21 21 Shirou Muramasa, The Swordmith

Otto took a shortcut in the woods and was now almost in the Chubu region just 1 region left before he arrived at Tokyo.

"Brynhildr, did you absorb the spirit that you killed?" He asked while running through the forest.

"You were the one who killed her..." She corrected.

"Anyways, yeah I did absorb her soul. If you're wondering if she had a special soul, then no. Her soul was just like any other ordinary human..." She replied.

"Is that so." He sounded sad as he hoped that he had gained something after killing the innocent spirit...

Sephira Crystals could be extracted without killing the spirit, and that is by sealing their powers or using a certain device used by those shady soldiers that tried to capture the spirit.

"What's wrong?" Brynhildr sounded worried, as Otto's movements became faster.

"It's going to blizzard." He said as the snow was starting to get heavy.

"*sigh* I lost once again..." Otto suddenly wondered if his 'Code: Unknown' was an incomplete fraud like the 'Eight-Handled Sila', It was true that Shakyamuni helped him manifest it.

He thought that his help was just materializing the 'Code: Unknown' to prevent it from disappearing, and didn't help adding powers to it.

"Did you learn something from your previous fight?" Brynhildr asked.

"Skill issue..." Otto muttered making her confused as she didn't know that term.

"?"

"Don't worry about it, you don't need to know."

Half of Otto's "real" fights resulted in his loss, as was starting to get disheartened on becoming the invincible... As his motivation was slowly getting lower, each time he lost to someone.

What he didn't know is that the people he had fought so far, were all geniuses in their art.

"What is it? Something bothering you again?" Brynhildr thought he was contemplating something useless again.

"It's just that... I don't think swordsmanship is for me." He said in a low voice.

"Really?" She was secretly happy at the thought of her master stopping throwing himself in danger.

"Yeah." Otto sighed looking at the sky above him.

"Then-"

"I'll use my fists from now, to pummel them to oblivion." He said seriously.

"Huh?" his decision confused Brynhildr even more, as she still couldn't grasp how his brain worked. She also thought that he was playing dumb on purpose.

"Yes, I'll become a boxer." Otto started to speak nonsense along the way, at how he'd easily win against those ordinary people in boxing.

After running for a few hours he then found a fairly large cabin in the mountains.

"A cabin, in the middle of nowhere?" He goes closer to the cabin, as he now hears the sound of metals hitting each other.

*clang* *clang* *clang*

The noise had some intervals, and Otto figured out that, there was a forge inside the cabin.

"A smithy perhaps?" Brynhildr thought.

*Knock* *knock*

Otto knocked at the door cautiously to the door, as the noise of hitting metal stopped, and hearing incoming steps from the door.

*Door opens*

There revealed a man with white hair with Golden-brown eyes, wearing a white robe, hakama, scarf, and a black haori.

"Who are you?" He looked annoyed as Otto had interrupted him in his work.

Otto could recognize his appearance and guessed that his name was Sengo Muramasa, a swordsmith in Kuwana, Ise Province. Which he is now on.

How he knew, was that Muramasa's appearance is similar to the Shirou Emiya from the Fate franchise.

"O-Otto, Otto Apocalypse." He replied.

"What do you want? Can't you see the sign?" Muramasa sounded grumpy as he pointed at the sign hanging above the door.

"No?" Otto looked at the sign that said, [Do not disturb].

"So speak, what do you want?" Muramasa said grumpily.

"I uhh— I wanted a place to stay for a day..." He started to make excuses so as to not look awkward and just walk away.

"..." Muramasa inspected him and figured out that he was a swordsman.

"Tsk might as well come inside." Otto was welcomed inside the cabin as it had the smell of melted iron all over.

"By the way, I don't know if you know me already. The name Shirou Muramasa." He didn't know if Otto knew him firsthand and just acted like he didn't know, or didn't know.

"Mmmm, alright mister..." He replied in surprise he thought his first name would be Sengo, but instead, it was Shirou.

'Are they all descendants of the Original like Inshun?' He guessed since there are characters from High School DxD that are descendants of their ancestors and took their name for themselves.

"Are they discarded?" Otto asked, looking around curiously where there were several katanas all over the place

"Yeah, all of those, didn't fit my criteria." The swordsmith replied.

"Why? They all look good." Otto looked at the katanas as they certainly looked good to him. Since all of them looked sharp and sturdy. The only thing missing on the katanas are the handle and the guard.

"In the eyes of an ordinary person, yes they are... But to an experienced swordsmith such as me, they're all defective products." He scoffed.

"All of them would just easily break in a prolonged battle."

"Really? Did you test them out?" Otto asked since it doesn't seem he tested them in a battle.

