“Ya!”[1]

THUD!

The thick tree trunk shook and some loose leaves rained down to the forest floor as the impact shook it down to the roots. Embedded in the trunk was a circular indent, about the size of an adult’s fist.

Kira’s breathing was slightly laboured but that was the last thing on her mind. She had done it! Finally, after a week of struggles, she had finally figured out how to create this most basic of Skills. Considering the effort she put in, she didn’t allow the low strength of the Skill to dampen her spirits. The fact that she had persevered and completed it was its own reward. It meant that she had another weapon in her arsenal of techniques to use in a fight, one of her own creation!

“Nicely done kiddo, you finally got it. I won’t ask you to practice it more because that’s pointless at your level. Do it in your own time if you feel like it will be useful. Instead, let’s move on to something more challenging. Oh, and it’s about time we left this forest. That purple bastard’s clan will have heard about what happened by now so we need to stay on the move.”

With all that had been going on, Kira had almost forgotten what had happened back in her hometown. Now that she’d remembered, a sombreness tempered her joy as she recalled her vow towards her fellow Heavenly Flame Lily clanmates, specifically the Inheritors.

Kira nodded in acknowledgement. They had definitely stayed in one place for too long. After packing up their meagre possessions from their camp, Kira and Tetsuya continued heading westward through the Twilight Forest, towards the capital of the Moonsilver Empire. While they travelled, Tetsuya continued teaching Kira about Skill creation and more about its specifics.

“I’m not sure if in any of those scrolls you’ve read about all the different ranks of Skills, have you?”

“The only definitive ranks that I’m aware of are Basic, Advanced and Special with hints towards greater Skills. I assume Uncle knows about those higher ranks?”

“Well seeing as I’m at it, might as well go through them all. As you already know, Basic and Advanced Skills can be learned by anyone while Special Skills are a bit different. They usually have certain conditions on them before they can be used. These can be anything ranging from using a particular weapon to reaching certain cultivation levels.

After that, we have Unique Skills. Similar to Special Skills, these have certain requirements but that’s where the similarity stops. Aside from the great difference in power, Unique Skills have the strange property of being unable to be learned except directly from someone who has already learned it. As in, you can read a scroll that details every part of a Unique Skill and you will still never be able to learn it. This rank of Skill is most valued by Skill Collectors due to their rarity.

Above these are only two more ranks, Heavenly and Divine. Heavenly Skills are named so because they are so rare people claim that they can only be bestowed on humans by gods. Divine Skills, however, are only the stuff of legend. It’s said that Divine Skills have the power to shatter the heavens and kill gods. Personally, I don’t believe in any of that because I’m sure that it comes from us wanting there to be a realm higher than we even dare to reach.”

Kira remained silent as she allowed the new information to sink in. While she didn’t dare have the arrogance to think that she could ever own a Heavenly Skill, if she could somehow create a number of Skills that were Unique, she might be considered a real power in the Moonsilver Empire at the very least.

“I hope you’re not expecting me to just hand over some Unique Skills. The only ones you’re going to get is from your own effort. Since you’ve decided to learn Skill Creation from me, I’ve decided to make sure that what you bring to this world are things that have never been seen before!”

Tetsuya gave her a grin that Kira couldn’t decide was out of pride or something else.

SNAP!

Kira and Tetsuya were about to enter the westernmost third of the Twilight Forest when the noise echoed through the trees. Both of them swiftly hid their presences as best they could and kept behind one of the great trunks. After a few seconds a man rushed past them, making no attempt to hide the noise he was making as he trampled carelessly through the undergrowth. Not long after he disappeared, a group of men dressed in matching uniforms and bearing spears also stampeded past the duo.

“Hmm, those were members of the Khukuri Royal Guard. I wonder why they were after him and so deep into the forest. Hmph, none of our business though, let’s go.”

Tetsuya murmured before motioning to Kira in the direction from which the soldiers had come. They took care not to make too much noise in case the soldiers had set up a camp nearby. After two days without incident, the duo finally left the leafy cover of the Twilight Forest and walked out into the bright sunlight.

Kira squinted her eyes at the glare. She’d grown accustomed to the strange half-light of the forest during the daytime which made her sensitive to the direct sunlight.

“Don’t worry, it’ll pass. Here, wrap this around your eyes.”

Tetsuya withdrew a piece of material from his obsidian ring and passed it to Kira. From a touch she could tell it was very thin and, after putting it on, realised it was made of a black material that was almost see-through yet it managed to block most of the excess light from reaching her eyes. Kira nodded her appreciation.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. Now we can pass you off as a blind swordswoman performing for money, haha!”

Kira would’ve glared her displeasure at the comment if it weren’t for the fact that her eyes were obscured. Instead she looked ahead and saw the towering walls of a city ahead.

“I assume that’s-”

“Yep, the city on the edge of the Twilight Forest, Khukuri, famous for manufacturing all manner of daggers and light arms.”

When Kira heard “producing” she looked up and, sure enough, dark tendrils of smoke were rising up from above the city walls.

‘Just how many smithies are at work here?’

She wondered as they approached the city gate.

“Halt! You two, what business do you have in the city?”

