📖 Chapter 9 – The Trial of Defeat
The hallway of the inner world was long, silent, and bathed in a faint bluish glow. Rei walked barefoot, his steps barely echoing over the strange marble. Ahead of him, a new door had appeared. It was different—reddish wood, with an insignia burned into the center… two crossed katanas.
The air shifted as he touched the knocker. A warm wind, like a sea breeze. Rei swallowed. He knew a new dungeon was about to open. This time, not a hazy landscape or a distant voice. This was a clear trial. With purpose.
The door opened on its own.
The dojo was built from fine wood, with sliding paper walls and a zen garden in the back. Swords hung neatly on the wall. In the center, a wide tatami mat.
Before him, a figure waited. A young man with dark green hair tied back with a black headband. His eyes were stern, but not hostile. A bokken—a wooden sword—rested on his shoulder.
"Your stance is unstable," he said without introducing himself.
For reasons he couldn't explain, Rei assumed the basic stance he had read about in his books. The bokken that appeared in his hands didn't feel familiar. It was light… too light.
"Who are you?" Rei asked.
"I am the embodiment of a lesson you have yet to learn," the young man replied calmly. "This is your first fall. Prepare yourself."
There was no time to think. The attack came fast. Rei barely raised his bokken, blocked, and staggered back two steps. His arms shook. The strike hadn't been powerful, but it was precise.
"Don't look at the weapon. Look at the intent."
Another strike. Rei dodged. A slash through the air. Then another. And another. His reflexes were sharp… but his technique, sloppy.
After about five minutes of short exchanges, Rei dropped to his knees, gasping for breath. Sweat ran down his forehead. His hands trembled. He had never felt so much pressure.
"You cannot win yet," the swordsman said, lowering his weapon. "And that's alright."
Rei clenched his teeth. He wanted to shout. Why—if he had trained so much? Why—if his chakra was different, if he had visions, if he possessed an inner world? Why couldn't he win here?
"Because power without control… is only arrogance in disguise," the young man said, as if reading his thoughts.
The surroundings began to fade slowly. Rei found himself once again before the door. His bokken dissolved into fragments of light.
A voice lingered in the air:"Return when you understand that defeat is not the end. It is the first true step."
Rei opened his eyes in his room. It was night. Shuri slept sitting in the corner, ever watchful.
He stood silently, walked to his desk, and took a fresh scroll. He began to write a single line in black ink:"The most dangerous sword is the one that does not move out of pride."
Folding the paper, he stored it in his personal drawer.
For the first time since waking in this world, he truly felt weak.And for the first time… he did not reject it.