Kuroba Asashin's Arc

Chapter 25 of 44

Kuroba held Rin's wrist and felt the killing blow stall against his grip. Blood ran down his chin. His ribs ground when he breathed. Behind him, boots scraped marble and the lava blade hissed against Bobby's guard. He had one arm and one knee under him. That was enough to buy a breath, not a fight. He pulled chi up from his stomach the way the monks had taught him, and pushed it into the hand on Rin's wrist. Rin's eyes narrowed. He tried to twist free and could not. Kuroba drove his shoulder up and broke Rin's stance for a half second. He planted the odachi, used it as a post, and stood. His thigh split open again under the wrapping. He did not look at it. He set his feet the way Kenji had drilled into him, heel first, hips square, and let the staff on his back stay where it was. The blade was enough. "The stone learns," Kuroba said. He struck. Rin slipped the first cut. The second opened his forearm from elbow to wrist. Rin stepped back for the first time in the fight. Gold flaked off a pillar behind him where the odachi bit stone. Kuroba pressed the ground he had taken. He did not chase. He made Rin come to him, and each step Rin took was into a narrower box, but Rin is not so easily beaten. He regained his ground. Behind him, Bobby caught the lava blade on a bracer and ate the burn. Jackie's mechanical eye clicked once. He read Kazrik's shoulder before the swing landed, slid under it, and drove a short blade up through the seam under the arm. Kazrik grunted. Jackie ripped the blade out and stepped clear. "Bro. Move." Bobby moved. Kazrik staggered between them, one arm loose at his side, and looked once at Rin. Rin saw the room. He saw his hall, his gold, the two boys still standing, and Kuroba on his feet with the odachi low. He took a more firm battle stance and channeled more chi