The street layout of Oukon was confusing, to say the least. Even when Tenjo managed to find her way up to the second level of the city via a massive stone stairway, the streets split randomly in every direction as though they had been an after thought only added as a way to connect all the buildings that had already been built.

  As she tried to find her way around, her mind started to wander back to the three fights she had had two days ago, her first experience with real combat. All three of her opponents had to have been not much farther along the martial path than her, as they only used one technique apiece.

  When just a student of the blade, still physically training to try and finish creating one’s aura, only a single technique could be learned. A technique was a spiritual manifestation of a normal move, beaten into the soul through practicing it over and over again.

  Her own school’s technique, the Silver Crescent Moon, was a result of training a drawing cut with a slightly curved blade, and a focus on speed. Therefore, it had become a strike that essentially doubled the speed of a slightly curved blade, only when used in a draw cut.

  Typically, every school would have a signature technique, that it would teach to any student who studied under them. The downward cut of the boy who was her first duel was the basic technique of the Heavenly Blade school, likely trained by practicing downwards strikes again and again.

  He had used it to get enough power to smash directly through her block, but because of the increased length, his follow up after the technique ended was too shallow by comparison.

  While basic techniques were common knowledge, what truly mattered were the techniques that no mere student could learn. After an aura was completely created, it could only be tempered further through life and death encounters, against an opponent with an aura of similar power.

  In that process, techniques could be born out of moves used repeatedly in those battles, beaten into the soul itself by the reliance on them in those times of crisis. The secrets to a school’s advanced techniques were almost impossible to learn through trial and error, as one would have to rely on nothing but hunches time and time again with their life on the line, making it more rewarding to simply develop their own techniques and hope that they can reach the same level.

  Unlike the previous stage, masters could continue to learn techniques even after they had fully tempered their aura, meaning that as long as they continued to fight, they could continue to gain more options.

  Her musing was interrupted when an aura condensed in the teahouse next to her, a wave of anger erupting, followed by the sound of shattering wood. The aura of hatred and violence was aimed at her directly, flowing directly from the young woman who stepped out into the street in front of her, holding a naked blade.

  Her bright red eyes burned with rage as she pointed her blade towards Tenjo. That same rage was palpable in her voice when she spoke.

  “I’ve been waiting for you,” She said. “My name is Kyu-Son. Remember it as the name of the one who killed you.”

  Tenjo had already started to fall back into the stance for the Silver Crescent Moon, but then stopped. If her opponent already knew who she was, in that case using a technique with a predictable trajectory was a mistake.

  It also required her to only use a single hand, which left her open to counters if her enemy was ready to capitalize on that. The red-haired girl’s sword was a two-handed blade, but unlike her own it swelled outwards towards the tip.

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  When against a heavier weapon, trying to fight with only one hand on her sword wouldn’t give her nearly enough leverage to stop the more powerful attacks. Instead, she drew normally and took a defensive stance, blade held directly out in front of her to prevent any advance, point aimed up at her opponent’s throat.

  The instant she fell into her stance, her attacker leapt at her. The larger blade swung around that side, smashing her own weapon out of the way with raw force before swinging back around its wielders head and coming back down from the same side again.

  Tenjo braced her sword against it this time, but as the crashing blow came down a jolt of pain shot through her injured wrist, and the attack slipped free to continue around in another circular movement instead of being caught in place.

  If she tried to move in, she would have to face Kyu-Son’s momentum fueled next strike head on, but if she stood her ground and tried to counter there was no guarantee that her wrist wouldn’t give out again at the moment of impact.

  Her train of thought had taken too long, and the next blow had already started, this time from directly overhead. Sparks flew as she blocked it, the force making her hands sting and her injury send another spike of sharp pain up her arm.

  This time, Tenjo copied the move from her previous rapier wielding opponent, letting the blow slide down to the guard of her sword and taking it where there would be the least movement.

  For the slightest moment, both weapons were stopped still. At that point in time, she dashed forwards and opened her own assault at a closer range. Now her katana had the advantage, being able to accelerate far faster without the added weight at the tip.

  As she showed blows it was all the red-eyed girl could do to defend against them, forced to keep her sword as close to her body as possible to prevent any blows from slipping by as they came with increasing speed.

  Every time one was blocked, another came almost instantly, aimed at the area that she had just moved her guard away from. Even backing away did nothing, Tenjo following after her and keeping in striking range the entire time while steadily widening the gaps in her defense.

  She had been pushed back so far that she had gone back into the teahouse she came out of, patrons scattering out of the way as the duel intruded into their space. Her back hit a table and her feet stopped, then the assault ramped up in intensity again as they both ceased moving.

  Tenjo cut down, aiming to split her opponent’s head, and then up for the right forearm that had been exposed when her sword rose to stop it, and then again at the opposite shoulder in a horizontal slash, taking a step to the left as she did so.

  Her foot came down on one of the legs from the chair the other woman had broken before the fight started, and then her leg flew forward as it rolled out from under her.

  Kyu-Son didn’t waste the opportunity, locking the blades and shoving against her unbalanced opponent. Without a solid stance, she had no chance of resisting and toppled over. By the time Tenjo hit the ground, her opponent already had a blow swinging down that she was barely able to dodge.

  She threw herself to the side, only to land against a table that prevented her from following through with the motion. Then the heavier sword swung back again, and she was forced to block directly.

  The impact was strong enough that it twisted her hands around, and her weakened left let the hilt slip free from it, opening slightly as pain shot up it again. When the next blow struck at the same angle, it knocked the katana free from her hand and into the floor, the residual aura coating it enough to let the tip sink more than a foot into the stones.

  Tenjo reached down for the knife at her belt, but before she could touch it there came a cold feeling of steel at her neck that made her freeze, the slightest movement being enough to let her flesh slice open and make her blood spill out into the street.

  A thousand options raced through her mind, and each one ended with her death when she envisioned it. As she looked up and met her opponents gaze, a single conclusion came to her mind, unable to be avoided no matter how hard she tried.

  It was over. She had lost.

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                          Chapter end

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