The moment Musashi tightened his grip, the forest exploded with motion.
Lady Rose's scythe swept in long, predatory arcs, each swing shrieking through the air like a crimson crescent moon. Musashi darted between trees, wooden blades flashing as he intercepted her strikes with impossible precision. Each clash shattered bark, split trunks, and sent splinters raining down like storm debris.
CLANG WHOOSH CRACK!
One swing carved a tree clean in half. Musashi vaulted off its falling trunk, twisting midair to counter with a cross-slash. Rose ducked, her hood fluttering as the wooden blade carved a scar into the earth behind her.
The spectators could barely follow. Their eyes caught only flashes with red trails from the scythe, golden glimmers from Musashi's blood-smeared blades. The Grimm brothers smirked, savoring every moment, while humanity clung to the edge of their seats, breathless.
Rose's laughter rang through the forest, sharp and wolf-like.
"Good! Faster, faster! Don't you dare slow down on me!"
Musashi grinned, leaping from one branch to another as her scythe tore through the canopy beneath him.
"Careful what you wish for, hunter."
Their dance blurred into madness like predator and prey switching roles with every heartbeat. And yet, beneath the excitement, Rose's eyes betrayed something else… a flicker of hollowness, buried beneath the thrill.
Once upon a time,
There was a little Red Riding Hood. The same story you hear before but with a little different.
A cottage. A little girl. A basket of fruit.
And the sight of her grandmother being swallowed whole by the Big Bad Wolf.
But instead of running, instead of screaming, she smiled. Like she have waiting her whole life for this.
Her tiny hands clutched the basket tighter. When the wolf turned on her, fangs dripping, she rammed the jagged edge of the basket straight into its eye. Again. And again. Until blood soaked her hands and the beast collapsed, twitching, lifeless.
She stood over its body, chest heaving, and whispered:
"…That was fun."
From then on, the mask was carved, the wolf's face stretched across her own.
She joined a hunters' guild, eager to chase more beasts. Monsters fell by the dozens. Her skill was unmatched. But soon, it wasn't enough.
Too easy.
Rules bound her, bored her. So she broke them. She hunted men for coins. Then she hunted without a coin. Innocents, criminals, demons, it didn't matter. With each hunt, her pulse quickened for a moment, then dulled back into emptiness.
No thrill lasted. No blood was enough.
Until this arena. Until Musashi.
Back in the forest, her scythe clashed with his blade again, sparks and blood painting the battlefield. Her eyes gleamed, not with boredom anymore—but with hunger.
"Finally… finally, someone who can make me feel alive again."
Musashi, breathing hard, smirked despite the cut bleeding down his arm.
"And here I thought I was just wandering…"
The duel was only heating up.
The forest coliseum echoed with the dull thuds of Musashi's wooden blades colliding against steel and flesh. He moved like water, each strike flowing into the next. Though the hunter's armor absorbed much of the punishment, the sheer precision of his blows left faint bruises forming beneath her red cloak.
Lady Rose smirked, spinning her huge scythe with one hand, her crimson hood billowing.
"How long do you want to play with those wooden toys, samurai? Do you think you can kill a wolf with twigs?"
Musashi exhaled calmly, sweat glistening on his brow, his expression unreadable.
"A blade is only as sharp as the spirit that wields it. Steel breaks. Will endure."
Their weapons clashed again, sparks flying as the samurai's dull edge met her enchanted steel. Rose absorbed the impact, twisting away, her boots barely making a sound on the moss-covered ground. Despite the growing bruises, her grin never faltered.
"You're scratching me, old man, but you've yet to draw blood. Bruises fade. Do you intend to win with kindness?" says Rose.
Musashi shifted, feet grounding into the earth, his breathing slowing. Each strike became sharper, heavier, and more controlled. Slowly, he was turning the tide.
The hunter's smirk faltered. For the first time, she felt the rhythm of her attacks unravel.
Lady Rose while gritting her teeth,
"Tch… persistent fox."
Then, with a flourish, she reached into her belt and pulled out a small, glowing orb, an alchemical bomb wrapped in red talisman seals.
Musashi narrows his eyes,
"So, the wolf bares its fangs."
She hurled the bomb at his chest. Instinctively, Musashi crossed his wooden swords before him.
BOOM!
The explosion shook the trees, scattering embers and ash across the forest coliseum. Smoke curled around Musashi's silhouette.
The bomb's smoke still lingered in the air when Musashi brushed the debris off his shoulders, staring at the shattered wooden stubs. He sighed, flicking the remains onto his back as though they were nothing more than firewood.
Lady Rose tilted her head, the crescent scythe resting lazily on her shoulder.
"What now, samurai? Bare hands? Will you punch me into submission?"
Musashi, still calm, starts sighing like he is frustrated over something.
"…It's over." says Rose while ready to swing the scythe one more time.
Musashi didn't reply. He simply lifted his gaze toward the humanity VIP stand, voice flat but cutting.
"Hey, use it. Now."
Lucianne froze.
"Wait, do you mean… The golden sphere? Already? That's reckless!"
Noah shook his head. "Not yet. It's too early."
Musashi let out a long exhale, almost bored.
