“It’s already morning?” I said aloud, still groggy.

No reason staying here unless I want Shino sensei to drag me out.

I prepared myself and went down straight to the kitchen, where the other attendants were already busy at work.

“Morning Atsumi, have you slept well?” asked a senior attendant named Rita.

“Yes. My neck is a little sore, but it’ll pass,” I replied.

I walked further into the kitchen, looking around to see what I could help with. Although I knew all the attendants present, they kept their distance most of the time, only ever approaching me when they greet me or if it’s about matters regarding the shrines located around the temple.

“Oh, don’t forget,” Rita said. “It’s your turn to go to the village today,”

“Yeah, I completely forgot. I’ll start preparing to leave then.”

“I’ll let Maria Know you will be leaving.” Rita replied.

After changing, I made my way to the entrance. Although this would be the entrance to the Temple, it’s usually empty, so mostly shrine attendants and Martial arts students idle their time here.

This place was called the Murasaki Temple. It was not only a place where people came to pay tribute or learn martial arts; it was also a gate site. Our gate was, as said by Shino Sensei was one of the biggest in Haakuni and connected to a world called Tau Ceti. This world yielded some of the most valuable artifacts and relics in Haakuni’s history.

I have been near the entrance to this gate a few times and looking in; it seemed to be a long string of tori gates that go on forever. No matter how much I strained my eyes, I can never see the other side. Not to mention the entrance was at least 50 meters high and about half of that in length.

Yet even in all its glory, the temple has been going through a steady decline. Barely any explorers come here now.

I continued along the path leading to the temple’s main entrance. There stood a tall, slender woman with long black hair. This was my martial arts master, Ayame Shino. She looked in my direction, her hazel colored eyes scanning the area before resting on me. With a wave of her hand, beckoned me over.

“Atsumi,” she said. “Before you head out to the market, can you please collect some drink ware and bring it to the meeting room?”

A hair ornament held her long black hair up and she moved with a sense of authority and elegance.

“Things have been busy as of late and I am expecting a lot of visitors today,” she said.

“Since I won’t be present for the day, you can take the day off if you’d like. The other masters won’t be present either.”

“Understood,” I replied. “Master Shino, what about Timothy? When will we prepare to send him off?”

“Don’t worry, I got help from a close friend to take care of the paperwork and transport, besides it takes about two weeks to get to the capital and the scouts from the academy won’t be there for another month.”

Timothy is one of the few friends I had here. Although he was talented, he spent most of his time playing around and not practicing his magic seriously. His father, who was from Atlantis, had left him in Shino’s care before he disappeared. So I am worried about him. Even though he had to prepare for entrance exams in Atlantis, he hadn’t been present for our scheduled training sessions.

“What are the chances of him being accepted into the Procyon academy?” I asked.

“Don’t know for sure, but I say his chances are favorable.”

“You think so?” I asked. “He’s been slacking off even more lately and not even showing up.”

“No need to worry. He will be fine.”

After he declared several months ago that he wanted to take the entrance exam test, I’ve wanted to go as well, but no matter how many times I asked, Shino sensei always rejected the idea. Since then, I have put my heart and soul into my magical arts to prove that I was strong enough to go out into the world.

I have never left the vicinity of the mountain range, and it’s been a dream of mine to explore the world like my mother did, but as soon as I would mention it to Shino, she would immediately dismiss the topic.

“Is there still no chance that I can also attend?”

“I have said this many times you are to remain here and train with me.” She said.

“But-.”

Shino then raised her hands, her palms facing me.

‘‘I don’t have the time for this today, and I will not tolerate you raising your voice when speaking to me.”

“Understood,” I said reluctantly.

“Now, return to your duties for the morning.”

No matter how much I try, it always ends up this way. Does she even acknowledge my achievements? Ive learned almost every stance that my mother has taught me on my own. Even though Shino is my master, she only teaches me body strengthening techniques.

This is because she is not compatible with the Sacred Sky Blossom magical arts, which is what I practice. It requires the user to have affinities of both wind and lightning elemental magic.

In this world, mana exists within all sentient beings. It is the medium used to perform magic. Magic is the ability to manipulate certain aspects of our reality, the most common being manipulating the elements, and it originates from our mana core.

