This wasn't the right place for it to end. Tenjo couldn't let herself stay passed out, not when she still hadn't saved Daichi, not when there could still be any number of enemies lurking around any corner.

She could feel the burning line drawn down her body where she had taken that man's strike, and the places in her leg and shoulder where the arrow and blade had pierced her, each one throbbing enough to make all the other small wounds insignificant.

As she fought back to consciousness, the pain grew only stronger, although it was muted somehow. Perhaps her body was numb from blood loss, or her adrenaline was still taking the edge off. Whatever reason it might be, Tenjo was grateful for it, the only thing keeping her from being reduced to crying and gasping for air.

Instead, she was able to force herself awake, and with a monumental effort she put her hands under her body, and pushed herself up, her chest and shoulder both screaming with pain from this one simple motion.

Or at least, she would have pushed herself up, if she had still been lying on the floor of the temple. Instead, she opened her eyes as her palms met nothing but air, staring up at a ceiling before her arms fell back down, even raising themselves too much for her half-severed muscles.

She became aware of the bandages wrapped around herself, and the blanket that had been placed over her, but before she could fully process any of it a wave a fatigue hit her, and Tenjo faded back into the darkness once more.

The second time she opened her eyes was less planned, a gradual return to an awakened state of confusion. It felt like mere seconds later, but the dryness in her mouth and changed positions of her limbs made it clear it had been a lot longer than that, hours at least.

As she tried to sit up, Tenjo felt another lancing pain down her front, the sliced muscles of her stomach still unable to move properly, causing her to lurch over to her uninjured left side. While none of the wounds felt as severe as they had the previous time, a pounding had inexplicably started in her head, and a dull heaviness had spread throughout her body.

Perhaps it was the cost of trying to heal that level of injuries without food, although at least this time she had been able to rest properly, even if unintentionally. In addition, she had a killer thirst, as though it had been days since her last drink.

For a moment her state had been all that occupied her mind, but now she was able to look around at her surroundings, finding herself back in a vaguely familiar location. It was the same plant filled room she had found herself in when she passed out for the first time in Oukon, the back room of Hitoshi's store.

Unlike the previous time though, she hadn't been the lone one resting. While now deserted, there were three other piles of bedding on the floor, folded but not yet put away. They encroached into the area of the plants, some of which had been moved so that they formed rows rather than lining the walls.

As she was looking around, Tenjo became aware of a presence behind her, and turned around to look, doing a multiple-step movement and turning in nearly a full circle in an attempt to avoid aggravating her weakened side.

Rather predictably, considering the location, it was Hitoshi, standing with an eyebrow raised he silently watched her awkward movement. He broke the air with a fake cough before speaking.

"Are you sure you're up for moving around?"

"Yes," She replied.

Or at least, she tried to reply, only for a barely intelligible sound to come out, which sounded more like "Eaugh" than "Yes".

His grin grew wider. "If you insist."

As she slowly and tediously stood up, he continued. "I suppose you might be wondering why you woke up here again, out of all the places to be."

She started to speak again, only to think better of it and just nod.

"It's rather simple. Although you may have forgotten, being overly impressed by other immense virtues, I'm also a mage. With the number of injured, there was no way for just Meng as his apprentices to heal them all in one day. Therefore, they turned to me."

Tenjo stood up fully, fighting a compulsive, almost irresistible urge like she needed to stretch, but knowing how painful it would be if she did so.

Oblivious to her plight, Hitoshi carried on.

"I managed to prevent your organs from spilling out, for which you are welcome, by the way; but I couldn't do anything about the non-life-threatening damage, so at least wait a couple weeks before any more heroic acts of insanity, if you will."

"What-" she said, still fighting against the utter lack of moisture in her mouth. "What happened to everyone else?"

She gestured towards empty bedding that had accompanied her on the floor.

"Everyone who was with me pulled through," he said. "I can't guarantee all of the guardsmen made it, but I'm pretty sure that you were the only one both injured enough to still be like this after healing, and durable enough to not die on the way before getting it."

With a sudden pivot back towards the doorway, he changed the topic. "You can take a seat; I'll make tea and something to eat. You've been out for almost three days; you need to eat so you don’t collapse from hunger."

