Chapter 033
Testing Limitations
At the same time Akita is sitting at the table staring into the table thinking until Kenji,Itsuki,Riku, and Dai come downstairs and Kenji notices she doesn't speak to them and he says
"Mom?" But she doesn't respond and Kenji walks over and grabs her shoulder snapping her out of her fog and Kenji says
“Mom, are you ok?” Akita is *shocked* and says
“Oh yes I’m fine...Just in my head is all'' Riku says
“I’m going to assume Sensei is already gone somewhere, I’ll be outside” Riku walks outside and Itsuki and Dai follow behind him but Kenji sits at the table next to Akita and says
“Are you sure mom? What’s going on?” Akita says
“It’s nothing” Kenji says
“Did dad do something? Do I need to beat him?” Akita *chuckles* and says
“No, if anything I am the one who did something. I think he’s mad at me but you know how he is, he’ll never tell anyone his true feelings'' Kenji says
“Dad could never stay mad at you, so no matter what happened he’ll always come back and talk to you about it” Akita hugs Kenji and says
“Thank you, Kenji” Kenji says
“Don’t worry about it” Kenji stands up and kisses his mom on the head and runs out of the house and he sees Riku,Dai,and Itsuki standing in a circle talking and he walks up and says
“What’s going on?” Itsuki says
“We’re trying to figure out what we’re going to do for training today?” Kenji says
“Well since Goto was able to beat all of us with little effort, Riku you have to work on different techniques other than your force fields, Dai you need to slow down and watch your opponent for the perfect opportunity to finish the fight quickly so you can move to different enemy’s quicker. Itsuki you need to strengthen your fighting style and skill with your sword, and I’ll make sure I have better control over my element allowing me to be more efficient and it’ll help all of you finish the fight faster” Itsuki says
“Right!” Riku says
"Hmm...I'm actually impressed, that wasn't bad for taking a needed step up as a part time leader while Sensei's off doing whatever he does" Dai says
“Who made you the leader?” Kenji says
“Would you like for me to show you?” Dai *smiles* and says
“Yes, I would!” Dai takes a step towards Kenji but he's suddenly hit by a giant ice fist from the side launching him into the forest and The Ice Golem walks up next to Kenji and Kenji walks towards the forest but he stops and sits down in the middle of the grass and The Ice Golem turns into water and it flows around Kenji creating a circle of water on the ground around him and it freezes underneath him and a arm stretches out of the ice and Itsuki turns to Riku and says
"Honestly, Kenji's control over his element is very impressive. Your's is too, but you always hold yourself back" Riku says
"Yeah...It's just the two of us limit ourselves of how versatile we can be because we both don't wish to kill people or hurt them beyond repair" Itsuki says
"I know Kenji's just a caring person and that's why he doesn't want to hurt people, but your not as caring. What's your reason for not pushing your self?" Riku says
"I've...Done things I regret" Itsuki says
"We all have things we regret, but in this world you can't let your regrets limit you. A warrior who won't kill is bound to end up on the other side of the blade, but I honestly hope I'm wrong about that for you" Riku says
"You sound just like Sensei, but even the best warriors have limit and lines they won't cross" Itsuki says
"But for the world to respect those lines and know not to cross them, they had to stack a pile of body that stretched to the sky. You need fear or respect to be accepted in this world, and a man who won't kill might not get either" Riku says
"I can control this world without having to kill people, just look at Sensei. He uses threats and most people run from him" Itsuki is *shocked* and says
"Why do you think that is? Our Sensei is the biggest war criminal there is! Back when there was wars between all regions Sensei would fight entire regions completely by himself, he slaughtered thousands with no remorse or compassion. So people know those threats aren't empty, Sensei had to earn his respect and fear. Truth be told it's hard for a man to balance respect and fear at the same time, but who better to do it perfectly then our Sensei" Riku *laughs* and says