Qi is the life force that radiates from all living things. Unlike mana that comes from our cores, Qi exists within every cell in our bodies. Once we discover how to harness this energy, many changes occur within our bodies. We become faster, our senses get sharper, our bodies become stronger and our thought processes more precise. The more we refine our Qi, the more pronounced these effects become. With this, we can learn more advanced forms of martial arts, but the Sacred sky blossom technique is not a martial art but a Magical art.

It combines both mana and Qi to perform devastating attacks. Learning a magical art is extremely difficult, as it requires absurd levels of concentration.

Unless it is your Innate magic type, magic requires a chant or a rune, but magical arts bypass this rule, regardless of the user’s innate magic.

And being able to use magical arts was still not enough for her.

I did as she requested and then returned to the main entrance. Upon leaving the temple, I spotted an elderly woman who stood quietly near the old concrete steps that descended the mountainside.

“Are you ready to head out?” She asked.

“Yes, aunt Maria let’s just go,” I said, walking ahead.

“You seem moody today. Are you alright?” The old lady said with a look of concern.

“I’m fine,” I answered.

“Haha, we can talk about it on the way.”

“I said I’m fine.”

“I know you well, little lady. If you were fine, you wouldn’t be this flustered,” Maria said.

“I don’t understand why she’s like this it’s like I’m a bird that needs to be caged up forever, I’m not even allowed to go past the mountains, heck I’m not even allowed to leave the Temple grounds without someone tagging along,” I said venting my frustrations.

“I understand how you feel, Shino is a rather strict and sometimes takes her job too seriously, I mean she is the gate guardian of this Temple so it’s not a bad thing, but I can say she cares for you deeply even though she doesn’t show it sometimes,” Maria explained with her hands on her chin.

“She was one of your mother’s closest friends after all and vowed to protect you on the day of her death,” Maria said soothingly.

“I Understand staying cooped up in one place can be a little stifling, but bear with it. I assure you will get the freedom you desire,” the elderly woman continued, looking up at the pink-colored leaves.

“Take it from this 400-year-old Yokai there will be a time after you leave the nest where you wished you would be back to your childhood home, cherish the time you have here now you don’t need to be in such a hurry to grow up.”

She then looked back at me, a gentle smile on her face.

“Oh my,” said Maria. “I see you up close so rarely I often forget how pretty you are. Eventually, Shino is going to have to hide you from another potential threat.”

At first, this phrase confused me. It was after I saw the deviant smile on her face did I realize what she meant.

“Wha- what are you even saying? Keep your dirty thoughts to yourself!”

She continues to prod and poke at me as we descend the mountain.

A few hours later, we returned from the village. A blue-haired merfolk boy sat in the shade of a tree not to far from the entrance. Upon seeing us enter, he approached us.

“Hey, you’re finally back,” Timothy shouted.

“Yeah, we had some trouble getting some things on the list,”

“Hey where are you going?” he said as he calls out to me. “Aren’t you training today?”

“No, I’ll be in my room. The other shrine attendants will deal with breakfast.”

“The diligent Atsumi taking the day off what a shocker,” timothy said mockingly.

“And the normally lazy timothy who usually sits around all day stuffing his face with dumplings is asking me about training?”

Timothy visibly flinches at this. “I’m sorry, miss cranky pants. I was just surprised.”

Why is he here? Honestly, he’s the last person I want to see right now.

“I’m sorry about what I said, but still it’s weird for you of all people to come to me about training, even if you are planning to take the entrance test.” I said.

“I know, I know,” the boy said, waving his hands. “But I want to test my limits right now and Shino is currently busy, so I came to the next best option.”

“So you want to spar?”

Timothy clasped his hands while putting on his best puppy dog face. “Please.”

“Ugh fine just let me gear up,”

“Awesome, I’ll be at the sparing grounds,” the boy said, sprinting outside.

I took a little walk on my way to the training grounds. It had been a while since I walked through here and my day hadn’t exactly started on a pleasant note.

Sunlight streamed through the many colored leaves, leaving a noticeable pink hue as I walked down the collection of steps leading to the grounds. I closed my eyes and took in the surrounding atmosphere. The air was sweet and the feeling of the ambient mana that blew through my hair was refreshing. I took another breath before the sound of cheering pulled me back into reality.

“Hmm, there are people here?”

As I approached the field area, some people turned their attention to me. “Yo Atsumi’s here,” a young yokai boy said.

“Why are there so many people here, didn’t master put up the notice that there will be no practice today?” I asked.

