Part 1

I was now a big brother. Big brother Raphael. I couldn't wait to hear those words.

Life in the house was as eccentric as ever with the newborn child at its center. Even master Kyrven seemed to have a soft spot for her. So much that I could sometimes spot him childfully playing with her in the kitchen when I was training outside with father. I could see him tickling her stomach or making funny faces. In all honesty it was one of the funniest things I had ever seen. The contrast between the strict and ice cold master when he was teaching me and the playful and loose Kyrven whenever he was with her. Much like a spoiling uncle.

Actually I have no right to make fun of him. I too had a completely different character when I was with my little sister. I prided myself on the fact that my curiosity had no bounds, leading me to an endless research for new knowledge. Reading books, borrowing books, buying books, listening to stories in the bars with master, listening to master’s stories, everything was knowledge and I accepted every kind of knowledge. Whenever I wasn’t busying myself in training I would try and clench my thirst for knowledge. That is if my little sister wasn't in the mood to play. In that case she would completely crush my plans. I used to read in the living room, on the wooden bench under the same window where I spent most of my early years on. One could say that it has become a habit. Whenever my little sister was in a playful mood and was looking for her brother she would start screaming and stretching her arms towards me. Mother and sister spent most of their time in the living room or in the garden so the occasions when this happened were very frequent. If I wasn’t training I would leave whatever I was doing and play with that little spoiled angel. Because of this master, rightfully, gave me a taste of my own medicine and openly enjoyed making fun of me for being a softy.

Other than this my days didn't actually change as much as I was expecting. Probably because of the fact that the one taking care of Julie was mother but because of that there were rarely occasions where I was asked to tend to her. Father took a temporary leave from his duties as an instructor to dedicate more time to his growing family. Seeing father around the house in the morning felt really strange at first, it felt like the house was cramped, even though there was plenty of space. He would wake up in the morning at the same time as me and master, probably a force of habit. During his newly acquired free morning he would help mother with Julie by doing the necessary shoppings, tend to her when mother was cleaning, do the heavy work in the garden and other trivial things around the house. It was only when mother didn't give him any tasks that his restlessness would show to its full extent. For someone who spent most of his life with his hands always full, having nothing to do all of a sudden must have been a drastic shock! Whenever that happened I could see father repairing the house, even though there was no imminent need for repairs, or following me and master to be a spectator to our training. In the latter case he would spend the whole time in complete silence, only letting out a surprised “ Whaaa” from now and then. He wasn’t a bother, rather it was pleasant the thought that father was interested in my progress, but having a public was sometimes nerve wracking. Especially when master was scolding me, they became public executions.

While the training with master proceeded at a very slow pace because of the difficulty of sending my mana deep enough into the natural one, the sword training with father was finally reaching a turning point. I had been training in the basic tier of the north style for a while now but other than learning the fighting style itself I hadn't even seen a single skill.

My swings, following father’s words, were decent enough to learn the actual style during a fight. Since the beginning of my training, other than increasing my overall body capabilities, I learned how to swing a sword through repetition. Though that doesn't mean that I knew how to use the sword in actual combat. That is basically what I was doing.

The same training as the first I had with master Kyrven: mock battles. Of course I haven’t won any of them. At first my technique and my movements were both sloppy and exaggerated. Too many useless movements, swings too deep, little mobility and my parries had no force behind them leading me to alway get hit. It was frustrating. Mostly because I felt like swordsmanship wasn't really my style and also because father had such high hopes for me so I felt like I was betraying them.

Little by little my style improved. It was an awfully slow process where I would get hit most of the time. Father was more brutal than ever during the mock battle, hitting me with the wooden sword for every error I made. Of course I didn't like it but I’d say that it actually helped me progress further.

By the time my little sister was born I was about to break through the basic tier but, because father had to spend more time with her, the frequency of our training diminished by a bit. It didn't help the fact that for the first time I left for another town during that time with father. The reason? It’s a different story. What really matters is something that happened soon after I came back from that trip.

