Bushido Online: the Battle Begins: A LitRPG Saga

by Nikita Thorn

  Their audience of four had moved to one side, giving them a wide open space in the middle.

  “Hiro, remember, he’s only got his Parry, so you can’t use any higher abilities,” said Kiku. “So, no Brace, no Shout, no self-heal, or anything of that sort.”

  Hiro groaned. “I know.”

  He was a young man with a strong build, short-haired and thick-browed, with a glint in his eyes that was half playful and half self-assured. He unsheathed his Hikari and swung it around a few times to readjust to its weight.

  “Ready when you’re ready, Seiki-san,” he said.

  “Don’t disappoint me, Hiro,” said Sayahime.

  “You know I earn my keep, dear hime-sama.”

  Hiro of the White Crane Order [Level 21]. HP 4081/4081. Energy 2168/2168.

  Hiro rushed forward with Sweeping Blade, which Seiki recognized as his own habit, since its starting stance was natural to flow into. Seiki already had both hands on his sword in anticipation, and he stepped aside and Parried the blade upward, before kicking out at Hiro’s right thigh.

  The man’s reaction was quick and he leapt out of range. “Whoa.” He smirked. “Did you learn that from Shousei?”

  Seiki supposed he did. Hiro struck out with another Sweeping Blade as soon as he landed.

  Hiro of the White Crane Order [Level 21]. HP 4081/4081. Energy 1192/2168.

  Seiki fended off the attack again with a Parry, before following up with Focused Strike, which Hiro parried in turn.

  His encounter with Shousei hardly counted as a fight. In a lot of ways, this was his first real sword match. Seiki knew energy was everything and it was a limited resource. So, he could not be wasting his energy on attacks that could be blocked. Either he had to force Hiro to use up all his energy, or he had to get in close beyond parry range.

  Thinking fast, Seiki closed in and struck out with Sweeping Blade without using energy. As Hiro drew his sword to Parry again, Seiki turned his hips to transition into a Focused Strike, which pierced the man below the groin.

  Hiro of the White Crane Order [Level 21]. HP 3093/4081. Energy 1192/2168.

  Hiro looked down at his bleeding leg in surprise. “Not bad, Seiki-san.” He smiled, seemingly excited. “Seems like we can have some real fun now.”

  He charged forward, and Seiki only understood then that the man had been holding back as he gauged Seiki’s ability. Seiki readied his sword in a defensive stance as Hiro closed in with another energy-less Sweeping Blade, which Seiki also parried without energy. As soon as the blades met, Hiro’s sword shot up, following the motion of Seiki’s block, and merged into a quick upward slash that forced Seiki back a step. Seiki pulled his Hikari back into the Focused Strike stance, when suddenly Hiro slashed down diagonally with both hands.

  “Hey, no Kill Slash!” Kiku cried.

  Seiki did not have time to use his Focused Strike. He was forced to Parry the falling blade, when he realized that Hiro’s attack was a normal move.

  “No energy,” shouted Hiro. “Doesn’t count.”

  The blades connected again, and what was at first Hiro’s energy-less move quickly turned into a down Parry. Hikari felt heavy in Seiki’s hand as he focused his strength against the downward push, which forced his blade toward the floor. The tip of his sword cut through the tatami, as Seiki twisted his wrist to disengage his sword and Hiro quickly let go. In a split second, as if he had planned it all, Hiro had already stepped his right foot forward and slashed out again with a full Sweeping Blade.

  Seiki figured that Hiro had been using the same strategy to waste his energy. Right now, in this tight spot, was Seiki’s only chance. He ducked low and lunged with Focused Strike, which caught Hiro on the side. At the same time, he could feel the Sweeping Blade passing dangerously close over his head. Hiro followed through his spinning motion with a kick from his left leg, which Seiki blocked with his arm. But without being in a steady stance, the impact knocked him off his balance.

  Seiki rolled with it, as Hiro’s blade stabbed down at him. Seiki fended off the attack with only his right hand on the sword. He was now out of energy but, luckily, Hiro was too, and the weapons clashed harmlessly. Pushing himself up with his left hand, Seiki swung his right leg forward to trip Hiro, and the man jumped back. His sword was already slashing down again, which Seiki rolled away from. But not entirely in time. He could feel a shallow icy cut across his shoulder.

