Seven Duels of Swordmasters (1)

(The First Duel : General Oniwa Tamahara, Head of the Seven Spears)

I remember exactly what he told me the night before at the stables.

"No matter what, you must strike me down. It is your duty."

Those words did not meant much to me at that time but once I contemplated about it again, it now sounds heavier.

I opened my eyes to the sight of an empty field in the middle of the military camp. Crowds of foot soldiers, samurais and mercenaries gathered around the perimeter forming a 'fight ring'.

To start explaining why this is the case, I'd have to go back to last night.

"Lady Fujiwara, I challenge you to a duel."

It was during the time when all the friendly soldiers had gathered around the fort and taken it under their control. We were about to go back to Toyama along with the other soldiers who weren't garrisoned to hold the fort.

"...What?"

"It's exactly what I said. If I win this duel, you will forsake your master and give up on this foolish game of yours."

"What if I win?"

"...Then you'll have my head."

After the battle with the dirt spider, Tamahara challenged me to a duel in front of hundreds of soldiers. Rumors spread like wildfire in such a tight community, and it quickly rose ablaze when they see me waiting at the empty field the next morning.

The smell of burnt wood, blood and sweat covered the atmosphere. The morning sun was bright and shone down on the field with it's deadly rays, but at the far mountains a pile of dark clouds loom over.

Echoes of the distant thunder could be heard even from this distance. And after a while of waiting, he came.

Riding on his warhorse Onikake, General Tamahara rode to the field in a full set of armour whilst wielding his giant spear in hand. The shape of the spear resembled that of a tree's branch, nicknamed the Dragon Slayer Spear.

The horse galloped it's way to me, and once it was close the general stopped his horse.

"It's not too late to back down."

"I came prepared."

"Hmm... Is that so?" He closed his eyes and pondered.

The general took a deep breath, before opening his mouth and shouted-

"My name is Oniwa Tamahara, head of the Seven Spears of Uesugi! As I breathe, you will not pass the castle gate!"

Hearing his voice the soldiers cheered on.

I gripped my sword on the waist...

"My name is Fujiwara Takina. If you will not let me pass the gate, then I'll have to force my way through whether you like it or not, general Tamahara!"

"We will see."

The general turned his horse around and rode towards the other end of the large arena...

From the sides, I noticed a familiar shiloutte watching within the crowds.

Kenshin watched us with a calm expression, as if already knowing the outcome of our battle.

"...." What is on this old man's mind? He told me he'd support me to find Genji but now all he's doing is watching?

The general reached the far side of the arena and dismounted. From the horse he grabbed a great bow and a few arrows, while his great spear is stabbed to the ground.

He has a bow, if I stayed at long range it'd be troublesome for me...

"....Go." As I was absorbed in my thoughts, the general slapped the horse and made it run away before he held his bow in hand.

"Shall we dance?"

"Yeah... Let us begin, Fujiwara!"

Immediately as the fight begun, I took off sprinting towards him.

The general tucks an arrow into his bow. Winds gathered around the arrow in a vortex...

After charging for a few seconds, he fired. 'Bang!'

Despite being at a long range it took less than a split second for the arrow to reach me. I hadn't expected it to be so fast.

Shadow Draw!

'Tank!'

I knew that the arrow was powered by winds and couldn't be dodged, my only option was to parry it with an attack.

The arrow grazed my eye patch after I drew my blade and slashed at it. It deflects off my blade and punched right into the ground with the force of a cannon. 'Thump!'

A red hot mark could be seen on my blade where the arrow hits, and it left a trail of white vapour behind as it fly pass.

"Holy shit!..."

I wasn't paying attention when he fired that spider last night, but now I know why he's such a deadly general.

His spear was the side arm... The primary weapon is the bow! Trying to see projectiles with one eye is difficult enough, but this is ridiculous.

My eye patch fell off as well, making my vision more blurry than before. Trying to deflect another empowered arrow would be suicide now.

"Hmph!" The general tucks another arrow into his great bow.