"Then I'll walk out. That console game thing is waiting for me anyway. Fair trade, right, Noah? You take my console, I take your hope."
The entire colosseum blinked. Humanity gasped in disbelief. Even Lady Rose, who had tasted every kind of madness, squinted in confusion at this man's audacity.
"…What are you?" she muttered.
Noah clenched his jaw. "Tch… damn you." He raised his hand, golden light spiraling from above as the sphere descended, its dust spilling like stardust over Musashi.
The crowd held its breath, expecting some divine transformation, some heavenly buff to turn the tide.
And then…
When the dust cleared, Musashi simply stood there, holding two familiar blades. His real swords. The ones he had forgotten back at the lab.
No glow. No wings. No supernatural aura. Just steel.
Lucianne nearly collapsed.
"That's it?! No speed buff? No hidden power? Not even an ultimate?!"
Musashi scratched his head and smirked.
"Nope. I just wanted my swords back."
The Grimm Brothers burst into laughter, their glasses clinking as they mocked humanity's last hope.
"Pathetic! They waste the divine gift for that?"
Lady Rose's smile widened into a cruel grin. "You're a fool. I'll end you quickly." She leapt, scythe spinning in a deadly crescent.
And then… she froze.
Her pupils shrank.
The next instant, Musashi was behind her.
A thin red line crossed her chest. Blood spilled in a perfect X.
The crowd roared in shock. Even the Brothers' smirks faltered.
Lady Rose staggered, breath hitching. "…When…?"
Musashi slid his blades back into stance, calm as if nothing happened. His voice was quiet, but it echoed across the arena:
"You don't need buffs when you've already perfected the cut."
The air grew heavy. For the first time in her life, Lady Rose felt not bored…
…but shocked.
Lady Rose collapsed to one knee, clutching the bleeding X across her chest. The crimson spread fast, dripping onto the forest floor. The arena was silent, stunned into stillness.
Musashi, meanwhile, only let out a massive yawn, arching his back until a small crack echoed. He rolled his shoulder, muttering,
"Ugh… hate that move. It always hurts my back."
The world blinked in disbelief.
Lady Rose, trembling but still defiant, forced herself upright, scythe trembling in her grip. Her voice was ragged.
"…How?"
Musashi's gaze fell on her, unbothered, his tone flat and cruelly honest.
"Because I'm better."
The simplicity of it shook her. No arrogance. No theatrics. Just the truth.
As she stared, flashes of Musashi's past cut through the air like echoes, his legend bleeding into the present.
Samurai lined up in duels against him, confident and armored in tradition. Yet Musashi was never where they expected him to be. He would show up late, letting their anger gnaw at their composure. He'd position himself with the sun glaring behind him, forcing them to squint. He fought not just with the blade, but with time, space, and the mind.
One memory lingered strongest was his clash with Sasaki Kojiro. Kojiro's monstrous nodachi gleamed, a blade designed to outreach any man. Yet Musashi rowed to the island late, whittling a wooden sword from the boat's oar. When the duel began, he struck down Kojiro with blows from the crude weapon, the crowd too shocked to even breathe.
He was a wanderer, yes. But a gifted one, a man whose boredom was filled only by cutting down challenges in ways that no one expected. Every duel was a puzzle, and every victory was a brushstroke on his legend.
Back in the arena, Musashi tilted his head, cracking a lazy grin.
"You fight like me. Chasing excitement. But the difference is…" He tapped his blade lightly against his shoulder. "…I've already mastered the boredom."
The forest trembled as Lady Rose's grip on her scythe tightened, her teeth grinding. For the first time since she donned the wolf's mask, she wasn't the hunter.
She was the prey.
Rose's breathing grew ragged, the calm mask of the hunter shattered. The dull ache in her chest only fed the frenzy inside. She tore open her utility belt, hurling every last tool she had: smoke bombs, snares, throwing knives, enchanted traps, anything to drown Musashi in chaos.
The forest bloomed with shadows and firecracks of magic. Smoke curled around ancient trees, hiding her movements. Rose vanished into the dark, her crimson scythe gleaming like a crescent moon whenever it caught stray light.
She became the wolf again, silent, unseen, hungry.
Musashi, however, didn't hurry. He didn't even bother with a stance. Wooden sandals brushing the dirt, his hand loosely at his sword, he wandered deeper into the mist, muttering,
"Good… now you're hunting me. Makes it interesting."
The crowd leaned forward, some unable to even breathe. Humanity feared, fairy tales smirked while Musashi simply walked, as if strolling through a garden.
A sudden slash! Rose burst from above, her scythe singing death, aiming to cleave him clean from shoulder to hip.
Steel rang.
Her strike stopped cold, her scythe caught between Musashi's blade and an almost lazy twist of his wrist. His counter was immediate with just one fluid movement.
A red streak followed.
Rose staggered back, a fresh slash across her hand, blood dripping onto her golden gauntlet. Her fingers twitched, grip faltering for the first time.
Musashi exhaled through his nose, eyes sharp for the first time in the fight.
"Predators who show their fangs too soon… always end up prey."
Rose's teeth clenched, a feral growl escaping as her boredom finally gave way to something she had long forgotten for the longest time, that is
FEAR.