Apo stood on the beach, he just brought up a few people from the arena. He was a bit tired but mostly he was surprised.
'Those two kids are insane. We took longer to get that level of strength back in the day.' His thoughts were interrupted by panicking and screaming around him, he looked up to see a huge wave heading towards him, it was at least 50 metres high. He was about to do something when about 20 samurai ran forward. When they were at knee depth they put their swords into the sea and swung them forward with all their strength, pushing the water ahead. They created a large wave of there own which ran forward and collided with the other. It was a valiant effort but their wave wasn't strong enough. The wave caused by Nishi came towards the shore, it had lost a significant amount of power, it ran unto the land slamming people back. Some were hurt but there wasn't significant damage.
....
Gwyn woke up in her room, her father was sitting next to her.
"Awake at last" Nobu said
She slowly sat forward and tried to recollect her memories. She remembered blacking out after Nishi's punch.
She lost
She fell back into bed, disappointed.
Her father came towards her with rock about the size of his fist and held it against the wound on her forehead, it slowly pulsed to life with a small but steady glow. Her head felt better.
"The hell is that?" She asked
"A healing stone" he replied.
"Wow! How come I've never heard of anything like that? "
"Because I made sure you didn't. Knowing you and your brother you'd probably rip your bodies apart if you knew there was a quick fix."
"So that means Nishi will be fine then! You can just heal that arm he lost! " she was elated, her brothers goals were obscure to her but she didn't want him to fail. Not so soon. Not because of her.
Nobu looked away.
"No. He won't be fine. Healing stones aren't that simple. They pull the life energy from one part of your body and use it to heal another. Clench your left fist. "
She tried but a few of her fingers were unresponsive.
"See? Those are temporarily paralyzed, all I did was heal the small wound on your forehead, imagine trying to regrow an entire limb. Healing him will only cause more trouble, he has to leave that hand behind." Nobu said
The reality of the situation hit Gwyn, this fight changed Nishi's life forever.
"It doesn't stop there. Nishi multiplied his strength, remember I warned you about that years ago? Some of his nerves are permanently damaged from the power he forced into himself. His pain tolerance won't be briefly heightened like yours was though, it's more long-term. His sense of touch is useless. He'll never feel anything again." a tear streaked Nobu's face as he said that.
Gwyn was shook, it's worse than she thought.
"As for you. You'll be bedridden for a while but you have nothing to worry about. Rest up" Nobu said as he walked out.
^ ^
~
...A year had past since the fight, Gwyn was all better and continued training. So did Nishi, though he lost an arm and his sense of touch he pushed on. If anything he worked twice as hard as before, due to his loss of touch he couldn't feel his muscles give out, he couldn't feel the pain he put himself through. So when his body begged him to stop he didn't. His fighting style had changed to accommodate his new condition. He worked endlessly to master one armed combat.
Gwyn sat at small table drinking with some townspeople.
"What did the pirate say on his 80th birthday?" she asked
"Aye 'matie! Hahaha" she said in a pirate voice. She was quite amused at herself.
No one else laughed though.
"Come on that was funny! " she begged.
"Then why aren't we laughing? " a fat guy at the table asked
"How come you never see elephants hiding in trees?"
"Uh..." he began.
"Because they're very, very good at it Hahaha"
Still no one laughed.
"Damn y'all are a tough crowd. Hey more sake over here!" She said.
But before her drink came a large man walked in and addressed her.
"Lord Gwyn. Your father has sent for you." he said in a deep voice
"Tell him I'm busy" she waved the messenger off
"He said it's urgent my Lord."
"Fine"
Gwyn stood and followed him. About 15 minutes later she was with her father. He sat on the floor with his back to her.
"Gwyn" he began.
" I've watched you grow for years now you've made mistakes, you've made me worry. But most importantly you've made me proud."
He got up and took two Katana off their stand. And sat facing her. One of the swords had a black handle with what seemed to be traces of gold weaving throughout it, the blades themselves were shiner than usual. The other was the same except it was white.
He handed her the white handled one.
"Many centuries ago when Deities still walked among men, a warrior god went to slay the six headed beast. It was a fearsome monster, he planned to put it's rein to an end. He attacked the creature but when his sword slammed into it, it shattered. The shards fell at different places around the world. The metal was light enough for a young boy to lift but hundreds of times stronger than anything known to man. These swords were made from one of those shards."
"The swords were made in hell." he told her
"Hell?" She asked, surprised
"That's the name of the forge, not hell hell. Dozens of men died trying to forge these two blades. Because of that they were considered as cursed, a sign from the God's that men mustn't possess such things. I think it was just to teach us that strength comes at a cost. Everyone sacrifices something to gain it."
"What did I sacrifice?" She truly wanted to know.
"Maybe if you weren't obsessed with fighting you'd be married with a few kids by now" he laughed a bit before getting serious once more.
"Or maybe you've sacrificed your sanity."
"What?" She asked.
"Instead of falling back or thinking rationally in danger you laugh. You laugh when you think you might die. It intensifies once you start slaying your enemies. You don't realize what you look like while fighting so let me tell you. You look like a crazed demon running wild on the battlefield adorned with blood, laughing maniacally as you massacre men, finding joy in their demise. A few warriors throughout history were like this. None of them good. I trust you'll keep your darker side in check though." He stopped talking and got even more serious.
"Gwyn I'm handing my position to you. You'll lead the clan from now on."
"What!? But father... " she struggled to find words.
"What if the people don't accept me?"
"They will. For I'll command them to. Your the right choice."
"But I didn't even win the duel. Nishi did, and he can still fight it's not like you have no choice. All I wanted was to be a samurai like you. That was my dream, you don't have to do this."
"Nishi did win the fight. He won fair and square, strength isn't the only trait of a leader though. Compassion, love, those are too, when the glass broke you stopped fighting. You pushed your well-being to the back of your mind and was ready to save your people. That's the leader I choose to take my place." Nobu stood and sheathed the black sword.
"Prepare your mind I'll be back soon." Nobu said as he walked out.
...
Gwyn walked down the hall to her room, she looked at portraits of her forefathers along the walls. Could she be as great as them? She wondered.
At that moment the mansion, no the very earth seemed to roar in pain. Everything shook, the portraits fell and parts of the floor began to break apart. Gwyn was thrown forwards, she laid there, daring not to move. If Nishi's blow which shook the clan could be described as a strong wind this was definitely a hurricane. The terror continued on for about 30 minutes then stopped as quickly as it started. Gwyn ran outside to see small cracks all over the ground, she ran through the clan making sure everyone was fine.
After about an hour she was satisfied that the people were safe.
"Lord Gwyn! Lord Gwyn! Gwyn!! She turned around to see a samurai running towards her. He collapsed at her feet, out of breath, tears flooding his face.
He slowly got up
"It's Nobu."
"He's dead"