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For a moment Tenkai would pause, as Maximos stretched out his hand for a friendly handshake. He almost instinctively reached forward with his right hand, but stopped once he realized it was carrying his shakujo. He then thought of his left, only to stop himself once he remembered he was carrying a bowl of rice. He stood there for a second or two with a stumped look on his face before shouldering his staff so that he could receive the handshake with his right hand.

But as soon as Maximos set his eyes on the bowl of rice, Tenkai quickly pulled away.

"Ah ah ah!" he said, making damn well sure Maximos didn't pounce all over it. "This isn't for you, or for me. It's for the gaki."

Tenkai was sure Maximos would be confused by this concept, so he would need to explain on his way to the gaki in question. Meanwhile, Toshio began laughing at Maximos' request, trying to contain himself.

"Kid, after what you just did, I'd give you a whole bucket of rice!" said the old man.

"No worries, lad," said Bazric, stepping away from the other miners, "We'll make sure yer fed. But we didn't give tha' to the monk."

"Yeah," added Toshihisa, "The monk had a bag of rice with him when we stopped him. All he asked us to do was cook it."

Tenkai stopped just a few feet away from the decapitated gaki, its putrid blood leaking out onto the ground.

"Yare, yare..." said Tenkai. "You sure did a number on this one, Maximos. I haven't seen gaki this big in a long time. He must have been a very greedy soul in life."

Tenkai proceeded slowly, with the bowl of rice in hand.

"Various kinds of preta, or hungry ghosts, live in this world of ours," said Tenkai, "You could consider vampires and other undead to be creatures of the same path, but they have key differences. They aren't created from transmitted curses, diseases or necromancy. They're born from a person's own greed and jealousy as they pass through the Samsara, the cycle of rebirth. I guess you could say it works a lot like normal ghosts...except with a physical body."

As Tenkai approached, the still "living" gaki groaned in his presence. Its eyes darted around anxiously before looking at the monk and the Shadow with an expression of fear and suffering.

"Look at how it continues to move, Maxi," he continued. "Look at how it continued to suffer. Smaller gaki would normally have perished and returned to their own realm after such an assault, but the intense hunger has cursed this one deeply. Hunger anchors it to the world of the living, keeping it alive even though its body is broken."

Tenkai looked as if he had gone dangerously close to the gaki, but with the monster's jaw being broken there was no way it could possibly shut is jaws to bite him. The monk stood unafraid before the creature, his experience with them evident by his own apparent knowledge.

"Buddhists perform a ritual known as segaki, or the feeding of hungry ghosts, with hope that they might release creatures like the gaki from their suffering. There's a lot more to the ritual, but in this case we have neither the time nor a fully-fledged Buddhist priest."

In spite of the fact that Tenkai was considered a monk, he didn't consider himself the kind of person to lead large ceremonies in the same way that a priest would hold Mass, or as a monk would hold a traditional Buddhist ritual. Tenkai was of a more eccumenical sort. However, this position made him very well suited for the task he set out to do in life, and releasing the gaki from its torment was one of them.

Tenkai held the bowl of rice over the gaping maw of the shattered beast, closed his eyes and prayed.

"May all beings be equally fed and satisfied," he said in his own words before his voice lowered into a dull hum as he mumbled a mantra, consecrating the rice.

"No maku saraba tata gyata baro kitei on san bara san bara un...No maku soro baya tata gyataya tanyata on soro soro hara soro hara soro sowaka..."

He then dumped the entirety of the bowl's contents into the gaki's mouth. Although it could not possibly digest the food with its neck severed, the meager portion of rice was simply a symbolic reagent in Tenkai's abbreviated ritual.

With this action done, Tenkai made a prayer gesture with his right hand as he held the bowl in his left, his head lowered in quiet meditation. There was a stirring in the air, and Maximos would probably be able to sense some change in the spiritual atmosphere. The gaki's strained moaning stuttered for a moment, as if cut off by some abrupt change in sensation.

