On the Pure Land battlefield, the two crimson meteors streaking across the sky drew every eye.
Might Guy and Might Duy, father and son burning through their lives and youth, raced toward the next battlefield with speed and power beyond all reason.
Enemies along their path, whether samurai or ninja of the Pure Land, were either crushed like ants before that raw, violent power or fled far out of its way.
Yet behind those dazzling figures, seemingly capable of tearing through anything, lay countless unseen hours of sweat, tears, setbacks, and perseverance.
Fragments of memory flashed like a revolving lantern at the edges of Guy's vision, blurred by his tremendous speed.
He remembered that he, too, had once felt defeated in his youth.
Back then, he had been mocked for "only knowing taijutsu," ashamed of his bottom-ranked grades, and disheartened because no amount of effort seemed enough to catch up to a genius.
With bandages wrapped around his head and medicinal patches on his face, he had asked his father dejectedly:
"Dad, when does youth end?"
Was it when I could no longer run, jump high, or win a fight?
Was it when I finally admitted that I was just an ordinary person who could do nothing but work hard?
Seeing the confusion and pain in his son's eyes, Might Duy's heart ached.
But he knew that comfort and protection meant far less at that moment than firm guidance.
His eyes blazed, and his voice rang out, loud and powerful:
"As long as your youth never backs down, it will never end!"
Guy did not want to hear any more of his father's lofty sayings. He shouted, "Then it won't end even when you die, Dad?!"
If you were dead, how could that youth still exist?
Rather than grow sad