NOVEL NEXT Chapter 864
Chapter 15: True Martial Home
Miyamoto Musashi knew that there wasn’t much time left for Tokugawa Ieyasu, the leader of the Eastern Army, who was staying at his camp. From the start of the war, he could feel the nobles swarming around in a frenzy like ants, and he instinctively understood where the massive army was heading. His intuition told him that the camp would probably be within seven ri. For him, that was practically right next door.
He halted suddenly.
The reason? He sensed a killing intent trailing behind him.
Musashi instinctively assessed the strength of this intent’s owner and realized one undeniable fact.
‘Strong.’
Why, though? He knew that if they clashed, one of them would surely die, and the odds weren’t in his favor for survival. It was rare for an expert to gauge so much just from sensing a killing intent, but Musashi could tell with his intuition.
After clearing his mind for a moment, he glanced down at the circular formation below from his hilltop. As expected, there lay a camp filled with the Tokugawa family’s banners, symbolizing Ieyasu. More than likely, the current top expert of Dongyoung, Tokugawa Ieyasu himself, was there. But Musashi didn’t go any further; instead, he turned his head toward the canyon on the opposite side.
Tydaht
Miyamoto Musashi climbed to a rock midway up the canyon, focusing his mind on the stream.
Shwaaa
The sound of the stream echoed ceaselessly in the darkness of the forest. While catching faint echoes of killing intent amidst the stream’s noise, he realized that his opponent had emerged downstream about ten paces away.
The upper-level warrior, wearing a horned helmet, slowly removed it and spoke. He appeared to be in his late forties, with a gaunt figure but eyes that sparkled like ice.
“I am Ono Jirouemon Tadaaki. Just call me Ono Tadaaki if you know me.”
“……”
“What’s your name?”
“Miyamoto Musashi.”
“Good name.”
After mulling over the name, Ono Tadaaki raised his sword into the intermediate stance.
“I want to learn about your sword. Come at me.”
“Come at you?”
That was a ridiculous thing to say.
Musashi muttered to himself. He wasn’t keen on this, but if push came to shove, he would draw them into a brawl like pulling off a band-aid. He didn’t want to just win in style; he wouldn’t recklessly attack an opponent who might be stronger than him. As Musashi sidestepped two paces, Ono Tadaaki grinned. Musashi had precisely read his own ‘distance’ and moved to safety.
“Your observation skills are commendable. Still, no matter how I look at it, you seem like a pale imitation of a swordsman. How did you gain such insight?”
Musashi chose not to respond. Instead, he glanced at the pebbles in the stream and focused his strength into his legs before launching himself at the water.
Thump
Boulders beneath the water erupted as they flew towards Ono Tadaaki. With rocks the size of human heads flying in addition to the pebbles, Ono Tadaaki knew he couldn’t ignore the surprise attack. He reluctantly charged his sword with energy, slashing through the stones as he rolled on the ground, kicking rocks back at Musashi.
Swack!
“Ugh.”
When Ono Tadaaki countered with the same technique, Musashi felt a shocking sting in his forearm. As a rock hit him, Ono Tadaaki leaped in without any hesitation, aiming for Musashi’s neck.
Kakang!!
First strike!
As Ono Tadaaki’s powerful sword collided with Musashi’s blade, Musashi’s sword shattered, chipping near the bloodlake. Realizing his sword had weakened, he quickly withdrew and hurled a dagged knife he’d picked up from the battlefield at Ono Tadaaki.
Ono Tadaaki deflected the knife and stepped back with a laugh.
“Hahaha! You took my strong sword Kamewari head-on, and yet the blade held up! Hahaha! Who are you, really?”
That was impressive. If he used his powerful technique Kamewari, it could shatter the solid walls of Osaka Castle. Anyone who tried to block his strike would see the sword break and their body crushed to a pulp. Only those who reached the level of a swordsman might leave a corpse’s form behind.
Yet, a teenager could block it head-on!
“I want to ask you something. Why are you trying to kill me?”
“I told you, I want to see your sword. And I’m quite satisfied!”
Flare
Ono Tadaaki’s sword burst into flames. With the scouting phase over, he was clearly ready to get serious.
Musashi, seeing the flames, maintained a curious look, while Ono Tadaaki, sensing that expression, felt a surge of interest.
“What’s up? You don’t know what sword flames are?”
“Sword flames?”
“The force wrapped around my sword when you just blocked it is also sword flames. Without using sword flames, you couldn’t possibly have stopped my blade, so don’t play dumb.”
“……”
“You’re surprised to see someone else using it, aren’t you?”
Flare
Musashi also ignited his sword in flames. After enduring life and death in battles, he had finally reached the stage where he could wield it freely. He then asked.
“Is there a level above this?”
“Of course, there is.”
Ono Tadaaki chuckled, “It’s called sword strength (劍罡).”
