Disclaimer: I own neither Akame ga kill nor Sekiro: Shadow Die Twice. They both belong to their respective owner.
It's been ages since the fall of Ashina, many things have changed since then, Ashina has become nothing more than a history. The feared, powerful Taro troop were belittled as some dumb giants. The legend of the sword saint who used to rule over it has turned into mere child literature to scare and make kids behave. And among these stories, there is one short-lived tale about an abandoned, dilapidated temple where there lives a monster, who would lure and kill those who dare to come near its home, and the noise from the building are rumoured to be the struggling sound of these victims.
Kids who are terrified by said tale won't dare to get anywhere near the mountain, and those who want to prove that they are brave will go and examine the truthfulness of said tale.
But they will return with the disappointing news that there are no monsters residing in the temple, only an old, one-armed sculptor who judging by his look would be in his late sixties, peacefully carving wood statues in there.
People address him by different names, the old sculptor for his appearance, or the temple monster due to the false tale, however, only one name matters to him, Wolf.
[Past]
In the field filled with white, tall grass, stand two men, a mature looking shinobi with a prosthetic arm and an old man who seems to be at the end of his prime, with scars surrounding every part of his body. They both wield a blade while the old man also uses a sword-spear, he is Isshin Ashina, the sword saint.
Slash after slash, parry after parry, the fight goes so smoothly that it could be considered to be a dance. When the one-armed shinobi attack, the old men will parry and counter with an attack, then the shinobi will deflect his attacks and reply with his own counter attack.
Using every technique they know of, utilising all the tools they have, whether it is a blade, a gun, any hidden weapons or even using just a fistful of ash to gain the slightest advantage, one mistake, one misjudgement will cost either side their life.
The battle is so intense, that there are lightning raining around them, it like even the gods are excited, curious about the outcome of this fight, Isshin block his enemy attack, jump back and do a swipe attack with his spear, the shinobi dodge backward and avoid it, then dash forward and attempt to slice his opponent, only for the sword saint to jump back, but instead of doing a swipe attack again, he use his spear as a lightning pole and catch lightning with it, he redirect the lightning and swing it toward the shinobi, yet, the shinobi saw through it, however, instead of dodging the attack, he did the unthinkable and face it head on, he jump, block it with his own blade, and reverse the lightning back to it user before he reach the ground. The old man can do nothing but to tank it.
The lightning hit him directly, stunning him which create an opening for the skillful shinobi to strike, just as his blade is about to reach, Isshin regain control over his body and block it with his own sword, however, the lightning is still slightly paralysis him, and that all the shinobi need to archive victory.
He applies more force, destroys the balance of his opponent, and uses this opening to do a cut across his chest, sending him kneeling from the injury. This would normally be enough to kill any man. However, whether it is because of him being resurrected by the black mortal blade, or he resurrected from his grandson's body who were strengthened by the use of the rejuvenating water, resulting in him become more resilient, the sword saint is unsure, and yet.
"KHAAA!" Isshin screams, accepts his defeat and waits for the man who bested him to deliver the final blow. The man acknowledges its meaning, he unsheathe a dull, crimson blade tied to his back.
"Do it!" Isshin commanded, the shinobi then ready his stance, take aim and without any hesitation, slice and take the life of the sword saint.
"Well…done…Sekiro…" The dying sword saint says his final word before his consciousness fades into nothingness.
"...farewell." The shinobi who is now known as Sekiro replied.
After the fight, Sekiro immediately run to his master's body, who was lying on the floor due to the injury dealt by Genichiro Ashina, the grandson of Isshin. He has a duty to fulfil, serve the immortality and end it once and for all.
Kuro, the divine heir, master of the loyal Wolf. He notices the presence of his loyal servant and asks "Wolf… where are you?"
"I am at your side." The loyal wolf responded as he held his master up, his hand reached into his pocket, took out a pink growing liquid and proceeded to feed it to his lord.
"Take the Dragon tear." Wolf says as the divine heir consumes the tear, and slowly closes his eyes.
Suddenly, " *Sheef* " An unsheathing sound was made. It was made by no other than the one arm wolf. To sever the ties to immortality, he must feed his master the divine dragon tear, and end the life of the divine heir. It is the only way he knows that can stop this curse, despite how much he wishes to be the one to be killed, there is no other way, and if it is the wish of his master, then he will fulfil it with whatever it takes.
