84 Sparring

[Happy New Year. How's it going? I'm doing okay. Enjoy the chapter. If you have any feedback then feel free to comment. If you think the story and characters are terrible, feel free to comment. If you think the opposite, keep it to yourselves. See you next time. :) ]

It was Sunday.

Tomorrow, Mitsuna and Natash would be having a spar.

Till now, they have had a few before but without any Skills, only swordsmanship.

Tomorrow, they would take it seriously. All skills and abilities would be available.

And on this Sunday, Mitsuna was enjoying the sun while swinging her sword and practising her Techniques on a tree.

She currently had 4 Techniques mostly mastered.

Cresent Eclipse, Sakura Monsoon, Sakura Step, Full Eclipse.

The attacks leave a trail of dark blue and dark orange.

Cresent Eclipse is a slice that covers the sword in a dark blue hue with a golden edge. It has a wide variety of situations where it can be used. A small shockwave is released when the attack hits a solid object.

Sakura Monsoon summons Sakura Petals coloured black with dark orange edges. It can mostly be used to leave multiple small slashes in a designated area.

Sakura Step summons Sakura Petals that cover the user and block line of sight, giving the user a moment to escape attacks and some situations.

Full Eclipse is a full swing circular spin attack. When the full circular spin is complete a small shockwave pushes out.

Mitsuna swung her wooden sword horizontally and placed it back on her belt a moment later.

The tree she was swinging at was cut nicely but not cleanly in half. A second later, multiple cherry blossom petals flew past the tree and it finally fell.

"Yosh." Mitsuna said proudly.

'I bet the family would be pretty surprised, hehe.'

After the tree fell, Mitsuna was happily walking towards the house.

'I bet I could land a hit on teacher today.'

Reaching the house, she was about to open the door but it slammed open before she could touch the handle.

"Fine! I'll get out if you won't listen!"

Natash yelled as she stormed out and towards the forest.

'What is this all about? Some fight?' Mitsuna thought as she peeked inside.

"Is everything fine?" she asked while seeing Empathy sitting on her bed and holding her head.

Making eye contact with her teacher, Mitsuna then heard a sigh.

"Yeah. Don't worry about it. If you want to know what it was about then ask Nat, not me."

"Okay. But..."

"No buts, B."

"Actually I wanted to ask for a spar."

"Oh. Sure. Let me go grab my sword."

"Okay. I'll wait outside."

'I guess I'll ask Nat about what happened tonight.'

A moment later, Mitsuna saw her teacher leave the house with her regular sword.

'I really think this is a little unfair when my sword is made of wood.'

Getting into her stance, Mitsuna placed her hand on her sword handle.

Her teacher unsheathed her sword.

An emerald-like glow emanated from the blade.

"Ready, B?"

"Yes."

Empathy thrust her blade at Mitsuna's head but lost her in a sea of cherry blossom petals.

Appearing on Empathy's left side, Mitsuna swung her blade but the attack was sidestepped.

Following up with her Sakura Monsoon Technique, Empathy was scratched on her hands.

Jumping back to avoid the other petals, Empathy cut the remaining ones in half with a single swing of her blade.

Landing down and skidding across the ground on her hands and feet Empathy swung her sword diagonally as a slash started heading towards Mitsuna through the ground.

Sidestepping the slash, Mitsuna jumped towards Empathy as she saw an opening and used her Full Eclipse Technique.

Blocking the Technique before it could finish, Empathy slashed and cut Mitsuna's wooden sword in half.

What Mitsuna felt with that strike was an almost immeasurable pressure like an oceanic flood.

Sweat ran down her back as Mitsuna had an awkward smile.

'What the hell.'

Stopping her advance, she found a blade in front of her neck.

"I already lost." Mitsuna said with closed eyes as she raised her hands and dropped her weapon.

"Yes. Good thing you noticed."

Empathy sheathed her sword and smiled.

"Get back to training."

"With what? A twig?"

"Heh. Fine, I'll get you a new one when I go to the town next time. Speaking about it, I'll go now."

"Okay. Get me a good one, bye!"

"Cya, B."

Sometime after Empathy had left, Mitsuna was busy practising her active skills when Natash came out of the forest. Recently she had gone deep into the wild to train with savage animals.

She said that they fall for Illusions with more difficulty so it was more beneficial for her to train with them.

Natash had a serious expression, a rare sight from her.

"Hey Nat."

"Hi Mitsuna, yes."

Just as she noticed Mitsuna, the seriousness faded and was replaced by a smile that seemed a little sad.

"Is... everything okay Nat."

"Yes, yes. I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"...Yeah."

Natash cleaned her face from blood. Although it was unseen by Mitsuna, mixed in with that blood were tears.

"I'll go wash, yes."

"Alright, if you need to talk I'm always free okay?"

"I know Mitsuna."

Continuing her training until sundown, Mitsuna headed back into her and Natash's room.

Finding a wrapped wooden sword in her bed, Mitsuna unwrapped it to find a beautiful longsword made of wood.

The handle had etchings and was of a darker wooden variety while the blade was lighter in colour.

Gently placing the sword next to her bed, Mitsuna went to sleep while looking at Natash's empty spot.

'Maybe I should get her a treat sometime. I bet she'd be elated.' Mitsuna thought with a light smile.