“Sword strength?”
“This is what I’m talking about.”
Kiiing!
The moment his words ended, Ono Tadaaki’s sword flames shrank and refined into what resembled a sharp blade of light. It wasn’t overwhelmingly bright but radiated a glow that seemed to absorb human sight.
As Musashi’s gaze was drawn to the light, Ono Tadaaki lunged and aimed to cut him down.
He was an undeniable peak master, one of the five top swordsmen in Dongyoung.
Kwahwaang!
Crash!
In an instant, Musashi’s iron sword shattered into dozens of pieces, and simultaneously, his body flew backward. Ono Tadaaki leaped into the air, delivering a kick to Musashi’s side.
Paak!
“Cough!!”
Musashi gritted his teeth, feeling blood rising within him, but there was no avoiding the pain.
Kuwung
As he collapsed to the ground, drenched in blood, Ono Tadaaki burst into laughter.
“Haha… You can use self-defense techniques too? That kick just now packed energy. If your spine is intact and there are only external wounds, then that’s what it means… Where did you learn martial arts?”
He hadn’t learned self-defense techniques. He simply realized instinctively that having energy in his body increased his defense, and he just created techniques based on that instinct.
He realized he had chosen the wrong place.
Musashi felt bitterly that trying to gain an advantage in this desolate canyon had been a losing move. When facing someone like him, it would have been better to dodge around the battlefield. Having broken his sword in a solitary place like this, he found himself with no choice but to surrender.
However, Musashi wouldn’t give up. He placed a hand on his knee and quickly rose. He looked at Ono Tadaaki with cold eyes and said.
“I have no master.”
“Are you telling me you reached this level purely through imitation? You expect me to believe that?”
“Whether you believe it or not, you intend to kill me, don’t you?”
“Well, yes.”
Ono Tadaaki had no intention of taking Musashi as his disciple. In such a brutal land like Dongyoung, he thought that allowing such a genius to live would lead to his own demise someday.
He wasn’t chasing down a runaway soldier. Feeling the genius within Musashi’s sword on the battlefield, he followed in order to squash that budding genius.
‘Give him three years, and even victory or defeat can’t be guaranteed. I must kill him.’
If Musashi’s words were true, he had to ensure that he killed him here.
Becoming enemies with such a genius was far more trouble than it was worth, so he decided to bestow a last respectful farewell as he was about to kill a swordless Musashi.
“I, the seventh generation of Kamewari, Ono Jirouemon Tadaaki, heir of the school of Ito Ittosai! Today, I shall take Miyamoto Musashi as my pupil!”
“……”
“If you have anything you want to say, go ahead. Just not ‘spare my life.’”
Musashi let out a chuckle. As Ono Tadaaki felt there was never a hint of fear of death in that laughter, he raised his eyebrows, wondering what Musashi would say next.
“Who is the strongest warrior in the world?”
That was a strange question. Musashi, despite feeling that this crisis was close to death, chose not to ask about the Lunar Kill Technique. Instead, he inquired about the ‘strongest in the world.’
Ono Tadaaki didn’t mind the question and willingly answered.
“There are three strongest warriors in Dongyoung. One is the Sword Saint Kamizumi Nobutsuna, one is Tsukahara Bokuden, and the last is my master, Ito Ittosai.”
“Who among them is the strongest?”
“They’re all about the same level, but my master is slightly stronger by half a step.”
“You speak like someone who’s seen them with your own eyes.”
“I’ve seen it firsthand.”
“So Ito Ittosai is the strongest warrior in the world?”
“……”
Ono Tadaaki showed a strange expression.
Did this kid really think he wouldn’t die here?
Surely not.
There’s no way someone with such sensitive survival instincts couldn’t sense his killing intent.
Yet, why was he so fixated on a title that would never fall to him again?
What was even stranger was that he didn’t entirely dislike the kid. Thus, he decided to answer the question seriously.
“Not at all.”
“Is there a stronger warrior than that?”
“I’ve heard that in the distant Central Plains, in the Great Ming Empire, there exist experts who surpass the luminaries of Dongyoung. And in the neighboring Goryeo, the leader of the Twelve Joules, Master of the Twelve Joules, is likely the strongest in the world.”
“…So he’s even stronger than the sword saint you mentioned?”
Ono Tadaaki frowned with a bitter smile.
“Warriors living in Dongyoung are like frogs in a well. Only a few exceptional individuals realize that. The world is vast, and there are countless experts. My master often says that even after a thousand days of hard training, reaching the essence of martial arts is hard.”
“I see….”
Musashi thought he must be going insane.
The Ono Tadaaki before him was undoubtedly one of the top five pinnacle warriors in Dongyoung. But in the Central Plains and Goryeo, there must be legends and geniuses capable of easily wiping out someone like Ono Tadaaki, and atop them all stood the Master of the Twelve Joules. Thinking about it like this made him feel as insignificant as a bug.
