Chapter 31 Night Talks and Visions

"What the problem Sunny?" said Raizel getting Sunny out of his thought.

Sunny look at Raizel then at the soul shards on his hands, then as if coming into a decision, he moved the five soul shards in Raizel direction.

Seeing this Raizel raised an eyebrow, then said. "What are you doing Sunny ? Don't you want to get stronger."

Hearing this a grinned formed on Sunny face.

"Of course, I do. But these won't do me much good right now. It's no secret that you are the main fighting force of our group." 

He sighed.

"The stronger you are, the better our chances of survival will get. Plus, it's not a gift....."

He paused.

"....it's a trade."

'I think i know where this is going.' thought Raizel, he was silent for a bit before saying.

"What do you mean by trade."

Sunny think about for a few seconds before answering. 

"It's rather simple. I will give you these soul shards, and all other soul shards I earn on the way to that castle..." 

He paused for a second, then said

"In return, you will teach me how to fight."

'Again this didn't happened in the book, wasn't it supposed to be Nephis.' thought Raizel while glancing at Changing Star, then he looked at Sunny, Raizel knows that this change is small, but it can have a huge impact in the future.

'Like their relationship and other such things.'

'Should i accept it ?' After all it's not like he can use these shards, so whether Sunny give them to him or not, it doesn't change any fact.

Raizel look at Sunny with his usual emotionless face, not saying anything for a long time. 

Sunny felt a bit nervous under his gaze, probably wondering if Raizel is going to accept his trade or not. 

Their was a silence for a minute which was broken by Raizel.

"Sure" he said Raizel while taking the soul shards.

Hearing this Sunny sigh in relief, then asked.

"So when do we start?"

"Now." 

Sunny was confused as he look at the dark sky.

"What i mean is, we will only start with some words, Cassie, Nephis if you want too, you can listen too."

As they head their name mention, both girls sat uptight. 

Sunny couldn't help but frown as he thought that he is was the one who has given the soul shards, while these girls are getting the knowledge for free, but he didn't voice out his voice.

The three Sleeper sat like obedient students. Despite the fact that that Raizel was three years younger then them, ( They come to know it when Cassie casually asked Raizel about his age ) they know that he is far more skilled then them, weather it is Strength or Intelligence.

After all they had seen it with their own eyes, except for Cassie ofcourse.

'i don't think i should teach him the Solomon family Arts.' thought Raizel, he was never going to share the knowledge his mother has teached him, after all that knowledge is something way more precious to the point that it can make even make a person with no talent for fighting into someone who can even fight up against a Saint.

Then after a while he said.

"Before you learn how to fight, and before you touch a weapon, you must first understand what Mastery of Combat truly means."

A heavy stillness followed his words, Nephis seems clam, while Sunny and Cassie shoulder sniff.

They all waited for Raizel to continued, 

"Mastery of Combat is not about strength. It is not about speed. It is not even about skill," he said, his gaze cold and detached. "It is about control."

He paused letting his words sink into them, then he continued.

"Control over yourself, control over your enemy, and control over the battlefield. A true master does not fight merely with their fists but with their mind. The weak fight with anger. The strong fight with purpose. The masters fight with inevitability."

Cassie shivered slightly. 

Nephis, nodded slightly.

Sunny raised an eyebrow, as he said.

"That sounds fancy and all, but if I punch someone, they'll still bleed. I don't see how 'control' matters when a blade is at your throat."

Raizel turned to him, his violet eyes locking onto Sunny's dull black ones. "And that is why you will never be anything more than a mere fighter," he said flatly.

Sunny scowled but didn't retort.

"A master never lets a blade reach their throat," Raizel continued "They dictate the pace of the battle. They force their opponent to make mistakes. They see every move before it happens, because they control not just their actions, but the enemy's as well."

Sunny eyes were widden as he come to realizations.

'This... this..' Cassie clenched her hands together. She wasn't a fighter, but the way Raizel spoke made her feel as though she was glimpsing a terrifying truth.

Nephis watched Raizel carefully. He wasn't just repeating philosophy. He spoke as though he had lived by these words. 'Who really are you Raizel ?'

Sunny, though irritated by the earlier insult, smirked slightly. "So, what you're saying is… the best way to fight is to never actually 'fight' at all?"

Raizel's expression remained unreadable. "The best way to fight is to ensure you have already won before the first strike is thrown."

Silence.

'Already.... won before the fight.... even started.'

Even Nephis, who had been trained by the greatest warriors, found herself contemplating his words.

Cassie hesitated before speaking, her voice barely above a whisper. "But… what if you have no choice? What if you have to fight, even when you're not ready?"

