Passing Through Your Whole World

[Xia Xia was killed, his flesh sliced off and his bones removed. The killer was Hajime Kashimo.]

[Xia Xia was killed, folded in half. The killer was Hajime Kashimo.]

[Xia Xia was killed, his head relocated. The killer was Hajime Kashimo.]

[Xia Xia was killed, left beyond reassembly. The killer was Hajime Kashimo.]

[Xia Xia was killed, becoming a victim of gravity. Cause of death: falling.]

[Xia Xia was killed, attempting to drink all the water in the lake. Cause of death: drowning.]

[Xia Xia was killed, unable to control the wattage. The killer was Hajime Kashimo.]

Every time, they died together. The man named Xia Xia chased the lightning, turning his finite life into kindling as he danced with the god high in the heavens.

He did not care whether he died, did not care about pain, did not care about the cause of death, did not care how many more times he would die.

He had once wondered why his Innate Cursed Technique was a simulator, and whether his "Softcore Character" ability to return from death carried some additional price. Now, however, he no longer bothered with those boring questions.

"Hajime Kashimo."

He spoke that man's name and mechanically started another simulation, not a trace of exhaustion in his eyes.

Those lost things began stirring, bit by bit, piecing themselves together in his mind. Through death, he drew closer to his true nature, and his senses grew ever more real.

I have to kill Hajime Kashimo fair and square.

This was a graduation requirement, a concept. Reality Simulation was endless, and the joy of fighting this man to the death surpassed anything words could express. He only wanted to keep fighting, on and on and on, without ever having to stop.

Once the anger in his heart dissipated, his mind became much clearer, and he found himself enjoying battle more and more.

Although his status panel never changed, his martial skills improved with every clash against Hajime Kashimo. Even the sword and saber techniques he had never brought out of the special simulations seemed to acquire memories that should not exist.

Hajime Kashimo, thank you.

So we were best friends all along.

The nonexistent memories increased. Or perhaps the rabbit-headed man's desire for higher DPS had finally overcome his pioneering spirit. Thus, through repeated brushes with life and death, our boy Xia developed some unnecessary feelings toward Hajime Kashimo.

Classic McDonald's behavior. No wonder he could become the Sword God of the Starting Zone.

Which attempt was this?

I don't remember.

But Xia Xia stood there, watching Hajime Kashimo approach. He did not immediately bristle and hiss, nor did he utter any provocation.

His body entered combat mode before his mind did.

"What, something on your mind?"

Hajime Kashimo caught Xia Xia's punch and studied this young man he had only met once.

No malice, no hostility, but there's something strange about him. Is he the same kind of martial arts fanatic as me?

"Spar with me, senior. Just a friendly match."

"You're very strong, and I'd really like to fight you, but not in a duel to the death. Please go easy on me."

Xia Xia made his request sincerely.

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you thinking? My time is precious. Where would I find the time to teach some green kid like you...?"

Hajime Kashimo felt a headache coming on. Apparently, this fellow was not an enemy, but that was precisely the kind of person he found troublesome. Something about him felt strangely familiar.

"After all, you were the strongest four hundred years ago. You've always been the one I've chased after... You know that what martial artists like us want most is to fight someone strong..."

He actually recognized me. Well, nothing for it.

I'm only doing this because you've got the right attitude, kid, not because you're good at flattering me. As your elder, I suppose I can teach you a move or two.

What adult would get angry with a child?

The persuasion attempt was an obvious critical success.

"All right."

"I wouldn't call it teaching. Come on."

Hajime Kashimo took his stance.

What a headache. Hopefully, you'll survive fighting me. I mean, punching an ant away without crushing it takes some serious control.

"Yes. Please teach me."

Xia Xia also assumed a reasonably steady opening stance.

The next moment...

"Are you one of my descendants? Or a descendant of those little brats from back then? These moves..."

Hajime Kashimo found it downright bizarre.

It was perfectly normal for the other's Jujutsu to differ from his own, but what the hell was with these identical punches and kicks, as though copied in a mirror? He did not remember leaving behind any martial legacy during his lifetime...

But at his level, sharing a teacher hardly meant neither could break through the other's defenses. These were his own martial arts. How could someone else use them to push him around?

"Hmph. Form goes beyond form, and intent goes beyond intent."

Although this fellow's hand-to-hand skills already captured some of their true essence, from an instructor's perspective, his martial arts still had plenty of gaps.

Most importantly, although the sequence flowed smoothly, every move linking seamlessly into the next, he was clearly just imitating what he had seen, grasping only a fraction of the whole. It was badly mismatched with his own approach to combat.

After giving him pointers for a while longer, Hajime Kashimo discovered the biggest problem:

"Where's your weapon?"

