Chapter 85: Cracked Mirror, Accepting One's Fate and Futility
_________ POV Narration _________
"Hmmm... You were a disappointment through and through... I will give you one chance to redeem yourself though..."
Jūzō's eyes widened once more at that phrase... Redemption?
Was there truly a way out for him?! Was the Red Dot truly going to give him a new chance at life? Maybe recruit him?
'Is that why the Third Blade didn't kill me?! Was he just there to test me?'
Delusions quickly filled his mind, as his desire to live overwhelmed all of his senses.
But Ken's plans were a tad different from his delusions...
The Blind Assassin just grabbed Jūzō's large blade and stepped on it.
CRACK*
Jūzō's eyes widened as he saw the blade he had treasured so much, one of the toughest swords created, which was also capable of regeneration... Break.
More specifically, it was broken into dozens of pieces. The only 'complete' part, was the hilt, which still had around a dozen centimetres of blade on it.
"I want you to repair this blade... With your own blood. If you are able to do it, then I'll let you live."
Ken's words were like a waterfall, dousing any flame of hope that he had left.
He had already lost quite a bit of blood-fighting against Akira... Now he was asked to repair his blade on the spot, with his own blood...
'... He's just asking me to kill myself...'
Was the realisation that downed on him before he took another look at the scattered pieces of the Kubikiribōchōm, which now littered the ground.
With a trembling hand, he brought all the pieces together, placing the hilt on the ground and arranging them like one would a broken vase.
'N-no! M-maybe I still can fix it! I know better than anyone how this blade works!
I know how blood is needed to fully repair it... I can't possibly do that, but I can at least stick it back together!'
Yet, he still clung to hope in a place of hopelessness.
The very nature of all humans. To expect the world to bend around them, to assist them in their survival... Delusions that were only born from entitlement.
Jūzō's eyes darted around in a panic as he put the blade together on the ground in front of him. Ken just observed him, his blank expression covered by his empty mask.
There was no pity to be found in him, for he knew the type of person Jūzō was.
But strangely enough... He was also not feeling as much pleasure as he had expected from sensing Jūzō's struggle and the way he so desperately clung to any shimmer of hope that Ken was willing to 'afford' him.
Jūzō's hands continued to tremble as he took out a small Kunai from his pouch and slit his own wrist.
His blood sprayed on the blade before him, and Jūzō's lips trembled as he moved his hand around and let his blood spray on the blade evenly.
Eventually, he started feeling dizzy, but it wasn't enough still... He needed more.
He continued to draw upon it, making another cut, and another... Until he felt that his mind was going blank...
'N-no... C'mon, just a little bit more!'
He was on the verge of fainting, and the blade in front of him repaired itself, metal regrowing to fill in the cracks that Ken had made.
'C'mon, c'mon!'
Jūzō struggled internally to stay conscious, knowing his life depended on it.
Until finally...
"I did it!"
He had filled in the cracks... He had done it! He was fr-
"I said fully repair it... Not just patch it up... I don't appreciate liars. I'll just have to do it myself..."
Jūzō's tired eyes looked at Ken in desperation, as he watched the Blind Monster take the large blade from the ground... And plunge it directly into his chest.
"I-I see... how it is..."
Was all that Jūzō could muster before his eyes lost their light. Ken plunged the sword deeper and raised it to the sky, allowing Jūzō's body to slide towards the hilt of the blade.
His blood covered the entire blade evenly, and Ken felt it being absorbed into the blade, healing the blade.
Ken then just threw Jūzō and the Kubikiribōchō on the ground. He tilted his head in confusion.
For someone that had once made killing his entire life, his entire personality... The fact that he looked at the corpse of the person that took something important from him and felt nothing... Was strange.
Ken raised the sword once more, allowing gravity to slide the body off of the blade, before placing it in another scroll that he had prepared beforehand.
'Maybe I'll be more satisfied with the others... I'll just... Go and check on the next one...'
Ken walked away once more, this time heading for Fuguki, the wielder of the Samehada/Shark Skin.
Upon reaching the scene, he observed the way that the man fought... Well, he didn't seem to be able to do much.
The Crimson Seal had turned a 'would-be-difficult battle, into a cakewalk for the First Blade. Who just did his best to force the Mist Swordsman to wield his blade.
Tosho made a point of never using Chakra to attack, as he knew that it would just feed the blade, allowing it to last for longer.
