Ch 57 – Rick and Buddha

Standing on top of a calm lake in the middle of an open field of grass with no one in sight, Braun could be seen standing still on the calm lake, no ripples formed under his feet while the blades of grass around him stayed still, it was as if they did not dare to move in his mere presence alone.

Slowly tightening the grip over the wooden sword in the grasp of his two hands, Braun's mind shows the vision of the whole area around him in black and white, his perception of reality showing countless lines around the area that serves an unknown purpose.

Letting his left hand let go of the blade, he puts his left hand in the air to form a sword stance, his sword that was held by his right hand pointing forward like a dragon waiting to be released.

'Threading the line of the sword, one must find the lines to cut to show transcendency in the arts of swordsmanship, for a blade is purposed to cut anything in its path.' Braun thought, his right wrist flicking by mere centimeters but the effect it brought could be considered anything other than normal. Slashing the line in his vision, Braun watches the effect brought by cutting that line and felt the life of the grass in front of him by a few meters go away, their green blades turning into nothing but a wilted brown mess.

Flicking his wrist once more, he watches the grass in front of him with closed eyes return back to life, their green luscious body regaining back their vigor as he finally opens his crimson eyes.

'Sigh, enlightenment is damn near impossible with this uncertainty.' Braun thought, his eyes looking at the floating translucent screen that appeared in his vision, a singular save file showing on the Save section.

'Save and Load, even with my photographic memory, the moments in the multiversal void have still been a blur, but I know for a certain I could get rid of you from my very existence.' Braun thought, his knees bending so that he can sit on the calm lake in a lotus position.

Closing his eyes, he appears back in his mindscape to look at the two towers in the distance that pierces through the sky, and the other one towers over the gigantic library and is reaching infinity.

'The memories of Rick and God, I still have a lot to learn from the both of you.' Braun thought, his body appearing directly in Rick's mind on an unknown floor, standing in front of a golden bookshelf, he grabs a certain book named "Buddha".

Opening it, his eyes roll to the back of his head and a certain memory plays.

(Flashback)

"Rick, one must learn to let go and move on," a man said with a golden body wearing an orange robe, a man known famously as Buddha.

"Fuck you, Buddha! You know what you did and you're gonna pay motherfucker!" Rick said, a gun right in his grip that glows a dangerous black light.

"But what did I really do, Rick? For the concept of right or wrong is simply an invention of man," Buddha said, his eyes remaining close along with his calm smile.

"Oh, mankind so special bullcrap! I'm tired of your mankind bullcrap Buddha! Just because you were human doesn't mean they worth any shit! Humans are even below a multitude of species on the same stage as they were!" Rick said while rolling his eyes and the green bile flailed on his lips, clearly showing he was drunk.

"I know Rick, but we must appreciate our past to grow a brighter future," Buddha said.

"The future? Oh please, we all know this universe would turn into nothing but black holes and other crap in the far far future, so don't talk to me about that future shit," Rick said, his hands wagging the gun in his right arm.

"But Rick, we must learn to appreciate the past too, for the present is the gift we are able to receive," Buddha said.

"Hang on! I know what you're fucking doing! You're changing the topic! You little fucker, you think I won't catch up to your plan!" Rick said, shooting his gun that shoots out a beam of dark light that grazes Buddha's cheek, it was even able to miraculously damage him indicated by the golden blood flowing down his cheek.

"Rick, calm down, you must be drunk," Buddha said.

"I'm drunk alright! Drunk from what you did to me!" Rick said, his gun's nozzle directly on Buddha's forehead.

"Sigh, okay Rick, I'll pay you back the 10,000 flerbos bet from the time we played Roy at Blips and Chitz," Buddha reluctantly said, taking out a golden card from his robe's pocket.

"There we go! You cheating bastard, you almost ruined my perfect run at Roy!" Rick said, pocketing his gun and storing the card in his pocket.

Taking out his portal gun, he shoots a green portal and takes a last glance at Buddha.

"Fuck you, Buddha!" Rick said, turning his body around, he walks through the portal while a metallic card was left in front of Buddha.

Picking it up with a raised eyebrow, Buddha reads the message and chuckles.

"If you want, we could play Roy next week," reading that message, Buddha just shakes his head and watches the card transform into countless motes of golden light that entered his body.

(Flashback End)

'Enlightenment… The goal of reaching the zenith is still so far away, it's like whenever I take a step forward, the goal just seems to go further away as if it was avoiding me.' Braun thought, his eyes opening once more while the wooden sword in his hand floats right in front of him.

Grabbing it, Braun stands up and waves the wooden sword to the lake below him, watching the calm lake part ways to form a smooth cut on the water, and as if the water was solid, it remained split in half as the rules of reality bent to his whim.

Calmly turning his head around, he mentally notes down the number 5 as if he was ticking off an object from a list to greet a man behind him.

Wearing a traditional samurai kimono colored black and a red belt tying his waist, his hair long and messy while a sheathed katana hangs on his waist, a pair of black slippers covering his feet that created tapping sounds on the ground.

"So, you plan on challenging me too?" Braun said, his gaze bored and apathetic while the man looks at him with a glow in his eyes.

"The name is Kenshin! And I would be the greatest swordsman in this world! So, I challenge you to a duel! And I wager my prized katana if you were to win," the man said, his voice full of vigor while he points his finger at him, the calluses on the palm of his hands showing to Braun.

"Duel accepted, I wager my left nut sack instead," Braun said, his form lazy and wobbly while standing on top of the lake.

"You, you're not taking me seriously are you!" the man shouts in anger.