Sekiro holds the red mortal blade and points it toward his master chest. He knows he must do it, it is his duty to obey his master, and yet, he hesitated, he wished they could both live.
"My sworn shinobi, now."
Wolf turns and looks at his master, notices him holding the tip of the dull blade.
"Sever these ties of immortality." Kuro says while he pulled the sword tip closer toward his chest, he had accepted this outcome.
Wolf inhales, and stabs through his master body, leaving only the lifeless corpse of his master as a proof that he has successfully severed the ties of immortality.
To accomplish a goal, it should make a person feel rewarded, feel joyful. But Wolf felt none of it, feeling only the sadness of his lord death and the emptiness of losing his purpose, to serve his master.
Wolf retrieves the body of his master, and with the help of Emma, they bury and build a tomb for his lord next to the the grave of Lady Tomoe and Lord Takeru despite how dangerous Ashina is now. After that, he returned to the dilapidated temple.
[Present]
For many years, he resided in this abandoned temple, without a lord to serve, he lost his will, having no reason to live nor die, he abandoned and offer the prosthetic arm to Emma, but she declined and believed it's better for him to keep it. Wolf would now mimic the old sculptor routine, carve statues to calm his mind and wait for another shinobi who was similar to him, who would drift to here and acquire the strength of the prosthetic arm.
The dilapidated temple provides not only foods from the edible plants and meat provided by beasts who intruded by accident, it also grants him the calm and peace he needed from receiving none of the disturbance from the unwanted guests, namely bandits. For no average thefts would bother with this ruin.
He would spend most of his time carving Buddha statues, which unlike the Sculptor's Buddha, these appear to be sorrowful rather than the expression of wrathful. It makes him feel relieved that he is still quite far away from transforming into a demon.
Years after years, he been waiting for the shinobi to arrive, yet, he did not came, not even those who wish to sever immortality via the use of the mortal blade, so he sit there and carve, it was thanks to it and the occasion visit from Emma and some travellers past by and wish to stay for a night that would keep him from insanity. But even then it will change, Emma despite continuing to visit the temple, has come far less often, and eventually, she stops coming by, whether it is due to her finding a goal to chase after, or she has gone, this, Sekiro is uncertain of but he prays to be the former. And although there are sometimes travellers that would come by, it also occurs less commonly.
But things start to become unusual. To put it lightly, the beast he encounter lately are quite odds, before, mostly hog and wolf would intrude, and now the beast are odd looking, some appear to be bull with scales, some looks like a hybrid of wolf and cat and with a large horn on his head, their appearance might be difference, but they all would share a similar features, exceedingly large, ruthless, fast and more durable. Perhaps it is due to the divine realm somehow fusing with the mortal realm after Ashina falls, or maybe it is a normal nature doing, it doesn't concern him.
Though one thing that did catch his curious is the outfit of those travellers, compare to the clothing of Ashina peoples, not only are the material and the texture feel foreign, but the style that everyone wear are quite unique, for example, one time he witness a guy wear a white cloth of unknown material with another piece of cloth tied to his neck, while also wearing a clothes made of wool on the outside. "Time really has passed since then…" the one-armed wolf thought.
Althought different peoples will come and use it as a temporary resting place until they continue onward, but the routine of the one-armed wolf would remain the same until an incident occurs.
The time is dusk, as usual the lone Wolf did nothing but carving statues. Seeing the light start to go, Sekiro walked and lit the candles placed around his residence. Even though he has night eyes, it wasn't enough for him to perform the delicate work he has been doing. He then went back to his original spot and continued carving.
" *Tud* *Tud* *Tud*…" with his enhanced hearing, Sekiro hears a fast paced footsteps running toward the temple. A minute or two later, two relatively young ladies arrive.
" *Pant*, I guess we lost them, who would have thought there is a building inside the forest. *Pant* " state one of the women, she then put down the little girl she was carrying and slowly recover her energy, not noticing the carving noise and Wolf presence due to her own heavy breathing sound.
But not the younger woman, even though she is worried about her sister, she still notices the presence of this stranger "Sis…" she whispered with a bit of a worried tone and pointed toward the one-armed sculptor, trying not to be noticed.
The panting girl finally realises the existence of this dilapidated building owner. The older sister pulls the young one closer to her, attempts to comfort her and whispers. "Let me talk to him, *pant* I will ask him for permission to stay for a night, and if he tries to hurt us, I will—"
"Do as you please," whatever she is going to say is interrupted by an emotionless voice from the old sculptor, he continues "Just don't do anything stupid."
