“And that’s how I ended up here…” Lawkey said as he scratched the back of his head.
He sat cross-legged on the ground facing Munisai, who patiently listened to his story in silence.
He might have left some things out, especially keeping the part about the tri-colored butterfly a bit vague, but he was truthful for the most part. He felt he owed the old man in front of him an explanation, seeing as he took him in and treated his wounds, despite the villagers protesting against it.
That’s where he found himself at the moment, in Munisai’s estates, in a room that was unusually well lit from the outside. He learned that the glowing luminescent cliff sides of the ravine were more bright during the day, and the Kage clan even harvested them to create little rock lamps and light sources for indoors.
He was seeing one of them in the room already, a spherical shaped rock with glowing patterns all around it, lighting up the corner of the room even more.
Lawkey and Munisai sat opposite to each other, both wearing blue-ish Yukatas above their bandages. The table between them was low enough for them to eat on, despite sitting on the ground.
The tray sitting in front of Lawkey had a bowl of black rice and a plate of some meat he had never seen before, along with something green he was not too keen on trying out. Beside them were a pair of chopsticks and a cup of what seemed like tea.
Munisai took a deep breath and thought about what he could say to Lawkey after hearing everything that had happened to him.
“I see… you’ve been through a lot. To think that hotheaded Sasaki would become such a caring woman… I would’ve liked to see it…” He said with narrow melancholic eyes, recalling his youth, and all the colleagues he had back then.
Most of them were dead now. Lawkey had unintentionally delivered some bad news.
“Go ahead and eat for now, kid.” As curious as he was about everything he just heard, Munisai settled for not poking at the wounds, or trying to emphasize or pity him.
Those things would not help, nor were they the reasons the boy had shared his story with him.
image [https://i.imgur.com/AmvcB6E.jpeg]
Lawkey, hearing he could finally dig into the food in front of him, brightened up and picked up his chopsticks. He gave the chest box with his name on it and his sword one last look before moving on to the bowl of black rice.
image [https://i.imgur.com/H2Fo7EI.jpeg]
“...”
Munisai watched him happily eating as he pondered everything he heard.
A kid his age had to suffer that much…
He picked up his crutch and started to get up.
This ruthless continent… Tartarus! Will your chaos ever come to an end?
He continued to think as he walked to the window and looked outside with furrowed brows.
I’m sorry kid… Back then, if I had been stronger as an adventurer, perhaps I could’ve done something to change this messed up continent…
Losing your family in such a way, a Leviathan out of everything, meeting an Undying Elder… Just putting these things together into one sentence would make anyone skeptical.
No one would even consider putting it in a story book, let alone utter it as something that had just happened to you a couple of days ago.
Munisai remembered the look Lawkey had while telling him his story. Despite how it sounded, the Sword Saint had no doubts about the authenticity of it all.
Still… Although we are similar, your story…
Is quite heartbreaking…
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
He looked back toward the kid he was addressing in his mind, half expecting to find Lawkey tearing up after recalling his past, but instead…
He was met with a kid choking on his food for having gulped it all down as fast as possible. A bad habit he had picked up during battles, Munisai was sure.
Lawkey quickly took the cup of tea and downed it in one go.
“Hahh! That was close!” He panted in relief, having survived the threat of choking on his meal.
Although Lawkey hadn’t noticed, Munisai sensed the sorrowful shadow behind the sliding door.
The shadow of his daughter unsuccessfully trying to hold back her tears in silence.
“Thank you for the food!” Lawkey sat back and rubbed his stomach after finishing everything on the tray. Yes, even the green stuff. Jay had taught him not to be picky after all.
“It was good, but I wish you had pancakes here…” He said offhandedly, looking towards the window.
“Say, kid,” Munisai wore a serious expression on his face. “Since you want to become stronger, how about staying here to train for a while? I’ll try to convince the Shadow Queen somehow.”
“...”
Lawkey thought for a second and began to stretch his bandaged shoulder.
“I do want to become stronger, but I think I’ll improve a lot faster by experiencing actual duels and fights.”
While he did think the techniques Munisai used against Kerberos were really impressive, and would help him improve his swordsmanship greatly, he didn’t have the time to spend training, certainly not long enough to fully master them.
Who knows how far the Leviathan had gone by now? It would be more difficult to find with every passing day.
Munisai could sense what the kid was thinking, and he knew only one way would work to convince him.