“We got it after everyone arrived. Some of us did a little sparing before we headed out, and guess what, a professor from Procyon academy showed up.” He said, pointing to the stands.

Surprised I look around to see who the boy was pointing at, it was a tall man who seemed to be of the Fae race, more accurately he was an elf about 6 feet in height, with pointy ears and short emerald green hair, he seemed quite invested in the fights going on.

“He said he was here to meet the candidate selected for the test, but he would love to see the abilities of the other youth present,” another student explained.

I looked at Timothy and back at the man.

“Wow, all the way here just for this blockhead. You must be pretty famous in Atlantis.” I said.

Is this the person Shino mentioned would help timothy prepare to set out to Atlantis? It couldn’t be a coincidence.

“Maybe he knows my dad?” Timothy said, scratching the back of his head.

“I wonder,”. I said with a chuckle.

“Any way, how about we get this started?” I said to the blue-haired boy.

I walked forward with my hand resting on the hilt of my Katana. Looking up, I saw the professor from the academy looking intently as if anticipating the fight ahead. I payed him no mind and turned around to face Timothy.

“Today we go all out, no holding back,” he said.

“You sure?” I replied, returning his smug expression.

His smirk faded. He was more serious than usual, and his expression gave me all the confirmation I needed. We’ve known each other for as long as I can remember. Even though he has only ever bested me when we were younger, we have formed something of a friendly rivalry. He usually never takes it seriously, but today felt different. His aura was more pronounced, more refined, and his current level of confidence was suspicious.

While lost in thought, Timothy took this as an opportunity and rushes forward, thrusting his spear towards my torso. I jump to the side, using my Katana to parry the blow and guide it away from my chest. He then held his spear horizontally and delivered a flurry of stabs, which I avoided using a series of evasive movements. Finding an opening in his spear stance, I let the spear pass over my shoulders and attempted to a slash to his chest. Realising this, he backed away to gain some distance.

Giving him no chance to react, I agitate my mana and with my will guide the wind to coalesce around my blade, with two slashing motions, I sent wind blades in his direction.

He quickly used his spear to create his own slashes of water. The two attacks clash and cancel each other out.

I closed the distance between us and brought my blade down towards his shoulders. He blocks my attack with his spear, and using his weight, he pushes me away.

He then raised his spear and gathered water to its tip to form a ball of water. He compresses it from the size of his body to that of a grapefruit.

“Let’s see how you handle this water cannon.”

Again, using the same thrusting motions, he launches a high-speed ball of water in my direction.

Instinctively, I run to the side. The attack hits the ground where I was standing a few seconds ago and explodes on impact, sending a shock wave through my body while also lifting me off the ground.

I wasn’t quite expecting this, but I still got out with minimal damage. Upon recovering my balance, I could see him preparing multiple of the same attacks while I barely escaped this last one.

“Hey, are you trying to kill me?” I barked.

“I told you to go all out,” he said condescendingly.

Using wind magic to speed myself up, I ran around the arena trying to avoid the exploding masses of water. I can’t slash due to them being under pressure and possibly heated.

“Fine then,” I said under my breath.

I channeled mana from my core, causing the wind to surround me. Stomping the ground, I took a low draw stance, readying my sword.

*Sacred sky blossom technique, Petal strike*

A wind blade that glowed with a pink hue flew across the arena, demolishing the approaching water cannon balls. This resulted in an explosion of steam.

With my vision being obscured from all the steam, I heard a loud crashing sound as the attack impacted a hard surface.

A few moments later, the steam combined into icicles and surrounded me. Using my Katana I swung around, causing a powerful whirlwind to surround me, blocking the incoming ice shards.

*Sacred sky blossom Scarlet whirlwind*

Stolen story; please report.

After the dust had settled, I could now see that he had brought up a wall of ice to block my first attack.

Is this how dangerous he is when he fights seriously? Consider me impressed.

“I didn’t know you could use ice magic,” I said to him.

“Well, I almost never use it since it rattles my body quite a bit, not to mention the high mana cost, but today is a special occasion.”

For the first time in a long time, I thought he looked extremely cool and felt some sense of admiration towards him.

“Hey don’t space out on me. Let’s finish this,” he said as he pointed his spear toward me.

“Yeah, let’s get this over with,” I replied, taking a stance.