Part 2

Two weeks after I came back from the trip. It was morning, the sun was covered by dark clouds but rain was not falling onto the streets. The wind was strong as to anticipate a storm and it’s howling through the roofs sounded like a bad omen.

I had just opened my eyes and was rising from my bed when I saw this alarming view out of my window.

[Bah the sun is much better! I like waking up with the shining sun]

I couldn’t shake off me a feeling of discomfort, like something was about to happen. I tried to pay as little mind as I could to this matter, hoping this unpleasant feeling would fade away by itself.

I did my usual morning routine. Firstly I went to the bathroom to have my usual morning cold shower. At first I really hated master for forcing this habit on me but with time I grew fond of it. Other than helping me wake up both my mana flow and my body it also helped me to clarify my mind in mornings such as these. Whenever I tought “What am I doing this for, I want to quit!” or “ Maybe I should go to sleep some more” the cold shower helped me realize that by having those kinds of thoughts I was just sabotaging myself.

After the shower I would dress up with my training gear, make my bed and go downstairs to have breakfast. Usually I would have breakfast with master since mother was busy taking care of Julie but that morning was different.

No one was there.

My usual breakfast was already served on my usual seat but master was nowhere to be seen. I looked outside to see if he was actually in the garden looking at mother’s flower or something but once again he was nowhere to be seen.

I found it really strange but I sat anyway. That’s when I noticed. From under my plate the corner of an ocher like paper was sticking out. It wasn't from my father’s stack of papers and it looked like it was very old. I took it out and started reading.

“Come to the same place as always as soon as you finish what you are doing. Don’t make me wait more than necessary.

I left a sword outside by the window.

Come prepared.

Signed Kyvern.”

It was clearly master’s handwriting. I didn’t even touch my breakfast and immediately went outside to check the window. There layed a short sword. A very basic sword. It’s hilt was made out of light brown wood covered by strings of black shiny leather. It had a circular guard made out of black-colored iron while the blade was of simple iron. The blade was a little longer than my forearm and five centimeters wide at best. The sword was light and easy to manage. I stuck the sword to my belt and went back inside. As fast as I could I finished breakfast and looked around the kitchen for one of the “energy drinks” that master prepared. As soon as I found it I set out towards our meeting spot.

During the whole half an hour walk to the training spot I kept on wondering on why would master do such a thing. A test seemed to be the most obvious answer, but a test for what? That I couldn't come up with an answer for and without noticing I was about to walk out of the forest and into the greenplace where master was waiting for me.

Part 3

Inside the woods silence reigned supreme. No voices nor animal sounds could be heard. Only the menacing sound of the wind slapping the leaves between each other was preventing the forest from being in a complete state of stillness.

He was there.

Master Kyrven was waiting for me sitting on a rock at the exact center of the clearing. His usual black and brown robe now had a sword similar to mine hanging from it’s waist. The only thing that differed between the two swords was that master’s one was longer than mine.

His face looked as serious as the face he had always shown me during our training but a hint of sadness was troubling the look on his eyes.

It felt as if the weather was following our movements. The sun could not be seen anymore and the dark clouds in the sky kept getting more and more darker by the minute. An ominous darkness fell upon the clearing.

“Just in time. As I expected from my student. Have you already figured out what the meaning of this call was, right?”

Said my master as he stood up from the rock and crossed his arms looking at me. He was imposing all of his pressure trying to scare me with his overwhelming aura. I sensed no bloodlust but pure simple strength.

“ What am I being tested for, master?”

A grin on his face appeared. Not a malevolent one but one that expressed complacency. His fangs were clearly being shown.

“That is the right question to ask but will you be able to receive an answer? Unsheathe your sword! Let me see what is your real worth!”

