Guardian Kaguvi

The person (Giant) that was sitting at the very top was also rather shocked. He calmly stared at the giant that Taku had chosen and sighed heavily.

"It really is a good choice for him. Especially after seeing his soul... This kid is truly bloody blessed with luck. "

Even after all the commotion that had happened because of him, the chosen Spirit was still sitting there as if nothing happened. There was no joy on his face and not even a muscle was being moved.

The Giant at the top just shook its head as it stood up and started to walk away. As it reached a certain point it was greeted by a fully armored individual.

Without any greeting, he asked the armored man. "What do you think about his selection?"

The armored man was precisely the man that Taku had just gone four rounds with. "It's a good choice." The armored man started. "But it's not something we should be overly concerned with now. Let's just see how it all unfolds. Aren't you gonna explain what this is all about?"

The Giant shrugged and said, "I will when the kid properly has a handle on his powers."

...

Back in the throne room, Taku noticed that all the giants started disappearing one by one. He also noticed that these giants that looked like statues, it almost seemed as if they sneered towards him.

"That's weird."

Taku quickly threw it at the back of his head when he saw that the only giant left was looking at him with a smile. That expression that exuded calmness a minute ago was now filled with joy, uncontrollable joy.

"You did a good job today kid." A weak voice transmitted into his ears. "You should've seen their faces when you chose me. It was comedy, pure comedy."

Taku: "....."

....

Saru was sitting beside the pond humming to himself when Maka walked towards him.

He didn't even bother raising his head to look at who it was, nor did he give her the opportunity to greet him. "Have you fallen for this kid so much that you have to come here at this moment? I never knew you were into small little boys, Isn't he like 5 or 6 years younger than you? I kind of get what you're doing though. Catch their hearts when they are still young."

Maka could not even make a sound after hearing What Saru had to say. You'd think after being his Disciple for over 5 years she would be used to something like this. But every time it was Saru's utter shamelessness that always kept her astonished.

She just could not understand how such a well-respected man in society could say such shameless words without any hint of embarrassment.

"He's a good fighter," Maka answered without emotion.

"Oh..." Saru started. "Isn't that the same as declaring your love for him."

Maka sighed, there really was no way to reason with a fool. "How long till he wakes up?"

"I have no idea," Saru answered truthfully. "He's been in there for at least 4 hours. No one usually lasts that long."

"What are your plans for him?" Maka asked.

"Depends on the answers he found in that place. I can't act on anything yet because I don't know just what exactly happened to him. Once he is out I will get some info and make a proper decision then."

"Just one more question..." Maka inhaled and exhaled before asking. "Even though he's probably very talented, that kid is a walking bomb. How do you know that he won't lose it and go on another killing spree? You're usually a more cautious person than this. I mean sure we don't know what type of cultivator he is but isn't that a bad thing to a certain extent?"

Hearing this, Saru's expression turned slightly pale. "I wish I could give you a clear answer, but I can't. Sometimes going outside your comfort zone is a good thing. And at the end of the day, I am a Muroyi, and what fascinates me the most is the soul of an individual, and believe me he has one hell of a soul."

"Huh?" Maka was a bit confused by this.

"Oh, I didn't tell you?" Saru looked apologetically at Maka and then continued. "Let's just say, he should be dead and he's not. He was hit by a spell that could wipe out a nation and he survived. Doesn't that make you more interested in him?"

....

Back in the throne room, Taku was still trying to come to grips with what just happened.

"So the giants can talk..."

This completely shocked the daylights out of Taku.

Does this mean they've been seeing everything I was doing? Was that man I fought one of them? But he was normal in terms of size.

"Kid, when you come back to your senses please tell me so that I can tell you what I am going to give you." The giant spoke again.

"Oh..." Taku felt a bit embarrassed. "Please advise me."

As soon as he finished this sentence the giant began trembling and glowing. The glow ended up becoming so bright that even Taku was blinded by it. After a couple of breaths, the light began to dim down, and to Taku's surprise, the Giant had disappeared.

"What the..."

"Over here." Just as Taku was about to sink into madness he heard that weak voice again, only this time it was coming from behind him. He turned around and he saw a middle-aged man who was fairly lean compared to the average Gutu.

"You are?" Taku asked cautiously.

The man replied, "You have a very bad memory, don't you?... We just spoke a couple of seconds ago."

Taku's mouth hung open for a while before he could utter a single word. "But..."

"Don't bash in your head about it." The man said as he walked towards Taku. "Let's get down to business, I'm not like most spirits who deal with power related abilities. My abilities are quite special."

"I won't give you any elemental power, nor can I grant you any special effects when it comes to reinforcement. I have no body transformation abilities."

Taku was shocked.

"This is bad. This guy is basically telling me that he can't give me anything, so why did I choose him? What am I even doing here?"

The spirit didn't even bother with Taku's expression as it carried on. "Let me explain to you how this works. To be honest the term 'Guardian Spirit' is a bit of a misconception. It's not like we are going to follow you around in all your travels and protect you when you are in grave danger. What we do is that we give you our techniques and we allow you to use them at any given time.

