Inaki raised his wooden sword, ready to begin his next duel.

His feet were shaky as he stood, he was losing blood from a million different small cuts, and had a large gash across his chest.

Boru was a woman the same height as Inaki. As she stood with her sword in her hand, she had more of a poise than any of the other swordsmen. She hadn’t even swung her sword, but just looking at her, her body-language, and her stance, Inaki knew that even fighting ten Golds at the same time wouldn’t be equivalent.

There was only one thing that you could say about swordswomen, that there were so few of them, that the ones that survived were stronger than most, even of their same rank.

“Are you ready,” Boru said.

“Yes,” Inaki said as blood dripped from a gash on his forehead down into his mouth.

Taral read out the same rules as the previous fight.

“Stand straight,” Hassai said in Inaki’s mind.

Inaki forced himself to stand up straight. He looked into the crowd of Yaroka soldiers and saw Hassai. Had he ever seen Hassai when not in the spring? No, he had only ever heard his voice.

But now he was standing in the crowd, looking at Inaki with his stern eyes.

“Begin,” Taral screamed.

Inaki knew that he should attack first, but his body wouldn’t listen. Right of the gate he was forced into a defensive corner. Boru was using Firestance, no, Waterstance, no, Windstance. She shifted through the Elementstances of the Yaroka almost at a whim. When novices tried this, they would simply lose their balance and be easy to take down, but she was able to borrow attacks from whichever stance suited best for the situation.

Inaki blocked one strike, dodged under another then ducked backwards to a third. He hit the ground, Boru slashed down at him. Inaki rolled, he stood up. Inaki held his wooden sword out. It wouldn’t last much longer. It was covered in nicks and cracks.

“Brother,” Gonten screamed. “Use my sword.”

“No,” Inaki said. Boru slashed at his neck. Inaki stepped back, but the slash opened a wound even there. Inaki hadn’t even gotten the chance to attack yet. He had too many wounds. He felt lightheaded.

Even if he won this fight, he wouldn’t survive into his next one. Inaki stepped forward, and slashed. The woman became a blur. Inaki blocked as many strikes as he could, he pushed himself to remain close to the woman, reducing the range.

His sword creaked as he blocked another strike. He blocked another. Then another. Inaki blocked, and Inaki’s practice sword was cut clean at the hilt.

Boru then slashed at Inaki’s neck. Inaki jumped back. He kept stepping back, as the woman turned into a tornado of steel.

“Here,” Gonten said.

Inaki had packed an extra practice sword, just in case, and now Gonten held it up.

Inaki jumped forward, tackling the woman onto the ground, her sword against his neck. He rolled before she could kill him. Inaki crawled forward, and Gonten threw the other practice sword at him.

Inaki rose, holding his sword.

The two of them circled each other. Boru rushed at Inaki, unleashing a flurry of strikes at him. Inaki stepped back, he had one foot on the thick rope. He defended, blocking each strike. But Inaki was stuck in a place where he couldn’t exactly block the strikes completely, if he did, then Boru would have cut through his wooden sword completely, so all he could do was delicately veer her sword off path, which meant that it still cut him.

He felt dizzy. He was seeing double, and had spots in his vision. He jumped to the side, dodging a strike that nearly took his arm off.

“Now do you understand,” Boru said. “Even if you were at your full strength you wouldn’t be able to fight.”

Inaki wanted to disagree, but he couldn’t speak. All of his focus was on defending himself. He needed some strategy, some trick to win this. There was no way he could do it with just his wooden sword.

He needed a steel blade, and there was no way that he could get one in his current situation. Inaki didn’t know what to do, all he could do was hang on in the fight by the skin of teeth. Boru struck forward, stabbing at Inaki’s chest. Inaki jumped backwards and hit the ground.

Inaki was exhausted. His chest rose and fell in painful jerks, his arms were tired, his feet could barely hold him up. He stared at the ceiling, wondering if Boru would kill him.

At least I died after killing nine swordsmen.