“You don’t need to do that,” She protested, but he had already left her sight, and she didn’t trust her legs just yet to chase after him.

“You just wait, I’ll only take a few minutes,” He called out. “Don’t move too much yet.”

Letting out a sigh that made her wince, Tenjo sat back down on the bed, putting Hitoshi out of mind for a minute while she tried to sort through her muddled thoughts.

The entire raid of the gang hideout felt like it had all taken place right before she woke up, her battle with the mysterious pseudo master having both started and ended less than a minute ago.

The throbbing line drawn down her body was proof enough that she had been outmatched in that fight, having lasted at best twenty strikes against him on her own before being cut down. But at the same time, it was more than she would have expected against a someone with an aura that was noticeably bigger than both the masters’ she had felt.

The difference between a master and disciple was relatively small, on average less than a quarter the size. A disciple on the larger side of aura was often more or less a match in raw power for a master on the smaller side.

Despite that, the master still had multiple advantages, most obvious among them that although speed and strength still increased the same amount, weight increased less, because a masters aura wasn’t technically any larger, just more refined and efficient, giving it a better effect and making it feel larger to others.

That small difference was far larger in the battlefield though, as the difference in raw power needed at least an equal difference in skill to make up for it, something that also would weigh on the side of the more experienced master, not to mention the fact that they would have more techniques at their disposal.

Tenjo couldn’t help but feel a faint pride at having lasted that long, while injured no less, even if she hadn’t been able to attack.

That state that had come over her when she was about to be overwhelmed was to thank, not only in that fight, but in the one with the spearmen, and with the rapier wielding Dewei as well. It had felt like time slowed just enough she could barely react to all the movements she needed to, although it was likely rather just her perception speeding up as she focused entirely on the fight.

As her mind wandered to the spearmen, Tenjo saw all the injuries that she had dealt them flash before her eyes. None of them were at the level of instantly killing high level students like them, but it wasn’t like they were in a state to have bandaged themselves, and their comrades would have been too busy afterwards to help.

Would the guards have stopped to treat them after securing the battlefield? Would it have been too late by then? Even if that had, some of the limbs that she had severed would have been left too long to reattach, even for someone with an aura.

And on the topic of their comrades, the faceless mob that had nearly overwhelmed her, she was certain some of them had died to her blade. Cut down by her, without even remembering if she had, much less who they were or how they had died.

Killing and crippling them bothered her. They may have been on the type of people who would be defending a gang like that, and what more, the type who would attack a lone warrior in a group with no honor, but it still bothered her, like a heavy iron weight in her chest when she thought about it.

But it bothered her less than it would have in the past, and for some reason that bothered her as well, growing used to the killing, even when at the same time she wanted to be free from worrying about something that any decent swordsman should be able to ignore.

At least if she was lucky, Daichi would be free now. It felt like both a massive amount of time had passed since she set out after him, although it had been less than two weeks, but it also felt like it had only been yesterday that she was sparring with him, trying and failing time and time again to win a match.

A smile crept over her face. Maybe if she could learn to use that state, she might finally be able to land a solid hit on him. Surely if she could return with him, even Noboru Hitamuki wouldn’t be cold enough to refuse to let his own granddaughter come back.

Of course, that was assuming that she had succeeded. A creeping doubt crept into her mind, whispering that maybe she hadn’t been fast enough, that the next room over could have held her brothers corpse with her being none the wiser, not even grieving at his death.

No matter how much she tried to ignore it, that voice remained, nagging at her.

Her unpleasant contemplation was interrupted when Hitoshi returned to the room.

"Alright, time to eat."

As she took a seat at the low table, Tenjo spotted a cup of tea and snatched it, forgetting any semblance of manners as she guzzled the steaming liquid. Her dry mouth had been accompanied by a burning thirst, and right then that drink was a state of pure bliss.

Hitoshi let out a poorly concealed chuckle, and she suddenly became aware of her breach of etiquette, tea dripping out of the corners of her mouth. She blushed and began to apologize, only to be waved off before she could let out a single word.

