Six Sacred Swords

by Andrew Rowe

  I felt the teeth still embedded in my arm shift instantly, and I pushed harder, jamming the dagger as deep as I could until it disappeared into the hydra’s neck. The head pulled away from me, then a moment later, it slumped uselessly.

  The dagger wound had healed, but the injured head remained still, and the hydra’s movements began to slow.

  Zenkichi roared into the air with six remaining heads. I shivered as I fell to the ground, bleeding freely now that I was out of its jaws.

  Reika seized the creature’s moment of weakness to snap her jaws around another neck, crushing it.

  Three more heads descended and tried to bite her, but she simply turned into mist again, floating back.

  Zenkichi stumbled backward, his colossal form causing the earth to shatter with each one of his steps. I had to roll to avoid one of his crushing steps, and that just hurt my right side even further.

  Reika re-formed a dozen meters away from Zenkichi and took a deep breath.

  Zenkichi raised his own heads, inhaling, apparently planning to do the same thing she was. Acid dripped from his jaws as he prepared to exhale.

  Reika was still inhaling. Just like before, using her breath attack took time.

  I was still on the ground. The Sae’kes was lying a few feet to my right, where I’d dropped it. I couldn’t move my right arm; it was too badly hurt. I tried to reach for it with my left, but it was too far away, and I was in too much pain to move.

  Zenkichi was moments from blasting Reika with his breath. I needed to do something. Anything.

  Magnetic pull.

  I shifted the aura around my left hand, magnetizing it. The Sae’kes flew toward my hand and my grip tightened around the familiar surface of the hilt.

  With a shaking hand, I pointed it upward and concentrated.

  My usual shockwaves required swinging the weapon, which I no longer had the strength for. But Dawnbringer had an attack that didn’t require the same degree of movement.

  And while I didn’t have Dawnbringer, I could remember the sensation of using her power and the effect. I focused on the sensation I’d experienced when I’d activated her power, the feeling of the mana flowing through her blade.

  Luminous Arc.

  It wasn’t a perfect copy of her technique. I didn’t have the right types of mana to duplicate Dawnbringer’s power perfectly.

  Instead, the destructive aura around the Sae’kes focused around the point, then rippled upward like a sword thrust. The focused energy pierced through the center of one of Zenkichi’s heads.

  That head fell limp, blood and acid flowing from the wound.

  The rest of the remaining heads reared upward in agony, then turned toward me and exhaled.

  There was nowhere for me to dodge. The blasts of acid encompassed far too wide of an area for me to move. Reika was still inhaling, preparing her breath weapon, and too far away to save me.

  I tightened my disintegrating aura around me, bracing myself. I knew it wouldn’t be enough.

  A gust of wind carried a blue robed figure into the path of Zenkichi’s blasts. He had Dawnbringer in his one remaining hand, and he spun her like a fan. A cyclone erupted from around him, crashing into the flood of acid and sending most of it to the sides of us.

  Most, unfortunately. Not all.

  Droplets of liquid splattered against the false Raizo, and he faltered for a moment. The next instant, Zenkichi’s tail slammed him. Spikes ripped into his body, and the force of the impact carried him dozens of meters away.

  With my protector gone, Zenkichi’s heads descended toward me.

  But we’d bought Reika the time she needed. Her entire body glimmered with scintillating power.

  I’d never seen her finish using her breath weapon while she was solid. She’d only used it on me when she’d been half-corporeal mist.

  I was very fortunate.

  A tremendous blast of white light erupted from her jaws, blasting through Zenkichi’s center of mass. As she moved her mouth, the light continued to emerge, cutting through him like a burning blade. She directed the blast downward, managing to cut off one of his legs before the light faded.

  Zenkichi fell backward, and the earth trembled at the force of his collapse.

  He was still alive, still regenerating. Only the wounds the Sae’kes had inflicted weren’t closing. But he was getting slower and slower, weaker and weaker.

