A Warm Up To My Battle

After passing through a devious storm, the night was a ruined lonely palace roaming of spirits... Nishiki searched throughout the valleys and roofs of the village in hopes of finding his children, unfortunately neither of them had returned home till this late, which concerned Nishiki.

Much time had passed by and Nishiki's confidence for finding his daughter and Zen had fell down through the cracks of his hopes. But when he returned home, he found two unidentifiable children laying down his doorstep. Nishiki immediately rushed in worry as he held both of them in his arms.

"Ryuzu! Zen!"

The injuries to Ryuzu's body were not bad enough to kill her, which relieved the father. He quickly took the two inside and treated them with proper care.

The next morning, Zen and Nishiki sat together under the warm rays of the Sun. Injured and fragile Ryuzu rested as she slept beside Nishiki, wearing bandages on her torso.

Zen Takagi had no choice but to frankly reveal everything to Nishiki with fear in his voice as he was disappointed by himself at the same time.

Upon listening the unexpected truth, Nishiki joins both of his hands together as he puts them on the table as a sign of stress, being very shocked as he sighs.

"Ryuga Takagi... huh? He was an extreme hard worker, calling him simply 'talented' might pose as disrespect." Nishiki said, "But to think that such an overwhelming potential has now turned to the evil side, we swordsmen have been put at a disadvantage."

"He never sided with us in the first place." Zen replied coldly.

"Clarify me once more. Your brother is now suddenly some main source of evil and is on a mission to reform whatever a World With Rakshas's gotta be, that'll be a world with everyone turned into a Rakshas?" Nishiki asked Zen,

"Exactly..." Zen replied, "All of a sudden... and somehow, I feel too responsible for this..."

He gripped on his cloth.

"Hey, come on now. Your brother wouldn't turn everyone into a Rakshas for you."

"Of course not! But I'm responsible for what happened to Ryuzu because of me!" Zen exclaimed as he looked towards Ryuzu with a concerning and saddened face. He had became too disappointed in himself for getting her hurt.

"Look, bud."

Nishiki kept his hand on Zen's head.

"She protected you... On her own will. I'm proud of her." Nisihki assured Zen, "You couldn't have done any sword fighting in there, that's simply not your field. Yet you still did not give up at that, did ya?"

"Those injuries aren't to be pitied but something to be praised for."

"Mhm." Zen listened,

"Just why... Why is this all happening so suddenly... I don't want more people injured because of me... Because of anybody... or anything!" Zen told Nishiki in a frustrating voice. "I want everyone to live a life free of terror and fear!"

Zen looks towards the flooring as he questions Nishiki,

"If I'm not wrong... You're a former 'Mighty-Swordsman' too, right? Ryuzu told me about it, there were seven or eight like you."

"Yeah, but I quit."

"Why is that...?"

"I didn't want Ryuzu to be targeted by my enemies too. Her mother faced a bad end because of me, but I won't repeat the same mistake for Ryuzu." Nishiki explained, "But it seems like, Ryuzu alone wouldn't be able to fight, not yet. Not right now, and I don't plan to make her go into the real swords-men life anyway"--

"Then accept me as your disciple, and train me into a strong swordsman." Zen interrupted Nishiki.

Nishiki looked toward Zen with a surprised and shocked stare as he proceeded to smile a bit.

"I just heard the right shit, didn't I?" Nishiki asked him.

"Nishiki-san, accept me as your student. I won't disappoint you."

"Heh, you'd loose the ability to disappoint if you get trained by me, kid."

Zen smiles back too, as Nisihki looks at him with a confident smile.

"Very well, then." Nishiki said as Zen's smile now turns into a grateful cheer!

"You'll have a tough journey ahead, my kiddo. Prepared for it?"

"Never backing down." Zen confidently replied.

.

.

.

The next morning, Nishiki and Zen stood out in the wild as they started their training, Nishiki displayed the proper stances to be in while wielding a sword, as he put Zen in a proper positioning too.

"That's how you need to keep your posture and stance, confidently ready for the battle."

"I see, got it."

Zen positioned himself up in the most doubt-able stance humanity would ever witness, the footing was like an insect and too wide! What is this?!

"THE HELL'S THAT?! A SCARECROW" Nisihki yelled as Zen, but a Scarecrow poses better.

"What is a scarecrow?" Zen questioned Nishiki,

"Wha-- You--"

The next day, Zen had improved on his stance better than the unspeakable events from yesterday.

"And that's how you do it." Nishiki told him,

"I see, got it."

"Try coming at me with an attack,"

Zen quickly gripped his sword handle tightly as he jumped towards Nishiki and attempted to take a direct hit to the head with his wooden sword. Nisihki could easily notice the attack incoming just by the footwork and eyes as he sees the wooden piece approaching his face, he lowers his stance and moves behind Zen.

"H-Huh!?"

"Where's the guard boy?! You think I'd just take the hit? Defend yourself too!"

