Somewhere in the annals of the past…
A young girl knelt before a bed of black and white lilies, giggling and smiling at them.
Little Girl: Hehe, they're so prettyyyy!
However, the young girl noticed one white lily had stood on its own outside of the flower bed. This piqued the girl's curiosity and caused her to walk over and squat down in front of the lone lily.
Yuri: Hm? What're you doing here all alone???
"Oi! Yuri!"
The little blonde quickly tore her gaze from the flower, landing her sight on her grandmother Kuyagu.
Kuyagu: C'mon! It's trainin' time!
Yuri blinked for a moment before smiling at her grandmother.
Yuri: Oh? Okayyy~!
As the little blonde girl stood up and dashed toward her grandmother, Kuyagu ate cooked beef off of a skewer. The moment Yuri caught up with Kuyagu at the base of a long staircase, they began to ascend.
Yuri: After we're done, can I go see the flowers again Grandma???
Kuyagu: Yeah, sure. I don't mind.
After looking back toward the lone flower, Yuri's eyes began to sparkle as her mouth opened in glee. The little flower lover began to giggle and hum as she and her grandma made their way up the stairs.
Yuri: What're we training for today grandma????
Kuyagu fell silent and stopped the moment she reached the top of the stairs leading to the training site. Yuri, surprised by her grandmother's silence, stopped at about two stairs below Kuyagu.
Yuri: Uh…. Grandma?
Kuyagu:..... To protect.
Yuri: Huh???
Kuyagu: I'm going to teach you something that will let you protect anything you deem precious. Even those little flowers down there.
Yuri felt her gaze widen, as she climbed up to the last stair to stand right next to the woman. Looking up at her, Yuri held her hands to her chin in excitement.
Yuri: Wait! Really??? Even the flowers???!
Kuyagu: Hell yeah…
The woman's eyes gazed down upon her granddaughter, focused and serious.
Kuyagu: So are ya ready???
Yuri paused for a second before nodding her head, smiling as she usually does.
Yuri: Mhm! Mhm!
___________________________
As the mist of the past faded away, the present reemerged. Yuri stood in front of Jin with her hands ready.
Yuri: It's my turn to protect you!
The large, muscular man-eater emerged from the treeline, growling as his eye laid upon the girl.
Giant Man: Hhrrrrgggh…..!
Yuri: Heh w-w-woah..!
The young girl's voice began to quiver upon seeing the man's size up close.
Yuri: H-Hehe, this guy is way bigger than I expected!
Jin: You can fall back if you want. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone if you're scared.
Yuri comically yelled back at Jin with her eyes reduced to chibi dots.
Yuri: Heyyy! Stop teaaaasssiiing!!
"GRRRAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
Yuri: Ngh!
Upon hearing the giant man's voice, Yuri immediately whips her head around to see him lunging after her. Upon seeing this himself, Jin tightened the grip on his sword, ready to move once more to defend the blonde.
Jin: Gh! Shit! Yuri look ou-
Yuri: Hhhhyyaaaaah!!!!
POW!!!!!!
Jin: Wh-Wha?!
In the instant the hulking man reached her range, Yuri had lifted her leg for a rising high kick, landing a blow to the giant's chin. This stunned the man, causing him to freeze from the stun.
Yuri: And now… TWO!
WHAM!!!
Yuri jumped off of her planted foot and pivoted her hips. In a sweeping motion, the young woman kicked the giant man in the face with a roundhouse, causing him to slide backwards from the force of the blow.
Giant Man: Gggrrrrhhh!!!
Enryu: Holy shit she's strong!
Jin: (It's subtle, but I think I can see what she's doing…)
After landing on the ground, Yuri furrowed her thick eyebrows, standing in a ready stance. As the young woman stared down her opponent, awaiting his next move, the colossal man-eater turned his head to face her. This time, his bloodlust was tangible.
Giant Man: Ggggghhh.. rrrrrrrgghh!!!
Jin: Tch!
Yuri: (SCARY 😖!)
Giant Man: HRRRRRAAAAAAAGHHH!!!!!!
In a rage filled manner, the basket wearing a man-eater shoved his fingertips into the earth in front of him. Then, with all of his might, the muscular fellow lifts upwards-
KRRRSSHHK!!!
-ripping up the earth in front of him and launching a massive chunk of it right at Jin and Yuri.
Jin: (He threw the ground at us?!)
Yuri:!!!
Caught by surprise at first, Yuri had to quickly compose herself. With a slight motion that cocked her right arm back, tucked in like a martial artist, Yuri waited for the right moment. And then-
Yuri: HYAAAAAAH!!!
