To Inazuma?

It has been a week after the Hillichurl's attack, and the day has gone peacefully, though, with the ban on my sword, I could not train in the open, opting to go into the woods and secretly practice.

Wolvendom is a forest nearby, usually inhabited by wolves whom I could avoid, though I never had gone deep into the woods I sometimes heard distant howls.

"997, 998, 999, 1000, huff" After reaching my daily quota, I rested a little drinking the water I had brought.

After a week of practice, I had improved somewhat, what used to be 3 seconds to fully prepare my stance, now is cut to 2.8

Though it doesn't affect the strike's power, It would make it more accessible to do.

But removing 0.2 seconds is meager at best, I would have thought I could instantly perform it by now but it's harder to improve than I would have imagined.

And that dream I saw never left my mind, the constant sound of sheathing and drawing the blade echoed every time I recalled it, it's still an enigma of what that dream was.

Was it something to do with magic, or was it truly a random dream, I could not determine for now.

"Haaah, why can't problems like these leave me alone" I sighed out loud and wished to forget the dream yet when I tried, my body violently rejected the thought and the feeling of burning would spread across my body and the urge to practice would flare.

"What an odd body I have" I lay on the grass, the sunlight that pierced through the foliage gave me peace of mind, maybe it isn't that bad, practicing a new sword style I created.

"I just hoped trouble leave me be" I muttered out loud

"Oh if it isn't Akaal"

'just my f*cking luck'

"Grandmaster Varka, I didn't know you had this much free time to roam around the forest" I turned to see Varka along with a grey-haired boy behind him.

"Didn't know you had a secret son, so who's the mother? ach" Varka responded with a punch, he rubbed his temple in annoyance.

"This ain't my son boy, This is the kind of a friend I know, I'm currently taking care of him"

Rubbing my head I looked at the boy, grey hair with red and black eyes, hiding behind Varka's leg.

"Grandmaster to a caretaker, you sure have a lot on your plate huh"

"This is quite easy actually, as expected from myself of course" He flexed his muscles accompanied by a bright light coming from the sky, making his muscles more shiny

"So what? you're gonna babysit him secretly for a while until he is 18?"

"for now, I'll teach him how to wield a claymore as he seems to be talented with it"

"I changed my mind, you're a pretty bad babysitter" After my response Varka went quiet.

"Are you seriously going to train him?" Looking at his serious face I could only sigh in pity, and pray for the boy under Varka's teaching.

I just hoped he wouldn't end up as Varka 2.0, one is already annoying as it is.

"Akaal, if I was ever gone could you please take care of him for a little while" His serious tone left no room to joke around.

"Why not just pass him to the Knights of Favonius, I'm sure one of the guards is lonely, a kid would do nicely for them"

"I can't, the spies will know his connection with me, and will certainly make a move"

"Tch, fine, but I can't promise you that I will stay around to babysit a kid I don't know"

"Thank you, boy, I knew I could rely on you" He ruffled my hair with a hearty laugh.

"Alright, alright, enough, I need to go back before sunset" I slapped his hand away and left the forest.

Feeling a little hungry and having enough time I went to Monstadt instead and visited Good Hunter.

"Sara, could you give me some Chicken-Mushroom Skewers and some water" I sat on one of the tables while I waited for the food to arrive.

"Here's your food Akaal" Sara went over to my table and set some freshly grilled Skewers and a glass of water.

Opening my mouth to take a bite An explosion sound from the church erupts, surprising everyone who was walking around the street, and every Favonius Knight instantly left their patrol and rushed to the church.

"I swear to Barbatos I will kill who set that explosion off" I sat up from my seat and rushed with the Favonius Knight.

Arriving at the church, I saw many nuns passed out, and the center wall below the lectern was broken down, revealing a secret stair leading down.

Seeing every Favonius Knight rushing down there, I followed along and saw a huge hidden basement, full of abyss-order mages, and one humanoid creature the size of Varka, but in each hand was a blade made of water.

Seeing Jean among the people that rushed I came to her side.

"Jean, how is the situation" Surprise by my presence a little she re-organized her thoughts a little before telling me the situation.

"Grandmaster Varka is missing, thankfully all the nuns upstairs were only knocked out, no casualty yet" Though Jean didn't know me too well, she knew I was connected to Grandmaster Varka, so she could trust me at the very least.

"This is not a random attack, the last week's attack was only a distraction, and waited for Grandmaster Varka to leave Mondstadt to attack"

"Do you know where he is now?"

"Wolvendom, he'll be here in 10 minutes or so depending on if he heard the explosion or not"

The situation is getting worse by the second, all the Favonius Knight each combatted a mage.

But The herald who was standing still suddenly rushed to one of the occupied knights, instantly killing him.

Both our eyes sharpened as we saw the scene and nodded to each other to team up on the herald.

Without a word both of us rushed to the herald, and noticing our presence, it rushed to us as well, both water blades clashed with our sword, but the force behind the strike sent both of us back.

Jean who was beside me held her sword to her face and a sudden rush of wind covered us, dandelion flew along with the wind, and the surrounding mages were disturbed by the wind giving the Favonius Knight who was fighting them to stab a vital organ.

Covered in wind Jean rushed back to the herald and I followed along.

"Jean, distract the big guy for a moment"

"Got it!"

I split away from Jean, and as she clashed with the Herald again I went around his back.

Changing my stance I readied my slash, but the Herald instantly turned around and slashed both his blades down.

the Herald looking at my face expecting a desperate face saw a smile instead.

"You think I'm that dumb to reveal my plan in front of my enemy" I instantly dashed back, barely dodging the water blade striking down the ground.

Sheathing my sword and holding the sheath, I took my real stance and aimed at the vulnerable neck of the Herald present.

*Click* A flash of light appeared in front of me, but my blade was stopped by a water shield he produced.

"Tch" Drawing my sword back I dashed back, but the Herald retrieved something from his pocket and cracked it, producing a portal, thinking he would leave from here I did not give chase and let my guard down.

But his figure disappeared and appeared behind me within a second, grabbed by the arm and thrown to the portal, Jean rushed towards me but the other mages interrupted her path.

"Akaal!" Jean's voice was the last thing I heard before entering the portal before it closed.

Inside the portal, I tried to move around but found there was no surface to walk on or gravity to feel, leaving me to float aimlessly.

Looking around for anything that could help me, but I gave up as the endless space was visible in every direction.

~~

After an hour of aimlessly floating, a portal opened in front of me, and reacting instantly I went toward it fearing it might close again.

Touching the surface of the portal, bright light covered my vision as the weight of my body returned to me.

Opening my eyes again I saw the incoming water surface and realized I was falling

"Shit shit shit sh- Splash"

"Cough cough, what a way to come back to the living world" Looking around for any landmass I discovered a beach nearby and swam towards it.

After reaching the beach I took a look around again to get to know where I was again.

Several small island that could be seen by the eyes instantly gave me a guess.

"Im... In Inazuma?"