Cut through, cut through,

O sword of mine.

... Is that all you do?

O sword of mine?

*Pat... pat...*

*Shuffle*

Rai figured this was the case, since he couldn’t feel her, but he had to confirm it with his eyes. And so, Rai opened his eyes and confirmed it. Which, in hindsight, was probably not all that necessary.

Sin wasn’t lying next to him in bed.

Rai flopped back around onto his back and sprawled his limbs out, letting out a big sigh.

“Thinking... really isn’t easy.” He mumbled to himself.

Rai felt like he really put in a lot of mental effort coming up with the plan that they used to get rid of the officers on the day before.

*Clang... clang...*

“Ah. She’s training with Jin. Poor thing.”

Rai rolled his eyes up a little to look out of his window just above his head.

It was still a little dark, but there were some rays of light coming through the clouds near the horizon.

“Yep. It’s the same time I had to wake up when I was a kid. Gosh, she’s really in for it...

Alright. HUP!”

Rai leapt off his bed.

And realised he was completely naked.

Instantly, he used Stormflow to put some loose, comfortable, clothes on.

The first thing he wanted to do today was talk to Reiki about killing the leviathan, but his mum probably didn’t want to hear about that all that much...

Instead, Rai went and brushed his teeth, and just had a nice breakfast with her. They talked about his time at the Academy, and a little more about some of the teachers whose classes he enjoyed. Rai even talked about some of the students that he liked being around, and how he’d made friends with some of the students in the year above him by fighting all of them. Of course, he conveniently left out the part where he practically had to kill one of them...

Reiki listened enthusiastically to her son’s passion for magic and fighting, even though she herself didn’t see the appeal in those things.

It was a nice, calm morning that she enjoyed with her son.

After his breakfast, Rai went outside.

He watched as Sin trained with Jin.

She was using her daggers... but not in her hands. It was through her Domain.

Sin’s daggers flew through the air following her hand motions and leg movements.

When she kicked, her daggers would flow in the same direction.

When she sliced her arms through the air, her daggers would do the same.

Of course, she was unbelievably bad at it right now. Sin kept stumbling over and rolling in the dirt. But she kept getting up and trying again.

Jin would correct her posture every time she fell, and she’d improve a little with each new attempt.

Rai also realised that this Dance of hers wasn’t designed to be used with her daggers. In fact, knowing Sin, she’d keep her daggers as a last resort short-ranged option.

Based on what he knew of fighting and weapon types, and even about the Dance... Sin was going to need a weapon that no one used.

Raw blades. Without a hilt or handle.

This was the only thing that made sense to Rai.

Maybe 6 or 8 of them, so that they could flow together, and work in a symphony.

They’d need to be made out of some of the strongest material one could find, otherwise they’d shatter very easily due to the stresses they’d have to take from multiple angles depending on the fight. But that was for her to worry about in the future.

At least, based on what Rai was seeing right now, he knew that Sin’s Blade Dance would become very beautiful. And powerful.

Rai was excited to see it come to fruition.

For now, however, he was content with watching Sin stumble about in the dirt and giggling to himself.

“Rai!” Jin shouted.

“Ah shit.” Rai whispered under his breath. “Yes?” He replied, louder.

“C’mere.”

Rai got up and went over to Jin and Sin.

Sin was panting, keeled over, and dripping with dirty sweat.

“Sin’s done for the morning. It’s your turn.”

“Oh, is that it? I thought I was getting told off or something.”

“... Why?” Jin asked, with a curious eye.

“Y’know... I don’t really know. It just feels like that’d make sense.”

“Well, you’re not getting told off. So c’mon, let’s talk weaknesses.”

“Before that, Sin. Are you good to go to the bathhouse on your own?” Rai asked.

Sin nodded as she heaved heavy breaths.

She couldn’t talk, since she needed all of the breath she was taking in for her body.

After a solid moment, she hobbled her way over to the bathhouse, still almost completely out of breath.

Reiki was heading in at the same time, so she helped Sin out.

“Right. Weaknesses...” Rai said.

“To start with, you asked me about what I did about my own weaknesses. So let’s talk about that.”

“Oh yeah! That’s a great idea! So, you obviously had to start somewhere, like everyone else. You don’t use magic, and only use your body and your swords... so how’d you overcome your lack of versatility at that point?”

“Hmm... Thinking back on it... I didn’t.”

“... Eh? Didn’t you fight in the war? You didn’t have to learn to be more versatile there?”

“I don’t remember ever telling you that, Rai.”

Rai froze. He figured that it would’ve been common knowledge in the family, but clearly it wasn’t. He only really knew because of Maya’s mother’s description of her old general combined with the images he saw in the Phoenix’s Trials.

“How’d you find out?”

“... A few things... I think one of your subordinates lives in Aurum. She was a very muscular elf with blue hair... seemed like a brawler to me.”

“Tiana... She’s alive?... Hmm...”

“You know her?! We were being careful not to act like we knew you just in case...”

“No. You did what was right. All this means is I’ll have to take a trip to Aurum soon.”

Rai’s face brightened.

“Then come to where me and Sin are staying! Aunt Elly’s staying there too! And... it’s also... where 3 Aspects are staying...”

Jin smirked.

“You forget?”

“I forgot.”

“It’s fine. Anyway, tell me how you know. I’m not mad, I’m just curious.”

“Well... the first thing was Tiana, like I said. Sin nearly slipped by describing you, and she took it as a hint that you were still alive. We managed to avoid telling her the truth though.

The second thing was through a vision into the past. I got plopped into this big guy with an axe who chopped down a bunch of people like trees, then you came along and sliced his... my... his head off.”

“I see... I do remember that. It was a very boring day.”

“Not my fault.”

“You weren’t even there.”

“Technically I was.” Rai said with a raised finger.

“That doesn’t... whatever.” Jin frustratingly replied. “It’s fine that you know, just don’t talk about it. Now, can we get back on track?”

“Probably a good idea. So, you didn’t have to overcome your weaknesses?”

“Not in that sense. I still overcame them, but by enhancing my strengths to the point that my weaknesses didn’t matter.”

“That... really doesn’t help me as much as I thought it would.”

“That’s because you’re not me. What you need isn’t the same as what I needed. Which is why I felt like my experience wouldn’t actually help you here...”

“Real introspective you are there, general.”

Ignoring Rai’s tease, Jin slowly started pacing.

He stopped after a moment.

“If your weakness is that your only strength is your aggression, then what do you need to do?”

“I think... work on my defensive techniques and utility techniques.”

“You mentioned that lightning spell you came up with, the one that siphons pain. That’s a good start, but that’s probably all you can do with lightning that’s actually useful for others.”

“Yeah... and before you mention it, I am going to continue working on Balance, even though I still don’t know where to start looking. I just want to make sure I don’t end up too lop-sided.”

“You’re on the right path already. Don’t think too hard. You’ll hurt your head.”

“... Right.”

“So, start off by examining Hellfire. See what it actually is, and how you can use it to your advantage.”

“Okay. I’ll start on that now, and see where it leads me.”

“In that case, I’ll go tend the farm. Don’t burn the house down, please.”

“... I’ll just go and do it one field over then, how about that?”

“Perfect.”

Rai left Jin to work on the farm, as he focused his efforts on Hellfire.

As he made his way over to the empty field, a good distance away from his house, Rai found peace in the quiet songs of Zenith’s morning winds.

The sky was a little brighter now, as Zenith’s twin suns peeked above the horizon.

Rai sat down in the centre of the field.

He called forth Hellfire.