We both stood opposite each other. I could sense the pressure of his mana ever increasing. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the small particles that floated through the air.

Some were blue and others were red. I honed my focus even more and with my mana as the medium, I willed these particles to separate. Around me, little blinking lights formed and flickered, they then turned into sparks and then large arks of electricity. I felt the tingling sensation as the bolts caressed my skin. I then channeled all the built up energy into my sword.

Timothy’s face grew serious at the sight of this. He then held his spear upright and starts chanting.

“Sprites of the deep, born of the great blue void harken to me, enlighten me with thy wisdom so my foes shall know the wraith of the seas,”

A serpentine figure appears behind him, its mouth agape as it gathers water to its open mouth. Then, with a snap of his fingers, it unleashes its attack.

“Riptide.”

But it was not enough to stop what I was about to unleash.

“Raijin no ichigeki,”

Unsheathing my katana, a brilliant white arc of lightning illuminated the training area. It had sliced through and completely evaporated the oncoming attack. The peal of thunder shook the ground and I could faintly hear the panicked screams of the onlookers.

A searing pain shot up my elbow, causing me to drop my katana in response. I think I overdid it. This was the only Magical art outside of the Sacred sky blossom I had learnt and honestly, I didn’t expect it to come out this strong.

Timothy had possibly taken the full brunt of the attack. I got up and ran towards where I last remembered seeing him, only to be met by the disapproving face of my master.

“Are the two of you trying to kill each other?” she said as she held up a hand.

She had blocked my attack with her bare hands and not a scratch was visible on it. Timothy was crouched behind her, holding his head.

“I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” I asked.

“All good, no need to worry,” he said as he dusted himself off

“Atsumi, honestly, that was too reckless,” shino said.

She then looked at my right arm. I could tell she had a hint of concern on her face.

“Master, I thought you had important meetings to attend to today,” Timothy said.

“I Did, but my last guest decided he would prefer to be here,” she said, visibly frustrated as she looks at the Elven man sitting in the stands.

“Every one the show is over, please return home,” Shino said to the onlookers.

“Greetings little ones, my name is Alan Florin, that was quite the display,” he said to me and timothy paying no mind to Shino as she shooed the crowd away.

Upon hearing this, Shino turned around and stood between us. “You speak to me right now and not my students. Explain to me why you are here and not in the hall?”

“My apologies for the lack of awareness. I saw the little ones and cou – “

“Never mind,” Shino said.

She then looked at us. “The two of you return to the temple. Please let me speak to Mr Florin. Atsumi, get your arms treated.”

We did as we were told and headed towards the main temple

“Even now you’re still annoying,” I said, as I looking at Allan.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he retorted with a slight grin on his face.

“But wow Shino to think you had such talented students, children their age are just learning beginner and intermediate magical spells but here they can use magical arts, I came here to see how the boy was doing but to think you had another with such promise.”

“Yes, they are quite talented,” I said.

“I find it strange though,” florin answered.

“Why not enlist both of them? They clearly fuel each other’s growth. It’s pretty clear in that previous fight why separate them?” florin said.

I let out a breath “It’s a complicated matter, honestly I wished she had no mana aptitude in the first place but that girl, she is blessed, well that would be the case in a higher race but for her, it’s the exact opposite.”

“Hmm, who is that young one?” He said with a puzzled look on his face.

“Her name is Atsumi Hoshiko,”

“Hmm, Hoshiko?”

“She is the daughter of Mina Hoshiko and Mirion Altair. I’ve long since told her about her parents, not really truthfully, as Mirion doesn’t know she is alive,” I said, my hand clenched.

“I see, but for what reason you keep it a secret?’

“For many reasons, one being Mirion having a bad habit of attracting the wrong crowd,” I said.

“I am also scared of how she would react when she discovers the circumstances of her birth,”

“Together with her own circumstances, it’s a recipe for disaster.”

“And in honor of my best friend, I wanted her to live her best life away from the countless fighting,”

I looked at my sweaty palms, considering if I should tell him, but in order to receive his help, I should not deceive him.

“It is known that one’s Qi quality, as well as their tolerance for mana, is determined by how they train their body,”

“Correct,”

“And the purity or quality of their mana is determined by their soul.” I stated.

“That is correct.” Florin nodded.

“From what I am to say you can’t tell this to another person no matter what as it may bring too much attention to us and if we attract the wrong kind, I’m afraid not even you and I together will be able to do anything about it.”

