"Agh!!"
A young boy bolted awake in a quiet room, clutching the area above his heart as pain and anxiety traveled rapidly through it.
Trying to recall the deathly situation he just found himself in, the young boy could faintly feel his memories slipping away from him the more he tried to remember what had happened.
Worse yet, looking down at himself, he just realized that it seemed as if he had aged backwards.
"W-what's going on? Last I remembered, I was just about to be executed because…because…why? Why can't I remember?! Tch! Moreover, this body, this room, where am I? Is this a dream?"
The young boy hopped out of bed and landed on all fours on the floor, struggling to stand up as pain racked his body.
"Urgh!! Where is this pain coming from?"
Leaning back on the bed frame, the young boy gasped for breath as he saw his own veins rapidly becoming swollen. It was as if something was trying to break out of his body.
Calming himself, the young boy grabbed onto the bed frame as hard as he could and tried his best to subdue the raging blood within his veins.
'Even if this is a dream, I refuse to accept death or defeat here. Though, if by some miracle this is some kind of reincarnation, I can't afford to die again! I need to grasp this opportunity!'
Closing his eyes to focus, the young boy felt an incredibly painful burning sensation flowing through his body, rupturing certain organs and parts of his brain in the process.
When his brain was attacked by the strange energy in his body, he felt as if he had lost something, but he couldn't understand what.
THUD!
Falling to his knees, the young boy's body was starting to break from the rampant energy.
What could be going on for such a phenomenon to happen?
This process continued for hours as the energy reforged the young boys entire body, seemingly turning it into a vessel for something.
That was when something even stranger happened.
The pain instantly disappeared.
The terrible pain that plagued the young boy had seemingly vanished without a trace and was now replaced by a soothing sensation that relaxed his mind.
Slightly opening his eyes, the young boy saw clouds in the form of dragons made up of a strange energy circulating around his body, their esoteric forms emanating from a certain object that was somehow now laying across his chest.
The object was a sword. A katana in fact. When the young boy laid eyes upon the white-hilted blade, two words erupted within his mind and soul.
[Cloud Gorger]
The blade felt as if it was apart of his very being. As if he was born to use it.
Struggling up to his feet, the young boy could still feel the damage to his brain and a few places within his body, particularly around his abdomen, but he still felt…fine.
It was like he lost something but gained something else in return.
"A katana, huh? This is what I went through all this pain for? I can definitely feel that it's special, but I can't tell how yet. Hm, what if I try…"
The moment the young boy unsheathed the blade, a chunk of information rushed into his mind, filling it up the three main abilities of the blade and two swordsmanship styles to compliment them.
'Mei, Yui and Kou. Such strange names. The two styles are called the [Shadowless Blade] and the [Iai White Purity Style]. Again, strange names. Where did this all come from? This world, what caused me to come here?'
While he wanted to really think about these issues, first, he had to get acclimated to the world around him. Who knew if he was in any danger at this moment?
Just as the young boy sheathed the blade and leaned his short frame against the bed to think, the door to his room burst open, revealing an older woman with an emotionless gaze.
"Han Ze'nin, your dinner is here. Eat."
THUD!
Slamming his door without waiting for a response, the old woman left as suddenly as she came, confusing the young boy with her actions.
Walking up to the food she laid on a table next to the door, the young boy scratched his head, wondering how he was going to survive with the mystery meat and slop with water he just got served.
"Tch, so Han Ze'nin is my name huh? Looks like I've got a hard life ahead of me."
Just like that, Han began his life within the confines of his small dilapidated courtyard. Everyday, the old woman would arrive with strange, rancid food at 7am and 7pm on the dot. No earlier, no later.
Han had tried to talk to her a few times but he received nothing but a cold shoulder in return.
As such he turned his attention to training with the sword. Everyday the boy swung his blade and practiced the styles according to the instructions within his mind.
