Broken Blades

Broken Blades
by Paschal 'Anima Sword' Dooley

This complex chain we call life contains many stories in its links, many of which are the darkest kind of tragedies that twist your emotion and until they shatter your very soul. The leading roles of these stories are often forced to deal with burdens of their memories and the pieces of their lives after the tragedy...but fixing a broken soul is not an easy task

'All the same...always the same'
Under the night sky, in pub located in a distant town, a dark haired swordsman in a red and black gi sat in the shadows, distancing himself from all forms of life.
The bar was crowded and noisy as the various people poured more and more alcohol down their throats and chatted merrily amongst themselves, but he drowned their voices out as he stared at the small glass of rice wine that was on the table before him.
Akura Kagemara was a man with little purpose in life. Everything...or everyone he'd ever loved had been taken from him, and there was no chance of him ever forming a connection with anyone else ever again. Ever since birth fate had, decided to separate him from all human beings, so he could never delude himself with dreams of a happy life; with nothing else to turn to, he dedicated his life to sword and to a very simple cause...to find the ultimate opponent.
'Always the same...no end' He thought to himself as he took a sip of the wine in front of him. He had fought many battles recently in search of his greatest opponent, but these battles only seemed to draw him into a never-ending spiral of blood.
Every swordsman who faced him seemed to utter worthless, falling after only a handful of blows, their only victory being a few beads of sweat on his brow. There seemed to no one who could push him to his limits, no one who could get his blood boiling, no one he could call an equal...no one...who was like him.
He closed his eyes as he placed his cup back onto the table and sank deep into his thoughts. Faint images of his tortured past flashed in his mind like distant lightning in a pitch black sky; images of a time so distant, a time when things were simpler...happier.
'Is this one remaining goal of mine just an endless path of futility?' he pondered as he opened his eyes and began staring at rice wine again 'How ironic the path I follow is starting to led me towards the same empty void I've been trying to avoid...since those days...since...'.
He sighed once more and took another sip from the cup to wash away these thoughts.
THWACK!
Without warning a sword plunged straight into the table causing it to shake from the impact and silencing the entire bar. Akura continued to take a sip of his wine as if nothing had happened before casting a vague glance at the sword and its owner.
Standing next to him was a man in his late twenties with wild blonde hair, an emerald green bandana, yellowy-green robes (similar to the ones the villagers wore for summer festivals), and a smirk on his face that allowed all to see the bottomless well of confidence inside him, which seemed to be challenging everyone he met to try and fight him.
"Hey there stranger, you're just the sort of guy I've been looking for" He greeted Akura as he leaned on the table, giving him a fierce and wild glare as he moved in closer. Akura simply stared at him apathetically for a second before closing his eyes and taking another sip of his drink.
"Care to hear who I am?" the man taunted as he straightened himself, "Not really" Akura bluntly replied in between sips. The man refused to be put off by Akura's disinterest and pulled the sword out of the table before performing impressive slashing techniques in empty space in front of them. "My name is Kenso" he stated proudly in between slashes "but the people have also given me the title of Kenso...the Blade Hunter!" He then spun his sword around and sheathed it for dramatic effect before turning back to Akura. "I'm a swordsman that's travelled the country challenging the greatest masters of the sword arts, and so far I have ninety-nine victories under my belt...and just as many swords in my house" Akura just carried on drinking as if Kenso wasn't there, ignoring the swordsman's boasting and sinking back into his own thoughts.
"Ooohhhh...playing the tough guy are we?" Kenso jeered as he leaned towards Akura in an attempt to rile him up, but he still didn't get a response; Akura just took the last sip of his drink and stood up before walking towards the door. Before he could leave however, he heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed and cast his eyes behind him as Kenso suddenly drew his sword and pointed straight at Akura's shoulder.
"Trying to run away are you?" Kenso asked, his voice carrying more menace than before "Sorry, but I'm not going to let-"
Without a moment's pause, Akura instantly drew his weapon and in a lightning fast movement knocked the blade straight out Kenso's hand, causing it to spin through the air and land on a nearby table, raising a collective gasp from the the other customers. Kenso watched his blade land and turned back calmly to see Akura's own blade a centimetre away from his face.
