(Chapter unfolds:10" Mind over matter ")
The turn now fell to Jinso. He moved slowly toward the center, observing the four katanas driven into the earth. He glanced at his own hand, then back at the blade.
"Those who failed have proven their worth. What of me? What is my power?" he muttered to his own mind.
"Grasp your sword!" Daisho commanded.
Jinso seized the hilt, shut his eyes tight, and spoke to his spirit. "This is the moment to face your fear, Jinso. If you fail now, you may never be granted this chance again."
He raised his katana. A deep calm settled on his face; he had dismissed his running thoughts. His single, quiet fear was whether he possessed the ability to withstand the Master.
Master Daisho unleashed a sudden, precise thrust directly at Jinso. Jinso did not analyze the attack with his mind.
He closed his eyes instantly, accepting the strike. "The blade will pierce me. I have failed." Jinso affirmed his defeat within his heart.
Then, a sudden vision erupted in his mind: an incident from his youth.
(As a boy, Jinso played in the courtyard when a terrible clamor erupted behind him. He spun to see his home engulfed in flames. He did not know how or when it began. Someone screamed within. Young Jinso frantically fetched a small basin of water, but the heat seared his skin as he approached. Terror-stricken, the basin fell from his hands. Before his eyes, the fire swelled, becoming a vast, terrifying entity.)
Standing in the training ground, his mind was now filled with that ancient fire. He saw not the sword, but the raging blaze of his childhood fear hurtling toward him.
But now, the katana remained firm in his grasp.
"No," he asserted fiercely. "I will not fear you!"
He allowed his spirit to perceive the attack. Instead of rooting his feet to the soil, he connected himself to the air around him. He raised his sword and arrested the Master's thrust.
The block was utterly silent.
As Jinso brought his feet back to the ground and drove his katana into the soil, the still air around him suddenly convulsed, sending out a sharp vibration. The onlookers gasped in astonishment.
The passing current of air carried an unusual sensation of heat to them all.
Nobaya, stunned, looked at Jinso's katana. Jinso himself had not yet touched the blade after grounding it. Yet, where others received a slight transference of light through contact, Nobaya witnessed a different phenomenon: a flow of" dark black and deep red" essence merging into the unheld blade.
Into the stunned silence, the final disciple walked forward: Izuma.
He displayed none of the grand movements of the others. He retrieved his sword with effortless grace and stood ready. Nobaya could still perceive the intense, fiery sharpness in his eyes from the night before.
Daisho struck, unleashing the most complex and rapid attack of the morning, designed to shatter the disciple's concentration.
But Izuma did not analyze the speed or the trajectory. His mind was silent; his blade moved without thought.
Izuma raised his katana with his left hand, arresting the Master's assault with the speed of lightning. In that single moment of contact, the energy was returned through Izuma's blade back into the Master's.
Daisho's katana was violently flung from his grasp. The Master himself staggered, a flicker of shock crossing his face.
Nobaya quickly focused on Izuma's grip. He saw a blend of "black and storm grey" color flowing from his hand into the steel.
The Master retrieved his sword and sheathed it.
"You have won," the Master stated. "You have summoned the VESHTRA within you. Now, you must know what part of the essence you command. Look upon your blades."
They looked down at the katanas now driven into the soil.
Jinso's: katana was now a deep black, patterned with pulsing "red veins", possessing a subtle reflectivity. The energy within was a fierce crimson.
Izuma's: blade was deep black interwoven with "storm grey", with a" silver" light that seemed to flow within the steel. A faint black aura of air shimmered around the weapon.
Haru's :sword now shone with a smoky "silver" color, like moonlight trapped in mist. It was semi-transparent, a shadowy presence moving slowly inside, perfectly silent, without reflection, radiating quiet pressure.
Sai's: katana glowed with a" frozen blue" hue. Its exterior resembled hard glass, holding within it chilling, crystalline structures and radiating a cold aura.
The disciples gasped. The simple katanas of yesterday had been transformed.
Master Daisho pointed toward the edge of the training grounds.
"Recognize your powers quickly. Your first hunt awaits you there."
The four young warriors grasped their transformed blades. Each katana flared briefly as its owner's hand connected, declaring its allegiance. They lowered their swords before Daisho, signaling their readiness for their first Duty.