Question's End

Blood sprayed through the air in an arc as the sword pierced through Masa’s shoulder, her reflexes managed to kick in just enough at the end to direct it away from a lethal strike. Her body felt oddly cold having witnessed it. The impossible had happened for her. ‘How did she do that?!’

Snapping out of the trance-like state that Yumi found herself in, she pulled back, removing the sword from Masa. ‘What was that?!’ She blinked trying to figure out what had transpired for her. Everything rewound trying to understand what she had done. Nothing was fully processing for her in the moment other than a single feeling that she couldn’t shake. ‘This feels so familiar to me…’

Chapter 473 – Question’s End

With both women silent and uninterested in fighting, their battle went on hold trying to figure out what had happened. Yumi managed to mimic perfectly a basic technique of Masa’s with only a single attempt. Everything that Masa had seen from Yumi’s swordplay up until then was rough and messy, completely unorganized and improvised the whole way through. Even if she had a master as she claimed, they were either a poor teacher or didn’t live long enough to do any serious training. Even the fundamentals were completely wrong. It was like a complete novice had picked up the sword one day and started swinging.

That was all Yumi had shown her the whole time. She only made up for her significant lack in skill with raw physical abilities. Even with her own style of mixed martial arts and swordplay, showed all of the same signs that she saw before. She needed someone that could train her and show her how to hold a sword properly. Given how far she had come without such a person, if she ever did she would be a master without a doubt.

Despite all of that, Yumi achieved something that Masa didn’t even think she would try and did so as a mirror image of herself. It felt like she was being attacked by her own copy rather than just an impersonator. It was that feeling that made her body temperature drop sharply. Calling it mimicry failed to accurately describe what she saw.

Mimicking her would imply that there would be flaws or mistakes, that it wasn’t the real thing. Even with a perfect reflection there would be some minor error that she would be able to see to poke holes in the fake. That all she was in the moment was a copy, empty without substance or artistry.

But Masa couldn’t find such things from her swordplay. The technique was exactly how she would have done it. It was like watching herself attacking. She saw the precise balance of the katana in her hands and the spacing that she trained night and day to fit to her body. The footwork was identical down to even the slight shift she made to create the extra layer to the technique that makes it invisible to anyone unable to detect the subtle change that she made.

This was the true technique of her sword style mastered only by her and no one else. It was suited exactly to her, which was in part why it wasn’t quite as effective as it should have been for Yumi. She executed it the way Masa would have, but their body shapes were slightly different. Yumi had wider hips compared to Masa which changed everything. It was the only reason why she could even deflect the attack as she did at the last moment.

It was like Yumi was Masa in an instant.

Yumi still tried to process everything and the feeling that she was getting. ‘This doesn’t feel right, but it is right.’ She looked at the katana in her hands, not even noticing until now that it was altered. It seemed to be a comfort to her that she didn’t understand. It looked like the one that Masa wielded, she had seen it enough in their battle to know it well. ‘Why does it seem like this is how it should be?’

This wasn’t the way that she had practiced. In fact, everything had gone off the plan now that they reached this point. She only ever practiced with blank appearing swords, she didn’t really have the same sort of imagination that Yuki did with coming up with really elaborate designs. Simplicity worked for her, but a katana was never something that she tried. Though she wasn’t sure why she didn’t anymore. This seemed to be what she should have been using the whole time. That was what it was telling her.

She looked back to Masa to see how she was doing with all of this. The last strike she made had to have done something to her. ‘She’s not moving, but I don’t think it’s because of the wound…it was because of me…because I used that technique…’

Things started to quickly slam together in Yumi’s mind as the pieces dropped into place. Masa the swordswoman with her strange and sudden appearance never made any sense to her, she felt that was why she was so drawn to her. She wanted to understand her. ‘But that’s not it…that was never it was it? It never was…’

Yumi took a step back with everything coming together for her. ‘I came here looking for answers to controlling them. After all of this time I sort of lost track of that original goal. I only really cared about finding Masa again. But this was it. That’s why it’s so familiar to me!’

Her hand clenched the katana’s hilt as she took a step forward closer to Masa. Faint memories that had been locked away started to come back to her completing the feeling that she was having. “It’s you! You were the one in Atlantis! You were the one that took over and fought that boy! You’re one of my personalities!”

The fog over Masa’s head suddenly lifted as the puzzle was solved. She straightened up ignoring the pain in her shoulder to address Yumi. “You’ve finally figured it out. I’ve been watching you.”

“Protecting me whenever I got in over my head. You were always the one fighting the hardest for me, even when the others wanted to stay out of it.”

“The rest are a little hard headed about how to protect you. But you kept getting yourself into bigger problems forcing us to act.”

That wasn’t really something that she could deny Masa. A bit of sweat dripped down at the thought of everything that Yumi found herself out of her depth in. Atlantis was just one thing after another that she couldn’t handle properly. They stepped in a lot to help her. “Yeah, I sort of made a mess of a lot of things. I was going through a lot of stuff back then. I was a teenager and didn’t have a clue about anything or what I wanted.”

“I’m not so sure being an adult in appearance has made that any clearer for you.”

“Probably not,” she laughed agreeing with Masa, “But I now know that and can actually make the effort to figure it out. It’s a start, progress. I need to understand myself and the first step to doing that is understanding you three that live in my head. I am the one in charge.”

“You want to be the one in charge.”

“Well yes, I guess right now I’m not in charge. Though since we’re all still stuck in this virtual world, no one is in charge.”

“I’m not very clear on the specifics of this either. I just agreed to this as part of the plan.”

