Future (
Summary[]
Samura tells Yura to lay off the serious note, given his wife's funeral had just finished. Yura apologises, saying that he had to thank the 'great hero'. He recalls that the Seitei War started when the islanders invaded, cruel savages resistant to the Datenseki and advancing onto more and more Japanese ground. The Enchanted Blades and their wielders turned the tide and completely wiped out all the monstrous citizens of the island's country, protecting Japan. Samura has already clued on that Yura was not there to recite the public information regarding the Seitei War and Yura admits he knows the truth of the events leading to the islanders' genocide, information not known to the public.
Yura remarks that when Shinuchi took the battlefield the tide of war began reversing, the Japanese driving back the invasion and quickly advancing onto the island proper. The islanders surrendered after overthrowing the invasion-supporting royal family; while the history books painted them as savages, they were still people in the end wanted to prevent further casualties. A peace treaty was signed and the war appeared to come to a close.
However, the Master Swordsman instead declared that the islanders needed to be annihilated. Over the course of the war, the Master Swordsman had lost his psyche, and tapped into Magatsumi's True Realm, his desire for genocide resonating with the blade and resulting in Malediction; a blade technique appearing as endless fields of flowers across the landscape, butterflies and centipedes crawling across the grotesquely beautiful land. Reason had completely left the Master Swordsman and only a destructive force of obliteration remained, resulting in over 200,000 casualties and the complete eradication of the island nation's populace.
Only after the calamity were the other five wielders able to stop him, and he was imprisoned up until the present. In order to maintain peace within Japan, the government covered up the truth that the Master Swordsman was the world's worst war criminal and instead painted him as a hero and the islanders as savages for the sake of the nation's future. Samura is shocked at how much Yura knows about the truth, while Yura notes it was hard to blame the government given they were only acting for the sake of the future; similar to why Yura was there today.
Yura states plainly that he is here to deliver a prophecy; that so long as the Master Swordsman was alive, Malediction would reappear, this time in Japan. He tells Samura that he has a job to do for the sake of the future before teleporting out as a now-awake Iori knocks on the door. Iori asks who the entrant was, what the 'calamity' was and what job Samura was going to do, wondering if Samura would be going somewhere else. Samura is surprised at how much Iori heard but assures her that he won't be going anywhere. His concern, however, remains.
Sometime later, Samura visits Kamunabi Headquarters in Tokyo, where the diminutive Kamunabi leader greets him, surprised Samura was reaching out to them. Samura comments the leader has aged quite a bit and the leader good-naturedly scolds him, reminding Samura he was still in shape and asking if he wanted to spar. Remembering how the diminutive leader had been in charge of teaching Shiba and Azami hand-to-hand combat (and had beaten them up many times), Samura politely declines.
Samura then tells the leader about Yura's visit and his knowledge of the truth, and the leader is surprised, seeing as only the Kamunabi's core members and the Japanese government's leading figures should be in the know. Samura speculates Yura may have been at the meeting, though his voice and scent were unfamiliar to him. The leader then moves on to how Yura had mentioned a second Malediction within Japan, commenting that the prophecy he had received may be similar to the dream of the monk of Tenrakuin, divinations of a possible disaster.
The linking of the Lifelong Contracts
The leader states while there is a possibility, it was unlikely given the Master Swordsman was imprisoned deep underground and Shinuchi had been sealed and isolated, preventing any access. While the two existed however, the possibility remained; however, killing the Master Swordsman was impossible given the nature of the Lifelong Contracts. During the Seitei War, due to the contracts' complex nature, six individual contracts would have taken far too much time and effort; hence he designed the contracts in such a way that the five other blades' contracts were tied to Shinuchi's contract, giving the blade to his most trusted ally the Master Swordsman.
Were the Master Swordsman die, the other wielders would follow suit given the links between the contracts; a risk the wielders had accepted during the war, never considering the possibility that the Master Swordsman might go insane. As the leader sums up why executing the Master Swordsman is not an option, Samura yells that they had to do something. The leader urges him to calm down, understanding that Samura was worried about the future given he was living with his daughter now.
He reminds Samura that the possibility is ultimately almost zero, and there was no need to sacrifice the wielders for such a low chance. Contemplating how the Master Swordsman's crime was something they had to atone for, he tells Samura that he and the other wielders fought to protect the citizens, not to commit murder; they were heroes. The leader tells Samura to let the Kamunabi handle the issue and for himself to rest, as he and Iori had a future to live for.
Sometime later, in a dojo, several members are surprised to see Iori managing to knock the blade out of the hand of her opponent (also a youth) with her eyes closed. One voices his surprise to Samura and asks how she can sense her opponent, to which Samura replies her constant mimicking of his own inability to see must have become a habit. As Iori opens her eyes and is suddenly far less composed, the two comment that her fear rises more when her eyes are open.
Iori shuts her eyes again and is able to focus, something Samura notes, as closing her eyes lets her concentrate solely on her sword. His conversation partner says it makes sense given her heritage. Iori then walks up to her father, asking if he saw her performance, which Samura congratulates. She vows that she will become the greatest fighter ever and protect Samura. Thinking about the future, Samura smiles and tells his daughter that he can't wait.
Quick References[]
Chapter Notes[]
- Yura talks about the Seitei War, both the public's knowledge of the situation and the truth.
- According to the public, the inhabitants of the island nation were ruthless savages fixated on murder, and the heroes succeeded in eradicating the populace in order to protect Japan.
- The truth is that after the six wielders repelled the invasion (ordered by the island nation's royal family) and made landfall on the island, the islanders deposed their royal family and surrendered, a peace treaty then being signed.
- However, the Master Swordsman had lost his mind over the course of the war and his desire to eradicate the islanders resonated with Magatsumi, resulting in a technique Malediction which killed 200,000 people, including the entirety of the island nation's people.
- The government covered up the incident, painted the islanders as savages and portrayed the Master Swordsman as an especially great hero in order to maintain public order.
- Yura reveals a prophecy that Malediction will arise again in Japan, tells Samura he has a job to do and leaves.
- Samura brings his concerns to the diminutive Kamunabi leader, who remarks on the prophecy as similar to the prophetic dreams of the monk of Tenrakuin. The leader dismisses the concerns given the Master Swordsman's imprisonment and Shinuchi's sealing.
- It is revealed that executing the Master Swordsman is not an option as the nature of the Lifelong Contracts means killing him will kill the other five blade wielders.
- The leader urges Samura to focus on his future with Iori and leave the situation for the Kamunabi to handle.
- Iori is revealed to be skilled in swordsmanship, but only with her eyes closed.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
Author's Comment[]
| Author Comment | |
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Takeru Hokazono |
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