SHHH BOOOOOM!!!!!
Jin:!!
Enryu:!!
Yuri thrusted her first forward into a powerful straight, obliterating the boulder like it was ice or glass. As the dust from the debris began to clear, Jin noticed something in particular by looking at her hand.
Jin: (Such unusual strength for her size and body type… and the power she's generating doesn't even slow her down….)
Jin then called out to her.
Jin: Yuri!
Yuri: H-Huh???
Jin: You're using Tao right? To do all of this stuff. To hit harder and all of that.
Yuri looked confused, tilting her head slightly.
Yuri: Using Tao to hit harder??? You can do that????
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Jin and Enryu proceed to look at the girl in shock, confused by her method of doing things.
Enryu: Wait, so she's NOT enhancing her strength?!
Jin: Which means… you're doing this by your own strength?!
Yuri blinked at them before giggling and rubbing the back of her head with embarrassment.
Yuri: Hehe, yeeeeeahhh. See, my body is just structured differently. My muscles are denser and it doesn't affect my body type. At least that's what grandma said~!
Jin seemed taken aback by hearing this.
Jin: (That's friggin crazy!!! So her body is just different?!!!!!)
This caused Jin to think even more.
Jin: (If that's the case, that explains why I couldn't sense any excessive use of Tao coming from her… but I know there was some being used… Hm?)
Jin noticed something about Yuri's hand. It was completely unscathed despite the fact she just punched a boulder two times bigger than her.
Jin: (That's it… she must be using her Tao defensively to protect her fist… the amount of control it takes to enhance someone's physical abilities takes decades to master like that, but she's my age and is able to control her Tao perfectly… without using an affinity of course..)
The basket wearer stood up from his strainful attack, glaring at Yuri with a growl in its throat. This caused Yuri to face the beast of a man once again, not giving an inch in retreat.
Yuri: This guy's strong… I'm knocking him around, but it doesn't seem like I'm actually hurting him… isn't there something we can do???
Jin: We have to hit him with Tao based techniques.
Yuri: Hm???
Enryu: Yeah…
The redhead began circling the beastly man slowly to come around to stand by their side. The basket giant watched the one eyed man carefully, seething as Enryu took every step.
Enryu: The sunnova bitch is using Tao to subconsciously protect himself. The only way to get past that, is to use Tao based or Tao enhanced attacks to break through his guard.
Yuri: Tao enhanced… Tao based attacks???
Jin: Yeah. Like the wooden hands you can create.
Yuri: Ohhhh… I see now.
Jin stood beside Yuri, holding his sword in his right hand tightly.
Jin: I need you two to slow him down or restrain him.
Yuri: Huh?
Enryu simply listened.
Jin: If you two can get him to his knees or even to sit still, I can use an attack to end him quickly.
The dual haired man narrowed his eyes.
Jin: If we let this fight drag on in any way, we run the risk of getting injured ourselves…
Yuri blinked for a second before nodding.
Yuri: Right!
Enryu on the other hand chuckled to himself.
Enryu: Heheh…
Jin: Hm?
Enryu: Of course you wanna deliver the final blow… you've always been like that heh.
Jin smiled slightly, facing the giant man, ready to fight.
Jin: Shut up Enryu… let's get this over with… Heh.
Enryu smirks, readying his enormous sword.
Enryu: Aye aye captain.
In the span of a breath, Enryu exhaled an ember from his lips, causing his sword to catch fire at the same time. The moment it did, the flame haired boy rushed toward the irritated giant. Yuri immediately followed suit, having her hands out and ready for a fight.
As the duo rushed the giant, Jin sheathed his blade, entering an Iaijutsu stance, focusing his Tao into his sheathed katana.
Jin: (I've gotta land a critical blow… if I can't, this'll end up going on for far too long….
The black and bluish energy began to spill from his weapon.
Jin: (I can't afford for any mistakes to be made…)
As Jin focused his Tao, Enryu and Yuri attacked the giant man, double teaming him, jumping him with a consecutive barrage. Enryu swept in with a horizontal slash at the man's belly, followed up with a spinning back kick to the chest by Yuri. As the two worked together, the giant individual grew hesitant on who to attack. Swiping with a sweeping backhand attack, the giant misses the two fighters, who use their superior agility to dodge his strike. Then, after the man's follow through resulted in a window of opportunity, Yuri dashed forward from her weave, attacking the man's open chest.
Yuri: HYAAAAAAH! CHAAA!
