As he came in for what would be the final blow, hisbokkencaught my cheek, drawing blood.
A single drop of red in the morning light.
“NOW, ARISE!”
The world froze. Complete stillness. Utter silence.
Every person froze mid-motion.
Every blossom suspended in air.
Even heartbeats seemed to pause.
Then I screamed, with all my angry might, “NO!”
A wave of energy exploded from my chest—pure light, brilliant and white. Everyone stumbled backward and shielded their eyes.
A second wave followed—and my body began to change. I felt muscles expanding, bones strengthening. Pain exploded within me as my spine popped and stretched and grew.
The ground shook, as the spiderwebs spread—beyond the ring, beyond the yard, beyond the temple walls.
When the third wave came, clouds above us tore apart, forming a perfect circle, and Amaterasu’s light, undiluted and absolute, struck me like a physical weight.
But instead of crushing me, it filled me.
Completed me.
Awakenedme.
Divine fire poured through every cell.
Thebokkenin my hand became an extension of pure will.
Time moved differently.
I could see individual motes of dust floating, could count the cherry blossoms frozen in their impossible upward fall. Even Kaneko’sbokkencame at me in slow motion.
I didn’t just block it; I shattered it, the wood exploding into pieces that hung in the air like stars.
I moved—not with any technique I’d learned, but with the motion of light itself.
Kaneko’s defense crumbled, not because he was slow, but because defending against divinity was like trying to stop the sun from painting the sky.
Three strikes, each one perfect, each one inevitable.
Students dropped to their knees throughout the yard.
Masters averted their eyes.
Samurai stood still as stone, fingers gripping hilts.
Every candle and torch in the temple flared to life, and stone dragons carved on the temple’s walls turned their heads to watch.
I swept Kaneko’s legs, put him on his back, and pressed mybokkento his throat—not with violence, but with the gentle inevitability of destiny.
Light continued pouring from me in waves, each one reshaping reality around it.
The training yard became a cathedral of radiance.
