Once you reach the peak of peaks, you realize nothing really matters.

* * *

Shoyo: “You know, if I was female, I would probably be a big chested one”

Kai: “Where did that come from?”

Shoyo: “Just a food for thought”

Nagare: “Let address the elephant in the room. How exactly did you get yourself pinned under a boulder, Shoyo?”

Considering the circumstances, Nagare maintained an ironic air of complete seriousness.

It was exactly as it sounded.

Shoyo went missing, so the three of them went to look for him only to find him crushed under a giant boulder. Remarkably, he was still able to talk as his head was the only part of him not covered by the boulder.

Nagare: “If I cut your head off, can you grow a new body?”

Shoyo: “Of course not!”

Nagare: “You know, sometimes I wonder, what the fuck is wrong with your entire life?”

Shoyo: “Beats me, I only kept going, life just kept happening”

Shoyo: ‘My life is a huge mess and that’s putting it mildly’

Nagare: “Is that all you have to say for yourself?”

By now, Nagare ran out of words to express his exasperation with his partner.

If one thing was certain, it was that Shoyo was completely unpredictable. You never know what trouble he will get himself into next.

Just because he could regenerate did not mean he had good luck.

If anything, his luck was abnormally poor. Being precisely where the boulder landed after it rolled off the mountain. What are the odds?

Nagare: “Just how unlucky are you, Shoyo?”

Shoyo: “Do you really want me to answer that?”

He had a fair share of unfortunate encounters over the course of his long, long life. The worst thing that ever happened to him was probably the time he was dismembered by the Crimson Ogre…. Compared to that, this was nothing.

Nagare: “That bad?”

Shoyo: “….”

Nagare: “That’s just sad”

Nagare: “Oh well, hang on tight, I will get you out of there”

Shoyo: “Can you? This boulder weighs at least a ton”

Kai: “Nagare san, how about we cut it apart …”

Nagare: “No time for that!”

Kai: “But…”

Yama: “Don’t worry, he has got it”

Nagare proceeded to grab hold of the boulder.

Nagare: “There is nothing one can’t do if one puts his mind to it! YEEHAW!”

Screaming like a madman, Nagare lifted the boulder off of Shoyo. He did it surprisingly easily.

Shoyo: ‘Natural super strength. Figures. Sometimes I forget that Naito’s blood is flowing through his veins’

Raw power was abundant within Nagare’s bloodline.

Kai: “Nagare san, you are unbelievably strong. Being able to lift a boulder of that size on your own….Are you really human?”

Nagare: “Damn right, I am!”

Shoyo: ‘As far as you know’

Shoyo: “Thank you, Nagare”

Yama: “Might as well get rid of the boulder”

Taking hold of the boulder he proceeded to throw it far away.

Kai: ‘Did he just easily lift up that boulder as well?! Is my team full of muscle monsters?! At least Shoyo is normal like me….’

If only Kai knew….

* * *

So far along their journey, they only encountered non-humanoid monsters, making it somewhat easier to deal with. Each time, Nagare would try to use a different move to finish off a beast. Apparently, he was unsatisfied with his rather bland style of fighting and wanted to develop a more complex style.

As for Shoyo and Yama, the two of them demonstrated strange amount of familiarity with the local flora and fauna. They even identified an innocent looking blue flower as a carnivorous plant that relished the taste of blood. As far as plants and monsters were concerned, those two were leading experts. Nagare and Kai could only understand bits and pieces of what they were talking about.

Yama: “Three tailed raccoon dog looks tasty but…”

Shoyo: “It’s meat smells unbearably bad, very hard to get rid of”

Yama and Shoyo: “Ha-ha-ha…”

As Kai observed, Yama and Shoyo were oddly alike in many ways. They both had white hair for starters (half white in Yama’s case). Their sense of humor proved to be somewhat morbid if not downright creepy. On top of that, they even scratched themselves the exact same way.

Kai: ‘Are these two long-lost relatives or something?’

* * *

Shoyo: “When you will eventually become the strongest swordsman, what are you going to do?”

Nagare: “I have a long road ahead of me before I get there”

Shoyo: “Unless you manage to make it exciting, it is going to be a boring road ahead”

Nagare: “My goal is to kill every monster that roams the earth. Yama san, do you feel the same way?”

Yama: “Not really. To be completely honest with you, the only thing I want is to see my master again”

Shoyo: ‘Oh my foolish student….’

Yama: “A day doesn’t go by without me relying on his lessons to survive”

Nagare: “He must have been one hell of a macho master”

Yama: “Not exactly. For a man, he was surprisingly feminine, almost motherly while raising me”

Shoyo: ‘Do I really give off such feminine impression?’