I scoot closer to him. “I only say this because I need your help and it was also the other reason I asked you to come personally.”

Florin watches me intently, confusion and concern clear on his face.

“The seal I put on her is wearing off. I’m not good with runes in the first place, so that’s why I need you,” I said, pointing at him.

He looked at me, even more confused.

I then spoke.

Alan’s eyes widen in shock.

“You can’t possibly mean.”

The two of us continue to walk along the path leading back to the main temple.

“Man, I’m starving,” timothy said, throwing his hands over his head.

I walk beside him on one of the dirt paths leading toward the Temple.

“Same here. I haven’t even eaten breakfast yet.”

“How’s your water magic coming along?” Timothy asked, walking ahead.

“No progress,” I Replied.

It was strange enough that I had water magic in the first place. It’s not uncommon for magic users to inherit elemental magic types from their parents before their own innate affinity awoken. I know for a fact my mom used wind and lightning, and I heard from Shino that my dad used lightning and earth, so where did I get water magic from?

I sighed, looking up into the sky through the canopy. “Unlike wind and lightning, I can’t seem to make any progress with it. I’m thinking it was a fluke that I even resonated with it.”

“Do you think it’s your innate magical affinity?” Timothy replied.

“I don’t know, I highly doubt it, hmmm, but maybe it is, uuuugghh I would know for sure if I didn’t have this stupid seal.”

Timothy nods his head. “Yeah, that sucks, also your mana hasn’t acted up in a while. Maybe we can ask Shino to remove it, then we might even get to know what your innate affinity is .”

“You might as well ask her to jump over the moon, because that isn’t happening,” I retorted

A thought crept across my mind: the timothy I had interacted with today differed from how I knew him. Obviously he’s the same Tim, but I can’t shake the thought. Today, he displayed a level of strength I had never seen from him, not to mention his eyes, which were normally content and unambitious, were now lit up and filled with purpose.

“Have you been training in secret?” I asked.

He stopped for a moment, looking ahead. His thoughts seemed distant, as if I had brought back memories long forgotten.

“Yeah,”

“It’s not like I was hiding from anyone. It was just isolation training and nothing else.”

“Is there a reason you would go into isolation?” I asked.

“Well, for one, the training here doesn’t help me at all,” he said, shaking his head.

“And two, I decided that I have played around enough,” he said, turning his gaze to me.

I could tell there was more to this than just getting stronger, so I pressed him a bit more.

“Would you like to talk about it?“

He shook his head in response.

With that, I no longer perused the topic. I was curious to know what had caused this change in him, but it seemed he wasn’t ready to talk about it. It was most likely related to his father, but I can’t make assumptions.

A few minutes later, he separated from the path and turned towards the path that lead to the forest.

“Well, I’ll take this path to the village. Not really in the mood to eat food from the kitchen today.”

“Don’t feel too bad about your water magic. Just keep to the pointers I gave you and you should be fine.” The merfolk boy said just before running done the path towards one of the nearby villages.

I took the hint and went on my way. He obviously wanted to be alone.

I continued to walk up the path, taking in the views of nature and taking a few deep breaths as well. That was when a foul stench wafted into my nose. It was putrid, the worst smell I had the misfortune of inhaling, the air became heavy as if rocks had landed on my shoulders, making me buckle under the pressure. The atmosphere had completely changed.

I had been running around for several minutes and had completely lost my bearings. This crimson fog had been thickening by the minute.

A loud bang and sounds of fighting echoed in the distance. Taking the time to compose myself, I ran to the source to see what looked like a black tiger, but I could tell right at that moment it was a cryptid.

A man and a woman were standing face to face with the beast.

It’s Anne and Jacob shop owners in one of the villages nearby

“Hey what’s going on?” I shouted at them.

He looked at me, surprised. “What are you doing here?”

The beast then charged and swipes down towards him, which he then parries. He swung his broadsword, aiming for the beast’s neck, just barely missing it, as the beast takes a sharp turn. Anne then prepares her bow and arrow, infusing it with fire magic. “I need it to stop moving,” she shouted.

Jacob then switched his stance and swings upward, a pillar of rock then hits it right in the jaw, the beast staggers now unable to keep its balance, a stone hand then shoots out from the ground and held the beast by its neck, before it could break free, Anne began chanting .