"I'm not interested in a toad's croaking" Akura said calmly "point a sword at me again, and you will die". Kenso stared at the sword point for a long moment and Akura could see the activity in Kenso's mind through his eyes, as if he was trying to read Akura's movements and plan his next action. Kenso then started smirking once again and looked up to face Akura. "That was a nice blow" he remarked, batting Akura's blade away like it was a fly hovering in front him "if I'm not mistaken that drawing technique was part of the 'Ascending Blade' Style wasn't it?" Akura's eyes tensed up as he heard the name and Kenso started to grin as he found his target.
"You see" he continued as he started to walk closer to Akura "For my 100th blade, I was planning on confronting the last known master of that style, Kenmaro Kunichi,
But all found was an empty dojo and a list of rumours...that led me straight to you" Akura's fist clenched tightly around his sword in an attempt to vent the emotions that rushing up to him all at once as the fragments of his tortured past started to resurface.
"You've made quite a reputation for yourself" Kenso continued his monologue as he came to stop, his face now inches away from Akura "the red demon who wonders the world, slaying who face him; to bring a sword against him is to summon a rain of blood" he started chuckling as if he thought the lines he was spouting were hilarious "and all that started from the rumour of a boy...who killed his own master"
Akura's eyes blazed with anger as the memories flashed past his eyes. It was a collection of feelings he had been trying to drown in forgetfulness and amnesia; fear...followed by rage...blackness...the warn spattering of blood that awakened him...and the bottomless pit of sadness and despair.
Within a flash he had pulled his sword up again so that the edge of the blade was only a hair's width away from Kenso's neck. "If you're so keen to end your life, I'll finish it for you in a heartbeat" he said as a cold air of menace began to surround him.
"Excellent" Kenso smiled as if he was somehow the victor "But do you mind if we take it outside? It's a little too cosy in here, know what I mean?" Akura only grunted in reply and started to walk outside.
As he stepped out on the moonlit street he took a few slow deep breaths in order to calm himself. Kenso's earlier comments had stirred up some repressed feelings and his very demeanour was already starting to grate on his nerves, but Akura knew that now wasn't the time to dwell on such matters. All he had to do now was get this ludicrous battle over with as quickly as possible.
Kenso stepped onto the street with several bystanders following him to the door and walked straight up to Akura before drawing his sword and pointing it at him.
"The folks over there are waiting for a show" he said with a smile that made him look like an actor on a stage "so let's give them one!" As he said those words he used his free hand to draw a second sword from his belt and swung through the air a couple of times to show of his skill before striking looked like a mix between a fighting stance and a pose for a painting; either way Akura wasn't impressed.
"You honestly want to fight like that?" Akura asked bluntly, his disinterest instantly killing the build up that Kenso had been trying to create. "Yeah...I know using two full length swords isn't 'traditional'" Kenso scoffed "But in a duel like this two swords are better than one, and a blade of this length has more range and power than a short sword" Akura was tempted to point out that it also reduced his freedom of movement as well, but he wasn't interested in arguing; the fool clearly wanted to die and there was no point in trying to change his mind.
Instead Akura took the more traditional stance of a two handed grip to show he was ready and Kenso chuckled in excitement before taking up his own fighting stance.
For a few moments time seemed to slow down as the two of them composed themselves and gathered up their energies whilst staring each other down, waiting for their moment to strike.
Then within a split second, it began. Kenso leapt forward swinging one of his swords down towards Akura, who instantly stepped to the left to avoid it and moved into his blind spot, however Kenso instantly hopped onto his other foot and swung his second sword forcing Akura to block the blow before placing his other foot back onto the ground and swinging his free sword towards him, and Akura barely leapt back in time to avoid the blow.
Akura gritted his teeth as he was forced on the defensive, blocking every one of Kenso's blows looking for an opening, but Kenso's constant wild movements made it difficult for him to read.
Akura parried away some of more of Kenso's assault and quickly realised that deflecting the blows wouldn't help him against a dual swordsman and he took several steps back to gain some distance to try and force Kenso into overreaching. However Kenso suddenly smirked as he stepped back and Akura cursed himself in the brief second he had before Kenso started to move. This was his trap all along.
