Chapter 921: The Path of the Sword

Vergil took his stance again, keeping Yamato steady in front of his body while watching Scathach from the other side of the field. The leaf between her fingers still looked far too ridiculous to be taken seriously, but after everything he had already felt coming from that woman, he did not make the mistake of judging her by the object she was holding. The moment Scathach shifted her right foot a few centimeters, Vergil moved first, using a fast diagonal slash followed by a short change in his grip to turn the motion into a thrust, trying to keep her from repeating the minimal evasions she had used before. The redhead, however, simply tilted her body and ran the leaf along the side of Yamato, using such a small motion that it seemed impossible for it to carry enough force to deflect the katana.

The impact traveled through Vergil’s arms as though he had struck another divine weapon. Scathach immediately exploited the opening, stepped into close range, and swept the leaf toward his neck, forcing him to retreat and raise Yamato to block. Vergil tried to answer with a horizontal slash at abdomen height, but she pivoted on one foot, let Yamato pass mere centimeters from her clothes, and touched the side of the blade with the leaf once again, pushing the attack off course before tapping his wrist with her fingers.

"You keep trying to win every exchange," Scathach commented, retreating only as much as necessary while Vergil quickly corrected his stance. "Every strike wants to prove something. Every defense is already thinking about the counterattack. It’s exhausting."

"Funny hearing that from someone who decided to fight with a leaf just to show off," Vergil replied, advancing again.

Scathach smiled and vanished from the direct line of attack. Vergil felt her presence from the left and instinctively turned Yamato, blocking the leaf almost beside his own shoulder. The impact was brutal. The ground beneath his feet cracked and he was pushed several meters backward, but Scathach gave him no room to recover; she advanced with him, alternating short attacks against different points of the blade, the guard, and even the fingers holding the hilt. Vergil could barely understand how such small movements produced enough pressure to shake his arms, and the more he tried to regain the initiative, the more she manipulated the rhythm of the fight.

"Faster," Scathach said, striking Yamato from above and forcing Vergil to lower his guard. "You’re faster than this."

Vergil answered with a rising slash that nearly reached her chin, but Scathach simply turned the leaf against the side of the katana and redirected the strike. "Better."

He attacked again.

She blocked.

Vergil changed the angle.

Scathach was already there.

Another strike came.

Another block.

Yamato began vibrating violently in his hand, every contact increasing the sword’s irritation. She had never experienced anything like this. It was not merely being blocked; that had happened before in battles against powerful enemies. It was being treated as though all the power she possessed meant absolutely nothing before someone using a leaf picked up from the ground.

*That woman is doing this on purpose,* Yamato complained inside Vergil’s mind, her indignation so intense it almost felt like a second voice layered over the impacts.

"I know."

*She’s humiliating me.*

"Calm down."

*SHE’S USING A LEAF.*

Vergil blocked another attack and slid backward, tightening his grip even more. "Yamato, shut up for five seconds."

*I AM A SWORD CAPABLE OF CUTTING DIMENSIONS.*

"And we’re going to show her what we are."

The vibration immediately weakened. Yamato remained silent for a moment, and Vergil felt the sword’s irritation transform into a much more familiar concentration. He took a deep breath, adjusted the position of his feet, and lowered his center of gravity slightly. This time, when he advanced, he did not try to impose force or speed directly. The first strike was only a threat, the second forced Scathach to move the leaf, and the third changed trajectory the instant contact happened, using her own interference to accelerate Yamato in the opposite direction.

Scathach stepped back for the first time.

Vergil noticed.

Yamato did too.

He immediately pressed forward. Scathach evaded a vertical slash, but Vergil was already converting the movement into a short thrust. The leaf intercepted Yamato near the tip, yet this time he did not try to resist; he let the katana follow the deflection and used the motion to turn his body, attacking again from the other side. Scathach blocked, Vergil changed his grip, and pressed again, forcing her to retreat another two steps.

"Finally," she murmured, apparently satisfied.

Vergil did not answer. He kept pressing, and for a few seconds the fight stopped looking completely one-sided. Yamato crossed the space in short, precise trajectories while Scathach’s leaf intercepted every attack with almost imperceptible movements. Vergil began to understand that she was not simply blocking his sword; she was striking specific points during the transfer of force, breaking down his structure before the attack even reached its peak.

Then Scathach changed the rhythm.

The leaf disappeared from his sight.

Vergil raised Yamato on instinct.

The first impact struck the upper section of the blade, the second came near the guard, and the third hit the exact center.

CRACK.

Vergil immediately retreated.

His expression changed when he lowered his eyes toward Yamato. A thin fracture ran across part of the blade, small but perfectly visible. The sword remained still for a moment, as though even she were trying to understand what had just happened.

*Master...* Yamato murmured inside his mind, far less irritated now.

Vergil passed his thumb near the crack without touching it directly and retreated a few more steps. "No. We’re done."

Scathach merely tilted her head. "Why?"

"You cracked Yamato."

"Yes."

"Then you know exactly why." Vergil sheathed the katana and kept one hand on the scabbard while staring at the redhead. "That’s impossible. If we keep going, she might break."

Scathach looked at the sword for several seconds, then back at him. "She might."

Vergil narrowed his eyes. "Then if your idea of training is forcing me to fight someone invincible while my sword risks being destroyed, you can leave. I’m learning absolutely nothing from getting beaten by a leaf."

Scathach stood still.

Then she began to laugh.

Vergil frowned as the laughter grew louder, but what truly caught his attention was the field around her. The grass began to be cut without Scathach making any movement with the leaf. First came small circles around her feet, then longer and longer lines spread across the ground. Nearby trees began falling apart into perfectly sliced pieces, entire trunks reduced to fragments before they even hit the ground. When Vergil raised his eyes, he realized that even the clouds above the estate were being crossed by enormous, perfectly straight cuts.