  Seiki picked himself up as quickly as he could. It was not a significant injury, and the kick and the damage combined only took about a quarter of his health. Both of them were breathing heavily from the unexpectedly long exchange as they regained their stances.

  Hiro of the White Crane Order [Level 21]. HP 2679/4081. Energy 374/2168.

  The unique blade Horn of the Ox Demon had a tiny health restoration perk on it, and Seiki knew that with the meager percentage that his attacks could do, every second mattered. All he could do was to chip away at the samurai’s health.

  Without waiting for his energy to recharge, Seiki rushed forward in a Focused Strike without energy, which he merged into a normal Sweeping Blade at the last second. Hiro would not be fooled. He was aware that Seiki was out, and he did not waste any energy to parry. Instead, he simply knocked the blade upward.

  Sweeping Blade left the user in an open stance though, and Hiro took advantage of this. Right after the blades met, he immediately stepped forward, and Seiki had to twist his body to avoid getting trapped in an awkward position. Hiro’s sword arm continued in a circular momentum and curved back into a horizontal attack at Seiki’s torso. With a violent flick of the wrist, Seiki pulled back his sword, which managed a shallow cut on Hiro’s leg, just as he threw himself to the floor and rolled away.

  Hiro of the White Crane Order [Level 21]. HP 2641/4081. Energy 412/2168.

  This would never work with this amount of health difference, Seiki reflected. Hiro was close to be able to use a special move, and Seiki himself was ready for a Focused Strike, or a few parries.

  Not waiting for Seiki to fully recover from his roll, Hiro closed in again, with an upward slash. Seiki blocked without energy. Before the blades connected, Hiro changed the trajectory into a downward cut, and Seiki leapt aside in time to avoid a direct cut. The blade dragged through his skin in a long frozen gash, stealing another fifth of his health. Hiro followed up with an immediate diagonal up slash and Seiki was forced to Parry, which in turn forced Hiro to use energy.

  Hiro of the White Crane Order [Level 21]. HP 2217/4081. Energy 331/2168.

  As they exchanged a few more moves without any damage or energy spent, Seiki grasped something important about the encounter. Hiro was actually fighting at a severe disadvantage.

  Panting heavily, with streaks of numbness on his shoulder and leg, Seiki knew what he had to do to win this fight. Hiro was bleeding from his wounds and was taking a moment’s break, perhaps to wait for his energy to recharge. They eyed each other warily.

  Seiki took a deep breath and paused. Right before Hiro’s energy had restored enough for a single Focused Strike, he dashed in again with an energy-less Sweeping Blade. He used it early before he was too close, hoping that Hiro would step back to avoid it rather than try to parry.

  It was as he had hoped. Moving back, Hiro was just out of range of his offense. The Sweeping Blade stance left Seiki wide open on the left, and Hiro did not let the opportunity go to waste. He immediately stepped forward and lunged with Focused Strike. Seiki had been watching out for this: he winced as he forced himself to wait until it was almost too late to get out of the way. Hiro was faster than he thought. Although the ice-cold blade did not manage to pierce, it left a rather deep cut on Seiki’s flank, sending numbness through his whole abdomen, and dropping his health to a third.

  Seiki’s left palm shot out at Hiro’s wrist and knocked the sword away before it could cut any further. Hiro’s right foot slid forward and tripped Seiki, who staggered but immediately regained his balance as he leapt
up to reposition himself.

  Hiro of the White Crane Order [Level 21]. HP 962/4081. Energy 11/2168.

  Pressing forward, Hiro followed with an energy-less slash, and Seiki winced again as he chose not to parry but step back and let the blade graze him on his triceps. His health was at a worrying level now, yet this was the only way this fight could be won.

  In this strange setup for this particular match, the samurai’s attack power had been weakened to the point that his offensive moves would not kill Seiki. However, Seiki’s own moves were also too weak to make a dent in his opponent’s health. The only thing that could significantly drop Hiro’s health was his own successful attacks on Seiki. The attack had to connect for the unique blade’s effect to kick in, which was a flat reduction of health equivalent to the move’s base damage. And the best strategy for Seiki was to take it in grazes and glancing blows, rather than direct hits.