Time seemed to stand still for a few moments, Inaki saw as Boru’s sword descended towards him, ready to deliver the killing blow. Inaki closed his eyes, embracing his fate.

“Get up,” Hassai screamed. He was in the ring. Hassai slapped Inaki in the face, and pulled him, causing him to roll. Inaki felt as Hassai pulled him up, holding him standing.

“Don’t you dare die before you can make me proud,” Hassai said. “Don’t you bloody dare.”

Inaki felt this projection of Hassai he had created in his head fuelling him. His wounds still hurt, but the pain was dulled. His arms were sluggish, but he could now push himself.

He just needed to push himself a little more.

Just a little more.

Boru rushed at Inaki, flowing between the different stances. Inaki stood in Tigerstance. Boru rushed at him Inaki began rushing at Boru, he stepped forward, executing the leaping cross slash of the Tigerstance. The swordspeople met, and then stood back to back.

Inaki sighed. He was still alive. He looked back, and saw that he had gotten in one hit. Inaki had gotten her on the right shoulder. If he had a steel blade, she would’ve dropped her sword.

She switched her sword from her right hand to her left hand, and stood, pointing the sword straight at Inaki.

“I wish I did not have to kill you,” Boru said. “You have the potential to be one of the greatest in the world. You might already be one of the greatest.”

Inaki wanted to say something, he wanted to say something arrogant about how she wouldn’t be able to kill him, but he couldn’t.

Inaki chose to speak with his sword.

Inaki leaped in Tigerstance, executing the leaping cross slash once again, she blocked. Inaki landed, pushing the woman back, finally on the offense.

Having switched to her non-dominant arm, she still fought better than Inaki had—When fighting with his left hand Inaki had gone from being able to single-handedly defeat multiple Golds, to barely being able to win against someone who hadn’t gotten his steel blade yet.

The duel was becoming more even. Inaki stepped forward and slashed, the woman dodged, and stabbed towards Inaki, but Inaki got in a good hit on her leg, she slashed Inaki’s cheek.

Soon the two swordspeople were both barely able to walk. Inaki slashed forward, she slashed back, cutting through Inaki’s back-up sword.

She stood with her sword in her hand, Inaki stood, with just the hilt in his hand.

Inaki threw it down. She raised her sword and touched it to her head in a sign of respect. Inaki did not concede, he ran forward, to punch the woman in the face, she dodged. Inaki realized that there was only one way for him to win this duel.

Inaki was pushed back to the backfoot, dodging each strike. He was able to dodge better without the weight of a sword in his hand. Inaki stepped back, his foot once again on the thick rope which signaled the end of the dueling arena.

The woman slashed forward, intending to push Inaki out of the ring. Inaki sidestepped the sword, grabbed Boru, and with all the strength left in his body, he dropped his body back, throwing her out of the ring. A wrestling move in a sword fight didn’t feel the most honorable, but it was what Inaki needed to do to survive.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Inaki stood up, hyper-ventilating, having finally won his duel. He hit the floor of the dueling ring, he wasn’t ready.

Boru stepped back to the ring with her sword sheathed, she gave Inaki a hand, and Inaki rose to his feet.

“Thank you for respecting me,” Boru said.

“What… do.. you mean?” Inaki said, still huffing.

“Thank you for an entertaining duel,” Boru said.

“I won?” Inaki said, still doubtful.

Boru smiled.

Inaki saw Taral sighing, but he looked relieved. “Can I have a break before I fight you?” Inaki asked Taral.

“You can have a moment,” Taral said.

At that point all the Yaroka swordsmen in the crowd were screaming about the fact that Taral was letting Inaki rest. Inaki sat down regardless. Taral stepped into the ring, and gave Inaki a metal sword.

“Use this when fighting me,” Taral said. “It has a Diamond hilt.”

Inaki didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what to say, and he didn’t have the energy.

“I will eternally hate you for killing so many of my friends,” Taral said. “But I cannot help but respect you. I can’t help but be reminded of your father, when I see you.”