Soon, parts of the monster's emaciated carcass kindled with blue embers that gradually grew into a roaring fire. Rather than roaring in pain, the gaki let out a peaceful sigh as its eyes turned back into its head. The purifying flames enveloped its entire body and head, consuming the pain and suffering that it contained.

In moments, the body of the gaki had burned to ash, quietly carried away by the wind. The holy fire dissipated with it, until not a trace of the monster remained.

"May you be released from Gakidou (The Path of Hungry Ghosts) and find peace."

Toshio, his grandson, Ranulf and the rest of the miners fell silent at the solemnity of the sight. After a moment of silence, Toshio turned to his men.

"Go gather up the bodies and clean up the workshop," he said with somewhat of a grim tone to his voice, "We'll set up a funeral pyre for them before getting to work on repairs."

With the exorcism completed, Tenkai walked over to Maximos.

"So...part time hobby, is it?" he said with a half-smile. He wanted to be jocular, but it was hard to do so after such a somber moment.

Tenkai was taken aback with a bit of surprise at Maximos' words. He never considered what he did to be "amazing". Maybe peculiar to those who didn't know of magic, of which Maximos was clearly not one of. Maximos owned a magic shop. He had probably seen things Tenkai had only dreamed of. And yet, somehow he found what Tenkai did to be amazing.

The monk smiled, realizing that no matter how much one could experience, there was always something new to see.

"Well, I wouldn't call it as remarkable a feat as actually fighting against one of these creatures," he replied.

Incidentally, Tenkai's little display had apparently piqued Maximos' curiosity. There was no reason not to indulge him.

"It was a mantra," he said, "A chant, much like the ones used in other forms of consecration like the Holy Sacraments. I'll admit, it's only a part of a longer set of mantras in traditional segaki, but the purpose is more important than the specifics. They are a focal point for my faith and spirituality, which allowed me to perform the exorcism."

Tenkai looked back upon the remains of the Gaki. "I'm by no means an expert," he said, running a hand through his hair as if to remind himself his head was not shaven. "My faith is somewhat different compared to other Buddhists, but at its core its suitable for exorcism. Still, my area of expertise lies...errr...elsewhere. If you hadn't weakened the gaki, it probably would have been more complicated."

He turned back to Maxi, scratching the back of his head. "So I guess to answer your question...yes, I guess you would need some sort of special training, if you consider the ways of a holy man special." Of course, it probably helped that Tenkai had more spiritual power than your average human, which made up for what he lacked in being a complete Buddhist monk.

"Of course, if you meant segaki in general, I guess just about anyone can do that. Outside of my practical application, it's a way for people to remember the dead and show compassion for the souls of the---"

"I hate to interrupt your theology lesson, monk," Toshio interjected, "But I've got some business to discuss with the hunter. Of course, you're welcome to stay."

"Oh...eheh...yes, well, you are right," said Tenkai, somewhat sheepish, "I do tend to go on for quite a bit. I don't want to keep you two from your business, but I will not turn down your hospitality, either."

"Good, good! Come, let's get you two fed once we're done cleaning things up."

--------------------SCENE WIPE------------------------------

Some time later, the sun had started to set and twilight fell upon the Mithral Mountains. From the distance, one could see a light nestled between the mountains near the old mine. It was the light of a great funeral pyre, where the miners paid their respects to their fallen brothers. Their memory would remain, but the nightmare of that day had burned to ash and scattered to the wind.

With their mourning settled, the busy miners and craftsmen had set about rebuilding their damaged workshop. Of course, like most dwarves, the miners couldn't mourn on an empty stomach. The humans among the lot were of no exception. Soon it was time to eat, and Toshio led the shadow and the monk over to the living quarters.

"It's a shame, really," he said, leading them over to a stone-wrought staircase carved into the side of the workshop adjacent to the mountainside. "If the gaki hadn't been so large, we might have been able to get past it and take refuge in the living quarters."

"It couldn't be helped, ojii-sama," said Toshihisa, "There was too much chaos."