"It's fine," he said. "It would be strange if you were in a state to care about manners right know. In fact, it's kind of nice. I was starting to think you didn't even know what being casual was."

Rather than being comforted, Tenjo felt herself blush more, and filled her mouth with food in order to have an excuse not to answer. As she reached, her side flared up in pain again, and she couldn't help but wince.

"I warned you," Hitoshi said. "Don't do it, it's not a good idea, it's too dangerous."

"You said I was going to die," She replied. "I still haven't died."

"Yet," He corrected. "Keep trying, you came pretty close this time."

For a several minutes her host babbled about his life, expecting and receiving minimal answers from Tenjo as she focused on eating, until he leaned back to the point in looked like he would topple over, patting his gut as though it was larger than it was.

"When you finish, you should head down to where the guards are. Your friends, I think, should be waiting for you with more information than I have." He said.

"Thank you," Tenjo said, pulling out the bag of coins that the guard captain had given her. "You've helped me out three times now, and I won't forget it. I can't offer you much now-"

He cut her off. "I didn't do it for a reward. It's just a little basic human decency, and to indulge myself by having a victim to force to eat my cooking. It's not something you need to pay me or to feel indebted for."

"But-" She started.

"No buts," Hitoshi said. "It really wasn't anything. I'd feel bad accepting money. I already feel bad with you thanking me this much."

Recognizing the futility of arguing, she gave up, putting the money away and merely giving a single silent bow and ignoring the pain it caused, before reclaiming her weapons from another nearby table.

"My offer to stop by any time still stands," he said. "As does my advice to not be so reckless."

She smiled back at him. "I'm grateful. I hope I have that chance someday.

Unsure if there was anything else to say, Tenjo turned and left, making her way down to the guard station, with the worry that she had forgotten making a resurgence in her mind with each minute the journey took her. Was Daichi alive, or not? If he was, then why would he have not come by when she was lying injured? Was he somehow in an even worse condition than she had been in?

Her pace unconsciously increased until she was nearly running, something that became apparent as she rounded a corner and nearly bowled over an elderly man. She stopped only long enough to give a rushed apology, before taking off at a slightly slower pace.

By the time she reached the guardhouse, she had started fully running, a shine of sweat on her face and a burning in the wounds to her side and leg. One of the guards greeted her and took her inside, where she found Jing playing some kind of gambling game that she was unfamiliar with, with a pair of guards that she recognized but couldn’t name.

The moment he laid eyes on her, he stood up, a smile forming on his face as he rushed towards her.

“You’re alright!” He shouted, seeming to notice at the last moment the bandages still around her body or the tender way she was walking as he came to a stop just short of embracing her.

“Yes,” She replied. “But what about Daichi? Was he-”

She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence and voice her worst fear out loud. Jing shook his head sadly, making her heart drop, before uttering something.

“No, he wasn’t there,” he said.

Tenjo sucked in a deep breath, having lost it from her prior assumption.

“Not there?” She asked. “How? Where is he?”

“There was a note taking about taking test subjects to Chohan, in the Huainan province, and inviting the leader of this group to meet them there. It seems like the Rising Blades are bigger than just some local gang, considering that’s on the far side of the country.” Jing explained, letting out a sigh and tentatively reaching out to put his hand on her shoulder.

Tenjo caught it, giving a reassuring squeeze and forcing a fake smile onto her face. “It could be worse. At least it’s still in the country.”

Meng’s approach interrupted their conversation, a pale look on the mage’s face and a cane in his hand that he leaned on heavily as he walked.

“It’s good to see that you’ve recovered,” he said. “I would feel horrible if you ended up dying after we roped you into doing our job for us when we weren’t up to it.”

“It’s the duty of a wandering disciple to help the people,” she said. “And you played me as well, too much, in fact.”

“Not enough, in my opinion,” He replied. “And I wasn’t even able to heal you afterwards. If not for that Hitoshi offering to help, you could very well have died.”

He reached down and pulled a small bag off his belt, before holding it out to her. “That’s why I think you should have this, and the captain agrees. Everyone does, so don’t think you can refuse it.”