Kenso ran at full speed before leaping towards Akura, coiling his body round as he flew through the air and pulling his swords close to him.
'Succession: Hurricane's Eye!'
Kenso spread his arms as reached Akura, turning his body into a deadly spiral of blades twisted the air around them. Akura quickly pulled his own sword in front of him to block the blade, but the force of the blow was enough to make him stumble backwards. Kenso landed perfectly on the ground and swung his blades at Akura to land the finishing blow, however Akura quickly leapt back to avoid the swing and continued to jump backwards as Kenso leapt towards to him to close the gap.
As the watched the leaping figure a thought suddenly struck Akura. He shouldn't be focusing on the strengths of the dual style, but the weakness.
Most swordmasters preferred to use short swords as a secondary weapon since their smaller size allowed more freedom in movement, especially on the defence, but Kenso had sacrificed all for the range and power that came from two full length blades...and now Akura was going to make him pay for it.
As Kenso made another leaping slash towards him, Akura crouched low and leapt to the side, avoiding the blow and giving Akura a clear shot at his back. As Akura swung his blade down, Kenso quickly brought his sword to block the blow before trying to cut him with a side swipe from his second sword. However, due to the position of his body, he had to pull his arm across his chest and couldn't bring the sword all the way round which gave Akura the chance to avoid the blow. However, instead of stepping back, Akura stepped round him in a circle keeping him in the same range but moving him even further into Kenso's blind spot.
Kenso countered by spinning round in the opposite direction and bringing both blades together for one strong slash, but Akura easily blocked the attack and stepped in closer, pushing on his sword with his free hand, forcing Kenso's blades back and trapping them against his body.
With the blades pinned down, Akura didn't fail to take his chance and raised his foot before slamming it on Kenso's foot. Kenso let out a cry of both pain and surprise as the attack connected, but Akura didn't let up his attack and continued kick and stamp the same leg over and over again, even going as far as scraping his foot down the shin to cause as much pain as possible.
Kenso bit down on his lip to fight the urge to cry out in pain before pushing his swords with all his strength whilst kicking back with his other leg to create some more distance.
Akura, seeing his chance, stepped forward and tried to finish the duel with a thrust aimed at his heart, but Kenso crossed his swords together and moved his waist to the side, trapping Akura's in between the blades and moving them to side. Instantly sensing the danger, Akura pulled his sword away and jumped back just in time to avoid Kenso as he stepped forward and swung one of his swords, the blade just catching the his gi and tearing at the fabric as leapt back.
An eerie silence fell over the street as the two swordsmen suddenly stood still in the moonlight like statues, never relaxing their guard for even an instant. After the intense violence that had occurred before, this spell of calmness seemed unsettling to those who were watching, almost frightening.
Eventually, Kenso broke the silence as let out a low snigger. "You're pretty good" he said through a smile as he glanced down at his damaged leg, which he was trying to keep off the ground to avoid any more pain "I didn't expect you to get behind me...or to go for the shins for that matter", "It's going to be much harder to leap about with that leg" Akura stated bluntly as he renewed his grip on his sword and took up his fighting stance again. "Nice logic" Kenso said through a smirk as he placed the sword in his left hand in the ground to act as a makeshift crutch "but this isn't over yet"
Another spell of silence fell over the area once more broken only by the tiny daps of water that fell from the sky as it began to rain.
Eventually, as it started to rain harder and harder, Akura stepped forward and the two them began to exchange blows. Kenso's fighting style had changed drastically now that he was only using one hand, and so the two warriors now stayed within each other's range, focusing on smaller movements that went straight for the kill rather than flashy strikes and parrying away the opponents strikes.
Eventually, after taking the time to parry and wait for his chance, Akura parried away a high strike from Kenso before stepping to the side to get into his blind spot again, but as he did so, Kenso hopped on his leg and twisted his waist in order to move round and face Akura head on and catching him off guard.
Akura gritted his teeth as he blocked the blow and took a step back as Kenso went on the offensive with a succession of rapid sword strikes. Without losing focus, Akura blocked the blows before grounding himself as Kenso swung even harder for the last blow and placing his hand on the blunt half of his sword to support the block and push back as Kenso struck with full force.