"Yes, I suppose so."

It was a few flights down until they came upon an unexpectedly spacious hall carved out the inside of the mountain. It looked like how one would expect an inn to be, with two floors and multiple rooms. These rooms were the living quarters of the miners, and altogether presented a surprisingly cozy atmosphere.

"Toshihisa, go help Bazric in preparing dinner," said Toshio. "I want a whole tub of white rice for the hunter. Will you be having anything, monk?"

"I'll just settle for a bowl of rice," replied Tenkai, "Thank you."

At the end of the hall was a sight that was quite unexpected in the obvious dwarven setting. It was a room carved in the stone wall partitioned by sliding doors, much like the ones someone would expect in a Japanese home. Once passing inside, it was almost as if they weren't even under the mountain anymore, from the sliding walls to the tatami mat floor. Toshio took a seat on one of the flat pillows upon the floor, offering a seat to his two guests. Ranulf followed them inside, taking a seat on the floor at the side.

"Your food should be ready shortly," said the old man, "In the meantime, we have some things to discuss." He gestured his fingers back and forth between himself and Maximos as he said this. Shortly after, he reached into his pockets and produced another chunk of glossy black metal. It looked more like a shiny black rock with nooks and crannies than a chunk of ore.

"I believe you came here looking for my steel, have you not?"

The old man nodded.

"Yes it is," he said, turning the strange rock-like metal 180 degrees back and forth. "This little marvel is my claim to fame around here."

He placed it on the floor in front of him for Maximos to look at and inspect.

"I know that tamahagane is the secret behind authentic nihontou," said Tenkai, rubbing his chin. "But I've never seen this variety before."

Tenkai had seen black katana before, but they were usually forged by alternate means in order to achieve that color. Sometimes they were simply painted with non-reflective coating like KA-BAR knives for stealth purposes. Other times they were made of a completely different metal entirely, forged by some other process. It was the first time he had seen a chunk of tamahagane that was simply pitch black.

"I wouldn't be surprised," said Toshio. "This 'kurotamahagane' is practically my trademark. Perhaps I should tell you the story of how it came to be..."

"You see," the old man continued, "Tamahagane in its rawest form is actually of poor quality. We smiths smelt iron sand and charcoal in a large clay tatara in order to produce it. Out of each steel bloom, only a fraction of it is useable for swordsmithing. These small chunks of steel are the result of that effort."

Toshio smirked.

"Hmhmhmhm...I know what you're thinking. Hard to believe that such good swords come from such poor raw materials? That's the beauty of swordcrafting...overcoming the impurities in the steel and making something of high quality out of something that isn't. Quite a rags to riches sort of thing, wouldn't ya say?"

"I guess it would appear so," said Tenkai, in addition to whatever Maximos would say. He found the old man's demeanor pleasing.

"Of course. But these days the demand for good Japanese swords is higher than the supply. People have had to look for more sources of iron sand and smelt more tamahagane. I was one of them, of course. My travels had taken me all the way to these here Mithral Mountains, in search of new materials."

"You see, iron sand comes from many different sources and varieties, but the most useful variety is called 'masa'. It comes from the mountains, broken down from pieces of granite containing small amounts of titanium and iron. In my journeys, I sought out similar sources of granite and other kinds of rock with titanium magnetite and ferro-titanium composition."

"Aye," Ranulf chimed in, "These moountains are full of all sortsa rich matehrials. We dwarves have been usin' em fer centuries."

"Indeed," continued Toshio. "In fact, that was how I met Ranulf and the other dwarves. They aided me in exploring the mines, in search of sources of iron sand. That was when I came across this."

Toshio produced a pouch from inside his shirt and emptied the contents in front of them. It was filled with a pitch black colored sand that sparkled much like the piece of kurotamahagane.

