"Well…" Jun Li spoke slowly in reply, distracted by the memory of the massacre she had just seen. "...No, I'm not with them, I just remember seeing them before."

  "That so?" The young swordsman turned his back on Jun Li and strode over the minced flesh that soaked into the square's overgrown stone paving. "Normally, people don't stick around this long when I kill." He stepped up onto the stone ledge of a building's foundation and reached up towards his sheathed sword embedded in a pillar, tearing it out of the splintering wood.

  "So, do you have some compelling reason to be standing there?" When he turned back to Jun Li, he saw an odd intensity in her expression. A glint of inspiration in her eyes that forbade her from turning away. "...Oh? Something catch your eye?"

  "Your swordsmanship… you're using some kind of Authority, aren't you?" Jun Li questioned, unable and unwilling to hide her interest.

  "Care to find out?" The young man met Jun Li's eyes with an expression of amusement and an evenly projected Killing Intent.

  Jun Li put her hands up. "Hey, there's no need for that. I'd be more interested in a friendly spar, or even just a conversation." She didn't have any animosity towards the man and didn't care to test her strength against him, despite her confidence.

  "You're asking a lot of me here…" The young man scratched his head. "I'm not all too good with that 'conversation' stuff." He grumbled to himself for a few moments before letting out a sigh. "...You have a sword? You can ask me questions while we spar, but you need to use a sword."

  "That's… an odd condition." Jun Li raised an eyebrow at the specificity. "You don't even know if I'm proficient with a sword, but you're requesting I use one anyway? I can use a sword, of course, but would you even get anything out of sparring with someone who can't use a sword properly?"

  "Ahh, shut up already… I told you I'm no good with conversation, hurry up and pull out a sword before my brain rusts over… we can talk while we fight." The young man was visibly frustrated by how long Jun Li was taking. Even a few seconds seemed like it was too long to wait for him.

  "Don't be too impatient, here, I'll show you something interesting." Feeling like the only thing that would keep the strange young man's attention was a sword, Jun Li held out her arm and focused on her blood, coercing it to focus in her palm and pierce through her skin.

  Without wasting any time, the blood plummeted out of her body, slamming into the ground as though poured from far above and splattering through the air, though only for a moment, as it hardened near instantly into a thin pillar, the thickness of three fingers.

  Snapping the palm of her hand off the hardened pillar of blood, Jun Li grasped it as a sword and pulled it from the ground, swiping it gently through the air. As she did, the pillar's surface began to melt, and forced by the momentum of her swinging it as a blade, its shape changed, becoming narrow, thin, and curved.

  Grasping the melting blade tightly with intent, Jun Li halted its melting instantly, turning it into a long, slightly curved sword of bizarrely organic shape.

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  Although Jun Li noticed the young man observing the process with growing interest, she did not expect the next words to come out of his mouth. "Fascinating… Who are they?"

  "Huh…? They?" Jun Li paused for a moment, looking at her sword. Although it was faint and difficult to perceive, even for her, she could indeed see images of unknown people living out moments of their lives within her blood. A sight she normally tried to ignore. "Right… I'm surprised you noticed from that far away."

  "I have an eye for details when it comes to swords, and that… is among the most interesting blades I've seen, transient though it seems." The young man took a few steps closer to Jun Li, tilting his head to get a look at the sword she had made. "It's almost funny, seeing such an interesting sword in the hands of someone… who doesn't seem to be a real swordsman."

  Jun Li raised her sword towards the young man. "That's an interesting thing to say; it seems like a hasty judgment to make." She was a little displeased at the notion that this man didn't consider her enough of a swordsman to be 'real.'

  Pausing his steps, the young man cleared his throat and slowly drew his sword. "It wouldn't be any good to pass judgment without properly sampling your skills…" He held his sword aloft, in a careless and open stance, as if ensuring his opening moves would be easy to respond to.

  "My name is Hua Shu. Just in case you die during our little dialogue, I figure it's best to exchange names." The two stood across from one another, though only Jun Li bore a serious expression. "...Jun Li. And I think you'll find it difficult to kill me with a sword."

  … … … … … …

  Little Yun observed from the interior of a nearby building as Jun Li and Hua Shu crossed blades in the square. The snake could tell that it was, to a degree, not an openly hostile contest, and that Jun Li was unlikely to be in any fatal danger.

  In this way, the snake was once again left on the sidelines, incapable of assisting a master it followed for reasons it didn't understand. As Little Yun grew and matured as a Magical Beast, its mind grew as well, uplifted as a consequence of a developing physicality.

  Over the past few months, since its time in the Earth Dragon's Grave, the snake's awareness has increased considerably, and it could feel that it was on the precipice of some sort of change.

  For the first time in its life, it felt an urge for caution, not one born of survival instincts or external commands, but from an internal desire to seek the best possible future for itself.

  It could continue as it was and slowly refine itself into a better servant for Jun Li. That might lead to a prosperous future in and of itself. To focus on matters of strength and cunning, to discard superfluous thought and become a creature of supremely refined purity.

  But as Little Yun looked out the window of the abandoned building, towards Jun Li, who fought with vigour against someone she had met mere minutes ago, it felt like she resembled a familiar sight.

  She was like many beasts Little Yun had seen over the years, beasts who, after reaching a stage of 'assured survival,' sought out others like themselves and battled constantly, out of little more than a desire to test and refine themselves, endlessly and vacuously.

  Looking back, Little Yun couldn't keenly remember a time when its master needed it to serve as a keen tool. It had always stayed on the sidelines, quietly awaiting a time when it might serve a greater purpose.

  Perhaps that was a consolation offered to it by its master, a merciful assignment of overwatch, for a tool too dull to be used in any mission of true importance.

  Observing silently as its master stoically endured her rapidly multiplying wounds in the square outside, Little Yun wondered, what could she need beyond what she possessed, beyond what her growing power promised to encompass?

  What could it become, if anything more than a simple tool? Instinct, at least, offered no answer.

  So, the snake began to sift backwards through its own memories, in hopes of finding an answer.