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‘It was your fire that killed Moriko!’ shot back Jack.

‘No. You are responsible,’ said Kazuki. ‘Japan was a pure land before your kind arrived uninvited. Now gaijin have rightly been banished.’ He grinned sadistically. ‘Or else they face punishment.’

Kazuki drew both his swords, a fresh smear of blood clearly visible upon the blade of the katana.

‘As a loyal subject of daimyo Kamakura and the founder of the Scorpion Gang, it is my duty – and my pleasure – to sentence you to a dishonourable death, gaijin.’

Jack, leaving Akiko to hold her dressing, rose to unsheathe his swords as Kazuki bore down on him.

He’d barely got out his wakizashi, when Kazuki’s katana cut across his chest. Jack deflected the blade and brought his own long sword round on Kazuki. But his rival blocked it with his wakizashi and drove Jack backwards. He kicked Jack in the gut, sending him tumbling over a dead body.

Scrambling to his feet, Jack hurriedly raised his guard as Kazuki charged again. Their swords clashed and Kazuki drove his katana along Jack’s blade, pushing it aside and striking for his heart.

A perfect Flint-and-Spark strike.

A samurai not trained in the Two Heavens would have met his end. But Jack recognized the attack as it was happening and slipped to one side. Kazuki’s kissaki glanced off his breastplate.

Cursing Jack’s skill, Kazuki retaliated with a blistering double sword strike. Jack countered with equal force using both his swords. Their opposing blades locked against one another.

For a moment they glared into each other’s eyes, the battle now being fought in their minds. Jack saw the pitiless fury that was driving his rival. It reminded him of Dragon Eye’s hateful vengeance. Kazuki would never quit until Jack was dead.

Then Kazuki surged forward, hitting Jack’s katana and wakizashi simultaneously. Twice upon the back of the blades. Jack was disarmed of both swords in the blink of an eye.

A double Autumn Leaf strike.

Jack was left astounded by Kazuki’s masterful sword skill.

‘I said I’d always defeat you with the Two Heavens,’ gloated Kazuki.

He kicked the defenceless Jack to the ground. Then, sheathing his wakizashi, he prepared to finish off Jack where he lay.

‘You don’t deserve a samurai’s death,’ said Kazuki. ‘But you don’t deserve to keep your head either.’

Jack glanced desperately in Akiko’s direction. She was struggling to her feet.

‘Wait! Answer me this one question,’ demanded Jack, playing for time. ‘Why do you hate me so much?’

‘You’re gaijin,’ he spat. ‘That’s more than enough.’

‘What wrong did I ever do to you?’

‘My mother died because of a gaijin like you!’ he replied, his sword trembling with rage in his hands.

‘But what’s that got to do with me?’ asked Jack.

Kazuki snarled at Jack. ‘Out of the goodness of her heart, she took in one of your foreign priests. All he gave her in return was his illness. Your kind are a pestilence in Japan. A disease that must be wiped out.’

‘I’m sorry,’ pleaded Jack. ‘I’ve lost my mother to an illness too. I understand how you feel. Angry. Betrayed. Hurting.’

‘That doesn’t change a thing,’ said Kazuki, his face a mask of hate. ‘Now kneel!’

In her weakened state, Akiko had only just reached up to the horse and was still struggling to string an arrow. As Jack got to his knees, his hand came across the broken pole of a sashimono flag. Grabbing its shaft, he swung it, moments before Kazuki cut down with his sword. Jack struck his rival hard across the jaw, knocking him to the ground.

Jumping to his feet, Jack kicked Kazuki’s sword away. Raising the standard above his head, he aimed its pointed steel tip at the dazed Kazuki’s chest.

‘Mountain to sea,’ said Jack, recalling the essence of the Two Heavens – to obtain victory by any means and with any weapon.

Kazuki’s eyes widened in alarm as Jack drove the sashimono down into him. There was an almighty scream as the shaft went through his armour and buried itself deep into the earth below.

His scream faded into sobbing shock.

‘I