Nishiki grabs Zen's leg which was still in mid-air and shakes him off. That's nasty, but him being fast neutralizes the nasty because he is cool.

"Aah... I'm sorry."

"Come again,"

The next round, the boy went in for two harsh hits as Nishiki blocked them both and attacked Zen back, who barely dodged it. Zen rotates his waist at high speed as he quickly turns around and goes in for a kick towards Nishiki.

Nisihki threw his own wooden sword in the air as he blocked the kick with his forearm, the wooden sword fell down on Zen's head lowering his guard. Nishiki grabs Zen's foot again and shakes him off.

"Argh!"

"Too slow!"

"That's fragile!"

"Dodge it, idiot!"

"Blocked."

"Tricking isn't going to work!"

"Fasten your reflexes!"

"Come on, kid!"

The drops of sweat poured down into the soul of the ground as the boy pushed his body to further limits. Day, by, day.

"Four hundred four, four hundred five, four hundred six, four hundred--"

"Come on, you gonna fail the lucky number push up?" Nishiki mocked Zen.

"I... hell, no... Ahh!"

"Good! Four hundred seven, Zen!" Nishiki encouraged him.

He trained more day by day, from working out to wielding swords better, the gripping and handling was even tighter, the aim and accuracy was even better. He gets stronger everyday! Soon, Ryuzu joined him too.

Sometimes he would sit under the shed of a tree, blankly staring into the ground. The ants which worked together helped each other, they looked like a family. An unbreakable bond. Sadly, he does not possess one like that, a real one like that. Not anymore...

"Ryuga..."

Zen and Ryuzu's swords clashed as they parred with each other in training sessions, and their fists bumped when they won over each other after every match, getting better together.

Day by day, life goes...

Tsh!

Swoosh!

Whoosh!

Kaboom-- Wait, wrong one.

Another time when Zen and Nishiki had a sitting in the afternoon. Ryuzu listened to them from a distance.

"As you see, Zen. There exists 'Elemental Arts' in this big world of ours. Your brother's got that shining Sun with him, ain't he? Now he's onto the Black-Sun too." Nishiki initiated an explanation.

"Right" Zen confirmed.

"So why don't we see what you've got? Today, we will be seeing which Elemental Art you are suitable for. Then, you have to train accordingly to your Elemental Art. Elemental Arts have stages, and these stages have a particular set of movement you perform while using your Elemental Arts. You have to train your physique to be able to perform these physical movements too."

"Aha! I see, let's do this."

"Come with me."

Zen and Nishiki walked out to the 'special' well in their village, as they stood around it, Nishiki gave an explanation to how it functions.

"So this is how it works, you spin your hand in the water." Nishiki said more, "If it sparks, you're suitable for Lightning Arts. If you see dirt in it, you're suitable for Rock Arts. If the water makes an exceptional whirl, you're suitable for Wind Arts. If the water warms up and steam comes out, it's Flame Arts. And if the water feels cold, it's Water Arts itself."

"Whoa, that's an awesome way. What is Ryuzu's elemental art?"

"Poison" Came out the straight voice of Ryuzu from a distance as she walked in.

"How'd they know it's poison? Did dead rats appear in the well?" Zen thought to himself.

"Damn, scary" What Zen really said.

"You didn't know? ALL THIS TIME?!"

"Anyway, what is your art? Nishiki-san?"

"It is dark mist."

"Damn, scarier." Zen stopped the joking.

"It has some history to it." Nishiki responded.

"Huh?--"

Nishiki pushed Zen's back harshly to encourage him to find out his Elemental Art. The encouragement was so forceful that Zen almost dipped himself into the well.

He firmly spun his hand into the cold water as he receives a chill through his body.

"A-Ah! Can this be anymore cooler?! Poop people with Water Elemental have it worse than me!"

"Focus, idiot." An angry Ryuzu yelled at him.

He spun his hand more and more into the cold waves of the well, sooner the water flashed bright for a few moments, as thunder sparks generated within the deep dark.

"Thunder sparks... well, you're at least suitable enough to have an Elemental Art, thank god."

"Wha--?"

"Wait, there's more." Nishiki focused.

The three looked into the well deeply, "Not just thunder sparks, that is... a little storm." Ryuzu noticed.

"WOAH?! Really? Isn't that just so cool then?!"

"It certainly is!" Nishiki agreed to Zen.

"So does that mean you can use Lightning Arts and Wind Arts both?" Ryuzu had a doubt to clear.

"I dunno, ask him." Zen replied to Ryuzu pointing at Nishiki.

"As far as I know, and if he really trains to his potential, then yes."

"LET'S GO! I am awesome!"

Nishiki smacked Zen into the stomach, "It still isn't any use if you don't know how to operate it. Don't get too ahead of yourself."

"Yeah, I know, I know."

Another new training session had been added to Zen's daily training torture schedule, an interesting one at the top of that.