Chapter 3

Hyobanshi was sitting inside of his small hut. The only furniture was a small wooden bed without any mattress or blankets, just the solid wooden frame. Next to the entrance was a small desk with a single shelf holding whatever Hyobanshi needed. Over by the wall sat a large iron pot full of boiling water and pieces of the chopped up creature. Hyobanshi was sitting in the center of the hut crossed legged, his arms down and resting on his knees. His blade was sheathed and sitting neatly on the wall, balancing on a single piece of iron jammed into the wooden wall. The boiling water was the only audible sound as Hyobanshi closed his eyes. After only a few seconds, the boiling sound began to stretch out, every bubble bursting becoming more and more spread out. Hyobanshi’s breathing was very slow and spaced out as well, like he was moving in slow motion.

Everything slowly began to speed up once again until he opened his eyes, the boiling water once again loud and rapid. Hyobanshi slowly stood up, his legs staying in place as he lifted off the ground gracefully and effortlessly. He moved over with long and silent strides along his wooden floor. He reached out and gripped the iron bowl by the rim. Despite the immense heat and boiling water as well as the immense size and weight, he moved it away from the flame as if it were nothing. He went outside through his single small door, placing the bowl down and sitting crossed legged next to it.

The smell of the cooked monster meat filled the air, smelling like a cooked turtle stew.

After a few more minutes of sitting next to it, Hyobanshi went back inside. He reached into the desk drawer and pulled out a small ceramic bowl with intricate art along with a large wooden spoon and a smaller silver spoon. He began to use the wood spoon and pour stew and meat into the bowl before sitting it inside. He left the large cauldron where it sat, continuing to fill the air. He walked to sit on where the river and the ocean met, sitting on the grass with his legs crossed and staring out into the expanse of water reflecting sunlight onto the quiet world. Hyobanshi barely made any sound, the only thing being a very subtle and quiet slurp when drinking the liquid from the stew. He sat with his back straight and his hair pulled back into a bun sitting on the top of his head.

While Hyobanshi was sitting, another man began to walk over with a small bowl filled with the stew along with his own silver spoon.

“Smells heavenly. What kind of meat is it?” The large man was wearing samurai armor while carrying his helmet and mask in his free hand. He placed it nicely on the ground before removing the sword attached to his hip, laying it neatly next to it. The man sat down with his legs outstretched next to Hyobanshi.

“No idea. Some sort of tortoise monster thing.” Hyobanshi replied.

The samurai shrugged before taking a bite of the tender meat.

“Very tough.” The samurai had to pull hard with his teeth to rip the meat in two, chewing harshly while using one hand to press into his jaw.

“Monsters have started to attack villages.” Hyobanshi replied, biting into a piece of the meat with ease.

“Shit. That’s not good.” The samurai replied.

“I don’t know where they come from, but they’re very hard to kill.” Hyobanshi said softly.

The samurai turned with a shocked expression.

“Wait…you…”

Hyobanshi lifted a hand up.

“I will not talk about it.” Hyobanshi went back to eating the stew.

“Hey, you’re out of bowls!”

Another man wearing samurai armor was walking over, having pieces of meat stacked up on a small plate with very little of the liquid. He was the youngest by far, a clean shaven and innocent face making it seem he was brand new to the role as samurai.

“I wanted to make sure you only took meat. You need to grow big at some point.” Hyobanshi said.

The samurai next to him gave a shocked face before bursting out laughing as the young man held back his own laughter. He sat next to Hyobanshi and began to eat the meat with his hands, his armored gloves tied together and hanging from his sword hilt.

“The **** is this anyways Hyobanshi?” The young man asked.

“Don’t worry about it.” Hyobanshi replied.

“Itachi, it’s monster meat.” The other samurai said to the young one, making Itachi nearly spit it out.

“Where’d you find monster meat?” Itachi asked loudly.

“Killed it.” Hyobanshi replied, taking a sip of the liquid.

