Chapter 2
The whole place was desolate, just dead earth spreading all over this place where two children were fighting.
Crack
Senji's head was buried in the ground with the other boy's hand still exerting pressure not to escape. That kid's strength was enormous, he had no way to keep fighting for long. He had already used what his uncle taught him to fight, and they were still beating him.
"When they said the enemy is yourself, I didn't expect it to be literally."
Senji found himself fighting someone almost identical to him.
But this entity has black eyes and white pupils and was beating him without any difficulty. And I couldn't find a way to beat him.
"Are you serious?"
He decided to ask Senji to buy time and regain some energy.
"... Hmpf. I am the [Kagutsuchi Blood], the blood that is guilty of the cursed weapons of your bloodline, little Muramasa."
"My father told me the story of my Clan and also that one day that blood will awaken. And the most important thing was that I didn't let that blood control me."
"Your father is right... But the truth is that I have no interest in taking control of your body and doing heinous acts like it was in the past."
Really? And then why did you start attacking me?"
"I just wanted to test if you're able to hold on, and you have. You were trained like a warrior, right?"
Senji sighed and then spoke. "You're kind of right, but I was trained to become a blacksmith."
"10 years old?" [Kagutsuchi Blood]'s eyes widened in surprise; he hadn't imagined that he was trained to be a blacksmith.
"Yes." Senji could understand their confusion.
"... See... Now I understand a little bit where your strength and grip comes from. A normal child would not be able to endure as much as an adult does forced labor such as blacksmithing."
"My uncle was the one who trained us all to do it."
"Seems perfect for that..."
"Perfect? What are you talking about?"
"A duality. If I were the only one, I'd unleash your wild side and wipe out all the people around you. Therefore... Let's try to merge into one. In this way, you will avoid falling a side of madness and control the power that runs through my veins. Also, you'll inherit the curse that resides in weapons, so I'd recommend training that before forging swords for someone."
"... Okay, I'll take the deal." She resigned herself to fighting him and going with the flow of whatever might happen in the future.
Senji stretched out his hand to shake hands with the [Kagutsuchi Blood].
"And one last thing..."
Senji nodded.
"From now on, society may see you as a monster."
Before I asked him why, he had woken up.
The [Kagutsuchi Blood] saw an endless fire rise up in that place.
"Heh. Now it looks like an oven... I hope this is the last generation with cursed blood. I forgot to tell you that your attitude may have a change... I don't think he cares much about being a lover of fighting."
[Senji Muramasa's Room]
"What do you mean by the latter?"
"Senji-nii at last! ... you woke up..."
Hana's animated voice suddenly changed to one that was both nervous and scared.
"What's wrong Hana?"
Not understanding the reason, he decided to ask her to find out the reason for her change of attitude.
Hana pointed with her index finger. "... Your eyes... they look different..."
Senji quickly got up to look for a mirror to see his eyes.
And when she saw him, she dropped the little mirror she had grabbed where it broke into pieces, falling several pieces on her feet.
"... They're just like that guy..."
"They'll see you as a monster." I remembered his words.
"That's what he said," he sighed. Bring me a cloth to cover my eyes. This will be problematic."
Hana nodded, quickly found a white cloth near her where she walked with utmost care not to step on the pieces of glass and hurt her feet.
After handing me the white cloth, I asked him to help me blindfold me.
I can't let anyone see them.
"Take me to Nobunaga-sama. I have to warn you of this."
"Is it necessary?"
"Yes. After all, I had a change where it can be scary for anyone. There are no humans with black eyes and white pupils. They may try to burn me or worse, torture me for thinking I'm a monster."
Hana understood.
"I understand, lean on my body so you don't get sidetracked or fall along the way."
I nodded and rested my body on hers very carefully, I can't see now so I need to be careful where I put my hands or feet.
After several minutes I reached Oda Nobunaga's room and began to talk about what happened to me.
She ordered me to remove the cloth that covered my eyes. I had no choice but to accept it.
Once this was done, I looked at Nobunaga who was a little surprised by my eyes. But he still started to get closer to me.
Nobunaga brought his cupping hands to my cheeks to lift my gaze and force me to look into his eyes.