"You really do know a lot about Sensei, how do you know about the old wars? Sensei has only told us a handful of stories and I defiantly don't remember that being one of them" Itsuki says
"I spoke with Sensei's old Sensei and he told me stories of how Sensei was back in those times, and he also gave me a few of his books from that library to read. The library's odd, it's like anything that has ever happened is in there. Every question I had he answered or checked a book for" Riku says
"Hmm, maybe I should speak with him too. But regardless after I defeat Sensei I will have no need to kill anyone for everyone to know me as a formidable warrior" Itsuki says
"Huh?" Riku says
"Just think about it, Sensei the most feared person in the world because he's shown everyone how powerful and dangerous he is. Truly not many people have ever beaten him either, so after I do it everyone will assume I'm as unforgiving as him or even more. After that I'll lean into everyone's fear and paranoia around me and sometimes I might have to put some through a bit of pain to make everyone think I'm just on Sensei's level of sadistic. This way I won't have to compromise my beliefs" Itsuki says
"I understood what you wanted to do, but I'm just confused...You think your going to beat Sensei?" Riku *smiles* and says
" Of course, as a matter of fact I'll even be the first to do it" Suddenly Dai runs out of the forest and punches the arm destroying it and him and Kenji both lock eyes and Kenji says
"You wanted to fight right? What are you waiting for?" Dai's fire covers his entire body and he *smiles* and says
"I might want to break you in half, but I can notice a trap from a mile away" Dai starts running around Kenji's ice circle shooting fireballs at him but Kenji doesn't move and as the fireballs get closer hands shoot out of the ice and catch the fireballs freezing them solid and Dai says
"Hmm, it might be time to turn up the heat" The hands starts throwing the frozen fireballs back towards Dai but Dai dodges all of them and jumps into the air and his fire surges extremely hot all over him and Dai launches hundreds of fire balls down towards Kenji but Kenji still doesn't stand up as all the hands sink into the ice a giant hand covers Kenji from the fireballs and the fireballs bounce off of the hand and Kenji says
"You can't beat me Dai, your fire not-" Suddenly a fire ball slams through the hand creating a hole and Kenji is *shocked* as he looks through the hole and sees Dai's *smiling down at him* as more of his fire balls create holes in Kenji's giant Ice hand but suddenly they all stop coming at once and Kenji moves close to the hand and looks through the hole but he's *shocked* as he sees Dai holding a giant fireball above him and Dai says
"You know what, I'll let you be the leader as Sensei is gone. But you just need to understand our power dynamic" Riku is *shocked* and he turns to Itsuki and says
"Dai just broke through Kenji ice!" Itsuki is *shocked* and says
"I thought he couldn't" Riku says
"Sensei said he shouldn't be able to, but I guess Dai progressed faster than all of us had noticed" Itsuki says
"Hmm, we should probably back up. I don't think he's going to hold that much longer" Riku says
"Yeah" Riku and Itsuki both jump up onto the roof of the house but Riku puts his hand up and wind wraps around the back of the house and Itsuki says
"Good thinking, no telling the kind of damage he might have done to the house" Dai *laughs* and he throws the giant fireball down towards Kenji and The giant Ice hand reaches up and grabs the giant fire ball and it's able to hold the fireball but it shatter as thick ice wraps around Kenji's entire body as the giant fire ball slams into him destroying the circle of ice underneath him and cracking Kenji's Ice cocoon as it's launched extremely high into the air and the force of the explosion flows towards the house but it's redirected into the air by Riku's wind clearing the clouds out of the sky also splitting Kenji's Ice cocoon open and Kenji falls out of it and slams into the ground and Dai walks over to Kenji as Kenji rolls over onto his back, Dai says
"Next time remember your pl-" Dai's suddenly hit in the stomach by a fist made out of water coming out of the ground and Dai drops down to one knee holding his stomach in pain as chains made out of water shoot out of the ground and wrap around Dai's wrist as they do the water flows onto Dai's hand wrapping them both in bubbles of water and they both freeze as Dai *screams in pain* and Kenji *laughs* as he gets to his feet and Kenji says
