He pressed on the Snake Cutter's scabbard, lowering his body, white mist escaping from his nose and teeth. In his unmoved heart, all was clear. The world left only a point and a line - the line was the sword in his hand, the point was the archon's throat.
The last time he truly drew this sword was ten years ago.
Battojutsu, or iaijutsu.
Iaijutsu is the art of drawing the sword and striking in one motion, achieving victory in an instant from a static position. Unlike kendo where victory is sought after swords are drawn and crossed, in iaijutsu, victory is decided before the swords meet.
Seino had only this final strike left.
The Snake Cutter, hidden in its scabbard, hadn't tested its edge in ten years. The spirit of this strike had been accumulating for a decade. Though his body had aged, this spirit had grown even more profound.
Soldiers dissipated before him, blood splattered on his cheeks, the smell of blood filled his nostrils. The great serpent was within reach, but he slowed down.
The Raiden Shogun had her "Musou Isshin", the Pillar had his 'Fudo Isshin'.
Fudoshin.
A pure mind, as described in the Diamond Sutra, "developing a mind which has no fixed position". Wang Shouren once explained this state: moving without mind, moving according to opportunity.
A thoughtless strike is without thought, without conception, the eternal way. Detached from the fleeting world, seeking the pure land's constant way, shattering attachments with emotionless lightning. Thus, it is supremely strong and fierce, unstoppable.
But the sword way Seino pursued wasn't thoughtlessness. A ruler can be lonely, she needs to create an eternal paradise, but he is the Pillar, he must try to support this paradise, so he must be unmoved.
In the emptiness of Zen, the world became clear. Everything rapidly faded in his silver-grey eyes.
The vast snowy mountains, the red earth, the leaden sky, even the snowflakes suspended in the air, all melted away in his eyes.
So he didn't need his eyes.
[Your lifespan has decreased by ten days]
He closed his eyes, placing his index finger on the back of the Snake Cutter's blade, gripping without touching his right index finger.
In his ears were the howling wind, the sound of snow evaporating, the frenzied roar of the great serpent, the cries of birds and beasts, the warnings of the Human Principles System. All chaotic and complex, but these too were unnecessary.
[Your lifespan has decreased by twenty days]
He blocked out the sounds.
The slight chill of snowflakes hitting his body, the sudden cold of the biting wind, he discarded these too. In the pale world, slowly, he discarded even the line and point. He discarded this old, dying body. Instinct replaced his thinking. All that was left to him was movement: drawing the sword, arcing, slashing, zanshin, blood-shaking, sheathing.
Simple and pure.
Seino had once contemplated the Raiden Shogun's thoughtless strike. He had also realized his own unmoved strike.
Body unmoved, heart moves first.
[Your lifespan has decreased by twenty days]
[Your lifespan has decreased by...]
Human Principles System kept updating his remaining time, but Seino could no longer hear these. He put his entire life into this sword, pouring all of his remaining life force into the Snake Cutter!
"Huff—"
Suddenly.
It had been snowing heavily just moments ago, but now it started to rain.
The rain fell heavily, as if pouring down on Yashiori Island from nowhere. The sky was pale, as if covered by a layer of gray glass.
The annoying raindrops hit Seino's nearly motionless body, rebounding in shallow white lines. White flashes rolled in the pale cloud layer, occasionally illuminating the ground below, suddenly brightening the entire world, making the snow plain mirror-like, the mountains silver.
The demon serpent sensed the danger. Its eyes were full of frenzied blood color. It wanted to escape but found it couldn't move. That sword was still in Seino's scabbard, that mortal hadn't moved at all, as if frozen, yet it felt it couldn't escape.
It was as if, in another world, it had already been cut.
Four hundred years ago, it was this very strike that had taken its head.
If it couldn't avoid it, then face it head-on!
Orobashi roared. It was a god. It had fled for four hundred years. It wouldn't hide anymore!
Those mortals had the resolve to end everything. How could it, as a god, endure such humiliation again!
Overwhelming impurity gathered in its mouth. It leaped up, making the earth tremble. Its red-gold metallic scales slashed through the night sky. It opened its jaws, thousands of screams echoing from the abyssal maw. It exhausted all it had accumulated over four hundred years, transforming into a sea of raging fire.
It moved first.
This was the moment.
Seino slowly moved. He opened his eyes, his silver-grey eyes seeing everything. The howling wind sounded in his ears again. Then, he drew his sword!
The world instantly turned white, the snow plain trembled, the frost cleared. Lightning descended from the sky. All sounds were lost in the thunder, all colors faded in the lightning. The entire world was left with only pure white, that pure and flawless world!
....
Seino Sara looked at the snow accumulated on the corner of Tenshukaku's eaves, thinking about what the Raiden Shogun had just said, "Write to him, die outside, don't come back," and began to feel troubled.
She was a straightforward girl, doing whatever she was told, but the problem was... she didn't know where her father had gone either.
Her father's travel vacation, he hadn't even told her about it.
She frowned slightly, her heart involuntarily starting to worry.
It's so cold today, did father wear enough clothes... But she shook her head, dispelling the thoughts in her mind.
From the age of ten, she had made up her mind to follow the Pillar for her entire life. As an attendant, she must not go against the master's wishes.
She looked at the snowy landscape in the distance, at the vast night, and suddenly froze.
Her pupils dilated slightly.
That was a color she would never forget in this life, a color she had followed all her life. Seino Sara thought she would never see it again, but unexpectedly, it appeared before her once more.
That pure white world.
But strangely, though she saw it again, her heart suddenly trembled.
Suddenly, slightly panicked footsteps sounded behind her. The Raiden Shogun—no, Ei—quickly walked to the edge of the terrace, looking towards the direction of that color.
"Impossible..."
Seino Sara heard Ei's lips trembling.
—"How could he... be there?"