Chapter 1: Nightmare Awakening Ceremony

A dense canopy of trees surrounded the area, although the light was sparse here, it was still enough to get around in this forest. Neverheless no one dared to enter it.

The only question was why? In the past, when Spirit Beasts roamed these lands it was understandable, but now those beasts were almost extict. So how come that no one enters this forest now? The answer is simple. Deep within the forest laid a residence. It was not only imposing, it was also surrounded by multiple other buildings, some big some small, from the side they looked like an ancient castle, all this was protected by a wall. Most likely the wall was build in order to prevent the enter of wild animals.

At first glance everything seemed to be peaceful, only...

*clang*, *clang* *clang*, *clang*, *clang*

If one listened carefully they could hear a clear and melodious sound coming from that direction.

If one found the source of the music like sound they could only stare at the scane with surprise or perhaps shock.

In a field that looked like a place for training were two youths, no children both of them around 5 or 6 years old... the first a boy, who had black hair and large dark eyes, his face without emotions, expressionless. Or perhaps he simply didn't care abouth the current situation.

The second one was also a boy, he had light brown hair with eyes the same color as his hair.

Both of them wore a chang pao, the first black the other white. Other than that they had nothing in common. The both of them were like total opposides...

"And you want to be the next Clan Master with skills like that..." said the first boy nonchalantly while taking a step to the side avoiding the next attack.

Yes, attack. The two of them were fighting, only they didn't use their fists like most of the children their age. Both of them used weapons, to be more accurate swords. They used swords to fight. But that wasn't the most surprising thing, based of the soud from they swings the swords were not wooden ones. In fact, the swords were made from metal, although the lenght of the blade was shorter so as that a child could use it, nevertheless they used real weapons to fight.

Hearing those words the second boy yelled in rage while swinging his hands

"Shut up! I will defeat you! And prove to the whole Clan that I am more fitting to be the next head and not you Leiyu!" while sweet drenched his face he made one attack after another.

The other boy, Leiyu evaded most of them with ease, the other ones were blocked causing a metalic sound to echo in the air. This scene continued for a while untill...

"...Enough." said Leiyu, his previous expressionless face vanished without a trace, it was replaced with coldness. The same instant instead of parrying or evading the next attack he instead contered. That one attack deflected his opponents strike to the side leaving him open, and then it happened. One more strike, it was a vertical strike from the shoulder bone, fresh blood painted the white robe crimson.

That one wound was fatal, well it would be if the sword was a sharp one, the edge was somewhat dulled in orded to train with it instead of using it for real battle, be it as it was the sword was still sharp enough to cut skin.

Still, it was not over, shortly after the second strike a third followed, this time the hit was aimed at the throat. No matter how dulled the sword was if the hit landed it would be over for real. Just when the tip of the sword touched the skin...

"Stop! It's Leiyu's win!" a deap and strong voice came from the side.

In the last possible moment Leiyu stopped his attack, at the point where the sword touched his opponent a single red drop flowed down.

Once again Laiyu's expresion changet to a nonchalnt one. The second boy on the other side turned pale, faling to his knees.

In their Clan the common belief was that a fight without danger would give no benefits, that's why even if it was a fight only meant for training, the battle would continue until the first blood was shed. Of course, in some cases it could result badly, just like now for exaple. If his win was not anounced then undoubtedly that last strike would be a kill.

And just as if nothing happened Leiyu sheathed the training sword and while giving his opponent his hand to help him stand up he said.

"You lost, face it Yanwu." his opponent the boy who was now in crimson white Yanwu trembled once after hearing Leiyu's words, then the next instant he slapped his hand to the side

"Just you wait Leiyu, after our Martial Souls awakens well see who is the stronger of us!"

Facing his fierce determination Leiyu could do only one thing, let out a sigh.

"Let's say that your Martial Soul will indeed be stronger than mine, what use will it have if you can't even beat me in sword skills."

"You...!" Yanwu wanted to say something back but in the end he stopped. Because he knew that what he heard just now was right. After all who could understand Laiyu better than him? Although it was difficult to tell his emotions most of the time, one thing was sure, he was never aroggant. Strong yet kind, carefree yet merciless to opponents, the one liked by the whole clan, he was the one who most likely would become the next clan master.