And it was clearly already dying out. The Samehada while active consumed a lot of Chakra, usually, it had an owner to wield it, but it wasn't supposed to fight on its own for such long periods of time.
Fuguki knew that... Which was why he was growing desperate.
It was only a matter of time before the blade became hungry for good... And since it was smart enough to judge the situation... He was most likely going to end up as food.
'Shit... How the fuck do I get this stupid seal off?!'
He had tried holding onto his blade for a bit more, in hopes that it would be able to absorb the Crimson Seal, but that didn't work one bit, it just gave him more searing pain, as the seal burned into his flesh.
"I was expecting a lot more struggle on your part, Fuguki... You were always touted to be the strongest of the 7 Mist Swordsmen, your blade was considered the strongest too...
A man with such impressive Chakra Reserves, touted to be on par with the Uzumaki even..."
Fuguki scowled, showcasing his sharp teeth as he still tried to think of a way out of his current predicament.
"But it seems that your Chakra Reserves were the only thing you had going for you...
I guess Samehada was doing much of the heavy lifting... Just like it is now."
The sentient blade wriggled once more, extending from the ground and blocking a few shurikens from the First Blade, who was just lazily sitting on a tree a bit further away.
"You sure are gloating a lot! What are you even hoping to achieve here?!" Fuguki was certainly frustrated, the lingering burning pain that coursed through his muscles wasn't helping much in all honesty.
"Me? I don't wish to achieve anything at all... I only care for one person. And your presence seems to bother him, which is why we are in this predicament."
Tosho was extremely straightforward. He couldn't care less about the Mist Swordsmen. He personally didn't care about them in any way.
But what actually mattered to him was the way they affected Ken.
The way he seemed to be 'fixated' on them.
After establishing the Dark Brotherhood, and the training of recruits had started, Ken had already started planning out the deaths of the 7 Swordsmen.
Tosho was sure that he had been thinking about it for much longer...
But he didn't seem to want to kill them himself... No, he just wanted to witness them suffer, to be the cause of that suffering.
Death was not something they inflicted upon him at the end of the day.
Tosho knew the reason Ken was seeking out the Mist Swordsmen, he was the only one among the Blades that knew the full story.
Ken had opened up about it to him long ago. And he hadn't shared that story with any other soul.
His Blind Leader didn't try to glorify it or to spin it in any other way to victimize himself. He knew it was just the product of bad luck... But that didn't mean he didn't wish for revenge.
And he had gained the means to get said revenge.
"So it's all because of the Red Dot in the end... Tsk, such a fucking joke! So many powerful assassins doing the bidding of one revenge-driven child!" Fuguki's words made Tosho raise an eyebrow underneath his mask.
'... I guess it would look like that to outsiders, huh?'
The First Blade sighed as he knew that it wasn't the case. In truth, none of the 'powerful assassins' would even be assassins if it wasn't for Ken.
With the exception of maybe Saburo, who was already a Shinobi and trained in assassination beforehand.
They were there as Ken's tools... But they were also there thanks to Ken.
They had reached a point where others could only envy. They all had gained both power and a family, all thanks to the 'revenge-driven child' that Fuguki was cussing out currently.
Tosho didn't care for any of his words, however.
'If Revenge was truly the only thing that drove him... Then he wouldn't have created the Dark Brotherhood in such a way...
Even if it was initially for revenge, it's already morphed into much more than just an organization that acts as his 'eyes' in this world...'
Tosho had been there from the start, he himself could see the way the picture became bigger and bigger, the way Ken's values seemed to change as the Brotherhood grew and he got more and more attached to the children.
'But you guys are the ones keeping him back... The thoughts of revenge need to vanish completely, and you 7 Swordsmen of the Mist must disappear alongside them.'
Fuguki clenched his teeth as he realized that cussing out Ken wasn't going to provoke Tosho into either coming closer or using any Jutsu to feed the Samehada.
'Shit... Am I really going to die here?! I just need to get rid of this 'First Blade' and leave the barrier!
The Samehada should easily be able to poke a hole through it! It's a chakra construct at the end of the day...'
"... Tosho..."
A quiet voice broke through their stalemate, as Ken appeared by the First Blade's side, sitting down and just 'staring' at Fuguki and the Samehada.
"Leader..." The First Blade made it a point to immediately jump down from that branch and take a deep bow facing Ken.
The Samehada tried to take advantage of that, slithering like a snake towards the First Blade's exposed back, a gigantic mouth growing from its tip, aiming to kill its target in one bite.
