The only sound that could really be heard on this stretch of pathway was the steady, quiet thuds of wooden getas landing on the soft, but worn dirt of this traveled path, along with the soft rustling of the long grass as a near silent breeze brushed against the massive stretches of seemingly dried grass. Upon sight, the man whom was walking along this path looked bored, and almost removed with the world around him, not really noticing much more than the dirt path in front of him as he continued his path forward. He wore simple a simple kimono, a black top and a white bottom, and although he was walking on a dirt path, and looked as though he hadn't seen a town in weeks, his clothing looked as though it were never touched by dirt or any other such substance. He had rather light blond hair, which he had spiked backwards, along with some hanging down over his right eye, though not fully concealing it. Upon a single glance, one would assume he had blue-ish eyes, however with a closer inspection, they would come to find that at all times his eyes were the exact same color of the sky, even at night when the sky had no color but midnight black or dark, dark blue.
There was only the softest sound, the sound of a tiny pebble being knocked to the side, and it was like his entire demeanor changed, almost as if in a single blink of an instant. In the comforting noise of the wind, this man felt at home, he felt comforted, he felt welcome... However it was in the confines of silence, wrapped by nothing but his own thoughts and feelings that he felt the most like himself, it was in the silence that he felt his abilities grew almost phenomenally. So it was of no surprise that he heard this pebble be knocked off to the side slightly, most likely by a foot or a hand touching the ground. Heroken let out a soft chuckle, he had to give whom ever this was credit, they had snuck up on him without his knowledge up to this point, unless they had simply been waiting in ambush, however now he was able to hear every rustle of their clothing and if he listened close enough with his eyes closed, he could even hear the beating of this person's heart. He did not want to start anything, and a part of him hoped that this was just someone trying to hide from the law or some other such nonsense, this way he could continue on his way and not bring about any conflict.
The only warning was the sound of a blade whistling through the air, but that was all Heroken needed in order to dodge, his body twisting quickly and with a quick push off of his foot he moved back enough that the blade only slammed into the ground and missed him completely. In order to not seem threatening, he resisted his natural urge to place his hand on the handle of his sword. Immediately he noticed that this man was off balance, his weapon quite obviously not suited for him and he was already thrown by the fact that his weapon was embedded in the earth and not this man. "Why do you attack me when I've done naught to you?" Inquired Heroken, bringing his hands up in front of him making the universal sign of surrendering. The man lifted his weapon, and slipped into a poor battle stance, but it was clear he thought it worked by the way his face was set. All of this was noticed by Heroken, whom was now utterly focused on the world around him and could notice a butterfly flap it's wings twenty feet away. "There's a bounty on your head Coward Swordsman! And I intend to collect!" The man shouted with vigor, before shooting forward and making a few quick jabs and swinging his halberd down at Heroken's head.
Said swordsman shifted side to side, dodging each of the jabs, and with another push off of his foot he moved away from the attack, ensuring that it wouldn't hit him, but instead get stuck in the ground once more. "A bounty?" Asked Heroken, this time his hand rested on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw if another attack came, should he not be able to convince this man to leave him be. The man was bewildered as to how his attack missed, and struggled to remove his weapon from the ground. "Yes. A bounty. Placed on your head by that head of government you knocked out a week ago." The man had decided to answer questions in order to buy some time, but the moment he had an opening he would take it and take down this swordsman. Heroken blinked rapidly when the nameless man said this, and lifted his eyebrow, "Head of..." He began to question, and suddenly his eyes hardened slightly as he remembered the very man that this 'assassin' had been speaking of.
A week ago this monster of a man decided to kill many women and children to teach his town a lesson for not paying their taxes in full, after taxing them to a point where they had no point but to not be able to pay them, almost as if the man had been hoping for this... He had twenty children and ten woman all lined up, and each had a blade to their throat as the government man gave this long speech about how they were insubordinate, and other such nonsense. This rose a fury in Heroken like nothing else, and within a few moments and flashes of movement each of the men that held the blades to the children's and women's throats lay unconscious. After telling the government official about how sacred life was, he began to walk away only to pause in his movement when the man said that life was worthless. Those were the last words he spoke before Heroken knocked him out with the 'Hiten Mitsurugi Style: Ryu-Tsui-Sen', with which Heroken jumped high into the air and upon coming down slammed the edge of his sword, the blunt edge of course, into the back of said man's neck, knocking him out cold.
Heroken's eyes softened slightly, "Here, take my money, I've no need of it, and there is no need for you to stain your young hands with blood already." He said tossing a small sack of money towards the man, the last of his coins. The man however ignored the sack of money, figuring that the bounty would be worth more than that measly sack of coins, and with a shout charged forward, ready to impale his weapon in the swordsman in front of him. Heroken had enough time to sigh before dodging backwards once more, this time however, when he landed he drew his weapon and held it in a ready position. "Last chance... Back off and I won't be forced to hurt you..." The man laughed at this, knowing full well that that blade would never hurt him, as it was not a normal sword but a reverse blade. He had been there that day, and though he agreed with this man on his actions, he was driven by necessity, so he charged forward once more... Heroken's eyes hardened, "Hiten Mitsurugi Style: Do-Ryu-Sen!" With that shout Heroken struck the ground with his blade, and the resulting shock waves caused the ground to shatter and shoot towards the man, whom was pummeled with many pieces of the earth with now held a scar from where Heroken used this move.
Heroken sheathed his sword and walked over to the now unconscious man, and shook his head, slamming his foot into the staff of his weapon, breaking off the tip of it before walking over to his small sack of money. He bent down and picked it up, then he walked back over to the fallen man and placed it in his head. "You should not be so quick to fight my friend. I apologize for leaving you here, but I must be moving onward." He spoke, knowing full well he was speaking to a sleeping man, and once more he rose to his feet and began to move along this path, hoping that this man would be fine when he woke up. He didn't want to stick around in case the man wanted to start fighting again, for Heroken did not want to hurt him once more... Once more this swordsman was accompanied by the silence of the world around him, a frown on his face.. He really didn't want to hurt that poor man...