"Are you questioning my abilities as a swordsmith?" Muramasa frowned at him.

"No, it's just that how else would you know when you tried it?" Otto was trying to make sense.

"*sigh* I'm the one who made it so of course I know how they'll perform in battle." He replied as he went back to hammer his work.

*clang* *clang*

Otto stayed quiet as he didn't understand what his reasons were, and decided to just watch him make a sword.

.

...

.

"Can you go and prepare a fire in the kitchen," Muramasa ordered.

"Huh? Why me?" Otto sounded confused as it should be the host to serve their guest right?

"You're not planning on freeloading on my place, are you? And don't you plan on eating?" Muramasa glared at him since Otto just suddenly came into his place unannounced.

"..." For some reason, Otto felt scared for a second, when Muramasa glared at him.

He obeyed his request since it made sense that he was free-loading,

"Are you going to leave tomorrow?" Brynhildr asked curiously.

"Yeah, I'm not spending a week in this place..." He felt like he wasted a lot of time on delivering the letters that Ryouma asked of him, and just wanted to complete his last request.

"Brynhildr..."

"Yes?"

"Am I missing something?" He asked, thinking about the fights he had fought, as he still couldn't understand how he was losing so easily. So he figured he'd asked Brynhildr whom he heard was a strong fighter.

"You are missing a lot, Otto..." She said softly.

"Mmmmm... What am I missing?" He decides to listen and figure himself out.

"Both mind and heart. You don't seem to know the value of life... Or perhaps you've forgotten about it." She didn't want to speak philosophically with him, that might confuse him even more.

"Tell me this Otto. To you, what defines strength?" She asked.

"Power to fight?" He said as he made a fire to cook in the kitchen.

"That's partly true... But you're missing one important part."

"And that is, there is also the part that true strength is being gentle, understanding, and forgiving."

"What do you mean?"

"What I'm trying to say is that you don't know how to do those." Brynhildr was trying to speak as politely to him as possible since he didn't seem to get something so simple that anyone could understand.

"..."

"But I understand people—..." He immediately turned silent, as he realized something that he didn't understand a thing about other people since he had become self-centered.

"Even when sparring, you even tried to kill the person like they were your enemy."

"Otto, I may not know your past that well. But I can tell that the way you're currently acting right now, isn't the way you used to be right? It's like you're forcing yourself to change..." Brynhildr explained making Otto lost in thought.

'Is that true? I don't feel like I chang—'

"You alright?" Muramasa voice sounded as Otto was just blankly staring at the boiling water.

"Uh- yeah..."

"Go and wait at the table, I'll cook us something."

"Alright..." Otto listened and sat down, as he thought about the words that Brynhildr said.

"Tell me, what kind of path do you wish to take?" Brynhildr asked.

"Are you going to be the Raksha that you claimed to be? Or are you going to be a Demon that will mindlessly kill anything that gets in your way?"

"If I'm not wrong, a Raksha is related to protection in Sanskrit, right? Or perhaps do you mean a Rakshasa, a demon?"

"..." He couldn't reply as he thought of how the hell he changed so much.

'I was just an ordinary shut-in 10 years ago, met with Shakyamuni, gained an ability to create anything within my capability with some restrictions of course, and reincarnated myself to this world. But... What am I even doing in my past 10 years of living in this world??? I feel like I've wasted my 10 years of my new life by becoming a shut-in yet again, and once I've gone and stepped outside. I feel like I was trying to be the kind of person whom I despise so much... Edgy and Cringe. Is it because I got reincarnated in an anime world that caused it?' Otto started to question how his current life became...

"The strongest... What a joke." He curled up in the chair, thinking it was just a stupid ambition or goal that he made for himself.

Then he suddenly remembers the saying "There is always someone better than you." in his past life.

"Tsk, what's even the point... If there is always someone better than you?" He covered his face in a wet towel, unable to look around him.

"What's gotten into you?" Muramasa asked as he could hear murmurs at the dinner table.

"I don't know..." Otto doesn't know how to express the feelings he currently feels. Conflicted with the thought of ever even trying to fight with his enemies...

'Do I even have enemies? Or did I make other people my enemy?' He wondered as the old man's words back then, once again sounded to his head.

"Try to know yourself once again Otto. You're trying to be someone else that isn't you. And the worst thing about that is that it doesn't work, it won't make you stronger, instead it will make you even weaker." Brynhildr deeply cared for Otto as his life was also hers.

"You are young Otto, there is still a lot of room for improvement. So slow down and don't rush things."

"Yo, dinner is ready. Hope you're not picky about the food." Muramasa said while placing their dinner on the table.

"I won't..."

...

-Chapter End-