Chapter 28: samurai mushroom
The samurai gripped on his blade tightened.
Only humans have that ability…
That meant one thing, this mushroom was different. Dangerous.
But Yuno wasn't trying to fight. He had to de-escalate the situation.
"We're all mushrooms here," Yuno said, keeping his voice even. "There's no need for aggression."
A silence stretched between them.
Then.
A movement.
Fast. Too fast.
Yuno barely registered it, a blur of motion. An object hurtled toward him, slicing through the air.
A hat?
It spun like a razor-sharp disc, closing in on him in an instant.
I can't dodge.
Yuno froze. His instincts screamed at him to move, but his body refused. The sheer pressure radiating from the samurai mushroom made it impossible.
He closed his eyes.
SHING!
A whisper of steel. A flicker of motion.
Then nothing.
Slowly, Yuno opened his eyes. The samurai mushroom was no longer in his previous position.
Then.
Click.
The sound of a blade returning to its sheath.
Yuno's body trembled. The samurai had already moved past them. His hand reached out, catching his hat mid-air. With a smooth motion, he placed it back on his head.
That was all.
There was nothing more to say.
A warrior like him didn't need words. His blade spoke for him.
Yuno exhaled sharply, the weight of death still lingering.
Did he spare me?
For a moment, he thought it was over.
Then he felt it.
A sharp, searing pain.
Yuno's vision blurred. His body felt light.
Then.
Schlp.
His entire form split in two.
A perfect, flawless cut.
His severed halves hit the ground with a soft, almost peaceful sound. His consciousness faded instantly.
Everything turned dark.
The piglet beside him stood frozen.
She didn't understand.
One moment, Yuno was alive.
The next,
he was in pieces.
Her small, trembling hands hovered over his remains. Her breathing quickened.
Then.
It hit her.
Her body shook violently. A heat boiled within her. Rising. Burning. Consuming.
Her disguise, the careful act she had upheld, fell away, fluttering uselessly to the ground.
Because there was no need for it anymore.
There was only one emotion left inside her.
Rage.
A deep, consuming rage.
Her small frame trembled, not from fear, but from hatred.
A low grunt escaped her lips.
It grew. Louder. Deeper.
Then.
She roared.
Her entire body surged forward. A blur of motion, reckless and unhinged.
She charged.
She didn't care about death.
She didn't care if she lost.
All she wanted, was to tear that samurai mushroom apart.
The warrior, calm as ever, remained still.
Then, his blade moved.
A flash. A whisper of steel.
The piglet collapsed mid-charge.
Her body hit the ground, her vision blurring. A sharp, unbearable pain coursed through her, but she couldn't even tell where the blow had landed.
She was too slow.
Too weak.
Above her, the samurai mushroom stood, blade raised once more.
His stance changed.
Both hands gripped the hilt.
A finishing blow.
This was an execution.
He prepared to strike down, his focus unwavering.
Then.
BWOOOOOOM!
A deep, resonating trumpet blast echoed through the area.
The samurai mushroom's body stiffened.
His eyes flickered toward the distance.
This sound.
It was a call.
An urgent command.
Without hesitation, he lowered his blade.
His mission had changed.
In an instant, his body blurred. He vanished, heading straight for the city center.
The ground trembled in his wake. Even the stones seemed to respond to the call.
Then silence.
Only the unconscious piglet and the lifeless remains of Yuno remained.
But.
Something stirred.
The space between Yuno's severed halves.
It was filling.
Something was happening.
And this battle…
Was far from over.
The ground beneath them trembled with an unsettling intensity, a rhythmic pulse that seemed to resonate with the urgent trumpet call. The boulders, once slow-moving sentinels, now surged forward with newfound purpose, abandoning their pursuit of the intruders. The samurai mushroom, his blade still raised, cast one final glance at the fallen piglet before vanishing into the shifting landscape, his duty overriding any lingering interest in the creatures before him.
The grass was soft beneath his fragile body, the cool touch of the earth contrasting with the heat of the battle that had just transpired. The world around him felt distant, muted as if he had been separated from it entirely. Yet, something was stirring.
His small, lifeless halves lay apart from each other, motionless split cleanly by the samurai's blade. There was no breath, no movement. By all means, he was dead.
But then, something impossible began to happen.
A strange energy, unseen but deeply felt, started to weave itself between the two halves. Slowly, as if guided by an unseen force, the space between them shimmered. An invisible thread, like the pulling of time in reverse, began drawing them back together. The fibers of his being reconnected, and a pulse, faint but growing began to beat within him once more.
He had come back to life.
His small body trembled as he regained awareness, a sudden rush of sensations flooding his mind. The weight of death still clung to him like a cold shroud, the memory of that silent, imperceptible strike lingering. He had felt the blade carve through him. He had experienced the void of nothingness. Yet, here he was alive, breathing, whole.
This doesn't make sense…
He was sure absolutely certain that he had no resurrection coins left. There was no logical explanation for this. His heart pounded in his tiny chest, an unsettling mix of fear and confusion spreading through his mind.
And then, the realization struck him like a boulder.
His companion.
His gaze snapped to the unconscious piglet lying just a few feet away. She was motionless, her small form unnervingly still. Terror gripped him. Had she survived?
Ignoring his own confusion, he forced himself to his feet, his tiny legs nearly giving out beneath him. His body still felt strange. like it wasn't fully his, like something fundamental had changed. But he couldn't afford to dwell on that now. He stumbled forward, reaching her side.
"Pig…" his voice was barely above a whisper. He nudged her gently. No response.
His tiny hands trembled as he grabbed onto her fur. He shook her, his breaths growing more frantic. Still nothing.
"No… No, no, no." His voice cracked, raw with emotion. "You can't… You can't be"