*** Crow

Those two were talking for a long time that night had fallen. I wonder if I should just head back? It looks like Grant has come out here to get me.

“ What did you two talk about?”

“ It’s a secret, now let us return to my house. We will resume our training tomorrow morning.”

“ Alright, I trust in you Grant.”

We were both heading back to the house. I quickly made a duck. If I didn’t, Grant’s sword would have sliced me cleanly in half. This can’t be! Did Azure convince Grant to her side? After all that I have been through with Grant, we both shared so much together.

“ Did you betray me too!?”

“ I have not Crow. I promised to train you. You wanted the hardest possible training, right? You will always have to keep your guard up no matter what. If you died right there, then that is as far as you will be able to go. The challenges will only get harder from now on.”

I didn’t know what to make of it. Did Grant betray me? Will they both ambush me if I go back to the shabby house? His eyes were showing me great trust. There was no possible way he betrayed me. I would have been dead long ago if he did.

“ Grant please tell me, did Azure go back to gather soldiers to hunt me down?”

“ All I can say is, just trust me. Please endure my hardest training.”

“ I will trust you then. You could have killed me long ago. But you haven’t sold out on me yet.”

The next 10 days were pure hell. Grant tried his hardest to teach me his sword skills. He was being more strict than before. What happened to him? Either way, I had to adapt and learn faster than before.

My talent with the sword was terrible. I will have to create my own blood control skills if I ever wanted to beat him, a sword specialist.

Every day while training, he always did a sneaky killing blow when I least expect it. If I ever let my guard down, I would have died. From the 5th day onward, Grant and I were fighting each other with real swords. On the 10th day, Grant had finally lost his mind.

“ CROW STOP HOLDING BACK AND KILL ME!”

“ I will not kill you Grant! I promised you that I will correct this world of injustices.”

“ Please Crow I’m begging you. If you think you will be able to change this world by not killing me. You are sorely mistaken. This world cannot be changed by kind words alone. Power is the key to changing this world.”

“ Then I will just have to become more powerful than that so I don’t need to kill you.”

“ Crow, I know you’re a smart person. But this old man doesn’t have much longer to live. I will be happy to die for you. I never finished telling you my life story right? I wasn’t able to die for my master Alicia.”

“ Your master wouldn’t have wanted you to die from training me”

“ SHUT UP CROW! YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT MASTER ALICIA OR ME, I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONE WHO DIED IN THAT WAR!”

“ NO, YOU SHUT UP! It’s true that I don’t know anything about Alicia but I do know one thing. She is a good person right? She wouldn’t have wished for you to die a pointless death.”

“ YOU’RE WRONG CROW! Please let me die for you, I regretted not dying for master Alicia. Her life was worth far more than mine.”

“ Sorry Grant, but I will not be killing you. Alicia wouldn’t have wanted me to do that anyway.”

“ I see. Then I will fight you at 100% of my power. This time, it won’t be training anymore. This will be a real fight. I will be seriously trying to kill you.”

Blood Control Grant Pentagon Slash. It was one of his favorite skills that he taught me, 5 different sword slashes in a single movement. Grant was now repeatedly using pentagon slash against me. I was barely able to defend against it using the same skill. More minor wounds were appearing all over my body. At this rate, I will either die or master his pentagon slash.

Even though I spent the last 10 days training hard with him. I still wasn’t able to surpass Grant in his sword skills. The old man was far too strong. If this keeps up, I will lose. The only way to surpass Grant was that I had to create my own blood control skills.

Blood Control Grant Burning Steps. Getting away from him, but he instantly caught up to me and kept on using his pentagon slash. If I keep falling into the terrible habits of trying to copy someone, I would never learn my own unique style of fighting.

Throwing my sword at him, he deflected the sword away from him. His face showed disdain at my foolishness. It didn’t stop him from fighting. He was fully intent on killing me. When he was about to use the strongest skill Blood Control Grant Diamond Slash to finish me off. It was his strongest single sword slash technique.

This is the moment that will either kill me or I will be able to defeat him with my own skills. Blood Control Magic Weapon Breaker. Both of my hands were able to grab his sword in that instant and shattered his blade into pieces. It was such an imperfect skill that I lost several fingers trying to do that. It was painful. But blood control skills can reduce your sensitivity to pain.

Grant was shocked that such a thing happened that he stopped.

“ You win Crow, a swordsman without a sword cannot fight.”

“ Heh, I told you I wasn’t going to kill you.”

“ You might have won the battle but you lost several fingers doing that against me. If you were fighting more than 1 opponent. You would have died without even killing any of them. A sword like mine can easily be replaced. However, my sword was one of my best, a gift from Alicia. You have impressed me. But you cannot heal and reattach back your fingers before they kill you.”