“Spirits of Embers and blaze bless this child and bring hellfire to those who oppose thy will of destruction, Brilliant Burst arrow.”

Her arrow glowed bright red as fire infused her attack and with the release of the arrow, the Cryptid disintegrated by the massive explosion.

Jacob approached us. “We should get you back to the temple. Cryptids are appearing all over the place.,” He said, looking around.

“We were on our way home after paying tribute to the shrine and this started happening.” Ann said.

“Let’s go,” Jacob said. “We can’t stay here for too long”

“Wait, my friend is still in the forest. I have to check if he’s ok,”

“Huh, why?” Jacob snapped back at me.

“He usually takes a shortcut to get to the town, which passes through the edge of the forest.”

“It’s too dangerous. We can’t have you going in the forest alone,” Anne said to me.

“Damn it, this forest path is it the one next to the kitsune statue?”

“Yes, that’s it,”

“How do I get to the other village from there?”

“There is only one split. Take the left one, it goes straight to the village,”

“I’ll go evacuate the villagers while I am at it,” he said

“Anne, get her to the main building there. You should be able to leave the temple with the others.”

“Alright, be careful. Anne, look after the little one,” he said to Anne.

“You be careful too, Jacob.” She replied.

We continued on the path to the shrine and I could feel the many twisted beings in the area.

After getting to the shrine, the true scope of the situation finally hit me as countless cryptids rampaged through the Temple.

The expanse of the blood and gore laid before mixed with the dirt and rubble to make a portrait that should only be considered a depiction of hell itself.

“Why is this happening?” I looked up at Ann standing next to me.

“It’s most likely a gate breach. Where is your gate guardian? Her name was Shino, correct? This should have already alerted her.”

A gate breach I have heard about this before. Cryptids usually come from behind the world gates. from what Shino told me, they lead to other worlds that are connected to ours. Many have civilizations that rose and fell before ours came to be. Sometimes cryptids make their way through, but that rarely happens if it has a guardian watching over it.

I’ve always fantasized about visiting one of these worlds, but alas, I don’t think I’ll ever get the chance to go.

“Hey are you with me?” Ann pulls me out of my daze.

“Uh yes, Shino sensei is this shrine’s gate guardian, but she was just on the training grounds. She should be here by now.”

It’s strange though Shino is usually much more cautious than this. I expect her to fix things quickly, but the fact that she’s not here meant that something wasn’t right.

“No matter, we will just have to hope she gets here, but in the meantime, let’s find the main evacuation group.” She said as she sliced through a birdlike cryptid with her dagger.

We arrived near a group of people preparing to leave. I could hear fighting echoing in the distance as students and teachers alike kept the cryptids at bay. Master Kinzoku then walked up to me.

“Atsumi, where is Shino,” He asked

“Of all people, she is the one that’s missing.” Said one of the elders.

His name was Tatsun Kinzoku. He was one of the masters at the shrine.

“Master Kinzoku, I don’t quite know where she is,” I stated.

“I sense an ominous presence behind the gate,” said master Semi.

“Damn it, either way, we need to get out of here. There are too many of these things here. “Kinzoku replied.

We gathered everyone into the cart and start heading down the mountain. The more elite fighters from the town ran alongside the cart, keeping the Cryptids at bay. I could hear the numerous battle cries and feel the clashing of mana. It’s like the world was ending. I needed to help I can’t sit around doing nothing.

“Where’re you going? Please remain here. I can’t allow you to leave this cart,” one attendant named Mitsuo said, pulling on my arm.

“I’m just as strong as those out there. Why can’t I fight?” I said, pulling my arms away from him.

“As an attendant of Master Shino I can’t in good faith let you go out there,” He said, his grip getting tighter.

“Then I won’t go too far. I’ll stay by and protect this cart.”

Sigh “Fine ill come out with you, but no leaving my side.”

Countless of these abominations charged the carriage, although things started pretty badly. I can see we were gaining ground. I cleave through the smaller Cryptids trying my best to keep pace with the battle going on. The stronger attendants and students kept the stronger Cryptids at bay while we clear out the stragglers.

“Keep moving, move the injured to the cart and those on standby take their place,”

Master Kinzoku yelled as he battled with one of the fiercer monsters

His earth magic was exceptional and fit his rigid fighting style. Being a Yokai already gives him an advantage over most other races, but his experience in battle only adds to his capabilities.