  It went against Seiki’s every instincts as a fighter, and it was a gamble at this point. Hiro was still out of energy for offensive moves and rushed in with another downward slashing attack. Seiki ignored whether he could manage to partially avoid this one. Out of instinct, he Parried, which, again, forced Hiro to use his energy to match it. Hiro struck out with another energy-less Sweeping Blade, and Seiki leapt back, preparing to take another graze as he was now familiar with its range.

  Faster than an Amur tiger, Hiro switched his stance into Focused Strike. Seiki was raising his sword to counter it, when Hiro’s left hand drew the unique blade from its scabbard on his waist and threw it forward with alarming precision and speed. The curved Horn of the Ox Demon, black and crude, slashed Seiki on the wrist, and immediately his whole hand went completely numb as if it had been plunged into a bucket of ice.

  With a gasp, he dropped Hikari, just as he heard Kiku cry, “That’s not legal!”

  “You said nothing about Free Slots.” Hiro was already in with another attack, slashing his blade upward. Seiki threw himself full-force on the man, and they both crashed to the floor. Seiki’s left hand found the man’s sword arm and desperately pinned it down, grunting as his vision was starting to blur from his dangerously low health level. Right now, he had to trigger his Strength of Will as fast as possible to regain mental focus.

  They were in an awkward position on the floor and Hiro tried to thump him with his left hand as he attempted to free himself. Seiki’s right arm had regained some feeling and he blocked the blow.

  Sayahime cried, “That’s enough!”

  At the sound of her voice, Hiro ceased his struggling and let his half-raised Hikari drop onto the tatami in a soft thud. The abrupt end and the immediate silence that followed were rather shocking, and it took some mental effort before Seiki could let go of the man. His heart was still pounding and he just took notice that his clothes were drenched with blood.

  “What the heck, Hiro?” cried Kiku.

  Hiro pushed himself up from the floor, still panting. He smiled weakly at her but said nothing.

  “It’s all right.” Sayahime’s voice was calm. “I told Hiro to Disarm him when it’s almost over.”

  Seiki was still recovering from the adrenaline rush, and perhaps from the sight of so much blood, which was just starting to register. He dazedly looked up at his audience.

  “Oh, I see,” Mimura could be heard saying.

  Hiro had started undoing the straps of the leather kote on his arm as soon as he had caught his breath. He let out a sigh of relief once it was off him. Then he turned to meet Seiki’s eyes. “Damn, Seiki-san.” His eyebrows were raised. “I see what Fuyu means now.”

  Seiki’s wounds were already closing, when a warm powerful Heal was laid on him and instantly filled his health. He looked over and saw Ikumi with her right hand up.

  “Thank you, Ikumi-san,” Hiro called out as the houshi’s heal reached him too. It took another wave of heal from her to restore all his HP.

  The traces of blood faded quickly after the spell, and it soon seemed as if nothing had happened at all. Seiki was still a little too shaken for speech and gave Ikumi a polite nod of appreciation, which she returned with a brief smile.

  “I was curious,” Sayahime was explaining to Mimura. “You saw the fight at Ichikeya. I didn’t, so I wanted to see how he managed to fight Taka without a weapon.”

  Kazuki was carefully picking up the unique blade from the floor and asking for its scabbard back from Hiro, who also tossed him the leather kote as if eager to be rid of the crippling sleeve. Ikumi quickly wrapped them up in the cloth bundle. “I told you he would figure it out sooner or later,” she muttered to her clan mate.

  Seiki understood now that the match was in no way a fair one, despite them leading him to believe it at first. But he was not sure anymore in whose favor the scale was tipped. The only thing he could be certain of was that the unique blade and enchantments were definitely not meant to be used that way.

  Hiro quickly recovered, as he had presumably done this many times. And now that it was over, he seemed in a good mood. He casually grabbed his Hikari from the floor and went back to his seat, before proceeding to put on his armor.

  Kazuki was putting the cloth bundle into a larger box. He smiled when he caught Seiki watching him. “Sorry, Seiki-san. That was the best we could do.”

  “Real gimmicky,” said Ikumi, seemingly to no one in particular.

