A young Samurai sought the teachings of a strong teacher. He travelled from province to province, watching duel after duel, battle after battle. Looking to find who would teach him the way of the warrior.
One day a monk finds him and he offers to train this Samurai. The Samurai, though, was confused as monks and Samurai were of different stations, different backgrounds. This Samurai had heard stories of warrior monks, but never believed in any of them.
One day this Samurai sees a pair of ronin approach this monk. They began to harass him, telling the monk how pointless he was, that the Yomi had forsaken them.
One drew a sword, but in a flash the monk had taken them down. Shocked by the physical prowess, the Samurai agreed to be taught. Month after month the Monk taught him the techniques of combat. From the Katana to the Art of War, they covered everything.
This Samurai absorbed every bit of knowledge, every bit of training, like a sponge.
One night tragedy struck, and the monk was defeated by those two ronin. Struck down in the night. The Samurai yelled out that they were cowards. The two scoffed at the Samurai, who no other master would take into their school so he turned to a monk for lessons.
The Samurai was at a loss. Mere months ago, this monk took these two ronin down, how were they able to overcome him so quickly?
What this Samurai didn’t know was that while he trained, the ronin found secrets the monk didn’t want found.
They dug through old records, learned the arts and techniques themselves. Improved upon them so that when they found the monk again, he stood no chance.
And they proved their point to this monk.
You see, the monk had such a record, such a reputation as an unbeatable force, he never learned of what his weaknesses were. Never learned where he was vulnerable. He never saw what the two ronin saw when they watched him train you.
They took his weaknesses, his vulnerabilities, and they trained for them.
So when the day came to face this Monk, to gain their revenge, they were ready. They fought the monk using what they had learned, how they had trained, to their advantage.
I’ve watched you train with your own monk, Samurai. Like the Ronin, I saw the holes in his skill, in his technique. Holes he never knew were there.
I took note of them all, and trained for them myself. Trained to break down the unshakable mountain.
Banzan believes his defenses, his skills, his training are unbreakable. For so long, he’s been an unshakable mountain. So this monk took pity on a lowly Samurai and thought he could lift him up.
But the secrets were there, and I’m ready.
Like those ronin, I come prepared with the knowledge Banzan doesn’t know about.
Like those ronin, I’ll bring your Monk down.
And you’ll see a mountain die in a world of darkness.