‘I definitely had it, if I picture it moving like an actual muscle in my body then it’s easier to manipulate.’

The small wooden sword covered in scratches raised into a readied position, about to strike at him again.

Kira envisioned his mana running through his body and was able to feel his body growing lighter.

As the wooden blade shot through the air, Kira dodged it with ease and jumped back to create distance between them.

“I’m moving faster…I could see it so clearly as well.” He said happily.

‘So this is what mana can do, I wonder how far I could take this?’ He thought.

The sword danced around him, trying to strike him with each swing but missed every time.

Moto watched from one of the nearby trees, perched up so high in the branches that he felt like he was sitting in the stars.

He grinned at Kiramaru dodging the sword with ease.

The next day Kira grabbed the sword before it was able to strike him and could feel the resistance from its movements cease.

“It stopped moving?” He asked with a confused expression.

“It took you over a week but you finally got it right, you really don’t catch on to my teachings well do you?” Moto sighed.

‘What teaching…’ Kira wondered.

“Next you’ll be learning how to fight for real; take this on with more caution.” Moto said.

He lifted a finger and with a single bend from his index finger he summoned a regular sized sword with a hard wooden handle and steel blade. The steels shine ran fear down Kira’s spine as the blade began to move forward.

It bared a strange symbol along the hilt of the blade that caught his eye.

“Bare handed against a real blade, are you crazy?” He asked nervously.

“You’re right; maybe I have been going too easy on you…” Moto pondered seriously.

Kira had stepped towards the blade with a stern expression,

“Sorry to bother you, I’ll get back to training…” He said nervously as he turned to the blade.

The blade cut through the air at an incredible speed, with the sole intention of passing through Kira. He managed to dodge it and back flipped away to create a meter of distance but the blade began spinning towards him.

‘Why’s it spinning, this one has a different attack pattern than the practice blade!’ Kira thought.

The blade cut his cheek as he rolled to the side, dodging out of the way.

The sword flew around the air at an incredible speed but Kira held on quite well, almost matching its pace perfectly. He had definitely gotten faster than before.

‘There’s no point in trying to use my flames, even if I could get it to work I would need to touch the blade to burn it.’

Kira frantically scratched around on the floor for anything that he could use to defend himself, eventually grabbing a long stick and wondering if it could work.

“Seriously… Something. Anything else!” Kira said angrily.

The blade pierced through the air and was less than a meter away from him, aimed to his head at full speed.

He forced his body backwards, dropping down to the floor in an instant. He flooded a large amount of mana into his legs by instinct and was able to use them at an inhuman degree.

‘I have been pouring mana in to my body in sections or all together to make myself faster, could I do that with objects too?’ He wondered.

The blade turned back around in a swift and elegant manner. No matter how much time passed it would always focus back on him and try to take his head.

‘Just imagine the mana flowing from my body and into the stick…focus….focus…’

Kiramaru smacked the sword away using the stick, which brimmed with a dim glow from mana.

As the blade relentlessly followed with a flurry of attacks from every angle it could, Kira continued to hold them off using the stick and occasionally a stone he would imbue with mana as well.

Although it worked, Moto occasionally came down from his meditating to make fun of Kira. HE followed with remarks like ‘Monkey Boy’ and ‘jellyfish legs’.

He continued training for a few months only growing better until he was able to see it. He had improved to the point where the sword was moving slowly to him and he could dance around it with confidence.

The sword span rapidly like a saw towards him, Kira waited for the blade to reach his face and then he caught it. He trapped the blade between the palms of his hands and held it without a problem.

Moto clapped his hands as he watched down on him from the tree above. He released that look again, the same scary stare that struck fear into Kira’s heart in an instance.

Moto dropped down from the tree that stood at least forty meters in the air, landing down onto the ground with a large slam. The earth under him left two small craters beneath his feet and cracks spreading from those points.

The air dispersed around him in the shape of a circle and ruffled Kira’s clothes and hair.

‘This guy…he really is a monster?’ Kira thought with a nervous expression.

“You should already know what’s to come, so what are you standing around for?” Moto asked while adjusting the material around his wrist.

His entire stature had changed, the more Kira examined him the worse he felt his odds had become. Moto was in outstanding condition and seemed to have even more muscle definition than before but retained his lean build.

‘I know that he is a monster but…but I can’t help feel a little excited for this one.’ Kira thought.

He burst forward and closed the gap in seconds, about to release a massive attack on Moto from below.

He threw his foot in an upward sweep position but felt a growing pressure holding his foot down, resulting in him freezing on the spot.

Kira held his shaking leg right beside Moto’s body and wasn’t able to move from that position.

He locked eyes with Moto and couldn’t look away from the two glowing green eyes that looked as if they were warning him about a sudden death if he had finished that attack.

“Normally in a fight you should always keep your eyes attached to your opponent but-” Moto paused.

The air around Moto suddenly moved upwards at a speed that became visible, he was commanding a large aura that seemed to titan over Kira.

“In this case you shouldn’t do that.” Moto said sternly.

Kira jumped backwards on instinct and created a massive distance between them while he tried regaining composure.

(Gulp)

“There’s no way…he is going all out on me, there’s no way.”

Kira grabbed his leg that he used earlier to attack with, it was shaking profusely and wasn’t able to settle.

“How can I be this weak? How long have I been here? How much time has Ko had to grow stronger? How much more time am I going to let her suffer in her own body?!”

Kira shifted his attention to Moto’s feet and rushed in again, this time he wasn’t afraid.

He threw a straight right but missed him completely. He lifted his leg up and brought it around for a large hook kick, missing again. Then a punch. Then a combo of punches.

‘He is seriously fast…If I speed up then I might be able to hit him but my arms will go numb in minutes from that amount of stress.’

Kiramaru started letting larger amounts of mana into his muscles and felt the speed of his movements increasing.

It started getting harder for him to track his own movements but he was still too slow to hit him.

Each punch felt like hell to him because his muscles were screaming from the fatigue and physical stress.

“Tsk, damn you!” Kira screamed.

“Oh-ho, you’re getting angry? I would have thought with all those months you would have been a little stronger.”

Moto drove a flat palm into Kira's chest, stopping his movements entirely and causing him to fall over unconsciously for a moment.

‘What did he…do to me?’ Kira thought.

He landed flat on his back, feeling the mana slip out from his muscles and felt slightly relieved.

“I wasn’t able to even touch you…” Kira said shamefully.

“Of course you weren't, you were using mana like it’s a temporary boost to help you get stronger or faster.” Moto said.

He placed his hand over his face with disappointment and sighed deeply.

“Spread the mana out evenly throughout your body. Indefinitely.”

Kira closed his eyes and was able to feel the flow of mana within him but this time as a large flame that sat in the centre of his body.

He was able to sense his mana instead of envisioning it himself.

The flame moved along with his thoughts and did as he wanted, like a sixth sense. It spread throughout his body and filled him with mana.

Instead of flooding his muscles like before, he simply redirected the mana to store and flow in his entire body permanently instead of at the centre.

Kira stared at his hands with confusion but smiled, he felt rejuvenated from the feeling of mana merging with his being.

‘I feel slightly stronger than before, with such a simple fix.’ Kira thought.