of Musashi will be revealed!" Vehemently, he jabs his broad axe into the sandy earth to accentuate his point, startling Emil. "No MORE HIDING BEHIND YOUR MONSTERS!"

"But I never was hiding!" the blond knight cries. Sasaki, oblivious to Emil's moving mouth, doesn't listen.

"Now, DRAW YOUR SWORD!"

… the faint sound of shattering glass resonates in the distance.

Emil breathes a soft huff and a puff. Likewise, Sasaki does so as well, only much heavier and desperate of oxygen. The Axe wielder, drained of his reservoirs of excess energy that he expels through his imperial antics, bears his weight with the elven-wooden helve.

"You… You're strong, Musashi…"

The blond knight grimaces minutely as he straightened his mussed attire. "My name's Emil."

Spuriously, much to the surprise of Emil, Sasaki bolts to his feet and into his face. "NO! You will forever be MUSASHI!"

Confused by being approached so suddenly and forcefully, Emil falls and stumbles onto his hindside, a shadow of Sasaki casting over his toppled form as he stands above him, eclipsing the sun. He stares into the warrior's auburn eyes, possibly searching for the pertinence to his being here.

"Geez… you don't have to get so worked up…" Emil utters somewhat timidly, stilling being scrutinized under the glare of the fumed axe wielder. He moves to stand up, but Sasaki takes a step forward, halting Emil and any thoughts he had of escape.

"To me, you are Musashi, Emil." The warrior whispers quietly. Emil's eyes widened as he continues. "You're amazing! The best I've ever seen – and I've seen quite a lot. You're most fitting of the title… accept it graciously!"

"B-but I DON'T WANT IT!"

Sasaki is shocked, to say the least. "WHAAAAAAAAT!?"

"I-Isn't it better for me to just be myself? To make a name and a legend on my own name rather than filling in s-someone else's?" the blond knight stutters, words beginning to fail him as he trudged through the end.

Sasaki just stares at Emil speechlessly, identifying a slight fluttering in this pectoral cavern. A blush dispatched across his already heated face.

"S-so… instead of being like me, "Musashi," we don't you just be yourself, and make your own name…?" Emil talks on, trying to coax the warrior into backing off of him. The sand of the seaside is scorching his palms and other exposed patches of skin.

Sasaki spins himself around violently, hiding his face away from the blond knight's field of vision as he made the realization of his cheeks flushing crimson. "I-I'll never give up! I will defeat you one day, Emil!"

With that, Sasaki, the wandering seaside challenger, dashes off to the edge of the ocean, making haste to dive and swim off, heavy-bladed axe and all.

Emil smiles softly at the image of the warrior swimming away. "Personal request are more fun."