“No one is going to fight a kid seriously, but I’d be more than glad to spar with you.” He reached for his black wooden sword, a Bokken, leaning on the counter next to the window.
The Sword Saint looked Lawkey straight in the eyes.
“I believe you can master the Shadow Sword Style in just a few years if you follow my training.” He made sure his voice was confident and firm.
“?”
“Your current fighting style is reckless and suicidal against actual swordsman! I can prove that to you right now!” He pointed his wooden sword at the boy, his eyes sharp.
“I don’t really know what you’re talking about, old man…” Lawkey questioned as he picked up his sword, “but you really want to fight?”
“Show me what you got, kid!”
“It’s a duel then!”
**👑**
Walking into the Dojo itself, Lawkey looked around and took in the new atmosphere around him.
While the glistening floor was spotless and the smell of cleaning detergent hung in the air, he could feel that this was a place where many people trained on a daily basis until they sweated buckets.
“Take your stance.”
Munisai, after giving him a moment to take in the scenery, snapped Lawkey back out of it with his stern tone.
He was in full teacher mode.
“Are you sure you still want to use that against me?” Lawkey asked, gesturing toward the black wooden sword Munisai was holding, in comparison to his sharp edged blade.
“You don't have to worry about that, kid. Just remember, it's forbidden to use your Sign inside the Dojo.”
Munisai smiled at him and took a stance, lowering his knees. He tightened his grip on his clutch, making sure to point his sword toward his opponent in front of him.
“Are you ready?”
“You bet!” Lawkey did the same, although he settled for simply holding his sword to his side instead.
They both ignored their wounds, not letting anything stop them now.
And then, without warning or delay, Lawkey rushed forward with a jump, and quickly swung his sword toward Munisai's head.
A normal person might have hesitated, a single mistake and death would follow, but whether it was the part of him that grew up on a battlefield or the fact that he trusted his opponent was strong enough to counter, it either way went against his very being to hold back in a straight up duel.
This kid… Heh.
Munisai noticed, and smirked, seeing the blade coming for him.
One Shadow sword style - 8th Stance!
Morning Phantom Dance!
As if in a blink of an eye, Munisai quickly met and redirected Lawkey's swing with his wooden sword. He used the opportunity and momentum to spin around and bypass Lawkey's blindspot under his swing, immediately closing the distance and positioning himself behind him.
All Lawkey could do is look up above him, watching the wooden sword come down on his head.
Whack!!
“Ouch!” Lawkey reflexively crouched down, rubbing the impact spot on his head with one eye closed, “That really hurts!”
I couldn't sense anything at all… He thought as he wondered what could have made that possible.
“You're very strong for your age, kid, I'll give you that, but the truth is, you're full of openings!” Munisai began to lecture as he rested his wooden sword on his shoulder.
“You adhere to no particular sword techniques and just swing your sword around,” The Sword Saint began to raise his voice slightly, assuming his mentor persona and adapting a serious look in his eyes, “You just got really lucky back there with Kerberos.”
image [https://i.imgur.com/2Nme7xY.jpeg]
“...” Lawkey began to ponder what Munisai was saying, recognizing how much weight his words carried.
He thought back to the Shadowy Woman's overflowing vortex of shadows and how Munisai was sidestepping and outsmarting Kerberos to dodge his attacks and land his own.
If I had all that…
Then he clenched the handle of his sword and thought about all the times he trained and fought with it.
“I've had Eclipsed Dawn for as long as I can remember…” He saw his face reflected on the blade as he looked down at it, “In all the time I've trained with it, I always felt like something was missing.”
image [https://i.imgur.com/el7X7D9.jpeg]
He stopped for a second before continuing.
“Is sword techniques really what I'm missing?” He said, his eyes still lowered.
Munisai looked at him and remembered how hard he fought during the fight with Kerberos. His body could still feel the sense he got from Lawkey's shadows and sword during that fight.
Eclipsed Dawn, huh? Heh, that's a good name for it. He chuckled in his mind.
“You'll have to find what you're missing yourself. I can only teach you how to better use your sword, but the more you train with it, the more secrets it will reveal to you.” Munisai said as Lawkey held his sword up, observing it and trying to make sense of Munisai's cryptic words.
After giving him a moment to ponder, his new mentor moved his crutch and made his way toward the sliding door.
“For now, let's go.” With a wide flourish, he put on his haori as he pressed Lawkey to join him.
“We shouldn't keep a queen waiting.”
----------------------------------------
image [https://i.imgur.com/KQmIY8F.png]