[h2]Heir to the Konpaku[/h2]

[hr]

One---

Two---

Three, four, five---

His last defenses aren't anything special. I can tell he can summon more powerful monsters, but I think cutting his sight must have made it more difficult for him to coordinate.

Purple blood drips from Roukanken's edge, splattered across the ground, as the falling corpses break apart. That's right, I have a spare moment to reach him and force him to back down!

I can't move reliably as fast as normal. If I could, this battle would have been over in a flash and there would have been no question of my victory.

But he's just out of reach. I need to reach him, to put my blade up to his throat and make him back down before anything else happens---!

His eyes refocus.

My grip on Roukanken tightens as the spiral of sick-feeling energy above him roils and begins to move.

If I have to, if I'm given no clear choice to take another path---

Grandfather told me that I should be prepared. That even if I live a gentle life without the need for true bloodshed, that doesn't mean that I shouldn't ready myself.

[i]"Understand this, granddaughter. These arts are meant to kill. One day, you may have to use them to do just that. Not to simply slay a monster or banish a phantom, but to spill the blood of a being who can think and speak just like yourself."[/i]

I know that much.

I know that I might have to do it.

I can't let him release that sickly spiral of seething, rotten energy. I don't know what it will do to anyone it strikes, to this surrounding area.

If it's come to this, then the day my grandfather told me about may have finally come.

My body tenses, Roukanken's gleaming edge rising into the night air. I suck air in, filling my lungs as my heart pounds faster with every passing instant.

I have to do this for my own safety. For the safety of this entire area. If I have no choice, it's not because I didn't try, it's because I was given none.

I have to do this

I have to.

If I truly have no choice, then---

The spiral in the air twists and inverts in on itself. It's torn backwards, sucked away by an invisible force.

What?

The look of shock on my opponent's face tells me this isn't part of his plan.

I follow his gaze, and---

Ah.

I'd nearly forgotten she was here. She must have just been brainlessly watching until she saw something that looked tasty, in that rotten brain of hers.

All that sickly energy is disappearing into Miyako Yoshika's mouth.

There's no time to pause and consider what any of this might mean.

I bring Roukanken down, stopping its edge when it reaches the monk's neck.

"I don't want to hurt you, but if you keep fighting you'll leave me with no choice."

A feeling of relief has washed over me. It's not that I'm not ready to take a life, but if it's not necessarily then there's no reason to go through with it.

"Surrender, and call off all your remaining monsters. Now."

My tone is firm.

I'm not going to allow an argument.

[@FujiwaraPhoenix][@Raineh Daze]