One of the twins stepped to the end of the open platform with a black sheath and blade in her hands. She knelt back down right on the crack and held out the weapon. At the same time, Mitsuri and Alistair got up from their respective honored stance. The girl went right as Alistair went forward to the twin's offered hands.
He grabbed hold of the sheath and pulled it toward his chest faster than expected. The whole container was doubly lighter than what he was used to. And half the size width of his own blade. Just at the first grab he lost his confidence in this fight.
The twin got back up immediately and returned in the same step pattern behind the master. The master himself just smiled without any visible signs of bias. Alistair legitimately did not know if this was supposed to be an easy win or to put him in his place.
But the girl was half his size, her legs and arms were twigs compared to him along with all else. Yet he was more than aware she was capable to handle herself. She nor any of the others would be weaker than Kocho.
Mitsuri stood around thirty to fifty paces from Alistair. She stood nervous for a girl so loud and open; her knees touched each other and her arms covered her chest. Even though Alistair only watched her eyes, she appeared shy.
The sheath slid right off the solid steel katana. A small thud of the rocks splashed onto each other as to avoid the carrier. All the while he never once lost sight of his target. He waited for the very same second the sound disappeared into the atmosphere.
Each vein in his legs bulged out far enough for the blood trails to show. Both his feet pressed through the layer of rocks. A small gust of wind followed suit. His first swing came before her first blink of the skirmish.
He held the blunt edge of the sword close to his arm, feeling the cold metal ease his tension. He stopped a mere foot into a standstill. His left leg lifted in the air and used his right to kick himself up into the air. Alistair flipped over Mitsuri, his open arm grabbed her neck and hurled himself into her.
In an inhuman move, her body swirled completely around Alistair's attack. As he slashed down with his sword; her shoulder tucked behind her and twirled around the sword itself. Her muscles in her neck were stronger than Alistair's grip. She grabbed the hilt of her sword and pounded it into his sternum. It his way stronger than he ever felt, he lost both grips he contained and went limp.
Her foot came up into Alistair's unprepared face. The tip of her boot kicked into his head and threw him across her back end. She came after him with the entirety of her pink sword out.
Alistair stopped his hyperventilative breathing. He controlled how he breathed, relaxing his lungs. He awaited the girl's upbringing, for that first swing. His arm lunged out and grabbed the weirdly flexibility of the sword. No blood poured from his fingers as he gripped into the edge. Even as the the rest of the sword wrapped his arm none of it penetrated him.
The shy-ness and blushed girl finally changed her facial structure. She was genuinely surprised for the battle. And Alistair loved it, he had to win, his goals depended on a victory. But now it was for his own personal ego. He flexed his arm and dragged her into him.
His boots landed front to back in a shoulder's space. His arm bashed into the ground and grabbed. Alistair's other arm hurled down the girl. She was just as ready as he was; landing on her feet, back to him.
Alistair continued his offensive strike, he ran up behind her and circled with her own weapon. He squeezed as hard as he could around her body. She was small and thin but her body felt just as strong as him at half the size. Still he had the higher amount of strength against any of his opponents. It wasn't about how much he could lift, or toss, or hold. His mental strength never ended. He squatted down with his power and launched both of them back.
It wasn't a half hazard move in his eyes compared to the others. Both of their bodies spun for her to land into the ground instead. She calculated the move while in the air and swirled the bent blade out of them. Their momentum doubled, but more so in Alistair's moment. He grabbed his own fallen sword and mounted himself back to the ground with it.
His eyes followed Mitsuri's final moments in the air for her light body touch the ground. "Iron breathing technique, form three." One of his hands directed down as the other was straight up.
He tore the rocks with furious speed. His feet drove forward while the sword remained impaled. He stopped suddenly and spun with dust rising all around him. Then there was nothing of him, nobody saw him and he saw nobody. But he felt them all, the heat they gave off compared to the rest of the world.
Alistair looked at his sword, a solid black blade with a red vein at the base. It was new, or at least something he didn't notice before. His eyes went back up and looked back up into Mitsuri's heat signature. His foot smashed forward and the sword thrusted forward.
The blade slashed through the smoke and right past Mitsuri. Whether the girl was hardly paying attention, Alistair managed to burst right next to her. Her dazed eyes became inches away from his hand. He locked around her neck and lifted her body high into the air.
Alistair looked down at his side. It pounded profusely and became more wet. The handle of his sword showed before his gut. He looked more around his body three more points of penetration from that wobbly sword.
The veins in Alistair's body bulged with steam. She pulled the sword with desperation but not an inch moved. Alistair spat the built up blood from mouth onto her hand. It burned enough of her skin to release her sword.
