Chapter 87: Gathering

Thwack! Thwack!

Sounds of wooden swords could be heard clashing against each other as two figures quickly moved around the sole floor of the dojo, which was largely covered in wood.

"Ugh...", A boy's voice spoke out, letting out a low pained grunt after being pushed back a few times. The wooden sword in the young boy's hand could be seen wobbling a bit.

Thanks to the force from the other figure's latest strike, it was enough for the young boy, who seemed no younger than eight years old, to fall down on his butt, causing more pain to spread around his body.

Seeing this, a serious look appeared in the other figure's eyes as they pointed their wooden sword right at the young boy's neck, which caused him to suddenly freeze up. However, this seemed to anger the other figure even more.

"Get your ass back up, Rean! This spar is far from over. Or is that all the strength you got?", The other figure said with a yell. This voice seemed to belong to that of a girl's.

This girl appeared quite older than the boy who was eight. The boy also had pretty black hair, but the girl, who appeared to be a ten year old girl, had rather a contrasting hair color to the boy's. Her long hair was bleached all white, containing hints of silver in it. Later on this girl would be known as the Silver Princess.

"It is not over...yet!", The black haired boy said with determination. Slowly but surely, despite being pointed at with a blade right in front of him, the boy, who the girl called him Rean, stood back up.

Rean took this time to shift his body downward slightly, and extended his blade out in a particular pattern.

Seeing this, the white-silver haired girl smiled.

"The second form, huh? Guess I'll entertain you for a bit longer.", The girl said, letting out another provocation. After that, the girl actually backflipped a couple times, immediately creating a large gap between the two. The girl at the left side of the room with Rean on the right side of the room.

The girl matched Rean's current position, also shifting her legs downward. However, the girl drew her blade in a different manner. She gripped the wooden blade with both hands, raising it over her right shoulder.

"Second form...", Rean began to say, letting his energy flow through his stance. He had not achieved battle qi yet as he was young, but he felt like he could already start to feel it.

"Second form...", The girl also began to say. As for the girl, she let out bits of a purplish aura around her body, but it was still hard to see to the naked eye.

""Gale!"", the two shouted simultaneously.

The moment the two shouted that, they dashed at a very fast pace. They had not reached speeds enough to where they could vanish from sight, but they still acted very quickly with this one attack. Before the two knew it, they reappeared at the bottom middle of the room. Thwack!

Two blades swiftly struck each other. After the impact, Rean felt his hands start to go numb, but he didn't stop there. The two soon dashed toward the right side of the dojo, only to spin and unleash another strike to the two blades. Thwack!

This pattern continued to go on for a few more strikes, and each strike, Rean felt himself being pushed back with his hand becoming more and more numb. However, his will was strong, and he was able to complete the technique. Both the girl and Rean parted ways from their last attack, and parted ways, creating a large gap again.

One last strike, the two dashed forward, causing the two to put all of their strength. Unfortunately for Rean, he saw the girl add some spin to her strike and struck out fiercely the moment the two blades touched. Thwack!

Almost instantly, one of the two blades was flung backwards, skidding across the wooden floor.

After panting heavily with sweat drops dropping from his face, Rean looked down and saw his hands were now quite red. He also saw his hands were empty. The sword that flew backward was his. He also felt his strength lose in his legs, causing Rean to collapse onto his knees.

Seeing this, the girl smiled, and approached Rean. Still pointing out her wooden blade, she let out a giggle.

"Hehe, looks like I won again, Rean.", The girl laughed.

"I really am no match for you, Big Sis Shizuna.", Rean said, feeling his defeat yet again.

"Oh cut that crap out. You're doing rather well at the current rate of your growth. And besides our obvious gap in strength, I am two years older than you.", the girl, who Rean called Shizuna, replied with a retort.

"I know, but still...", Rean tried to say. However, the two were soon interrupted by a sound of hands being clapped. Clap. Clap.

Hearing this, the two immediately had their attention drawn to the figure that slowly approached them, who appeared to be a rather old man. He took his time walking up to the two and let out a laugh seeing the spar finish.

"Hoho, a splendid spar as always, Shizuna, Rean. And Rean, Shizuna is right. You are still young. You still have a lot of time to grow.", The old man said, slowly walking up to the two. The two became respectful seeing the old man in sight.

"Master...", Rean tried to say, only to get interrupted by the girl. He also struggled to stand up.

"Did you enjoy it, Master Yun?", The girl, who was called Shizuna, asked politely.

"I did. And Rean, you don't need to waste energy. Just let your stamina recover slowly.", The old man called Yun said.

"Alright...", Rean said, not trying to stand up anymore.

Seeing this, Yun continued to speak while Shizuna went to go get a couple white towels to dry their sweat.

