Sachihiro

I run into the community outside the growing village of Honshu to the small community of soul samurai and master smiths, forgers, smelters and keepers of the zanpakutō way that is part of the growing agreements of trade between our peoples. I slow down as Kaizo comes to meet me, the unpleasant scowl on his face only confirming what I already know.

"Who was it?’’ I send whilst catching my breath, the ever constant ringing wail of screaming metal distracting me.

‘’I’m sorry Sachihiro but you shouldn’t be here,’’ Kaizo says and my heart skips a beat as my mind comes to a conclusion having worked out the equation after the 100 hour run.

Kaizo is the biggest Hito I’ve seen in some time, he is cocky enough to think he could take me but also respectful enough never to challenge me directly. The others probably think that with his size he could hold me down, I can see them moving to hem me in but none are reaching for their weapons. So they are serious about stopping me but not with lethal force.

The wailing I have already determined only I can hear ‘cause everyone I’ve come across on my way here doesn’t seem bothered by the hours long ringing sound. I walk forward with my long strides eating up the distance quickly as I take a deep breathe centering myself and preparing for action.

My arms begin tingling as mana fills my veins, circling and centring through them dilating my vessels until they stand out swollen under my skin. The fool shouldn’t have been here, why did he think he needed a zanpakutō anyway?

Kaizo holds out his arm to forestall me ‘ veren-gratis’ I subvocalise and I destroy his arm with a swift inside outside inside movement of my arms with chakra infused palms moving from his forearm to his shoulder as I sidestep to move past him. He stands stock still a split second as what just happened registers and I’m already two steps past him when his arm implodes like a burst wineskin then hangs uselessly at his side.

The big Hito grunts but does a reverse sweep unsheathing his blade in an arch towards me in a single smooth movement worthy of a soul samurai which would have caught anyone unaware but I’m a freak of nature and stop a zanpakutō cold with my Kata displacing the force through my feet as Honour has taught me to do. The is a slight ripple and puff on the soil but nothing else to indicate the magnitude of the force of the strike before I manoeuvre myself beyond his immediate reach displacing his katana.

I keep moving forward even as I notice Kaizo fully turning with Aizon and Fushi moving to block me one from the left the other the right. They will delay me there is no question about it with how powerful and skilled I know each of them to be so I flare mana into my heart to pump it into bllod activating limit break imploding my body with tension beyond its self preservation points and move in with a well polished aiko taijustu mix of curving stream.

I almost make it past Aizon but he is unfortunate enough to be an expert at hand to hand so we clash, my palm strikes blocking his arms easily from left, high, middle, right left middle right low left high. The clapping sound of my chakra-palm striking spirit-shield is loud to my ears but does nothing to drown the wailing ringing of the metal that has taken on a new meaning to me now that I know who it is.

I spin and sweep low then kicking up with a dive before rolling and ending up beyond all three of their immediate reach. I’m off with an explosive spring taking another two steps before colliding with a solid force of mana from Sersia maintained with upraised arms ahead.

‘’Sachihiro, you need to calm down,’’ she sends gently.

I chop once phthartic, phthartic twice, phthartic three times shattering her shield with an aura spirit enhanced chakra amplified crash of my Kata. Using phthartic release shaping the chakra in a crushing force of axe on dome. Even as it shatters I’m moving and another shield is taking the previous ones place ahead of me to stop my momentum cold again.

The others reach me and I roar as I unleash my spirit-oppression taking three of them by surprise brining them to a knee. It’s Fushi this time that dispels the brunt of it with soul cleanse and casting an invisible hand that binds me in place with his psionic power.

I push against it immediately with muscle and spiritual aura feeling it starting to dissolve the intangible hold off me as spirit aura becomes visible to the naked eye as misty white fumes coming off me in a haze from the reaction of our abilities. Our eyes remain locked, our wills clashing as my skill in spirit aura control competes with the strength of his mind’s hold. Spirit-aura keeping me toughened and intimidating whilst seeping into him through the hold to disrupt his spiritual hold over himself or the force that has me bound.

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The contest isn’t resolved as Kaizo recovers to cast a metal chain made of smoke with a word, flare of mana and his functional arm.

‘’Sachihiro you need to calm down,’’ says a strained Fushi as my spirit aura starts seeping out of his invisible confines. I stare at them, all of them as two others come from inside the forging house to try and hold me down.

