Balance
It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. My senses were lifted to the highest heights, my strength and speed exponentially increased from my previous power, and I was literally one with my sword. I breathed as it did, I devoured the Mononoke as it did, I sang with the battle as it did, I swung in an arc as it did. Colors and emotions ceased to matter; all that tied me from expanding to consume all of reality was the dragon's maw, hungrily seeking out the angry spirits.
The Mononoke let out infuriated and agonized shrieks as they sought to overpower me. I let out a gentle sigh, sweeping my sword slowly in front of my body, and yet even though it was slow for me, it was too fast for the three Mononoke before me to dodge. They burst into rainbow fragments at its touch, falling softly to the ground.
The remaining four split to attack from opposite sides, but I thrust my hands, palms outward, to either side of me. My sword floated at eye level in front of my face, and I closed my eyes in concentration. All I could hear was the pounding of the humans' and my hearts, but a glowing pressure from my sword, like light seeping through one's eyelids, grew brighter and brighter as the Mononoke seemed to run in slow motion at me.
With a snap, I opened my eyes, twisting my arms in front of my face before catapulting backwards. With a ferocity I had never known before, I drew upon my inner power and, guided by my hand motions, used that power to propel the last Mononoke into a collision with the sword, still hanging in the air. Their last shriek ended in the sound of exploding glass, a flash of bright light emanating from the epicenter and blasting everything within a 500-ft radius backwards. Only I remained untouched, hands folded together in front of my face from forcing the Mononoke to my sword and amber eyes blazing with golden light.
At last, it was over.
I could feel my breathing slowing, the gold paint on my arms dulling back to normal and my senses trickling down from that unnamable height. My vision flickered for a moment before I regained control of my own entity as being separate from my sword. With my sword having fallen to the ground to finish channeling the spirits, I picked it up and turned to face the humans.
Foreman Yang, Mai, and Han-Lin all cowered from me, eyes white with fear. My gaze fell upon Kutsuriuri, and it stung me a little to see astonishment and a tinge of wariness in his own eyes. I did not let it show, however, and I relaxed my form to look less threatening.
Nodding my head to Kutsuriuri, who stepped next to me, I spoke to Foreman Yang. "While we are not the judges of the living, you have heard the evidence against Headmaster Han-Lin. My companion and I trust that you will bring him to justice." Foreman Yang looked at the trembling Han-Lin, but it was Mai who answered me.
"We will see that the girls are avenged in a more healthy way," she said. 'Surely,' I thought to myself, 'this girl is a marvel among humans. She is wiser and more courageous than any other human I have met, save Aia.' Kutsuriuri and I bowed in respect to them, and then we turned and left them in our dust.
"You're hurt."
I looked up at Kutsuriuri. "Where?" I asked confusedly; the Mononoke had been unable to make a single scratch upon me.
He reached for my face, cupping it concernedly. "You haven't changed a bit after all these years," he said with a tired smile. I held still, unused to human affection such as this. "Whatever it was that happened this day, it is eating away at you, and you are hurting."
I sighed and sat down, crossing my legs. Kutsuriuri sat down next to me, patience lingering in his eyes. "So much has happened today…I learned that the boy I cared for still lives, but he has kept this knowledge from me."
Kutsuriuri looked slightly hurt that I was returning to that subject, but he did not snap at me. "Like I said earlier, I was worried that you would treat me like a little boy again after I realized that you had not purposefully run away from me all those years ago. I am not Aia anymore; I may look like him, and he will always be a part of me, but I am not him. I am who I am now; I am Kutsuriuri."
I gave him a genuine smile, and he relaxed and smiled back. I chuckled under my breath and apologized, "I'm sorry that I did not let you fight the Mononoke yourself back there."
He shook his head in admiring disbelief. "I've never seen you that powerful before," he said. Amazement pitched his voice slightly lower than normal. "You were like a whirlwind; it was as if you had control over every particle of the universe during those moments. Why haven't I ever seen you do that before?"
I shrugged. "I've never been that connected to my sword before. I never even knew that it was possible to connect with my sword on such an intimate level, but it felt so right being that in-tune with my weapon."
"I wonder…" Kutsuriuri's eyes glazed slightly as he thought. "I wonder if the connection with your sword was brought about by the noises it made. Do you remember how it clicked after each of my revelations of the Katachi, Makoto, and Kotowari?" I frowned, wondering if Kutsuriuri was, in fact, correct.
"In that case, it's going to take a lot more time to kill off the Mononoke we encounter," I smiled at him. He smiled back at me, the orange of the campfire flames clashing with the ice of his eyes.
He motioned for my sword. "Do you mind if I test it?" he asked.
"What do you intend to do with it?" I answered his question with a question.
"I will test it with my magic and see if I am right, that finding the Katachi, Makoto, and Kotowari will release the true potential of the sword," he returned. "Do you mind?" he once again held out his hand for my sword. I hesitated once before handing it over to him, careful to keep it sheathed should its deadly blade be released.
Kutsuriuri knelt on the ground, placing the sword on a green silk cloth he had drawn out of his medicine box. He placed a hand, palm facing the ground, on either end of the sword, leaning forward and closing his eyes. Nothing happened for a few moments, but I felt a slight pressure begin to build in my eardrums, and I noticed Kutsuriuri's shoulders shaking and hunching inwards as whatever strain he was enduring caused droplets of sweat to bead upon his brow. The pressure grew until suddenly, Kutsuriuri's head snapped upwards, his eyes opening wide to emit a blinding bright white light that also gushed from the open eyes of the dragon's head of my sword.
"Kutsuriuri!" I cried, jumping forwards and tackling him so that his contact with the sword was broken. We tumbled backwards, and I knelt next to him, reaching for his purple headscarf that had been knocked off. He groaned and opened his eyes, rubbing the back of his head where it had smacked the ground.
"What happened?" he asked groggily.
"Do you remember your connection with the sword?" I asked, handing him the scarf.
He took it and retied it around his hair. "I don't know how long I was connected just now; it was like I saw the fabric of time and reality spread before me. The truths of the entire universe were there, ready for me to see them, and so many flashed before my eyes that I could hardly remember why I had initiated the spell to contact the soul of the sword. I do remember, however, that I was right; the revelations of the Katachi, Makoto, and Kotowari release the full potential of the sword, connecting you and your sword on an unbeatable scale." His eyes told me that he was hiding something else, but I did not press him for it.
"Is your head alright?" I gestured, apologizing for tackling him. He gave me a wry smile. "I've had worse," he said, reaching for the tea brewing over the fire. "It's nothing that a good cup of tea won't cure."
Before we were able to do anything else, however, the scales, once again hiding in Kutsuriuri's box, begin to ring with a shrill and violent cacophony. Gooseflesh broke out all over my body, and Kutsuriuri shuddered as if struck by a cold blast of wind. The earth began to tremble, and suddenly split not one hundred feet from us, revealing an angry red chasm. From its depths came one taloned hand, then another, until a great black beast, shimmering iridescently like oil but gruesome in stature, clawed its way out of the bowels of the earth to stand before us in a column of flame.
All I could do was jump in front of Kutsuriuri, knowing in my heart that this was to be a clash with death that I would not come out of alive.
Yay, I get to leave y'all with another cliffhanger!
This chapter was a TON of fun to write! Oh, and that beast at the end? It really is going to kill our Golden Warrior. I'm not kidding. Spoilers, melodramatic, cliche, blah blah blah...the Golden Warrior is going to die. Stay tuned, folks, because from here on out is the final stretch!