I quickly looked around the arena, and saw an unused carriage in the middle.

I quickly dived towards the carriage and hid behind it.

"Hiding won't save your Lord, Fujiwara!"

'Bang!'

He fired anyway?!

When I expected a powerful arrow to Pierce through the carriage, nothing happened. And then a few seconds later...

'Thump!' An arrow slams right to the floor next to me.

A trail of vapour was seen pointing upward to the sky. "Shit!" He had fired it upwards and make it drop down, a sky shot!

"Tsk, a miss..."

How obnoxious, his bow was far more dangerous than any guns of this era!

Seeing this chance, I quickly ran out of the cover and sprinted towards him. The general tucks another arrow... no, several arrows into his great bow before aiming at me.

Just a short distance away! He won't have time to charged up winds on those!

'Thup!' He fired the arrows without charging, launching a volley of shots at me.

"Useless!"

'Tank!' (?x)

With a single slash I swiped away the volleys of arrows, and then leapt to him with my sword overhead.

"Hah!" 'Clank!'

He raised his great bow and blocks my attack. His defense is sturdy, as my attack quickly bounced off despite not being deflected.

As I landed on the floor with bad footing, the general raised the bow and swung at me with it. 'Tank!'

I deflected it away, but the attack pushed me off behind. Using this window the general dropped his bow and grabbed the great spear next to him....

"Hmph!" He did not pull it off the ground, but instead slashed using the ground as resistance to build more power.

'Clank-!!!'

From the power of the swing, I was knocked away.

I stomp my feet into the ground and stopped my momentum to regain balance. "Woah...!"

But right as I brought my head back to the general, he is gone and left in place of him was a small vortex of winds.

"Wha-"

It was then the shadow of the general loomed over. I looked up and saw the figure of him with his spear raised overhead, mid air.

"Hmph!"

___________

[Third Person POV]

'Clank-!!!'

With a cloud clash, sparks were sent flying while the woman was knocked away. Takina's sword was subsequently disarmed from the force of that hit, and flew up to the air.

'Chink!' It landed back on the ground right in front of general Tamahara.

"Urgh... Hah..." The attack had knocked the sword's flat side into Takina's head, causing her to be stunned by the attack.

As she struggled to recover, the general walked forward with each step of his foot shaking the very ground itself. His armour and his spear combined weighs as much as a car, and every attack hits just as hard.

The general points his spear at Takina, touching her chin with the blade's flat side.

"Do you still wish to fight?"

"Hah... I'd never lose him... Not again!"

"...."

As Takina struggled back on her feet, the general kicked her katana back to her.

"Pick it up."

"What are you-"

"I said pick it up!"

"...."

"If you lack the strength to protect that child, then at least show us your spirit, and your heart! Show us just how strong is your will to save the young Lord! Show us the reason why we should let you through the castle gate!"

"!" Takina upon hearing those words, showed a face of realization.

She quickly looked around the arena towards the crowds of soldiers gathered at the field.

At first the soldiers watched with an apathetic view. However, as the fight continued and Takina was knocked down, the mood changed.

They had started to root for her unconsciously.

This was what she had realized.

"Haha..."

Takina took the blade in her hand, blood dripping from her head onto her face, and used it to support her body as she stands up.

"Hahaha!"

"Why are you laughing?"

"Haha... I'm sorry but... I can't help but laugh when I finally understand your true intentions...."

"Hmm." The general's lips curled up a little, grinning.

In a quiter voice, Takina spoke.

"You're a cunning one, general. Using this chance to sway the hearts of the people in the clan...."

"...Lord Genji told me to keep this between us, Fujiwara."

"What...?"

"You'll figure out the rest once you confront my Lord. For now, we must continue with this dance. Try your best to survive."

The general kicks his spear off the ground and aims it at her.

Takina took a deep breath and recomposed herself.

"Hah... But you are mistaken about one thing, general." She spoke in a loud voice again.

"What is it?"

"Who said I didn't have the strength to protect my lord?"

"!"

