Kigen flows through existence itself.

If a Battle Dancer wishes to understand the depth of Kigen, then that sentence basically sums it up. How one interprets it, is up to them. It is both a fact, yet it leaves a Battle Dancer enough for their own interpretation. Thus creating, what is called, Unique Traits.

The Unique trait of a battle dancer emerges when they have completed their basic training, thus allowing them to move on to the next stage of their Evolution.

It is the stage where the battle dancer will learn to harmonize the positive and negative energies of Kigen, thus forming their own Unique Kigen that is solely theirs. How they form can be through a lot of things. It can be according to their nature, their likes and dislikes, their own upbringing, and their environment. There are a lot of factors to take into account. But some can be simpler than others.

The Severins family, for example, The Schlieffen Family, reside in the wintery depths of the north. Thus, it can be assumed that they will form some type of Kigen that is related to frost. There can exist cases where it goes against that line of reasoning, but rarely does it ever occur.

But the world is fair in a sense. Once a battle dancer emerges with their unique trait of Kigen, switching to another type is impossible. Using another type of Kigen that does not belong to you is also impossible. It's one of the eternal rules of Kigen. There are others like one who can only sense Kigen when they are Sixteen years of age and beyond. It's a mystery why that is, but it's believed that Kigen is too ancient of energy that it can't be used by a body that hasn't matured yet.

Though Kigen may necessarily flow through their body naturally, they can't sense nor control it.

Well, that was the rule, until I appeared.

A warm sensation that's akin to bathing oneself in sunlight flowed through Severin's system. Severin was wide-eyed, shocked that I was able to use a type of healing Kigen. His reaction is understandable. Healer-type battle dancers are as rare as an albino animal. There are very few of such since Battle Dancers are inherently aggressive by nature. There's a reason why Battle is included in the term.

"How? Thats-”

“Impossible? I know.” I responded before refocusing on healing. The paralysis poison, I realized, spread faster than I thought. Half a minute more and I am not surprised if Severin just passes out. That would have been par for the course, but I'm here.

Let's just hope he can take care of everyone else. I guess we don't have much time. I finished healing him. He inspected his body and he realized that he was fully healed. There isn't any more residual poison. And even if there was, it would be so insignificant that he could push it out on his own.

“How ya feeling?”

“Enough. Thank you Kayde.”

“Thank me when you're done beating the crap out of them. I used Half of my Kigen for that one Style. I'm gonna be useless for the next 10 minutes. What about you? How much Kigen do you have left?”

“Hmmm, about 80 percent.” Monster. Fucking monsters man. I don't know if I should be glad or jealous. Well, I can have both. I gave Severin an empty smile and he did indeed see it but did not pick up on the meaning behind it.

“I have more questions for you Kayde, but it can wait.” Oh yay. More of him pestering me with questions I don't want to answer. I simply ignored what he said, as we both looked at the door that led up to the next compartment.

“You got a plan, Severin?”

“Yes.”

“Great, what is it?”

“It's a simple one. I lead the way and beat them, while you stand and watch and recover.”

“That's not a really good plan, Severin. There's gonna be a lot of them inside. You know that right.”

“I know. And there has been something I haven't told you yet about this train.”

I didn't want to ask. Nope. Its better that I don't know.

“Those 2-Starred scum isn't the strongest one here.”

Seems like I didn't have a choice in the matter. “My Wulfin is telling me that a dangerous existence lies ahead. So much so, that its telling me to run and hide.”

“Then why aren't we listening to it again?”

“A Schlieffen doesn't run and hide. We fight.”

“Greaaaat.”

“You can run if you wish Kayde. You can protect the others while I'm gone.”

“Please. I'm Yarrow. Hardships are my everyday life.” We both looked at each other, nodded, and decided to follow the simplistic plan of Severin. I know that my Styles embody simplicity, but I didn't think it would extend to plans. Sigh.

“You go first.”

“With pleasure.”

Severin darted forward. Three One-Starred goons stood in Severin's path but it didn't even seem that their presence registered to him. He didn't even bother to use his sword and opted for his cold hands. Frost exuded from his fingertips. The three attacked one by one because of the cramped space, and that was their first disadvantage. The second was facing Severin in the first place.