"I love your eyes, there's no need to hide it. What others think shouldn't matter. The only thing that matters is my words, so don't hide them. And if some people are afraid of you, don't make a big deal out of it."
"I should worry about the fame this will bring."
"I don't care in the least what other people think of me. So you shouldn't worry about that. Your only task is to do my bidding. I will conquer Owari and then unify all of Japan, with my name towering high in the sky."
"So Sixth Heaven Demon King. He has a strong, unwavering conviction. Je... I suppose I will follow her as my Master."
"Got it, Nobunaga-sama."
I started to get up to get out of Nobunaga's room.
"... Answer me this."
"If I have any way of answering your question, I will, Nobunaga-sama."
"That [Kagutsuchi Blood], as you said, belongs to your lineage... Then your cousins... won't they be in danger of being dominated by that cursed blood?"
That set off an alert in my head. You are right what you just said, Himari and Hana will at any moment awaken their [Kagutsuchi Blood] and may they lose control.
"You should train them." Nobunaga said as he held his hand to his chin. "Right now there's nothing major where I can use them. So you can use this time to train them to resist or gain control of that blood."
I bowed. "Got it. And thank you very much for your kindness, Nobunaga-sama."
"He doesn't need to thank me. After all, I'm greedy..." Nobunaga got up to go to his window and look outside. "You will be my best weapons in the future."
I replied, " I understand" and then left the room.
I started heading in search of Hana and Himari. Their cursed blood can awaken at any moment, so I should help them train for... At least they gain control of their blood.
I don't want them to be seen as monsters, I can live peacefully if I'm the only one labeled as that, but they don't need to be seen and recriminated by other people.
While I was thinking about it, I came across Himari and Hana by mere chance.
"Senji-nii." I could tell that she was worried about me.
"I need you to come with me."
"Did something bad happen?" Himari asked.
"Is Nobunaga the culprit?" I have no idea why Hana is blaming Nobunaga.
They followed me without asking any questions about my actions. They gave me their trust.
Leaving the castle and then heading to the dojo where an accident happened because of me. Once I entered the dojo, I saw that it was empty.
"... It's impeccable..." It was my comment after seeing that it was clean as if that accident had never happened.
"The workers here do an amazing job."
"It was great to see how they cleaned and rebuilt this place."
It was Himari and Hana's comments.
I walked several steps away from them and then turned and looked at them with seriousness and a strong determination.
"From now on they will train with me... You saw what happened in this place, this will happen to you too."
They began to feel nervous.
Will we lose our sanity?" Hana asked uncertainly.
"If Senji-nii brought us here to tell us to train us, it's so we don't lose our sanity, right?" It's amazing how Himari tackles this issue so easily, as if it's not something important or worrisome.
"You're right, Himari. These eyes I have now are called [Duality], we have a cursed blood in our bloodline of the Muramasa Clan. The truth... is that my father told me the history of our Clan as well as these eyes 3 years ago. I will never forget that day, I was petrified by the fear of just looking into his eyes as well as the pressure it released from his body. So I'll fight like that [Blood]."
In an instant I released a strong pressure where they trembled with fear kneeling down.
They brought their hands to their chests, their breaths ragged by the shortness of breath they began to have.
The pressure it releases hide it back.
They began to relax and breathe easy. I saw how his eyes were watery.
"Two years... No, it will be a year. We'll train for a year for you guys to beat this accursed blood."
I released that strong pressure again. I could see his determination to fight and not give up.
They have a chance to beat the [Kagutsuchi Blood].
Something I would have liked to take advantage of when my father had taught me the truth of the Muramasa Clan.
What a fool I was.
From that day on, I continue a long and intense training for them to win over the [Kagutsuchi Blood].
[5 Months Later]
I brought my hands to Himari and Hana's faces and then smashed them the floor of the dojo.
Crack!
A wild sound was heard.
The floor cracked and their heads were buried.
Then grab their legs to send them flying and smash them into the wall of the dojo where they ended up coming out and kissing the ground.
I waited a few seconds. They went back on the attack.
The [Kagutsuchi Blood] fights hand-to-hand, in order for them to win they must have this training regimen.
