'What comes after One Kill?'
A long time ago.
After learning the mnemonic for the secret sword technique, [One Kill], from his master.
When Nobody asked, his master snorted in disbelief while taking a swig from his bottle.
'Nothing, you idiot. This is the only swordsmanship I have to teach you in the first place.'
The master had never taught Nobody any swordsmanship before.
He only took in the blind Nobody and taught him how to sharpen his other senses so he could live a normal life without sight.
He trained him to build stamina for handling a sword, corrected his basic posture, and made him practice the fundamentals to death.
For ten years. Finally, Nobody, who could live decently as a person even without sight, received his first and last swordsmanship lesson, [One Kill].
'It's such a reckless swordsmanship. You can cut anything, but you have to throw away your life in return...'
'Don't talk nonsense, you blind fool.'
The master, who had also lost his sight in the war and was likewise blind, chuckled and spat out curses.
'There's no swordsman who doesn't risk his life when swinging a sword.'
'...!'
'Your life is already out of your pocket. The moment you decided to live by the sword, you threw your life away. All you can do is swing with all your might.'
The master gulped down his bottle.
'After that, it's not up to you whether you live or die. It will be decided by the strength of the enemy you face.'
'...'
'If your opponent can be cut down by your skill, they'll die. If not, you will. It's that simple.'
From the beginning, it meant that a swordsman must live every moment with the resolve to die together with their enemy.
This was even more true for the blind Nobody. If he swung his sword with a half-hearted mind, he would only be defeated and die.
Every time, in every fight, he had to draw his sword with the resolve to kill the opponent and die himself to move forward.
'Always fight with the spirit of One Kill. With your crappy talent and poor body, you won't be able to use this secret sword properly even if you die and come back to life. Just grit your teeth and use it clumsily, and you'll still be able to do your part.'
Pouting, Nobody grumbled.
'What if I perfect this secret sword someday?'
'That would mean you've found the best place to die. It means you've defeated an opponent you couldn't handle originally, using a talent you couldn't reach normally.'
Thud!
The master struck his old sword scabbard against the ground and spoke in a serious tone.
'But remember. A sword is a means, never a purpose.'
'...'
'Don't focus on how you cut with the sword. Think about what you will protect with the result of that cut. Money is fine, people are fine, even a petty belief you can't trade for anything else is fine.'
Swoosh-
The master threw the scabbard. Nobody, blind, clumsily caught it, sensing its presence.
It was an old sword.
It was an heirloom passed down from the master's ancestors from the Eastern Continent, an item he never let anyone touch.
'No matter how many pretty words you attach, a sword is just a killing tool. But, if you can protect what you need to protect with that sword...'
After casually passing down the secret sword and heirloom to his disciple, the master smiled.
'...Well, then it wouldn't be One Kill anymore, it would be One Life.'
***
Nobody snapped back to reality.
Had the darkness invaded his weakened mind? The last day with his master flashed before his eyes.
The world around him was moving slowly.
It was the unique ultra-focused state of a sensory user. This was why the blind Nobody could move on the battlefield on par with others.
Nobody felt the torrents of tentacles pouring down from all directions and the darkness surrounding the ship.
'...'
Nobody let go of the black sword he had been using, the dragon slayer made from Ipian.
He decided to stop relying on the power of darkness, forgetting the purpose in the act of cutting.
Instead, he grasped the very old sword he always carried at his waist.
Since joining this frontline, Ash had continuously provided him with new equipment. Every time a sword broke in battle, Ash found a better one and gave it to Nobody.
But this old sword always hung at Nobody's waist. Nobody always carried two swords.
The nameless sword his master passed down to him.
The moment he gripped this old, chipped, and unbalanced sword.
"...!"
With a thunderous realization, all the principles of swordsmanship contained in the mnemonic his master had recited became clear.
Nobody realized.
'Ah.'
It's now.
With his left hand holding the scabbard and his right hand gripping the old sword's handle in a reverse grip, he slowly drew the sword completely,
click.
and gently slid the blade back into the scabbard.
The next moment,
flash...!
A fleeting flash of light illuminated the area, followed by the splitting of the darkness.
All the tentacles, claws, and even the shroud that covered the airship were cut horizontally.
Oddly, none of the allies within the path of the sword were harmed.
As if this single strike distinguished between friend and foe...
The darkness shrieked in agony, shattering around the ship. The airship La Mancha pierced through the shroud and advanced into the next darkness.
"Gasp?!"
The black mage Chain, who had been trapped in a shallow nightmare, gasped awake at the flash created by Nobody.