Severin grabbed the man's face, seemingly freezing the man's head, and threw him out of the train. The second one slashes with his knife, and as if Severin was disgusted by seeing a knife, that poor sap got the worst end of it and was kicked squarely in the chest with a Kigen-empowered leg kick.

His chest seemingly caved in as he flew through the air. The last one dodged his flying companion and shot an arrow at Severin. It was fast, yet Severin was seemingly faster. He caught it with his hands, froze it, and snapped it in two. Wow, that's cool.

The archer slightly flinched, but notched a couple more arrows and shot it. It whizzed through the air. Severin no longer caught and instead opted to just sidestepped it, and darted towards the archer. The archer tried fighting back once he realized that Severin was already in front of him. He swung his bow at him yet it was fruitless.

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Severin simply caught it, ripped it away from his hands, and front-kicked him. The archer fell backward and clutched his chest. The now former archer drew heavy breaths and yet the moment he looked towards Severin, he already saw his bow in front of his eyes. His eyes showed whites and fell to the side.

I whistled and said. “Woah. Nice work. At this rate, we might actually succeed.”

“I wish it were that simple.” He froze the bow in his hands, and crushed it, as the ice from it fell to the ground. “I know, I know, there's still the final boss.” I carelessly said, but I secretly gripped my palms. I may not have the instinctual prowess of a winter wolf, but even I felt that this wasn't going to be that simple.

“What's their plan exactly? They have already taken control of the train. This place is no different than a chopping block. If I were the evil mastermind, I would have just massacred everyone on board.” I said.

“I had the same thought. They may be lunatics, but they're not idiots.” Severin said, his voice ice cold and full of reason. He looked around the compartment. Every single person that once resided here was no longer here but there. Into some other compartment. They were gathering them for some reason. Kidnap? But why?

It was on such a mass scale that it already reached the hundreds.

"Sacrifices?” Severin said.

“Not likely. A sacrifice requires preparation. A ritual of sorts that is so complicated it would make your head hurt. And even if it was, why the hell would they do it on a train that is suspended above a body of-” Then it hit me. Severin seemed to have noticed it too and had a questioning gaze. It started to make sense. Why the explosion was centered on 1st-Class. Why didn't they just strap a crap ton of bombs on all the compartments? And while we were even in the middle of a bridge.

“Those lunatics. Crazy fucking bastards. We need to go. We need to stop them or were fucked.”

"What-”

"Severin, they're going to blow up the bridge and sink the train with it. They're going to make it look like all the passengers died due to natural causes or make them think it's just a normal terrorist attack. That would be the case if they were terrorists. We got this all wrong from the start.”

“They Are not terrorists that want to send the message. If they were that type, then we would have known about them already. My family has an extensive network of information that covers the entire continent. And yet I don't know about it.”

“Why do you think that is? Why do you think that if they were terrorists, why would they want to make it look like it happened due to natural causes.”

“It's because they are not terrorists,” Severin concluded. We both could see the alarm in our eyes. Without even communicating what we were going to do, we rushed into the next compartment. Screw the plan. We need to move. Because if we don't, everyone is not going to die but will suffer a fate worse than death.

We entered the next compartment and confirmed our suspicions. Severin and I saw the fear in the eyes of the passengers. They were huddled together everywhere. I could even see some bloodstains in some parts of the compartment. It seemed that some people tried to resist and yet failed in the end.

There was a woman at the other end of the train. She wore a pitch-black dress that reached all the way down to the ground. She had slender arms that held twin daggers. And on her face was a pitch-black mask that had 2 Yellow Stars at the center. It seemed that she was the same type as the last 2-starred man Severin defeated. But my senses tell me that she is far more dangerous.

We wanted to strike fast and kill the woman, but there was a problem. The woman was smart. She used the passengers as a wall of flesh that prevented us from ever even approaching her. If Severin or I even moved fast, there was a good chance that we would step on the passengers. They were so huddled up together that there was no space to speak of.

“What do you want!" I shouted. I took a quick glance at Severin and he seemed to have understood what I thought. Slowly, he started taking a few steps back, quietly gathering KIgen in his legs.

“What everybody wants. Peace. Peace in our godforsaken world.”

“Well if you want peace, then why did you guys bomb a bunch of people and take hostages that are a dozen more.”

“A price must be paid for true peace to exist.”

"And you think killing a bunch of people is okay?”

“Of course not.”