"We found iron sand deposits from the mountainside leading into one of the caves, which was full of huge chunks of black granite. Of course, I couldn't simply assume that it was good for making swords just by looking at it. So I took a handful, rubbed it between my hands and sprinkled it over an open flame." The old man made the appropriate gestures to illustrate his point. "It's a method to test out good iron sand. If it crackles and pops while in the flames, then the sand is of great quality. This particular kind of iron sand practically shot out of the fire! I knew we had found something good. All I needed to do was smelt it and try it out. I let Ranulf do the honors."

Toshio gestured to the dwarf, and Ranulf produced a small single-edged bearded axe from his side. It was as black as night, lustrous and pearly like the chunk of steel Toshio had shown them.

"Hey lad. Catch."

Ranulf lobbed the axe in a slow underhand toss towards Maximos so that the edge would remain facing away from him, like he was giving him a softball. Indeed, the axe looked light enough that catching it would be no problem. Little did Maximos know that the axe would feel as if it weighed three times as much as it should have, a point the dwarf was trying to emphasize.

"It really isn't any heavier than an axe of its size, but its actual weight and mass means nothing," continued Toshio. "In the hand, it feels like something much heavier than what it should be, as if it had its own force of gravity."

"No' a soddin' clue," said the dwarf.

"Hmhmhm...what he said," continued Toshio. "The parent rock that iron sand comes from is brought up from the Earth's mantle by volcanic activity. I don't know what sort of eruption brought this rock to the surface, but I wouldn't be surprised if its causes were...unnatural. Just like the steel you hold in your hand."

Suddenly, Toshihisa entered the room.

"I've finished up heating the steel, ojii-sama," he said.

"Ah, yes, yes, well done," said the old man as he slowly stood up. "If you'll excuse me, I'll be right back."

Just as Toshio stepped out of the room with his grandson, the red-bearded dwarf Bazric entered carrying a tub of rice nearly half his size.

"Ah bet you boys're hungry, aren't ya?" said Bazric, setting down the tub in front of Maximos. "Hope ye can stomach tha'. More of a meat'n'p'tatoes dwarf meself. He handed a smaller bowl of rice to Tenkai. "An' fer you, Mr. Cleric."

"Oh, thank you," said Tenkai, accepting the meal. "You wouldn't have any chopsticks, would you?"

"Wot?"

"Nevermind."

The old dwarf Ranulf sighed tiredly as he stood up. "I thaink aye'll go'n have what the boys're havin'. Aye'll leave you two gentlemen to your business." With that, Ranulf left with Bazric to join the other dwarves and men as they ate.

----------------------------

Toshio was gone for almost half an hour, giving Maximos and Tenkai plenty of time to eat. Tenkai paced himself with his intentionally meager portion, but Maximos was probably a lot hungrier. With how much he wanted to eat rice and all of that rice put in front of him, odds were likely he'd be too busy shoveling it into his starving mouth to talk.

It was all well and good, though, as Toshio soon returned carrying a square shaped parcel wrapped in white paper. A somewhat wily smirk was stuck on his face, as if he was exceptionally proud of whatever he was bringing in. The old man sat down on at the same spot as before, placing the package in front of him on the floor. He then lightly pushed it towards Maximos, as if it was a sum of gold for his services.

"Here we are," said Toshio. "One package of kurotamahagane. I took the liberty to sort through the pieces of myself and classify them into shingane, kawagane and hagane for the Soshu school method. It should be exactly what Hidemitsu requested."

"What?" said a confused Tenkai, "Don't be silly, Maximos. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have been able to exorcise the gaki. It would've bitten my arm off if you hadn't broken its neck."

Toshio, on the other hand, was amused by Maximos' modesty.

"Hmhmhmhm...yes, the monk is right," said Toshio, "But I must say you continue to amaze me, hunter. These days you see all sorts of adventurers blowing their hot air all over the place. But you, well, even after all you've done, you don't seem to play yourself up in the slightest. I'm actually glad to see that people like you are still among us."

Tenkai paused for a moment, thinking about Toshio's words before nodding in agreement. Indeed, among the many interesting traits that Tenkai had discovered in Maximos, it was his genteel attitude and modesty that was most refreshing.



