CHAPTER 4: DUEL OF BLACK STEEL AND THE OCEAN STORM

Casting his shock aside, Yamato lunged at the demon with every ounce of his strength. As Kurunomi’s massive two-meter black blade cut through the air, it clashed violently against the demon’s black sword. The deafening ring of steel echoed off the ruined town walls. Every time the two jet-black blades struck each other, purple and black sparks burst into the night, momentarily rending the darkness apart.

This demon was no ordinary beast. Its swordsmanship was flawless, and its spiritual energy was dense enough to crush Yamato. With every strike, the ground trembled, and the muscles in the young captain’s arms throbbed with intense pain. Yamato was left breathless against his opponent’s lethal mastery and ruthless speed. Every time he was forced to step back, he felt himself crumbling under the immense weight of his own sword. For a sixteen-year-old captain, this battle was nothing short of dancing in the arms of death atop a razor-thin wire.

"Is that all, little captain?" the demon snarled, sweeping its black blade toward Yamato’s chest with relentless velocity. "Is the Government sending children to fight now?"

Yamato blocked the blow at the last second with the flat side of Kurunomi, but the sheer force sent him skidding back several meters, his boots carving deep tracks into the dirt. His chest heaved like a pair of bellows, and sweat stung his eyes as it trickled down his forehead. Although the dark energy within him made Kurunomi vibrate wildly, it was not enough to overpower the demon. Just as the creature leaped into the air to deliver its final, lethal strike, a thin, brilliant line of light pierced the eastern horizon.

The first rays of sunlight began to creep over the mountains and into the town's ruins. Upon witnessing the sacred, cleansing touch of dawn, the feral glint in the demon’s eyes instantly vanished, replaced by sheer panic. For demons, the sun meant absolute annihilation. Realizing it had lost the chance to kill Yamato, the creature gnashed its teeth, leaped backward, and vanished into the darkness of the forest line where night still reigned.

Yamato was on the verge of collapsing to his knees. Thrusting Kurunomi into the earth, he leaned heavily on the hilt with both hands, struggling to stay upright. His entire body throbbed, and his lungs burned for air. Just as the cold sensation of failure and inadequacy began to settle over his heart once more, a quiet step—resembling the faint whisper of the wind—echoed from the shadows behind him.

Yamato slowly raised his head. The silhouette approaching him was no ordinary soldier.

It was the Captain of the 1st Division, the strongest among all commanders, known far and wide as the "Ocean Storm"—Hajimiya Ryousuke. He wore a straw samurai hat that shaded his face, and a deep blue haori resembling the wild, tempestuous waves of the sea. Ryousuke emanated an aura of such absolute composure that the sheer brutality of the surrounding battlefield seemed to melt away in his presence.

Sheathed at his back was Onimaru, a massive 1.5-meter blue sword that stood like a legendary monument beside Yamato’s Kurunomi, a blade the young captain had yet to master.

Ryousuke did not utter a single word. He did not even spare a glance at the exhausted young captain. From beneath his straw hat, his eyes remained fixed on the dark forest line where the demon had fled. In the depth of those ocean-blue eyes lay the cold, ominous harbinger of a storm so massive and dark that it would swallow the entire empire—a storm Yamato could not yet comprehend.