  The poisoned door handle was still stuck inside Zenkichi’s body, draining more of his strength with every passing moment.

  Reika pounced on top of him like a great cat, her jaws snapping around the next of his necks, while her claws battered the others out of the way.

  Zenkichi struck back, managing a few more bites against her, but only a couple of them managed to break through her scales.

  He tried to roll over and crush her, sending the pair tumbling away from me. From my poor vantage point on the ground, I could barely see what happened after that, and I lacked the strength to stand.

  In the end, his body shifted into a massive pool of acid. Reika turned to mist to avoid it, then rematerialized a few feet away.

  His acidic form burned a crater dozens of feet deep, then settled and transformed again, leaving only a titanic, broken body.

  Reika flew to my side, then shifted back into her human form almost immediately. “Keras!”

  “Mmm,” I managed. “Hi.”

  She looked me over. “Keras, I’m not a doctor, but I think you’re hurt pretty bad.”

  I let out a cough that had entirely too much blood in it. “I think you’re right.”

  “He’s dying.”

  Reika turned to see Miyuri walking closer to us. The wound I’d inflicted on her was gone. Reika raised her hands, shifting them back into claws.

  Miyuri raised her hands in the universal gesture for surrender. “I’m done fighting. I have some of a healing potion left in my pouch. You can use it on him. It might be enough...”

  Reika tilted her head to the side, then nodded and rushed over. She opened Miyuri’s bag and retrieved a red bottle from it. It was about half-full. “Why are you helping us?”

  Miyuri smiled. “We’re going to make a trade.”

  Reika paused, frowning. “We’re not giving you Dawnbringer for a healing potion.”

  “Not the sword. You can keep all the swords. Go heal him, then we’ll talk.”

  Reika backed toward me slowly, opening the vial and sniffing at it. “Drink.”

  I opened my mouth. If it was poison, it wasn’t like it was going to make me even more fatally wounded than I already was.

  She poured the potion in my mouth. Ordinarily, I might have prioritized pouring some on the worst of my injuries, but those were from the bite marks on my chest — and my tunic had already broken off pieces to begin sealing and healing those. They probably couldn’t have healed that severe of damage, but by closing off the injuries, they’d made just feeding me the potion the right approach.

  I groaned. “Thanks...”

  I felt a hint of warmth in my chest, like I’d been drinking alcohol for a while. That didn’t do much to mitigate the screaming pain my body was still feeling, though, and I still didn’t have the strength to move or stand. I didn’t even know for sure if the potion had done enough to save me. I’d lost a lot of blood.

  “I’m going to walk away from here. You’re not going to attack me. And I want the body.” Miyuri offered, smiling and adjusting her glasses.

  Reika’s eyes widened. “Keras? I thought the potion...” She glanced back at me.

  “No, no. Not the human. I don’t have the slightest bit of interest in human bodies, and he’ll probably be fine.” Miyuri smiled. “But in exchange for saving your friend, I want Zenkichi’s body.”

  I wasn’t in the best place to process that. Was Zenkichi still alive after all that? Or did she simply want her former commander’s body for a proper burial? The latter seemed pretty reasonable to me.

  Reika, however, seemed to have a better
grasp on the situation. “You’re...oh.” She frowned. “I don’t like it.”

  “I think it’s a fair trade. You lose nothing. I’ll take Kaito and the body and walk away. Don’t worry. I’ll even ensure that the rest of our particular branch doesn’t bother you. I can’t say the same for the organization as a whole, but it’s a very, very good deal.”

  Reika stepped in front of me. “I still don’t like it, but you helped Keras, and that’s...worth a lot. So go, before I change my mind.”

  “Excellent. I’ve been due for a promotion for far too long.” Miyuri bowed her head. “It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.”

  Miyuri walked away, presumably to go retrieve Kaito.

  “Come on.” Reika knelt down. “Can you stand?”

  I grunted. “I don’t think so.”

  “Okay. I’ll help you up.”

  She helped me stand. I was more than a bit wobbly on my feet.

