A Love Beyond Time

Chapter 10-Enter the Ice Dragon

A breeze stirred the trees, raining flowers onto the thick carpet of grass. The peace of the forest disintegrated with the crunch of feet on dried leaves and the clashing of colliding swords. Silver flashed bright as the two males struck at each other-lightning fast, relentless, and unflinching. Both were equally formidable, their skills and physical strengths on par.

If the battle could be measured by a scale, then it held equal for now.

However, the situation soon changed.

Shion realized that Saito had manipulated his Tao and aura, warping and twisting them to create illusionary sensations that disrupted the samurai's abilities to sense and pinpoint the Byakko's exact location. The Asaemon gripped his sword in a reverse-sword style and lunged to his left while unleashing numerous rapid slashes in his favored Tameshi Ittō-ryū: Mura Shigure—he swore he felt an incoming attack from that direction.

Only to discover that it was faux when he felt searing fire on his back where Saito had landed severe swift cuts followed by a kick that sent him stumbling forward.

Shion hissed and whirled around, swinging his katana in a wide arc to get to his opponent. But there was nothing.

The scales had tipped in Saito's favor.

Shion stood still momentarily, trying to catch his breath and think of an appropriate countermeasure. Evidently, the feline was leagues ahead when it came to energetic manipulation, even more so than the Tensens. Throw in his exemplary ambush tactics and stealth, he was definitely a challenge.

One that Shion had every intention of defeating. For his samurai pride, for his dignity as a human and a male, for his quest.

For Seimei. Somehow, somewhat, Shion felt the pressing urge to prove his prowess and impress the Fox.

So he had to win. He had to defeat Saito.

But how?

Just then, a strange sensation settled over Shion. He felt something shifting inside him, something opening up. It was as if an invisible key had unlocked a hidden secret door deep within his psyche's recesses. Releasing something long, long forgotten.

Something that once belonged to him. Something once a part of him.

Shion felt different.

The blind samurai's entire body—from his hair to his toes—felt hypersensitive, and he could feel even the slightest, most minuscule sensation around him. His already well-honed senses were now hyper-tuned. To his amazement, he could detect the nuanced differences between Saito's manipulated and real Tao. More importantly, he could sense, clear as day, the Byakko's actual aura. It was very faint and so warped until it felt fake, but Shion knew it was the real McCoy—its scent, its feel, and its weight.

Now, he knew Saito's distorted Tao was gathering to his left as a decoy for an attack while standing at Shion's right, as indicated by the tiny speck of amber. The Byakko was, apparently, replicating his previous successful move.

Not this time. Shion thought savagely, his teeth gnashing in a silent snarl.

The mortal spun smoothly to his right and struck.

With that strike, he started his attacks. And kept moving.

Shion's katana swung and slashed mercilessly in tight, graceful arcs, focusing on the faint amber glow that twisted and pivoted away from him, its own sword engaged in a frantic war against his. As he maneuvered his weapon, Shion felt as if his body had developed its own mind and started moving on its own accord: it began using a totally unfamiliar set of kenjutsu. The new moves were unusually complex and physically challenging, yet the silver-haired mortal performed them fluidly. Somewhere in his subconsciousness, Shion realized that he knew the motions despite the initial unfamiliarity. They felt so....right.