And that was one of the reasons why Yanwu couldn't stand him. It was his dream to become the next clan master, that's why he trained the hardest of all the children. But even so, be it studiess, knowledge or skills he was always number two. That's why he just glared at him without saing anything.

"Enough, the two of you are from the same clan and not enemies." the same voice as before addressed the two boys. Hearing this the both of them turned towards him simultaneously while bowing and said

"Father."

"Clan Master!" before them stood a man roughly in his young forties. Straight back, sharp gaze, well build figure and trained muscles. He was the current Master of their clan as well as Leiyu's father. It was him that told Leiyu to stop his attack.

"Leiyu, you improved again. Good, you can go now." saing this few words while nodding to himself, after that, he then turned to the other boy.

"Yanwu. Don't be too hard on yourself, you are already strong enough considering your age, don't compare yourself to someone like Leiyu. If it's a match without the use of Soul Power then even some of the adults may lose to him in pure sword skills."

Yanwu silently listened while bitting his libs. In the end the olny thing he did was to nod once.

"Good. The both of you go home and rest, tomorrow will be the day you all waited for so long." hearing the Clan Masters words the kids looked at each other, eyes practically sparking. The both of them turned six years old not so long ago and that could mean only one thing, their Martial Soul will be awakened. Once a year, a Spirit Master will assist the children who turned six years old to awakening their Martial Soul. But the two didn't really care about that, they were most interest in whether they have soul power or not. After all, only one in a thousand could have it. It was true that members of powerful clans were more likely to have soul power compared to the common people. Even so, the difference was not so big as everyone believed, for exemple, last year this clan awoke the martial soul of fifteen children but only four of them had soul power. Even so, every family mamber wished that their child would have it.

After all, even if they were members of a powerful clan, no, more so because they were members, the soul power in their child was very important. The reason was very simple, if their child had soul power then they would get a better treatment from the clan also they would have greater privileges. Only the children didn't really know that, but they knew if one became a spirit master they had the chance to become the next clan head, elder or a agent.

"Yes." "Yes!" said both of them before turning around to run from the training field.

After a while one of the two stopped and said

"Hey Leiyu." the one doing so was Yanwu, he starred at his so called "rival" as well as cousin.

"What?"

"Do you want to become the next clan master?"

Hearing this unexpected question Leiyu stopped for a few seconds to think.

"Not really..." only to say this.

"What?! Why?!" hearing Leiyu's uninteresed answer, Yanwu became angry, after all it was his dream to become the clan master.

"Look, the only thing I want is to become stronger. I want to be usefull to my father, to the clan he's looking out for. Besides I can't really train freely if I become the clan master."

"You..." Yanwu stopped for a moment before saing

"So if I asked you to let me become the master would you let me?"

"Of course not." Leiyu said coldly

"In this clan the one who becomes the clan master is also the strongest one. If you can't beat me then forget your dream."

"Fine! I know for sure that the both of us will have soul power, so after becoming true spirit masters with a ring let's fight for real! At that time I will beat you!" after yelling this Yanwu ran home, Leiyu on the other hand

"...Fine." with this one word he also walked home.

.....

"I'm back."

"Ohh, little Lei you're back already, come, tell mother how was your training." before Leiyu stood a young woman, based on her looks she was not older than thirty, long black hair and large eyes with long eyelashes, her face decorated with a gentle expresion. The only word that could describe her was beautiful. That's not all.

If one looked at the pair of mother and child, then one could see that they looked almost identical. It was not hard to guess that Leiyu inherited his looks from his mother and takes after her, more so because he was still a child the difference between them was minimal. In the past the other boys would constantly make fun of him, the girls on the other hand were alway nice to him. One part was because of his looks, one could only imagine how handsome he would be after growing up. The other part was because he was the only child of the clan master and that meant that he was the number one candidate to become the next master. That's why the girls parents always told them to be nice to Leiyu, after all, if their daughter ended up marrying the next clan master not only their child would benefit from it, they would as well.