His last words were delivered while shouting. As I figured it was going to be a battle and judging by his resolution I would have had to fight with the intent to kill in order to survive. I was leagues behind him in terms of power, knowledge and strength yet I had the feeling that he was about to come at me with his full power. I knew that if I failed this test the only thing that awaited me would have been death.

I grabbed the hilt of my sword as firmly as I could and pointed towards the man that was standing in front of me.

“So that's it uh? Get ready ‘cause this is the time when I’ll finally kick your ass, master!”

I grinned back at him in reply to his overwhelming aura.

“Let’s see what you really are made of, Raphael!”

He took out his sword and, just like me, he pointed it towards the one who was standing in front of him.

The battle was about to begin.

A couple of seconds passed before the both of us made a move. Those two seconds seemed infinite. We were watching each other's movements, trying to predict the incoming attack, thinking how to commence the attack. Our blades didn’t move an inch, our glares meeting each other. The blood rushing, the mana fastening, our senses sharpening, our minds calming and our souls burning. The silence before the storm.

A thunder acted as the bell to start our fight. It was close. Close enough for us to hear it clearly and for it’s light to momentarily blind us. It started.

Master rushed towards me with his sword still pointed. A thrust.

“Wind blade”

I said while pointing the palm of my left hand towards the incoming enemy. Two scythes made of wind flash out of my hand and were about to hit their target, but before landing the hit they bounced off towards the sky.

“Double shield”

Screamed master. On his left arm a seemingly stone-like shield appeared just to fade away after being hit by my spell. Master’s charge stopped because of the strength of the impact of those two blades. I purposely charged them with some extra mana in order to pack some serious punch. If they hit their target master would have suffered some injuries, not that I could kill him with such a spell, but my goal was to take advantage of the impact and gain some distance from my assailant.

[Medium speed boost...lower strength boost...lower armor boost]

I just needed a couple more seconds to cast those three boosts. If I wouldn't have been able to cast them this duel would have ended in my loss by the next attack. Now I could hold on long enough to find an opening.

“Surge”

Shouted again master. ‘Surge’, an advanced tier spell that generates a wave starting from the caster in a cone shape. Master’s wave was high enough to tower me by a meter. If I had been hit by that ‘surge’ I would have lost balance, finding myself with a blade on my neck in the next seconds.

I placed my free hand on the ground and, borrowing what little mana I could from the ground and filling the rest with mine, I casted one of my most common spells.

“Stone pillar”

A pillar made of brown and red stone raised from the ground to a height of a couple of meters, large enough to fit a single man. To spare as much mana as possible I didn't make it very much sturdy. It’s goal was to make me momentarily dodge the water wave so sturdiness was not necessary.

I had the advantage of the high ground. It didn't mean much against an expert fighter like master but if used wisely I could at least do some minor damage. I couldn't leave master time to breathe.

“Stone bullet, stone bullet, stone bullet”

Three rocks of the size of a hand shaped like a stretched diamond were shot at high speed out of my hand. Master redirected the first one with his sword in order not to stop his ‘surge’ but was forced to jump back in order to dodge the second and the third one which hit the ground creating a ten to twenty centimeter radius hole. Dust was formed by their impact obstructing the visual between me and master.

I jumped down and sideways from my pillar while blindly chanting a new spell. It was a bet. If it hit I would gain the upper hand by gaining a couple of seconds of advantage and learning his position. If it failed my position would be discovered and I would have to enter a defensive stance.

“Fireball”

I pointed my hand in the center of the brownish smoke and launched my flame. Since I too didn't know the position of my enemy the most probable position would have been right behind that smoke.

“Waterball”

Was my response. The two spells clashed midair right and the entrance of the smoke. Because of their similar power and opposite element, both spells cancelled each other out creating a white smoke in their place due to the fast evaporating water.

I didn't fail or succeed. My position did not change at all. Blindly rushing into the newly formed smoke was an option but because of master 's incredibly heightened senses I would probably end up making my position clear and being at disadvantage. The wisest choice was to wait for the smoke to fade and recover my breath and concentration in the meantime.