"We will be fine," said the old man solemnly. "There is much grief for us to deal with, but our work keeps us busy and helps us move on. Losing men on the job isn't a new thing for us. Even before the gaki attacked, we've had our fair share of hardships. Working inside a mountain isn't exactly the safest thing in the world, but someone needs to do it, right?"

For a moment it seemed as if Toshio had respectfully declined Maximos' offer, but no sooner did he finish his last statement, there came a...

"However..."

And a wily grin crept across his face.

"I could put you to work, if you are so earnest. Hee hee..."

Tenkai shot Maximos a glance, his mouth a flat line on his face. He didn't say anything, but it was obvious he was trying to say, "I don't know if this is a good idea." Who knew what the old man had in store for them? Of course, Hidemitsu was probably in no hurry, either, so a few chores couldn't hurt, could they?

Probably maybe.

Tenkai gave his best attempt at an amiable grin, which wasn't very hard for him at all in spite of the circumstances. Tenkai loved to help others, but felt that mining was one of the more specialized trade skills. Nevertheless, Tenkai's own sense of obligation bound him, such so that he couldn't help but go along with it.

The little old man rubbed his hands together at the thought.

"You boys may not seem like miners by trade, but I'm sure we can find some heavy lifting for you to do," he said. "Dwarves are plenty strong, but not very tall."

"Well noow," chimed Ranulf, stepping back into the room, "Eint tha' the pot callin' the kettle black." The old dwarf folded his thick arms together.

"Perfect timing," said the old man, "Ranulf, it seems that the hunter and his friend Mr. Monk wish to give us further assistance. Go give 'em something to do."

"Ahhh, so you lads want te lend a hand?" said the dwarf with amusement, "Git yerselves ready for work in one-o-them empty rooms n' follow me. Should be some extra work clothes ifn' ye have none yerself. Aye heavily recommend it, too. Ye lads're gonna work up a sweat."

Ranulf pointed towards the side with his thumb, which led to two rooms on the side of the great hall. Two wooden doors inside stone-wrought lintels, where the two of them would be able to change to whatever clothes they had suitable for working conditions.

"Eheheheh..." Tenkai laughed nervously as he headed to one of the room, "I'm sure we shall...ehhhh..."

Ranulf shot Maximos an odd glare.

"Ye look like yer drehssed fer a tea pahrty, lad," quipped the old one-eyed dwarf. "Hope ye don't mind those clothes'a'yours gettin' ripped up a bit. Or cover'd n' soot. Or burnt. Anything's possible."

Moments later, Tenkai exited the room he had used to dress, making an almost equally strange choice in dressing for this task. Tenkai could have worn what was provided, but he knew how hot it was going to get in the depths of the mountain. Besides, if he were somehow doused with molten slag or fell into lava, no amount of clothing would protect him.

So where Maximos had kept most of his clothes on, Tenkai had taken most of his clothes off.

It was nothing unsightly at all, as Tenkai wasn't as simple minded as to take off his pants. He basically wore the same thing he did when he took off his robes, except with his shoulder armor and gauntlet removed completely. He left them with his rosary beads and Muramasa, wrapped up in his robes to hide them from sight. He kept his knee and shin guards on, since they were still useful in this situation. A ragged gray cloth and dark gray shirt hung off his hips, held in place by his belt.

Everything else above his waist was unclothed for the most part, save gauze wrapping on his abdomen, right forearm and the entirety of his left arm. Tenkai was unsure as to whether or not Maximos had ever seen him without his monk's robes before, but if it was the first time he would be surprised as to how different Tenkai looked. He was unusually well-muscled for a holy man, but that wasn't very uncommon amongst Buddhist monks in other cultures. What was truly unusual was that his torso was covered in scars. Some of them were small and faded, but a few of them were stark in contrast with his skin tone. The largest scar was a large diagonal gash across his chest, the reminder of a particularly grievous wound from his past. Based on the patterns of each scar, it was obvious that they were all made by some sort of bladed weapon or claw.