But it didn't get to, as it felt something grab onto its tail and toss it back towards its owner, crashing into a tree beside him.
"Stay put for now, Shark Skin..." Ken spoke out as he tilted his head.
Tosho quickly turned to face him, thanking him silently before taking a step back.
'I guess he'll handle it from here... I wasn't able to break Fuguki's spirit, unfortunately, but I did drain the Samehada quite a lot...'
"Red Dot..." Fuguki's forehead filled with sweat as his dishevelled orange hair fluttered in the wind.
But whatever he had to say, Ken wasn't interested in hearing him.
"I've wasted many hours thinking about this moment..." The Blind Swordsman sighed as he took a step towards Fuguki, who leaned back a bit by reflex, his back hitting the tree behind him.
"Just to see all of you struggle... But it still feels like it's not enough... Do you understand what I mean?" Ken extended his hand towards Fuguki, showing him an open palm, calloused and stained with Jūzō's blood.
"... You can take all the revenge you want, it won't revive those bandits... It still feels stupid to think about it...
That all of this originates from one random trip to the Land of Iron... Where we decided to take down a group of deserters for some pocket money..."
Fuguki seemed to have given up at that point, he knew he stood no chance against Ken, Crimson Seal or not.
"Bad Luck on both ends of the stick... But their blood is on your hands at the end of the day, so I need to repay the favour..."
Fuguki just grit his sharp teeth and nodded.
"So... How will this go...?" The Mist Swordsman was already helpless, but he wasn't one to despair.
He was a Shinobi, he wasn't greedy or stupid, and he knew that this was just the type of world he lived in. He was prepared to lose his life at any point.
'If it's my fate to die at his hands, then that's fine... I tried my best for the village, I did enough to repay them for raising me... I can die with no regrets...'
He realised that Ken didn't care about the Mist, he had also confirmed that they just went after the bounty in order to make sure that he wouldn't seek vengeance with the Mist.
"This is simple... Samehada will eat you..."
Both Fuguki and the sentient blade seemed to be confused at that.
Fuguki looked at his lifelong partner, the Samehada, and just sighed.
"So be it... I guess you will find it a nice home afterwards... But that will be none of my concern." Fuguki shook his head.
The Samehada pointed its tip towards him, almost as if it was apologizing for something.
Fuguki just smiled as the Samehada opened its mouth widely... And bit off his head.
His last thoughts were also relatively simple...
'I just hope the Mist won't be stupid enough to cross him after this...'
Ken 'watched' the scene for a few moments, as Fuguki's body feel to the ground, lifelessly.
"... You can spit it out..."
The intelligent blade seemed to nod and listened to Ken's commands.
"That was... Strange." Tosho was a bit surprised to see such a scene.
The Samehada jumping ship on its own was not something he expected.
"It shouldn't be... The Samehada is smart, it knows when there is no point in struggling any more.
At this point, it can either listen to us and let us find a suitable owner, or get scrapped alongside its previous owner."
Ken shook his head, the Samehada then slithered up to the two of them but didn't attack, it just seemed to wait for a command.
The Blind Swordsman didn't bother to mention that the Samehada was a parasitic being in nature as well. It was always going to do what benefited it most, no matter the bonds it forged with its owner.
It had been a conjecture of his for a while after learning how the sentient blade worked. The scene in front of him just confirmed it.
"Tosho... You keep the Samehada for now..."
The First Blade nodded and walked forward. The Samehada also extended its hilt towards him, allowing him to grab it without much issue.
Tosho then tied it on his back, and the Samehada covered itself with bandages.
The First Blade felt a drain on his chakra when he held the hilt of the blade, but it stopped when it rested on his back.
"What now, Lord Ken?" Tosho then turned back to his Leader, who still seemed to be contemplating something.
"... Kill all the other Swordsmen... I don't care anymore, just make sure to collect their blades. Saburo can have their bodies... There isn't much left of Jimpachi's..."
Tosho nodded with determination when hearing Ken's orders.
"I will relay this to the others as well..."
After that, the First Blade turned into a blur and vanished.
Ken just heaved a sigh and walked back towards the village.
'This feels... Pointless.'
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Hope you enjoyed today's torture session! This one was the most brutal btw.
Anyhow, the revenge is pretty much over at this point. More on that next chapter tho
Sorry for the lack of uploads yesterday, didn't have time to write anything, unfortunately.
Anyway, I'm off, have fun!
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 12 chapters in advance (or 6/3 depending on tier)
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