“Don’t compare me to my father,” Inaki said. “I have yet to earn being compared to him.” He held up the steel sword with a hilt with small pieces of diamond covering the hilt in a thin band. They weren’t real diamonds of course, but lookalike rocks, which were found on the beds of rivers in the province.

Stared at the ceiling of the training hall. After how close his fight with Boru was, Inaki didn’t know if he could continue on to the next fight. But he had come too far to go back now. Even if fighting Taral had been his goal since the beginning.

“Can I have some bandages?” Inaki asked.

“Next you’re going to ask for the master’s head,” One of the swordsmen in the crowd screamed.

“You, go get the healers from the monastery,” Taral said. The man ran out without a question.

After about half an hour, the monk reached. Inaki looked up, hoping to see Takehito, but it turned out to be the same monk who had stitched the scar that Inaki had given himself.

“The monastery tried to stay out of your silliness,” The monk said. “But I guess I cannot. Take off your robes.”

Inaki took off his robes, revealing all the wounds on his body. The monk inspected his wounds, and his face seemed to go dark. Inaki looked at the knife he had hidden in its sheath and slipped it down into his pants, hoping that they wouldn’t see his last trump card.

“How are you still standing,” The monk said, horrified. “You are a monster.”

“What happened,” Gonten yelled.

He stepped forward, and looked at Inaki’s wounds, and he too seemed to darken.

“What, it doesn’t feel that bad,” Inaki said.

“You shouldn’t be able to walk, let alone fight another duel,” The monk said. “Especially against a Platinum.”

“I asked for you, so that you can fix him up,” Taral said. “I will fight him if he’s just a corpse in the ring now.”

“Same,” Inaki said.

Taral stepped forward and inspected Inaki’s wounds, and even he stepped back.

“Your wounds are infected, festering with insects,” The monk said. “I will have to put disinfectant, I will have to cover you from head to toe in bandages.”

“What,” Inaki screamed.

The monk quickly got to work. He screamed for bandages, and began stitching Inaki’s wounds. Inaki felt more pain while the monk was working on his wounds, than he had felt when he had actually gotten them in all his fights.

Once the monk was done, Inaki felt even more tired. His wounds were burning even more, and all the stitches were fragile.

“If you fight now, your stitches will break, and your wounds will reopen,” The monk said. “I still don’t know how you can still keep your eyes open after losing so much blood.

The monk ended up cleaning all of Inaki’s blood from the ring. Inaki stepped out of the ring, and stood next to his brother. Inaki needed Gonten’s help to remain standing.

“I am not going to wait forever,” Taral said. “Tell me, how much more do you need?”

“Ten minutes,” Inaki said. “Just ten minutes.”

“Fine,” Taral said. “You said that, not me.”

“Thank you brother,” Inaki said, as he moved Gonten’s hands off him. Inaki stood up straight and felt all of his wounds burning. This night had given him scars he would wear for the rest of his life.

After ten minutes, Inaki stepped into the ring, ready to begin his duel with Taral. The duel that he had been training for the entire month.

He remembered the nightmares, the visions in the spring of being attacked. For the first time this entire night of fights, Inaki felt true fear.

Taral stepped into the ring with his Platinum-hilted sword and stood in a peculiar stance that Inaki had never ever seen, and couldn’t put a name to. He stood with his front facing Inaki and held his sword sideways, with his sword-arm against his forehead.

“I will serve as the witness of this duel,” Boru said. She read out the rules once again.

“Are you ready to begin,” Boru asked.

“I’m ready,” Taral said.

“I’m ready,” Inaki said.

Inaki looked into Taral’s eyes, and saw conflicting emotions. He hated Inaki, and Inaki could see his anger. But he also had a sort of sadness in his eyes.

Inaki would make sure that he regretted the day he ever entered Tomoka, and disrespected Inaki. Taral ran at Inaki. Inaki felt a horrible sense of fear in his stomach as he ran. He felt his feet frozen.