  Things were a blur for a while after that. I don’t know how I had the presence of mind, but I asked Reika to retrieve my backpack, which was still nearby. She grabbed her own backpack and retrieved Dawnbringer, too.

  After that, we hobbled together off into the forest.

  I don’t remember doing it, but apparently Reika and I discussed going back into the shrine and camping inside instead, but she didn’t trust Miyuri not to direct other people to our location.

  We didn’t make it far before she had to set me down. We were both in awful shape.

  She leaned me up against a tree. “Keras, I think you should put on the mask.”

  “Hm...?” I couldn’t process anything that was going on.

  “The mask. It blocks detection spells in the area around it while you wear it, right? You should put it on.”

  Somehow, that sobered me, just a little.

  If I put on the mask, Lydia and the others won’t be able to find me...

  But I’m not going to survive if another group of Tails of Orochi members tracks us down before she does.

  Reika is right.

  I fumbled with my pouch using my left hand. Even after the potion and with my tunic working on my wounds, I couldn’t move my right arm. I could barely even feel it.

  I didn’t want to think too much about that.

  After a moment, I managed to find it and drag it out of the bag. I couldn’t get it on.

  “Here, I’ll help.” Reika gently set the mask on my face, adjusting it.

  It was hard to see with it on, but I barely noticed at the time. I was so badly hurt that I could hardly process my surroundings in general.

  “Do you need to do anything to turn it on?” Reika asked gently.

  I shook my head. “No. Should be automatic if I’m wearing it.”

  “Good.” Reika nodded, then winced. She’d brushed her own injured arm against something. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to eat something. I...don’t think I can go on much longer if I don’t.”

  “Go ahead.”

  I drifted off some time after that.

  Chapter XIV – Brave by Default

  When I awoke, I’d been moved.

  I don’t know when or how, but Reika had managed to get us deeper into the forest.

  I think it was the smell of smoke that woke me. I was alarmed at first, until I smelled food cooking on the fire.

  I groaned, pushing myself up using my left arm, which was actually the less injured of my arms for a change.

  My right arm and shoulder were burning. That was probably a good thing that I was still able to feel them at all. I was able to twitch my fingers on my right hand, but even that sent surges of renewed agony through my whole arm, so I decided it would be wise to avoid that for a while.

  Reika turned toward me as I began to move, brightening immediately upon seeing me. “You’re awake! Dawn and I have been so worried about you!”

  I offered a weak smile in return. “Thanks...” I rubbed at my eyes, trying to focus. “How long have I been out?”

  “Half a day or so. I don’t have a good way of tracking hours out here.”

  I nodded, which sent a fresh surge of pain down my neck. I’d need to be careful about how I stretched for a while. “Where are we?”

  “Not too far. I felt a little better after eating the rest of our food, and I managed to shapeshift enough to make myself some wings and fly us further south a bit. I still don’t have enough strength to go back into my...dragon form.” She clearly still didn’t like using that term, but she continued. “Anyway, I saw a deer while I was flying, and um, now we have dinner. You hungry?”

  I nodded again, immediately forgetting my previous mistake. “Ow. Yeah, I’m starving. Let’s eat.”

  “I kind of started without you, sorry!”

  She guiltily set down whatever part of the deer she’d been eating to tear something off and offer it to me. I didn’t even care what it was, I needed to eat. Meat was one of the best ways to replenish my energy after using metal sorcery, and I’d used far too much. That last Body of Iron spell had taxed me beyond my usual limits, and I was going to be feeling the effects of that decision for quite a while.

  Slowly and carefully, I managed to make my way to my feet, approach the fire, and then sit back down. My right arm was still useless, and my arm and shoulder were in awful pain, but my left arm was functional enough for me to accept the offered food and eat.

  We sat and ate for a while in silence. We both needed food and some time to process everything that had happened.

  When I’d drawn the Sae’kes against Zenkichi, I’d done so with the intent to use lethal force. If he’d been an ordinary opponent, I would have killed him outright when I’d cut through him. That might have been necessary to keep Reika and myself alive, but I still felt conflicted about it.

