Chapter 3: Are You Worthy?

Tilting her head slightly to the side, the old woman spoke "Ah! That's right! I should introduce myself before we begin." Lightly Smiling, She placed her cup down, straightened her back and shifted her posture, now kneeling with the tops of her feet flat on the floor and, butt resting on her heels, she continued with a slight bow

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance young man, my name is Tomoe Akemichi."

Instantly my pupils dilated, and my mouth went dry.

'S-he she's one of them!? , In Language class I learnt about a south-eastern nation of warriors who could cut people down in one swift strike, but I thought they were a myth.'
'Ah! What was it called again? Nippon?, It's said they wielded weapons blessed by gods that existed long before three great churches.'

'Is this the sensory test simulation?? I-I have to defeat her ?.... that's impossible'

"M-My na- na-me is Damon Redhill!, I- I'm sorry for entering your home without permission great master, it's an honor to meet someone from the warrior nation, Nippon!"
My speech became stuttered as my body trembled as looked at the woman before me in fear.

Smiling warmly Tomoe responded, "Oh, you know of my people? , but no need to be afraid young man, I won't hurt you." "In fact I'm glad for the company, It's quite lonely in this land you know, and I haven't seen someone from a central nation in a while ....." pausing for a moment Tome continued" could you tell me what year it is ?"

"Year ?.. It's the year 4046, why ? Where..... is this place?"

'It's been twenty-five years huh', muttered Tomoe seemingly amused she responded. "Hmm?.... That's not a bad question, but the correct question would be 'why are you here' right?"

"Umm.... To defeat you ?" I said, filled with embarrassment.

"Ha hahaha! To defeat me he says, haha hahaha!" surprised by Damon's response she burst out in laugher clutching her stomach.

Pausing her laughter after a moment she began speaking with a serious tone," You're here because you're meant to be, you likely have the affinity for my sword technique [虚哭神去], In the Universal Language I believe you'd call it 'Hollow Cry Of The Godless'." "It's a technique that focuses on monotonous put perfect slashes that can only be done if one is worthy by their blade. Without that bond it doesn't matter how many times you practice the same monotonous motions like swinging the sword in the same direction every day, they won't be worthy!"

Standing up Master Tomoe walked forward, raising her hand as a sheathed sword appeared in her grasp. The sheath was dark, almost black, with faint smoothened textures of bark.
Stopping before a Red Pine tree, she placed her hand on the sheath of her sword and took a deep breath. Taking her stance, the wind picked up as her presence began to change .... now much sharper.

-Click

Soon after the only thing I heard was a clicking sound as she had already performed a fast upward strike, completely shredding the pine tree and creating a 35 feet long crevice in the ground ahead causing my jaw to drop in shock.

-Click
With another click, the sword seemed to have never left the scabbard returned to its original position.

The thought that he was getting to learn that technique made Damon's heart start beating like crazy, and my blood boil.

'That was insane! How in the world did she do that! I didn't even see her draw the blade, so that's a katana!'

"Now that you've seen the technique, let's see if your worthy to wield it. For your test you'll be heading north into the forest, Within the forest lies man eating beast, your task it to slay five beasts to gain the blessing of your fated blade. Once bonded the blade will grow as you grow mirroring your convictions"

"That sounds crazy!, how am I going to do that without a weapon?, Wait!, what happens if I die here?"

"Hahahaha! , Don't worry, you'll get a carving knife made from carbon steel to use and if you die, you'll simply be sent back to your dimension in failure, now off you go."

-Snap

As he heard the snapping of her fingers, Damon felt the ground under his feet disappear, suddenly he was falling from into a tree landing with a loud thud.

'"God Dammit! , couldn't she have warned me first before doing that and did she just open a portal? "

BANG!

Suddenly, Damon heard the sound of something Heavy hitting the ground a small distance away.

Looking towards the direction the sound came from, he discovered a pitch black panther biting down on some other green animal. Damon wasn't sure what it was since its body was too shredded to tell. However, Damon did notice one thing.

'These beasts are gigantic!" In Shock, Damon remained on the top of the Pine tree for quite a while as he simply looked at his surrounding for a chance to escape.

Another twenty minutes later, Damon glanced down, and his heart sank. Somehow the panther had gotten to the base of his tree without him noticing.
Staring at the beast, Damon's heart beat ferociously as he tried to think of something. Afraid, he tried to hide as well as possible, pressing his body against the tree.

But it was at that moment he locked eyes with the beast.

Looking into those soulless white eyes Damon felt an excruciating chill down is spine.

An eternity seemed to pass as the two beings only looked at each other.

Sshhh!

Time resumed as the beast effortlessly jumped clearing the height of the pine tree to strike Damon. The jump made no sound. One could only hear the fast vibrations in the air, nothing more.

Surprising even himself, Damon reacted quickly on instinct, drawing his knife and letting himself fall away from the branch, putting the branch between him and the creature.

Bang! Bang!

The creature's right foreleg completely destroyed the thick branch that had been powerful enough to support Damon's full weight.

CRSH!

Damon felt a scorching pain assault his back as muscles and blood were cleaved out, grimacing in pain, he braced his body for the impact of the fall.

Bang!

Damon' side hit the ground impacting his lungs, making it hard to breath, The beast had torn off a huge part of flesh on Damon's back.

Had the branch not been there between them, he would have been split in two. Though he knew he wouldn't actually die, the thought of experiencing that was terrifying,
Yet he didn't feel like running. Ignoring the pain assaulting his mind he quickly rose to his feet.

Bang!

Jumping from the tree, the Panther rushed towards him.
Feeling the distance between them rapidly reducing Damon felt his mind calm as he began thinking about the strike Master Tomoe performed earlier, In a bit of desperation he hoped to mimic her presence to scare the beast.

As he took slow, long, and rhythmic breaths, Damon slowly emptied his mind.
At the same time, he outlined the image in his mind and focused all his attention and thoughts on it. Slowly his presence begun to change.

Now only a foot away baring its long terrifying teeth, the creature felt this shift, and flinched, But little did It know that small moment of hesitation would be Its downfall.
Capitalizing on the moment before the beast touches the ground. Damon jumped!
Twisting his body to the side as the beast landed, he thrust out his blade.

Missing its target the beast felt a pulsating jerk as tremors ran through its massive body, but it was already too late.

-SHING

It's right eye collapsed inward around the Blade with a sickening squelch, with the momentum of Damon's fall landing on the beast, the final resistance faded away s the blade was plunging deeper, grinding against something soft and vital.

A brief final shudder ushered in the end of the beast life and as it gave out one last muffled sound of breath in a shaky exhalation.

Huff... Huff... Huff...

Breathing heavily Damon collapsed on the already dead beast as pain shot through his entire body.
Vision now blurry, he struggled to stay awake knowing another beasts may be drawn to the area due to the scent of blood.

-Cough...

Coughing blood, he tried to stand up, only to fall forward to the ground. "This makes no sense I took little to no internal damage, what's going on with my body?"

"Well I'd say someone slipped you some Pain Enhancer serum. It enhances your physical strength, reflexes and concentration in exchange for reduced pain tolerance."

Hearing the familiar voice, Damon tried to lift his gave, responding with a low mutter.

" Ma-Master ?"

But he could only make out a blurry silhouette before he blacked out.

Sighing Tomoe gently picked Damon up, "Its funny, I'm not sure if this child is lucky or unlucky. Not only was he fed Pain Enhancer, he also managed to immediately run into the strongest beast here."

"Let's get those wounds sorted out."