Raizel turned his violet eyes toward her, and for the first time, there was the faintest flicker of something behind them.

It wasn't warmth.

It wasn't reassurance.

It was something much, much darker.

"Then you make sure," he said softly, "that even in death, you are still the one who decides what happens next."

'How...' Cassie bit her lip, unsure if that answer reassured or frightened her.

"If you can understand that, you will have enough clarity to master the mind." said Raizel ending the first night lecture.

Nephis, for the first time, felt something unfamiliar in Raizel's presence.

Not fear.

Not respect.

Something else.

Recognition.

Sunny, after a long pause, gave a low laugh and leaned back on his elbows. "Well," he said, smirking again, though there was something sharper in his gaze now. "Aren't you a scary Raizel?"

Even he was surprised and shocked at what he has just heard, after all the one who looked the most harmless was the one who is the most strongest.

'Strongest huh....'

Sunny leaned back, arms crossed behind his head, his dark eyes glinting with something between mockery and curiosity.

He tilted his head slightly, studying Raizel with a lazy smirk..

"You know, Raizel." he drawled, lips curling into a smirk, "for someone who talks like a walking nightmare, you sure don't look the part."

Nephis and Cassie were confused as they didn't understand what was Sunny trying to say...

Raizel didn't said anything, but he knows what Sunny was trying to say....

He stood slightly apart from the rest of the group, his long peal white hair cascading over his shoulders. 

His face, pale and refined, was an illusion of softness—his violet eyes too large, his lashes too long, his figure too slender. 

His presence was like that of a specter, silent and distant, as if he existed just slightly out of reach.

To look at him was to see something fragile, something delicate.

Something utterly harmless.

Sunny tilted his head, his smirk widening. "I mean, let's be real here," he continued, gesturing at Raizel "To the world, you don't look like some ruthless killer. You don't even look like a guy. You look like some delicate little noble girl—beautiful, fragile, defenseless."

Sunny was not trying to insult Raizel, but he was just saying the facts, and he knows that too.

What he has said is nothing but truth.

Raizel hearing this said nothing, he was thinking.

'He didn't know that the most harmless one's are the most dangerous...' thought Raizel as his gaze swiped over to Cassie, before shifting his gaze back to Sunny.

Nephis didn't speak either, because she knew it was true.

She had spent years training with warriors of her clans and some master who looked nothing like Raizel, they look scary, but Raizel was something else entirely. He was the opposite. A blade hidden in silk.

Cassie, too, remained silent.

But her silence was different.

She had never seen Raizel's face. She only knew his voice—cold, emotionless and beautiful. To her, he is the first friend she made at the Academy, the one person that didn't abandoned her, the one that tried to make her laugh even when he was not good at it.

Cassie long wanted to see what he looks like, but because of her blindness she has never seen his appearance, From Sunny and other people she has head, she has come to know that Raizel has long white hairs, dark violet eyes, and a vey beautiful face, but he also looks like a girl, making other confused about his gender.

She couldn't help but imagine a character from a cartoon she used to watched.

Pic

Sunny exhaled through his nose, shaking his head. "It's actually funny when you think about it," he said, watching Raizel with a glint of amusement. "You talk about control, about bending the world to your will. But to them—to the ones looking from the outside? You're nothing but a harmless little thing. A flower in the wind. A porcelain doll, too fragile to even hold a weapon."

His smirk turned razor-sharp.

"They'd assume you were harmless. A flower to be admired, a fragile doll to be protected."

"You could walk into a town full of trained killers, and they wouldn't even spare you a second glance. They'd assume you were harmless. A flower to be picked, a porcelain doll to be admired." He smirked. "And then, what? By the time they realize their mistake, it's already too late ?"

And then, Raizel finally spoke.

"Trained killers can recognize another killer." His voice was soft, but it carried the weight of certainty. "To them, appearance doesn't matter."

"It's because they can smell blood and can also see the aura of the person, seeing the aura then they will decide if the person is a killer or not."

His words seems to have cracked something in them, but no one else moved.

Raizel's violet eyes swept over them, unreadable and empty.

"Remember this—all three of you," he continued, his tone eerily calm. "The ones who look the most harmless are the ones you should truly fear."

The words sank into the silence like a blade sinking into flesh.

Cassie's hands clenched slightly in her lap.

Nephis remained perfectly still, since she know that it was the truth.

And Sunny… Sunny's smirk froze for a fraction of a second, he didn't expect this answer.

Somehow, somehow, Raizel suddenly felt like the most dangerous person sitting there.

The most harmless-looking one of them all.