Maybe that was the reason why the boys on the other hand always picked on Leiyu, only that didn't continued for long. When the time of sword training came, the boys fun ended. And the reason was simple enough, because of the strict training method of their clan every boy who faced Leiyu ended in the end in a pool of their own blood. After that sight no one dared to make fun of him or chalange him again, well almost, the only exception was his cousin. In the past, at the time the clan was only formed the rules were stricter, even the girls needed to train like that, now they used wooden swords to train. Even if in the end they ended up without soul power, those skills were nevertheless still usefull on way or the other. Only, that's beside the point now...

"Not bad. It was a nice training, father told us to rest early because tomorrow we will attend the Awakening Ceremony, only..." he said, lowering his head.

"Oh my, something happened little Ley? Come, tell mother what's wrong."

Leiyu hesitated for a second, then he shook his head and said.

"No, it's nothing mother. I'll go and rest a little."

Seeing her son so depressed the only thing she could do was let out a sigh

"Little Ley, is this about you're father?"

Hearing this Leiyu's body trembled, his expressionless face vanished. If Yanwu or the other childrens saw him like this, then they wouldn't believe their own eyes. The always emotionless Leiyu showed human emotions, that would be something that none of them could believe.

But was Leiyu truly without emotions like they believed? Of course not, after all he was still only a six years old child. So why would he be like that?

"Mom, am I useless?"

"Of course not! Who was the one that said something like that?" the instant she heard her son's words she became angry at the one who said such things about her little Ley, but his next words calmed her down immediately.

"No one, it's just... Mom I'm trying my best, be it in studies or trainind. I wan't to be usefull to father and make him proud of me... But no matter what I do he's always praising the others, but never me."

"So you thought that it was because you're useless?" Leiyu could only nod once.

The next moment he was embraced by his mother

"Silly child, how can you even think like that? You're father is the Clan Master he can't have a favorite."

"...I know..." he understood that, nevertheless, what the mind could accept the heart won't necessarily do so as well.

That's why, while still hugging her son, she said:

"Mother will tell you a secret. When it's only the two of us the only one your father ever prises is you little Ley."

"Really?"

"Of course! I'm sure that tomorrow after your Martial Soul awakens he will be the one who will train you directly. So go and rest for now, tomorrow is a important day for us."

"Yes!" with this one word Leiyu ran in to his room.

...

The next day.

In normal cases the Awakening Ceremony is held at the Spirit Pagoda, but this clan is a exception. Here they have a building that they call the Awekenind Chamber, that is the place where the Martial Soul is awakened in this clan. In front of this exact building are gathered ten children and one adult.

Those ten are the children who turned six this years, one of them is Leiyu, another one is Yanwu.

"Now then. Listen well, this year it the ten of you who will awaken their Martial Soul. Don't be nervous and listen well what the Elders will tell you. Now let's enter." this was said by the only adult amongst them. And that adult was the Clan Master, Leiyu's father.

After he told them those words the door to the chamber opened. It was a whide room that could fit hundred of people at the same time, in fact as they enterd the children were greeted with familiar faces. The family mambers of the ten children were inside there, at the very end of the chamber were six figures in robes all of them had grey hair some of them even had gray beards as well, Those six ware Eldres of this Clan. They are the ones who assist the children during their awakening.

"Children." said one of the Elders "Get in line and listen."

Just as they were told, the ten kids formed a line, that line came in a order they were assigned before entering. This line had a meaning as well, the nearer to end of the line the more potential they had. At least bassed of what the adults believed. The second-last was Yanwu and the last was Leiyu.

"Children, take a look around you, What do you see?"

Once again they did as they were told, when they looked at the walls inside this chamber then they could see multiple wall paintings. Most of them had one thing in common, a giant beast surrounded by humans.

"That is the history of our clan. Can someone of you tell me what it tells?"

The children were silent, only one rised his hand, it was Yanwu. But before the Elderes turned towards him another one answered already.

"More than 20,000 years ago, when Spirit Beasts still roamed the continent our Clan was formed. At that time our ancestors hunted those Spirit Beasts, they made a living while selling the materials they got from them after killing one or sold a living one after they captured it. In the end we were called the greates Clan of Spirit Beast hunters at the time."

"Right. As expected from the Clan Masters son, Then do you know why there are so many of us here to help you children?"

