World’s Greatest Swordsmen

The sky was calm and clear as the morning arose over the Karinga Tribe village, at the base of Korin tower. The fires from the night before were naught but smoldering piles of char and ash, scarcely alight now with only small patches of dying embers. A light fog hung in the air, only visible due to the glow of the rising golden sun. The trees were the color of fire, and the birds were singing. Life was making its way across the forest as the creatures were stirred awake in the presence of dawn.

Just as the first villagers began to set out for the day, a thunderous crashing sound roared across the heavens. Many had stopped to look upward thinking it was thunder, but there wasn’t a storm cloud in sight. The sound rolled in, repeating. The distance between each boom shortened the longer it went on. Some took to ignoring it, as they couldn’t discern the origin of the sound. But a few paid close attention, two of whom were Upa and Bora. Each of them stood beside the massive white pillar, with their heads tilted upward towards the heavens. Bora stood with his arms crossed, the corner of his mouth was pulled up subtly into a grin.

Upa was amazed by the bevy of noise, “She had to have made it, right?” the young man asked his father. Bora only snorted slightly and smiled slightly wider in response, as if to say ‘of course.’ His son understood that much. The clear sky was roaring with thunderous claps that rang out from the tower above the clouds.

Meanwhile, in Korin’s Tower…The once pristine floor was scarred with slash marks, some of the roof's pillars were missing sections. Korin himself watched the melee with baited breaths, as it had already surpassed his expectations. The two swordfighters circled each other while thinking of their, and their opponent’s next move. Small cuts now adorned both of their bodies from their exchange. Yajirobe was scowling yet focused. He couldn’t help but be annoyed with the ever-present smile on Zahna’s face, he thought it strange for her to love fighting this much. He’d never met a woman who was such a skilled fighter, not that he looked very hard in the first place.

Her aura had stabilized, and it seemed she was using the energy projection in strange ways. There were a few times during their match that Yajirobe had an open strike on her, and it even seemed like she was opening herself to the attacks. But her aura would push his blade far enough away that he was only barely able to graze her in a few of those moments. And unfortunately for Yajirobe, he hadn’t really practiced using ki which left him at a distinct disadvantage in most battles.

Pressing the balls of his feet to the ground, he sprang forward yet again. His blade was in its sheath, and his hands were ready to draw it at any moment. Zahna held her sword firm in both hands, prepared for the offensive from her opponent.

When he was within range, he drew his sword as quick as lighting. His blade was positioned for a diagonal cut, but it met with Zahna’s own. A sonic shockwave rang out like an explosion, the force of which pushed Korin’s own nimbus backwards. Shifting her stance slightly sideways, she swirled her sword out of the bind and threw Yajirobe to the side and followed up with a kick to his midsection. He was sent flying backwards towards another pillar but managed to right himself in the air after several rotations. His feet landed against the supporting beam, cracking it slightly, before he sprang back for another attack. “Y-you’re not gonna beat me so easily lady!!!”

“You’re not half bad! But I’m gonna win this!” Zahna had a smile on her face as she yelled back at Yajirobe. At this moment she was only thinking about the battle at hand. Her mind was clear and focused. She jumped into the air to meet him there. The look on his face told her that this move was unexpected. They both furiously swung their weapons. Slash for slash, parry and deflect. The sound of metal singing and clashing filled the area like an orchestra of violence climbing its way to a crescendo. The air around them was being whipped up into a flurry of cutting wind that whirled around them. If even one of them made a mistake, then they would surely suffer. As they were descending to the ground, they pushed away from each other.

Their battle had been quite long already, yet noon was still hours away. Yajirobe was breathing heavily yet still with an evenness. He did his best to protect himself but still his arms and legs had cuts that were still bleeding. His durability far surpassed what a normal person could handle. He contemplated what sort of attack he could use to win but he hadn’t fought another swordsman so powerful since he had become the best in the world; today was not the day he expected to meet a bigger fish. ‘Damn, who did she train with?! How is she so good? And it seems like she’s getting better the longer this goes on!’ He smacked his cheeks until they were glowing red, while his face shifted into an angerful expression. “Zahna, was it? I’ll have you know that you’re facing the greatest swordsman in the world.” He grinned with animosity, “It’s not every day that I accept a challenger-”

Korin hissed down at him, “You only did it because I told you to! You bum!” the divine feline finished his statement by blowing a raspberry at the warrior.

Briefly facing towards the lone spectator, Yajirobe screamed viciously “HEY! Shut up!” He re-adjusted his position. “Anyway, you have no chance of beating me!”

Zahna frowned at him and let out a “Hmph!” before she charged towards him. She opened with a thrust, he moved his shoulder out of the way and placed his blade against the flat of hers pushing downward before swinging towards her neck. She moved with a speed he could barely follow as her blade was raised to catch his and fling it towards the sky. He found himself open to a new attack as her knee was buried into his ribs with a crack! The sound reverberated on the roof like a sickly echo.

His eyes bulged and he spat out blood. His ears were ringing as waves of pain rippled throughout his torso. Yet even still, he wasn’t ready to retreat. With a show of great agility and endurance, he sprang backwards to create some distance between them again.

“That looked like it hurt! You wanna call it quits?” Zahna asked with a genuineness that only made him feel shame.

Rubbing blood from his mouth, he tried standing proudly even as it hurt him to do so. “T-this…cough... This is nothing!”

With their swords aimed forward the two of them walked towards one another. Slowly, until they were within reach of their weapons. They tested each other's blades with a swash! Swash! Shing!

“Oh my!” Korin was biting his nails in anticipation for the next stage of the fight. It began slowly at first, their swords met again and again. Neither side wanted to give an inch. Yajirobe’s pride as a swordsman hang in the balance, hinged on the outcome of this bout. He was certainly a challenge for Zahna; however, she had trained with some of the best sword master’s back home. And each battle taught her something new, which made her quite adaptable. Even now, she was learning.

Picking up speed, they swung with terrifying force. Their arms seemed to disappear in a blur of blades, Yajirobe was being pushed back with each step Zahna took forward.