AKAME ASSASINATION (24)
It was like yesterday, Blake felt as though it was only yesterday that he was having this conversation.
"You found him swinging a sword?" On the side of Mt. Fuji, there was a shrine a few meters above the sea level. This shrine was home to a variety of monks who would stay there to train their physicality and their mentality via worship and practice. On this same mountain a man renowned for his amazing swordsmanship lived, not permanently but he would help the monks with physical training whenever he could. He would often be depicted with a black blindfold covering his eyes sometimes bandages. This man was known simply as the sword master.
"Can you believe it, such a young boy yet I could see a fire in his eyes." Blake responded, he often came here as he traveled from shrine to shrine, the same time every year.
"You think he shows promise?" Asked the sword master.
"Perhaps a promise of an early death."
The court yard was empty that morning, winter was closing ever nearer, as such most of the monks were out in the fields with most priests not wanting to climb a mountain on such a cold season.
"All those who swing a sword are destined for the same fate." Blake explained, "To die by the sword they swing."
"Oh?" The sword master chuckled, "Are you saying I am also destined to die by the sword?"
"Yes, you more so than anyone else."
"That would probably be true during my younger days, but I've barely used anything other than a bamboo sword in the last 3 decades since I became the sword master." He explained, "The title itself is no more than just that, a title. Although with that title I am second in command to the emperor of this entire country. I make decisions on his behalf, sometimes I go for meetings when the emperor himself doesn't feel like it. Its so exhausting that sometimes I think all this responsibility might kill me before a sword does."
"I can only imagine, I am just a priest."
"Yes and isn't that enough?"
Blake looked at the man who sat beside him in all the glory and fame he had obtained.
"Isn't it just enough to die by one slash of a sword? Why must we complicate everything, if all swordsmen are destined for that anyway then maybe we should march proudly on the battle field with our head held high ready to lose them In the midst of a fierce battle. Blood boiling, sweat pouring out of your skin, hearts racing and hands gripping our swords as though we've got nothing left to lose."
"Don't most who men think like that end up being labeled as demons?'
"Am I a demon?"
"I'd say so, although it seems Oki has domesticated you a lot, hasn't she?"
The sword master gave and awkward smile as he looked away, "She's doing just fine if that's what you're asking."
"Oh I know she's doing perfectly fine." Blake teased, "But how are you doing?"
"I really do hate you Blake."
"I hate you too, but do say hallo to Oki for me, she has always been the more serious of the both of you."
What is it that a man truly desires? To live on the battlefield, to die by the sword? To live in excess? To live in poverty or to live as the Buddha had intended?
"Questions, questions, questions. Many that seem to have no answer. Live as a man and die as a man."
"?"
Blake repeated, "Live as a man and make sure you die as a man, no need for anything more and no need for anything less that is just the way things are."
"Now you're getting it." The two laughed at their own naivety and the own ignorance. It was true this was a long time ago and things might have even changed, but what hadn't was the philosophy to live as intended, not for anyone else but for yourself.
***
Blake slowly opened his eyes as his mind came back to what he was originally doing before he dozed off. The house was abandoned however, things were still intact. The ball room, the dinning area, the hallways littered with painting of old family members.
Outside was a specialized team he had left with equipment he had set up to analyze the entire house using satellites that hovered above.
"There is a specific one that passes above our village maybe twice a day." Purity notified Blake, since they were in there together. Also some members of Eugine's dojo were also there to lend a helping hand in whatever it was they were doing.
"Scatter and take samples of any kind." Blake ordered, "Anything interesting you can get your hands on bring it to me in those small plastic bags at the entrance."
' Whoever it is that activated the bounty must have known Akame was free and seeing as the only people to know that are the villagers it would be safe to assume that its one of them, however that's not possible since I've monitored each villager interaction myself for the last six months and no one has exited or entered the village without my knowledge.'
As such Blake decided to go to where it all began, there just had to be something our there that gave them a clue to whatever had unfolded here prior to the events that took place in the last 4 days. There was so much ground to cover but so little time.
He gave a sigh, "I just hope I can do it before this five day deadline is over."
***
"Where even are we?" Angel asked as all four of them sat in the car and drove around the barren wasteland that surrounded them. This in land desert must've stretched on for miles and miles. This small collection of islands to the north west were known for huge deserts which then split off into Savannah grass and woodlands.
"We should be arriving there at any moment, don't get your but in a twist." Jericho was behind the wheel as she led this expedition, a few hours prior they had received word from their current employer who in his own right wanted to understand how things at the aquatic blue got so bad.
Jericho didn't feel like answering it, and neither did anyone else, all they did was sit together in silence with nothing more than the soft hum of the engine to give their ears any semblance of a job.
'You'll find him in the vast plains of Molo, at the very least, but if you do this you'll end up dead.'
The prospect of death didn't really scare her as much as she thought it would, as long as this bastard was brought down she didn't care if she died along the way.
Teddy sat in the backseat a bit worried but decided to say nothing, because there was nothing he could say to stop her or even prevent her from going after him.
But then suddenly they saw a flash in the form of lightning as it left a cloud and struck the ground.
"Hey." Justine broke the silence, "Anyone else feel a power surge?"
"I wasn't gonna say it but yeah, we must be in a high fragment zone." Angel responded.
"That means…"
"There are sorcerers here. Or a sorcerer on his level here." Jericho smiled, "Get ready ladies we're going to check out that flash."
TO BE CONTINUED!