Cursed Blade

Kou leaped over the rooftop and down to the street while being surrounded by Niklas's soldiers. While Louisa squeaked from the force of the movement, he securely gripped her.

The soldiers yelled, "There they are!" as they got ready to aim their spears at Kou. "Kou! We're going to die because of you!" Seeing Kou's mint-colored eyes, called Louise.

Both the front and the back exits were encircled by soldiers. He landed on the concrete and they surrounded him. "We're in the middle of fire!" she called since she was at a loss for how to proceed.

Kou tensed his eyes, sensing the soldiers slowly approaching him. "Do something!" Louisa begged, while Kou hurried on and leaped at the building's wall.

Hearing Louisa squeak, he pressed his left sole into the wall. He then bounced off the wall over the soldiers' line. He landed behind them and bent forward quickly.

"After them!" shouted a soldier as each of them understood their orders. "That kid's flexible. We'll never be able to catch up to him this way."

Kou was able to outrun the remaining soldiers, but then his energy level suddenly dropped. In order to escape, he tried to hide in an alley until a startling silhouette passed over the nearby rooftops.

"Who's that?!" he questioned. He watched to see if he could follow the silhouette's motions, but he saw that it moved more quickly than a typical human.

Upon touching down, the silhouette's feet turned and vanished from Kou's viewpoint in an instant. Louisa rolled onto her back as a result of Kou dropping her to the side as his senses started to tingle.

Kou arched his entire torso back before he even realized it, then abruptly felt a slicing sword slashing above his face. He instantly changed into a handspring, dragged his foot, and rammed his heel into the hilt of the sword after noticing Luca standing in front of him.

The sword he struck was launched into the air and began to spin as Kou quickly backrolled and skated across the concrete to a safe distance.

Luca leaped into the air, reaching out to catch the sword in his grasp. He then quickly twisted the sword's blade forward, generating three energy spheres that he immediately fired down towards Kou like bombs.

Kou's hands grabbed the floor as he sprinted away from the exploding spheres that left a trail behind him as his eyes shook and he switched to the side.

Luca descended to the ground and spoke with Kou, who was positioned in front of Louisa. "I see why our men had a hard time catching you. You react quickly to situations." asserted Luca.

He gulped down, seeing a strong in front of him. "I guess you're one of the stronger soldiers." Luca, holding the sword to the side, slowly approached Kou; his blade surrounded by black smoke.

"That I am. Tell me, child. Did you come here to cause problems for Lord Niklas's island? That's one step to becoming a true terrorist to our island; someone that we can imprison for disobeying the rules."

Kou shrank back slightly, hesitant to take any action. "I'm rather certain that you — not I — are the terrorists on this island." Luca maintained his composure, which allowed the soldiers to capture Louisa. "Kou! Help me!"

He turned around and saw soldiers taking her along with them. "Louisa, no!" He wanted to run over to the troops and save Louisa, but before he could, Luca materialized in front of him out of a cloud of pitch-black smoke and swiftly swung his katana in his direction.

Kou leaped far away out of reflex, noticing to himself that he wouldn't be able to reach Louisa. "Curse you! Set her free!" Luca turned around and gave the soldiers orders. "Bring the girl to Lord Niklas' home by taking her to the mansion. He will decide what he will do to her."

"Please, Kou! Help me-" Kou stared, unsure of how to help, as she struggled to break free of the soldier's hold until she was rendered speechless by her mouth becoming covered. "What did she do to you?! She's just a kid!"

Luca and Kou looked at each other solemnly. "That girl stole a precious artifact from Lord Niklas's grasp. That sort of behavior is prohibited and punishable."

Kou's mouth trembled as she resisted acting in any way. "Her brother made that relic specifically for her! Don't give me those ridiculous answers! She simply grabbed what was hers; you were the ones who stole it!"

Luca disregarded Kou's assertion. "That being said, a girl like her does not have permission to steal significant relics from Lord Niklas. Even though she was able to reclaim her gift, she is not entitled to remain free."