The older one stares at him coldly, says nothing and goes to the corner of the temple with her sister. It's understandable considering that not only they just meet, it is also normal to feel insecure when resting next to a weirdo who resides in this desolate building.
"Must we stay here?" ask the little one who is now sitting on her sister's lap.
"It is dangerous to wander in the forest at night, we could not risk encountering any of those danger beast." Said the older sister, but the younger sister still seems to be worrying, so she pat her head and continues "It's fine, I will protect you no matter what, now go get some sleep."
The little one nods, she leans toward her sister, closes her eyes and after a while, she fall into sleep. At first the older sister tries to combat her sleepiness, but eventually her tiredness gets the better of her and she too falls asleep.
It doesn't matter how long has passed nor how many times people have rested here, it always reminds him of the time he spent with the deceased sculptor, just like Hanbei, he too was allowed to stay at this temple thanks to him. The time they talk, drink sake together, it makes him feel nostalgic, and depressed.
"Oh, if you're looking for the Sculptor, he's gone, he stumbled off, muttering something about 'the flames…' ."
The sculptor turned into a demon, it was thanks to him that he was no longer in pain, grieving and anger over the loss of his friend, and yet it doesn't make Wolf feel any better by fulfilling his favour
Shaking his head, Sekiro knows it must be done. He decides to distract himself from all his negative thoughts by focusing back on carving.
The next day, Wolf wakes up from his sleep, it seems he somehow falls asleep. Seeing the two women were still asleep in the corner, he decided to eat something. He walks to the place where he hides his food, takes out a few dry meat, walks back to his station and starts eating.
" *Tud* *Tud* *Tud*…" a heavy, well organised footstep was made from the distance, the shinobi noticed it, he could tell it was made from man, dozens of them, judging by this detail, he can tell it must be some sort of military, and they were heading toward this temple.
"Could they be the Interior Ministry?" The one-armed wolf thinks. It is a reasonable assumption with his knowledge, but there is one thing he doesn't understand.
"Why?" Could they come for him? Unlikely, he was not known by anyone other than those who are important in Ashina, and most of them die along with the fallen of Ashina "Could this be just a coincidence?".
" *Pant*, I guess we lost them…"
Wolf catch the reason why they are here, they are coming for them. Seeing there is no reason to care, he now grabs his tool and begins carving.
Few minutes later, someone shouted " OI, OLD MEN!", waking both women up from their slumber.
Such rude titles are clearly referring to him, but Wolf ignores it, he remains silent and continues carving.
"HEY I AM TALKING TO YOU, RESPOND!" the person shouted again, another soldier suggested he is deaf. Although that makes the shouting soldier angry, he accepts his reason and just commands his man to search the temple.
Immediately after they enter the temple, they find the persons they were looking for and inform the captain of this news.
"HA! Rebel scum! Took us quite some time but we finally got you!" the captain says with a malicious tone that makes Wolf feel disgusted, giving him ever so slightly thought of cutting them down, though the idea leaves as quick as it comes.
"Hands off!" scream the older sister, while the younger sister is crying, crying both for her and her sister, and praying for someone to save them.
It is none of his business, though he can tell they are innocent, perhaps on the righteous side too, however they rebel against a country, and so they were arrested for it, and yet, why…, why does he have an urge to save them?
"Sir, are we returning to the Capital now?" one of the soldier questions. The captain whose mind fills with filthy thought, leaks a dark, distorting aura that make his face appear to be even more twist, and with that he make a loathful expression and state, "Not yet, I won't came all the way just to be a deliverer, I might as well have some fun with them, not like they will be in any better once they are jailed."
Sekiro finally grasps where that urge comes from, partly because they are in the right, another part being the disgusting thought of the soldier, but mostly, it is his own selfishness of not wanting to witness another mans suffer for the greater good, it remind him the torment he endured after he lost his lord. It would bother him if he ignored their cry, he doesn't want to be burdened by more regret.
"Cease." a strong, yet calm voice coming from the temple command, catches the empire soldiers' attention. Now that he actually looks at them, they're all wearing greyish white coats and a hat, all wielding a sword or a spear while some of them are also holding a tiny weird looking box with a hole, "it looks similar to a firearm." thought the one-armed wolf.