* * *

Nagare: “One day, when I reach the peak of martial arts, I want to look down upon the world, like a giant”

Shoyo: “It is a very boring view”

Nagare: “How would you know?”

Shoyo shrugged his shoulders.

Nagare: “Shoyo. How does one get stronger very quickly?”

Shoyo: “Well, you can go on a reckless and honestly suicidal quest where you kill everything you encounter non-stop for duration of time. When it is over, you will be surprised just how strong you have become, that is if you do manage to survive”

Nagare: “What are my chances?”

Shoyo: “96%”

Nagare: “That actually sounds promising!”

Shoyo: “96% fatality rate”

Nagare: “Shoyo!”

Nagare: “Just once in my life, I want to feel like I am the strongest, like Mr. Yama”

Shoyo: “When you are at the top, it gets boring pretty quick”

Nagare: “How would you know? You don’t even use a sword or practice martial arts!”

Shoyo: ‘Not anymore, anyways’

Shoyo: “There are many paths you can pursue in your quest to become stronger”

Nagare: “Such as?”

Shoyo: “Maybe find a magic sword and learn how to use it?”

Nagare: “Be serious, Shoyo”

Shoyo: “I am. There are some sentient swords that might give you a boost”

Nagare: “And how likely I am to find such a sword?”

Shoyo: “Good point. Even if you do obtain one, they will call you a madman for using it. Though it was probably my fault for all the deaths they caused over the years….”

Long ago, he ended up giving such a sword to a wrong person, resulting in untold number of casualties. It was just one of the many screw ups he did when not thinking things through.

Shoyo: “But on a related note, learn to use another weapon, for starters”

Nagare: “Ok”

Shoyo: “Limiting yourself to a single style is also not the best idea. What will you do if you lose your sword? You are practically helpless without it. How about learning a martial art so that you can take a monster down with your bare hands?”

Nagare: “Is that even possible?”

Shoyo: “It sure is”

Nagare: “I would rather focus on swordsmanship”

Shoyo: “If you say so. Best thing to do is consult multiple masters. If you find someone whose skill is impressive, then try to learn something from him or her. Best part is that there are countless skills you can learn, you just have to keep an open mind”

Nagare: “I see. In order to become stronger, I must become a student of Mr. Yama”

Shoyo: “Not what I meant, but ok”

Part of the reason Yama was so strong was because of the Yaksha blood flowing through his veins. In Shoyo’s own body, the blood’s potential was limited due to Shoyo being a weak vessel. But in Yama’s case, the vessel was strong, combined with Yaksha blood gave Yama much higher chi capacity.

Even though he was born human, due to Shoyo’s influence, Yama was now something akin to a pseudo Yaksha-human hybrid. Perhaps due to being a hybrid, his humanity was magnified by the Yaksha blood within his veins, resulting in a warrior stronger than either pure human or Yaksha.

Of course, that would also hold true for most hybrids.

This meant that Nagare also had such potential. And that was exactly what Shoyo counted on.

Though, Nagare would have to discover it on his own, as Shoyo was not going to tell him any time soon.

There are some things in life that one must find on their own. Otherwise, there would be no point in his journey.

The fate that will bring his end must be forged with Nagare’s hands and his alone.

His reasons were far from noble. Grooming a man to be the one who will eventually end him, such was his wish. For better or worse.

Nagare’s wish was to become stronger. Shoyo’s wish was to be defeated. Two men walking opposing paths connected by fate. Both obsessed with turning their wishes into reality. If only Nagare knew his companion’s deepest, darkest desire.

It mattered not how long it takes, even if it takes Nagare’s entire lifespan. Shoyo, as a Yaksha could afford to wait until the day Nagare is finally ready to truly defeat him. Until the day Nagare will become a worthy adversary, Shoyo will wait.

To be defeated by his equal, what more could he ask for?

Each body or a vessel held different concentration of chi. If the vessel was strong, then the chi capacity would naturally be higher.

Training allowed one to break the vessel, allowing it to expand and be able to handle more chi. Of course, if not done right; it could cripple one’s ability to handle chi. That is why one has to train not only diligently but cautiously.

Shoyo: “One more thing, this is just as important”

Nagare: “What is it?”

Shoyo: “Try to get laid along the way, preferably not with female goblins or orcs. They are super scary and uncontrollably horny. But they are not as bad as Amazones…”

Nagare: “What? Shoyo, what exactly have you been doing before I met you?”

Shoyo: “Getting nearly eaten alive or accidental orgies?”

Nagare: “Why?”

Shoyo: “Apparently my meat tastes delicious, and you know I regenerate, so it was not a pleasant affair. For some reason they also wanted to ****….”

Nagare: “Forget I asked”