Cloud Gorger became his only friend. He swung the blade relentlessly, feverishly and in such a crazed manner day by day that years passed by without him taking much notice.
No one else other than the old woman ever came by. Some days he wouldn't even take notice of her as he swung Cloud Gorger, completely immersing himself within the world of the esoteric blade.
A mysterious blue energy would engulf him every time he swung his blade or meditated. He could use the energy to reinforce his body, send out ranged slashes or even the newest application he had come up with, compressing the energy along the edge of his blade to dramatically increase his cutting power.
Although he had no idea what the energy was called, Han could sense that he could access more of it with each passing day. It was as if he had an endless well within himself waiting to burst forth at the right moment.
When it came to mastery of his swordsmanship styles, Han had made great strides in both of them. But there was one thing he lacked, experience.
No matter how much he trained, there would be a point where he plateaued because he lacked experience.
"That point is fast approaching . Cloud Gorger is itching for a fight. I gotta say, I agree. I've been locked up in here for too long. How long has it been now…eh, 10 years?"
Han was now 17 years old. His black hair was quite messy and his bangs hung over his deep blue eyes that seemed to lack pupils.
Eye bags also plagued his face due to the lack of sleep because of his endless training. But it was a small price to pay for power.
CREAKKKK!
Tonight, the old woman had come again. But this time, she didn't come with food.
No, she came with folded clothing with a small item on top and the most surprising thing, a small smile on her wretched face.
This woman hadn't smiled once in 10 years in front of him, and now she just suddenly changed? Something must've been afoot.
"The Clan head has a mission for you. Put on this clothing and head out to the gate of the clan. There, a jujutsu sorcerer will be waiting for you and the rest of the designated clan members to escort you all to your mission. Be swift, this mission is of utmost importance."
Han squinted his eyes as he heard this. Ten years without so much of a squeak from anyone else and now he finds out he belongs to a whole clan and the Clan leader has a mission for him?
'Yeah. This has to be a setup or some kind of trap. In fact, if I put all the pieces together, it sounds like I'm being sent off to die. There's no reason for me to be chosen otherwise. I've been likened to trash, and so the clan has probably decided to get rid of me.'
The more he thought about this, the more sense it made. He showed nothing that would cause the clan to put any kind of hope in him. To them, he probably looked like a talentless fool who just trained with a sword.
'To a certain extent, I can't blame them. But, I have to say, this feeling is hard to swallow. The solution is simple though…'
Not wasting any more time, Han picked up the clothing, went inside of his little room, showered, and put on the designated clothing.
It was a simple set of clothing. A black high-collared short sleeve tight fitting shirt, some black sweatpants and black martial art shoes. On his left ear, he wore a small black earring connected to a tiny black cloth hanging down from it. The words 'Ze'nin' were inscribed in white on it.
'This is some decent style. It's funny, this could be the last set of clothing I wear. Heh.'
Han walked back outside and followed the old woman, taking note of the size of the clan as he walked through it.
'This is an extremely wealthy clan. And all they could do was feed me scraps for the last ten years, actually probably for my whole life even before I took this body. Tch. What a joke.'
In a few minutes, the duo got to the front of the gate, where several members of the clan dressed in different attire waited for their arrival.
"Who the hell is this guy? I've never seen his face in the clan before."
"I heard he's the son of elder Jinichi and a mistress. Elder Jinichi doesn't even claim him as his own."
"Ohh. That explains why he's on this suicide mission then."
Han overheard the voices and was a bit surprised at his origin, but at this point, parents were the last thing on his mind. He didn't care for them.
The jujutsu sorcerer wore a different uniform from everyone else and his energy, Han recognized it as the same energy he had. In fact, he could sense varying amounts of the energy from everyone around, but that sorcerer carried the most of everyone, except himself of course.
"Let's go! A curse user has released a thousand cursed spirits across Shinjuku and it's our task to destroy them! Follow me so we can meet up with the rest of our comrades! The lives of innocents depends upon us!"