A tall guard, dressed in the same uniform as the ones who were chasing the man in the forest, albeit greatly lacking in decoration, held up his hand as they approached the entryway.

“Ah, esteemed Sir, my daughter and I are here simply to visit a relative of ours. If you may be so kind, she is waiting for us in great anticipation.”

If it wasn’t for Kira’s great discipline, she would have burst out in laughter right then and there. The way Tetsuya spoke was unlike anything she heard from him before. He actually sounded…like a noble!

The guard looked the pair up and down and a similar thought must have been running through his mind. From their travel-worn appearance to Tetsuya’s strange manner of speaking, something just wasn’t adding up in his head.

“Hmm, I’ll let you through for now but first you need to give me the name of this…relative.”

“Ah, of course, how forgetful of me. You have good reason to be sceptical, we look like some ragged ruffians, probably smell like those poor souls too. Yes, the name of the one we’ve come to visit is Miss Kazumi of the Tester’s Guild.”

The guard’s face visibly paled causing Kira to wonder what was so special about this woman.

“Go right ahead and tell Kazumi-sensei that the boot knife she recommended to Ichirou is working perfectly.”

The guard, Ichirou, actually gave them a little bow as they left and really made Kira curious as to that woman’s identity, but first…

“Uncle-”

“Before you say anything, it’s not wise to make any trouble here. Even the lowliest guard here is at least at the Soul Spirit rank or an equivalent. I can’t just go rampaging through like I did to your bamboo forest. Second of all, while we still need to go see Kazumi to keep up our alibi, although I doubt anyone will check it, we would usually need to avoid her at all costs.”

“Why?”

“She’s probably the strongest cultivator in the city. Everyone, except maybe the personal guard to the city’s Duke, is afraid of her. Why she decided to keep being a simple weapon tester is anyone’s guess.”

Her curiosity somewhat satisfied but with new questions arising in her head, Kira walked through the city streets with her uncle. The outskirts of the city weren’t much to look at but there were several stalls evenly spaced along the sides of the street.

“Most of the poorer folks here either have their own shops outside their homes or let out the space to others so they can charge for it. While they make enough to get by, even if they came across a stroke of luck, most of them can’t afford the taxes in the richer parts of the city anyway.”

Tetsuya led Kira towards the northern part of the city while pointing out places of interest and other local landmarks along the way. Kira was fascinated by it all as she hadn’t been anywhere else than Edge for most of this life. As they drew closer, Kira noticed a familiar ringing sound penetrating the air as well as realising that the thick smoke above the city was actually centred on their destination.

Turning a corner, Kira knew they had arrived. In the space in front of them were countless open-air smithies. The smiths themselves were all large men with bulging muscles that came as part of the trade. Generally, the larger the muscles, the more time the smith had spent forging. Now that they were in the thick of it, the sound of metal being hammered was quite loud.

Tetsuya motioned that they continue towards the centre of the district. Kira’s eyes swept from side to side, taking in everything. In comparison to the bulky smiths, most of their work seemed to consist of daggers ranging from pocket-sized to large, ornate display pieces. One particular smithy caught Kira’s eye. After tugging on Tetsuya’s sleeve, she pointed towards the smithy. Tetsuya smiled knowingly and waited for her.

“Excuse me, great smith, what are these?”

Kira almost shouted to be heard over the din as she motioned towards the straight blades that were held in some kind of strange harness. The smith squinted at her as if questioning if she should even be there until he saw the two sheathed katana on her hip.

“These be secret knives, young’un. Ya attach the harness to yer forearm like so and walk around with it like normal. But then, if someone goes at ya outta nowhere, just snap yer wrist and the blade comes out and ya can catch ‘em by surprise.”

Kira examined the mechanism closely, a look of admiration on her face. It really was an interesting design and its use in a surprise attack would be unparalleled. If poisoned, you really could kill someone before they realised it.

“Unfortunately, these aren’t cheap but…I may give ya a discount if ya lemme take a look at that blade on your hip.”

Kira was a bit hesitant as the smith pointed towards her dragon-motif sword. Apart from her training gear, the sword was her only memento from home. Reluctantly, she passed the sword to him, blade towards her and held in both hands in the manner of respect that the Takanashi Clan Elders had taught her. The smith was surprised at her etiquette as he received the sword gently. Drawing it, he let out a deep breath.

“This is really well made. I only know a few smiths around here with this kind of skill. None of them are allowed to make swords though. Wish I could visit whichever smith made this.”

“He lives-”

“I’m really sorry, good sir, but we have to be going. We have an appointment with Kazumi.”

Kira scolded herself internally as she realised she'd nearly let slip that the sword was from Edge. The fewer people who knew there were travellers from Edge here, the better. Unlike the guard from before, the smith’s reaction wasn’t as drastic.

“Heh, good luck then. I wonder which poor soul is having his work checked today. She’s really brutal, that one. Ya need to watch yerselves around her. Poor quality goods tend to end up in strange places to say the least.”

“I’ll keep your advice in mind. Have a good day.”