But why did his heart race?
‘This won’t be boring.’
The amusement before awakening the Lunar Kill Technique. Musashi, with ambitions and aspirations to one day cut down all those formidable opponents, felt a whirlwind brewing within the boy’s heart.
Shaat
Miyamoto Musashi positioned himself with the broken sword in an intermediate stance. Ono Tadaaki, seeing his stance resembling his own Ittoryu intermediate stance, raised his eyebrows in disbelief.
‘A perfect stance.’
Could it be that he had mastered the style after just one glance? A normal genius would need over a hundred days with a master to properly adopt the stance, even a natural-born talent would take at least a month. Yet to Ono Tadaaki, Musashi’s stance felt like that of a master who had trained for ten years in the Ittoryu.
However, a moment later, Ono Tadaaki would be even more surprised.
“You call it sword strength, right?”
Kwahching!
From Musashi’s broken blade, energy merged with his Qi, forming a shape of strength for a brief moment. But soon, it dissipated like smoke.
“……!!”
“Looks like I can’t do it well…”
Seeing Ono Tadaaki stiff with shock and fear, Musashi smiled brightly.
“You’ll understand once I kill you, Ono Tadaaki.”
“Don’t get cocky, brat!!”
Kwahwaang!
In the next instant, Ono Tadaaki’s fierce sword, Kamewari, swung down at Musashi. There was no way Musashi, whose sword had broken and who was already injured, could withstand Ono Tadaaki’s upper hand; he thought his whole body would be shattered this time.
But in that moment – Ono Tadaaki felt it. As Musashi’s broken blade formed the sword strength, it flexibly redirected the energy and, before he knew it, Musashi had drawn a dagger from his waist and was adding it to his sword strength.
‘A dagger?!’
It was a ridiculous improvisation, but Musashi’s defense was flawless.
Ono Tadaaki’s blow lost its power and slipped past, while Musashi took the chance to stab his thigh with the dagger.
Thump
“Ugh!”
Despite groaning, Ono Tadaaki, a seasoned warrior, tightened his thigh muscles to prevent the dagger from being pulled out. If his muscles were strong enough, the dagger, a small weapon, could unlikely be pulled free. Without a dagger, Musashi wouldn’t be able to pull off any more tricks.
But in that moment, Musashi released the dagger.
Instead, he set his stance with the blunted blade.
Recognizing that the stance perfectly mirrored his own, Ono Tadaaki’s eyes widened.
Ittoryu (一刀流)
Kamewari (瓶割)
“Ah….”
Kwahwaang!
At that moment, Ono Tadaaki’s armor shattered, and he rolled several times backward. Shattered into pieces, his upper body and skin were exposed to the world, and for a moment, he fainted, losing consciousness.
“Ugh!”
When he regained his senses, Musashi was breathing heavily.
In Musashi’s eyes, the blood light flickered, indicating that the demon mask was actively assisting in his slaughter.
“Haah… haah….”
“……”
That’s a monster.
Ono Tadaaki looked at Miyamoto Musashi with wide eyes. He realized that his hands were trembling uncontrollably.
‘Me… the so-called mad swordsman, am I actually scared of that kid?’
No way that could be true.
He had never felt intimidated even in front of Sword Saint Kamizumi Nobutsuna. Ono Tadaaki, who had fought on equal terms with numerous exceptional experts from the Central Plains and Goryeo, represented Dongyoung as one of its true aristocratic swordsmen. And he was afraid of a mere teenage novice?
Yet he realized it. He no longer had the courage to raise his sword again to face Musashi.
He shouted loudly.
“That’s enough for today, Musashi!!”
Ono Tadaaki’s sword aura vanished. Though Musashi was soaked in blood and recognized his serious injuries, he understood that in that moment, he had achieved victory at the crossroads of life and death. Should Ono Tadaaki attack again, he would certainly die, but that too was mere luck. Musashi stood quietly, an eerie laugh escaping him.
“Keuh… keuh… Kwahahahaha…!”
He understood.
That improvisation, which had just blocked Ono Tadaaki’s Ittoryu – the intuition that he could use the dual sword technique to overcome the shortcomings of the long sword had flowed through him.
Once he concrete that soft sensation, he could reach a state of effortless, formless mastery, which he believed would become the void (空) from which he could develop his swordplay.
‘What shall I name my sword technique?’
But separate from that feeling, he was no longer in a condition to fight. He would need to recover and be cautious for a time.
Musashi staggeringly began to walk out from the battlefield.
‘I’ll head toward Honganji.’
The clue given by Fuma Kotaro, the leader of the Fuma clan!
If he could find Honganji Jounoshin there, he would surely gain some leads on the Lunar Kill Technique.