Swords & Saniwa

Line

~Akashi Kuniyuki~
明石 国行

Requested by Katagawa_Aoi!

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Everyone was having a tough time defending the citadel.

The Retrograde Army has attacked the citadel, and the building was in ablaze.

Sending the message down through scattering paper dolls, she then told them to return to the citadel as a barrier would be created to keep off the army who are outside.

"Three minutes! Everyone must be back by three minutes, do you understand!"

"Yes!"

On the other hand, Akashi was defending an injured Aizen who was lying beside the wall as the guardian cut them down quickly before grabbing the boy and sprinting towards the main gate of the citadel. Once they passed through the gate, the barrier was erected and the army was cut off. Now they have lesser enemies to deal with.

But there were quite a number of injured swords. A quarter of them were heavily injured and the sage was in the midst of a confrontation with Monoyoshi and Nikkari beside her. Without her repairing them, they would not be in their best condition even if all the steps were done correctly by the others. They just do not have that certain power like the sage.

In her room, her swords couldn't hold on any longer as they both collapsed on the ground. The female then gritted her teeth and went all out with her sword, barely able to defeat them. Her clothes were in tatters, and she hurriedly went to repair the two swords even though her condition was more serious than them. Crimson was seen radiating from her shoulder, and she was sure that it broke her clavicle as well since she couldn't move her left arm at all.

"Aruji...!" Nikkari uttered as he regained consciousness after the repairs were done. The sage was panting as she stood up and took a look at the citadel.

It was a bloody war outside.

"Aruji! Where are you going!"

"I am helping those downstairs! Take care of Monoyoshi!" With that she ran down the staircase hurriedly, picking up her sword in the process. Once she was at ground level, some enemies launched at her with heavy blood lust. Quick and accurate slashes were done even with one hand injured, but they were not lethal enough to eradicate them. Escaping, she saw him being cornered while protecting an injured Hotarumaru.

Before she ran off to him, she saw Aizen being cornered as well.

Who should she save?

Taking a paper doll out, it took her form and went towards Aizen while she ran towards Akashi. Throwing herself to him, she felt a huge wave of pain from her back before blacking out.

"Aruji!" Akashi mumbled while holding her limp body, unable to make out any words from his mouth. He didn't know what to do to save her until the oodachi slapped him.

"Akashi! What are you doing!" Hotaru shouted while using his cape to reduce the mass bleeding. It was too serious; to the point where white bones and damaged blood vessels could even be seen from the outside. Yagen's mind froze for a few moments as he saw the dying sage before running towards her. 

"Sorry.... I'll be going....first..." She mumbled before he saw the light in her eyes vanish gradually. Enlarged pupils told Yagen that she has passed on due to her severe injuries. The guardian just knelt there and wailed as he buried his face in her lifeless body, hoping for her to wake up.

Only when the Government personnel pronounced her dead and taking the body back for burial did he realise that she will not wake up anymore. As he slowly lost his consciousness like the others, he had hoped to see her again in their next lives.

Once a sage dies, no sword is allowed to retain the memory of their master in order to prevent rebels and counterattacks.

It was an unknown truth to the swords.