Eyes Out, Ears Open

Having another peaceful sitting in the evening, Zen and Nishiki sat together again facing each other. The sky reflected in orange lumine as it separated rays of warmth down till the feet of Ryuzu who sat by the garden. She looked up to a beautiful sunset which assured her a peaceful time, making her smile.

"Today's lesson, is an important one. So keep your eyes out, and ears open. It's necessary." Nishiki started off the conversation with an advise.

"Eyes out? What's that for--" Zen felt a sharp material's sensation to his forehead.

He instantly catches on a wooden dagger with the two of his fingers, which initially aimed to thrust in his forehead. That is way too dangerous for a rookie like him, but Nishiki was way too confident.

"That WAS NOT NECESSARY, FOR YOU, TO DO, AT ALL!" Zen ranted,

"Anyway," Nishiki finds a way to escape with words.

"As you know, 'Rakshas', are man-eating creatures and these piece of shits now possess weapons with them too. Not all of them but almost many these days," Nishiki continued to explain, "Some special and strong ones also use Elemental Arts, just like us. You could say they were once humans too, well, every Rakshas was."

"Now the point here to focus on, is how do we deal with them?"

"Ordinary Rakshas can be killed by decapitation, stabbed or injured in viral areas or loss of blood. Basically something just too effective works." 

"That's just human. The only difference is that they can regenerate their body parts, putting us to the disadvantage right?" Zen had a doubt.

"You're right," Nishiki answered, "Your brother must have healed from the injuries you gave him too."

"Hey! He's not a Rakshas..." Zen corrected Nishiki.

"Not like I care, pretty sure you didn't even injure him in the first place." Nishiki clears his throat. "But hey, let's get to a point more important now. Some Rakshas got that 'special blood' flowing in them."

"Special blood?"

"Yeah, it's called Enchanted Blood. Rakshas who have the Enchanted Blood flowing through their bodies are called the Enchanted Rakshas. They're particularly stronger than the ordinary no-game Rakshas'."

"Damn, must be a challenge to fight them, then. How do I know one is an Enchanted Rakshas?" Zen had a doubt again!

"When you get your ass beaten easily, kid." Nishiki replied,

"Ahem. Enchanted Rakshas are usually very good at fighting skills and contain more power than the normal ones. Some might even be intelligent enough to talk to you. Well in your case, you can see a body's aura and size based on their power levels, right?"

"Yeah."

"I'm assuming they have their own kind of Elemental Arts, so watch out Zen."

"I'll be strong enough and take them down."

"There are currently Nine Ranks, meaning Nine of them alive."

"Good luck."

The Next Day

"Today, I practiced on performing the Elemental Art physical movements, like the first stage, second stage, third stage. Ryuzu performed and practiced her own stages, well she's different and unique due to her Element Art being a unique one. BUT HEY! I'M MORE UNIQUE! I'VE GOT TWO ELEMENTAL ARTS!"

Due to God's blessing on this world, we live another day to see,

"Today, Nishiki-san hired an Earth User to create landslides for us, as we run to the top of the mountain with our own, so heavy, real, and made of steel swords. This man really wants to kill me, he'll SAVE RYUZU OF COURSE, YEAH, THAT'S GOTTA BE IT! HE DOESN'T NEED MORE BURDEN IN HIS LIFE, THAT'S IT--"

This will continue on for a month.

Training today, get you stronger for the next day...

"Nishiki-san really doesn't give one task but, too many for a day, and that is everyday. In fact, by the end of the day I and Ryuzu both have to par with him once. Slowly, I'm recognizing his movements more and more I fight him. Hah, then I'll get better than him, I'd be promoted to becoming a Mighty-Swordsman! HAH, HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT? NISHIKI-SAN-SAN! I'M ALMOST GOOD ENOUGH WITH MY ELEMENTAL ARTS AND I WILL BEAT Y--"

Zen was hit by Nishiki at the back of his head harshly for spacing out in his training.

He screamed.

Next week,

"Every time something was done wrong, we had severe punishments. Currently, as I speak to you, this is my fourteenth time hanging upside down on this tree. In my sixth hour right now, of course. That too, in the night, so I don't waste my time in the day by doing this."

He had also developed rough hands.

Next month!

"The day has finally come... I can finally... use Lightning Arts properly! Woo-hoo! My strength has gotten better than ever, and so has my speed. I'm now super fast, but old man told me to cut massive trunks of trees into half, with a steel sword. Can't afford to break it either."

HACK!

Zen's sword had been stuck in the trunk of the tree as he fails in one go!

"I wonder how Ryuga did it... I heard that he used to cut trees with wooden swords. How, is that even possible? He was called "The Man Who Cut Trees With Wooden Swords". I mean, that's a boring and lame name. But, like, how?"

"He is in a different league, and he is one alone in it. Unlike all of us... his concentration and perfect cut movement is purely good."

After a long time,

"I can at least cut twenty of them by now, maybe thirty by tomorrow. It's damn hard, but it's worth the training, plus we're getting daily wood and money through commissions. The right concentration and perfect movement is what all it takes... Geez, my palms have scars and warts in them."

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Finally, The Next Year...

It was a silent gaze into each other's battle spirit, having a tight grip of their swords and a venomous intent to take each other out in an attack, they both focused on their prey with utter concentration. They both were Zen and Nishiki, as they faced off each other on a ground surrounded by large woods, the leaves were brown big petals in autumn, lying on the ground as they crumbled on each step. They both held wooden swords in their hands, and Zen had gripped his life into his hands.

"Today I beat you, and finally become a real swords-man."

Zen said, to Nishiki.

"First one to get three hits, win."

Nishiki explained the rule.

"Zen."

"This is your last test from me."

"Do it well, son."