"Invincible?" Scathach repeated between laughs, finally looking at him. "Did you really just call me invincible?"

Vergil observed the ruined field and crossed his arms. "If you can do that with a leaf, keep me from touching you, and still crack Yamato without looking like you’re making any effort, then yes. In a sword fight, you seem pretty close to it."

Scathach smiled. "Then tell me, Vergil. What does being invincible mean to you?"

He took a few seconds before answering. "Someone who cannot be defeated. A person so far above everyone else that strength, technique, or strategy stop mattering because there is simply no realistic way to win."

Scathach stared at him.

Then laughed again.

This time, there was none of the same amusement in it. She seemed genuinely disappointed.

"Then there’s no reason for me to continue this farce." She relaxed her stance and let the arm holding the leaf fall at her side. "I’ve lost interest."

Vergil narrowed his eyes. "You dragged me into this training, spent hours hitting me with wood and leaves, and now you’ve simply decided you’ve lost interest?"

"Yes."

"What did you want to hear?"

"Nothing."

Vergil stared at her.

Scathach shrugged. "I wasn’t looking for a specific answer. I just thought you were smart enough to understand the question."

Vergil let out a short, humorless laugh. "You’ve been acting superior since you got here."

"Because you interpret everything as a contest of superiority."

"You literally showed up, said I didn’t look strong, humiliated my sword using trash from the ground, and now you’re acting like I failed some secret test."

Scathach remained silent for a few seconds before looking toward the horizon. "I wandered alone for many years, Vergil. Far more than you probably imagine. After a while, fighting stopped being enough to fill the days, so I started teaching."

Vergil said nothing, and she continued. "I trained great warriors in advanced combat arts. Kings, assassins, heroes, people who spent their whole lives perfecting a single weapon. Some were prodigies, others started mediocre and became monsters. I did it for so long that I lost count of how many students I had."

"And none of them managed to defeat you?" Vergil asked.

"Some came close. Some surprised me. Some forced me to learn new things." Scathach looked back at him. "But do you know what none of them ever did?"

Vergil waited.

"None of them called me invincible."

He frowned. "Why?"

Scathach smiled.

"Because invincible is only a word. Nothing more."

Vergil remained silent.

For a moment, he simply stared at her, trying to understand what exactly was so important about that answer.

Then something changed.

There was no sound.

No movement.

Scathach did not even seem to leave where she stood.

Even so, Vergil saw blood in front of his eyes.

He looked down and saw his own arm separated from his body, still holding Yamato. Before he could understand, more lines appeared across his skin. Hundreds. Thousands. Each one crossing muscles, bones, and organs in different directions.

The world slowed.

Vergil watched his torso split into countless pieces.

His legs separated.

His fingers.

His neck.

His head left his body.

As he fell slowly, he managed to look back and saw something his mind refused to accept for several moments: his body was still standing, holding Yamato, apparently intact, as though what he was seeing happened before reality itself realized he had already been cut.

"How did she cut me like this...?" Vergil murmured, though he did not even know whether he still had a mouth to speak.

Scathach remained in the same place.

The leaf had not even changed position.

"You haven’t even begun walking the Path of the Sword."

The world returned to normal.

Vergil blinked and immediately looked down at his own body.

Whole.

Yamato still in his hand.

No blood.

No cut.

Even his posture had not changed.

Vergil took a deep breath, more from reflex than necessity, and stared at Scathach. "What was that?"

She turned her back on him. "You don’t even know what the Path of the Sword is."

Vergil tightened his grip on Yamato. "Then teach me."

"No."

He frowned.

Scathach let the leaf slip from her fingers. "First learn what you’re trying to follow. You wield an extremely powerful sword, you have speed, strength, and combat experience, but you still see everything through those things. To you, the greater the difference in power, the closer someone is to being invincible."

The leaf slowly fell onto the ruined grass as she began walking away. "Learn about the Path of the Sword first. Then maybe I’ll have something to teach you."

Vergil watched her back. "And where exactly am I supposed to learn that?"

Scathach stopped.

"If you want a hint, go to the Oni Gates."

Vergil raised an eyebrow. "Oni Gates?"

"Look for Musashi Miyamoto."

His expression changed slightly.

"Miyamoto Musashi?"

Scathach looked over her shoulder and gave a small smile. "Yes. If you can understand half of what that man tries to teach, maybe you’ll stop using words like ’invincible’ so easily."

"You know Musashi?"

"Unfortunately."

Vergil still intended to ask something else, but Scathach’s presence simply disappeared. There was no portal or burst of energy; one instant she was there, and the next, only the devastated field and the leaf that had just touched the ground remained.

Vergil stood there for some time, staring at where she had been. Then he lowered his eyes toward Yamato and carefully ran one finger near the small fracture in her blade.

"Oni Gates..." he murmured.

Yamato remained silent for a few seconds before answering inside his mind.

*Master, I don’t like her.*

Vergil let out a quiet laugh and sheathed the sword. "Neither do I."

Yamato vibrated faintly.

*You’re going to look for this Musashi, aren’t you?*

"Of course."

*Even after that?*

Vergil started walking back toward the mansion, still thinking about that impossible vision of his own body being reduced to billions of pieces without even noticing the instant Scathach had attacked.

"Sapphire arranged this for a reason. I’ll at least listen to what she wants and do what she asks. Besides... I didn’t know Musashi Miyamoto was alive."

*Who is he?*

"Well, only the greatest swordsman in Japan."