Chapter 6: GreenwareChapter Text
Standing in the forest that has become a second home for me in the past five years I think about how I've changed and how I've improved. Now a decade into this second life I've taken to reminiscing about my past. I'd have never imagined this brutal reality to be mine if asked in my past life but I've found that expectations matter little, only what you can grasp in your own hands truly has meaning.
From the tiny body I had before, I've grown to four feet tall, my muscles have grown adding definition to my frame. My hair has yet to be cut in this life and reaches my waist, long white locks flowing freely. My horns have stretched and thickened becoming sturdy and sharp. Looking at my reflection I have mixed feelings. I enjoy the way I look, the way I feel, yet each day I forget more of who I was before. I try my best to hold on but sometimes I wonder what I'm holding on to. My hands can crush through a thick tree, my fist shatter rock, and when I run the ground cracks and craters. What need have I of memories of weakness?
Even with this in mind, I look at my mother in this life. If I hadn't retained my memories would I be able to love her as I've come to? My instincts from this life say to cast her aside since I've already surpassed her strength. That she should have died years ago for her weakness. The humanity I've retained, however, sees the one person in this place that cares for me. I'm her daughter not just an ingot of iron to forge into a weapon to point at her enemies.
Staring at the dark sky above I let my thoughts flow from me. I drop my focus into myself and feel my life force. My growth and training have done wonders for my burgeoning Ki. Where before it was akin to a bead of dew condensed upon a blade of grass, it is now the life-giving rain that provides for the whole forest.
I wasn't able to conceal my experiments in Ki from the Elder who said as a Sage he was able to read my lifeforce and see that I had dabbled in Senjutsu. I have managed to keep my Grudge Flames and prowess in Kyudo a secret, however.
Archery had become a martial path and a spiritual one for me. The calm surety of the bow kept me grounded and in control of the roiling anger that would sweep through me when practicing Senjutsu. Each time I stretched the string of the bow it felt as though I was stretching my soul; each arrow loosed causing my soul to snap back, slightly larger and more resilient each time. The twang of the bow was like a clear ringing bell soothing my spirit and bringing me a semblance of peace. Not only that it kept the bond between my mother and I strong.
My practice in the path of the sword had a different effect. Where the bow expanded my spirit, the sword sharpened it, honing it to a frightening edge. When manifested before, my killing intent washed over my surroundings in a howling storm of rage, hunger, and pain. Now it was the sharpened point of a spear; it approached swiftly, purposefully, and aimed straight for the throat.
My attempts at Jinzen allowed me to feel the emptiness of the sword. The sword had no spirit and I realized that when I swung the sword, neither did I or my opponent. In that instant, there is nothing but the action, the intent does not matter. Through this I learned to reflect that emptiness should I need to.
The falling sword bears no will and strikes like a bolt from the heavens to cleave through all before it, with no sympathy nor regret. Swinging my sword in the forest alone thousands upon thousands of times caused any intent to fade from my swings. By now there was only death on the edge of the blade. My lack of intent allowed me to cleave off the Elder's hand in a duel. He of course ripped off my arm in recompense then berated me for not showing my will to kill, to maim, to hurt.
I had hit a block in my recreation of Tiger Style for a while. My paws were too small, my body too thin, my claws too short, and my muscles too weak. This lead me to experiment with shapeshifting. I knew it was likely possible from the myths of Oni in my past life but had no way of knowing if I was throwing time away in a useless endeavor. How correct were tales from my last life if I didn't even know if this was the same world? It wasn't until my eighth year in this world that I saw any success in this technique.
Like most things in my life, it was rage and desperation that unlocked this. I had made the mistake of angering the Elder by talking back, something I blame on exhaustion and lost patience. In recompense, he took my right arm and said if I could not take it from him in a week then he'd burn it. While Oni can reattach limbs easily, regrowing limbs takes a qualitative change in power that comes from reaching a higher class of existence. The Elder could regrow limbs as he'd shown when I cut his hand off, I could not.
For five days I fought as hard as I could without revealing my flames yet I could not get my arm back. On the sixth day after waking up, I watched his servant take him his morning sake and was hit by inspiration. I spent the entire day forcing my body to change into hers and managed a passable replication by night. When night had fallen I knocked her out and finished matching my features to hers. In the morning I collected his sake and took it to his study.
-Flashback-
Walking into the Elder's study I dutifully play the role of his servant while keeping the fact I'm missing an arm hidden the best I can. Watching the Elder sip his sake I spot my arm in the corner.
Thinking quickly I make a distraction, "Elder-Sama your study has become dusty, may I clean it for you?"
The Elder eyes open from enjoying his drink a glare being thrown my way, "I allow you to live because I wish for someone to handle the trivial tasks in this life of mine. When you ask foolish things like this it makes me question that decision. Hurry, I expect my study to be spotless."
