Fate: Hero Simulator

[3rd POV]

[The "Divine Feet": You're free to travel anywhere at will and arrive instantly.]

However, this freedom was something Kyouya had achieved through his own training.

Musashi had never meditated or studied Buddhist teachings, and he couldn't teach her to use Divine Footwork with his guidance.

Luckily, Kyouya still had Divine Eye which helped him avoid large-scale military searches.

"Master, with your strength, you shouldn't be afraid of facing the army. Why do you keep avoiding them?"

As Musashi had said, even without Divine Feet, Kyouya was indeed not afraid of the so-called army.

"Taking lives will only make Muramasa even more powerful. While I'm alive, I can suppress the evil nature of this blade, but what happens after I die?"

Every time Kyoya killed someone, he would pray for them using sutra, not just to guide the souls of the dead toward the afterlife but also to cleanse the evil aura of Muramasa.

If Kyouya couldn't purify this sword in his lifetime, it could lead to more bloodshed and chaos in the future.

"The world calls the Demon Blade Monk a monster disguised as a monk, but it seems the rumors might be somewhat different after all."

A careless voice came from the shadows.

In such a ruined temple, anyone who knew Kyouya's identity clearly had their sights set on them.

"Hashiba Hideyoshi?"

Kyouya looked at the young man in front of him.

The young man's blonde hair, light tone, and playful behavior made him seem more like a monkey than a person.

Who could have imagined that this person would later inherit Oda Nobunaga's power and become Hashiba Hideyoshi, the Imperial Regent of Japan?

"Oh? Am I that famous already?"

When Hideyoshi saw that Kyouya recognized him, he immediately puffed up with pride.

This was only natural since Oda Nobunaga was at the peak of his power, and Hideyoshi was one of his generals.

"I almost forgot. I'm here to persuade you to hand over the cursed sword to Nobunaga-sama. Although Nobunaga-sama doesn't need the sword's power right now, we can't let it become an obstacle."

"What if I refuse?"

"Well... then I guess I'll leave it at that. Fighting isn't really my thing."

Hideyoshi quickly gave up on trying to take the sword as he was not known for his strength.

As the news of "Demon Blade Monk defeating Yagyu Munetoshi" spread, the number of people coming to him to get the blade began to decline.

However, the armies of wandering samurai and lords' still kept coming without stopping.

"I've already said it, leave this kind of thing to me."

Hideyoshi really was planning to "let it go."

After all, he wasn't famous for his fighting skills and his original plan for him to persuade him, and if that failed, Shibata Katsuie would step in to handle it.

"Are you ready?"

Kyouya didn't seem to be worried about him at all and instead, he turned his gaze toward Miyamoto Musashi.

After all these days of running, they had finally been caught, and now Musashi was about to make her move and kill someone.

"Mm."

Musashi stiffly nodded.

During these days, Kyouya had told her that those who kill must be prepared to be killed.

It was not her time to test her resolve.

"Murasame is a blade meant for the battlefield. In your hands, it's just a treasure covered in dust."

Shibata Katsuie looked at Muramasa in Kyouya's hands.

This blade, which grew stronger every time it killed, was now as famous as the Tokugawa family's Muramasa sword.

At this moment, Oda and Tokugawa were still allies, but when it came to the quest for power, no one knew if Tokugawa Ieyasu would betray them.

To be prepared for that day, Oda Nobunaga needed Murasame to counter the Muramasa of the Tokugawa family.

That was the reason Nobunaga wanted the sword.

As for Tokugawa Ieyasu's earlier request to the Yagyū family to find Murasame, it made Nobunaga's side feel more uneasy.

"Master Muku, if you don't hand over Muramasa, the daimyo will undoubtedly keep pursuing you. Do you think you can purify the evil thoughts of this sword every day and still handle the increasing karma?"

Hideyoshi continued to disturb Kyouya's mind with his words.

He was right.

Even if Kyouya purified Muramasa every day, as long as these people kept coming, it would be impossible to fully purify the sword in his lifetime.

"You are a person of exceptional talent. If you devote yourself to deep mountain meditation, you might become a Buddha. At the very least, after your death, you could create a few relics to be worshipped by countless Buddhists. That would be a legacy that lasts for generations."

Hideyoshi's words were certainly not bad.

But so what?

"Our body is the Bodhi-tree, And our mind a mirror bright. Carefully we wipe them hour by hour, And let no dust alight."

He responded with a verse of elegant poetry, embodying the "gradual cultivation."

This method focuses on constant, never-ending practice, where every small step adds up over time to eventually reach enlightenment or Buddha.

Without any hesitation, as soldiers charged at him, Kyouya continued to cleanly and decisively cut down anyone who dared to approach.

[You feel the curse of Murasame slowly returning, and all the efforts you've made over the past few days seem pointless. Murasame has been collecting lives, and its power is growing. The effect of "Human-Slayer" is increasing.]

This is pointless?

These words no longer had any effect on him.

As long as he was alive in this world, as long as he continued to have an impact on it, how could anything he did be called pointless?

These little things weren't even as important as Miyamoto Musashi's safety.

This was the first actual battle for her.

The famous swordsman who wrote The Book of Five Rings and The Way of Strategy, Miyamoto Musashi, the one who founded the Niten Ichi-ryu school, who single-handedly defeated seventy-six people from the Yoshioka school, and had over sixty times duels without losing a single defeat and would she change because of her gender?

Perhaps sensing Kyouya's gaze, Musashi unsheathed her sword.

There were no words that could be called "elegant" to describe it—just a simple, steady, and straightforward slash.

This was a blade without hesitation.

To be continued...

...

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