He gave me a lecture even though I won. I didn’t mind, he was right.

“ Let’s continue.”

Wait what I thought he said I won? Grant charged at me and began using his fists and kicks to kill me.

The longer I and Grant fought. The higher chances that I would permanently lose my fingers. They were still on the ground dying. We were exchanging punches and kicks quite evenly. I wasn’t mad at Grant for anything. This was a real fight after all.

It wasn’t going to be easy to win against Grant. This time I will have to knock him out. Hopefully he will finally accept his defeat. It was no time for me to cry over my spilled blood. I must use my new blood control techniques to defeat my instructor.

Blood Control Magic Bullets. My severed fingers holes guided my blood bullets. I deeply concentrated intense blood pressure in my hand. I aimed them at Grant’s legs shooting blood bullets. Grant was surprised at my ability. However, all of my shots missed because it was still inaccurate and he moved fast enough.

I wondered if he saw this type of ability before. It was very risky to keep on using it, I will lose too much blood if I did. Blood Control Magic Curving Bullets. Adjusting the blood flow to be circular, the blood bullets will curve as it is shot towards Grant. This time it penetrated Grant’s legs and arms, he was getting weaker. But I was starting to feel a heavy headache from losing too much blood for my bullets.

Grant swept my leg and I fell forwards. He was about to knee me in the head which will knock me out. Blood Control Magic Blood Defense. I protected my skull in time, he must have injured his knee because he took some steps back. Blood Control Magic Steps and Blood Control Magic Whirlwind Kick. The old man blocked it but it knocked him a fair distance away.

I instantly charged at the old man. He also came charging back at me. If my guess is correct, he would go for a punch. Blood Control Magic Momentum Reversal. The moment the old man threw a punch, I dodge to the side and grab his arm with my only 4 fingers in both hands. All of my blood instantly switched momentum and used our combined momentum to slam him hard into the ground. He was surprised because he never taught me any throwing techniques.

I wondered if people even use throwing techniques in this world? I then tried to finish Grant off with a stomp to his head. But he was able to kick me in the leg hard. It had a lot of heat. If I didn’t do anything, I would suffer burn damage as well. I had to use blood flow to quickly dissipate the heat from that bruise forcing me to retreat. This is why he called it burning steps, I wasn’t able to master that skill correctly.

He got back up with a smile. My body's limit was approaching me and my attempt to stomp him unconscious failed. This old man is also not giving up just like me. It looks like I have no choice. The next time we get close again, Blood Control Magic Bullet Heaven. Blood bullets shot out from all of my open wounds. It was a much riskier skill than my blood bullets, as it required a lot of blood use which was exhausting; a suicide move. Grant wasn’t able to dodge it. I failed to control it to avoid his vital areas. Deep wounds were made all over his body but I also lost so much blood.

I fainted.

Suddenly waking up and I was still on the ground where we fought. I didn’t know how long I was out for. Not being able to stand up and seeing Grant’s dead body, I cried. I won but I killed him. Why did he have to die for me? My instructor who believed me and taught me everything in this world. There was so much more I could have learned from him, like knowledge instead of pure fighting skills.

Before I end up dying, Blood Control Blood Regeneration. It took me a few hours of recovery to stand up and walk again. I reattached my fingers to my hand and restored life back into them.

When I have recovered even more, I will put Grant’s corpse into the grave that he already dug.

“ Grant you reminded me of my dad. I had always gotten along better with my dad than my mom. He always taught me that I should try to help people even if I don’t get anything in return. He told me that if everyone just helped each other, the world would be a better place. And that if I ever needed help. Nobody would want to help me because I don’t want to help anyone. I didn’t want to waste time on helping others or getting help. I truly believe I can do everything on my own.”

A few minutes to ponder.

“ I guess what I’m trying to say is… thank you for helping me. A selfish man who never gave you anything in return. All I can say is… thank you, my dad of this world.”

“ *cough* *cough* I see I was able to become a good father to someone”

“ GRANT!!!! YOU’RE ALIVE!”

I went over to help Grant get up. He was blind in both eyes from my attack earlier.

“ Royal Crow, you have completely defeated me. When you told me that Alicia didn’t want me to die a pointless death. I wasn’t sure if I believed it. But at the moment you used your final skill, I realized I needed to live so I used my final blood defense skill. There were so many things that I haven’t taught you. Thank you for seeing this old man as your father of this world."

“ I don’t want to lose anyone anymore.”

Not Grant, not Sena, not Kaida, and not Tuuli.

I’m sure there will be more people in the future that I want to protect. Am I an idiot for wanting to end all injustices in this world? After all, one person alone cannot save everyone.