E926I
She's not as powerful as I recall - yet weighed down by the Brand, I am not so far ahead or behind.
I don't know... I think you're doing pretty well.
Verily, they appear evenly matched. Yet...
*puff* He's wielding that sword like he's trying to get himself killed.
That bladework is far beneath him... Seeking the end here, is he?
Can you afford to look away in a duel?!
...!
... What are you doing? You'd rather lock your sword with mine than parry it away?
Can't have a proper sword fight without a blade lock though, huh?
The duel between the mentor of a Syndicate and a Military Commissioner of S Corp. is neck-to-neck - clash after clash, the two warriors eventually lock their blades in a contest of might before it comes to a close in a final, fatal bout... When the dust settles, the mentor lies in the sand, dead.
... If that is what you want, I will grant it.
... Good. Let's finish this...
*sigh*
Just as Bamboo-hatted Kim and Im Gyeong-eop readied for their final bout, Aeng-du leaped in between them.
Agh...! Aeng-du?!
Are you really so ashamed that you would choose death over life, Mentor?
Are you so scared to live that you would rather die?
......
... Yes, I am. I am scared. I am terrified of my own audacity to live my days as though I hadn't failed everything and everyone who had the misfortune of placing their faith in me - my mission, my honor, my fellows - as though my path isn't haunted by ghosts, as though I can stand shamelessly before the watching eyes of the heavens.
What have I even done with the life that was given to me? Blind to the realities of my homeland, I served a master who chose politics over loyalty and justice. I cut down my very fellows who chose to trust a fool like me.
I walked my entire life as the flow carried me, and when I finally had the mind to look back, all I saw were blood-red traces everywhere I had gone. Isn't it about time I admitted that this game cannot be won, that -
Mentor. The weakness in your strength has failed your mission.
.......
The weakness in your position has failed your honor. And the weakness in your heart had become the fiendish blade that cut down your fellows.
... Aeng-du? I thought you were here to talk me into keep on living. Yet your words pain me so.
What weakness of yours is it this time, that you would cast away your own creed and life?
What other weakness will you use as an excuse today?
Stop trying to bear responsibilities asked not of you. The Blade Lineage was never about responsibility, nor was it about you, Mentor. Or does your overbearing guilt help you overestimate your importance?
What was that saying again, "fellow travelers in the same boat will aid one another"? Not a single soul demanded that of you.
T-talk about kicking a man when he's down...
And I have had enough of that flippant larking of yours! We all have! Do you truly believe that not a single one of us had picked up on the fact that all your levity was a means of relieving yourself of the burden you had cast upon your own shoulders?
None of us ever demanded some impossible feat from you. What was it that you've always said to describe yourself?
That you are "but a butchering blade that wields not itself, a tool wielded by willing hands."
Why, Mentor, I know not what kind of shame or responsibilities a mere tool has, do you? Because I fail to see any.
.......
If the shame does not subside still...
... then shroud your face with that bamboo hat of yours, and live on.
Live on, so that you may repay your debts.
.......
... "Out of blades, out of arrows." (刀折矢盡)
Even the heart that sought death lies defeated at your feet; there is no stone left for my next gambit.
There is... nothing more.
*sigh...*
Indeed. Perhaps there was some merit in your words - that I must retreat from this silly game of stones and become a fiend of blades.
Mentor...? That is... not what I said...
... Interesting. Whence did you hear that poem?
Yes, when inverted, a bamboo hat is like an unladen ship.
Aeng-du and Im Gyeong-eop were knocked away from Bamboo-hatted Kim as though bounced off by an invisible force.
Kim raises his gaze to meet the empty air as though someone were there, a hollow laughter escaping his lips.
We know who he's talking to.
<It's the voice...>
But your last move was not a good one. Indeed, I did wish to become a blade - and what did you do? Forged me into an indiscriminate one that cleaves blindly into friend and foe both. It seems that, in your excitement, you have cornered yourself with that last move.
Well, as it seems that I have had an opportunity to retrace our past moves, allow me to try something different this time.
Ah, be not so vexed by this round - as you say, we never know what the next game shall bring.
I appreciate and will treasure the other bits of your advice.
But... let us play by my rules for tonight's game.
... Somethin's different this time, innit?
He ain't Distorting. I think that's...
... An efflorescence, perhaps.
Nothing is for certain, indeed... Yet I trust that the words of my last remaining follower have also reached your ears, hm?
I am but a tool wielded by willing hands. Nothing in my life has ever been certain.
I know not whether this move is what cements my defeat, but I desire it to be a victorious stone nonetheless.
... Thank you. I will take what encouragement I can.
The strange, invisible pressure dissipates, and the armored woman, Im Gyeong-eop, readjusts her grip on the sword.
Kim turned around to look at her, and I saw that a weighty shadow seemed to have been lifted from his face, replaced by a mix of relief and determination.
......
... A bit embarrassing to change my stance now, but...
... now, I fight to live.
And I suppose you will be okay with that?
... Of course.
To hide from heaven's gaze this hat I wore;
An empty boat, it bore my friends along.
In bamboo veiled, we drift from shore to shore;
With wine, I don my hat to watch blooms throng,
In mirth, I doff that shroud to moon adore.
So with this bamboo hat to veil my brow,
Though winds and rain may rage, I shall not throe.
.......
Hie to me, bamboo-hatted one; speak your name, for I find your outfit dubious of character.
I am he who has mentored the lineage of blades to its premature end;
I am he who has sought to bring salvation to the downtrodden, to no avail.
What to call a man who has failed to disburden himself of the world? How to name a man who has failed to bear the weight of the world? There is none...
So call me... Bamboo-hatted Kim.
Bamboo-hatted Kim, the treasonous wretch.