“You can say that, but that doesn’t make it deserved,” Tenjo protested. “I was doing something else anyway, and you already paid me enough to live off of for a week before, just for a single day of helping.”

“A single day of helping that left you comatose for half a week, and that likely saved the lives of more than a few of us. Are you saying our lives aren’t worth this much money?”

“No, but-“

Meng sighed, and although his arm remained outstretched the target changed from her to Jing. “I’ll entrust this to you then, since she won’t take it.”

He grabbed it, a smile breaking out before his hand had even fully closed. “I’ll make sure to put it to good use.”

“I wish we didn’t have to leave this quickly, and that I could thank the captain and everyone else,” Tenjo said, “But time isn’t something we have a lot of right now. My brother’s life is only safe up until he ends up at Chohan, and even that’s not guaranteed.”

“I understand,” he said. “In fact, if you will pardon me, I think I need to go rest more. Magic overuse takes a toll.”

As Meng started to turn, he suddenly stopped. “But I do want you to know just how much you’ve done. It may seem minor, but this town’s fate could have rested entirely on your shoulders. So, you can be at least a little proud of yourself, okay?”

Without waiting for a response, he left Tenjo standing there. His words repeated themselves in her head, as the realization slowly dawned on her. Maybe she hadn’t saved Daichi, and maybe she had been rescued twice when her swordsmanship wasn’t up to the task.

But she had succeeded at something. She had used her training, her years of effort and pain, to help people in need. That thought put a subtle grin on her face, and for the first time she woke up Tenjo no longer felt quite as weighed down by her failure.

Jing put his hand on her shoulder, uninterrupted this time.

“Should you really just be standing there staring off into space after all that talk about how time is limited?” He said.

She let out a sharp breath through her nose as her only reply, before leaving the guard station and nearly running directly into Kyu-Son as she was entering.

The red-haired girl smirked. “Glad to see you decided to rejoin the land of the living at last.”

Tenjo narrowed her eyes. “I suppose I have you to thank for that, although I also have you to blame for pretending you would respect the sanctity of a duel and then stabbing me in the back.”

“And your opponent, though in a more literal sense,” she said in reply. “And I knew you would never agree to fight unfairly, even if it wasn’t a proper duel, so I figured it was a secret best kept, for your own good.”

Sizing Jing’s hand for the second time that day, Tenjo yanked him with her as she stepped around Kyu-Son and out into the street.

“I’m afraid we don’t have time to talk,” she said. “In fact, we were just leaving.”

“You’re heading to Chohan, right?” She replied. “What a coincidence. I’m heading there as well. In case you’ve forgotten, we still have aligning goals, as business with the Rising Blades. Wouldn’t it foolish of you to turn down another willing sword?”

“I suppose it wouldn’t be the most tactically sound choice,” Tenjo admitted. “And you did save my life, albeit with less than honorable methods.”

“It’s for Daichi’s sake,” Jing said. “Your goal is to save him, right? Then wouldn’t that be the most important thing?”

She took a slow, deep breath, and then let it out slowly. “You’re right. This isn’t about one on one fights and honorable duels. There’s nothing unfair about fighting the same way our opponents do.”

Turning to face Kyu-Son, she gave a half-bow. “I should apologize. I don’t have the right to call you dishonorable when you were saving my life from a match that was hardly under the proper rules in itself.”

“No,” she said. “I attacked you while you were injured based on nothing but a random hunch, and could have killed you, then used you to help with my own selfish revenge, letting you take the hardest position despite being still injured. Saving you was nothing more than what I already owed.”

For a moment they both stayed silent, bowed halfway to one another in the middle of the street outside the guardhouse, while a small crowd gathered around them, passersby stopped to gawk at the rare sight.

Then they both straightened up and took notice of the observers, causing Tenjo to blush red while Kyu-Son smiled at them awkwardly, half enjoying the attention and half sharing in her new companions embarrassment.

All three of them had arrived in Oukon for different reasons, but ones that brought them together, and at different times, but ones close enough they had been able to meet then and there. And now, all three of them would leave together, setting out on a dangerous and uncertain path, a long and winding one, which would leave all of them changed forever.

End of Volume one