"Nobody?! Hey, are you okay?!"
Chain scrambled across the deck to reach Nobody.
Kneeling on the ground, Nobody's hair had turned white. Blood flowed from his nose and mouth, and the blind swordsman faintly smiled.
"That time when I was a child, at the autumn festival with my master, when I first tasted cotton candy."
"…"
"It was so delicious that I asked what it resembled, and he said it looked like the clouds in the sky."
Before the friend who perfected the secret sword and was dying, Chain sobbed. Nobody murmured in a weakening voice.
"But I didn't know what clouds looked like, so I imagined they were full of cotton candy in the high sky. I wanted to climb up and see it someday."
"…"
"Now that I've come this high, how is it? Is the whole sky filled with cotton candy...?"
Despite the sky still being dark, Chain couldn't help but laugh.
"Yeah, you blind fool. The scent of sweetness is overwhelming. The sky is full of colorful cotton candy."
"Haha. I've achieved my lifelong wish..."
Nobody's breath weakened.
"Compared to the always dark and gloomy sky, a sky filled with all kinds of colorful cotton candy... would be more beautiful."
"…"
"A sky like that... even someone like me, should protect..."
His words were cut off.
Nobody was no longer breathing.
Gripping the shoulder of his friend who died holding the sword, Chain clenched his teeth and looked back.
After barely overcoming one ordeal, the next darkness poured like a waterfall from the next.
Just as his long-time friend did, he too would protect the remaining comrades... and the world.
Chain roared and activated his ultimate skill, transforming into a giant of darkness and taking the waterfall head-on.
***
Kuilan patted his bulging stomach.
"Ah, stop feeding me, brother! I can't eat anymore, my stomach will burst."
"What are you talking about? You're all skin and bones."
On a sunny autumn day. By a clear flowing stream.
Kuilan's brother, Kureha, was tirelessly cooking in a shack set up by the stream.
"If you came to visit after a long time, you need to gain some weight before you go. Just wait a bit. I'm baking dessert pies now."
"Please, enough, brother... I'm really going to become a pig at this rate..."
Kuilan held his full stomach and yawned. He felt drowsy from eating too much.
The sunlight was warm, and the breeze was cool.
If he could just lie down on the mat and take a nap, there wouldn't be anything more pleasant...
Just as Kuilan was about to nod off.
Flash...!
A flash of light flickered from afar.
It was a beautiful light born from a life-risking sword strike.
Kuilan, who had been full and sleepy, suddenly opened his eyes wide. He got up hurriedly.
"I have to go."
"Huh? Where to? What for?"
"To save."
Kuilan clenched his fist and made a sound through his teeth.
"To save Yun."
Kureha chuckled.
"This kid, you finally found someone you like?"
"...Yeah."
"What kind of person is she?"
"A human girl. She's very strong-willed, and she's, um... she likes me. A lot."
Kuilan hesitated before speaking frankly.
"Actually, I was scared. Getting close to someone. Connecting with someone."
"…"
"Afraid of losing them, like I lost my brother. Afraid of gaining another weakness when I'm already so weak..."
After losing someone precious, the fear of experiencing that pain again.
He didn't want to love anyone.
But in the face of Yun's relentless affection, Kuilan eventually opened his heart.
"Honestly, I missed you too, brother."
Kureha smiled as he brought out a freshly baked pie from the oven in the shack.
"I imagined a future where you get married, have children, and live happily..."
"…Brother."
"But it's alright. Even if I can't see it myself, just hearing that you've found someone you want to protect, with your body and soul... makes me happy."
Kureha stuffed a piece of pie into Kuilan's mouth.
"Now you can manage on your own, my brother. So, go quickly!"
"…"
"Leaving the one you love to be saved by someone else, that's just..."
Kureha gave a sly wink.
"That's just not cool, right?"
Kuilan swallowed the pie in one gulp and grinned back.
"That's absolutely true, brother."
Kureha raised his fist. Kuilan lifted his in return, and the brothers' fists met in midair.
"For your sake, I'll live a life bursting with happiness."
"You better. Go, my miracle."
The brother from his memories smiled brightly.
"Now... become the miracle for the one you love."
Kuilan nodded deeply and turned away.
And then...
***
"Ugh...!"
Lunared, who had barely regained consciousness due to Nobody's flash, staggered to his feet.
"How pathetic, to lose consciousness to mere darkness..."
He was far from being in his best condition. Lunared couldn't understand it.
"Why? Even after acquiring such a perfect body, why isn't it working as I want..."