Itachi’s eyes went wide, but the other samurai subtly nodded his head side to side, making sure Itachi didn’t ask any questions.

“Well…it’s pretty good.”

Itachi went back to eating with his hands.

The three men sat in silence as the warm sun continued to bathe the world, keeping it peaceful and quiet.

Hyobanshi slowly lowered his bowl to the ground, grabbing his sword and standing up. His eyes were locked on the water, which was sitting calm and still.

“Um…you okay?” Itachi asked.

Hyobanshi’s sword became unsheathed and stabbed down into the water so quickly that it took the other two men multiple seconds to react. Hyobanshi lifted the sword slowly out of the water, pulling out another of the turtle creatures who had been impaled through the head and all the way down to the other end of their body.

“What the fu…” Itachi started before crawling to the water and throwing up.

Before he could lift his head up, another one of the creatures jumped out of the water and attached to Itachi’s face, clawing away as Itachi screamed in pain. He fell back as the creature scratched the skin off his face until it got to the muscle, burying its beak in to try and pull it out. Itachi was still screaming when the other samurai drew his sword, slashing down onto it until the blade shattered against the large turtle shell. He looked shocked when the creature's head turned before screaming out loudly. It jumped off of Itachi’s face, but Hyobanshi moved as if he was made of air, shifting quickly, pushing the impaled creature off, stabbing up through the gut of the creature in the air, and holding it in place all within a single second. The samurai fell backwards and stared at the grotesque face with blood coming from the beak and pieces of flesh stuck in the razor sharp teeth.

Itachi was still screaming and covering his face.

“Yasuke, I have bandages in my home. Take Itachi and cover his face. I will be there soon.” Hyobanshi said, dropping the creature of the sword.

The river began to get incredibly violent with the water rocking like tidal waves. Yasuke’s eyes went wide as he ran to Itachi, forcing him to his feet before they both ran towards Hyobanshi’s hut.

Hyobanshi cleaned the blade of his sword with his hand while tilting his head far enough that it cracked.

“So much for peace.” He said to himself.

The river suddenly exploded as hundreds of the creatures flew into the air, the water becoming mist and shining from the sunlight as the wave flew closer to Hyobanshi. He gripped his sword hilt tightly and watched, feeling like time was slowing down. The droplets of water, the creatures flying through the air screaming, and the sun shining with a bright, burning light.

Hyobanshi lifted his sword high into the air, his blade managing to dodge every water droplet and slash through the creatures with ease, like a hot knife through butter.

Hyobanshi continued to move his blade so quickly it seemed to disappear to the ***** eye, before quickly reappearing just in time to cut through the monster flesh. Hyobanshi’s eyes moved creature to creature, able to catch every single one with his blade before anything had time to touch the ground. He moved so quickly that time seemed to freeze to him.

Hyobanshi finally slashed the final creature before holding his sword still. Everything quickly rushed into real speed, the water and blood creating a large wave that crashed onto him and the ground surrounding him. All of the destroyed flesh landed on the ground with thuds as Hyobanshi slowly looked back at the river.

The water was still. Once the last piece of monster meat hit the grass, there was complete silence.

Hyobanshi began to breathe in and out very slowly, trying to take in as much air as possible. The monster blood and meat cooking in the hot sun created a ghastly stench that quickly began to spread far and wide. Hyobanshi wiped all of the blood off his blade before sheathing it.

“Holy shit.”

Hyobanshi turned to see Yasuke standing, the amount of blood pooling up to his ankles.

“How did you do that?” Yasuke asked.

Hyobanshi didn’t respond, only turning to look into the giant sun sitting in the sky.

“Whatever these things are…I don't think they’re alone.” Hyobanshi said.

“Wait…do you mean…” Yasuke’s eyes were wide as he stared at Hyobanshi. The sun was mostly blocked by his body, creating a glowing aura around him. Hyobanshi turned to stare at his friend and companion.

“What I mean is that there’s going to be a war. And I’m the only person who can win it.”

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