Leiyu nod once and continued:

"The Clan's Martial Soul is the Beast Slaying Sword. It's a sword that is especially suited to kill specific Spirit Beast's, for exaple if someone awakenst the Bear Slaying Sword then they would have a great advantage against all bears. And thats not all, after many years of hunting Spirit Beast's our Martial Soul absorbed their blood and evolved into the Beast Slaying Sword we have now."

"Good. Good. You know many things for your age. So let us tell you all what that evolution brought to the clan." one elder said, another then continued

"After drinking the blood of Spirit Beast, our Martial Souls gained some of the power of those beast.

And that power shows itself only during the Martial Soul awakening. The moment the Beast Slaying Sword manifest itself for the first time around it is a energy similar to those of the beasts cultivation,

and we rank that energy the same way, namely: White, Yellow, Purple, Black and Red energy."

After the Elder finished one of the cildren rised his hand and asked

"Elder, so what does that energy do exactly?"

"Yes, it's simple, let me ask you? If it's the same Spirit Beast which is stronger a ten years one or a hundred years one?"

The child answered without hesitation, after all that was a question even children knew

"The hundred years one!"

"That's right. It's the same with our Martial Soul, even if it's the same one a sword with a white energy can't mach a sword with a yellow energy, it the same as with Spirit Beast's.

"The only difference is that compared to the energy those beasts have ours can't be cultivated. That means that if you awoke a white energy then you will have that white energy for life." One elder after the other told them some things. But even they didn't talk about some things. One thing is that even what they said about the Beast Slaying Sword energy is true, that is only a power which is used as a ranking inside their clan. That is why so many members of the clan gather here during the awakening ceremony after all that energy only shows itself only once. The Second thing that they have not mentioned is that even if they rank the energy the same as Spirit Beast cultivation like black and red, the most of the sword energy is white or yellow. Even the Clan Master who is considered as the strongest in the clan had only a purple energy.

"But that's enough history for now let's begin."

And so, the Awakening Ceremony began.

One child after another began the ceremony, after a while only two remained. Eight kids already successfuly awoked their martial soul, but out of those eight only two had soul power.

And now it was Yanwu's turn.

"Ah it's little Yanwu, come, come enter the circle." one of the elders urget him.

Leiyu observed silently from the side, the elders used their own soul power to help Yanwu, after a few seconds in Yanwu's hand a sword materialized around the sword was a faint purple light, the moment the sword appeared a soft roars echoe could be heard. When the elders heard the roar their eyes oppened wide, one of them said excited

"That roar, those paterns t-thats! The Dragon Slaying Sword! A purple ranked Dragon Slaying Sword!"

Dragon Slaying Sword, just like dragons are considered as king of the beasts. This sword is considered as the strongest variant of the Beast Slaying Sword.

"Child, come quick. Let us see what rank your soul power is at." another elder urget him with his hand.

But that's no wonder, after all one needs to know that the current Clan Master has the same Martial Soul as Yanwu whats more, one of the same rank. That meant that in the future he could become a soul master even stronger as the clan master.

Under the elders watch Yanwu placed his hand at a bluish crystal ball, the next second a blue light came from it.

"Soul Power at rank 7." This came not from the elders, the one who said it was Leiyu's father, he couldn't help but say it, after all, at the time he awoke his Martial Soul he had only rank 5 soul power.

As he finished the ceremony Yanwu walked towards his family , on his way he couldn't help but go past Leiyu "It's seams I won this time." he whispered triumphantly and walked to his own father and mother.

Only Leiyu didn't care about him, with the same emotionless face he walked towards the elders

"Leiyu greats the elders, please asist with the ceremony."

With this words the elders looked at Leiyu then at each other, after a nod the elders urget their own soul power to assist in the awekening.

Just as the light from the elders enveloped Leiyu, he felt a tremble in his body as a uncomfortable feeling surget from all over his body, it was like his body rejected the soul power coming from them, only the elders were high ranked spirit master how could Leiyu who didn't even have his Martial Soul yet resist them? He sillently endured the feeling untill...

A dark light burst out from his body, that light condensed on his left palm until a Sword appeared in his hand. When he looked at the sword Leiyu noticed than on the hilt and blade where paterns similar to scales, the gard and pommel were replaced with dragon heads, from the whole sword a Dragons roar could be heard.

