Chapter 34 – Emptiness

Sun-young had barely been able to react in time. If she hadn’t raised her sword, that attack would have sliced her left arm off clean.

Blood dripped from her shoulder. She ached to touch it—to keep the blood in. She couldn’t. From her eyes to her ears, her existence was focused on the empty slash that traversed the world and struck her. On the man that managed to injure her with powers that defied understanding.

Ronin raised his blade high in the air and—

‘Move!’

Run and roll. That was her only option.

A near invisible slash of energy crashed at the spot she previously stood at. A knee supporting her, Sun-young stabbed her sword into the ground and threw her head up. Her eyes widened.

‘In quick succession?’

Already, Ronin’s arms were raised and ready for another slash. The katana came down and—

Slash!

The sound as well as the destruction returned. It was a small, concentrated attack and Sun-young barely managed to avoid it.

An opportunity arose from the focus on Sun-young. Spearheading an attack towards his exposed upper side, the axeman fully took advantage of a running start for a swing that would cleave down an oak tree.

“Ember St—”

William was blasted away with a casual upwards strike, his feet leaving the air and a bloody trail rolling across the ground. John had been one step behind, avoiding the toppling of his comrade and consequently meeting Ronin’s deadly katana head-on. Immediately, he was on the back foot. His own blade nearly reached his cheek.

“Fire Dart!”

John was kicked away and Ronin swiftly swiped away the Fire Dart. He went into the same arms-raised position and sent the invisible slash at Noor, who had been positioning herself at the school’s perimeter. She must have been twenty metres away. There was a shriek and the desolation of wooden walls.

At the moment he poised for another one of his long-ranged attacks, this time on John and William, Sun-young intersected. Her sword was set ablaze and caused Ronin’s slash to implode on itself. Smoke erupted and she could feel the weight of the katana leave her.

She didn’t dare charge into the smoke. She sensed nothing. No anger, no joy, a strange nothingness that made her hold her breath without knowing. The wisps of smoke gave way to Ronin’s form.

His health bar was in the red. Good. That was good. That meant they were close to winning.

His eyes suddenly regained their colour. Ronin drew in deep, ragged breaths. Pained yet refusing to back down. Ronin cursed under his breath, something about a magic sword.

“How much mana do you have left?” John asked, appearing by her side.

The question willed the blue magic bar into the corner of her vision. Shit. She was almost out. ‘I can only afford to do an Inferno Thrust or…a Flame Dance and a Fiery Flourish.’ The latter would totally drain her remaining reserves.

Her shoulder suddenly ached. In the heat of battle, she forgot about it.

Two options. One would still leave with her a few mana points, and the other would send her rock-bottom. Her lungs needily grasped for air.

“Not enough,” Sun-young conceded.

John grimaced. “Mr. William is out of commission. We will have to settle this ourselves. On my signal, close your eyes and attack.”

“Understood.”

“Phoo…” Ronin closed his eyes and visibly relaxed. The belief that they could have taken advantage of the moment was but a fleeting thought. When Ronin’s eyes opened, nothingness had returned.

Nobody could understand the phenomenon. How could a human go from agony and pain to a state of pure tranquillity in the blink of an eye?

His arms went high into the air. Behind her, John reacted.

“Illumination!”

Sun-young refused to look back, instinctively feeling the brilliant glow of light. Previously, John had summoned the burst of light in order to save William and now he used it to stun their enemy. Luminosity scoured the area, emitted by the beam of light in John’s black sword. Ronin’s empty eyes disappeared, blinded by the great light, and she was bestowed with an opportunity.

Her shoulder stung and she switched to her right hand. There was only one option here. Her arm pulled the Drop of Volcano back, winding up for a mighty Inferno Thrust, and propelled the heated sword to his chest.

Clang! Ronin’s katana seemed to have a mind of its own and gravitated to her driving blade in time to block it. The sheer absurdity of his speed and precision shocked her. A katana was thin, light, and curved yet Ronin managed to catch her longsword with its single-edge.

“Look at me. I said…” Sun-young refused to look up and she could sense his rising irritation. “Look! At! Me!”