After he waves me off negligently I begin cleaning. As I clean the area where my arm was stored I discretely reattach it and continue my work.
As I collect his dishes and prepare to leave I hear him say something disgusting, "You're lucky I'm in a good mood today, as my grandchild has been becoming strong. If she hadn't done something surprising, I'd rip your arms off and fuck you to death on this desk for your ineptitude."
Looking at his cruel smile I resist the urge to throw up. "Thank you for your mercy Elder-Sama." Bowing nearly horizontal I scurry out of the room.
Moving at full speed out to the forest I release the contents of my stomach onto the forest floor.
-Flashback End-
The servant wasn't seen again so I think he made good on that promise. Her face haunts me the most when it flickers into my flames. When I kill the bastard I'll be sure to manifest her to do it, it's the only justice this cruel world will give her. What he did made my hate for him expand beyond what I had ever thought it could. His sins were boundless before yet that one action alone weighed the same in my mind as all his others.
Shapeshifting was… interesting. The changes I could make were almost all limited to size, I also had to conform to my natural body shape remaining entirely humanoid. My physical sex also couldn't change. I could make myself look like a boy or a man but I would lack the… parts. This might be because I lacked skill in shapeshifting though.
It did help me in my Tiger Style training enough to push through the barrier I was at before. Once I could mimic a tiger's physique, the movements became more fluid and purposeful. I became the king of the forest in actuality. After I had imprinted these techniques on my body translating that to my normal physique was trivial.
I also played around with making myself larger and more muscular and seeing how it affected my physical ability. The results were disappointing, to say the least. My physical strength seemed to be less physical and more spiritual. Sure the physical component helped slightly but not enough to be viable. What did help, was enlarging an arm or just my fist to make a larger shield to block an attack. Also, using a giant fist to hit something made it harder to dodge and was just fun.
Since my Ki had expanded I was able to practice my Touki far easier than before. Instead of just using it as a body-wide shield and strengthening field or applying a small amount to wrap around aplomb I tried focusing the entirety of my Touki to a single spot.
Drawing my Touki out in full I tried to condense it down onto one hand. The closer it all got to my hand the harder it got to move it. The more that moved to my hand the brighter it glowed as well. After a half-hour of herculean effort, it was finally all on my hand.
Glowing like a small sun I marveled at it before moving my hand. The air cracked as it cavitated in the wake of my movement, the sheer aura disturbing the air. Drawing my hand into a fist I punch out and watch as a pressure wave erupts blowing debris out of the clearing and causing the trees to sway dangerously. Dissipating my Touki I smile.
The last thing I experimented with was my Grudge Flame. While they were powerful on their own I found that they could be combined with my other skills and my Touki to great effect. With my bow, I could make an arrow of fire that sought the target of the Grudge. This means I had to disperse the flames as they tried to fly to the Elder.
With my sword, the Onibi sharpened the edge allowing me to cleave through rock and likely metal. It caused my Touki to become hungry, for a lack of a better term, as it ate the life energy around me. With my martial arts, it caused the instincts of a tiger to flow into me, probably due to Byakko's influence. When I combined my Touki, martial arts, and Onibi the results were… awkward.
-Flashback-
Asuga walked into the forest looking for her daughter. Ibaraki-chan had been training frantically recently and she wished to help lessen the stress her daughter was under. Perhaps, spending time practicing archery would help. Her daughter had become more willing to express affection once they began training together.
Asuga smiles at the thought, her daughter still didn't talk much but became fond of cuddling or being pet on the head. She almost coos at the thought but worries her daughter would hear her. She knows Ibaraki-chan would end up pouting and avoiding her for around a week if that happened again.
Walking into the clearing her daughter usually trains in she looks around at toppled trees and shattered boulders. That would be normal if not for the claw marks burnt into everything. She slows her approach and scans her surroundings. Hearing a coughing roar she shifts her gaze to the trees.
She readies her bow to kill the tiger approaching her but pauses as it walks into the clearing. Walking on all fours is her daughter alit in grey flame in an eerie spectral cloak. Her daughter? Sniffs the air before purring and practically teleporting to her side. She starts rubbing her head on Asuga's leg then runs her side across while arching her back, tail going straight.
Shocked Asuga mechanically runs a hand across the flames on her daughter's back and is rewarded with another purr. Abruptly the cloak fades and her daughter's form stiffens. She turns her head and looks at Asuga before turning redder than Asuga's own skin and retreating into the treeline at full speed.
Unable to stop herself Asuga starts to laugh. When she hears a mortified wail from the trees she laughs even harder.
-Flashback End-
In the last five years, I had progressed more than I thought and even enjoyed this life at times. Tomorrow, however, I would have to face my third trial. In it, I would decide my path, my future.