-Vol 4: To The North Pole!-

-Forming an Intent!-

“What is Intent?” Kenshin asked, although Vera was talking about it, he didn’t understand it in the slightest.

Back in Mito, Suguro had only spoken about how the strong hunters would use this WIL to attack and defend. Back then he had assumed that it was just crudest way, like how he was occasionally doing. But he was mistaken with that assumption. The upper echelons of the hunter’s society didn’t use it as crudely as he had thought, in fact, their usage was very refined and elegant. The attack made by Vera was the example of that.

It made him feel like he was a frog at the bottom of a well.

“Hmm! Intent well it’s a little hard to explain. Generally, it manifested on its own when one’s willpower strengthens to a certain level. But if you want a description, then, think of it as your desires manifesting in the real world with your willpower as the medium. Let me give you an example; focus on what I did earlier. I ‘desired’ to make those wolves to shred from the inside. That desire took the form with my strong willpower and manifested in the real world. When it did, the wolves are all dead with their insides shredded into ribbons.” She explained how her intent works, in hopes for Kenshin to understand. For every person, their Intent was different. They have to awaken it with their own effort, and no one can help them with that.

One can only provide the information about how it works and how it forms.

After listening to her, Kenshin began to contemplate.

‘To have a strong desire was the key to form an intent. But what is my strong desire? What did I wish the most in this world? To protect! Yes, I want to protect that which is very important to me. I want to protect my little sister from all the harms in this world. I promised mom that I wouldn’t let her cry ever, I won’t and can’t go back on that promise.

Until I am alive, Akari should never have anything to worry about.

Yes. This is my desire. This is my wish. I want to become the shield that protects my sister from all harms in this world. At the same time, I want to be the sword that cuts down a thousand pains that could affect her. I want to be her sword and shield.’ Like in a trance, Kenshin spoke all these inside his mind. He dug out the innermost desires in his heart and laid them bare in front of him.

Inside his heart, his sister came first. He wanted to be a sword and a shield for her.

Suddenly a purple hue emanated from his body. It's very faint, to the point that it won’t be visible if not concentrated. But one can’t deny its might. To the side, Vera had her eyes widened to saucers, not only because of how fast he formed his intent but also due to the nature of it.

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As a very high ranked hunter and a powerful one at that, she was able to faintly feel the nature of his intent. But even that faint feeling had given her a considerable amount of shock. First, when she sent her senses to learn about his intent, her senses couldn’t penetrate his body. She felt like she had hit a steel wall. Concluding that it was a shield type intent, just when she about retracted her consciousness, suddenly she felt something prickling on her right cheek.

Putting her finger on that spot, she saw blood. Her right cheek was wounded as a small bloody line formed on it. Her eyes widened when she saw this. She was a high leveled hunter who had already established her Intent, how can she be injured by someone who had just formed it and still not stabilized it?

‘Sword and Shield! This Kenshin, he’s really formed a dual Intent.’ She was stunned to find it as well. The chance of someone comprehending a dual Intent was minimal. There was a reason behind this as well.

Generally, a human’s heart contained many desires. Be it money, power, piece or some other thing. It always circulated around their psyche, making it hard to settle down and have a single thought at any given time. Those who want to form an Intent had to settle down their chaotic thoughts to just a single undivided idea. Only then could they begin to build their own Intent.

But Kenshin broke that rule and formed an intent with two properties at the same time.

‘How is it possible!?’ Vera thought with a frown. She felt like somehow they had misunderstood the property of the Intent formation.

The purple hue from Kenshin no only shocked her but also all the wolves surrounding them. Since the Intent was just formed, it wasn’t as controlled as vera’s! It traveled far and wide, affecting everything under a certain distance.

These intelligent monsters quickly realized that they had encountered trouble, adding to the sudden death of their 10 mates, they instantly fled from there.

Kenshin was unknown to all this, in his heart he was repeatedly thinking about how he should protect his sister from all harms. Finally after several minutes, suddenly his thoughts are cleared like clouds in the sky. He started to see clarity. He realized what he needed the most.

In the end, everything came down to strength. With enough strength he can protect his sister, without power, he can’t protect himself let alone anyone.

‘Power! I need it more than anything. If I become powerful, I can do anything. I can protect Akari better.’ Like a mantra, he chanted it inside his heart.

Suddenly the purple aura around him intensified and leaked from his body like gases. Above his head, it gathered and started to take shape. A part of it formed a hazy illusions image of a sword while the other part formed a circular shield. Both are hazy and looked more illusions than real, but the feeling they gave was anything but illusions!

Vera, who was sitting near him and watching everything had her eyes widened again.

‘Manifestation? His desire was strong enough to manifest this early! Exactly what is this desire of his? It can’t be revenge as I don’t get that suffocating feeling, on the contrary, I felt protected…don’t tell me…his desire is to protect! But whom he wants to protect this much!? His sister! Is it his sister!’ inside her head, Vera’s thoughts are a chaotic mess.

She couldn’t make head or tail of the situation anymore and had already abandoned describing Kenshin’s actions in words.

He was really too much!