Sentarō stared at the tiger-bear with such intensity that his pupils dilated. His body trembled, not from the night's chill, but from the raw, suffocating fear that gripped him.
GROOOOAAAR!
The beast's eyes locked onto him, wild and feral, filled with a murderous hunger. Sentarō couldn't move. Every muscle refused to obey, his body frozen in place. The scar on his chest began to throb painfully, dragging him back to the haunting memory of his childhood encounter with a tiger-bear.
He wanted to run. He needed to run. But he couldn't.
"What are you doing, Sentarō? Move!" he screamed inwardly.
GROOOOAAAR!
The tiger-bear reared up on its hind legs, towering above him and the trees of the forest, ready to mutilate. Sentarō's heart hammered in his chest. "Move, Sentarō… MOVE!"
The beast raised its massive right forelimb and lunged forward.
SWISH!!
The strike came like a hurricane, yet to Sentarō's barely getting his thoughts together sidestepped it. His body moved on instinct, rolling across the grass before regaining his stance.
"That attack was… slow" he muttered, with a fierce look on his face. The bear didn't give him time to think. It charged again, growling, claws slicing through the air.
SWISH!!
Sentarō leaped to the side, rolled, and rose smoothly, his breath remaining calm and steady. "You don't see it because your just an animal… but I'm different from your usual prey."
A grin crept onto his face. Sentarō felt it, the weight of his growth over the past five years. Confidence surged through him. He hurriedly picked up his wooden sword and pointed it at the beast.
"You are actually bigger than the one I encountered that day," he said, voice steady, with light tension in his chest "but that doesn't mean you won't fall tonight."
He shifted into a battle stance, legs wide, knees bent, sword angled just below his waist. His eyes sharpened like blades.
Then, he dashed.
The wind whipped around him as he charged, sword gripped tightly. The bear swung again, but Sentarō rolled left, evading the blow.
Two more strikes followed in fury. Sentarō then leaped back, evading yet another attack. "For a beast so large, you move so fast"
From afar, the observer chuckled. "His evasive skills are impressive. But he has to do more than that to kill that thing."
SWISH!! SWISH!! SWISH!!
The bear's claws tore through the air in a relentless storm. Sentarō evaded all, his movements were precise but desperate.
Another devastating slash was launched at Sentaro, he rolled left again, but this time, the beast followed through with an attack more ferocious than the last.
THUD!!
It connected, Sentarō barely parried with his wooden sword. But the impact sent him flying backward, skidding through dirt before slamming into a tree, slightly bending it.
"This thing… is too powerf-"
Before he could finish the thought, the bear lunged again, jaws wide open, ready to crush Sentaro's skull in one bite.
GROOOOAAAR!
Sentarō dove behind the tree, just as those bone-crushing teeth clamped down where he'd been. Completely tearing a mighty chunk out of the tree causing it to fall.
"I can't keep evading, I need to end this now" he panted, panic rising. To defeat the tiger-bear he needed to do more than just evading. Then he remembered his training with Ujiyuki. The One Sword Style.
"The One Sword Style."
Before he could finish gathering his thoughts, the bear swung again, tearing through the tree beside him. Sentarō darted toward the forest, leaping over a rope lined with bells. The bear followed, slashing through ropes and trees with a singular swipes.
Sentarō sprinting deeper into the forest. The bear thundered behind him, surprisingly fast.
Then a memory flashed through his mind. "That's right… Shunpū"
Sentaro steadied his breathing once more, long, deep, and rhythmic and synchronized his strides into precise patterns. In the instant before the beast vicious growl reached Sentaro's ears, he vanished from the plane sight.
From his vantage point, he raised an eyebrow. "The kid is quite skilled in the Disciplines, I guess that man really taught you well." he muttered.
The bear growled, confused, scanning the forest. All it could hear was the sound of rapid footsteps, as it stared the blur circling it.
Then—
Sentarō stopped behind the beast.
"I now have you in my grasp!"
Before the bear could turn fully, Sentarō struck with a horizontal slash, his wooden sword slamming into the side of the beast face.
GROOOOAAAR!
The creature roared in pain and rage, spinning toward him and rising to full height. It swung again with an all out downward strike.
The claws slice through the air, slamming the ground and creating a crater, but Sentarō was suddenly… GONE.
"Eyes up here, beast"
The voice came from above. Sentarō was airborne, several meters high. And for the first time in their confrontation, Sentaro towered over the beast, silhouetted against the moon.
The observer's lips curled into a grin. "This boy is full of surprises. He learnt it as well, Gekishō"
It came to Sentaro like a memory, as he remembered the explanation from his own training: A technique where a samurai propels himself upward by consecutively stomping and jumping, storing momentum for one final explosive leap.
Below, the bear looked up, too late.
Sentarō raised his sword high over his head, eyes blazing with determination. "And I used to be scared of you, pathetic!"
He began his descent, gravity pulling him faster, the wind howling past his ears. All that training, had made him strong. Strong enough to defeat the tiger-bear.
He tightened his grip on his wooden sword, channeling every ounce of strength and willpower.
"One Sword Style…" he whispered.
Then, louder, as his body plummeted toward the bear
"With this, I overcome my first obstacle!"
His expression hardened into a confident smile.
"Bundan Rakuzan!!" (Severing Descending Slash!)
THUD!! CRACK!!
The strike landed square between the tiger-bear's eyes, the impact echoing through the forest. The ground trembled as the beast collapsed with a heavy thud!
Sentarō stood there, chest heaving, sword still raised.
The distant figure chuckled softly. "Severing Descending Slash… the first technique of the One Sword Style, he has been well taught."
He touched his chin and smiled proudly. "That brother of mine always did have a good eye for pupils. It's about time I made a visit"
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