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Sunny(pov)

Laying on the cold stone, and looking at the dark sky, their was only two thing going on my mind about what Raizel said.

"Harmless one's are the most dangerous." Sunny never put much thought into it, but now that he think about it, it is easy for other to let their guard down when they realize that a person is weaker then them, not knowing that it is nothing but a plan made by that person.

i remember how the hero tried to killed me in my first nightmare, the hero mistake was that he thought that i trusted him, but i know from the start.

"There is nothing more pathetic than a slave who begins to trust his slaver."

'i don't regret it.' that's right i don't regret it a bit, no matter what other calls me, i know that those people were going to betrayed me from the start, and i just betrayed them at the end.

"Survival is all that matters, nothing more nothing less."

As i was thinking about this, his another words sounded in my ears.

"Control the battlefield, won the fight before it even started"

If what Prince of Darkness said is true, then the core of being a warrior is nothing but control.

'Easier said then done...' i couldn't help but scoff, i knows to reach that point i need to work really really hard, and that was also a very long way before i can even control a battlefield, but first i needs to learn how to properly use a sword, after all if i don't know how to use a weapon, forget about controlling the battlefield, i won't even survive. 

Their were so many question going inside my mind, like how to control a battlefield, how to win before the fight even started, but i knows that those questions answer is something Raizel will not tell, he would properly tell something like, i need to figure it out myself or something.

But i know that what Raizel said was truth.

A ruthless truth. Since my whole life is the prime example of that.

As i recall the time i spend in outstirks, bad memory started appearing on my mind. Quickly getting rid of them i look at Raizel who was sitting in a meditation position. He is sitting with his eyes closed but i knew that he wasn't sleeping, i know His beautiful face still emotionless.

'Damn' i cursed mentally as i turned my head, how can someone be so beautiful, i am not complaining but his beauty can even put Master Jet to shame.

i use to think that no one is more beautiful then her, but Raizel just broke my world view.

I couldn't help but think about the first time i met Raizel, it was not a pleasant memory.

Then with a "sight" i turned my head in his direction. His face was still emotionless.

Honestly i don't know how can someone keep the same expression on their face. I mean i have seen many time Nephis stoic face cracked a few times, but Raizel always has the same expression on his face, even when he was fighting those scavengers not one movement his face twitch a bit, which honestly was scary.

'Just what has he gone through to have that kind of expression'

I couldn't even imagine what kind of childhood he had receive to have an emotionless expression.

Or 

'It is related to one of his attribute.' i mean their are many aspects or attributes that can alter someone physic's or body.

'Well whatever it not my place to say anything.' i mean what's that got to do with me, with what type of expression he made, for me all i need to do is survive this hell hole and hope that i reach the walking world safely.

With these thought i slowly drifted to sleep.

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Early in the morning, their was a strange silence in the group, Raizel was holding Cassie, trying to clam her down, Sunny and Nephis were watching from the sideline not knowing what to do, since they themselves have no idea what happened to Cassie.

It all started when they all heard a scream and that scream belong to non other then Cassie, who was dangerously close to the edge of the cliff.

Sunny quickly save her, and brought her back to the middle, Nephis tried to clam her down, but it seems like her blind friend was trembling in fear, she seems scared of something to the point that she even flinch when Nephis tried to touch her.

"It seems like she had a vision, we should give her some time." said Raizel as he put Cassie down gently, then he looked at Nephis.

"Take care of her."

Nephis nodded at his words, while Raizel looked at Sunny gesturing him to follow.

Sunny looked at Cassie he wanted to asked what happened to her, why is she acting like this and so many questions were on his mind but he decided against it, as he shifted his gaze from her to Raizel and follow him.

Now both Raizel and Sunny were standing at the right side of the cliff, not too far away from the girls, but also not too close.

Raizel turned to Sunny, his long peal white hair flowing with the wind. His expression was as unreadable as ever. "Summon your weapon."

Sunny raised a brow. "Just like that?"

Raizel didn't repeat himself.

With a small sigh, Sunny reached out with his hand, and in an instant, white particles started gathering in his palm and a long katana materialized in his grip. The blade was sky blue in colour.

Raizel tilted his head slightly. "A katana. Fast, precise. Strong against unarmored opponents, but vulnerable against heavy weapons. Linear attack patterns. You'll have to compensate for its weaknesses."

Sunny frowned at his words, as he said "Compensate how?"

Raizel simply looked at him, with little no emotions in his eyes. "Attack me."

Sunny was a bit taken back with as he didn't know, then he said hesitantly.

"Why aren't you summoning your weapon?"

