“Yes, thats right, conditionally, of course,” Myrlin said, matter of factly. “You just have to serve as one of my subordinates; you’re already familiar with the role of a retainer, you’ll just be transferring loyalty from a late Nobunaga to me.” He smiled, but something about it seemed uneasy, there was no way that was all he wanted. “I’ve waited for this day in particular for you, specifically,” he confessed, “as a swordsman, you’re renowned for your skills and precision with a blade, and I want to enhance that.”

I stood in the room completely at awe, “what do you mean, enhance it,” I asked, “even if you wanted to, how can you take me back to The Gold Coast? The land we are in is deep within the sea’s grasp, traveling there surely would be a challenge, unless you were some sort of Kami or Orisha.” The already quiet room grew ever more silent after I made that comment. “Or are you—,” I asked, “who are you?”

I examined the faces in the room, the blonde man simply nodded his head once while giving a huff, the regal young gently shut his eyes and hummed a validating “mmhmm,” while the night woman giggled as if she were a child. Am I really speaking with a Orisha, the thought began to weigh me down mountain.

“Not exactly,” Myrlin chimed in, “but something like that, but that’s not the focus right now. I want to give to the power to return home, the place where you belong.”

Once again, I looked around the room, no one looked at me, I assumed it was because they didn’t want to pressure me. “I ask again, how do you intend to do this,” I demanded, “though I cannot explain how we got here, I do not know you. You refuse to tell me exactly who you are or what you are, and you expect me to just blindly accept your offer?” At this point, I’d already sealed my fate, I was going to die either by this land’s ruler or by the Jesuits. After the death of Lord Oda, I knew that the life I yearned for would come to an end; tears filled my eyes as I began to walk away, but I felt someone grab my arm, it was the regal young man.

“At least give it some thought,” he suggested; I didn’t want to, but I brushed him off, what does this child know, he’s blindly following this man and falling for his deceptive trickery, I thought.

“If you’re leaving,” Myrlin’s voice broke through the tension like a katana slicing a ripe mango, “consider this.” He took out a slip of paper, in fact it was one of the shrine’s blank talismans, and he began writing on it. I couldn’t make the characters, but it was Japanese kanji, although it seemed a bit incomprehensible. Once he was finished writing on the talisman, he walked up to me with probably the most unserious smile on his face before saying, “read this out loud, before you.”

I took the talisman and examined the characters, and I had been correct, it was kanji. However, the longer I stared at the characters, more I was able to understand what they represented and what it was saying. “No-Bu-Naga. Ya-Suke. Ori-Wa,” I struggled to read, but the words, the characters, they all just seemed to click the longer I stared at them; as I spoke the characters on the talisman, I noticed that Myrlin moving his katana around the air, almost as if he was writing something.

There was a great flash of light, and the talisman bursted into flames, however it didn’t burn. “I don’t have time for your tricks,” I stated, “I’m not declining your offer, nor am I accepting it. I just need some time to think; this is all moving too fast for my liking.”

Myrlin approached me with another unserious smile and gave me a pat on my back, “I know buddy,” he said.

CLAP—! CLAP—!

At that moment I heard a noise, or at I thought I did, I was distracted by the Night Woman approaching me holding a katana in her hands. “This is a blade crafted by the finest smiths in our homeland,” she remarked willing giving me the sword, “you might find it useful in the near future.” Her words were eerie and cryptic, but she then made a complete switch, and her expression softened.

“Whenever you decide to join us, just come back here,” Myrlin suggested with that same grin, he definitely has something up his sleeve; I slid the door open without acknowledging him and walked out of the room. As I did, I felt a shift in the atmosphere, like I wasn’t still in Yasaka Shrine, what’s going on? Am I still at Yasaka? I couldn’t shake this feeling in my stomach that something didn’t seem right.