  I didn’t want to set a precedent for fighting like that all the time. If I did, I’d be inching closer to the scenario the crystal had shown me, where I’d lost control and gone on a rampage.

  I had to find a balance. Ideally, I’d need to find a way to utilize my full power without risking hurting my friends or innocents in the process. I still wasn’t sure how I’d accomplish that yet, but clearly my existing training hadn’t been a sufficient solution.

  Maybe I could find a way to seal more of the sword’s power, like the crystal suggested...but that wouldn’t be a true solution. It would limit my ability to utilize the sword when I truly need it, as well as my own potential for learning to control the destructive power already within me.

  In truth, what I need is to grow even stronger.

  Strong enough to control the sword’s full power.

  And someday, perhaps strong enough that I won’t need it.

  My mind drifted back to the battle, and an important question came to my mind. I turned to Reika. “What happened to the forest spirit that helped us? Is he okay?”

  Reika set down her food for a moment to offer me a shrug. “I don’t know. I tried to help him after he got hit by the tail, but he ended up turning into a ball of light and flying away.” She shook her head. “I didn’t see which way he went, either. I’m sorry.”

  I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m grateful that he helped us. And I don’t think those wounds were lethal.”

  I wasn’t really sure what would have been lethal for something that seemed to default to being a glowing orb of light in its true form, but if it had managed to fly away, that was probably a good sign.

  I also had a strong feeling we hadn’t seen the last of him.

  “Dawn told me that he wasn’t really Raizo when you passed her to me.” She patted the sword, which was lying across her lap. I was glad that they were together, and that Reika seemed to have gotten over her aversion to holding onto Dawn without my permission. “Thank you for doing that. Using Dawn’s telepathy to communicate with me without speaking out loud was a good move. But how’d you know?”

  “His stance.” I grinned. “When I met that spirit in the forest, he was impersonating on
e of my enemies, but he was using a stance that looked foreign. I told him that the stance was wrong and showed him some stances from my homeland. When he showed up looking like Raizo, he was using one of my stances, rather than what Raizo probably would have been using.”

  “Ooh. I was wondering why he was standing kind of funny. I guess I don’t know what a lot of sword techniques look like.”

  I nodded, which was, again, a mistake. “Ow. Ugh, I need to stop doing that. Anyway, yeah, the stance was the obvious clue. It was possible Raizo had just learned one of the styles from my homeland, but he dropped a couple other clues in there. He used the name Dawnbringer, for example, whereas the Tails of Orochi always seem to call her the Sword of Dawn’s Bright Light. I think probably either a cultural difference or a linguistic one, since I know Kaito also mentioned that Valian isn’t his native language.”

  “Not all of the Tails of Orochi necessarily have the same native language...but that’s still a good thing to pick up on.”

  I smiled. “Also, he nodded at me, which was a pretty big hint.”

  “Seriously? Just a nod?”

  I shrugged. That was also a mistake. “Ow. Yes. It seemed out of place for a random opponent I’d never met before. A nod of acknowledgement to an opponent isn’t uncommon, but it didn’t seem like that kind of nod. More like a ‘get ready’ nod.”

  “I have no idea how you’re supposed to tell those apart, but okay, sure.” Reika took another bite of her food. “I’ll take your word for it.”

  “You’ll probably pick up on those differences more once we get a chance to see more people. I’m not going to say I’m perfect at reading social cues — I’m definitely not — but sometimes it’s possible to make an educated guess based on context. The nod was just one more factor.”

  Reika nodded, taking another bite. “How’d he get all the way to us?”

  “Oh, I think he was following us the whole time. Remember when I mentioned seeing a glowing ball of light following us?”

  “Oh!” Reika blinked. “You think that was him? That makes sense, I guess. But why do you think he was following us?”

  “I’m pretty sure he wants to be friends. I...may have confused him a little.”