Then he began processing the materials, firing them in the furnace to remove impurities.
He did not know when Kochou Kanae would encounter Doma, so he did not let himself dwell on his confession, whose success or failure was still uncertain.
Nor did he dare lose himself in the pain of parting. He reined in all his emotions and, starting the previous night, had raced against the clock to forge the Nichirin Blade.
But now he faced a question that puzzled him.
"Why can't I enter that frenzied state anymore?"
Since the previous night, he had tried again and again, only to find that he could never slip into that wondrous state.
At first, he thought his emotions were too turbulent for him to concentrate.
Yet with each repeated strike of the Forging Hammer, his mind gradually shed its impurities, just like the piece of iron in his hand.
Still, that subtle state never came.
Its absence puzzled him, but it did not impede his work.
He was forging a weapon and tempering his heart!
At some point, Tetsu no Sosuke had suddenly come to that realization.
At the same time, another thought kept rising in his mind.
Should I try using Breath of the Sun while hammering iron?
As his mind settled, the thought quietly surfaced.
Although Breath of the Sun was supposed to power Swordsmanship, Tetsu no Sosuke knew absolutely nothing about it!
He was utterly clueless about most sword techniques, too.
Although he had watched Kochou Kanae train for three days and had gained a basic understanding of the Flower Pillar's sword movements, he had never tried them himself... Watching alone could teach him the movements and the sword's role in them, but clearly nothing beyond that.
After all, watching alone could not make him a Swordsman!
But he was a Swordsmith!
He knew how to hammer iron!
Thinking it over more carefully, Breath of the Sun would surely increase his strength and speed. If he applied those to hammering iron, might it produce some wondrous effect?
Once that thought surfaced, it became hard to suppress.
In the end...
The boy's breathing rhythm changed, his entire mind focused. For an instant, heat seemed to spill from the corners of Tetsu no Sosuke's mouth, seeping out around the edges of his mask.
A moment later, the look in his eyes changed.
The Forging Hammer in his hand whirled like a raging gale!
Before, the rhythm of his hammering had been clang! Clang! Clang!
Now it became clangclangclangclangclang!
Without a pause, in a single instant, what had been calm waters became a storm-tossed sea.
Before you continue