"Ha, so you decide to do something only after I said I will defile them, hypocrite scum." The captain taunts, he then spreads his arm out and says, "Well what are you going to do? Kill us wi—"
Before he gets a chance to finish, Sekiro throws a ceramic shard to the captain, although it was not enough to even scratch him, the sudden attack causes him to flinch, blocking the projectile with his hand which covers his sight, allowing sekiro to rush forward before the captain can order his underling.
Wolf draws his blade and slices the neck of a panicking soldier who is still reaching for his weapon, he falls but before he reaches halfway to the ground, Sekiro steps on him and jumps behind to the falling soldier, he then stabs the back of his enemy and let go of his weapon to grab the soldier's head.
"*crack*" a sound is made from the head Sekiro grabs into. Sekiro retrieves his sword, letting the corpse slam on the ground and continues the assault.
"KILL HIM!" command the angry captain. They all rush him and force Sekiro to retreat backward. Few of them continue the assault while the rest surround him and wait for an opportunity to strike.
Although the one-armed wolf has faced mightier opponents, but with the lack of practice and ageing, and also facing multiple enemies at once, he is actually having a hard time fighting with them.
"AHHH!" a soldier screams in pain when another soldier impales his comrade in the chest, this sudden event destroys their formation. At first they question why would their comrade attack them, and immediately find out that the attacker was no other than the lifeless corpse the enemy first killed. They try to stop the walking corpse, but then a red, bloody mist spreads out of nowhere and blocks their vision.
Without their vision they are forced to use their weapon with caution, they cannot afford to lose any more comrades, but as more and more painful screams echoing in the smoke, they start to feel frightened and fear they will be next. They start using their weapon blindly, slashing and shooting at whatever shadow they see, expecting to be at least able to take out their target.
As the mist starts to fade, revealing the one-armed man continually slaining the remaining empire soldier, leaving only the captain to be alive and standing. The captain peeks around, looking to capture the siblings as hostages only to find that they have already gone.
"You…" the captain growls silently, furious with the disabled man's work. Sekiro says nothing and puts up his stance, instilling fear and preparing for any sudden attacks.
Maybe it's his rage that blind him, or Wolf's poor attempts in hiding his panting, the captain does not realise Sekiro is tired and is now slowly recovering his stamina while the captain is busy formulating a plan. It is until said process allows the fury captain to calm down enough that he is now aware of this fact.
The captain immediately rushes forward, rapidly thrusts his spear against his opponent, providing no opening for counter attack, the tiring shinobi can do nothing but parry his strike. Each strike becomes faster and stronger, thrusting where his blade is not protecting at and forcing him to rapidly move his arm to deflect his blow, chipping away his stamina and doing cut to his skin.
" *Pant* *Pant* " Sekiro breathes heavily as he continues to block his enemy attack, his arm starts to feel numb, if this continues he is doomed to make a mistake.
"DIE! DIE! DIE!" the captain yells, delivering more and more blows, slowly but surely, he is piercing the defence of this shinobi, and then.
"Hm!…" The shinobi growls silently as he fails to endure the pain inflicted by the captain. With this distraction, the captain swipes his spear and slams it against the arm of his foe. Wolf lost his grip and dropped the sword he was using. "Gotcha!" The captain grinned, thought joyfully as he finally got a chance to end him.
"DIE YOU ONE ARM FUCK!" The captain yelled, holding his spear tightly and thrust forward with all his might.
The only way for the shinobi to survive would be using the mikiri counter, the problem is without equipping the prosthetic arm, he would not be able to utilise any of his prosthetic tools to attack, and should he retrieving his blade, not only will it cost him the opportunity to counter attack, but also allow his enemy to recover from it, making it all for nothing. So he made a gamble.
The one-armed wolf side steps the thrust, pulls up his leg and performs a mikiri counter, using his leg to redirect the strike toward the ground, as well as strengthen the force, successfully stunning the captain with his own force as the spear pierce the floor.
Instead of reclaiming his weapon, the one-arm wolf prepares his stance, stomp his right foot to his front, move forward and " *Boom* " Wolf use his elbow and smash against the captain's heart, " *Boom* " and again.
" *Cough* " cough after cough with more and more blood spitting from the captain's mouth due to the impact, he eventually kneels down from the pain and pressing his chest, he uses another arm to support himself from laying flat on the ground. With the temple art from Senpou Temple, Wolf is able to combine his body weight and his strength into force, utilise it and attack his enemy with said force.
