Each slash to the enemy, and it would drop the ground and bleed.
The slaughter as senseless as it was, all he could was to grit his teeth and defend himself.
Jin literally lost count of the number of foes he defeated as well as the time he was on that battlefield but there was one thing that was certain. Each time he defeated a foe, they would return at least twice the number. It was to the point he would have been overwhelmed no matter how much Astral Arts he had utilised to defeat the enemies.
Yet, his legs were still rooted to the ground, stepping on each enemy he defeated to have a proper footing against his next foe. His eyes continued to predict the next attack of his foe, hoping he would not get hit. His lungs were exchanging air as fast as he could exchange his blows. His arms were moving instinctively to protect its user from certain death. His body was continuously preparing itself while he handled the pain of the worms from the legendary inscription to heal himself. Every part of his body was working overtime to ensure that Jin was still alive.
The foes that emerged started to vary as well. From horsemen to foot soldiers and subsequently faceless archers to guys carrying a mobile ballista over its back. Everything and anything in his sight was out to slaughter him and after roughly a day of fighting, Jin finally had a fatal wound through his stomach.
The faceless warrior roared in excitement as he pushed the sword further into his gut. That caused Jin to finally stop and accept his fate. The rest of the soldiers that were surrounding him also pierced their weapon into his body as long as they could find a space to squeeze through.
Only when Jin was on the ground, riddled with swords, spears and daggers. The soldiers were finally withdrawing and left him alone to rot in that wasteland he helped create.
"Told you, he could last at least a day." That familiar voice echoed through Jin's voice as his consciousness started to fade.
"To be exact, it was only 23 hours and 43 minutes." Another voice echoed through.
"But you gotta hand it to him. The first time I tried this, I could only manage an hour." This time around, he was very sure that it was Ming talking and Jin confirmed his suspicions that this was also a test, something like the one he had against Genbu and Orochi. However, before he could even think for another second, he lay flat on the ground bleeding profusely.
Not long after that supposed test, he woke up again finding himself sitting on the very same bench on the mountainous shell of Genbu. Even without waking up fully, he could feel the hardness of the bench and the slight creaking of the wood.
"Ah, you are awake," Ming said as he scratched the head of Byakko who was lying at the side of the bench.
"Is this another test of yours? Suzaku or something like that?" Jin queried as his body felt extremely heavy from the marathon.
"Something like that. Unlike Genbu and Byakko, you could say that this is a test of stamina." Ming did not hide any information from his grandson. "We were initially betting how long you were able to last as this wasteland is Suzaku's paradise."
"Each and every warrior you fought was someone who had sought for Suzaku's power. For her allure to resurrect the very person they truly loved would come true if she found them worthy." Ming explained and Jin could only keep his silence longer.
"Heh, I bet you are thinking you do not have anyone who you wish to resurrect back, am I right?" Ming said and Jin returned a difficult smile. "And you would also be thinking, why would anyone want Suzaku's powers when there is already a process of resurrection?"
"That is because…the real authentic process requires the feather of Suzaku to properly resurrect. And that had always been the way even before our Almighty Guan Yu overwrote the law of nature and redefined this particular world's way of life. Might I add even the western mages could have never understood how Guan Yu was able to attain that holy 'Grade 20' grail and was jealous that an eastern cultivator was able to change the rules in such a way." Ming explained and Jin stared at the rotten wasteland.
"Anyways, I digressed. *Cough* So even up till now, the process of resurrection that had been replicated used replacements of Suzaku's feathers to get it working. That was why there were so many precious high grade resources being used to get as close as the effects of Suzaku's feather to get the full result of a resurrection."
"But even judging by your explanation, it seems like you have tried Suzaku feathers once too," Jin said as a casual reply…until he realised, he might have been spot on. "Wait… you tried to search one for Mom?"
Ming did not say a single word and continued to stare at the endless wasteland that laid right in front of them. "Hmmm… mmph." Ming nodded his head slowly and ever so lightly. Yet, Jin could see that the nod was something of an admission of truth, something which he did not reveal all these years. The death of his parents had always been kept a secret and even though he had learnt more when he had the System with him, it was never the full picture.
As much as he wished to probe more information on it, Jin knew his grandpa isn't always the kind of love to share things about himself.
"The number of bodies I dropped to find your mother's culprit. The number of resources I used to find Suzaku's feathers… All of those were numerous and if I were to be alive, I would have continued to do so." Ming said with his head down.
"But it's time to let go of all those grudges and focus on you. You might not be much like your mother or the one that the System had been holding on to, but you still have that burning albeit lazy look in your eyes." Ming said as he stared at Jin and rubbed his head, shuffling his hair as if he was a little kid.
"After all, she gave birth to you, and you are part of her."