“So there is a plan?” It was something that Yuki and her often discussed. As time went on, she started thinking that there had to be more intent to it than she originally thought. It had just seemed like they were trying to kill her with the world. Yet once all of the demons were gone, more or less, nothing had changed. They remained in the world and it just moved along as though it had nothing else to do. Threats to her disappeared because they were all extinguished. If it had been all engineered to kill her, then more things would have popped up. Something else even if it didn’t necessarily fit would have come after her. Hokuren would have killed her. That was actually the first sign to her that something was off about this whole world, not that she figured that one out immediately.

Having that sort of confirmation from Masa helped a lot with understanding the point of this. Though she still missed the very obvious question of what they were trying to do. Confirming a plan didn’t actually explain the details of the plan. “Which is what?”

“Something you figure out on your own.”

Yumi sighed, knowing that it wouldn’t be that easy. “Dammit, you guys are going to keep me running around in the dark without a clue to what you’re planning.”

“It defeats the point if you know what the plan is.”

“Isn’t it ruining the plan to tell me that there is a plan?”

“That is a mystery that wouldn’t be kept for much longer anyway. So letting you know that is not a problem.”

“Now what?”

Masa held up her katana returning the stance as though their fight would continue. “You’ve only solved part of the puzzle. You’re still missing a critical piece before you can consider this completed.”

Quickly, Yumi brought up her katana matching stances with her. Suddenly so many things flowed into her that seemed completely natural. She felt different from before, yet it was still nothing but herself. “So we fight until I figured it out.”

“That is what we know.” With their positions a complete mirror of each other, they launched into the exact same technique. Their swords clashed in a massive explosion that completely destroyed all of the ground around them leaving only the bit beneath them still present. Out of the struggle, Yumi shot out into the crater coughing up a bit of blood.

She stared up at Masa standing on the pillar. “Dammit, we’re using the same technique, but I haven’t adapted it to my body. It’s so finely tuned to her that even with it being the same strength I’ll lose every time.” That wasn’t something that she could allow to continue. Her body would get torn up quickly if they went at the same pace.

Charging back into the melee with Masa, they flashed around the arena exchanging reflected techniques with Yumi displaying even Masa’s most advanced techniques with ease. However, blood kept falling to the earth with Yumi picking up more wounds. She tried to adapt to her body, but she was so used to using the techniques with Masa’s body that she couldn’t shake it.

The end would be death for Yumi.

She could see that in the future if things continued. That wasn’t an end that she could accept now that she had made it so far and finally starting to understand things. Clashing with Masa’s sword again, she felt the heaviness of her blade against her.

And a voice.

Yumi paused in the instant during their struggle trying to figure out what they were saying. It was a voice that she didn’t recognize. It wasn’t Masa, but there was no one else with them. She didn’t know where it was coming from. And it wasn’t words that she could hear, they were felt. They entered her heart it seemed.

Their swords separated as they took a gap to refocus and the voice disappeared. Yumi shook her head, getting it out of her and putting her attention on Masa. They collided again and the voice came back. Again and again, she could hear it, felt it within her as they darted around the crater making it deeper and deeper. Her body got beat up more with each attack. ‘It’s coming from Masa, but is it her sword? Am I feeling what her sword feels? I don’t understand! What are you trying to tell me?’

Now that she started to use Masa’s techniques their power equally matched each other as it thickened the pressure of the air with her strength. Anyone that entered would have had trouble breathing or even staying conscious while they fought. It was taking more of a toll on Yumi than Masa with her attacks having become more dominating.

Everything called out to Yumi as it begged to her. It wanted her to do something. ‘What do you want from me?! What are you asking?’ She dove back into the fight feeling like it became clearer with each strike. It consumed her as she ignored any sort of damage that her body took. Yumi became obsessed as it drew her into the web of feelings. It swallowed her up into an endless abyss until it made her understand.

Yumi blinked and gasped out for air as their fight paused in the middle of a struggle of their blades perfectly balanced on their tips in an impossible pinpoint accuracy only possible by their mirror attack. “I understand now! I can’t believe I didn’t notice it before! It’s the whole theme of this damn world!” She stared directly into Masa knowing what it was that was her wish that only she could grant her. “I know your wish…”

“So you understand finally.” They broke off their attack and returned to their positions ready. “Then this is the end. You now have your answer.”

“Yes,” Yumi replied with sorrow laced through her voice, “I shall grant your wish.” Suddenly the pressure in the air doubled as Yumi threw everything that she had into the final technique. She drew back with her katana ready to strike.

“Show me!” Masa matched the intensity that Yumi drew out. All of the ground crumbled away, unable to hold them as they destroyed everything around them. Nothing remained but them. “The final technique of the Hitoshirenu Ittou style!”

Multiple blades entered into Yumi’s katana, strengthening it to its greatest hardness. Their strength thrown against the other actually started to make the air spark with the clashing power. The earth trembled from their final attack.

In an instant it was over. They ended in the exact spots that the other started in with their swords still extended. A moment later, Yumi dropped to one knee with her katana shattering into particles. She panted deeply trying as blood sprayed up from the deep wound. She clutched the wound in her chest.

Masa straightened up and turned around looking at Yumi. A smile of satisfaction came over her as she looked at her mirror. Her katana suddenly shattered into pieces as her life drained from her. “Thank you…it’s over now…”

The five year journey came to an end. Yumi was freed from everything. The virtual world of feudal Japan disappeared around her as an empty void stretched out beyond her. Someone clapped for her. She turned around behind her to find someone that she didn’t recognize. “Congratulations. You passed!”