"Thank you, Big Sis Shizuna.", Seeing a towel handed to him, Rean thanked Shizuna and started to dry his face. It was hard to see but drops of blood would appear on the towel.

"No sweat.", Shizuna retorted, which caused Yun to shake his head.

"Anyways, you two were so engrossed in the spar I was hesitant to bring our guests in."

Hearing this, Shizuna became interested.

"Guests?", Shizuna asked with interest.

Unfortunately before the two could do anything more, someone quickly shouted at Rean with a somewhat worried.

"Brother Rean!", The worried voice said, only to reveal a six year old black-indigo haired girl running up to him, only to give him a hug. Seeing this girl appear, Rean's eyes turned wide.

"You're not hurt, are you, Rean?", The girl asked worriedly.

"What are you doing here, Elise?", Rean asked. It was then he noticed the other figure who came with this girl. It was a middle aged dark blonde haired man.

"Haha, it's nice to see you again, Rean. I can already see your effort is paying off while training here. You have my thanks, Master Yun.", The man said, which caused Rean to blink for a moment.

"Even you're here, dad?", Rean asked in surprise.

"What, your old man isn't welcomed here?", The man retorted with a grin.

"It's not that, but I am happy you two have come to visit.", Rean said with a smile as Elise continued to wipe his sweat away.

"Well, a certain someone wouldn't stop complaining why you aren't at home much anymore, haha!", The man said with a laugh, only to look at the girl beside Rean, who was called Elise. Hearing that, Elise blushed a bit in embarrassment.

"F-Father!", Elise retorted in embarrassment.

"So you two really came to visit here?", Rean asked with interest.

"Uh-Uh. We received the okay from Master Yun. It has been a while, Rean.", Elise said, revealing a smile as she stood back up. Rean felt some energy return enough to where he could stand again. Seeing on his feet again, Elise looked toward the white-silver haired girl who was still beside him.

"You must be another disciple, right?", Elise asked, looking at Shizuna.

"You bet! I'm Shizuna. Two years older but still one of the younger disciples of Master Yun. So you two are Rean's family, huh?", Shizuna said, looking at Elise and the dark blonde haired man.

"That's right. We mostly just came to check on Rean's progress. I'm Teo, by the way.", Teo said, introducing himself to Shizuna. After he did, he looked toward Yun and continued to speak. "Thank you for letting us enter your dojo. I am sure your time is precious, Master Yun.", Teo said, thanking the head of the dojo, who went by the name Yun Ka-Fai.

"Hoho, it is but little trouble for me. Consider it a reward for Rean's progress in our school's techniques. You two are free to stay for the day too.", Yun said.

"Really?", Elise asked with interest.

"Elise and dad can stay longer?", Rean also asked with surprise in his eyes.

"They can. Just note these two weren't the only ones I invited here though. I'm sure the rest should be on their way soon. It's about time you met your other practitioners, Rean.", Yun said, revealing a smile.

Hearing this, even Teo's eyes turned wide.

"Don't tell me you invited your older disciples, Master Yun?", Teo asked with interest.

"Perhaps I did. That granddaughter of mine should be back in a bit with the two in tow.", Yun answered.

"Since when did you have a granddaughter?", Teo retorted in wonder, which Yun didn't answer.

As if on que, a cheery voice, which belonged to that of a girl's, suddenly echoed in the dojo while a figure swiftly arrived at the entrance.

"Grandpa, I'm back! I didn't get lost on the way here either!", A cheery voice said, revealing a brown haired upbeat girl who seemed to be around ten years old. The one thing that made her stand out was the yellow ribbon that was tied around the left side of her hair, which also kept her hair in check.

After saying that, everyone looked at the brown haired girl arriving at the dojo. She also seemed to bring two figures with her. As they started to look at the two new figures, Teo's eyes turned wide in shock, but the brown haired girl continued to speak.

"I brought Mister Cassius and Mister Arios here too, Grandpa!", the girl happily said as she looked at Yun.

"Ho-ho, good work, Anelace. It's good you two were able to make it.", Yun said, looking at the two middle aged men standing behind the girl called Anelace.

"Of course we would come, Master Yun. I heard you finally accepted your last disciple.", Cassius said.

"I too had some spare time on my hands. It's not often we have gatherings like these of our fellow disciples.", A black haired man, who wore a long leather red-brown coat, said. Hearing that, Anelace giggled as her attention was drawn toward the black haired boy next to Shizuna.

"So this is our newest disciple, huh?", Anelace said, looking at Rean with interest.

*

[Insert picture of Shizuna here]

[Insert picture of child Rean here]

[Insert picture of Yun Ka-Fai here]

[Insert picture of Anelace here]

[Insert picture of Cassius here]

[Insert picture of Arios here]

Giliath demands your power stones!