Why would such a peaceful monk like Tenkai have so many battle scars?

Ranulf stroked his beard at the sight of the monk's scarred body, somewhat perplexed. Even so, he didn't seem to press the issue. He wasn't the kind of dwarf to go prying into anyone's business.

"Hmm...I guess yer ready ta sweat, but yer gonna need a bath by th' end o' this. 'Course ye probably be needin' a bath eyther way. Though I guess neyther of you lads've ever done this sorta thing b'fore, 'cause you ninnies fergot these!"

Ranulf threw a pair of thick leather gloves at each of them.

"If ya think I'm gonna let you lads handle any hot stuff so tha' ye can drop it like a game o' hot potato, ye got another thing comin'! Now grab a pickaxe n' follow me." Ranulf pointed his thumb in the direction of one of the many piles and racks of tools laying about the quarters. The old dwarf already had one at his side, so he didn't need to grab one for himself.

As he started to make his way for the stairs up to the surface where the cave entrance was, Ranulf suddenly halted. He turned his head around from the right first, his upper body slowly following as he shot a cautioning glare at both Tenkai and Maximos.

"An' if any of you lads start hummin' 'hi-ho, hi-ho'..." he said sternly as he pointed his finger at them, before running the finger across his neck in the age-old "off with yer head" gesture.

He sounds serious, thought Tenkai sheepishly as he put on his gloves.

Tenkai seemed to find Maximos' jovial attitude as refreshing as he found Tenkai's scars. Maximos was very dark and mysterious, but the monk found no mystery behind his bright-smiling attitude. It was honest, genuine...almost child-like in how Maximos beamed at the idea of new experiences and adventure. It was unlike such a shadowy figure to be so happy, and Tenkai couldn't help but smile himself at the thought of it. With his gloves worn and pick axe in his hand, he followed the old dwarf to the caves.

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Both Tenkai and Maximos had seen the mouth of the cave from the workshop area, but neither of them had actually been inside of it. By now the miners had started getting back to their shifts, walking up and down the caves as they kept themselves busy and kept their minds off of the events of the previous day. The deeper the two of them ventured into the cave, the darker it became. The path narrowed gradually as well until it was only large enough for two paths moving in and out of the cave.

At the end of the tunnel was, oddly enough, a light. It was a dim light but a light nonetheless. It didn't look like the light of an electric bulb, but it was too suffused to belong to a single torch. But what could be giving off light under the mountain like this?

Once they got past the small opening, they'd get a good look at the answer.

"Oh my," said Tenkai.

Past the doorway was a large hollowed out area of the cave lit by the very fires of the mountain itself. Rivers of molten lava flowed underneath a great dwarven bridge where a large number of miners passed. There were many smaller bridges linking other areas of the cave above them, like some sort of mining network.

"A marvel, in'nit?" said Ranulf, "Me ancestars carved out pathways throughout the mountains fer generations. This's just a small part of it. 'M sure ya di'nt thaink we owned the entire mountain, did ye?"

Structures and architecture of dwarven origin could be found all around the vast cavern, with lava pouring down into the rivers below like an aqueduct. What must have been an untamed, primal mass of rock and mantle had been controlled and mastered by the dwarves in order to go about their work unhindered.

"Nay, lads. Our work is over here."

Ranulf led them down to an intersection in the bridge which led to another part of the cave. Other miners from Kurogane's group were on their way inside of it just as they were. Once they passed the threshold, they found that this particular section of the caverns was full of large chunks of obsidian-colored granite. It was the same rock that Toshio had shown them earlier.

"I need you lads te fill up these here carts with granite." Ranulf pointed to a a bunch of wooden mining carts about the size of a shopping cart used in a supermarket. "Once one is filled up, one o' the boys'll move 'em on up and oot the cave to be processed."

Sounded simple enough, right?

It would be...if there weren't about twenty or so carts to fill.

"Aye'll be here supervisin' you two while ya do it. Now, off to work with ye!"