Face to Face

A long chapter this time—five thousand words!

I hadn't planned to write this much, but stopping earlier would've meant cutting off right as they were about to leave...

If I did that, I was honestly afraid you'd send me razor blades, so I tried to bring this part to a proper close.

At first, I only took it to forty-five hundred words, but the stopping point still felt wrong, so I added another five hundred... Now I'm suddenly worried I'll end up writing straight through to the end of the story in a single chapter someday... Sweat...

Chapter 19: Face to Face

Upper Moon Two stood before them. The danger was far from over.

Kochou Kanae's gaze swept over the blade. She handed her Nichirin Blade back to Tetsu no Sosuke and took the new weapon he offered her.

The moment it reached her hand, she froze.

"So light!"

Inside the scabbard, the blade felt almost weightless.

She gripped the hilt and drew it. A blade shaped like a butterfly's wing emerged from the sheath.

The broad blade and keen edge gleamed in the firelight, radiating an indescribable sharpness.

As she held it in one hand, surprise rose within her again.

It felt less like a sword in her hand than an extension of her own body.

"I used special Forging Methods to strip the weight from this sword and make it fit you completely. I shaped the blade this way after watching your swordsmanship. You'll discover what makes it special as you fight!"

Tetsu no Sosuke suddenly noticed that the blade was changing color.

It was turning a clear blue!

But within that blue ran threads of red, spreading like burning flames across the blade.

As the colors shifted, the blade turned entirely blue. The red that had spread across it like scattered stars quietly vanished.

"It's beyond anything I imagined!"

Kochou Kanae raised the blade before her eyes and said intently, "Fall back."

Tetsu no Sosuke drew a deep breath. Without the slightest hesitation, he slowly backed away, keeping his eyes on Upper Moon Two. "Watch out for his Blood Demon Art. He can disperse his blood into the air. If you breathe it in along with the freezing mist, it'll damage your organs."

"You know quite a lot." A trace of surprise appeared in the man's eyes. "Have we met before?"

Tetsu no Sosuke did not answer. He had already retreated a good distance.

"Sister!"

Shinobu Kocho wanted to say more, but Kochou Kanae gave her a faint smile. "Listen to me."

Unwilling as she was, Shinobu Kocho could only nod. This was a battle between one of the Nine Pillars and an Upper Rank of the Twelve Demon Moons. At her current level, insisting on staying would only make her a burden to her sister.