With a powerful blow, Yuri punched the large man right in the chest, creating a shockwave to shoot out from his back. As the giant's chest caved in from the blow, Enryu followed up with an attack from behind. One that the man could sense, but could only raise an arm up in defense. Enryu, with his blade coated in fire, swings a diagonal slash right at the beast of a man.
Enryu: TAKE THIS!!!
SHH BOOM!!!
The attack made contact with the giant man's wrist, creating a fiery explosion that dropped the giant to his knees.
Giant Man: Ggghhhhrrr! Rrroooghhhh…
As the smoldering blaze began to disappear, the man's basket looked to be very brittle from the heat. However, he wasn't prepared for the next thing that was going to happen.
FWSH!
Giant Man:!
Yuri appeared from within the smoke and had her fist cocked back, ready to attack him. As the basket wearing man's eyes widened in fear, Yuri let out a battle cry as she swung her fist straight at his face.
Yuri: HRAAAH!
WHAM!!!
The blow crashed through the man's basket and into his flesh, causing his head to be thrown back due to the force of her blow. Upon landing the attack, the young girl got out of her stance and stood up straight, looking at the man firmly, catching the other two men by surprise.
Jin: Huh???
Enryu: Wha-??? What're you doing???!
Yuri:..... That's enough…
Jin: Nngh???
Enryu: Huh??
Yuri smiled softly at the giant man. Her eyes gazed gently at him.
Yuri: Looks like you're not a monster under that basket.
Her words were kind, and hearing those words, the giant man slowly moved his head to where he could look at the girl the words came from. He was bald, and had a rather deformed face. One deformed by burns and scars.
Yuri however, giggles upon seeing the man's face.
Yuri: Ahhh, there's that face! You're very handsome mister! What's your name???
The man seemed confused, as if he didn't understand what she was asking. However, Yuri took initiative and pointed to herself.
Yuri: My name's Yuri. I'm a friend.
Giant Man: A…. Friend???
Enryu looked incredibly shocked.
Enryu: Wait! Is she actually talking to it?!
Jin:... (Yuri…)
Yuri began to walk closer to him. Even though he was kneeling, the giant man was still larger than her. Yuri stopped about a foot away from him.
Yuri: It must be scary out here, all of these people walking into the woods like this. I guess it might feel like they were walking into your house.
Giant Man: Ggghh….
Yuri then gave a solemn look, still smiling as she did.
Yuri: It must be so lonely, being out here by yourself…
Memories of a young Yuri standing on the outside border of her old village flooded her mind. The little girl was crying out as if someone or something was missing.
Yuri: But you've hurt people out of your loneliness and that's not okay… you have to stop this while you can, it's the only way to set things right….
The man gazes at Yuri for a few moments, before remembering a few things of his own.
Narrator: " From the age of a small child, the boy the man once was was bigger than the average kid. He ate everything, and drank everything. However, nothing filled that bottomless pit in his stomach.
The boy began to feed on live animals from the age of seven. He'd catch cats, small dogs, hares, even birds. While tasting the fresh blood from those creatures, it gave the young boy an idea…
On one fateful night, everything changed…."
___________
Within a quiet rice patty village, a middle aged man walked through an old village home. This man felt an off energy in the air, a sickly feeling that was coming from down the hall.
Village Man: Yuka?? What's going on in there???
Calling out to the closed door before him, the villager got no response. As if that were enough, the man quickly walked forward before sliding the door to the side, revealing a gruesome scene.
Village Man: Yu- NGH!!!!
Before his very eyes in that dark room, the villager noticed a woman's body that lay sprawled out on the floor. Blood covered her neck and extended arm, while her torso was being nudged and budged by something. It was eating her, feasting upon her gut as her eyes were rolled back, lifeless. The villager was horrified, stepping back his eyes widened.
Village Man: YUKA!!! OH GODS!!!
However, that scream resulted in the animal freezing. Noticing that its attention was caught, the villager froze as well. However, it wasn't a bear or a tiger or lion that feasted upon his wife. No, the monster that chewed up on his beloved's flesh was far more horrifying…..
Village Man: No…. It can't be..!
Turning his head, the young man, the same boy that became the man in the present, stared blankly at the villager.
Village Man: B… Bujambo..! Why are you… you're…
Bujambo:.... Fa….ther…
The man held the sides of his head. His breathing began to ramp up, all until he let out a blood curdling scream.
Village Man: AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! HOW COULD YOU??!!!! YOU'RE FEASTING UPON HER! YOUR OWN MOTHER! YOUR MOTHER YOU ANIMAL!!!
