From the moment the Mark manifested, Elder Brother's lifespan had begun to gradually ebb away.
While his physical form was flourishing with an explosive growth incomparable to his past self... what did that matter?
Elder Brother has but eight years remaining... He will not live to see his twenty-fifth year.
Why?
Why is it that Elder Brother is pouring every fiber of his being into a mere spar with his younger brother?
Could it be...
Elder Brother has always sought to guide me. He has always been my teacher, and this duel is surely no different.
There is no way a man such as my brother would do something so foolish as to burn through his very life force just to win a single match—the sort of desperate act reserved for common men.
Even in a spar with his worthless younger brother, he casts aside his entire lifespan simply to grant me one final teaching.
He pours all of his future into this singular moment.
The world is so beautiful that I am grateful merely to have been born into it. Always pour your heart into every passing moment of your life. If you devote yourself to the present with such sincerity, the future will always follow...
These are surely the words Elder Brother wishes to convey.
Even his counsel at the hot spring—telling me not to be buried in the past but to walk the path I believe is right in the present—must have been a prelude to this very duel.
Just how far ahead was he looking?
For nothing more than to grant enlightenment to his clumsy younger brother, he was throwing everything away.
Elder Brother...
He held nothing but a wooden sword. Yet, that blade of wood possessed a keenness capable of severing all things. Should I be struck by it, I would surely not emerge unscathed; however, though its speed was immense, its path was so honest that evading it should have been a simple task.
However, to refuse his sincerity would be to disregard his teachings.
If I cannot meet this 'present'—this moment he has purchased by borrowing against his own future—how could I ever hope to walk toward the future that lies beyond?
To receive my brother's sincerity, I stood my ground against his blade.
Ku-ooooooo.
To meet my brother's soul with my own, I took up Sun Breathing—the style that Elder Brother himself had named.
It was then, as my sun rose to meet his moonlight.
I see.
I finally understood. The gift Elder Brother intended to bestow upon me, even at the cost of his own future, did not end here.
The world is beautiful. Therefore, be grateful for all things and pour your heart into every moment; then, the future will follow.
Just as the sun pours everything out until it sets, only for another sun to rise and pour its everything out once more.
Because the beginning and the end are one and the same, pour your heart into the present that connects them.
I understand now....
Just how far into the truth was my brother peering?
It was a vague thought I had always carried in the depths of my heart.
Sun Breathing was not yet complete.
The twelve movements of Sun Breathing were merely what had manifested as I swung my sword unconsciously. Yet, the Thirteenth Form had never appeared.
This was because those twelve forms were the most perfect way to effortlessly snuff out a life in a single strike.
Still, I could not shake the feeling that it was incomplete. Even though it seemed nothing more could possibly follow, the sensation of an unfinished work lingered in my mind.
I could not erase the thought that there was something beyond, something more.
Had I spoken of this to my brother, he would have likely provided the answer as easily as he always did. With just a few words, he would have settled the matter as if it were trivial.
But I did not wish for that. What use is enlightenment gained too easily from another? And how long did I intend to depend solely on him... there is no guarantee he will always be by my side.
Perhaps that was the very reason he chose to burn his life away. He desired his younger brother to find his own independence—to spread his own wings.
Yet, it seemed there was no escaping my brother's foresight.
Yes... Elder Brother had seen through even the deepest reaches of my heart.
Devote your soul to the present, and the future will surely come. Then, devote yourself once more to that future which has become your new present.
The Thirteenth Form of Sun Breathing never existed from the start.
To take the twelve forms you already possess and weave them into a singular, unending cycle—pouring them continuously into the present—that is what Sun Breathing truly is.
As the sun rises, sets, and a new sun dawns again, the world is infinite. Thus, Sun Breathing must likewise continue in a circle. It was designed this way from the very beginning.
Is that what you wished to tell me, Elder Brother?
The independence of your brother, the answer to the incomplete Sun Breathing, and the truth of living a life faithful to the reality of every passing moment. To teach me this, you burned your very life.
I am a truly fortunate man.
At that moment, the explosive battle spirit radiating from my brother vanished.
Though I was looking straight at him, it felt as though he was no longer there; a great void opened before me.
And yet, I knew he was there. I did not doubt it for a second.
Because in the past, in the present, and in the future, my brother has always been standing before me, guiding my way.
Therefore, I shall meet your blade with my own heart's truth, Elder Brother.
Since you have cast aside everything to awaken your younger brother, I shall show you the entirety of the enlightenment I have gained through the task you set for me.
The faint sound of cracking coming from my wooden sword no longer mattered to me.
Only the lesson of the 'present' that my brother had assigned me was of any importance.
Let it cycle.
Beginning from Sun Breathing, First Form: Waltz, reaching Sun Breathing, Twelfth Form: Flame Dance, and then connecting back to the First Form: Waltz once more—to open the way to the future.
Sun Breathing, Thirteenth Form.
It had no name. But that alone was enough.
The beginning starts with the First Form: Waltz, like the rising of the morning sun.
Unleashing an intense slash in a beautiful arc like the dawning sun, I clashed with the Lunar Fangs of my brother.
'Strike!'
Crack!
As the strikes of two swordsmen who had reached the absolute peak of their craft collided, a shattering sound echoed throughout the village.
But that did not matter.
In a manner unlike my usual self, I was utterly immersed in this moment.
Taking a life with a sword is still a loathsome thing. Yet, paradoxically, crossing blades with my brother in this spar was truly, deeply joyous.
Neither the beloved Uta who cheered for us, nor the faintly smiling Uzui, nor the astonished Amano-dono, nor even the people of the Swordsmith Village existed in this space any longer.
Under the sun, there were only two—the brothers.
Every passing moment, every second of this spar with you, is a moment of pure bliss, Elder Brother.
I immediately transitioned into the second strike, Sun Breathing, Second Form: Blue Heaven.
My wooden sword traced a horizontal arc, like the silhouette of the sun itself.
"'Sun Breathing'... a truly formidable style. It was for that very reason—"
Elder Brother's casual remark, laced with a hint of a smile, was like a stone cast into still water, sending ripples through my mind.
"—That I broke your blade from the future."
What?
My wooden sword merely cut through the empty air; the sensation of impact was gone.
When I finally came to my senses and looked at my hand, the wooden sword was shattered.
It had snapped during that very first exchange, when my blade clashed with his.
"You did not lose your battle spirit. You discarded it."
As I stood there dazed, Elder Brother smiled and rested his own broken wooden sword upon his shoulder.
"You have passed the test, Yoriichi. Congratulations."