Alistair grabbed the handle and twisted it around his side. "In my country, a certain way I fight determines how my body works." His grip tightened around her neck and smashed her into the ground. "My mom learned it from you! Use it!" His feet twisted around and tossed her into the building. "I win my battles fairly, now use yours!"
She looked up at her master. "He snapped my arm."
Alistair stopped and pulled the sword from his body. Then his own. He tossed over Mutsuri's sword at her feet and weld his sword at his elbow.
"Please quit the fighting." The master asked. "Mitsuri is a vital part of our group. She is known as a pillar, the elite select few. Injuring her and you would not be a great outcome for us."
"But stabbing me four times is alright? Heh?" He stabbed the sword into the ground. "Nah it's alright."
"Each one of your attacks were non vital, so your words were a lie." The boy behind them silently spoke. He went next Alistair and grabbed the impaled sword. "And with a unique blade." He looked at Alistair. "So why didn't you try but demand the best?"
"Because bloodshed only demands more bloodshed. Wars don't end because I killed more than they did. If I can't win by either being smarter or stronger, I'm just skipping to the next stone." He went over to Mitsuri and knelt down to her. "I wouldn't kill her. Or even break her. I'd just fight her until she knew she couldn't win."
"Your breathing technique is unique to any of the other pillars. Where does it come from?" The master asked.
"My parents. Believe it or not it's not super powers. It just allows me to adjust my body tension and heat deposition. Other than that, zero clue."
"For as dumb and ridiculous your moves were, you still held your own against Mitsuri." Kocho patted against one of Alistair's open wounds.
Alistair snapped on Kocho's hand and twirled the woman to the front of his body. It snapped up forward to her arm and pulled her into his body. His forehead tapped hers as his arm kept her body to his.
"See?" He looked up to the master then back at Kocho's red and flushed face. "You can stab me and poison me. But I can still over power you mentally."
"You're the one that broke my sword?" A old man shoved the door to the side and sprinted after to the edge of the sword. The tiny man jumped off the stage and landed on Alistair's head. He kicked the top of his head while he screamed inaudible words.
The man eventually calmed down and returned to the master's side. His mask was red with a very long tube for lips and giant eyes.
"So you know about the sword? Then you know my parents."
"Correct. The sword you used before you destroyed it through brutish and stupid means"
Kocho tiptoed up to Alistair's ear. "See I'm not the only one." She whispered. Alistair grabbed her head and gently pushed her back to her level.
"Dozen years ago they came down to my village. A pair of idiots that somehow came to my village. A pair summer than any demon." Alistair grit his teeth after each insult but said nothing. "But their knowledge for blacksmithing is beyond any of those I've had in my village. We never kicked them out but never once showed them how to craft any of our swords." He nodded at Alistair. "But they learned our language and picked up slip it's of what we said. Five months later they managed gather enough to eventually leave."
"Twelve years ago? But they came back not even a year ago." Alistair walked to the patio area and knelt down beside Mitsuri. "Please, I respect your story but please tell me what you know from a year back."
"You're mistaken young man. That's all I do know. I had no idea they returned after or even managed to forge a sword in the time." He looked over to the master. "So is this man a member of the corps or is he just a honored guest in your company?"
"Alistair Cornet, if you accept my proposition you can be a member of us. As a rank below our lower rank. Until a proper final selection takes place, I ask you shadow under one of our pillars at all times."
"I accept your proposition."
"Alright so you managed to be a member of the Demon Slayer Corps. He reached in his komoto and pulled out a small scroll. He placed it at the edge of the ground. "Near the time your span requires, a building was burned down. Inside were raw ores of the main component of the swords. Nichirin, but some of the more was already smelted. And none of my clan would dare to risk a smelting process."
Alistair grabbed the scroll and read it. "The location says demons raid the area commonly since the original clear out. Any of them as strong as the one I fought?"
"Actually the one you fought was a unique twelve that are stronger than the last. And you actually lost to the weakest of the group. So maybe you can fight them and win." Kocho again mocked the newly added Demon Slayer.
"For some reason an unexpected number is always there as my men study the makeshift forge. But it's possible to get in there. Please stay here for a week or somewhere you can be easily found until your new sword is forged. And for the love of God don't break this one."
"Kocho, since you're here and the most connected with him. I'd like you to study his efforts when he goes to the broken forge. Until then please also heal him."
"Right away!"
Alistair clenched the scroll in his hand. Bowing his head to both of them and stood up.
"I have a request of my own." Alistair went for his belt and pulled out the guard. He grabbed the handle of the sword and ripped it apart of the guard. "However you make the sword. Just honor my family and add this guard. It's the only thing with my family crest on it."
"It will make for a one of a kind styled sword. We'll create a sword that represents you and honors you and your family."