With my dimensional awareness , I see them bringing in binding rope enchanted to hold things that are rich in mana securely. I get past the psionic hold and as I’m again able to move I struggle against the warm smoke chain that Kaizo’s mana has turned into, against someone else’s air confinement my aura starts immediately burning through. I struggle trying to pull myself away from the chain but Kaizo is strong and also assisted by this chaining ability in holding creatures stronger than he is.

I shake myself as though trying to see the other people flanking me, all the while seeping my water mana into the chains touching my skin directly before concentrating hard into vaporising my mana. There is a resistance, a resistance I pay dearly for in the form of pain and mana drain but the chains binding me shatter even as I spin throwing Kata and taking Kaizo’s other hand at the wrist.

Why the fuck did he come here to begin with, why did he not tell anyone, why does he think more than half of the people that can afford it don’t have a zanpakutō?

*

Selah the Jotna

We’ve been talking, walking and jogging for a while, throughout the night in fact and I think I’m getting an idea of the kind of person Sachihiro is from his daughter though she doesn’t seem to trust me with her father. The girl herself is quite the character, I don’t recall her name and she hasn’t told me since we’ve been travelling together but interacting with her made me realise I don’t know most of his children’s names.

I walk besides her in silence now through the vast grasslands of the Tundra with shrubs and bushes breaking up the monotony of the land. I prefer the mountain air and the wooded area of back home but I will admit there is a peace and beauty to this grass tundra.

The morning brings with it a pleasant breeze to displace that slightly frigid one that filled the night before the coming of dawn. The woods that lead to the base of the first mountains are far ahead in the distance and there is no sign of Sachihiro in all that way, I can’t believe that man can run that fast or is the girl leading me in the wrong direction?

Sachihiro is sweet, caring and patient. He is a gentle man that never fights even when challenged though rumour is he fights very well. There are plenty of people that can attest to his bravery and dedication in the War with The South, I was too young to be a fighter back then but I hear it was glorious, more especially the Battle of The Six Moons and Sachihiro was there.

That’s all mother wanted to know when I told her I had found a potential mate, is he a tribesman and was he at the Battle of The Six Moons. Later though, when she heard he refuses challenges and lets people that challenge him to holmgang live she became sceptical of my choice but a viable mating bond is a rare thing to let pass idly by as anyone with beast ancestry will know.

The girl stumbles on nothing and comes to a rigid stop as though she’s just gotten the biggest fright of her life. She stands stalk still a moment with her head tilted slightly and her nose in the air as though she’s listening for something, her body as tense as a drawn string.

I am crouched low beside her feeling and looking but seeing no threat. I survey everything around carefully with my left hand on Vanster’s hilt sticking out of its sheath on my lower back. ‘’What is it?’’

My only response is a build-up of aura and spirit energy in the striking girl’s body before she is off at a spring at speeds that I know I can’t match but I’m off right behind her. Whatever it is that has her spooked it’s serious and she eats up the distance like a piondeer running for its life.

There is no way I’m letting the daughter of my intended outrun me, no way. So I also run with all my strength flaring my own aura and leaving almost nothing in reserve for fighting if need be in my efforts to keep up. I can barely speak as we sprint at breakneck speed through the tundra I’m almost sure towards danger with the girl not even hesitating a moment.

‘’Where are we going?’’ I send after a while when I notice her running rhythm is constant even though it’s constant at an unreasonable pace.

‘’The Forging Complex,’’ she sends back which surprises both because I got a response at all and because the girl that likes avoiding the topic of her Awakening chose to send confirming what I already know.

We run in silence while I digest that, being watched by two people gathering something far to the left as we run like maniacs towards the woods. In case she responds again I need to ask a more pertinent question because though I have never been to Honshu I suspected we were heading to the Forging Complex. I think about what to ask next as we run, trying to distract my mind from my aching body and struggling lungs.

‘’What’s wrong?’’ I eventually manage to get out as I try to keep up, not very creative but fuck, how can she keep running at this pace?

‘’Dad is angry?’’ She sends and somehow from somewhere finds it in herself to get even faster as though the very thought scares her.

So Sachihiro is angry, why the fuck do I need to kill myself running for that?