The other side chose the same.

I had no thoughts going on in my mind. I was fully concentrated on the battle. If I wasn't, my chances of losing or simply leaving with all my limbs intact would have probably been close to zero.

The storm gave no sign of stopping its march. On the contrary, a faint scent of rain could be smelled signaling that the storm was approaching. Weather conditions are very important for a magician since elements could be in contrast. In this case if rain were to fall, our fire type spells would lose power.

The wind speeded up the process for the smoke to fade away. As my visual was slowly clearing up I saw a pair of glowing golden eyes pointing towards me. From the shadow of his body only his eyes could be seen. They were threatening.

“Aren't you going a little easy on me Raphael-kun?”

Said master in a taunting tone from the other side of the nearly completely faded away smoke.

“Going easy against you? Do you think I have a death wish? Master you know me...I’m just getting started”

I replied while punching my right fist holding the sword into my left palm.

“So that’s when the fun begins uh?”

A loud cracking sound came from master’s direction. It was a habit of his cracking his neck whenever he was getting serious. I was about to see what a real monster he was like.

Thunders started falling more frequently as we clashed our swords together. Both of us were holding the sword with just our dominant hand and casting with the other. At the same time, while our blades were still touching, we casted our spells.

“Stone bullet”

“Fireball”

The two spells clashed but the result was different from before. My stone bullet pierced through master’s fireball and hit him on his side at almost point blank range while what remained of his fireball hit me in my chest. Unfortunately I wasn't able to pierce his side but at least I left a decent cut. Blood was falling out. I had finally managed to hit him. Thankfully I didn't suffer too much damage, just scratches, bruises and light burns. We were both pushed back by the explosion of the fireball.

He was grinning. For the first time during a fight master was having fun. I too was getting fired up.

I didn’t even have half a second to regain my composure before a swing from the top of my head was trying to fall on my shoulder. Master was getting faster. I barely dodged to the side but doing so made me lose balance. Next came a kick on my side. If I didn't spit blood was only because of my armor boost. If I hadn't casted it beforehand I now would have been on the ground coughing blood. I didn't suffer major damage but surely it didn't leave me unfazed.

“Gale palm”

I shouted while, once again, pointing my left hand towards my enemy. ‘Gale palm’ was a spell that I created after seeing master using ‘gale’. ‘Gale’ lets the caster create a cone shaped miniature tornado spring from his hand. It's an advanced tier magic and the damage it packs is pretty devastating if used correctly. ‘Gale palm’, on the other hand, does not cause any damage, unless the caster decides so, rather it creates an instant wind shockwave generated from the hand that lets the cast create a huge distance. The downside is that, if not adequately controlled, this spell could send it’s caster in a direction that differs from the initial intention. Luckily I exercised a lot this spell so the direction I was pushed to was the one I was looking for. Five meters back diagonally from the starting point.

I was in a worse condition than him. He only lost some blood and had a cut on the side while I was slightly injured on my chest and my side was hurting as hell because of the kick. The fight couldn’t last much longer than this. I could probably tank two more hits like that kick before being totally at his mercy. It was time to risk it.

[Fuck it I’ll use one of them!]

What I had in mind was a combo of spells. Firstly to constantly damage him and limit his movement and secondly something that packs some serious power. The problem was that my mana was not infinite so after this combo the remaining mana would suffice for just a couple of spells at best.

[Looks like this fight is gonna be a big ass gamble!]

Master was getting ready to attack again judging by the movements of his legs. I had to act fast.

“Fire pit”

I screamed and the ground suddenly covered itself in red glowing flames for about six meters around me, leaving only a little bit of space around me safe. It was a spell I came up with in order to limit the enemy swordsman’s movements.