In these months I broke some of their bones. They obviously cried out in pain and cried, but they still didn't give up and kept moving forward.
I'm seriously amazed at their tenacity to keep going even if their bodies scream to stop, it's very safe for their body to feel hellish pain.
I had a small smile.
His willpower is admirable.
[5 Months Later]
I gave a quick roundhouse kick where I connect on the heads of both of them. But they recovered easily and attacked me by surrounding me.
Himari kicked my liver and Hana threw a punch that was aimed at my jaw.
"Ugh..."
Although I defended myself, Himari and Hana used those punches as a feint. An elbow from Hana landed on my head as my body descended, Himari took the opportunity to use her other leg to launch a kick up and down that hit hard in the center of my spine.
"That hurt..."
I let out a small groan of pain.
Even though I said that, they didn't give me time to rest.
I had to move quickly off the ground.
Crack!
The ground broke and several parts flew out.
They attacked with their knees. It would have been slow and my spine would have broken.
They became strong at this for 10 months.
"They did well... But it's not over yet." I smiled, amused by all of this.
They smiled too...
It seems that they finally awakened the [Kagutsuchi Blood].
Right now I felt the blood in my body pumping at an alarming level as I was also starting to lose consciousness.
The last thing I saw was their wild smiles as well as their black eyes with white pupils...
[Brawl]
Senji, Himari, and Hana went on the attack. Their minds went blank, but their bodies moved unconsciously and they began to fight without being able to control their own bodies, their bloods boiling euphorically from the fight they were having.
Himari and Hana fought as a team while Senji could only defend himself from the attacks coming from their sides.
The sisters' blows go at a speed higher than the human eye can grasp.
They were blurs in sight if anyone wanted to watch the fight of the three of them.
Senji was able to fend off some punches, but some of them still hit his body.
A punch from Hana reached his nose where a line of blood came out passing from his lips and falling to the ground. Another punch from Himari came and he was able to connect in his liver, he withstood all the pain of the blows that he could not defend perfectly.
Senji saw the punches coming and used them to her advantage, deflecting the punches so that they hit themselves.
They were dumbfounded as their gazes turned to the roof of the dojo. Senji moved quickly so as not to give him time to react and protect himself from the knees he landed in their faces.
Now they released blood from their noses.
As their bodies fell, Senji with his hands grabbed their faces tightly to smash them forcefully on the ground where he ended up cracking and staining a little red from the blood coming out of his nose.
Senji, with his body hunched over and his arms facing the ground, waited as if they could get up.
It seemed that his suspicion was correct.
Crack!
He failed to see the kicks of superhuman speed that hit the sides of his head.
He ended up falling to his knees while he was in that situation, he looked over him again.
The kicks from Himari and Hana that hit her head, had also collided with herself where she had heard the bones break.
They had attacked Senji's head twice, the first time hitting Senji's head and the other time they hit themselves where they ended up breaking their foot.
On her knees, she brought her hands to grab Himari and Hana's other legs to pick her up and slam her to the ground a couple of times.
After I do that, I release them.
Now seeing that they would not get up again, he began to retreat from the dojo seeing that he had already won.
[Inside the minds of Himari and Hana]
In Himari's own mind she was fighting with herself, as was the case with Senji.
But this time he had the facility to fight with the [Kagutsuchi Blood].
Himari struck at several vital points of his counterpart, easily defeating her, and then finished her off several times by hitting her face, where wild sounds of bones breaking could be heard.
He raised his right leg as high as he could to descend with force and speed and break his counterpart's entire skull.
"It's my victory..."
Himari said tiredly as she grabbed her left arm that was dislocated from the shoulder.
Now ending the fight and winning it, he brought his hand to his loose shoulder and began to move it where he could hear the bone cracking and put it back in its correct position.
Sigh. "It was a good fight." He bowed, then slowly woke up.
[With Hana]
His situation was not much different from Himari's. But he was strangling his counterpart until he could hear him break his neck.
"Phew... I was finally able to kill you."
I throw the dead body forward and then she falls backwards and looks up.
He closed his eyelids out of exhaustion, but began to wake up as well and see that he was in his room with pains in his body.