"I'll show you exactly why I'm the leader" Dai's fire surges all over him but the ice around his wrist isn't melt and he's *shocked* and he looks at Kenji and Kenji *smiles* and says
"You actually thought you'd really burn away my Ice, you only do what I allow you too" Suddenly the grounds covers in Kenji's ice once again and Itsuki starts *laughing uncontrollably* and Riku says
"I knew it!" Dai is *confused* and says
"What the hell did you do!?" Itsuki says
"He played you! He turned the spots your fireballs hit into water just to make it look like you we're winning!" Kenji *chuckles* and says
"As long as you know, now let's get back to training" Dai stands up and tries to break the chains by pulling them forwards but they hold and Dai says
"Let me go!" Itsuki *laughs* and says
"He's not going to go down easy Kenji, you might have to get more serious" Kenji looks at Dai as his fire starts violently surging all around him pushing Kenji back but an ice wall appears in front of Kenji letting Kenji look towards Dai and he notices Dai's fire starting to burn brighter but the ice still doesn't melt around his wrist and Kenji says
"Calm down before I extinguish you sunshine" But Kenji notices burns start appearing on Dai's wrist and Kenji is *shocked* and thinks
"He's surging with too much power, his body can't handle it" Kenji puts his hand up and the ice wall launching it forward towards Dai but as it's about to hit Dai it becomes liquid as it lands on Dai it freezes him but it also freezes his fire in place and Riku notices the smoke coming off of the ice and thinks
"For ice to be smoking like that and to not only freeze Dai's fire in place it has to be somewhere around -500 degrees" Riku stands up and says
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"Kenji, get him out of that Ice he could die from the kind of cold!" Kenji slams his foot into the ground and multiple hands stretch out of the ground and start punching Dai all over his body until all of the hands disappear and one hand emerges and punches Dai in the stomach destroying the ice around him and launching him extremely high into the air and Itsuki says
"I think the two of you are done now" Riku looks into the air and says
"Not just yet" As Dai falls towards the ground his fire surges all around him wrapping him a giant ball of fire and Dai's eyes open as he looks down at Kenji, he says
"I won't lose!" Kenji says
"You don't have a choice" Kenji stomps on the ground and a giant hand stretches out towards Dai and as it's about to grab the giant fireball, it suddenly disappears and Kenji is *confused* but suddenly his back feels extremely hot and Kenji turns around and sees Dai flying towards him still inside the fireball and Kenji able to put up an ice wall slowing Dai down but Dai pushes through it and Kenji is able to stop the fireball with his hand and he starts to freeze the front of it but Dai's fire stops Kenji from freezing the rest and Dai screams
"I TOLD YOU I WON'T LOSE!" Kenji screams
"AND I SAID YOU DON'T HAVE A CHOICE!" Suddenly Dai feels something hit the back of his fire ball and as he looks back he notices a ice fist punch the back of the fireball slightly freeing the area it hit and he's *shocked* as hundreds of ice fist starts punching the fireball from all sides freezing each area they hit and Dai tries to pushes forwards with his flames but the outer layer of his fireball hardens into ice and the inside of his fireball starts freezing and his body surges with his flames as he's trying to keep the ice away from him and he thinks
"Damn it...Not like this, I can't lose!" Dai's hands start to freeze and he *screams in pain* as his legs are also frozen and the ice starts to creep up his body extinguishing his flames the more of his body that's frozen but Dai's heart surges with fire unfreezing his body as more of his flames starts to surge he starts to burn away more and more of the ice until the fire on his chest explodes off of him burning away all the ice around him and Dai drops to the ground holding his chest and as he's *breathing heavily* he thinks
