Tenumre charged first and attempted to slice him. Nixal dodged the attack and shot an arrow at him from close range. Tenumre spun the Scimitar, blocking the arrow and he swung the blade horizontally targeting Nixals waist from the left. Nixal quickly took out his right dagger and barely blocked, but the force made him stagger to the left and hurt his hips. He threw the dagger at Tenumre, who dodged it, he then quickly shot an arrow.

Tenumre could not dodge this, it was simply impossible. So he brought his hands forward and it hit his bracelet. Nixal drew back 4 arrows in quick succession but Tenumre rushed forward and blocked them all by spinning the scimitar.

He then tried to slice Nixals left shoulder by making a diagonally left slice. Nixal quickly took out his left dagger and barely blocked that one too, but he staggered and Tenumre quickly rushed in to take advantage. Tenumre mad vertical slice but Nixal knew he could dodge it by stepping back. But it still sliced him.

But I dodged it-

The top of the scimitar blade had extended and was being held by a chain. Tenumre made a movement and the scimitar.itar practically turned into a nunchuck.

Swordchuck?

"Stop!" Said Vernon.

"You nearly had them kill themselves!" Said Venenti, face pale, "Are you mad? What if they killed each other?"

"Relax," Vernon was very nonchalante, "they didn't, did they?"

Venenti did not relax

"So, back to you boys. The first battle was a tie, the second was won by Nixal, the third was interrupted and the fourth was won by Tenumre. The victor is," he took a deep breath "the both of you."

"What?!" Said the boys in unison.

"I won't hear it, we got work, let's go."

Tenumre said his goodbyes to the Venari siblings and took his leave, displeased. He moved towards the left path and continued that way.

The Next Month

"Hold!" Tenumre stopped in front of the guard. "What's your business?"

Tenumre handed him the introduction letter from Brey. Brey had talked with a great scimitar master who had lived here and made an introductory letter. All Tenumre had to do was erase the parts that said Brey was coming along too.

"You'll see Sokaret five houses ahead, and four houses to the left."

Tenumre nodded and entered the city.

He went to that direction and found a small house, no more than two stories long.

He entered the house and met an old man in his fifties with white hair and streaks of black. Same with his beard. He handed the man the letter and the man thoroughly read it.

"I would've thought Brey would come too, he certainly talked like he wanted to return." Said Sokaret.

"He could not make it. Difficulties arose." Said Tenumre, careful not to lie but not tell the complete truth either.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"I see," said the man, "good. Very well, wait here. I'll come back soon." The man left, leaving Tenumre alone.

Tenumre waited for thirty minutes, then an hour, then two, then four, then he was attacked from behind. He took a step back and grabbed his scimitar. The man who attacked him wore a black robe and a black mask that blended in with the dark. He attacked the man with the scimitar but the man blocked it.

Another noise, another man coming‌, he immediately extended the down part of his blade‌, grabbed the chain and blocked another attack.

He extended both of the blades and started using it on both men. He managed to sweep one off his feet with a feint. Another attacked him from behind and he blocked without even looking at the man. He swung the blade at a man to the left and right simultaneously. The two men behind and in front of him swung at the same time.

Four!?

He dodged out of the way and kicked the man to his right then slashed the one to his left. Every attack he did was blocked, he was going to lose, he could not win, he only managed to hit one time. Then, everyone suddenly stopped. Then they went away.

"Well done," said Sokaret, "not many made this far." He said.

"We're you trying to kill me?" Asked Tenumre, calmly.

"Yes." Said the man, casually. "And since you survived, I decided it would be worth it to teach you. I'm glad Brey wasn't here, he'd interfere with this, no doubt."

"But I didn't defeat anyone…."

"Of course not, if you did you wouldn't need me. I wanted to see your abilities and if you could survive for a specific amount of time.

Had you been seconds late, I would've died.

"But you have proven you are worthy. And therefore, I'm going to teach you."

Tenumre bowed "Thank you."

"Lesson one," said the man, his voice getting closer, "never let your guard down."

And with that, Tenumre was knocked out.

"Nixal, stop hugging the beast and get over here!" Vernon shouted

The spalous glowed a bright blue. "He's no beast!" Nixal patted the spalous, "You're no beast, you need a name. What should be your name. Hmm," he thought for a moment, "Palote? Palot? Plou? I'll call you Plou! Hello Plou!" Plou glowed yellow. "I might change it later but for now, you're Plou."

"Stop with the Plouing and get over here already!"

Nixal walked over to Vernon. "Why did we stop?"

"To teach you a lesson, boy."

"A lesson?" Asked Nixal, curiously.

"Yes. Today, you will kill another human."

"Ver! It's a bit too early for that," Venenti said, shocked.

"Don't look at me like that, he's going to be a hunter so he might as well know how to hunt." Said Vernon, authority in his tone. "He's better at the bow than you, can't let that go to waste!"

"We can't just have him kill some random person!"

"They're bandits,"

"It's too dangerous,"

"The moon is round,"

"Ver!"

"Listen, Nix." He looked back at Nixal. "There are men over there who are looking to rob and kill us. You have to kill them."

Kill my own kind?

"Can't you do it?" He asked, knowing the answer.

"I can."

"O....k"

"Ver!"

"He's going to do it, so let him do it!"

Nixal climbed the hill full of trees and walked silently. He saw a bowman so he decided to take him out. This was going to be his first ever kill. Human kill.

Nixal took a dagger and went towards the man, then stopped.

Am I dumb?

Yeah, dude. You think a bowman can't hear your footsteps?

"Shut up, author." Oh, Nixals drawing his bow! His hands tremble, he aimed. He took a deep breath, and shot. The man instantly went limp. He hoped the man was thinking happy thoughts before his death.

He went further up and saw a camp. They were all sitting by the camp chilling. He crouched behind some crates, thinking of what to do. Then he looked in the crates. Gunpowder. The men were all sitting beside the fire, talking and drinking.

Nixal scouted around the camp and surely enough‌, all of them were beside the fire. Whilst scouting, he saw the naked body of a woman. The men had killed and dismembered her, then buried her. Her limbs were still sticking out of the grave. This was the motivation he used to kill the bandits.

He took several bags of gunpowder and threw it in the air. He would run as soon as it exploded, he didn't have to see any of the blood. But no, his test was to mentally toughen himself. He had to see this whole thing through. The bags of gunpowder fell right into the fire, blowing everything up. Nixal could see the men's lower halves blown away, their top halves barely even seemed human. Arms and legs fell around the camp. And the top halve of a body fell right in front of him, it's eyes staring back, the man still half alive, moaning. Nixal puked, and ran away sobbing quietly. He rubbed away all the tears before going back to the Venari siblings.

"He's crying!" Said Venenti.

"He's not," replied Vernon‌, where's the tears?"

"I killed them." Said Nixal.

"Did you know?" Asked Vernon. He put his hand on Nixal's shoulder. "Well, here's a lesson as a reward," he then pushed Nixal just as an arrow whizzed right past where he was standing less than a second ago.

Venenti drew back an arrow and shot the bandit from the left hill. The bandit fell and rolled down.

"Never let your guard down."