  “Well, all we wanted was to make sure that it lasted more than a few seconds,” said Kiku. “Right?”

  Seiki was still replaying the fight in his mind. “Hiro-san,” he asked, looking across the room at the samurai, who was strapping on his last piece of armor. This was the first time he had spoken since the end of the fight, and they all stopped their conversations and looked at him.

  “If you don’t mind,” said Seiki. “What were your instructions?”

  This took them all by surprise and glances passed between them. Kazuki hid a smile. “Now, that’s the right question to ask.”

  Hiro glimpsed at Sayahime as if asking for permission, to which she gave a nod. And all eyes turned to him in anticipation. Kiku looked around in puzzlement, and the two Society members perked up with interest. Even Mimura bit his lower lip. It was clear now that only Sayahime was in the know.

  Hiro took a deep breath. “Make it close,” he replied breathily. He was now staring at Seiki with a sense of wonderment.

  Seiki thought about it. “That made it impossible for you,” he said. The only way Hiro could have won the fight was to finish it off as quickly as possible, with full connects, which Seiki was quite certain by now that he could have done if that had been his intention.

  “Not entirely impossible,” said Hiro at this unexpected conversation, as he thought about it too. “After that free Focused Strike, I knew you had figured it out and I was aiming for a kill, but somehow you were really good at…” He searched for a different word but then gave up. “Not dying.”

  “Is that what Fuyu-san said?”

  Hiro laughed. “Yeah.”

  Seiki wondered if Hiro had been unconsciously holding back even then, since he had also been told to use Disarm. The result of the match hardly mattered, and these people’s main purpose was not to test his skills as a swordsman, but perhaps how he handled the whole situation.

  The samurai seemed extremely pleased. “Hey, better catch up quickly, Seiki-san,” said Hiro. “So we can have a proper match.”

  He must have meant leveling. Hiro had been limited to only his first three moves, and Seiki was quite sure it had greatly restricted what he could do. He nodded. There was something beautiful and natural about how Hiro flew into different moves, as well as his energy use, which seemed completely in control.

  Kiku giggled. “Excited for a new playmate, Hiro?”

  “As it stands right now, Hiro is the better swordsman,” said Mimura. “But you, Seiki-san.” He shook his head in amusement. “I don’t know where you learned all that from, but your style…”

&
nbsp; “It’s very unorthodox,” said Sayahime in an unreadable tone. She was studying him closely.

  “A quick thinker, too,” said Kazuki. Thoughts seemed to be churning in his head.

  Kiku turned to him, her eyes wide. She cried, “Kazuki-san! Don’t tell me that now the Society wants him, too?”

  “Well.” Kazuki shrugged casually. “That will be up to Seiki-san, will it not?”

  Mimura signaled him. “Seiki-san, perhaps that blade I have given you was too light of a gift. But, as we said before, there is no obligation for you to join any of us.”

  “Oh, we’ll convince you,” said Kiku confidently.

  “Do you want to make a bet on that, Kiku-san?” said Mimura, slight enmity, uncertain whether real or fake, creeping into his tone. “But perhaps I should ask Sayahime-sama.” He turned to her. “Fang of the Blood Moon for your Rod of Burning Clouds.”

  Kazuki whistled.

  “Are you crazy?” cried Kiku.

  “Manners, Kiku,” said Sayahime calmly. Then she turned to Mimura and smiled. “The Order accepts the wager.”

  “What?” Kiku squealed.

  “Wait,” cried Seiki. Despite not entirely understanding what it was, he could guess by now that they were talking about unique blades, where the outcome of the wager rested solely on his decision to join a clan, the importance of which seemed entirely overblown. “I’m really grateful for the invitation, but I really haven’t thought about it.”

  “Look at how these people can bluff,” said Ikumi, apparently to herself.

  Mimura rubbed his hands together. “Of course, Seiki-san. Perhaps we should start with explaining the finer points of what we do.”

  “Please,” said Seiki. “Like, maybe you could tell me what it was in the box that I delivered?”

  Kazuki whistled again, and Sayahime chuckled.

  Suddenly, Ikumi cursed, very softly. Kazuki looked at his clan mate. Noticing her expression, he quickly muttered, “List.” Then he frowned as he focused his attention inward.