A powerful kick to the stomach and her world went black. The next thing she saw was a katana raining down at her. Her arms reacted on instinct and she buckled down to her knees.

“Your singular! Glaring! Weakness!” His katana slammed down at her. Clang! Clang! Clang! “Your refusal to make eye contact! It will be your downfall. You cannot go your whole life without looking at people. Not that you have much of a life to live after this—”

His last strike dug halfway into her sword. One more and he would snap her weapon in half.

Ronin’s expression cleared and he turned to receive John’s black sword. The older man went hard. He hammered Ronin with a series of lunges. Always poking, always teasing, but never getting close.

John forcibly created distance, which Sun-young was immensely appreciative of. She needed to catch her breath. She needed to soothe the pain in her ribs. She needed to wipe the blood dripping from her mouth.

Looking up, she noticed a halo on John’s head. It must have increased his strength because he was actually pushing Ronin back. While there was the factor of his unorthodox sword style (in Ronin’s eyes), John wouldn’t have been capable of pushing Ronin this far back unless his power was truly great.

His black sword turned whitish-yellow at critical moments. Ronin’s katana wiped the light away at every clash, however. Almost as though…

‘His katana…negates magic? Is that how he sliced through Noor’s Fire Ball?’ Like goosebumps that wouldn’t go away, she had figured there was something wrong with the katana’s glow. Something unnatural. But why did it only activate at certain intervals? ‘Maybe…he has to release himself of all emotions in order to increase the anti-magic property.’

Which explained how he didn’t just break her sword when he was wailing on her. Emotions clouded his katana’s strength.

The dances of metal continued. John and Ronin came closer and closer to the forest. A minute had passed and she regained 18 MP. On the way side was an unconscious William. Sun-young summoned the last of her strength and gripped her sword.

‘This is it. One last counter.’

John nicked Ronin a couple times, whittling his health to less than a tenth of its full length. At the same time, Ronin delved deeper into his state of emptiness. His katana was like snow, moving and traversing the air with no sound. John started to fall back, focusing on parries and blocks.

The fencer was fully on the defensive, till he heard Sun-young’s footsteps. He pointed his blade at Ronin and exclaimed, “Illumination!”

Sun-young shut her eyes. The light still managed to somewhat penetrate her shut eyelids and she slowed down her run. Her injured arm pointing forward for direction, her sword drew back and drove in.

This time, without the aid of magic, the blade struck. She felt the heavy weight of metal, of his armour, came in the way but the blow struck.

“Rrnh!” A grunt from Ronin, temporarily snapping him from his trance, and his sword attempted to slice her waist. John’s sword parried the attack.

Sun-young kept the grip on her sword tight.

‘Inferno Thrust!’

This close, he couldn’t react. The attack was like a hydraulic press to the chest and threw Ronin into a tree. His legs nearly gave out and his katana escaped his hand but he kept himself upright. A hole circled by redness was plunged into his chest, the final result of her Inferno Thrust.

Ronin’s furious gaze settled on Sun-young. His legs shook but they could not move. Sun-young instinctively looked away.

“Fighting while still remaining true to yourself. Ha.” The tiniest of smiles wound up on his face. “That is something I was unable to do in my life. Congratulations on your victory, foreign warriors. Come, finish me off.”

Finish off? Somehow, in spite of the hole in his chest, his health bar still had left a tiny sliver. Perhaps it was due to his armour, or perhaps it was a show of will. It didn’t matter. Sun-young approached him with the intent to finish him off.

“You have the look of a killer,” Ronin commented weakly.

“I don’t have a choice. Either you kill me and the students of Muramasa, or I kill you.”

Was it supposed to be this simple? She didn’t know. She wasn’t sure if she cared either. Her world seemed dark and easy, as if the answers were up to the sword in her hand and nothing more.

“A simple woman. I like that.”

Another smile. All of a sudden, she saw life and meaning in her enemy. Eyes that showed they had experienced the sorrows and joy of life. Eyes that showed regret. Eyes that could not be empty. Her hands shook slightly. In spite of their furious battle and his harrowing sins, she was having second thoughts.

Shunk! Her sword struck his heart and ended his life.

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