He looked at his body to see that some parts were covered in bandages.
She wanted to get out of her bed, but the pain was stronger and she ended up falling back into her bed.
I hear sounds of someone coming into his room, so I look at who it could be.
To his surprise and also anger, it was Senji carrying his sister in bridal style.
"WAIT FOR WHAT THE FUCK YOU'RE WEARING HER IN BRIDAL STYLE!"
He yelled angrily and pointed sharply at Senji.
"... She wanted me to take her like this... I don't see the problem. After all, she asked me to take her to your room."
"AND IT WAS NECESSARY TO LISTEN TO HER TO WEAR HER LIKE THIS!"
A drop had appeared on Senji's forehead, not understanding his cousin Hana's feelings.
While with Himari he saw Hana and she realized he was looking at her, he stuck out his tongue to make fun of her.
"YOUUUU!"
Not caring about the pains in his body, he got up from his bed to attack Himari.
Senji, having better reactions, took two steps back and then watched as Hana fell to the ground.
"..."
"Hahahaha!"
Senji didn't say anything, but Himari began to laugh at the awkwardness of his sister, Hana. Senji began to take Himari down and then went for Hana and carried her in bridal style to her bed, this quickly took away Himari's amused laughter.
Hana was happy for the few seconds she was loaded into bridal style.
Senji returned for Himari and carried her to leave her on Hana's bed.
"For now, get along and don't fight, I have to talk to Nobunaga-sama that you have already awakened."
"Is it necessary for you to go and give that insignificant information to Nobunaga-sama?" Himari asked.
"What concerns me is always being aware of the well-being of my family. I don't care about the rest."
Senji responded by tapping his index finger gently on Himari's forehead.
"You are important to me. Everything that has to do with you is my priority. So I'll go tell Nobunaga-sama and come quickly to take care of them."
"Quick..."
Senji heard Hana's murmur. This brought a small smile to his face.
"I'll come quickly, I promise."
He gently stroked Hana's head. For some strange reason, his body instinctively caressed Himari's head, feeling that a storm was coming from her.
Then he looked at the bright faces of happiness of the two of them smiling.
He began to retreat from Hana's room.
He had to get to Nobunaga's room quickly and return as he had promised the two of them.
After a few minutes he had reached Nobunaga's room.
"So their bloods have already awakened." Nobunaga said.
"Yes, and they also gained control of the [Kagutsuchi Blood]."
"Mm... then their eyes are..." Nobunaga was quickly interrupted by Senji.
"Normal. They can live peacefully without being judged as a monster by society."
"Hmph. I wish the two of them were also in that [Duality] thing you said." Nobunaga sighed at the end.
"I can't confirm it... But maybe, they can get into that state. I would have to see if with training they can go into that mode and control it at will."
Nobunaga put his hand to his mind thoughtfully. "Mm... I said I'm greedy... but this time I may allow you not to obey that order to force your cousins into that state of [Duality]."
"... What's the catch."
Nobunaga smiled at Senji's insightfulness.
"Tell me Senji, you who are in that state of [Duality] must know the benefits right."
Nobunaga hadn't asked, he said an affirmation.
A statement Senji had nodded to.
"The abilities are superhuman... with this state..." Now it was Senji's turn to be interrupted by Nobunaga.
"With that state your premiums are more likely to survive, right?"
"Yes..."
"If your premiums manage that state at will, no one will be able to harm them... As long as they're not attacked by surprise, right?"
Senji nodded, she was right about that surprise attack. Since his father and uncle were never in that state of [Duality] when the sudden battle of Oda Nobuhide vs Saito Dosan occurred.
If they were in that state, they would have survived.
"It's your decision, Senji. Train them to control [Duality] at will or leave them to their fate."
Senji was now at a crossroads.
Even if he was in the [Duality] state, he couldn't always be sure that he could take care of them and protect them from any danger to Himari and Hana.
It was his decision of what to do with them. Although she can't deny that deep down Nobunaga wanted him to train her to control the [Duality] at will.
What decision will you make now...
"I'd have to talk to Himari and Hana first..."
"Okay, you can retreat."