Tetsuya turned and left. Kira followed after retrieving her sword from the smith. They eventually arrived in the centre of the smithing district. Filling the space was a large, domed building that looked surprisingly polished compared to the roughness of the smithies around it. Large columns made out of a cream-coloured stone circled the building and supported the dome while short flights of stairs led up to its four entrances, each entrance pointed in one of the cardinal directions. Overall the cylindrical building really stood out as being rich and important.

As Tetsuya and Kira walked up the stairs to the southern entrance, several people rushed out covering their heads and hid behind the columns. The reason for this soon became apparent.

“This is bullshit! And this is bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit everywhere! Don’t you know how to make one fucking dagger?”

Accompanying the storm of profanities was an equally fierce storm of steel daggers flying out of the entranceway in all directions. Many embedded themselves in the stone columns while others flew out towards the sea of smithies. Kira only noticed then that the side of the smithies facing the domed building had sheets of metal covering the shop from the onslaught.

Some of the daggers flew towards them but Tetsuya casually deflected them away with the metal framing on his pipe. Kira didn’t even see him pull it out of his cloak let alone when he lit it as Tetsuya breathed out a cloud of blue smoke.

Once they reached the top of the stairs, Kira saw that this side of the stone columns was pockmarked by an immense number of nicks and scratches and she wondered how someone who did this much damage to the property and caused the smiths to fear for their lives was still allowed in the city.

“Looks like we caught her in a good mood. She still thinks his life is worth something.”

“You don’t deserve to live!”

“Uh oh…”

Tetsuya’s pace suddenly sped up as he sprinted through the entranceway. Kira followed. Inside, the building consisted of just a single, massive, cylindrical room with various strange equipment, familiar training mannequins and archery targets set up along the walls. In the center of the room, a thin woman dressed in a startling red dress with waves of red hair rolling down her back was holding up a bulky man by the scruff of his neck with one hand. The heavy man was physically lifted off the floor while the woman’s other hand held a shiny dagger to his throat.

Tetsuya’s pace slowed to a leisurely stroll before he called out.

“Yo, Kazumi.”

“Who the fuck dares-”

The woman turned to look around and, when she saw who it was, she suddenly dropped both man and dagger, the dagger hitting the floor with a clatter and the man with an ‘umph’.

“TETSUYAAAA!”

The woman literally flew across the distance between them like a scarlet meteor. However, instead of attacking, she threw her arms around Tetsuya and embraced him tightly. To Kira, what was more shocking was the change in the woman’s expression and demeanour. If her face had looked like a thunderstorm breaking, now it looked like one who had found paradise and the previously thick atmosphere of danger blew away in an instant as she seemed to become a normal, happy woman.

Kira inspected this person who must be Kazumi and wondered how someone this beautiful could have such a dirty mouth. Kazumi’s body was shapely in all the right places but it was her face that could’ve gotten men to propose to her then and there. When Kazumi smiled, as she did now, Kira thought it must’ve been a trick of the light but the room seemed to exude a warm glow. If this was the reaction she had on Kira, who wasn’t into women, she couldn’t even imagine the effect Kazumi had on men.

Tetsuya, on the other hand, seemed completely unfazed as Kazumi’s ample bosom pressed against his travel-worn cloak. Gradually, Kazumi became aware of Kira’s existence.

“Wait, you lying fucker. You said you had your reasons for not being with me but even I didn’t expect you to be a lolicon. Fuck me, now I have no chance at all with you, might as well kill myself now.”

Kazumi quickly stepped away and picked up the dagger, looking clearly like she intended to stab herself. In an instant, Tetsuya was there, holding back her arms from driving the dagger into her chest.

“It’s not what you think, she’s my…niece.”

“What? So you’re into incest? Gods, why did I fall in love with an incestuous lolicon?”

“There’s nothing between us, I swear. I’m not here to stay, unfortunately, but I need to keep her safe for a while and I need your help.”

“Keep talking.”

Kazumi stopped struggling against him but didn’t drop the knife. As she listened to Tetsuya’s story of the events in Edge, her grip slowly loosened until the hand with the dagger hung loosely at her side.

“Sigh…Well, why didn’t you say so. You know I’ll always do anything for you. A-ny-thing. I owe you my life after all.”

“I wish you could just forget about that already. I was just helping out a friend. You don’t owe me anything.”

“A friend? Oh Tetsuya, how you break my heart, you ignorant shithead.”

Kira watched on, speechless. She honestly didn’t know what to make of this woman named Kazumi. If she wasn’t someone that Tetsuya knew, Kira would definitely say that she was mentally unstable. Also, the mismatch between her appearance and speech was giving Kira a headache.

“So loli, what’s your deal? At least I know you haven’t taken my Tetsuya and you’re not my competition so we can get along, I guess.”

Kazumi appeared to have come to a strangely neutral state for the moment as she addressed Kira directly. Kira looked questioningly towards Tetsuya. If he trusted her then she could too. Tetsuya nodded.

“My name is Kira, a descendant of the Heavenly Flame Lily Clan and an awakened Inheritor of Burning Soul.”

[1] A common kiai used when striking. “Ya” coming from the Japanese word yari, meaning “spear” (If I'm not mistaken. The shout itself is secondary, the essence lies elsewhere.)