One of the hallway doors opened, and I saw, yet again the unimaginable, it was a group of Akechi’s men. “What’s this,” yelled one of the men, “we found him in the east wing!” The men began their chase towards me, and without a second thought I started to defend myself. There had to have been at least forty men attempting to take me down, I wasn’t too overwhelmed, however I was at major disadvantage being in such a closed space.

“Parry,” a voice rang in my ear as one of the men came charging towards me, and surprisingly I did as such. The feeling was almost instant and instinctual, like I knew that the attack was coming, and I was more than capable of dodging it after hearing that word. “Feint,” the voice rang in my ear again, is that Myrlin’s voice? The following grunt hacked at me with his blade, to which I dodged and pretended to strike him from above, leaving his mid section wide open. “Now SLASH!” Myrlin’s voice boomed in my head and as I slashed the man’s torso, thinking that my blade would get stuck between flesh and bone, I noticed something strange. Instead of getting stuck, my blade, the one given to me by the Night Woman, sliced through the man like a fruit.

“What? But how,” cried one of the men; I too was in complete shock at the cleanest of my attack. “Quickly, inform the general that we’ll need reinforcements from Lord Mitsuhide’s army,” the retainer yelled out as one of his men bolted out of the building into the woods.

I paid them no mind and examined the blade the Night Woman gave me; it was made from a metal that I’d never seen before. It had a bluish-black tint, and the guard and hilt looked like it was crafted with materials from The Gold Coast, “what is this blade,” I questioned.

“Black Samurai,” yelled the retainer, “I don’t know what tricks you have up your sleeve, however I fear you’re outnumbered and cornered.” I broke the trance the blade held me in and looked at my surroundings and saw something that I couldn’t really understand nor describe. As if I had a clear image in my mind, I could envision glowing silhouettes of all the grunts; there were at least forty of Akechi’s men, throughout the entire building. The retainer was right, I was both outnumbered and cornered, back against the wall and no allies in sight. The only thing I have now is this incredibly sharp blade gifted to me by the Night Woman and some ominous feeling from that man Myrlin.

“This is mere child’s play for someone with your skill,” Myrlin’s voice echoed in my mind, “as I said, I wish to give you the power to return home, and as such, I would never throw you into danger with the means to overcome it.” I looked down at the sword and it started to vibrate and glow intensely, as this was happening, the retainer and his men all moved at a pace that was practically a standstill. “Don’t worry about them, I’m communicating with you using both ‘Thought Acceleration’ and ‘Thought Communication’. I know you’re new to all this, so just listen to my commands,” Myrlin added, I was unsure how to exactly respond, which he coincidentally knew. “The blade Jade gave you is from the nation ran by my sister and its name is called the ‘Ryuko Blade,’ the blade that can sever space,” his words settled in my head, and I was starting to understand how to respond back to him.

“Draco Blade,” I responded both aloud and in Thought Communication, and I further examined the blade.

“Good! You’re already catching on,” Myrlin exclaimed, “I bestowed you with a few things that I believe will make this current situation a bit easier for: the first is that sword Jade gave you, the second is a unique ability called a ‘Signature,’ this gives you the power to defy logic in some cases. Lastly, in order for you to use your signature, you’ll need a name.” I was confused, but I have a name already, what is this man getting at? “A family name, something that you don’t have,” again it was as if he were reading my thoughts. “To pay homage to your late master Oda Nobunaga, I have bestowed you with the new family name of Nobunaga,” there was a pulse in my chest and like how my ancestors danced when I was around Myrlin, they did the same when I heard that name.

“Like I mentioned before, you were given an ability, and your new family name is what you’ll use to activate that power,” Myrlin continued, “this is called ‘Scribing,’ and it is crucial for spell work.” I looked at the men around me, they all still seemed to move at a slow pace, “using the Ryuko and your new family name—,” Myrlin began, but as if I already knew what to do, I brought my new blade up and began to write the Ryubá characters for my name in the air. There was an intense glow and a trail of light behind the tip of my blade; I recalled the characters from the talisman and glided the Ryuko in the air as though it were a paint brush.

