Hashira

Aziel dashed at Gio, expecting him to dissolve into wind. He swung his scythe and, Gio narrowly dodged the attack. He dissolved into wind and flew through the giant tornado.

"You can't attack me while you're stuck in there," Gio remarked as he reappeared outside.

"So your wind prana is capable of escaping this tornado?" Aziel questoned from inside the tornado.

"What about it?" Gio shouted proudly, "knowing that won't change anything!"

"Yes, it will," Aziel smirked.

"Mirror Prana: Piercing Wind Palm!"

Aziel struck the tornado with the attack, causing the tornado to disperse.

As the entire tornado disappeared, Aziel turned around and looked at Gio, whose mouth was gaping open.

"I copied your attack at the beginning of the battle," Aziel explained, "the second time you used that attack, I blocked it with the tip of my blade. And as you probably know, any attack that touches the tip of my blade enters my arsenal."

"I didn't think that through," Gio whispered, "I was too cocky and, that cost me my tornado which, was my biggest advantage."

"Mirror Prana: Flame Missile!"

Red flames materialized on Aziel's arm and scythe. He pointed his scythe towards Gio and, a skinny blast of fire flew out of his scythe.

"It's fast," Gio said as he crossed his arms to block the attack.

The attack hit Gio and caused an explosion of fire.

Gio scouted out his surroundings, expecting Aziel to appear. But, to his dismay, he saw nothing but flames and thick smoke.

"What could he be planning," Gio said with an annoyed expression.

He stretched his arms out and let out a deep breath. "Of course, I'd be the one to get stuck with this guy. The other two get to fight weaklings and, they're still taking this long."

"Wind Prana: Piercing Winds!"

Strong winds shot out of his palms, dispersing the smoke and clearing his vision.

Gio looked around, failing to find Aziel.

"Did he already teleport away?" Gio wondered out loud.

He noticed Aziel running towards him with his scythe in his hand.

"What an obvious attack," Gio muttered as he dodged the attack and punched Aziel in the stomach.

He sent Aziel flying and, as he prepared to chase after him, Gio saw Aziel appear. Aziel slammed his fist into the side of Gio's face, knocking him off balance.

As Gio fell back, he felt something hit his back.

He turned around, noticing it was Aziel who had hit him.

"He was just in front of me," Gio said.

He looked around as multiple Aziels appeared in the street.

Gio formed a confused expression. "His mirror prana allows him to clone himself?"

The clones formed a circle around Gio and, they all simultaneously dashed towards him.

Gio spun his hand in a circle, causing fast winds that sliced through the clones.

"Is this what you think of me?" Gio said, "sending these weak clones at me?"

A mirror appeared below Gio.

Gio looked down, "that's it. Come back so I can fight the real you."

He jumped back as Aziel emerged out of the mirror.

"I can't sense his aura," Gio observed, "It's just another clone."

Gio dashed towards the clone, and as he moved, he began to feel Aziel's aura.

Aziel emerged out of a mirror in the sky and began to fall towards Gio.

"I'll use ririsu to end this," Aziel said as he swung his scythe forward.

Gio kicked the clone away and, he looked up at Aziel, who was about to attack.

Both fighters shouted in sync.

"Ririsu Prana:-"

They were distracted by a loud explosion, they both turned their heads to the source.

A worried expression formed on Aziel's face. "That's where Val and the others are."

"Looks like that's my cue," Gio said as he dissolved into wind, "such a shame. I was looking forward to seeing your ririsu abilities."

David stared down at Sergio, who was still holding Koji.

"How do you plan on achieving that goal?" Sergio asked.

"I'll use Raijah," David explained, "he has enough potential to beat the man that murdered our parents."

"Who's Raijah?" Sergio asked, "and why is his potential so great?"

"You weren't at this year's awakening ceremony?"

"I was," Sergio replied, "I fell asleep after Cora's awakening."

David's scythe teleported away, "I listened in on the meeting of elites. Raijah has divine prana. The same prana that the gods have. If he masters that prana, he'll be able to defeat some of the strongest beings in existence."

"All Koji and I have to do is help you get this Raijah kid and, you'll be out of our way?" Sergio asked.

"Yes," David replied, "however, I'm not sure Koji would accept that. I told him I'd train him."

"You weren't going to attack immediately?" Sergio questioned.

David shook his head, "I'll give Aziel time to train Raijah. While he does that, I'll train Koji and continue to the second part of my plan."

"I'll join you on one condition and one condition only," Sergio said with a grin.

"What do you want," David replied, obviously frustrated by Sergio's question.

"You tell me the name of the man you want revenge on."

A moment of silence passed and, David formed an annoyed look, "fine."

Raijah felt aches all over his body, "I can't even move," Raijah thought as tears continued to run down his cheeks.

He began to hear the thud of footsteps nearby.

Raijah ignored the noise and continued to try to move his body.

As the sound of the footsteps grew closer, Raijah looked towards where he heard them.

A familiar old man with long gray hair walked towards Raijah. He wore black pants and a plain white collared shirt with sandals.

"You're the old man from the martial arts dojo. You helped me hone my skills," Raijah said with a confused look, "what are you doing here?"

"Wipe the tears from your face," the man said in a demanding tone.

"I can't even move my body," Raijah responded.

The man walked towards Raijah and touched him on his forehead.

Raijah felt his injuries and exhaustion disappear.

"How did you do that," Raijah said as he looked at his healed body.

"It's one of my ririsu abilities," the man explained.

Raijah wiped his tears and stood up.

"I've never gotten to use my full powers," Raijah thought, "I was already exhausted from the fight with Teo and, then that speedy guy was sapping my energy."

Raijah released his prana and, an eruption followed. A red aura surrounded him and, lightning began to strike all around him.

Raijah looked up at the man as he said, "why are there three different pranas inside of me? Aziel said there were only two, which are your signature prana and natural prana. So, why am I feeling an extra one?"

"There are three pranas that flow within you," the man said, "natural prana, signature prana, and true divine prana."

"True divine prana is similar to ririsu-"

"Wait," Raijah interrupted, "I need to go get Cora and Teo. Can you explain all of that later?"

As the man nodded his head, Raijah came to a realization.

"I thought you were only a skilled martial artist," Raijah said, "but you know a whole lot about prana too. Who are you?"

The old man laughed before he said, "he hasn't told you, has he?"

Raijah had a blank expression on his face, which indicated that he had no idea what the man meant.

The man looked up as he began to sense Aziel coming towards them, "I'm Hashira. The man that trained Aziel."