"Now...I'm going to kill him" But as Dai looks up he notices he's in a hollowed shell of ice and he notices Kenji,Dai and Riku standing outside of the shell of ice and Kenji *smiles* and says
"Have you calmed down yet sunshine?" Dai gets to his feet and walks up to the wall of the shell and punches it but his fist bounces off of the wall and Riku looks at the shell and thinks
"So he hardened the outside of the fireball when he froze it and then he let Dai hollow out the inside and made a prison for him. I'm impressed" Itsuki looks at Dai and says
"Your right where you belong" Dai *laughs* and says
“What now?” Kenji says
“Do you think you're smart? I allowed you to burn out the inside of the fireball, that’s why I took my ice away except on the outer shell, now your trapped” Dai activates one of his fire gauntlets and punches the shell and it shakes but it doesn’t crack the shell and Kenji says
“Oh you thought I was bluffing. You can’t beat me” A giant frozen hand comes out of the ice and grabs the frozen shell from underneath and pushes it high into the air and it holds the shell in the air and Kenji says
“Everyone ready for training” Riku and Itsuki says
“Yes” Riku and Itsuki walk in different directions into the forest and Kenji walks back to the center of the frozen area and he starts meditating and while he’s meditating he feels a shock wave shake the ground and Kenji opens his eyes and looks around but he notices that the shock waves are coming from above him and as he looks up and notices the shell shaking from Dai's punches and Kenji says
“Just hurry up and give up” A voice comes from behind him and says
“What’s that?” Kenji is *shocked* and turns around sees Kingsman and says
“When did you get here!?” Kingsman says
“Am I not allowed to be in my backyard?” Kenji says
“No that’s not what I’m talking about… Never mind, It’s Dai. He wanted to fight to see who the leader would be and I won” Kingsman says
“Very impressive, when did you become so versatile with your Ice?” Kenji says
“Most of them happened on there own, but I could feel when it was going to happen and I didn't stop them" Kingsman says
"Good, but your actually really smart kid. Caused Dai to get over confident making him think he can burn away your ice and then taking advantage of that. Good job, kid" Kingsman walks up to the arm that’s holding Dai in the air and he punches it and it cracks all over and starts to fall apart but it's able to repair it's self and Kingsman says
“It’s very strong too” But as Kingsman punches it a second time the arm shatters and the shell falls out of the air but Kingsman catches the shell with one hand and sits it on the ground and Dai stands up and says
“Sensei, let me out of here” Kingsman says
“Huh?” Kingsman presses his ear against the shell and Dai screams
“LET ME OUT!” Kingsman says
“I can’t hear you, do you want me to put you back up in the sky?” Dai says
“No! Let me go–” Kingsman picks up the shell and starts spinning the shell on his finger and he turns to Kenji and says
“You ready?” Kenji *smiles* and says
“Ready!” Kingsman throws the shell high into the air and Kenji creates a giant ice hand out of the ice below him and it reaches into the sky and grabs the shell but Kingsman flies up and takes the shell from the hand and throws it to the left but the hand quickly moves over and grabs it and throws it downward but Kingsman catches it as well and as Kingsman keeps throwing the shell across the sky the giant ice hands are able to catch the shell and keep throwing it until one of Kenji’s giant ice hand's throw the shell towards Kingsman and Kingsman *laughs* and says
"If your going to do things like this you might as well quit" Kingsman flies towards the shell but suddenly a giant ice hand grabs him pinning his arms to his side as another ice hand shoots into the air and it catches the shell as it flies behind Kingsman but Kingsman clenches his hand and the force of it destroys the hand holding onto him and Kingsman appears behind the giant hand that caught the shell and he punches the top of the giant ice hand destroying it and sending the shell slamming into the ground knocking Dai out and Kingsman lands on the ground and says
“Cheating, I’d expect better from you Boy!” Kenji says
“I’m not cheating, I’m just using my environment to my advantage” Kingsman says
“Cheating is cheating no matter how you phrase it, but where’s the others?” Kenji says