“You killed my son,” Taral said. “I made a huge mistake, but I tried to be the better man.”

Taral slashed down at Inaki. Inaki jumped to the side and began running.

“I tried to be the bigger man, but you, you’re just too arrogant. You’re right, I try to be a better person, but I am a swordsman, I trained all my life to draw blood,” Taral said. Just a few minutes ago this man had been calm, collected, and sympathetic. The blade channeled his anger at everything.

“You killed my friends,” Taral said. Inaki jumped, rolling on the ground, and jumping back onto his feet. Inaki yelped as he felt stitches split and his flesh tear. Taral slashed at Inaki with such rage that the spot on the floor where his sword hit after Inaki dodged had a dent.

If Inaki had even tried to block that, Taral would’ve cut through his metal sword.

Inaki felt such blood-thirst, regardless of all his victories, he felt like what he was, a child who hadn’t even gotten his swordsman’s ceremony yet.

The gap in skill was apparent in a second. Inaki couldn’t block, he couldn’t even think of attacking. He was fast, and strong. Inaki jumped back, rolling.

“Stop running, you murderer,” Taral said. “You said I am not even a man, yet you are the one who is running after you challenged me. Come on, fight me.”

Inaki wanted to talk about how he was the one who started it, or how he had definitely killed his fair share of people too, but Inaki once again couldn’t bring himself to be able to speak. All these fights had exhausted him. His wounds were still burning. Taral slashed down at Inaki once again, Inaki jumped back. He screamed as he felt the stitches on his neck ripping open, leaking blood.

Inaki held a steel blade in his hand but he might as well have not even held that sword in his hand.

“You are everything that is wrong with swordsmen,” Taral said. Inaki tried to jump back, but Taral caught him, severing the tip of the index finger of his left hand. “All arrogance, all bloodthirst, yet facing one tiger turns you into a deer.”

Inaki screamed in pain, as blood began gushing out of the wound. Inaki ran out of the ring.

“Don’t you move,” Taral screamed at his swordsmen. Inaki began running with fear in his heart. He didn’t know what to do at all. He ran out of the ring. He jumped out of the training hall’s doors and into the garden. He stood surrounded by leaves and bushes. He quickly ran and jumped into leaves into one of the bushes.

“You think our duel will end like your duel with Boru because of going out of the arena,” Taral screamed. “No, this duel will only end in your death, or you somehow escaping this castle.”

“Where are you hiding,” Taral screamed, as he walked through the garden. “Come on. You were talking so much, now that we are fighting, why are you hiding?”

Inaki ripped off a part of his sleeve and began tying it around the stub of the tip of his index finger of his left hand. How had he even managed to cut it? Inaki was in indescribable pain. As he was running more of his stitches had opened up, and it would be sooner than later, that the blood leaking out of him would signal his location.

I’ve lost too much blood. Inaki thought as he felt such a lightheadedness as if he was going to fall onto the ground.

He just needed to survive. No, this wasn’t like their last fight, where Inaki had been able to just run around until the time ran out, no. This was a duel challenged on nearly even terms.

Inaki looked out of the bushes and saw that Taral was approaching him. Inaki quickly began running with all his might towards another bush, before Taral could see.

He hid there, being stabbed by the thorns of the plants, but the shallow wounds he got from them were nothing compared to the pain from his sword wounds. Once again, Taral began approaching.

Inaki could do nothing but run, run from one place to the other. This happened a few more times, until Inaki ran out of bushes to run to. He just sat there, waiting for the inevitable, as Taral approached the bush. Taral would just pull Inaki out of the bushes, then kill him, without Inaki having the chance to put up any resistance whatsoever.

Taral ducked down from a sword strike.

Inaki quickly looked out, he couldn’t see what exactly was going on. He couldn’t believe his eyes. His brother was standing there, a silhouette as the light from the training hall haloed around him.

Gonten was going to try and fight Taral.

He is going to die.