Ms. Anne was using her arrow to shoot down any flying cryptid that came near.

A boar cryptid charged the carriage. It’s attempting to knock it down, making haste. I dashed in front of it and used petal strike. The bear, being unable to avoid the attack, gets sliced in two.

“The fog is thinning,” yelled one of the attendants.

That was relieving to hear we could finally get out of this.

While in thought, 3 figures appeared from the mist ahead.

At first, I thought it was people coming to rescue us. It was then I noticed the size of the three figures. There were way too big to be people, and worse, they were sprinting towards us.

“Up ahead, 3 humanoid Cryptids,” yelled master Kinzoku.

The towering headless beings came in like a tsunami, one had a sword and two held giant axes. They went straight for the carts, slaughtering anyone who got in their way. Body parts went flying as they cleaved through the opposing shrine attendants. I stood still, unable to move. My body tensed up, the scene was too horrifying to watch. My urge to puke overwhelmed me, and heaved over to vomit, but only bile came out.

The 3 masters of the shrine, including master Kinzoku engage the Cryptids, while the rest of us gather those who can move and started running on foot as two of the carriages got destroyed during the onslaught. I helped up one of the injured and guide them towards the others.

“Help,” a scream echoed from behind me. It was an injured woman, her leg broken and bloody. She had just climbed out from beneath the wooden planks that built the destroyed carriage and worse, I could see another figure approaching from the fog. It’s another one of these humanoid cryptids. Although it was much smaller and lanky, it still held the same uncontrollable bloodlust its brothers had. It spotted the woman and charged her at that very moment.

I sprinted to intercept the Cryptid. It Was fast, way too fast it approached the woman at blistering speed dead set on killing her.

“Come one faster,” I said, gritting my teeth

Wind enveloped my body as I glided through the air and on approach to the Cryptid, I aimed my sword for its torso. Only after piercing the cryptid had I realized how light it was and because of that, we both went barrelling down the mountainside.

When I came too, I was at the bottom of the valley near a river. The fog down here was thicker than where we were previously and I had no idea how to get back up. A noise to my right alerted me to the thing I had knocked down into the valley. Wasting no time, it sprinted towards me and was on top of me in a matter of seconds.

I dashed to the side, unsheathing my sword and using sacred sky blossom petal strike.

Five quick consecutive strikes that extend my range of attack. It slices one of its arms clean off. This me surprised the other three seemed to have some sort of hard armor.

The Cryptid then swung its arm in my direction. I dodged that attack. The force it carried was enough to shatter a nearby tree. Its rubber like arms stretched and twisted as it swung them around madly.

This Cryptid seemed to keep up with me in speed. I can’t stretch this fight for too long. I gathered mana around my body and began chanting.

“Oh, brilliant mana born of sky and clouds, you who smite with a flash envelop me, thunderbolt cloak,”

The cryptid furiously flung its arms around in an attempt to pin me down, but in this state, I am much faster than usual. The Cryptid swings its arm horizontally. I ducked down and in finding an opening, sprinted for its other arm and slashed it off.

“Now it’s over,” I thought to myself.

Its primary method of attack foiled I prepared to end it with the next attack.

But alas, reality wasn’t so kind. The moment I turned around, the Cryptid then let out a shrill scream. I covered my ears as a gust of wind pushed me back. The force was so strong I had no choice but to lower myself to not get blown off my feet. Its body began vibrating and in a few moments A Gaping Maw was now visible over its torso.

I could not believe what I saw next. It was absorbing the ambient mana and had regrown its lost limbs. It then raised its arm, which bulged and glowed a bright fiery red, and then smashed the ground in my general direction. I Prepared my retreat moving as far back as I could but it was too little too late. The resulting explosion echoed throughout the forest and blew me off my feet, burning my hair and charring my skin.

After catching my fall, I could sense its quick approach. I quickly drew my sword to retaliate, but it was already within range. Using its second arm, it swung at my abdomen. I blocked the attack with my sword, but the resulting impact was enough to send me flying several meters. My light body shot through the air before colliding with a tree several meters away.

Searing pain behind my head, my world was doing backflips. I rested my back against a tree while I tried desperately to not fall unconscious. My Katana had slipped from my hand. It wasn’t too far from me, but the numbness in my legs did not allow me to move. Patches of red stained my vision, and a warm sensation flowed over my face.