But you see the thing is, with some of these skills they require you to chant something that will summon the essence of a guardian spirit. Take it as if it's a way to summon a part of us to help you. But mine is a bit different, that's why not that many people choose me. My technique is not one you need my essence for, nor do you have to chant to activate it. All you need to do is train in it.

That test you went through was for us to see how far you can go. If you had reached level 5 you could have gotten a better technique than what you could get in level 4..."

"Sh*t..."

Taku was a bit frustrated at this, and as if the spirit could read Taku's mind, he smiled and said. "But it makes no difference to me. If you had reached the first level and chosen me I still would've given you the same technique, same as if you had reached the sixth or seventh level."

"It's either his technique is very weak, or it's very unique."

Taku at the moment had mixed feelings after hearing what the spirit had to say. Taku hadn't even said a word the whole time, and just as he was about to speak the spirit appeared in front of him.

It almost felt as if it had teleported because its speed was something Taku could comprehend. The Spirit placed its index finger on Taku's hand and said "My name is Sekuru Kaguvi, and the ability I'm passing to you is a soul art. It's called soul manifestation, I don't think I really need to explain much about it, the name is pretty self-explanatory. Cultivate it diligently."

Just as Sekuru Kaguvi finished speaking his index finger began to exude a bright blue light, and as if he was being shocked by electric currents, Taku began to shake uncontrollably. He felt as though his brain was being torn in two, the headache he had at the moment was enough to make a man want to kill himself.

This all lasted for a couple of breaths before Taku's world went blank.

Taku only opened his eyes hours later. He still felt as though his head had been split in two. He was so weak at the moment that he could barely lift up a finger, nor could he even fully open his eyes. His vision was still a bit hazy as he looked around.

He realized that he was in a very small room that only had the bed he was lying on and two stools. The first stool was vacant, but the second one was not. He saw a person sitting there silently looking up at the ceiling as if he/she was lost in his/her own thoughts.

It took a while for his vision to properly go back to normal, and when he saw the person sitting beside the bed, he almost jumped in fright.

"F*ck! What is she doing here?"

If it wasn't for the fact that he could barely move, Taku would have saluted her vigorously already. As he tried to move Maka noticed his awkward movements, stood up and walked towards him. Seeing this Taku turned stiff.

"You're awake." Maka started. "That's good, I'll go call my master."

"That's not necessary," Saru said as he walked in. "You truly scared me, kid. Spending that much time in that place isn't always good."

Saru sat down on the previously vacant stool and gestured for Maka to sit as well. He then stared at Taku in anticipation. "Which level did you reach?"

"4!" Taku answered honestly.

Saru was shocked into silence by this. Never would he have thought that a 10-year-old child would be able to fight himself to level 4. Maka on the other hand could barely contain her shock, her mouth hung open as her eyes went wide.

This time it wasn't Saru who asked the question but rather it was Maka. "Which spirit chose you at the end of it all?"

"Chose me?" Taku was confused. "Don't you choose a spirit at random?" Taku asked innocently.

Hearing this Saru could not even keep his usual calm demeanor. He was flabbergasted beyond measure. This was the first time he has heard that a human could actually choose which spirit he wanted. Before this, there was no other case of it happening. Maka on the other hand was a hairline away from losing her mind.

She asked with a shaky voice. "So who did you pick then?"

"Sekuru Kaguvi," Taku answered honestly again.

"What!!" Saru's expression at the moment was a bit comical. He was shocked to the core and his expression totally gave that away, but also a hint of joy was evident as well.

"Quickly explain to me the state of your soul," Saru demanded impatiently.

"My soul." Taku went on to narrate exactly what he saw in his soul. The explanation didn't take long, but it was followed by a long silence that stretched out for 5 whole minutes.

During these 5 minutes, Maka couldn't stop staring at Taku. She looked at him as if he were a demon wearing human skin. The facts about the Guardian Spirits aside, his soul was a mystery itself.

Saru finally sighed and spoke. "Let's recount the two possibilities. The first is that when you were hit by that powerful spell instead of it killing you, it split your soul into two and mutated the other part of your soul. Even though the spell should've been enough to kill you I think it is also what is keeping you alive. The second possibility is that you were born with dual souls and the other just recently awakened."

Taku breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this. For a moment there he felt as if Saru had almost found out about him being from another world. And it's not like Saru hadn't thought about it, in truth he had, but he thought that this theory was a little bit too outlandish to be true.

"There is a higher chance that the first one is correct. And due to the mutation, your souls began fighting to seize control and in the process, they actually strengthened each other and as a result, they created a third party."

Saru looked at Taku the same way people looked at gold. He couldn't help but smile every time he thought about Taku's condition.

"Sigh... This is just too wonderful. You got the soul manifestation art from Kaguvi, which at the moment completely goes hand in hand with your current state. We need to get you into the Elephant Foot Guard for training as soon as possible." Saru couldn't hide his excitement as he left the room, leaving Maka and Taku alone.

...

The moment Taku left Sekuru Kaguvi alone, the latter face palmed in regret, "Sigh, I forgot to tell the boy his title. Oh well, he will learn of it sooner or later." As Kaguvi returned to the walls, the other Guardians shook their heads in disappointment. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do, this was just his character, free and unrestrained...