I'm in the process of moving and everything's been a bit hectic as of late. I don't know if I'm ever going to be going back to work because of my health and I might have more health problems down the road but I'm waiting to get bloodwork done.
M2R: I'm gonna try. I had a chapter to fill the gap between this and the last one, but I didn't like it so I scrapped it.
Yoshiki-909: I wouldn't know since I haven't kept up with that Summer Event. I'm an NA player. Not sure if I'm going to get into that, besides, it's a Summer event— those aren't super serious. I'm not giving Musashi a Gun-Sword or having her go Berserker.
The days flew by after the death of Upper Moon Akaza and before anyone knew it, two months had passed. Shinjuro had slowly cleaned himself up, though he and Musashi still bickered about pointless things. Senjuro hadn't joined the slayers, but he had pulled his sword back out and it had in fact changed the same deep red that Kyojuro's and Shinjuro's blades had become. The said boy had also created a branch off from the Breath of Flames— Breath of Embers— which used the same basic forms as it's origin but relied on being unthreatening.
It was still Breath of Flames, so to speak, but Musashi felt like it deserved its own name. Senjuro humored her.
Kyojuro, on the other hand, was becoming proficient in fighting with just one eye— learning that in order to make sure it wasn't a handicap he had to always expect an attack from the left side. Attacking blindspots would always be something that enemies would do, and Kyojuro learned the hard way when Musashi sent him to eat dirt when they sparred between missions. During those times as well, Musashi worked on perfecting the style she had been working on for two years. Ever since she started watching the Pillars as they fought and trained together, she archived and stored every movement they made in her memory.
How their breathing worked, how their movements were. The patterns and rhythms they had. How fluid or tense their bodies were before striking. In particular, she observed Tomioka, Shinazugawa, Himejima, and Kyojuro.
The Void was an accumulation of all things condensed into Zero, which meant elements as well. As the four elements that made up the world, it was crucial to observe and replicate Water, Rock, Wind, and Flame breathing. Through that observation, she had created a strange, new style that worked best with Niten Ichi-Ryuu— Element Void. The four only had two or three styles each, but it would be enough to throw anyone who was familiar with Breaths off. She had already fine-tuned Flame Void while working with Kyojuro, allowing the Flame Pillar to slowly learn and replicate it as well.
Himejima and Earth Void had been polished not too long after, but Himejima had ended up not being able to replicate it fully because of the difference in Musashi's sword and his flail and axe combination.
She had yet to fully tune Water Void and Wind Void, but she would have to work with Tomioka and— as much as she dreaded— Shinazugawa on it later.
Of course, barring those techniques she would have to fine-tune, there had been something else that had been increasingly bugging her.
It hadn't suddenly started bothering her but rather it had finally reached the point where she couldn't ignore it.
Her footsteps were light despite her heeled shoes as Musashi walked through the Estate. Myoujingiri was held firmly in her hand as she followed one of the Ubuyashiki children to where their father was resting. It had taken a lot of thinking and reviewing all that old man Muramasa had told her along with slowly gathering information about the Master of the Demon Corps.
A curse had been put on him and his bloodline. The appearance of the scar that looked like rotting flesh, the speed of which it consumed the man, all of that was because of the curse.
And if Myoujingiri could cut through anything supernatural, then there could be a chance that it could sever the curse.
The child stopped outside the shoji doors, lightly knocking on them. "Oyakata-sama, the Void Pillar would like to request an audience with you."
There was a pause before the Master spoke. "Oh? Then please," he said, "Allow her in."
The child nodded before they opened the doors slowly. They stepped to the side for Musashi, bowing a bit and she stepped into the room. She bowed briefly, her other blades clinking softly when she raised and the shoji closed behind her.
Ubuyashiki was sitting on the engawa that overlooked the garden that was used for Pillar Meetings, his wife, Amane, was sitting next to him and his eldest twins were playing in the garden. The scarring had gotten worse, nearly halfway down his face now and the scent of rot was starting to settle in. She ignored it.
"Good morning, Musashi," Ubuyashiki said pleasantly, "What brings you here today?"
"It's about Myoujingiri," she said, cutting right to the chase. "And the curse put on you and your bloodline."
There was a moment of silence between the two, Amane looking at her husband before Ubuyashiki smiled slightly.
"So that's what you were doing in the Corps Archive," he said and she nodded.
"Yes, Oyakata-sama," she confirmed, "And I'm sorry I took so long to reach this conclusion. I will admit, it took some prodding at Shinobou, Mitsuri, and Kyojuro before getting a straight answer on your health, but when I realized it was a curse, I wondered if Myoujingiri could do anything about it. But then there was the idea that I could end up killing you," she added with a sigh, "So I had to do more research. The nature of the curse, the roots and origins, and how deep it went. With Lady Amane at your side and the slow progress the priests have made in breaking down the curse... I realized that it wasn't karma that I sensed from you when we first met, but the curse."
She bowed deeply as she continued. "I don't know the extent of which severing the curse would heal you— the curse could reverse fully, or just keep you from dying. I don't know if your sight will recover or if your lungs will heal, but I know that if the curse is severed then you most likely can live past thirty, you can continue fighting alongside of the Demon Slayers."
Amane and Ubuyashiki shared a look as she spoke, a silent conversation going between them despite the Master's lack of sight.
"So please," Musashi said, eyes trained onto the floorboards. "Please, Oyakata-sama, let me try and break this curse on you and your son."
