Chapter 43: Quaking Feathers

Soujin’s body instinctively tensed but a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He’d always known how ninjas were supposed to be from his previous life. Everything about their existence was about gaining an advantage in the shadows. This was how they came at him. With strategy and a clear understanding of the forces that could break even his most basic instincts.

The desire to end this quickly tugged at him but he resisted.’ I don't want to have to use my sword magic here, but…’

The Lieutenant’s lips parted but this time she spoke her words colder than before. “Reverse, Jishinhime.”

The blade of the lieutenant transformed. It became blue and feather-shaped within a second. Soujin’s senses were on high alert.

A greenish glow surrounded his blade subtly. His Mystcry formed a shield around him with the wind flowing like a soft current beneath his feet. His posture tightened, his gaze fixed. ‘Stay sharp,’ he told himself. ‘If I keep my guard up then—‘

Before he could fully prepare, the Lieutenant vanished. It was as if she dissolved into the very air itself.

“What…?” Soujin muttered. His eyes darted to every corner, every shadow but she was nowhere. The stillness of the air around him seemed too quiet.

And then, without warning, he caught a glimpse of movement too fast for his eyes to fully track. She materialized right before him with a speed that seemed impossible.

Soujin’s reflexes kicked in. He swung his blade just in time to block the slash but the force of it rattled up his arm. The Lieutenant’s sword was light, almost weightless and yet it carried the force of a mountain.

Before he could regain his stance, she spun around to strike again. Soujin didn’t have time to counter so instead, he tried to dash out of range, but—

“You won’t escape me like the others,” the Lieutenant’s stated coldly. Her eyes glinted with a predatory light. She closed the distance between them once more.

Before Soujin could react, her blade kissed his arm. The sharp sting of the cut sent a jolt through his body and in the instant that followed, a faint blue feather—like the shape of her blade had appeared on the wound.

The moment the feather appeared, everything clicked into place. Soujin’s eyes widened and for the first time, the situation he was in fully came to his mind.

‘Fight or die.’

The words the Lieutenant had spoken earlier echoed in Soujin’s mind like a haunting mantra. His grip tightened on his blade. Was that the real intention here? His question burned like fire in his chest.

“Fight or die…” Soujin said. Then he shouted, “But why? Do you really want me dead?”

The lieutenant moved again while ignoring his question. She cured the blade in the air to a razor-sharp arc which was aimed directly at Soujin’s chest. He barely sidestepped but the sheer force of her movement left him off-balance.

He spun around but she was already right behind him.

“Every battle should be treated as if it’s your last, Soujin,” the Lieutenant spoke low. “That’s the principle of true strength. You’ve been holding back, and you’ll continue to hold back until you’ve got nothing left, won’t you?”

Another slash came across Soujin’s arm. Soujin felt the sting of the cut along his arm. The cut didn’t just sting; it burned with a sharp, unnatural cold.

Soujin then caught the faint glimmer of the blue feather mark forming on the wound. There was two of them now.

“Should have known, Soujin,” she said. “The moment I released my sword magic, you should’ve done the same. But here you are, trying to keep your power under wraps. How foolish.”

Her words stung more than the cut on his arm, for she was right. He had been holding back. He still was.

They clashed again gritted his teeth and pushed forward. He tried to use his speed to gain a temporary advantage but the Lieutenant was always a single step ahead of his movements.

“You’ve underestimated me,” she said darkly. “And now, it’s going to cost you everything. Even the girl you’re trying so desperately to save—Cera. She’s as good as lost if you think for even a moment that you can fight me with half your strength.”

Soujin’s gaze hardened. “You’re tripping,” he growled. “I ain’t even serious yet!”

The Lieutenant’s lips twitched into a smile. “You can lie all you want, Soujin but I already know everything about you. In the end, the actions you take in battle are all that matters. In this fight, your actions are telling me all I need to know.”

The Lieutenant moved again with another slash, this time across his side. The pain flared sharply as the edge of her sword drew blood. Soujin instinctively raised his arm to block the follow-up strike despite the damage he had taken.

“Enough talk,” Soujin growled. He took a step forward and intended to retaliate but when his sword came down to slash, his arm—the one that had been slashed earlier—jerked violently to the side. The feather-shaped marks left on the wounds seemed to pulse and suddenly, his arm was moving in the opposite direction..

“What the—?!” Soujin hissed. He tried to yank his arm back but it refused to obey him. He swung his other arm to regain balance but it was too late.

The Lieutenant was already closing in to strike for a fatal blow. In a desperate attempt to escape, Soujin kicked out. His foot connected with her midsection just with the force of the impact sending her flying back but she did a graceful backflip mid-air and landed lightly on her feet.

Soujin fell to one knee. He breathed heavy and stared down at the arm that had betrayed him. “What the hell was that?!”

“Do you feel it now?” The Lieutenant asked. “That weightlessness, Soujin? That feather-light touch… it’s deceptive, isn’t it?”

Soujin pushed himself back to his feet. He glared at her.

She twirled her blade once. “Feathers are curious things. They float so delicately but in the right hands, they become an anchor that grounds even the mightiest predator.”

She gestured toward him with the tip of her sword. “Jishinhime doesn’t cut with weight; it cuts with the memory of weight. Every strike leaves an Echo. That feather on your arm?” She smiled faintly. “It’s an anchor to your past movements which is mine to control.”

Soujin’s eyes narrowed as realization dawned. “Oh shit…You’re replaying my movements...”