The Cryptid approached me, taking its time. Not too long ago, it was hastily trying to end its prey, but now it was slowly approaching me as if relishing its victory.

Mana burn already evident on my body, it’s not a new thing to me as my body was always weak, a lot of abilities I had gained could only be used a few times a day if I try to go over that severe mana burn would take root. There were also moments to mention when my mana would go haywire. I’ve even heard some attendants tell the younger ones to stay away from me, as I could lose control at any moment.

“What’s the point?” I thought to myself.

No matter how hard I try, no matter how often I trained my body, nothing had changed. Even though humans are a weaker species when it came to using magic.

This was just too much.

No one would even tell me what’s wrong with me. They just keep me here, watching from a distance.

Memories of my mother replayed in my head. Stories of great heroes in days of old, her adventures through Gaia, ancient wars that scared the lands.

Days she would help me with training.

“It’s too shallow go again,”

“Eh, I’ve tried it so many times you sure I can do this magical art,”

“You don’t have to doubt yourself so much I know u can do it. Maybe a more advanced technique should encourage you,” she said, getting up.

“No, you should be resting.”

“You worry about me too much I can assure you I’m still able, even though I’m not in great health willpower is all it takes, the same applies to you my little darling,” she said as she bent down to touch my nose with hers.

“Hmm, so that’s it, just a little willpower,” I thought.

I got up from my sitting position. I willed all the muscles in my body to obey me, no matter how heavy I felt. My head was still spinning, and blood was pouring over my eyelids. The Cryptid, surprised that I even got up, charged me once again. I ran towards my Katana and dodged out of the way.

I then closed my eyes and recalled the moments my mother went through these steps with me.

“The sacred sky blossom technique encapsulates the lightness and flexibility of wind while retaining the erratic and lethal nature of lightning for what you lack in power, you make up for in speed and efficiency.”

“For this move firstly gather your mana into your feet and arms focus your visions on the area you want to go then release the tension and dash ahead unsheathing your blade simultaneously,”

Sacred sky blossom spring dash.

I dash ahead at speeds that I have never accomplished before. My focus narrowed to the cryptid’s legs. Everything else around me was a blur. In one swift motion, its bottom limbs were gone, the Cryptid still unable to register what had just happened.

“Then crouch your body, gather wind mana to your legs, once more twist your body and spring up in a rising motion.”

Sky blossom technique fragrant updraft.

I Lift the monster into the air. Still unable to fight back, the monster flung its arms wildly once again.

“Like the branches that dance through the canopy of the forest, move through the air, wind and lightning magic by your side.”

Sacred sky blossom Treetop waltz

I move through the air, wind and thunder magic guiding me. Blow after blow slash after slash, I cut through its flesh relentlessly.

“Then like a lightning bolt that reaches for the ground on a cloudy day, smite thine enemies with the wrath of the heavens,”

“Sacred sky blossom Raging Thunder sakura.”

Pouring all the mana I could in that moment. I brought down my Katana upon the humanoid, crimson lightning raging all around us. I can feel as if my mana channels were about to explode as I applied more and more pressure. Both me and the cryptid went crashing to the ground, the impact sending waves of pain through my already exhausted body.

Even after this, the Cryptid had not relented. It hardened its arms and blocked my sword from reaching its body. I forced more of my mana into my arms, dumping everything I had for this one strike. If I can’t do this now, surely I would die.

“JUST DIE ALREADY YOU DAMNED MONSTER!’’

The monster in return mimics my desperate scream with its own howl, as if it feared for its own life as I did my own. I continued pushing forward, not giving an inch, just a little more, and this will all be over.

Then by if by some miracle the sword sliced through its rubber like arms. With the sound of a thunderclap, its body disintegrated, lightning tendrils still dancing through the air as they celebrated my victory.

I looked up into the sky. The fog was still thick overhead, the last words my mother spoke to me after the demonstration replayed in my head.

“Well, that’s how you do it. You must learn all the intricacies of these techniques to near perfection before you even consider incorporating mana into it, so do your best, OK. I’ll be here with you all the way.”

I couldn’t help but smile.

“Oh, right, I need to get back,” I said, turning around to leave.

But before I could take a step, the recoil of using too much mana came at me in full swing. My muscles gave out, and I collapsed to the ground. I crawled to a nearby tree and laid there. Unconsciousness now taking over, I relaxed by body and embraced the coming darkness.