Bujambo didn't respond, instead, he simply stood. The boy stood at about six feet, and his eyes gazed deathly into his father's.
Bujambo:... Still.. empty…
Village Man: H-Huh??...
Bujambo: Father… I'm still.. so… hungry….
The man began to take steps back, while Bujambo kept up with his large, sweeping steps. The villager began to sweat, his eyes were wide with fear. Bujambo however was filled with hunger. Blood and saliva dropped from his chin while his mouth remained hung open, with gore and bone still stuck in his teeth.
Villager: Bujambo… Bujambo stay back!
Bujambo groaned as his father felt his back hit the wall, shocked and realizing that he was trapped, the villager couldn't stop his son from placing his hands on his shoulders. Gazing up at true unadulterated horror, Bujambo's father was too afraid to scream out, but his mouth opened wide in horror as Bujambo's mouth drew closer and closer to his shoulder… and then-
GHSHHH..!!
_________
Bujambo had but down on Yuri's shoulder, causing the gushing sound of flesh to hit the ears of Jin and Enryu, causing Yuri to wince in pain.
!
!!
!!!
Yuri: Ngh!!!
Enryu: YOU FOOL!!!
Jin: YUURIII!!!!!
Yuri: NOW JIN!
Jin: Ngh?!
Yuri wrapped her arms around the cannibal's head, holding the man in place so he couldn't escape her grasp. Bujambo began to struggle, trying to jerk his head from the blonde girl's grasp to rip a chunk of flesh from her but to no avail. Yuri held on tightly, not allowing the man to get away from Jin's oncoming attack.
Yuri: DO IT! DO IT JIN!
Jin: Nnh… got it…
FWSH!!!!
An influx of Tao rushed off of Jin before consolidating and condensing it into his sword. From there, Jin spoke in a low, deep, and sinister tone.
Jin: Mugen Kage:.... Zero Slash…
FM! SHHMM!!
The young man appeared from above the giant man and Yuri, looking at the nape of the man's neck to aim and slash.
In those small seconds, the giant man's eyes saw everything flash before him. The beauty of nature, the uncertainty of the future… and the blood and destruction of his past. Fear delved into his heart the moment he caught a glimpse of the shadow swordsman that was prepared to behead him, however, he froze with fear, just as his father did oh so long ago. A tear began to form in his eye, one lone tear that resumed the little boy within and the humanity back into the man he was.
However…
Yuri: Don't cry..
Bujambo:!!!
Feeling a sudden warmth, Bujambo was now being held with care by the young woman. As if she were hugging a child, Yuri held the man, comforting him. Her voice was soft despite the pain she was in, and her touch was like a warm blanket that calmed his mind. Turning his gaze to look at the other side of him, Bujambo couldn't see it all the way, but he could see a glimpse of something. Something that stopped the fighting, something that stopped his hunger.
Yuri's warm smile…
Yuri: It'll be…. alright~.
Bujambo stopped struggling, closing his eyes in response to her words. Such a sweet language, such a bright and warm voice wouldn't lie to him. If going to the other side stopped this pain within him, then so be it.
Bujambo:....(I'm…… full…)
"HEAVEN'S VOID BLADE!"
SHHHKK!!!!!!
In an instant, Jin had come down upon Bujambo's neck with his blade. The slash beheaded the giant man, cleanly decapitating him without any resistance. Jin simply knelt with his sword in hand, while Enryu looked in awe as Bujambo's body fell to the ground. Yuri however, felt the clench in her shoulder loosen, as she held onto Bujambo's head gently, cradling it in place.
As Jin stood up, he looked towards Yuri, walking towards her in concern.
Jin: Yuri!
Yuri: I'm fine.
Jin: Nh??
Yuri smiled at the swordsman, holding that same solemn smile she did with Bujambo. Only, this time, it wasn't to comfort anyone… it was to hide the hurt emotion within.
Yuri: This wound is nothing… promise…
Jin: I see… but still… we should see a doctor, to make sure it's -
Yuri: Not yet Jin…
Jin felt his gaze soften as her voice did. While his eyes looked upon her with worry, Yuri tucked her head, placing her forehead atop the disembodied head of the lonely giant they had just defeated.
Yuri: Just…. Give me a bit…. Okay????
Jin soon relaxed his expressions, sheathing his sword before responding calmly.
Jin:.... Okay…
Yuri:... Thank you.
There, Yuri met someone she could understand. And even though their meeting had to end due to the man-eater's sins, this moment would stick with Yuri…
The moment the lily confronted her own past…
To be continued in chapter 6…