There was silence before Ubuyashiki spoke. "Raise your head, Musashi," he said softly and she did as told, standing up slowly and gazing at the blind man. "Are you certain that you want to do this?"
She nodded, frowning. "Of course!" she said before she quieted, reaching back and brushing her fingers against the ornament in her hair. "I don't want to… overstep my position by saying this, but ever since I've arrived here, you have been the closest thing to a father figure I've ever had. My own father abandoned me when my mother passed away." Her hand fell back to her side and her eye gained a determined glint. "The Demon Slayers have become more of a family to me than anything else. I would be honored if you would let me try and save you and your son."
There was another beat of silence before Ubuyashiki smiled, nodding and Musashi let out a breath, her shoulders relaxing a bit.
"Thank you, Oyakata-sama," she said softly before she gripped Myoujingiri tightly, the look of determination back as she drew the blade. "Ah. Maybe we should go into the garden? I'd hate to wreck the Estate again!"
That made the Master laugh as he stood slowly with his wife, Amane taking a hold of his hand and slowly leading him and Musashi out to the garden. She led them to a more secluded and open spot, glancing back at Musashi with a questioning look.
"This will work, thank you, Amane-sama," she said before she reached up, pulling her eyepatch off. "Amane-sama, you might want to step behind me."
The white-haired woman pursed her lips but when Ubuyashiki squeezed her hand she let go, moving behind the swordswoman. Musashi adjusted her grip on the blade, closing her good eye and taking a breath. She slowed her breathing, her Heavenly Eye searching before a glimmer of sickly violet caught her eye. It was embedded deeply into the core of the Master, but not as deep as karma normally was.
'Focus… focus!'
She took another deep breath, shifting her footing and wrapping her other hand around Myoujingiri's hilt. She brought it back behind her, focusing on the curse's hold on Ubuyashiki.
'Focus… Myoujingiri can cut through anything… focus… focus…!'
She swung the blade, feeling the energy that had been building up in Myoujingiri release. She held her breath before a snap seemed to ring out through the garden.
The curse had been severed.
She opened her good eye and quickly shut her other one, sheathing Myoujingiri and moving to Ubuyashiki's side with Amane. The man had collapsed, panting heavily as his hands grasped at the front of his kimono.
"Are you alright, Oyakata-sama?" Musashi asked softly as his breathing calmed. He nodded slowly, eyes blinking and she got a good look at him.
Some color had started to return to his pale, sightless eyes, and the sickly, purple scarring had started to pale and recede. If that's what removing the curse was doing, then her first theory about the curse being removed would reverse its effects could be right.
"I am," he said, "Though a bit startled. There's a lightness to my chest that I don't remember having."
"That's good, I think!" Musashi said before a sharp pain in her side made her drop her hand from where it was resting on Ubuyashiki's shoulder. She covered her mouth before she coughed blood, startling Amane. "Musashi—!?"
"I'm alright!" She assured the woman, waving off both the Master and the Lady's concerns. "I suppose Myoujingiri just wasn't ready to do that much curse-breaking yet," she said, wiping her mouth. "Don't worry… how about we get to work on, ah, Kiriya?"
"Are you sure you're alright for that?" Amane asked and she nodded.
"I'll be fine! I'll just go back to Shinobou's or Kyojuro's and sleep for a week afterward," she said as she waved off the couple's worries. Amane looked uneasy still but called for her son, who was nearby with his elder sisters in the garden. The black-haired, androgynous boy blinked but walked over to them.
"Yes, Mother?" he asked her and the woman explained the situation to him in quiet tones as Musashi regulated her breathing again. Ubuyashiki lightly touched her hand.
"Musashi, are you sure you're alright?" He asked and she nodded.
"Never better, dad," she hummed as she stood, helping the Master to his feet as well. A delighted expression was on his face and she blinked, her words dawning on her.
"Wait— I'm sorry—"
"No, no! By all means," the man laughed softly, "I don't mind. In fact, I'm honored that you consider me a father, Musashi," he told her as she led him over to where his wife was talking to their son. She flushed but grinned a bit before she glanced down to Kiriya.
"Ready to purge a curse from your body?" she asked the boy, who only nodded. He walked over to where his father had been standing previously, turning back to face Musashi and she opened her other eye again.
The same, sickly violet coloring of the curse was visible, though instead of being embedded it was coiled around the boy's core. She focused, eyes narrowing as she gathered Myoujingiri's energy. Drawing the sword back again, she swung it, easily severing the threads of the curse.
Sheathing the blade, she closed her eyes, feeling her senses dull back to the low buzz they were normally at. Heavenly Eye certainly raised her senses, but it was a bit painful outside of battle. She pulled her eyepatch back on before she opened her eyes.
"The curse should be released. Provided that I'm still around when Kiriya takes a wife of his own and has children, I'll check and make sure it's fully released," she said, "Right now though, Oyakata-sama should rest. I'm gonna go sleep for like, a week, but if you need me, Kyojuro should be around."
She bowed a bit, Amane and Kiriya bowing in return as Ubuyashiki smiled.
"Thank you, Musashi," he said, "What you have done will never be forgotten."
She gave the two and their son a grin. "Don't mention it," she told him before she bowed again and took off.
I took liberties with Myoujingiri but whatever. We never really got an explanation on how the curse was lifted from the family and I really like Ubuyashiki so that's that.
And Musashi slips up and calls Oyakata-sama Dad finally, so that's fun.
Once again, sorry for the delay, life's been all over the place for me.