Senji bowed and then left Nobunaga's room and returned to his cousins.
As he walked, guilt gnawed at his head.
Now it was up to him whether to force them or not
"What a dirty play that was." Senji thought remorsefully.
[Hana's Room]
Hana and Himari watched as Senji had returned with his head down.
"Something happened, Senji-nii." Hana asked worriedly.
Senji was silent for a few seconds and then spoke. This had worried Himari and Hana a lot.
"I have an important issue to discuss." He sat down in Seiza to face them.
"What important matter would it be?" It was Himari's turn to ask.
"..." Senji looked at the ground. "I would like to know the truth of what you think of the state I am in."
Himari raised an eyebrow. "The truth... It's scary, I don't feel like I'm talking to a human..."
"It's more like a monster." Complete Hana at the end.
They looked sideways without looking into Senji's eyes.
"... I feel the same way." Senji replied.
The truth is, he didn't feel human... That was pointed out to him too much by the people he interacted with since he was in the [Duality] state. Even the children he rarely saw from afar, he pointed at in horror as if he were seeing a monster.
And it was because of that issue that he didn't want Himari and Hana to be in the [Duality] state, that's why he had trained them to win the fight with the [Kagutsuchi Blood].
"I'll ask you this. Do you now want to train to have that will to control [Duality]?"
"You mean we can control [Duality] and then we would still be considered 'normal' by the people who point to you as a monster?" Himari asked.
"Yes."
I was hoping this would work, if you can control the [Duality] at will you can return to your normal eyes and you will still look like humans, not like in your case which is signaled by your black eyes of white pupils.
"That's fine with me! I'm not going to abandon Senji-nii!"
Hana spoke with great enthusiasm that lifted Senji's spirits a bit.
"It looks like we've already chosen." Himari replied with a faint smile.
"Really?"
They nodded, and then stood in seiza and bowed to the ground.
"We will follow you to the end."
"We will never abandon you!"
Himari and Hana's words touched Senji's heart.
"Haha." He let out a soft laugh. "I'm really happy with his words."
Now it was Senji's turn who, closing his eyes, smiled with a bright face of happiness that made Himari and Hana blush slightly.
"Hahaha." Senji calmed down and then looked at them tenderly. "I'll go to the kitchen, bring them something to eat. Then we will talk about the subject of [Duality]."
"Y-Yes..."
Senji looked on, confused by Himari and Hana's stutters.
For now, I'll let that subject go and move forward to bring her cousins something to eat.
[1 Year Later]
"Of the people who survived and now work as slaves, there are a total of 47 individuals, of which 27 are women and 20 are men. However, they cover a wide range of ages: from the youngest, just 13 years old, to the oldest, ranging from 32 to 35 years old."
"Hmph... Okay, I'll start by creating my own personal army, after all, in the future I'll be fighting for the position of Oda Clan Leader. One step at a time until you get that position. I'll give you the mission to train them."
"Got it." Senji replied cordially to Nobunaga.
It had been 2 years since I arrived and worked for Oda Nobunaga.
His age was already 12 years old and his only job for now is to train his Master's vassals.
He didn't care too much about doing that job, he was happy for the good life Nobunaga was giving to his cousins and himself.
So it will remain under his rule. But there's one thing he hasn't done since he arrived.
"Nobunaga-sama... I don't want to sound bold, but you can build a blacksmith workshop to follow my clan's craft."
He bowed.
"Oh!" Nobunaga slammed his fist with his palm. "I forgot about that, I'll have your precious workshop built for you and your cousins right now! Then I'll call you to supervise how you want to build your workshop!" Nobunaga spoke animatedly.
"Thank you, Nobunaga-sama."
"You can retire, there are no important matters to talk about."
"Got it."
Senji once returning to his room began to change his clothes revealing his back and torso with scars, in his training for Himari and Hana to control the [Duality] he received those scars from parts of them. But I couldn't be sad about that, it was more; he was happy that they had managed to control the [Duality] at will, those scars were nothing to him.
After changing, he began to walk through the halls of the Castle. He had to take the remaining slaves to become warriors and Nobunaga's personal army.
"Ugh... Let's start with another training."
Senji smiled.