When the girl woke up, her mentor was already practicing outside. Light as a feather, he swung from right to left, spinning around himself, flipping back and forth, brandishing a rusty metal sword. It was now 4:22 PM. The west sun blazed over the sword’s sharpened edge. The camellia incense scent had spread throughout the house.

Aurora put on her boots and headed for the living room. She wondered if any of those objects, the drawers in the right corner, or the pillows on the floor, were demons. After a moment of contemplation, she shifted the shoji to one side and came down the steps that led her to the garden. The soldiers' bodies had been covered with a white sheet. It was still possible to see what was left of their features; twisted noses and broken jaws. Liu-Ken's sword sliced the air, the mana waving around him. Aurora stood still, watching Liu's robe swinging from side to side, his sleeves climbing up to his elbow and down to his fingers as he changed his weapon of hand.

"Come closer," Liu-Ken said, though he didn’t even look back. "And take this." He added and threw another sword at Aurora.

Aurora's fingers brushed the sword's handle, but it fell to the ground making an overly opaque clank. The steel had a lot of scratches, a couple thicker than others, and the tip didn't look sharp enough to actually cut someone. Aurora stooped down to pick it up.

"Get up!" Liu-Ken shouted, gliding through the air toward her.

Aurora only had time to stand up before she was hit by Liu's shoulder. The girl fell to the ground. Instead of getting up, she stared above; to the clouds, white foam cushions of different sizes, and the sky, soft waves sweeping them across the world, slumbered in peace.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Liu said, following her gaze. "if you don't learn to fight, you'll only have a few more days to see all of this before Kaji soldiers stain the ground with your blood."

"Did you really have to attack me out of nowhere and be so negative? I told you I was going to avenge my adoptive parents and friends, and I will. I will not watch anybody else die in front of me and be unable to protect them. I don't want to be useless again, okay? I want you to teach me," Aurora said resolutely, clenching her fist until the veins on her wrist and right hand stood out.

"Your enemies won't wait for you to be ready. Get up. Take the sword. Let's see what you can do with it.”

"I've never used a sword before," Aurora told him, clutching it. She glanced at his fingers around the handle and wondered how many times that sword had already been covered in fresh blood.

"Feel the mana around you. Focus on your opponent's chi. Follow both. Understand the differences between them. See where they gather and where they split up. You will be able to predict your opponent's movements. It won't be easy. I won't lie to you. But you'll get there," Liu-Ken said, taking a step back. "When you can tell where I'm going, we'll move on to something more demanding.”

"But what if I attack first? I don't need to worry about where my enemy might be going if I don't give him time to move," Aurora told him. The girl was already standing still and had her sword held at a straight angle.

"There are various styles of fighting, boy. I understand that you want to start with a harder style, but first, you'll have to learn the most delicate one. You'll need to know how to dodge and return the attacks before trying to headbutt the problem. The Kaji School’s soldiers thought the same thing you did, and you saw what happened to them. You can't let emotions overwhelm you. Stay calm, stay focused, and try to follow the fluctuations of chi in the air," he said.

"I'll try," Aurora told him and half-closed her eyes.

The girl took a deep breath. She followed Liu-Ken's footsteps; first, the right one, then the left one, turned around and laid down the left one. Aurora's chi flowed slowly throughout the meridians, reaching all corners.

"I can..." she thought to herself, trying to feel the mana in the environment.

The mentor drew closer to her, swapping the sword from one hand to the other as he moved forward like an apparition. His feet once again did not touch the ground. Aurora sensed a shift on the right side and raised her sword against it. Liu-Ken braked, tapped by the stone that preceded the one Aurora was on, and slid like a mist on a dark night across the girl's left side. Aurora's left eye followed Liu's angelic motions.

"You anticipated it very early," his mentor warned her, before pushing his head forward. Aurora jumped two stones forward and swung, almost falling before regaining her stability.

"At least I could tell where you were going," Aurora replied, turning to him.

"Yes, but it won't be enough to survive out of here," Liu-Ken replied. "Again, get ready."

"We still have a week to train. I'll surprise you,"

"Surprise me now," Liu told her and once again he glided across the floor, this time using his sword to stab the air.

Air bubbles were thrown at the girl's body, acting as punches that focused on his pressure points located along the meridians. Liu was still halfway there, and Aurora already had a knee on the ground, a string of saliva running down her chin, and the sword upright, the tip nailed in the stone.

I won't give up that easily… Bardolph taught me that when I have something that I want, I can't let it go unless I've lost a taste for it. I must caress it, enjoy it and value it, Aurora thought to herself. The girl closed her eyes and clasped her hand around the sword’s handle, one finger at a time.

Aurora could hear the birds chirping and the water from the creek chuckled in its streambed. There were her breathing and another one over it, a stronger and puffier, a few meters ahead of her. She focused on it, hearing it drift to the right and then to the left, as subtle as a leaf twirling through the air after loosening from a tree. The air punches no longer affected her. She didn't need her chi to use the sword. She knew exactly which way Liu-Ken was heading—right. Using the sword as a lever, she moved it to the right side and lowered her head. From the outside, it seemed as if she was kneeling before her mentor, but they both knew that she was using the odds to her advantage. Aurora was evolving despite the meager training she had.

Liu-Ken coughed, interrupting the girl's concentration. When she opened her eyes, a sharp blade was already rubbing against her neck. Three strands of hair had been sliced and fell on her shoulders. Aurora punched the ground in frustration, her teeth gnashing, her eyebrows bowed as she squinted her eyes. Liu-Ken stretched out his hand to help her get up.

"You have an innate talent, girl. Don't feel bad. You've learned something in two attempts that most people take a month," Liu-Ken told her, retaining a serious facade, even though he was proud of her. She really was the daughter of his former companion. And so, perhaps their promise would not be broken. Perhaps they really would see each other again in another reincarnation.

"Those soldiers were able to fuse chi into their weapons," Aurora replied. She took her hand away from the mentor and stood up alone.

"Yes, and do you know how many years they've been training to do that? Not everyone has had your life, kid. The Kaji School has been recruiting boys since they were twelve. Many of them spend a lifetime just being able to unite their chi with weapons and feel the mana around them. No matter how much they train and improve their skills, many of them will not be able to do more than that. Natural talent is needed too. The Dao doesn't bless everyone," he said.