Chapter 24: Phoenix's Wail

"Reiken, wait up." Kasumi stopped me from going back to my cozy shelter after I thanked the Empyreans for saving me and taking me along.

"Hmm? What's up?" I asked.

"Follow," he said and started walking. I did as told.

We stopped when we reached a forest; Kasumi then took out a feather and handed it to me.

"*破晓之霞,现!" He yelled in Empyrean, and the feather started glowing purple-orange in my hand.

"It only glows when it senses a stronger being, a being worthy to wield it." Kasumi put his hands behind his back, his face unsurprised.

"Hold on." I rose the feather up. "Wield? I mean, I know people can turn leaves into weapons, but wielding a feather-"

"**羽化剑!" He yelled again, and the feather transformed into a beautiful sword. The metal shone like the first light of dawn, and a purple-orange gemstone sat in the middle of the guard.

"This is the Phoenix's Wail sword, or Fengmingjian." Kasumi explained. "It's a sword that's been passed on for generations at Fengmingguan, so that one day either a Doushi at Fengmingguan or an acquaintance of theirs could be deemed worthy."

"And I'm that acquaintance?" I asked, flabbergasted. "What about you? Did it not deem you worthy?"

A gentle gust brushed past, and Kasumi's hair and robe fluttered in the wind.

"I may be worthy, but only you are worthy and fit." Kasumi turned around. "No one wields a sword as you do, Reiken."

When I looked in his direction, only a warm breeze was left behind.

The festival was nearing its finale. Apart from training every day, I also asked Montei to scout for information about the other contestants and asked Kasumi a bit more about the two princes who were suddenly now part of my competition. Confident as I may have been, I had to secure my victory for Yune, and knowing your opponent well can be very crucial to a battle.

The sword Kasumi gave to me transformed back into a feather whenever it was out of battle, which was quite convenient. Still, as cooperative as the sword was, I could not learn skills from it. Perhaps communicating with a phoenix was ever so slightly more difficult than communicating with a spirit that could actually comprehend human languages.

The final week of the festival had arrived. There were a lot of other people, some easily recognizable from major families or guilds such as the Kumoya Clan which Tadashi belonged to, as well as an ancient, mysterious guild who the purple-haired weirdo who I destroyed in my first battle, Ikazuchi Juuden, belonged to.

I mean, I suppose Kitano was a big family too.

"Say, Moye," Suddenly recalling something, I knocked on Moye's sheath and asked her in my mind. "Do you think the Chisatsuden Assassins want my head because the bounty is placed by whoever wanted to kill me back when I was two years old?"

Because Moye's sheath is part of the sword, I could still communicate with Moye despite her being next to Yune.

"Doubt it. The killers back then were from a big organization said to keep peace in the world, so I doubt they'll bother to hire other killers."

A big organization, huh? What did I do now to piss them off?

I was interrupted as the draw started. My opponent was a guy who had the same attire Juuden had, an electric spirit wielder from that mysterious guild. Unfortunately, he was one of very few who Montei couldn't obtain any information on.

As I sat there preparing myself, other matches went on. I told Montei to go bet on the two Donghuang princes, and he came back happily with quite a profit, which I expected. Stocks make money, no matter in which world.

Finally, I faced my opponent.

"You're the one who insulted my brother?" He planted his spear on the ground and asked my menacingly.

"If his hair was as purple as yours, then I suppose so." I shrugged. "If you want to avenge him, this would be your chance."

"Avenge him? Now I've lost all respect for you." He shook his head. "He's not worthy enough for me to avenge. I'm just asking you to confirm so I can calm him down a bit - after I throw you out."

"Well, I wonder who's going to calm you down then." I pulled out the Phoenix's Wail sword. "Kitano Reiken."

"Ikazuchi Shigehisa of the Tenrai." He readied his spear.

Without warning like a striking thunder, he charged at me, his spear aiming straight at me. With no time to dodge, I quickly used exactly what I used on his brother, pulling out Moye's sheath and misdirecting his hit to the side, and attacked with the Phoenix's Wail sword.

Polearms naturally counter swords with their incredible range, but his spear was misdirected by the sheath in my other hand, so he had nothing to block my strike-

Suddenly, some sparks formed on the ground, and I got a sense of danger. I quickly jumped to the side, rolling out of his reach. My senses were correct; he somehow summoned a lightning bolt to connect to the ground right where I was about to strike.

"Not bad." He repositioned his spear and charged in again.

I had a few backs and forth with him until he got annoyed and decided to call for his spirit.

"Levin Lash!" He yelled, his spear glowing purple. Six extra spears appeared behind him. No, five.

I suddenly realized why one was missing, but it was too late. A spear came from straight above; I blocked it with Moye's sheath, but some of the spirit energy still came through, and I felt quite a shock. When I shook the paralyzing energy off, his spear was already right in front of my face. I instinctively raised up my Phoenix's Wail, and it let out a cry that pierced the clouds. It didn't affect him too much, but it was enough for me to evade the hit.

I didn't know what else to do, so I called for my spirit and tried pairing with the sword once again. This time, instead of nothing happening, I was dragged into my mind, and a little girl appeared.

"I'm Ling'er Feng. You can call me Phoenii. That's what my creator named me." The girl introduced herself.

"I'm Reiken. Uh... nice to meet you?" I scratched my head. Phoenii didn't react for a bit, and we sat there awkwardly.

"Pft... hahaha!" Phoenii arbitrarily started laughing, her finger pointing at me. "That was so funny! You should've seen your awkward face!"

My face cringed. How bored is this girl?

*破晓之霞: Light of Dawnbreak.

**羽化剑: Literally "feather to sword".