Kira was kneeling on the tatamis within the dojo of his residence. It was similar to the rest of the house, with wood and paper walls. The sliding doors were open and both gardens could be seen from inside the room. After he opened his eyes, he read the words written a paper scrolls hung on the alcove’s wall.

“Regardless of all skill, a despondent heart will always be defeated.”

When his sister entered the dojo, Kira stood up. He repositioned the practice sword slid in his belt as Ren grabbed one of the various weapons held on racks near the written school’s principle. Like his brother, the lady wore training clothes, a dark hakama and a white shirt.

After Ren tied her hair with a red ribbon, she removed her sandals. The woman stepped on the straw mats and she bowed. After they greeted themselves in a formal fashion, as master and student, they drew their wooden swords. The practice weapons they wielded were coated with soulsilver to allow the use of Wills.

“I hope you are still in good shape,” Ren said as she entered a fighting stance.

“I should be,” he said with a grin.

The Serene Tempest was a three-Wills style. Each of the warming up kata was focused on the training of one Will.

The siblings started with Swirl, and soon white spirals fluttered around them. They practiced their defense as they deflected their partner’s strikes before they counterattacked in fluid motions. Instead of abruptly stopping their swords, they allowed the weapons to come to the end of their paths and used the force to initiate their next move. For a while, the siblings traded blows in their family training room.

Soon, the young man fully committed himself to the training. He liked the repetition of moves and the constant focus needed to improve his technique. Kira pouted at his own mistakes and Ren teased him after every series. Practices were some of the best memories of his new childhood, when all that mattered was to improve his sword technique to master the use of Wills. When his family believed unconditionally in him and praised him every time he progressed.

After master and student finished the first set, they moved on to Lightning. Due to the enhanced speed and agility conferred by the aura, the blows were faster and sharper with swift step-ins. Bolts of electricity danced around them as they swung their swords. That part of the style was the most elusive. It involved evading your opponent’s attacks by moving forward, to put yourself on in advantageous situations to inflict lethal strikes.

But now, things were slightly different. Ren did not smile. She was evaluating him with an inquisitive stare. His sister forcibly pushed him into making errors as they sparred.

Eventually, they reached the last set. The sparks disappeared and became a layer of blurry light on their garb. As their weapons clashed, they emitted a faint screech. Wave was the most offensive aura of the style. It had high penetration and strength, but its defensive capabilities were almost nil. The moves of the kata were composed of basic slashes and thrusts, performed in all the main stances.

Each time Ren attacked, her brother deflected the blow and riposted with an aggressive strike. Sweat began to pour on his forehead and his breathing accelerated. No wind was blowing in the courtyard and the weather was moist. The tree leaves were still and curious birds were watching the scene while peeping in a joyful fashion. The lady pushed harder and the young man slipped on the straw mat.

“Practice the sets one to three of the Harmony,” Ren said after he got up.

The youth was grateful the morning was still young. While Kira wiped the sweat of his face, he looked at his sister. The tip of her weapon touched the ground and her two hands were resting on the pommel of the wooden sword. She was watching him with a smirk.

The teenager took a deep breath and did as his master bid. Being a swordsman was not only about knowing the techniques of the blade. A huge part of it was being able to discern the proper moment to use each Will, and to switch fast to make the most of an aura strength. The next set of moves could not be performed in a pair, due to the nature of the auras. The clashes would create a disturbance and then form a black cloud.

Kira went on with the succession of moves. Wave succeeded to Lightning as he fought his imaginary opponents. Inside his mind, his foes struck at him with furious vigor while he performed the various techniques of the Serene Tempest. Due to its offensive nature, Wave was only used as a killing blow in those sequences. The move the young man used against his assaulter the day before, Whirling Leaf, was part of those series.

It took Kira ten minutes to complete the Harmony. His sister did not let him rest and positioned herself before him. They went through the ritual greeting and started their friendly fight, using only Lightning. Even though Ren restrained herself, she clearly had the advantage over her brother. She was faster and had better insight. Kira would at times find himself on the ground after a throw or a takedown.

After a mistake, she would often return to her previous position, and invite him to repeat the move until he got it right.

When they stopped, the sun was high in the sky. Their clothes were soaked in sweat and clutched to their skins. It had been a long time since he had such a workout. It felt good to him. The siblings went out of the tatamis and quenched their thirst with water flasks. They knelt on the wooden hallway, under the shade of a cherry tree.

“You understand the essence of the techniques, but your moves sometimes feel unnatural to you.” Ren commented while she slid her wooden sword in her belt. “You are at a point where you should free yourself from your teachers’ habits. You are trying to emulate Shizuru and me but it might not be the best way for you.”

She wiped her face with a white towel and joined her hands on her lap.

“We are all different in mind and body. Even in the same school, different practitioners have distinctive ways of realizing one technique. You should have noticed. Shizuru’s footwork is faster than mine so she has a more offensive approach. She usually takes the initiative when the opponent has committed to attack, but has not yet done so. Due to that, it often looks like she attacked first.”

She was right. Though, he had often relied on various tricks to be able to succeed. Kira observed his sister as she was gazing at the pound with a distant expression.