Instead of running away from the fire or circling it, master stedaly rushed towards me running inside my ‘fire pit’. He was slower than usual, probably because of the damage that he was taking. The lower side of his robe caught fire showing his black pants and black boots under it.

He kept running towards me with the sword in his right hand, the left one ready to cast and his menacing glowing golden eyes pointed on me. Grinning.

In order for my plan to work I had to bring the fight to close quarters and find an opening to strike a one single powerful blow.

We ran into each other clashing our swords. The strength he was applying to his swings was something completely out of the ordinary, not to mention the speed of some of those swings.

[Medium strength boost]

I casted in order to endure his swings but my speed and strength was not enough. Even though I didn't suffer any major injuries during our clash, I received an awful lot of cuts on my forearms and legs. I had to endure it if I wanted my plan to succeed.

Around us the wind grew stronger, bending the trees and raising the flames of my ‘fire pit’. Both our hairs were being blown by the wind together with our sweat while the flames around us casted shadows on our faces making his eyes seem eviler that they were. I was no better. My light blue eyes were not only glowing but shining thanks to the flames, increasing the contrast between them and my raven black hairs. Thunders became more and more frequent and the whole sky was now completely black and rumbling.

The sound of iron hitting iron and flesh being cut was covering everything else. What happened around us was not of our concern. The battle in front of us was what mattered the most. Nothing else.

The opening I was waiting for presented itself when I was able to redirect one of master’s high swings and making him momentarily lose balance. I only needed one single moment. The spell I was about to cast was one of the two boost spells I created and rarely got to use due to their difficulty and drawbacks, but right now I didn't have the pleasure to avoid taking risks, it was all or nothing. My fighting style did not get its uniqueness only because I could fight both in close quarters and long distance but also because I had no fear for the results of my actions.

Something that blocks everyone when fighting is the fear of getting injured, fear of feeling pain, being incapaciteted and in worse cases the fear of death. I was different from the lot. Before coming to this world I experienced it...death. Even after I started living here I had the pleasure to meet death once again when I fought against the wolves, even though this time I was able to survive. So how could someone who had already faced death and still lived fear death?

My indifference to my own death was what gave me the upper hand in all fights. On occasions where any normal fighter would run or dodge I would rush forward, shattering my enemy’s plan.

Death was nothing but an aftermath. What I cared about was the exact moment I was in. Nothing else.

So I rushed towards him. His injured side exposed.

“Thunder boost armour!”

I screamed out of my lungs. From the center of my chest a huge quantity of mana was unleashed. My whole body started covering itself in little crackling thunders releasing light. This boost uses a huge ton of mana and also requires a lot of concentration since it’s a melded magic of fire and wind. I couldn’t clearly understand the concept behind it myself but it basically melds wind magic with light, a derivative of fire magic. Even though the cost to activate this boost is pretty high, the effects it gives are off the charts. Firstly both my speed, my strength and my defense doubles so the ‘medium boosts’ I activated at the beforehand now became ‘high boosts’ without the need to add any extra mana. This means that if this boost was activated when I have a ‘high boost’ it would become an ‘higher boost’ and so on since every level of boost is double the previous one.

Secondly, because of the electric nature of ‘thunder boost armour’, I was able to electrocute my targets. Of course the effect of the electrocute varies according to the opponent’s defense but I was able to stun a bear for a couple of seconds so it really is holding some serious power behind it.

I charged my punch now enhanced because of the ‘thunder boost armour’ and hit master’s exposed side. One hit swung with the whole power my body could muster up.

As soon as my fist reached master’s injury little thunders started spreading onto his body, burning his skin and making painful crackling sounds. I could feel his whole body stiffening and slightly trembling but only for a moment.

His whole body was propelled far away from me with an incredible speed, ending up crashing between some trees at the far end of the clearing.

Both my ‘thunder boost armour’ and my ‘fire pit’ deactivated due to exhaustion. The toll of having two spells activated at the same time was higher than I expected and I felt my energies fade away.

