I jumped up, feeling the air gust through my hair. Strange purple mist began to pour from my eyes, and my sword flew out of its sheath as I planted my foot in a burst of energy into Yukito's face.
After Yukito had been kicked to the ground. From the corner of my eye saw a blade coated in a sharp electric blue begin to slice and stab the air. The movements were almost slow enough for me to dodge them. I countered by starting to rapidly execute a series of attacks that connected seamlessly and struck Keiko in her chest until she fell limp.
I heard a loud noise, and I quickly spun around. My eyes, enhanced with innate energy, scanned the area for the source of the sound. Then Yukito came soaring out, his sword held aloft as he shouted "<(Water blade 5th form, Tsunami Teardrop!)>". The massive and dense water sphere near the tip of his sword fell towards me. Acting quickly, I performed a single enhanced horizontal slash that shot out a purple/silver arc that split the ball in two, providing me with enough clearance to avoid being crushed.
As the water smashed into the ground I raced towards the stunned Yukito. His face conveyed a mix of disbelief, rage and fright as he saw Keiko's body in the ground. He then saw me, attempting to swing his weapon again he was interrupted by my swift blade. The blade nearly took off his head as he managed slipped through its grasps.
"Enough is enough!" he yelled out, his sword glowing a brilliant blue. I stood my ground and watched him rage. "You can go to hell!" he shouted as he ran at me, like a water dragon was behind him propelling him forward. Knowing that I had to end this quickly, I used <(Sword Dance 2nd Form, Counter Crescent)> to deflect his blade away and put my sword close to his throat.
With my sword hovering next to his neck preventing him from doing anything more. I then reverted back to normal in an instant, the mist leaking from my eyes dissipated and the layer of purple energy subsided.
"What did you do?! You killed her! Why?" Yukito shouted, and I replied back in a tired confusion. "I didn't know. It felt like something inside of me was guiding my actions, and I just acted without thinking." Yukito rushed to Keiko's side, breathing heavily he sighed in relief. "We have to get her to the clan compound hospital right away before she loses more blood!" he exclaimed frantically. "Yes, of course," I responded, relieved that I hadn't actually ended her life.
We picked her up and ran to her clan compound using our innate energy to increase our speed. The compound was enormous, adorned with huge wooden pillars and a few guards. "Halt, state your business!" he shouted when he saw us carrying her. "Open the gates! And alert the healers that the daughter of the clan leader is in danger!" His voice boomed louder than usual as he spoke. The gates creaked open, and Yukito took lead, carrying her further into the compound while I followed close behind.
I followed Yukito into a small building, where Keiko was lying on a cushion. Her bleeding had stopped, and an old woman was tending to her cuts.
"So you were the one responsible for these injuries?" she asked with concern. "It was an accident," I said apologetically. "You should have been more careful! You almost killed her!" she exclaimed. "I'm sorry," I said in a low voice. "Don't apologize to me—apologize to her when she wakes!" she snapped.
"I think it's best if you go Hikaru," Yukito said. He didn't get a chance to respond before I rushed out of the compound and into my apartment. I collapsed in a chair, my nails leaving tiny marks in my palms from nervously squeezing them together. What had just happened? How could I have acted with such ferocity? Questions like these swirled around in my head furiously until it finally hit the table, shattering it in two. And then my eyes wide, remembering the copy demon that was lurking in my mind.
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It replicated my exact movements, including those I used with the sword. As I stirred back into thought, I felt a terrible thought rush to me. Could I be turning into that same demon? The notion seemed absurd, yet the entire experience was beyond comprehension. Out loud, I questioned: "Am I...becoming that same demon?"
Sitting down on wood floor I attempted to calm myself down, nothing good would end up happening from panicking. The meditation had reminded me of the moments prior to getting into such state, reaching out for whatever innate energy I had left projected it outwards. After feeling the same sensation I studied it a bit more, it felt as if I was but wasn't controlling my body everything felt numb.