"Yep, I don't really care about you, let's just get this over with shall we?" Braun said, his eyes bored while his hair sways with the wind, the soft breeze causing their clothes to move around while a blade of grass flies through the air between them.

"I'll show you why they call me the Sword Saint you bastard!" the man said, his blade unsheathing from his waist and what was shown was a blade in the color of blood as if it was coated by the death of countless battles.

In response, Braun simply raises his right arm that holds his wooden sword, his aura remaining weak and unnoticeable.

Crouching down, a boom suddenly erupts behind the man and he appears directly in front of Braun in a split second, the tip of his blade already nearing Braun's chest, in response, Braun simply swings his right arm at a speed so slow but as if it was controlled by a strange force, the side of his wooden sword collides with the tip of Kenshin's katana, blocking it as he felt the tip piercing through the wooden side of the blade.

"You dare use a wooden sword against me?! You bastard, don't you dare sully the beauty of swordsmanship!" Kenshin shouts, his eyes widening in anger while their swords clash countless times within seconds, countless ripples went to form on the lake they were standing on as countless blades of grass were cut in half from the sharp wind pressures formed by their blades.

"Why won't you attack!" the man said, his face directly in front of Braun while the edges of their swords push against one another between their chest, his left arm grabbing the dull edge of the katana to strengthen his push.

"Because I simply don't need to against someone as weak as you," Braun said, his body disappearing in place while Kenshin looks around with rage-filled eyes.

"Above you," Braun said with a monotonous voice, hastily raising his blade and grabbing the side with his left hand, he pukes out blood when the wooden blade of Braun slammed into his.

Watching Braun disappear once more only to reappear far away from him on top of a hill, he grits his teeth and wipes the blood on his mouth using his kimono.

"You! Why won't you get serious against me!" Kenshin shouts, his pride offended as he grabs the hilt of his katana with both hands, its red color darkening while the air around him seems to halt.

"I'll show you the true beauty of a sword forge from countless life-threatening battles! The power given to me by countless defeated foes who have been worthy opponents, but you, you're nothing but a disgrace to countless swordsmen around the world!" Kenshin shouts, his blade roaring to life and Braun watches with an amused gaze.

Transferring all of his energy to his blade, Braun watches Kenshin summon a red blade of energy to his red blade, the grass around him swaying from the pressure his blade exudes that could perhaps even slay dragons.

Raising his sword to the sky, Braun watches the red blade of energy elongate to ridiculous proportions and pierce through the dark clouds that formed above them, the red pillar made of psychic energy waiting to be released like a dragon.

"Sword Saint Style: Splitting the Skies!" Kenshin shouts, his legs crouching down while the muscles in his arms bulge outwards, his strength skyrocketing to supernatural proportions.

Waving his hand forward, Braun watches the pillar of red slamming down towards him at breakneck speeds that split the clouds above them into two.

Raising his dull wooden blade above him, he felt the gigantic pillar collide with the side of his blade and sees the ground below him cave in to form a gigantic crater that ranges multiple meters, the red pillar continuing to slam down on him and he felt his wooden blade finally snap in half, the red pillar directly slamming down on his bare body and felt it passing right through him due to his Intangibility.

"Huff, puff, that will show you not to mess with a true swordsman," Kenshin snickers, beads of sweat forming on his forehead as he watches white smoke cover the area in front of him.

But his eyes soon widen in shock when he saw the smoke fly away and Braun could be seen unscathed, the hilt of his wooden sword snapped in half while his eyes remain bored and apathetic.

"You really think of yourself as the greatest swordsmen out there huh? It's hubris for a being to think they have reached the peak, for there's only another peak that they didn't know existed, so let me enlighten you, mortal, for what it means to be a sword saint," Braun said, his body bending down to grab a blade of grass below him and pinching it between his thumb and index finger.

"For a swordsman, anything is a blade, whether it be a twig, a blade of grass, or even their own body. And what is a blade's purpose other than to cut? So let me show you, what it truly means to cut," Braun said, his eyes widening and Kenshin felt his heart skip a beat.

Watching the air around Braun explode, the blade of grass within his grasp seemingly transformed into a blade forged by the gods themselves as Braun points it towards the sky.

"Sword Saint Style: Splitting the Skies," Braun mutters, the blade pointing to the sky not moving a single inch but Kenshin saw the clouds that has formed above them be pierced by an invisible energy, no… it was no mere energy, it was the physical manifestation of Braun's mastery over the sword.

As Kenshin widens his eyes in fear, he watches Braun swings his arm forwards holding the blade of grass, the air pressure causing his robes to flutter with the wind while a small red line runs down the middle of his forehead down to his nose and to his chin.

And right behind him, the clouds could be seen parting ways thousands of kilometers away from the two.

"I-I'm sorry to have doubted you… Sword Saint," Kenshin said, his mouth and teeth clamoring in fear while blood trickles down the red line on his face.

Walking up to him, Kenshin watches Braun pat him on the shoulder and take his katana away from him.

"Now scram!" Braun said with a grin as Kenshin hastily nods his head.

"Yes yes! I'll scram away!" Kenshin yells, his body turning around and running away for his life while Braun watches him leave with an apathetic gaze.

"That's 5, which means peace for the rest of the day," Braun said, the katana in his hand snapping into two and he tosses it inside the still calm lake behind him.

AN: This is 2360 words, you're welcome.

There will be a big surprise tomorrow that will involve having a blast to the past and a whole lot of nostalgia, because holy fuck, was I bad at writing. Now look at me, writing 2k words in an hour, how the fuck did I get that fast?! Fun fact, my max typing speed is 103 WPM.

Writing is hard, so send me some powerstones.

(June 17, 2022 – 205th day of writing)