As the elders saw the sword in Leiyu's hand all six of them as well as the Clan Master, Yanwu and the others oppened their eyes in shock their mouths dropped, everyone was sillent, until Leiyu's father said in astonishment

"B-B-Black... A Black ranked Dragon Slaying Sword!"

Only Leiyu wasn't awere of the comotion he himself coused, even when the elders soul power leved his body the uncomfortable feeling still remained, but now it came from his sword. It was like his body rejected this sword.

"Child come! Let's test your soul power!" Leiyu didn't even notice as one of the elders already placed the same crustal ball in his right hand.

When the ball touched his hand a intense light burst out from it.

"I-Innate Full Spirit Power? It truly is Innate Full Spirit Power!" no one knew who said that, but once they heard it every one of them yelled happily.

The only expectation was Leiyu he still was holding that crystal ball, on his forehead, back and four limbs sweat rolled down, a intense pain boiled in his body.

Leiyu was hit as well as injured countless times during his trainings. Nevertheless, no pain he felt before could be compared to now. Every second the pain became stronger and stronger.

He endured the pain as best as he could but he was still only a six years old.

"...M...om...,...D...a..d" only as these weak words came from his mount the others noticed that somethings was wrong, the first to call out was Leiyu's mother

"Little Lei!" at this yell seven people appeared before Leiyu his father and the six elders

"Son! What's wrong?!" just as he finished Leiyu's condition changed, from his mouth, nouse, eyes and ears blood began to flow. At the same time the light from the ball changed to a eerie dark one bursting into pieces in the process.

His skin tore open in multiple places, intense blood gushed from his wounds.

Just as the first drop of blood was about to hit the ground it stopped in mid air, then in an arc it flyed towards the Dragon Slaying Sword in Leiyu's left hand cowering it entirely in his blood, and after that...

"ROOOOOAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!!" a dragons roar so powerful that the wall's trembled came from Leiyu's body, it didn't came from his mount as one expected it came from his wounds or to be more precise from his blood. The roar was so intense that all seven who was near him retreated.

"Dear! What's wrong?! What's happening with little Lei?!" Leiyu's mother yelled panicked

His father on the other hand stared in disbelief

"T-That's!" his gaze turned sharp his eyes turned to his wife with rage.

Only Leiyu couldn't notice anything, from his wounds scales pirced out but just as quick they appeared they disappeared as quick as well. Something similar happened with his eyes as a light

appeared and disappeared.

The dragon's roar continued for a few seconds, after the roar stopped the blood that covered the sword instead of falling to the ground it entered the wounds it came from. Now that one could see the sword, the former sword that was there wanished no changed. The blade became dark as the night, black mist coming out from it, the pommel and gard changed into sharp blade's.

When the elders saw the sword they cried out in alarm

"A sword with an elemental atribute?" Just as some Spirit Beasts had control over one or more element, the Beast Slaying Sword could awaken a element during the Martial Soul awakening, but that was so rare that the chance to have a twin spirit was bigger, at least in this clan. But what made the elders cry out was not the elemental mist that came from the sword, it was the energy around the it, it was...

"R-R-Red... RED! Red energy that's..."

Leiyu paid no attention to the elders after the blood enterd his body he fell to the ground. The pain and uncomfortable fealings dissapered as if they never appeared in the first place. The only reason he still knew that he didn't dream them was the weakness he felt from his body.

His consciousness begant to fade, but one thought made it disappear

'I can't fall now! I need to make father proud! I need to make mother happy!' with this though he mustered all his powers to stand up. When he did that, he looked at the direction his parets were supposed to be...

Only what he saw was not what he expected...

His mother lying on the cold ground, around her a red pool, besides her stood Leiyu's father, his own Dragon Slaying Sword in his hand, the same red dripping from the tip of the sword.

Leiyu's head blanked out subconsciously uttering out

"...M..om. F-father wha..." he couldn't even finish as he was interrupted with a angry shout

"Don't you dare to call me father you Beast!"

"Wha..t, Beast, what do you..." while he asked this his father slowly walked until he was before him then he stopped.

"You Beast can endanger our whole Clan! I won't let you! That's why Die!"

Leiyu could only stare helplessly as a sword swing that was aimed at his head descended...

...