It is a gamble because normally, it would require both arms to perform the prayer strikes, he also has not practice with this art as it mostly useless against beasts, one wrong move, he will fail to deliver it, let alone with only one arm, and if he hesitates, the enemy will regain control and finish him off.
Sekiro walks away and picks up his weapon which is now lying on the ground, he then walks back to the kneeling captain and finishes him off. Still coughing and unable to speak, the captain falls flat on face, uses his left hand to beg for mercy, the shinobi ignore his request and decapitate him, eliminating any possibility of him executing any sudden attack. This act secures the shinobi's own survival.
It is then, Sekiro sits on the ground and breathes heavily, he reaches into his pocket and grabs brown gourd and drinks the content in it, this causes the injury he sustains in the battle magically heals itself, leaving only scars to indicate that he was injured.
The one-armed wolf rests for a while, and once he regains enough stamina, he starts grabbing and moving the corpses of these empire soldiers to the outside of this dilapidated temple, after that he proceeds to clean the bloodstain on the ground.
"Thank you." The older sister says as the sibling comes out from their hiding spot "You could have stayed silent and let us suffer from our fate, thank you, really."
"Don't mind it." Wolf responds as he tries to make these bloodstains disappear. "You should move on now, there might be more of them coming."
"...What about you?" Ask the shy, younger sister. Wolf replied "I will leave once I am done cleaning, don't want this place to be defiled by blood."
"Then would you like to come with us?" The older sister suggested, "We are returning to the revolutionary army hideout, they are more than welcome about you joining them."
"No," the one-armed wolf refused her proposal politely, "I don't want anymore mindless bloodshed, besides I have my own path to go."
"Do you mind telling us your name?" the young one asked, Wolf thought for a few seconds and replied with "Just an old man who isn't dead yet." Though not the answer they are expecting, they decide to not press on the matter if their saviour is unwilling to share.
The two siblings bid farewell to the Shinobi and departed, heading to their own destiny. Wolf heads inside the temple, packs up everything he needs, some items, his weapon, a few bags of gold, minimum amount of food and… his prosthetic arm and the red mortal blade. Does he even need them anymore? Maybe he should just leave them behind and let whoever obtains them use it.
Wolf shakes his head, he can't just betray his tools like that. Unable to decide, Wolf took out a coin and thought "If it's head, then I leave them behind, and if it's tail, then he will carry them."
He tosses and closes his eyes, once the coin hits the ground, Sekiro opens his eyes and sees the tail side of the coin. He sighs, perhaps he will eventually find the shinobi that will need it. Wolf stores the arm into his pocket, ties the mortal blade to his back and leaves the abandoned temple, travels out to the wilderness and seeks a new resting place to settle.
[Side Chapter 1: Departed temple]
[6 years before Wolf begin his travel]
A black hair woman, who wears a red, purple kimono pair with a dark grey coat on the outside walking in a forest. She is Emma, most people know her as a doctor or a nurse. After the fall of Ashina, Emma blends in and resides with the new residents who live in this new country. She opens a pharmacy and heals the sick, and in her free time she would visit the dilapidated temple and clean the graves of Lord Isshin, Lord Ganichiro and Lord Kuro. After the fight sekiro have with Isshin, she return to the grass field to retrieve the body of Genichiro and Isshin, she burry them next to the tomb of Kuro, it a secret known only to herself, should the interior minister learn of this news, they will dug and insult their dead.
Emma walks into the mountain, heading toward the temple to visit the loyal wolf. However, when she reaches his destination, what she finds are not the scenery of the dilapidated temple, nor the carving sound from the lone shinobi.
What she witnesses is an empty space that is supposed to be the abandoned temple, there is no scrap that proves it's been destroyed, not any ash that shows it's been burned, not even any trace that can prove it ever exists.
She searches and aims to find the cause of it, only to find nothing that could explain the reason for it vanishing. It is until in a cave with the secret shinobi door, she found four well hidden ancient symbols, some of them have faded, lose their original form. She is certain the ancient text and this incident are both related.
Emma will continue to work as a doctor, cleaning her friend's grave, but now she will study the ancient symbols, seeking any knowledge that would provide her any understanding of the craft, till she is able to bring the loyal wolf back to his home.
Author note: My first time ever writing any sort of story, If I ever discontinue it, I will just post what ideas I have for this story. I welcome any meaningful criticism and suggestions that would let you read it more comfortably. I only think of how the story would start and end, so I am still unsure of how it will go. Also I am terrible with naming.