The Crimson Swordsman, that was, the Kensei, was a woman of few words. Alisson followed behind her as they marched deep into the Seishin Shrine.

The second boon that Alisson would be receiving in exchange for his cooperation would be personal training from the Kensei. Today he would learn of the Moonlight Cannon; The most storied technique of the Kitsune. It was unknown whether or not a Nekomata outsider like him could even channel the ability, and it seemed that the Kensei and the Queen had little hopes for Alisson. Despite this, Alisson needed to try; He needed every advantage he could get his hands on.

He wore once more the traditional clothes of the kitsune, but had no arms on him. The sun was high in the sky. Eventually, the Kensei stopped in a clearing, and turned toward Alisson. At their hip they had two swords, and slowly unbound one of them from its belt. She tossed the sheathed katana at Alisson, and he caught it deftly. She spoke no words, but Alisson knew what she wanted. This was unrelated to the Moonlight Cannon. She wanted to taste his blade.

The Kensei crouched low, their hands on their sheathed blade, and began to circle Alisson.

He was not well versed in using Iajitsu. He drew the katana out of its sheath, tossing the sheathe to the ground. He rose the blade up, sunk into readiness, and began to circle the Kensei.

Alisson soon entered the all too familiar trance of battle. Real battle. Time seemed to slow and his perception changed drastically. He could see every muscle that the Kensei used in moving, and his brain gave him an image of the future out of instinct.

The Kensei made the slightest of motions, imperceptible to a normal man; But in that instant, both he and the Kensei blurred into action. Only but one strike was exchanged on both sides. The sound of metal echoed through the forest.

The Kensei was chest to chest with Alisson, her blade was high above his head, held away by his own. He had successfully survived. With a weapon he was unaccustomed to, limited in his options, it was the best he could do against the Kensei’s specialty, and they knew it.

They backed off from Alisson, lowering and sheathing their blade. They then bowed. Alisson exhaled heavily, and bobbed his head. The Kensei then rose a hand to the mask at their face, and with a click, took it off, revealing her face. Her eyes were red like the depths of a fire, and her skin was smooth like porcelain, as if she had only revealed a second mask to Alisson.

“You did well in training your apprentice. From one swordsman to another, you have my respect.”

She spoke in a strong, dignified voice. Alisson bobbed his head in response. “All the same to you.”

She pointed at Alisson. “Strip everything above your waist, and get out your tails.”

Alisson complied, sheathing the donor sword before activating his Opensen and sliding the haori and kimono off his shoulders.

“You only have two, so the results might vary. I will demonstrate.”

The Kensei had also stripped their top, and now only wore a chestwrap. They turned from Alisson, their nine tails raising evenly around them. Their tips pointed forward. She began making fluid, mesmerizing motions with her hands and her tails, like she was dancing.

This went on for a while before Alisson realized what was happening. She was channeling mana. This was a spell, but without any incantation runes. Alisson could feel it in his gut. She was amassing a truly ginormous amount of mana at the tips of her tails, and circulating it between them through her body with her motions, as if her hands were guiding the tides of a rushing river. If she made but a small mistake, that mana would break and rush outwards like a bursting dam.

After a while, her movements changed, and the mana began to disperse slowly as she breathed out heavily, until it seemed like nothing had happened. She turned to Alisson with a stern expression.

“Do you understand?”

Alisson nodded. “At the apex of your mana, you would normally expel and direct the power outwards in a stream, thus creating the ‘cannon’ effect of the Moonlight Cannon.”

Alisson could imagine it. A massive beam of pure mana, enough to bring down a castle’s walls.

“You learn well. Now, attempt it. The mana is dense here in the shrine. It will come easier to a beginner.”

Channeling mana without incantations…Was it pure force of will? Was it a state of mind? Were the movements truly all that was required? Alisson furrowed his brow, thinking through all the factors.