Kou saw the soldiers immediately encumber Louisa in chains and drag her around the corner. She attempted to call out for help, but she was unable to speak due to her taped mouth. She could just make out Kou's yell. "Quit it!" Kou could no longer use his powers because the act had already been done and they had dispersed. He was like a stone that was waiting to be thrown.

"Now, child. If you don't mind, I have been given orders to exterminate any members of the Phoenix Pirates. You will be put to death by my blade." The sword's blade was tipped forward, showing Kou that he needed his abilities to escape.

Leandre stood there looking serious as Yumiko's blade slashed through the bricks like butter, splitting them into debris. "Congratulations. Without using that cursed blade at all, you managed to cut that brick tower. You are a true swordswoman, and I have no doubt that you will eventually be able to learn how to cut steel."

Yumiko stepped back from the rubble and turned to face Leandre as she rapidly filled with sparkles. "Gah! I did it! I did it! I didn't think I would be able to do it!" she began to hastily hop upon her feet, fully taking Leandre by surprise.

A swear of drop slowly trickled down his face, which made Yumiko pause and quickly became serious. She leaned her hand close to her mouth. "I mean. I knew it..." She gently looked to the side and reddened into the face while Leandre sighed.

"Well... I want to assume that you are qualified to proceed since you passed the first test. As I've said before, I want you to confront me in a sword-to-sword tussle using only sword arts and no special skills or techniques. Do you want to move forward?"

The tip of the sword was pointed at the ground as Yumiko crossed her arms. "Could you perhaps cease making that odd ascent? You have a robotic voice. Yet, I have already agreed to the test and I want to help my friends, so I'll have to get these swords. I have no other ways of gaining one."

"Very well then, shall we move on to the main part?" he asked. "Believe me when I say that I would love to offer you these blades, but I usually don't do that for a warrior who can't fight like a one. It must be done as I need to judge your proficiency as a swordswoman."

Yumiko loosened her grip while nodding. "Am I allowed to use both swords?"

"You would like to use Takame before even having the chance to prove yourself?" Leandre questioned as he stared at her with curiosity.

"True, I do. It would be logical. What use would it be for me to receive these blades if I couldn't use one of them? I want to see if I ever get an opportunity to use it, therefore I'd like to try it first."

Leandre sighed. "But how do you tend to do that?" Yumiko reached for the sword's handle feeling a sudden pressure of terror through her whole body; like a truly cursed experience, but became serious, despite feeling the sweat of drop flowing down her face.

"If the sword truly is cursed, that means it is willing to have a mind of itself. If my arm is cut, then I am unworthy of its potential. But if it misses and maneuvers itself in around it, then I have a meaning to wield it."

Leandre was taken aback by the extreme terror as his eyes trembled in surprise. "You'll have one limb less to aid your friends if that blade slices your arm!"

Yumiko observed the thin purple aura that surrounded the blade of the black sword in front of her. "I don't mind. As I already stated, a sword's wielder must be connected. Only after that will it be demonstrated to us that I am capable of using this weapon."

Leandre shut his eyes, stressed to think about what could happen, but allowed her to proceed. "You do have a warrior's spirit. Go ahead."

Yumiko maintained a serene expression while stretching her left arm, exposing the bandage on her shoulder. The immense pressure still emanating from the blade caused the purple aura that surrounded it to begin to glow brighter and brighter. She closed her eyes and threw the sword into the air, causing it to circle.

Yumiko saw whistling energy encircling her invisible aura while she was still in the room. She had the impression that she was in the middle of a pitch-black chamber as she saw white hiragana symbols flash by all around her like never-ending thunder.

The room was filled with eerie noises and murmurs that attempted to frighten her, but she overcame them with bravery. Slowly, the colors in the room changed to black and white, with the sword's color descending toward her left arm and poised to slice.

She kept her left arm extended despite how close the blade was to her and soon felt faint energy brush across her skin. Slowly circling her left arm, the blade just missed her arm as its metal clattered to the ground.

To be continued...