"The way you instinctively grip a blade is ruining your unarmed combat. Rather than waste time here, draw your blade and let me see it."

"A swordsman who chooses his fists over his blade. Hmph. I have no idea what you're thinking."

Xia Xia nodded.

He drew a blade from his shadow.

"Be careful, senior. This blade is a Cursed Tool."

He gave the warning in advance, displaying excellent martial courtesy.

"Mm. Come on."

Then Hajime Kashimo regretted it.

Xia Xia with a blade was far, far stronger than Xia Xia without one. If his hand-to-hand skills were an attempt to imitate Hajime Kashimo, then this boy's swordsmanship was almost uncanny.

Dodging began to take some effort. To preserve his dignity, he had to wrap himself in a shell of Cursed Energy, using invisible lightning to parry the blade's attacks.

There's something to this swordsmanship.

Powerful, elegant, clean and decisive.

Yet it seemed shrouded in a thin veil, its true strength indistinct. Even its wielder appeared unaware that this sword style required a more complete state of mind.

"Boy, your sword is too heavy."

Hajime Kashimo tapped the tip of Xia Xia's blade, then slipped past him and pressed a finger between his brows.

"A sword you can lift is a good sword. Swordsmanship that can kill is good swordsmanship. Rather than obsess over rules and prescribed forms, follow the guidance of your heart."

"Try attacking me. Those little tricks of yours can't hurt me, so don't worry."

No sooner had he spoken than a cold glint flashed in Hajime Kashimo's eyes, followed by a fierce diagonal slash.

Unfortunately, before the attack reached him, Hajime Kashimo heard the blade give a faint whine as it approached its breaking point.

"I was mistaken."

He sighed, casually crushed the pitiful blade, and pointed at the fragments on the ground.

"There's nothing wrong with your swordsmanship. Your blade is simply too poor in quality to support your skill."

"How can your state of mind be complete when you're using an inferior weapon?"

"You ought to put a little more care into your martial path. Don't listen to that idle talk about using any flower or blade of grass as a weapon. You haven't reached that level yet."

Had this blade been just one grade better, that last strike would have been enough to wound him.

Had this blade met the standards of a Special Grade Cursed Tool, Hajime Kashimo could not guarantee he would defeat him unscathed.

Had this blade...

Xia Xia sheathed the blade and bowed.

"Thank you."

His gratitude was sincere. After trading wounds and lives with Hajime Kashimo so many times, the one thing he could not understand was why he could never reproduce that sword strike from the simulation. He had tried taking out a loan through a Binding Vow, and he had considered perfectly recreating the moves from that moment, but no matter what he did, he could not manage it.

Now that he thought about it, he had been overthinking things.

How could some shoddy product forged by a random roadside Jujutsu Sorcerer compare to the Three Talents Sword Formation Amabuki Xia Xia had obtained at the cost of his Grade 1 parents and his Special Grade best buddy?

Starter gear against a galactic superteam. Hilarious.

Sure enough, someone with a lifeline was never complete.

"Might I ask you to lend me a hand, senior?"

He addressed Hajime Kashimo with even greater respect.

"Go ahead."

Hajime Kashimo warmly offered his support. He was always patient with ambitious youngsters like this. Whether the boy needed further martial instruction or tactical advice, a veritable doctor of Jujutsu such as himself could certainly help.

The next second, a sword's gleam lit up the night with no windup whatsoever. Xia Xia had offered half his lifetime as the price of a Binding Vow, gaining a zero-frame startup and an attack specially tailored against Hajime Kashimo.

A World-Cutting Slash variant with no windup, lasting only this single second, imbued with the Demon-Repelling Edge effect, fundamentally incomplete and with a low chance of success, targeting Hajime Kashimo alone, and impossible to reproduce afterward under any circumstances.

A guaranteed kill. No counter.

"Senior, lend me your head."

Hajime Kashimo died.

Caught completely unprepared, killed in a single blow. He would never have imagined that someone had been silently reciting a Binding Vow from the very start of the fight, solely to make this instant's surprise attack possible.

He had never imagined that a junior he thought so highly of would strike at him at this moment, much less that the other man could remain so calm under these circumstances.

You bastard, don't you have a heart?

You bastard, are you even human?

Xia Xia caught Hajime Kashimo's falling head. He cradled the senior who had been chatting so happily with him just moments before, then lowered his head with a smile and gently closed those eyes that had died unable to rest.

Friends were valuable.

Friends were useful.

"Domain Expansion: Death-Bound Curse!"

"Let your paltry life be an offering to my supreme way of the sword."

A blade forged from the corpse of a Special Grade Sorcerer surely would not disappoint him.