Trembling with frustration, Lunared belatedly realized his body was moving against his will.
His right arm was raised, and over his clenched right fist... a dark red energy was swirling.
That dark red energy was...
"What?"
The curse of the wolf.
It was the curse that turned Lunared into a werewolf and the Leaf Tribe into beastmen.
A virtual 'vessel' pulsating like a heart appeared in midair, and the wolf's curse that had left Kuilan's body began to swirl and pour into it.
"What the hell is this?!"
From the right arm closest to the vessel, the silver-red fur and enlarged muscles receded, returning to the appearance of an ordinary human.
In an instant, the right half of his body transformed from a wolf to a human.
And with his fully human right face, Kuilan spoke.
"Throughout my battles on the front lines, I've come to understand something, ancestor."
"...?!"
"The martial arts you passed down are powerful and dominant, but they differ slightly from the direction I seek."
Kuilan chuckled. Lunared was horrified.
"Believe it or not, I'm a bit of a delicate type. I felt the need to lower the power a bit and increase the precision."
"You mean, from the beginning...!"
"To grow as a martial artist and perfect the martial arts I desire, I needed to... if possible, fully master and then cleanly remove the curse of the wolf."
Now, not only the right side but most of his body was turning back into a human. Lunared was rapidly losing control of the body to its original owner.
"So I let myself be devoured on purpose."
"You... You dared to use me?! Don't be ridiculous! Do you think I'll just disappear quietly-"
"Sorry, but my brother already taught me how to completely remove you."
Kuilan had inherited the power of the ancestral deity.
Applying the 'vessel of the curse' ritual shown by Kureha was well within his capabilities.
From the start, Kuilan had created a small 'vessel' to prevent being fully devoured by Lunared. Using the part where the curse exited as a vent, he had been biding his time to reclaim his body.
Boom!
The 'vessel' on Kuilan's right fist pulsated, concentrating all the curses that had clung to him.
"Stop, descendant! Without the curse of the wolf, what will be left of you?!"
Lunared shouted desperately.
"You... you'll become an ordinary human with a fragile, glass-like body, incapable of wielding the beastly destructive power you once had! What value will you have left then!"
"What defines me is my thoughts and actions."
With only a trace of the wolf left on his face,
Kuilan clenched his right fist tightly.
"I am still a member of the Leaf tribe, a representative of all beastmen, a member of the World Guardian Front..."
A bashful smile appeared on Kuilan's lips.
"And Yun's man."
"You...!"
"Thank you, Grandmaster. For looking out for future generations until the end."
"You little...!"
Lunared couldn't finish his words.
Kuilan's slow preparation of the Leaf Fist stance was distinctly different from what he had devised. No...
'It's improved?'
No longer the wolf's, but human—every aspect was finely honed.
Adapted to be used without relying on the wolf's power.
Without relying on the curse, so that anyone, not just beastmen, could learn and master it... while retaining its basic principles. But it now exuded a gentle, peaceful red glow.
"What is this?"
"The Maple Leaf Fist."
Kuilan, who had progressed through the stances to the position of the Maple Leaf Kata, answered.
"Of the new generation."
"...Ha ha, ha ha ha ha!"
Lunared laughed loudly and shouted.
"You're no longer the 44th head, rookie!"
Kuilan thought this evil ancestor was about to declare his expulsion.
But he wasn't.
"You're the new Grandmaster of your martial arts!"
In an unexpectedly refreshing voice, Lunared acknowledged Kuilan.
"Go. You damned descendant. Surpass me, surpass the clan...!"
Lunared's final, dying words echoed in Kuilan's ears as he blinked in surprise.
"In this new era, go wherever you wish to go!"
Finally, every last bit of the curse left Kuilan's body and moved into the 'vessel.'
"Phew."
Taking a short breath, Kuilan's golden eyes flashed as he looked straight ahead.
The next dark shroud was approaching directly in front of the airship. Kuilan steadied himself and prepared.
Using all the curses and blessings that had resided in his body as fuel, he unleashed the most powerful strike he could, a once-in-a-lifetime technique.
"Ultra."
No longer bound by the initial form set in the past,
surpassing past grudges and sorrows—
"Heartbroken Wind Wolf!"
He unleashed a new secret technique he had pioneered on his own path.
With the martial arts he had refined, combined with the wolf's curse extracted from his body and the Nightmare Slayer, he used them as fuel to enhance its power.
Boom!
A dazzling red maple light exploded, creating a massive hole in the dark shroud.
"Wake up, Yun."
As he filled the dark sky with his light, Kuilan whispered.
"It's morning."