That caught me off guard. I thought that she would defend her point and keep insisting on it. I never actually believed that she would be aware of it and even openly admit it. "The sins we commit will be worth it in the end. For our true saviors will come, and bestow upon us a gift. A gift of everlasting life. Everlasting peace."

“Lunatics.” I realized that I actually said it out loud but the woman didn't seem to have cared. As I was about to continue speaking, the woman suddenly said.

"I know what you are doing. And it's useless.” Crap, we were busted. I then quickly gazed at Severin and signaled for him to go, but Severin seemingly froze when he gazed at the front. I looked back and saw that the woman was grabbing the hair of a child. The child cried for his parents, and his parents even tried pulling the boy back, but the woman simply pointed her dagger at the throat of the child.

"YOU LUNATIC! LET GO OF HIM.” Severin suddenly shouted. His ice-cold composure vanished. Replaced with the simmering rage that was akin to a winter storm that was about to arrive. Ice started spreading from the ground he stood on but he didn't move. He couldn't move. If he moved, I would stop him. I don't know what to do. Fuck. Oh, wait.

“Move even an inch and the blood of a young child will spill.”

“Stop! He has nothing to do with this.” Severin said.

“On the contrary, everyone here has everything to do with this. It's because of you, that you all are at fault. Not us. NOT US.” The woman rambled, as a maniacal laugh of hers echoed across the room. The already terrified passengers covered their eyes and tried covering themselves with anything. Some of the children on board even started to cry.

But I kept my cool. I looked at Severin and saw that even he was panicking, not knowing what to do. ‘Calm down. I have a plan.’ I whispered. Due to all the noise created by the passengers, this was an opportunity. Severin noticeably started calming down. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

‘What do I have to do.’

'First, give me your sword.’

'Done.’ I took a glance at the woman and saw that she was going insane. She was still laughing and it should continue that way. Severin unlatched the harness that tied the sword to his sides, and gently slid it to me. I stopped it using my foot and cautiously, lowered my body to an optimal posture.

‘Once I attack, dash to her. Got it?’

'Huh?’

‘Just do it!’

Severin nodded, and though he was confused as to how I was going to attack at this distance, his eyes told me that he would trust me. That is enough. But the woman, done with her maniacal laugh, suddenly shouted. “What are you-”

24 Styles of Simplicity.

Long Distance Cut

In one fluid motion, I lowered my body enough so that I could grab the sword, unsheathed it, and using the momentum from my lowered body, sliced. In a second, the sound of screaming could be heard, but it was not from the child. I looked on and saw that the arm holding the boy was cut. The sliced arm fell to the ground as a spray of blood showered the nearby passengers.

The moment I looked, Severin was already halfway, and in a second, he crashed into the woman. He sent a Kigen-infused fist towards the woman but it seemed that she had already recovered. She used her remaining arm and deflected Severin's attack with her dagger. The woman chuckled in victory, thinking that she already won. She only needed to slice her dagger once anywhere, and bodies would drop.

Unfortunately, she met us. She saw that Severin stepped away to the side and had a puzzled reaction, yet it was quickly erased when she saw that I was also right in front of her.

24 Styles of Simplicity.

Heaven’s Fist.

With a golden light that resembled the gates of heaven, I shot it towards the woman. She was fast. She was able to react in time and tried doing the same thing she did with Severin. She soaked her dagger with her Kigen and used that to try blocking my fist. Yet I only smiled. She saw my smile and I felt like she had warning bells ringing in her ears but it was too late. My fist and her blade made contact, and yet it was only her blade that broke.

Her dagger shattered into tiny little pieces, and yet the trajectory of my fist continued and I slammed it against her chest. She seemed to have coughed up blood, as it dripped from her mouth. She crashed against the door to the next compartment and lay there unconsciously.

"One hit huh,” Severin said.

“Yeah but thanks to that, my Kigen is basically at zero. The Long Distance Cut also took a lot out of me.”

“Can you still fight?”

“I never said that.” Even though I didn't have much Kigen for now, and would need time to recover, it didn't mean that I couldn't fight. It would just be annoying without Kigen, but definitely could hold my own without Kigen. Severin seemingly chuckled, and I also joined in as we thought that finally, it was over.

It was then that a slow clap emerged from the next compartment.

“Well done little birdies.”