Secret of the Spider Lily

Chapter 12 - A Fair Fight

Yuki took a deep breath in to calm her nerves, before charging at Tengen with her blades drawn. Yuki held a serious expression on her face, but when her gaze met Tengen's, the only thing she saw was a bright smile. She chuckled seeing his toothy grin, a smug grin now forming on her own, "I think it's time to put you in your place Tengen!" She shouted as she made a first strike.

Tengen dodged her attack with ease, trying to get in a quick strike of his own, "Ha! If you think you'll beat me this time, you might want to rethink that!"

"You just don't want to lose to someone you helped train!" She shouted, jumping out of the way of his attack. She smiled up at him, showing no signs of worry.

"You're right about that, but I know I won't lose!" He yelled back, sending yet another slash Yuki's way.

"We'll see about that." Yuki muttered. Yuki sheathed her swords, waiting for Tengen to be a few meters away. She took a deep breath and jumped straight upwards, doing a backflip onto Tengen's shoulders. It caught him off guard, but Yuki took that to her advantage, grabbing the chain of his dual blade. She ripped his weapons out of his hands before leaping off his shoulders, landing on the ground steadily, holding his swords over her shoulders. She smiled a confident grin at Tengen, "I think that's match"

Tengen looked back at her, a stunned expression on his face. He hadn't noticed that she had sheathed her swords, so the grabbing of his took him by surprise. He was impressed she was able to outsmart him, and chuckled as he looked back at her, "Well done Yuki. I'm impressed you were able to do that with such ease." he said, kneeling in front of her

All of the Hashira kneeled as well to show their newfound respect. They were all impressed by her speed and power, and how far she had grown in a single year nonetheless.

Yuki was incredibly proud of herself, being able to defeat Tengen in a battle of speed and wit, knowing he was the fastest of the Hashira before. She walked over to Tengen, outstretching her hand to help him up, "Thank you, Tengen. I'm a little surprised myself. I wasn't expecting to stick the landing"

Tengen grabbed her hand, pulling himself up, and taking his swords back from Yuki's shoulder, "Any time. By the way, I think you should join me on a mission sometime. I want to see your skills in action on the field."

"You flatter me, but as much as I would like to accept, I think I should have a few missions of my own."

"Speaking of solo missions, I actually had one prepared for once you got to Hashira level" Ubuyashiki said as he walked up to her.

"Send me anywhere you'd like, Master. I know I'm capable of doing things on my own." As she said that, her gaze looked back to one person in particular, "You're the one who helped me realize that, Rengoku." She had a soft and genuine smile on her face when she said that.

Rengoku chuckled, standing up to bow before her, "I'm glad I was able to assist."

"Yuki," Ubuyashiki spoke, drawing her attention back to him, "Your destination isn't far from here. It's about a day's trip there and back. The demon there is a strong one. We don't think it's a lower or upper moon, but it's still powerful. Use your skills to take it out before it causes any more damage."

"Yes Master. I'll head out now." She spoke, turning away from everyone to begin her journey.

"Good luck!" Mitsuri shouted, waving Yuki goodbye.

"Thank you. I look forward to working with you all in the future." Yuki shouted, running off into the surrounding forest

She made it to the location of her mission in only a matter of hours. Her powers made her a lot faster than a normal human, so she got there in no time at all. The sun had just fallen over the horizon, and the moon was covered by clouds. Yuki looked around at the village that was in front of her, knowing it to be a relatively peaceful area, but with this demon running around, the small town had erupted into chaos.