Standing up I accidentally pressed my hand on a splinter, it then miraculously pushed itself out as the wound began to heal. This meant that I could heal, the mysterious form was proving itself to be useful. I then made my way to the mirror, my eyes were leaking a purple mist while the rest of my body seemingly glowed in silver energy it looked reminiscent to the copycat that I had fought in my mind-space.
Following dinner and some basic training, my mind was consumed with the notion of apologizing to Keiko, which led me into a fitful sleep.
...
"I now declare that today is the day of your final test in becoming a samurai!" shouted Instructor Kim. "You will all be sent to a forest for three days, and you must find and defeat our instructors to receive points. You need at least five points to pass. Once you have gathered the points, come back here and be rewarded with your custom blade as well as anything else you ordered!" The students cheered. "Now go!" he commanded.
As all my peers rushed into the forest, I had stumbled upon a tall tree with a great view. Two years prior, I joined the Martial Samurai Academy, and now I was fifteen. From here I could set off towards the capital where the academy was based. Keiko and Yukito had decided on going to the Martial Samurai Academy, but I didn't share their opinion. I wanted to learn more about the world outside, and upon telling them so, Yukito accepted my decision; Keiko simply nodded her head in response. She still seemed scared of me even though I apologized 2 years ago.
I pushed my worries aside and noticed a instructor with a #2 on his badge, giving myself a mental pat on the back for finding an instructor with two points. We weren't on the same level as the instructors, but they had weakened their strength so I knew I was safe. With a jump I thrust my sword forward towards the instructor, it penetrated the ground. After removing the sword from the ground, I improved my vision with inner energy and surveyed my surroundings. A sudden uneasiness ran through me, and I look upwards observing the trainer doing an unbelievably quick airborne leap.
The trainer's feet touched the ground with a thud. He surrounded his blade with an ominous red aura and attacked with heavy strikes. Parring his horizontal swing and then counter-attacked using my sword and legs, both covered in purple hues. As we exchanged blows, I landed several hits on him. Suddenly, he stepped back and disappeared from my field of vision, but I managed to instinctively guide my blade to block his heavy hitting surprise attack. Then, expertly parried the next blow, anticipating it before it even came. I then launched into <(Sword Dance 2nd Form, Counter Crescent)> with an enhanced swing, knocking his blade to the ground and pointing my swords tip towards his neck which made him give up.
After earning the two-point badge, I was left with three more points. Seeing a lone instructor in the distance, I devised a strategy that could finish the battle in seconds. Condensing Innate energy near the soles of my feet, employing a nice traversal method Yukito and I developed. I then jumped and exploded the energy near my soles with an ear-bursting explosion, flew at a reasonable altitude, and used (Sword Dance 3rd Form, Lunar Lambaste)> when above the instructor. Infusing innate energy into my strike, it seemed like a giant sporadic spider web built upon each other, the instructor then grinned and formed eye contact with me and disappeared letting my destructive move terraform the ground.
The teacher then appeared behind me and spoke into my ear, "Why hello there," he creepily responded before smashing my skull towards the ground. Due to the fact that a drop from this height would heavily wound me I began performing numerous back-flips to reduce my velocity, I then dropped on the ground, resulting in a crater,.
People who mocked me irritated me, their taunts only made me stronger to prove myself. He seemed quite powerful, I'd probably need to utilize the dubbed "Demon Form." Due to my presumptions and doubts I had scarcely practiced with it. But neglecting it this time wouldn't work as, being abducted and taken to who knows where for reasons I had no knowledge about wasn't a nice thought.
I let out a roar, my eyes poured purple mist, my entire body enchanted with a purple glow as I surged forward with (Sword Demon Dance 4th Form, Full Lune)>. As multiple quick and aggressive but still serine slashes began generating a cone-like attack, the horizontal cone-like vortex then erupted forth breaking through a few trees with the cone tip encased in purple energy was facing the hunters face. The hunter then suddenly rushed through it with a steel cold aura encompassing him, leaving numerous cuts and bloody gashes on him but he still looked happy.
"Not bad, I'm beginning to enjoy this fight," he remarked will gushing with blood. "But this will will be your end, (Metal Enhancement 4th Form, Elusive Iron Punch!)>".
Reality appeared to slow down as his fist drew nearer.