The woman took a step foward. “You’re a swordsman who relies on speed and reflexes, Soujin, but what happens when your own body turns against you? When your limbs betray the trust you’ve built with them?”

Soujin clenched his teeth.

The lieutenant leveled her blade at him. “Feathers fall lightly, but when enough of them gather, they become heavier than you could ever imagine. Every step you take, every swing of your blade, I’ll turn it back on you until the weight of your own movements crushes you.”

Soujin growled. “You talk too damn much.”

Soujin tightened his grip on the hilt of his blade. "Alright… no more mister nice guy then. I’m gonna give you a swift kick in the ass!"

His gaze locked onto the Lieutenant. She was reading him but Soujin wasn’t about to let her dictate the flow anymore.

With a commanding tone, he called out, "Strafe, Kaze no Montagari!"

In an instant, the air around him shifted. A sigil appeared in his hair with an emerald glow which lit over his face. His blade began to hum as a faint green hue spreading across its surface like veins of energy coursing through its metal.

The winds responded to the release, gathering around the blade with. They swirled and howled around Soujin’s hair and clothing.

The Lieutenant raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

Soujin leveled his blade at her with the tip aimed directly at her chest. “You’ve been running your mouth this whole time,” he said. “Let’s see if you can handle this.”

With a swift thrust, he sent a stream of concentrated wind hurtling across the room. The gust tore through the air. The force hit the far wall and splitered the beams behind the Lieutenant which left a jagged crack in the foundation. The room groaned under the strain.

The Lieutenant didn’t flinch. She sidestepped the gust with ease, though her eyes lingered on the aftermath.

“Impressive,” she said though her speech was now edged with curiosity. She thought to herself, ‘This place wasn’t cheap to make, she mused, her expression unreadable. Squad 8’s technology reinforced it with expensive materials, designed to withstand even advanced sword magic. And yet... he managed to leave a dent in it.’

Her eyes narrowed. She had already gathered intelligence on his speed and sword magic but now, there was something else… There was an unnatural shife in his Mystcry levels. It’s stronger... sharper than the days of the past before his ‘death’. ‘Has he been holding back all this time, or is it something else?’

While she calculated her next move, Soujin darted forward with winds around him surging in tandem with his blade. He unleashed another blast of air at her.

The Lieutenant pivoted to dodge the incoming strike. The wind howled past her and grazed the hem of her uniform. She moved to close the distance between them and lunged for Soujin.

Soujin felt it again—the strange, unnatural resistance in the movement of his arm but this time, he didn’t fight against it.

Instead, he loosened his grip and let his sword slip from his fingers while his hand went through the motion..

The Lieutenant’s eyes widened ever so slightly. Her gaze dropped briefly to the falling blade.

“What are you—?”

Her words halted when she caught a glimpse of his feet shifting. Too late, she realized the ploy.

He dropped the sword on purpose...

Soujin’s body twisted in a seamless motion. Using the momentum of the drop, he closed the gap between them.

The unnatural resistance of Jishinhime left Soujin’s arms. The moment he felt his Mystcry flow freely again, an exhilaration surged through him.

"I’ve got her," he muttered beneath the roaring winds.

The Lieutenant’s eyes widened. Her lunge had committed her forward, leaving her open. Soujin shifted his weight fluidly. His foot hooked beneath the hilt of Kaze no Montagari which was on the ground.

In a single motion, he kicked the blade upward and it spun into the air. Wind gathered around the sword, wrapping it in a vortex of slicing energy. Soujin extended his hand and manipulated the currents to guide its trajectory with deadly precision.

The Lieutenant barely had time to react. Her instincts told her to block but her Mystcry was momentarily disrupted as Soujin also unleashed a gust of wind while delivering a diagonal slash across her torso.

The force of the impact was amplified from the concentrated wind which sent her flying backward like a ragdoll. She crashed against the far wall with a resounding thud. Dust and debris cascaded from the ceiling as cracks spiderwebbed outward from where she hit.

The Lieutenant slumped against the wall. Blood trickled from the wound on her torso which stained her uniform and some also escaped from her lips and drained down. Despite the pain, her lips curled into a defiant smile.

Soujin stood tall with the winds swirling faintly around him. He regarded the Lieutenant with a wry smirk.

“Whatever the hell you’ve got on me seems outdated. You should really re-evaluate.”

The Lieutenant wiped some of the draining blood off of her mouth with the back of her hand. “You’ve changed for true, then.”

With a grunt of effort, she pushed herself up from the wall. Dust and bits of debris slid off her uniform. Her stance remained strong despite her injury and her sword began to glow faintly.

“Fine,” she said simply. “Shinkenzan.”

Soujin’s brow furrowed slightly. “Shinkenzan?” He’d never heard the term before.

Before he could brace himself for her next move, she suddenly froze. Her gaze flicked toward the room with a staircase and door which was in the front of the room. A pressure was unleashed into the room feinty.

Soujin noticed the subtle change immediately.

“What now?” he muttered while glancing around.

The answer came in the form of echoing footsteps. The sound descended from above. A series of sliding doors opened one by one as a figure emerged from behind them.

Soujin’s eyes darted upward at the newcomer.

Draped in a black cloak and hood with green-striped accents, the figure moved with a ghost-like grace. Their mask obscured their features leaving only their piercing, observant eyes visible. The air around them seemed to ripple with unspoken authority.

Soujin stiffened instinctively with his grip on Kaze no Montagari tightening. “Damn it, do I have another enemy to deal with here?”