My surroundings began to resume to its original speed as I finished scribing my name; “You continue to refer to me as ‘Black Samurai’ knowing that I have a name,” I said coldly, “allow me to remind you, my name is Yasuke, Nobunaga Yasuke.” As I topped off my mid-air signature with an Chiburi, something in my mind lit up, as if it were some sort of revelation.

“Oh, it looks like someone just received their first spell,” exclaimed Myrlin, “they appear to a mage like a divine revelation, I suggest you give that new spell of yours a little test ride.” Excitement rushed through my veins as I clenched the hilt of my Ryuko, I can clearly see the name of the spell, although this experience was new and a bit overwhelming, I had no choice but to admit, I wanted more.

“Aspect of Time: Sever Signature: Shango-Sakura,” the words flowed out of me like a breath, and as it did, I saw an energy envelope my blade. The energy eventually extended the length of the sword up to a massive fifteen feet that appeared to be invisible to the retainer and his men. Once again, I clenched my Ryuko and lunged forward to strike the nearest soldier, and it would appear that even I have made it to my own list of the unimaginable. Instead of cutting down one grunt, twenty of the forty men flopped to the floor.

“The Sixth Demon’s Will, lives within you, Black Samurai,” the retainer shouted in horror before he and the rest of his men came charging toward me. I scoffed in annoyance, which gradually turned into pity as I realized that their efforts were meaningless.

“Shango-Sakura,” I said again swinging my blade and the collective thuds of the remaining men bodies sounded like a symphony. The energy from my sword pulsated throughout my blade and eventually was sucked into the scabbard of the Ryuko, “what a strange weapon,” I said as I continued to examine the blade. I closed my eyes and instinctively, I was able to use the same ‘second sight’ ability as before. “It would appear they went for reinforcements,” there wasn’t a single trace of a soul in the building. Upon opening my eyes I was in complete terror, there were two massive slashes in the walls of the room. I did this, I asked myself, the rush of excitement that I was feeling quickly faded away as I sheathed my katana, the room was eerily quiet.

“Concentrate on the direction you think that grunt went,” Myrlin’s voice broke through the silence; “you should be able to sense his life-force emitting from his footsteps.” I did as I was told and closed my eyes yet again and began to focus on the grunt’s footsteps. About thirty feet to my left I felt the faint presence of energy similar to the bodies I saw earlier, the presence was minuet, but present enough for me to catch it.

“I see it,” I said, “he’s heading south, through the forest.” In this exact moment I felt like a predator hunting his prey and that rush of excitement filled my veins yet again, “Myrlin,” I said aloud, I still wasn’t sure how to speak using this ‘Thought Communication’ skill, “what is this sensation that I feel when in combat? It’s odd, as if I were a fiend itching to battle.”

“Oh, that’s just a slight side effect from your signature,” Myrlin said nonchalantly, “since the origin of the power is not from this realm, it usually has this ‘blood lust’ symptom, it should go away in a few days.” I looked around the room and could smell and distinguish the blood of each of the men I

struck down. The scent of each was different and unique, one had a sweet smell, another was pungent, there was even one that had no smell; it was strange, though I could smell and differentiate their blood, I found no desire to consume any of it. As a matter of fact, the that of doing such was utterly disgusting. “That being said, this window of opportunity will be you at your absolute rawest of strength,” he continued, “use that to your advantage in your next battle.”

I nodded my head and made my way outside, not before asking, “Myrlin, you’re still at Yasaka Shrine, yes—?”

“But of course,” he said with a pleased voice, “finish up in with Akechi, and make your way back here.” At this point, I was still undecided on if I could trust him, but I did know that I wanted to learn more about this new katana, this new skill called a signature, and most of all how did he plan to take me back to The Gold Coast?

“I won’t be long,” I walked off the property and into the dense foliage of the forest.

To be continued...