Where master crashed some smoke was rising up, covering his whole figure so I had no way to ascertain his state if not for the blood on my hand. His blood. I injured him.

[Hopefully this is enough to take him down… or at least make him back up. The next time I'm gonna get hit will be the last!]

Unfortunately I was running out of luck. From deep within the smoke a voice raised interrupted only by a couple of coughs and followed by the sound of heavy steps.

“Fuck that really hurt you know *cough*! If you had some more power to back it up I would have been *blargh* done for. Lucky me!”

He came out of the smoke vomiting blood, with the side of his robe totally destroyed and covered in blood. His bare burned skin was exposed. I really did a lot of damage, but it wasn't enough.

He grinned once again while launching himself with all the strength he had towards me.

I screamed on top of my lungs while casting a ‘fireball’ with the remaining mana I had, the sword ready to swing.

His speed suddenly increased and in the blink of an eye he was in front of me. He wielded no sword, he probably had lost it when I threw him in the woods. He punched me in the stomach depriving me of all the air I had in my lungs and giving me a feeling similar to vomiting. I was shot in the air. Three meters from the ground facing downwards.

Even if I wanted to, I had no time to react to that situation. He suddenly jumped from the ground even higher than me with both his fists joined in a hammer-like position.

That heavy hammer fell right on my back smacking me to the ground and making rocks fly in every direction. I was now profusely vomiting blood. I couldn't even move my body. My throat hurt and my chest was burning as if someone lit it on fire.

He landed his jump right beside me. With a light kick he made me face upwards and a cough of blood sprinkled out of my mouth like a fountain.

Rain started falling on the clearing putting down the fires that had started and leaving behind that strong watery scent. Master did not speak as the raindrops were drenching both our bodies. He was holding his left foot on my chest and looking at me triumphant. When he finally spoke his voice sounded sad even though he was trying to hide it.

“In the end you really grew uh. It’s a shame you didn't have enough power to back up all that growth”

“Uh, as if I had any possibilities of winning in the first place. Don’t fuck with me master! You weren’t even showing all of your power!”

“Was it that obvious?”

“We spent all this time together, do you really think that I didn't come to *cough* understand you at least a little?”

He smiled at my reply showing real signs of happiness. From this position I couldn’t see his eyes also because of the wet hair covering them.

“So master...did I pass?”

“Uhh? You made me cough blood and sent me flying. Do you really think I would not pass you with such a performance?”

“You are a strange man, master. Sometimes what’s going through your head is very difficult for me to understand *cough*, almost unpredictable hahaha!”

“Is that so uh?! Hahaha”

He stopped talking for a minute and the only sound that could be heard was the rain falling to the ground forming little ponds and puddles. When he spoke again his voice was painfully full of sorrow. I didn't dare to move my head and look him in the eye.

“I taught you anything I could with the state your body is in now. Growth must also come from within. If I were to stay and teach you more, my teachings would only prove to be useless. You are right now like a cup. Thanks to my teachings , you were able to fill it with water but now that it is full what could you do? Any extra water would only make the cup overflow. What you need now is to walk alone and build yourself a better cup. Stronger, larger and deeper...but I’m not so insensitive to leave my dear student to his own struggles alone. I will leave you a gift. That was the purpose of this test. One that you can’t see or feel for the time being, but the stronger your soul grows the stronger you’ll feel it’s presence. When the time comes you will understand.”

He squatted close to me with his face on top of mine, almost touching. His golden eyes glowing and his wet hair falling on top of my face.

“You can’t even begin to imagine the depths of your own capabilities. So grow. Grow as much as you can and when the time is right we will meet again…-”

He paused and stood up with his fist clenched ready to fall on me just like all the rain around us.

“- until then, farewell Raphael-sama”

The fist fell and my consciousness faded away together with my sight.

The last thing I saw was a horned shadow towering me.