For a second, the two of them stayed locked in a battle of strength, pushing their blades against each other and refusing to back down. "I must say you're pretty good" Kenso smiled through gritted teeth as he continued to try and push through Akura's defence "but then again...I wouldn't expect anything less from the man who killed his own master". The words seemed to act like a trigger inside Akura's head that suddenly caused a flood of memories and images to flash before his eyes at lightning speed, in turn calling forth an uncontrollable vortex of emotions to spiral up from within him.
Akura let a fierce cry to drive the memories away and regain his focus before angling his sword to parry Kenso's blade away and moving into his blind spot again.  But as he circled round Kenso, a sudden movement caught his eye, which widened in shock as he realised what it was. Kenso had started to balance on one leg and pulled his second sword out of the ground, which then curved round towards him.
Akura leapt back to avoid the strike, but was only just in time. As he leapt the blade caught his skin, leaving a small gash on his chest that slowly started to trickle with blood as he landed. Akura cursed his carelessness as he dabbed the wound with his fingers; how could he have forgotten about the second blade? Why did he charge in so recklessly? What was wrong with him? He didn't have any time to answer his own questions as Kenso resumed his attack with both blades, forcing Akura back on to the defensive.
As the fight continued on, more and more memories began to resurface for brief moments in Akura's head like a series of fireworks that shone through the darkness, breaking his focus from the inside, dividing him between the chaotic sword battle in front of his eyes, and the insane battle in his own heart, and he was winning neither.
With his concentration down, his blocks had become weaker, sloppier, not enough to take the full force of Kenso's attacks, and as such Akura might as well have been a leaf in the wind as he was constantly being pushed around from side to side by the twin blades.
Eventually his defence was broken as one of Kenso's blades slipped past a weak side block and dug into the skin of Akura's right arm, drawing more blood, but the pain allowed Akura to regain some of his focus as he quickly pushed himself away from the blade and made a clumsy duck to avoid a side slash at his head before taking a new stance with his blade raised in what looked like a head guard and turning his waist as he did, placing most of his weight on his left leg.
"Heaven's Piercing Arrow!"
Akura flicked his wrists as he pulled his sword down turned his waist towards Kenso, turning what would have been a downward strike into a thrust that shot towards its target at great speed. However, Kenso repeated the same block from before, bringing his blades together in a cross and trapping Akura's sword in between them and turning his body to push it away, rendering Akura's attack unless.
Without wasting a second, Kenso quickly kneed Akura with the stomach with enough force to cause him to bend over in pain. Fighting the pain, Akura leapt back just in time to narrowly avoid another attack by Kenso and swung wildly in a desperate attempt to counter attack.
"Is this really it?" Kenso asked with a mocking tone as he easily parried away the strike and swinging at Akura with his second sword, forcing Akura to pull back and block the oncoming blows "After all I heard about you, I thought you'd be much better than this".
As more images and memories flashed by his mind, Akura sidestepped to avoid the blades and stepped in before trying to land a blow on Kenso's head, but Kenso brought his swords together and trapped Akura's blade again.
Smirking once again, Kenso twisted his body away from Akura, wrenching his blade out of his grip and disarming him before landing another knee blow on Akura's stomach and punching him with the back of his hand, knocking Akura to the ground with a muffled thud.
Akura lay on the ground silent and motionless, he was losing the will to fight. The pain from his injuries, the distressing flashbacks, even the rain that battered him from above seemed like it was trying to tear his very spirit apart, and he starting to lose himself in despair as Kenso slowly started to move towards him.
"I mean, those stories built you up as a terrifying swordsman...a superhuman...a monster".
'Monster', the word rung through Akura's mind, shaking it at its very foundations; all other memories were thrown aside and one clear moment burned through.
The master, the one had taken care of him after his mother was murdered, the one who become a father to him, was carrying a sword with intense hatred in his eyes. As he swung at Akura, the painful words he spoke had created a burning scar in Akura's mind for all eternity. "You are no child! The world will never be rest with a creature like you on its earth! YOU MONSTER!!!"
A strange sense of clarity washed over Akura, quietening the storm that was racing through his mind. Then something deep inside him was unleashed, and was now blazing through him like oil being lit by a spark.