“Itsuki’s working on his fighting style with his sword, and Riku is working on new techniques for his wind” Kingsman says
“I’ll check on Itsuki, you check on Riku” Kenji says
“All right”
At the same time Itsuki is sitting on the ground with his eyes closed and he *slows his breathing* and thinks
"The strongest warrior and the toughest opponent I've ever faced, I've never been able to beat you but I will study you and break you down this way" Itsuki looks up with his eyes closed and he *smiles* and says
"I appreciate your time...Sensei" Itsuki sees Kingsman standing in front of him holding his sword and Itsuki gets to his feet and he summons his sword and Itsuki tries to slash Kingsman but Kingsman blocks his slash and punches Itsuki in the stomach sliding him back and Itsuki rushes Kingsman but Kingsman dodges all of his slashes and Kingsman flips his sword around and hits Itsuki in the stomach with the blunt side of his blade dropping him to the floor and Kingsman kicks Itsuki across the ground and Itsuki slowly gets to his feet but he *smiles* and says
"I knew I couldn't beat you, but it's good to be able to learn you" Itsuki rushes Kingsman and tries to slash but Kingsman dodges his slash and tries to punch but Itsuki dodges his punch and slashes him across the chest but Kingsman kicks him in the stomach sliding him back and Kingsman rushes Itsuki and Itsuki tries to slash Kingsman but Kingsman deflects his slash making Itsuki fall onto his back and Kingsman slashes down towards Itsuki but Itsuki rolls back out of the way and gets to his feet and Itsuki tries to slash him but Kingsman deflects all of his slashes until he leans to the side out of the way of Itsuki's slash and Kingsman sweeps his feet and Itsuki falls back but he's able to land on his hand and he pushes himself into a back flip and land on his feet creating space between them and Itsuki says
"I'm getting better, soon I'll be able to beat the real you" But suddenly he hears someone behind him say
“Sloppy technique” Itsuki turns around and tries to slashes the person but they catch his hand stopping his sword and as Itsuki opens his eyes he sees Kingsman and Kingsman *laughs* and says
“I didn’t mean to upset you” Itsuki says
“I’m sorry Sensei I was training and I didn’t know you we’re here” Kingsman says
“A good technique, but I didn’t know you knew about visualization training” Itsuki says
“I heard about it a while ago, but never really thought it was effective. And I wanted to try it out” Kingsman says
“It’s a very effective training method, helps the body develop and adjust faster to new enemy fighting styles. But now there’s no need for it because I am here!” Itsuki says
“You said my form was sloppy?” Kingsman says
“It is, when you're holding your sword lead with your dominant hand. Grip the handle of the sword with your dominant hand just below the guard. With your other hand, keeps it low and press it against the pommel of the sword” Itsuki adjusts his hands and Kingsman says
“And with that your sword should fit more comfortably in your hands and even restrict your movements less allowing your wrist to flow freely, making you more effective with your blade. Now come at me!” Itsuki says
“Are you sure Sensei!?” Kingsman pulls his sword out of his hand and says
“Positive, now come at me with everything you’ve got!” Itsuki says
“Yes Sensei'' Itsuki rushes Kingsman and with one swing he can feel the difference in power and swiftness and as Itsuki tries to slash Kingsman, Kingsman covers his hand in darkness making the slash bounce off of his hand and Kingsman and Itsuki *smile at each other* and they both start clashing strikes until Kingsman kicks Itsuki in the side of his leg and sweeps his feet but as Itsuki is falling Kingsman stomps on Itsuki’s chest slamming him into the ground and Kingsman lifts his foot again and Itsuki throws his sword up towards Kingsman and Kingsman leans his head to the side causing the blade to fly into the air and Kingsman *laughs* and says
"I think you missed" Kingsman stomps down towards Itsuki but suddenly Itsuki and his sword switches places causing Itsuki's sword to stab Kingsman in the foot and Kingsman *screams in pain* as he's hooping around holding his foot and Kingsman pulls the sword out and throws it away but Itsuki lands on the ground and rushes up and grabs his sword and rushes Kingsman and he starts slashing towards Kingsman making him jump backwards on his one foot dodging Itsuki's slashes until Itsuki trips Kingsman and as Kingsman land on the ground he drops his sword and Itsuki points his sword at Kingsman and says