Raizel's voice remained calm as he replied. "You could get hurt."

Sunny's eye twitched hearing this.

"You little—!"

His patience snapped, he knows that he is weak but he don't like people looking down on him.

With a surge of motion, he lunged forward, slashing diagonally at Raizel's chest.

In an instant, the world flipped.

Before Sunny could even register what had happened, he was on the ground, his katana no longer in his hand. It was now in Raizel's grasp, the tip resting lightly against his throat.

Sunny's breath hitched.

Raizel stared down at him, his expression completely emotionless.

"Lesson number one" 

"Never rush your enemy without a plan. You'll die."

With a flick of his wrist, Raizel tossed the katana back to him.

Sunny caught it, gritting his teeth. "Tch. Fine."

He got up and rushed forward again, this time aiming lower, trying to catch Raizel off guard.

Raizel shifted slightly—just enough to step past him.

Sunny's attack sliced through nothing but air.

Then—pain.

A sharp pressure struck the back of his knee, and before he could react, he was falling again. His back hit the ground hard, and his sword was gone from his grip.

Raizel stood over him, his gaze cold as ever.

"Lesson number two"

"If your attack misses, you're already dead. Never attack unless you're sure it will land."

Sunny growled in frustration, snatching his sword back.

Again.

This time, he feinted to the left before striking from the right, expecting Raizel to dodge.

Raizel didn't move.

Instead, he caught Sunny's wrist in a vice-like grip, twisting it just enough to make him drop his weapon. A second later, Sunny was flat on his stomach, his arm pinned behind his back.

Raizel spoke as if stating a fact.

"Lesson number three"

"A skilled opponent won't fall for your tricks. If you rely on deception alone, you'll lose."

Sunny gritted his teeth as Raizel released him. His muscles ached, but his frustration burned hotter.

He picked up his katana again, this time trying something different. Instead of attacking, he waited, circling Raizel, looking for an opening.

Raizel simply watched, he do not feel a single emotions.

Sunny darted forward, stopping just before he struck. He hesitated for only a second, watching for Raizel's reaction.

That was his mistake.

Before he could retreat, Raizel stepped forward, closing the distance in an instant. He slammed his palm against Sunny's chest, sending him stumbling backward.

Then, a swift kick to the legs, and Sunny was down again.

Raizel barely glanced at him.

"Lesson number four"

"Hesitation is worse than making a mistake. The moment you stop moving, you die."

Sunny groaned, rolling onto his side. "You're really enjoying this, aren't you?"

Raizel blinked once. "No."

Sunny took a deep breath, his mind racing. He wasn't just losing. He wasn't even fighting. Raizel wasn't letting him.

Sunny stood up, wiping dirt from his mouth. This time, he didn't rush in.

Instead, he kept his distance, shifting his stance. He controlled his breathing, making sure his movements were light. He stepped forward, testing. A small, controlled feint.

Raizel didn't react.

Sunny followed up with a real attack, slashing at Raizel's legs.

Raizel stepped back.

Sunny pressed forward, swinging faster. He wasn't attacking recklessly this time—he was watching, analyzing, adjusting.

Then—an opening.

He saw it.

He struck.

And the next second, he was flat on his back, Raizel's knee pressing against his chest, a hand wrapped tightly around his wrist.

Raizel tilted his head.

"Lesson number five"

"If your enemy gives you an opening, it's because they want you to take it."

Sunny closed his eyes, exhaling slowly.

It continued.

Every time he tried something new, he ended up on the ground, with another lesson carved into his body.

"Lesson number six"

"Never attack with full force unless you're sure it will land. If you overcommit, you can't recover."

"Lesson number seven"

"Distance is an illusion. A skilled opponent can close it before you can react.*"

"Lesson number eight"

"A sword is not your only weapon. If you rely on it too much, you will lose.*"

"Lesson number nine"

"Strength alone isn't enough. Speed alone isn't enough. You need both, but even then, control matters more."

"Lesson number ten"

"Fighting isn't about who is stronger. It's about who makes the first mistake."

Sunny lay on the ground, staring at the sky, his breath coming in ragged gasps. His body ached, his pride was shattered, and his katana lay abandoned beside him.

Raizel stood over him, his expression as unreadable as ever.

"Again?"

Sunny let out a short, bitter laugh. "You know what? No."

Raizel didn't said anything after he know Sunny was really tried, as he looked at his bruised from, he looked back the girls and saw that Cassie seems to have clamed down.

Then he gesture Sunny to stood up, as he walked towards the Cassie and Nephis.

'Let's see what vision you got Cassie' thought Raizel with his purple eyes glowing.