The frail voice from Ryuzu's soft tone echoed in the woods, standing far away she screamed to cheer Zen for his final test.

"You can do it!" Ryuzu cheered, "Zen!"

Zen blinked his eyes as he saw the face of Ryuga and the memories of the night where he lied down pathetically under the darkness of the sky, and the evilness of Ryuga. But in that matter of time, it took no gaps for Nishiki to march towards Zen Takagi at a great speed with his sword, fixed in his hands only for the purpose of slashing some one to death.

Zen instantly positioned himself into a more defensive stance as Nishiki went through him, their blades clashed and eyes left behind a glow, their blades hit and sparked, but Zen stayed still by absorbing the knock back.

He turns his head back towards Nishiki who had gone past him with a slash, which he had blocked. But seeing an empty ground, he notices mist forming through the leaves and lifting them up. It covered the whole surrounding vision with pure white mist and leaves together.

"Focus! It's not about finding 'him' through the mist, it's about finding his 'aura' in it! He is the main source of the mist's elemental energy so his aura would be in a greater collection than the mist! The direction I see more aura from is where he is approaching from."

Zen takes a gulp as he keeps turning around.

"And that is the direction I slash my sword, shoot my shot."

As he breaks out of his thinking, the wooden edge already hits Zen's foot once causing him to almost loose balance and trip down, but he controlled his steadiness once again.

"Surrounded, are you?" Nishiki's insult echoed.

"Shit! That's one hit... The aura might take too much time to form through dense mist, I need to do something more better."

Nishiki ran around in the other parts of the field through his deep mist, not being noticed.

"Wind Arts..."

Zen wildly moved his sword around in all directions and shot out many large pressures of wind bursting through the mist among the battlefield, as they barely cleared the fog but gave him a chance to properly see.

"I can't just keep finding Nishiki-san again and again for three hits each time. This mist won't let me."

Just then, through the mist was a tree close enough to be visible to Zen, as not only his sword, but his brain sparked through ideas too. He recklessly ran towards the big tree but suddenly mid-way he starts to fall towards the front.

As Zen falls almost down to the ground, he dodges the sword attack which Nisihki aimed towards his head, meaning he tripped on purpose to dodge it.

"The aura and the voice here was the most accurate. Nishiki-san."

"Tripped? What hell Zen?" Nishiki was surprised by the level of silliness.

He instantly cancels his fall by pushing both his hands against the ground and attempts a handstand front flip towards the tree's trunk, which was so high that he got where he reached, taking back his sword to hand from the mouth. How did he do all of this, this fast?

"No... He's upto something else." Nishiki tried to predict the plan,

"One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six is this one. That's good! I need to give him all three shots in once!" Zen planned it as he sticked himself to the tree and stood vertically.

"My luck, my Wind, my buddy, show me your strength!"

"Wind Arts..."

Zen instantly disappeared from the spot as he jumped towards the trees on the opposite side, pushing all the wind he possessed with him, luring the mist away with the force of the wind too! But before all the mist could reach into one place, Zen already dashed and flew towards another tree, and then another, and then another! The constant movement of Zen created a cycle in a zig-zag as he jumped on the trees, surrounding the arena one by one, forming a star shape.

The mist soon cleared up.

"Oh boy, that's interesting kiddo." Nishiki mumbled with excitement.

"Zen..." Ryuzu's eyes widened by this 'star' play.

While jumping from one tree to another in a high electric speed, a voice came out rushing through the winds into Nishiki's ears. "Who's the one surrounded now? Huh?!" It echoed through all the trees in the forest.

The cycle kept getting faster and faster as the barks and wood from the tree started to break out and some trees had footsteps imprinted on them. Nishiki stood in the middle as he looked up to flashy lights forming a star shape, observing Zen's movements. It is not so easy anymore.

Many slashes of wind bursts head towards Nishiki's direction, giving him no choice but to dodge each one.

Nishiki had been distracted by these set of attacks as the next time he blinked his eyes, he saw many images of Zen together at once, the speed was inevitable. Nishiki quickly gained back his control as he lowered his stance and sighed.

Mist burst out of his sword and covered him again, there was movement inside the smoke again.

Zen appears right in front of him with a mischievous smirk on his face.

"It's never too late, until you FACE ME!"

"I kept track of your bigger aura this time!"

"Lightning Arts..."

Time slowed down for Zen Takagi, as he sighed with a cold breath. He gripped his sword once again through the storm of after images. The real one moved faster, as he spoke the words along his slashes:

"5th Stage."

Nishiki's eyes widened as he was surprised by the reaction time and how he was taken by surprise, but he did not wait a moment and attempted to strike Zen right away. Nishiki did get a hit on Zen through the after images formed as he too was not a rookie to be tricked by this. But,

"Star... BURST!"

Lightning roared out of Zen's wooden sword, as he disappeared within a fraction of time with all the after images combining into one, and Nishiki through five different directions from the trees, like a star shaped attacking pattern. Nishiki could only block one, as he got outnumbered by four hits!

As the dust flew around, the lightning sparked fainter, and Zen appears in front of Nishiki with a position for the perfect stab, as he smirked again and his eyes widened in excitement. He pointed his sword right on the forehead of Nishiki.

"Eyes out, and ears open. That's necessary." Zen advised to Nishiki, his teacher.

"Won?" He asked,

"Woah, definitely won, kid. Congrats,"

"Swords-man Zen Takagi." Nishiki answered.

His eyes shined for a bare moment, as he resisted all his tears of training and rubbed his face with his forearm, as he took a long breath and yelled--

"Let's--"

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

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Zen's outsmarting and victory does not mean he surpassed Nishiki in anyway, in fact, Former Mighty-Swords-Man Nishiki had gone way too easy on him, using 1% of what he had in the inventory.