'Thud!' She kicks off the ground and dashed at him. The general stabbed his spear forward, which Takina used her sword to deflect off. 'Tank!'

She closed in on the general, and used the hilt of her katana to bash his helmet. 'Tank!'

Spinning around with the bash, she lowered her katana to her waist and entered the stance of a Shadow Draw.

The general wind up his spear and swung at the same time as she drew her blade.

'Clank-!!!' Despite having the superior speed and precision, Takina's blade was parried by the spear as the sheer force of the spear made it impossible to parry.

"Tsk!"

She steps backward from losing her balance. Seeing this chance, the general quickly aimed his spear at her following up his attack.

His thrust to her face missed every time, and so he aimed the tip of the spear lower, towards the leg of her.

'Thump!' But just as he thrusts it down to her leg, Takina raised her lead leg and stomped onto the spear.

"?!"

"Heh!..."

"Tsk!..." The general shoved his spear's pole upwards and made her slide off. And just as she stumbled backwards off-balance, she general gathered a gush of winds around his leg and raised it up.

"Hmph!" He stomps onto the ground, launching a powerful wave of winds around himself and knocking Takina even further back. 'Bwuom!'

"Urgh...!"

Seeing the chance, the general lowered his body into an attack stance and gathered winds around his powerful spear.

___________

A vortex of winds gathered around the general, and he slowly lowered himself into a mid stance.

That is the Dragon's Fang.

The signature spear technique of Uesugi Kenshin the sword saint. An attack only usable on the largest of lances.

"Let's end this here, Fujiwara!"

I also raised my body, putting my sword upwards in the attack stance of a One Line.

"Let's end this now!..."

In that instant, it was as if time had frozen.

All of my attention was concentrated on the general's spear as he thrusts forward.

With a feint, I quickly lowered my sword down into the attack stance of an Upper Slash, and swung forward to receive his spear.

'Clank-!!!'

While my attack was not as powerful, it doesn't take a lot of power to throw his attack off-course when I swung at a thrust sideways.

The spear grazed pass my arm and made a shallow cut as the winds punched into my chest, knocking me backwards. 'Fwuom!'

With my sword upwards now, I brought it around into the attack stance of One Line.

"Hmph!" 'Fwuo-!"

Just as expected, the general pulled his spear backwards and made a vacuum. The powerful winds dragged me towards him as he raised his left hand with a fist.

This is the decisive blow!

"Hmph!" / "Sei!"

'Shing-!!!'

__________

The exchange made the two switched place, back facing each other.

The crowd of soldiers did not made a single noise as they watched on...

'Splash!' A gush of blood shoots out from the general's arm.

"Urgh!..." The general drops to the ground, still bleeding.

"Woah-!!!" (?x) The crowd cheered on upon the defeat of the general. Takina swipes her sword to the side to fling off the blood.

"Phew..."

In the motion to dodge the general's knockout punch, Takina sliced her blade across the arm pit of the general where there weren't any armour, severing the major artery inside and disabling his left arm.

But if she had not seen the move just last night, she wouldn't have predicted the vacuum pull part and would've subsequently be punched right there.

This victory was only possible because she had seen the technique before.

"Well done... Fujiwara..."

As Takina sheathes her blade, the general grasped his cut to stop the bleeding before asking :

"Tell me why..."

"?"

"Why didn't you try to kill me with that headshot? You didn't have to dodge my punch, and the attack would land before my hand could reach you.... it would've been safer.

So why take the risk?"

"You gave me another chance when I was disarmed. Consider us even now."

"Heh... I guess I've underestimated you a bit much."

'Thud!' The general drops to the ground, fainting from the amount of blood loss.

A crowd of healers quickly gathered to the general's body, and treated his cut wound before he would die of hemorrhage.

After making sure that he'd receive the proper care, Takina turned around and headed for the castle.

The sky behind the castle had grown dark, looming with rain clouds full of thunder. Their rumbles could be heard even from this distance in such a loud place.

"Now then.... please hold on for just a moment longer, Sora-sama."

(Chapter End)