As if in response to Assassin's words, a red light like a branding iron streaked across the night sky and fell directly on the other side of the mountain.
There, a man and two women who had escaped from the clutches of the vampire were running as fast as they could, panting, but no one complained of being tired, and no one stopped.
Because if we stopped, we would be betraying the old man, the legendary swordsmith who risked his life to save him and gave up the second life he had finally gotten.
The young man who was leading the way suddenly raised his head, looked up at the sky as if he had noticed something, and whispered: "Master?"
Then, the red rainbow fell from the sky and landed squarely in the young man's hands.
There was no need to see with the eyes, just a touch of it and the boy knew the true identity of Chihong.
That is what the master values most, and is called the forging hammer of the knife maker's life. In the entire forging room, this is the only thing that the master never allows him to touch.
But now, this forging hammer was handed into his own hands, along with weak words that penetrated his soul.
"I'll leave it to you from now on. From today on, you are Senko Muramasa, and you will complete what I haven't been able to do."
In an instant, the young man burst into tears.
The boy, who grew up in a closed environment and had nothing but a forged sword, felt for the first time the heaviness of life and the inheritance of will.
For the first time, the innocent world in the boy's eyes was tinged with gray. However, this gray did not make the boy's world dim. Instead, it made this somewhat unreal world become real.
As the old man who has passed away often said -
Fire burns the earth and smelts it into iron.
After hundreds of times of tempering, steel becomes steel.
Thousands of hammers forge a famous sword!
It takes countless trials to transform a piece of ore into a famous sword, and the same goes for people.
The boy has now finally begun the process of transforming from steel to sword, a process called maturity.
When he came to his senses, he found that the forging hammer had been hung on his waist without him noticing, but his feet were still moving forward mechanically.
"Big brother, are you okay?" Mina, who was lying on her mother's shoulder, pulled Shirou's collar, "Is it grandpa... it's all Mina's fault. If it weren't for Mina, grandpa wouldn't..."
"It's none of Mina's business." Shirou turned his head and tried to force a smile, "It's the monsters that are wrong, and Master hasn't left yet. He has always been with me."
The rough hand pressed down the hammer head. The originally dim hammer instantly burst into a red light, like the flame in a forge, quickly flowing into the boy's body.
That was the old man's will that never changed, whether during his lifetime or after his death, and it was also his final entrustment.
"I will inherit the master's will. From today on, I am Senko Muramasa. I will forge a divine sword that cuts off karma, fate, and sin. I will use this sword to slay demons and monsters!"
The young man's figure suddenly became taller, and the way he held the forging hammer was almost exactly the same as that of the old man.
This may be what is called inheritance.
The master leaves hope to his disciples, and the disciples inherit the master's will and move forward.
This has been the case throughout history.
I won't stop, I will keep moving forward.
For the first time in the boy’s seventeen years of life, he felt so sad and yet so excited.
As if infected by this will, the usually cold Shiki was also aroused to fight. She patted the boy's shoulder vigorously and said:
"Okay, that's the momentum we need. We will do our best to help you. You focus on forging the sword, and we focus on killing. Mina, do you remember what I told you before? About killing people?"
"Remember. A person can only kill one person in his lifetime."
"That's right. A person can only bear one person's life value in his lifetime. If you kill others and use your own death, you will never be able to kill yourself, nor can you die as a person."
There was a hint of sadness in Shiki's dark eyes, an emotion that he had not shown even when he learned that Sengo Muramasa had passed away.
"But killing is different. No matter what the reason is, it's just a pure desire to kill. Just like I really want to kill those monsters now. I haven't had such a strong urge to kill for a long time."
The dried blood on the lips became wet again as the tongue swept across the lips, and the magic sword "Higan Cut" representing killing and death trembled.
Ryougi Shiki, the woman who becomes more and more "normal" after becoming a mother, finally regains her former feeling, the feeling of a murderer.
The overly strong murderous aura made the newly appointed Senko Muramasa shudder involuntarily, but the killer's daughter was not affected by the murderous aura. She held her chin with her hand and said, "My older brother and mother can't do this now."
"What should we do then?" asked Shi, who had never had the authority of her mother in this regard.
"Keep running. There seems to be a village ahead."
After running all the way, they have gradually returned to the normal path.
"The village?" Shirou was stunned and stopped immediately. "No, we can't go there. We can't bring monsters into the village."
"Yeah, that's not something that ordinary people can handle." Shiki nodded, "Mina, is there any other way?"
"I think this is the best way. We don't have to stay in there for a long time. As long as we can borrow a phone and contact our future teacher and Aunt Ying, they will definitely come to rescue us."
"Do you know the phone number of the Matou family?"
"I don't know, but my mother should know."
Mina tilted his head and looked at his mother in confusion. The latter shook her head and her voice became a little weaker.
"I don't know, I never remember these things..."
"Mother!"
Wei Na was about to cry. If she grew up a little bit and learned some Internet slang, she would definitely yell at her mother for being a scumbag and not being able to take care of her.
Perhaps feeling a little ashamed by his daughter's gaze, Shiki quickly said, "I remember Kan'ye's number. He should have the contact information for Matou and the others."
"Hurry up then."
He said "Oh" and sped up.
Shirou followed in confusion, having no idea who the mother was at this point.
The place at the end of the road is not really a village, because there are only a few wooden houses, surrounding a courtyard - except there is no wall. Although the style of the wooden house is old, it has been freshly painted, and it can be seen that someone has regularly repaired and maintained it.
Even more exciting was the incandescent lights in the windows. It was obvious that there were people living here, and they had all the modern household appliances.
Wei jumped off Shiki's shoulders and trotted over to knock on the door.
"Is anyone here? Excuse me."
"Coming, coming." A young woman's response was heard from inside the house, along with the sound of slippers hitting the floor.
Soon, the door opened to the outside, revealing a heroic female face.
Seeing this face, the three people outside the door were all stunned.
The people inside the door were also stunned.
Because this face is so similar to Ryougi Shiki's, except for the hair color, they are simply cast in the same mold.