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Description
“The demon said, "The principles of swordsmanship are the principles of Heaven and Earth. How could there be no one else in the world who knows what I know? Secret things are for the sake of beginners. If they were not kept secret, beginners would not believe in them. This is one of the expedients of teaching. Thus, the things that are kept secret are just the tail-ends of techniques. They are not in some deep principle. Beginners understand nothing, listen arbitrarily, grasp things poorly, and decide 'This is it!' on their own. So contrary to what you might expect, they cause damage when they speak to others."
Issai Chozanshi

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Got this amazing commission drawn by stvkar and thanks to -redacted- for helping out on this one! Short story too:

“Miyuri shoved the phone into her pocket. Calysta had arranged everything, Miyuri would be on the next flight back to Seattle in a few hours.

Something had felt off, Miyuri looked around - the bamboo whistled. Something in the air felt malicious. This was...wrong. Miyuri had always felt that her parents' grave was sacred, and safe - but there was malice in the air.

A loud crack of thunder jostled her. She looked around - could feel her adrenaline spiking but she didn’t know why. Down in the valley she could hear the rain and thunderstorm starting, but had yet to move in to where she was currently standing - the tallest point of the Gozen household. The wind picked up - Miyuri instinctively hugged herself, shielding herself from the cold and the sudden chill she was feeling.

She turned towards the direction of her parents’ grave and her blood turned to ice. It wasn’t wind, it was wings. The flapping had created a gust, her eyes moved from the large wings to the area where a face should be. It was distorted and ugly, a long pointy nose, blue horns, and a blue beard rested on the body of priests' robes - it held a sword in its own hand.

It was only when it turned and set its eyes on her that she could hear the voices on the wind.

“Run”....”run” a male and female voice spoke in unison.

Miyuri was already on her heels scrambling for the steps - her anger at her parents’ graves being desecrated by an abomination quickly drained out of her - and panicked fear quickly replaced it. She stumbled down the steps.

She had no idea when she had drawn her sword but it was in her hand and her cell phone in the other she tried to call Calysta, in a panicked frenzie not realizing there was nothing she could do in the states while she was in Japan, not that it matters anyways as her phone refused to even turn on Miyuri tossed it away in mindless panic.

She looked back to see the creature was now at the top of the stairs, before Miyuri could blink and catch her breath it was gone. She stopped.dropped to one knee and then her senses kicked in, tuned by training Miyuri was aware but the hands were on her restraining her.

It had vanished and reappeared in an instant.

She felt weak. Her arms heavy. The creatures grip was iron but fear held her back too...but why?!

She swore she’d be strong. She swore!

Description
“The demon said, "The principles of swordsmanship are the principles of Heaven and Earth. How could there be no one else in the world who knows what I know? Secret things are for the sake of beginners. If they were not kept secret, beginners would not believe in them. This is one of the expedients of teaching. Thus, the things that are kept secret are just the tail-ends of techniques. They are not in some deep principle. Beginners understand nothing, listen arbitrarily, grasp things poorly, and decide 'This is it!' on their own. So contrary to what you might expect, they cause damage when they speak to others."
Issai Chozanshi

-
Got this amazing commission drawn by stvkar and thanks to -redacted- for helping out on this one! Short story too:

“Miyuri shoved the phone into her pocket. Calysta had arranged everything, Miyuri would be on the next flight back to Seattle in a few hours.

Something had felt off, Miyuri looked around - the bamboo whistled. Something in the air felt malicious. This was...wrong. Miyuri had always felt that her parents' grave was sacred, and safe - but there was malice in the air.

A loud crack of thunder jostled her. She looked around - could feel her adrenaline spiking but she didn’t know why. Down in the valley she could hear the rain and thunderstorm starting, but had yet to move in to where she was currently standing - the tallest point of the Gozen household. The wind picked up - Miyuri instinctively hugged herself, shielding herself from the cold and the sudden chill she was feeling.

She turned towards the direction of her parents’ grave and her blood turned to ice. It wasn’t wind, it was wings. The flapping had created a gust, her eyes moved from the large wings to the area where a face should be. It was distorted and ugly, a long pointy nose, blue horns, and a blue beard rested on the body of priests' robes - it held a sword in its own hand.

It was only when it turned and set its eyes on her that she could hear the voices on the wind.

“Run”....”run” a male and female voice spoke in unison.

Miyuri was already on her heels scrambling for the steps - her anger at her parents’ graves being desecrated by an abomination quickly drained out of her - and panicked fear quickly replaced it. She stumbled down the steps.

She had no idea when she had drawn her sword but it was in her hand and her cell phone in the other she tried to call Calysta, in a panicked frenzie not realizing there was nothing she could do in the states while she was in Japan, not that it matters anyways as her phone refused to even turn on Miyuri tossed it away in mindless panic.

She looked back to see the creature was now at the top of the stairs, before Miyuri could blink and catch her breath it was gone. She stopped.dropped to one knee and then her senses kicked in, tuned by training Miyuri was aware but the hands were on her restraining her.

It had vanished and reappeared in an instant.

She felt weak. Her arms heavy. The creatures grip was iron but fear held her back too...but why?!

She swore she’d be strong. She swore!