Kenso could only watch in confusion as Akura's breath started to sound heavier with the hint a growl behind it, and as turned back to face his opponent, Kenso caught a glimpse of Akura's eyes, which now had slit pupils like that of a snake, and there were two claw like marks right next to his eyes which looked like they had been burned into his skin.
Kenso was about to raise his sword when Akura suddenly disappeared from sight. Within two blinks, Akura was already off the pavement and Kenso had sent flying into a nearby wall. Kenso coughed and gasped for air as he tried to recover from the sudden blow whilst searching frantically for Akura. A thought sudden occurred to him and in horror he whirled round to look for Akura's sword, only to see Akura himself flash into view and pick it up.
Kenso shivered as he saw Akura's eyes and an old legend he had once read in a dusty scroll suddenly crept into his mind.
In this world there are humans who are cursed to live with the blood of oni. Though their bodies are human, their rage will consume their souls and turn them into the demons they were born to be. Any poor soul who awakens the bestial eyes that bear the mark of the devil should consider themselves dead.
Akura instantly became a blur again and Kenso leapt away from the wall, bringing his swords together to form a makeshift shield, but it was a futile effort. The falling rain started to spatter against what looked like thin air as Akura raced towards him and struck with full force against the blades, sending Kenso stumbling back a good distance as the force knocked him off balance. He appeared into a view again for brief moment and raised his sword before rushing towards him again and becoming nothing more than a blur.
In a desperate move, Kenso lifted one of swords and was about to swing the other to counter, but the blade on its own wasn't enough to stop the attack and Akura's sword skimmed over the blade, and the point cut dragged across his face and cut straight through Kenso's left eye.
Kenso screamed in pain and pressed his hand against his eye to stop the blood flow as he started to stumble backwards in a mixture of pain and panic, wanting to get as far from Akura as possible.
Akura simply stood in the rain in a bloodthirsty ghost, his face not showing any emotion other than rage, not reacting to any part of his surroundings. Then he lowered his sword and the raindrops were suddenly blown in all directions as he started to move again...
"Tempest of the Devil's Rage!"
Kenso raised his free sword and tried to move faster as Akura disappeared as Akura disappeared from sight, and all he could hear was the faint whistle of a swords slash, but in the blink of an eye, his right arm was suddenly sliced off by what appeared to the air itself and Kenso let out a scream before summoning all his strength to leap backwards, only to watch Akura suddenly fall from the sky and feel his sword cut across his chest.
Kenso felt like crying as his eyes watched the mixture of rain and blood that spattered him during his fall. He couldn't believe that this was how his live was about to end, that his sword style which had helped him defeat so many swordmasters, had been utterly useless against this man. All of his dreams, hopes and wish were going to remain unfulfilled. A part of his mind tried to comfort him by saying that he would have been cleaved in two if he hadn't moved at all, but he knew it didn't make much difference, he was going to die either way.
He struck the ground will a dull thud and felt the last remnants of his strength melting away as he lay on the ground. As he watched Akura step towards him, a pained smile crossed his lips, as he accepted his inevitable death.
"Go ahead" he jeered weakly "Do what comes naturally to you...you monster".
Akura's eyes widened as the words rocked his mind again and Kenso closed his eyes as waited for the final blow.
But it never came.
Kenso opened his eyes with a start as he suddenly heard the faint scrapping sound of a sword being sheathed and look up to see Akura putting away his sword.
Akura took one last look at Kenso, his eyes now filled with a strange mix of calmness and intensity, before turning round and walking away with saying a word.
Kenso stared at him with a mixture of shock and confusion, his emotions becoming wild and out of control tried to deal with all of his conflicting thoughts and fears.
"GO ON!!! KILL ME!!!" He screamed at the silent figure I'VE LOST!!! IT'S OVER!!! DON'T YOU DARE PITY ME YOU BASTARD, FINISH IT! FINISH IT!!!" But Akura never turned round, not once; he just kept on walking and slowly disappeared amidst the darkness and the rain.
After that, the name of Akura Kagemaru 'the red demon' almost faded away. It is said that after that battle, he never raised his sword again until about nine months later...when he finally found his ultimate opponent.