"How far are we taking this?" Kingsman *smiles* and says
"To the very end!" Itsuki tries to slashes down towards Kingsman and Kingsman snaps but as Itsuki's swinging down towards Kingsman, Kingsman's sword suddenly flies in between them stopping Itsuki slash and Itsuki is *shocked* and Kingsman says
"You've got a lot of tricks, but so do I kid" Itsuki pushes Kingsman’s sword off to the right and he tries to slash Kingsman again but once again he snaps causing his sword to fly between them deflecting Itsuki slash and Itsuki pushes Kingsman sword away again and he continues to try and slash Kingsman but Kingsman keeps snapping and his sword flies in front of all of Itsuki’s strikes until Kingsman slams the back of his hand on the ground destroying it underneath them and making Itsuki lose balance and Kingsman kicks Itsuki leg making him fall forward but as Itsuki’s falling Kingsman pushes off of the ground and flips over Itsuki and pushes off of his back and making him slam into the ground but he quickly gets back to his feet and he jumps back and thinks
"He's hundreds of times stronger than I could imagine, I need to pace myself. He's truly trained into being the perfect warrior. I'm sorry for underestimating your sword skill Sensei" Kingsman puts his hand into the air and snaps and his sword flies towards him but it's starts flying all around and Itsuki is *shocked* and thinks
"What is he about to do!? I need to really focus" Kingsman rushes towards Itsuki as his sword flies behind him and as Kingsman gets close Itsuki tries to blast him with lightning but Kingsman dodges the lightning and Itsuki tries to punch Kingsman as he's dodging away from the lightning but Kingsman catches his fist and knees him in the stomach and as Kingsman's sword catches up to him he catches his sword and slams the hilt of it onto the back of his head dropping him to the floor and Kingsman *laughs* and says
“I guess that’s it” Kingsman turns around and starts to walk away while *laughing* and Itsuki gets to his feet and summons his sword and he screams
"FATHER!" Kingsman turns around and looks at him as Itsuki throws his sword at him and he slashes towards Itsuki blade but Itsuki and his sword switches places and he's able to dodge Kingsman's slashes and he grabs Kingsman arm and punches him in the face and as he lands on the ground he kicks Kingsman's legs out from underneath him and flips Kingsman over his shoulder as he does his sword flies towards Kingsman and slashes Kingsman across his back and Itsuki slams him into the ground and Itsuki snaps as his sword flies back towards him he catches his blade and Itsuki put his foot on Kingsman’s stomach and points his sword at his throat and Itsuki is *shocked* and says
“I win, I really beat you!” Kingsman *laughs* and says
“I have to admit you caught me off guard with that one, but...You still haven't beaten me. Just open your eyes” Kingsman snaps and as Itsuki blinks he sees that his hand is through a portal and his sword is pressed against the back of his own neck and he notices Kingsman is also holding his sword at his throat from the ground as well and Kingsman says
“Good attempt though” Kingsman pushes Itsuki foot off of him and he stands up but as Kingsman turns to walk away Itsuki says
“Wait Sensei! Can we try one more time with nothing but our sword?” Kingsman says
“So you want just a battle of swordsmanship?” Itsuki says
“Yes” Kingsman says
“It’s been a long time since I’ve just fought with my sword alone, but don’t get the wrong idea that doesn’t mean my skill with my sword is lacking” Kingsman takes a few steps away and turns around and says
“Let’s go” Itsuki grabs his sword and thinks
“Dominant hand below the guard, second one near the pommel” Kingsman and Itsuki rush each other and they clash but this time it causes a shock wave to launch out around them towards the forest cutting down multiple trees all around them and Itsuki is *shocked* and says
"What was that!?" Kingsman *smiles* and says
"That's what happens when true swordsman clash, no gimmicks, no games, just pure skill! This is going to get truly fun now!"