He often missed the relationship they had before. A few times, he thought of giving up on his goal and ideals. He had wanted to simply live up to his family’s expectations. It would probably spare his relatives and close friends a lot of troubles. The lady turned her head and stared at him with intensity.

“That is what you are trying to achieve, but fail to do so. Why, I wonder? It might be because your basics are horrible.” Ren declared before she shrugged. “Your body movements are unrefined and you still apply excessive force when channeling the energy of your opponent’s attacks. All of this slows you down. However I told you before, did I not? Should I remind you?”

‘You’re a monster, that’s fucking why!’ he thought while he kept a stern expression.

“No, it is fine.” He answered with monotone voice. “Learning martial arts is like building a tower. It will be only as strong as its foundations.”

“Good. Now... again.” Ren declared as she stood up.

When Kira followed her, she looked back and raised an eyebrow.

“What is it? Something on my face?” The young man asked after he frowned.

“It seems you do practice by yourself.” She answered as her lips curved slightly.

“Of course I do. I want to look manly.” Kira said with a grin.

“You have a lot of work before you then.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” he questioned before he pouted.

For two hours, they went on with their training. They practiced their forms and unarmed techniques. All those moves were needed when fighting people wearing soulsilver armors. Though you seldom saw those plates, it was part of the course as you should be able to handle any situation. It was more about destabilizing you opponent and thrusting your sword into the unprotected areas.

“So what will you report?” Kira asked after their practice.

“You would not have been able to defeat your last opponent by yourself with just a sword.” She answered with a wry smile.

**********************

After they had cleaned themselves, they joined their mother for lunch, like they usually did. The meals were always refined and they ate silently.

Eventually, Ren left to attend to a meeting with an influential clan of the region. Kira stayed in the room with Kaguya. The workout had tired him and he wanted to rest for now. The two of them were drinking tea in the common room of the house.

“You have improved,” Kaguya declared with a proud smile. “I watched your training for some time this morning.”

“Ren does not seem impressed,” her son remarked with a shrug.

“A teacher cannot praise his student too much,” the woman stated after she glanced at him. “Also, she might envy you a little. You grasped the concept of Wills almost like it was natural. You understood the steps needed to fuse your soul with your energy in a matter of weeks.”

“It simply happened. I do not know.”

“She thinks you are wasting your talents,” Kaguya added as she turned to face him. “Well… I do not have to tell you something you already are aware of.”

Kira nodded. During a while, they simply stayed together without uttering a word.

“For years, I was nothing more than a keen blade for all to see, a weapon pointed at our rivals.” The woman told him as she stared deeply into his eyes.

“Your presence prevented conflicts,” Kira affirmed with a frown.

“Perhaps, or we might have disposed of the threats before they became significant. I have more blood on my hands than most.” She said as she joined her hands together. “Several times I thought of giving up, but too many people relied on me. Even though we might not share the same point of view, Amaya is still my sister. And her rule is fair, if stringent. I sincerely believed she was the best choice to govern Okachi. I still do.”

“Aunt does not burden the people too much and she usually settles problems swiftly. She seems to care about the people.”

“Care? No, I do not think so.” Kaguya claimed while she shook her head. “But she understands the well-being of the denizens is actually beneficial to her dominion. Now, the region is flourishing and one of the most influential of the Empire of Iroha.”

“What path do you want to follow?” She declared. “Will you hold a sword or a brush? The choice is yours, and no one else’s. I will talk to Sister. Do not get in trouble for now. ”

“Thank you, Mother.” Kira smiled brightly at his mother.

“Have a nice day.” His mother said before she left.

After the lady left, the young man crossed the exterior hallway and went in his room.

Kira took out a book from the bottom drawer. On its pages, he had written all he could remember of the different possible combinations of ether patterns. He was trying to recreate something similar to essence. Due to the nature of this world, it should be possible to produce the solution now that he knew spell casting. He had to find the Wills required to infuse the solution.

‘Swirl is one of them,’ he thought as he put the document on his thighs. ‘The problem is I do not know the names of the two other Wills I need to create all that. I remember their codename back then, but that knowledge is useless by itself.’

The youth turned the pages and read his notes, written in English. He slid his index on the paper.

‘I have to identify them by their effects and then learn them. Most groups who practice spell casting keep their skills secret. It’s going to be a pain to find out.’

Kira closed the book. Using his knowledge, he had already developed a few spells with the three Wills he knew. The young man knew the exact timing required to blend two patterns together, and make them enter resonance. The algorithms he used were accurate even in this world. He simply had to picture the images in his mind and weave them together with the correct timing.

‘The method itself requires being able to use a three-way resonance, but this technique is unknown. The only known occurrences are the war in Garesh eighteen years ago and most recently the appearances of those zombie-like creatures, like in Namuya. It would allow people to infuse an object without a medium.’

He got up and opened his drawer.

‘How did they make this?’ the teenager said to himself while looking at the flask. He drank a drop of the liquid. ‘The reaction is strong and it’s definitely not soulsilver tea.’

After some time, he put down the bottle and he sighed.

‘Soulsilver tea is a significant part of the Tsuchiya clan income.’

He remembered his sister’s words. “I believe you.”

Making that method public might be considered as a betrayal, so his heart sometimes wavered.

‘But I’m sure of one thing.’

Kira looked at the painting his mother made.

‘I will save you.’

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