He went on to attempt to replicate the Kensei’s movements. It was like trying to pile invisible water into buckets with ones hands from the very air around you, with the buckets being his tails. It was common knowledge that one needed runes, that was, the building blocks of spells, to control mana. But the mana that one controlled with typical spells came from within oneself; this technique employed resident mana in the environment, much like his Bacilla could.

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The Kensei neared his rear, and moved with him, her eyes closed, occasionally adjusting Alisson’s motions.

“Your tails are conducting mana just as well as ours.” She ran a hand along one of Alisson’s tails, and he shivered, but did his best to remain in the flow of the motions. “I believe you will be able to use a more muted version of the Cannon. If only because you lack the necessary number of tails to store the excess mana. You will learn to draw mana to them with practice.”

Alisson nodded, and continued to follow through with the motions. He could feel the mana begin to well at the tips of his tails. The feeling was familiar.

After a while, he heard rustling in the forest undergrowth, and he turned his head, still following through with the motions. What he saw almost made him lose his focus.

There was a small girl with glinting orange eyes. Her skin was metallic and grey, and seemed to made of many layers. Her hair seemed artificial, and long. There was no doubt. This was a spirit. This must be Sei.

“Cat hide secrets.” She said, and started pacing closer to Alisson. The Kensei backed off silently. Alisson did what he could to dispel his built-up mana but it was no use, the spirit grabbed his arm with inhuman strength and tugged it down. He cursed and directed his tails away from the three of them. A flash of light and an explosion followed as mana spilled from his tails and exploded outwards in two blue bursts of light, singing some of the undergrowth.

“Spirit. What is the meaning of this?”

Alisson asked, his body kept still as it was gripped by this thing half his size.

“Cat hide. Cat will reveal everything. Sei will teach you true way.”

There was something scratchy about her voice, something artificial. She was not nearly as human-like as the other spirits Alisson had encountered. She was very clearly made of metal, and had no exterior shell of skin like the others did.

Alisson took a deep breath. He was hiding something. His Bacilla. The innards of his Nekomata tails that acted as his channels of mana. He didn’t want anyone to see them. They were a powerful card that he had unlocked in his time in the north. But…around these two…

“May I have your word that you will not tell anyone about what I’m about to show you?”

“Sei not speak with those untrue. Cat not true with others. Cat will be true with me.”

Sei responded. Alisson looked warily to the Kensei, but took a deep breath, and focused on his tails.

The tips of his tails seemed to bubble and glow, before they peeled like flowers blooming, to reveal a pure white surface, like crab meat.

Alisson figured he would start with eight. The two tails’ bacilla extended outwards, and peeled into two. Then these four strands peeled once more into two each, making eight strands of white that surrounded Alisson.

“Is this sufficient?”

Alisson asked, standing tall. The Kensei’s eyes were wide, and she seemed taken aback at the very least.

“Cat have more. Cat not need more right now. More tails, more mana. More mana, more death.”

The spirit looked up to Alisson, its eyes dulling and reigniting several times over. “Death bad. Death necessary. Cat will use death to stop death. Sei knows truth. Sei will give help.”

Alisson slowly processed the spirit’s broken grammar, but understood what she was saying with that quick, monotone tempo of hers. She let go of Alisson.

“Sei thank Cat for help other Sei. Cat will go north to Sei home. Cat will find big help at Sei home.”

‘Other Sei’ must be other spirits. He didn’t know how this spirit knew, but perhaps they were very wise on the inside, and could tell what Alisson had seen in his past just from how he carried himself.

“Sei’s home? Where is that?” Alisson asked.

“North. Most north. Under. Deep. Sei cannot leave here. Sei sorry.”

Most north, that must be Halaruth. The most northern nation on Aleeze. The most northern point of Aleeze was a coastal city, Halaruth’s capital of Ferstadt. Therefore, Sei’s home must be under Ferstadt. This spirit is saying that he could find great help there. Alisson committed it to memory.

He looked to the spirit. “Thank you, Sei. Maybe I’ll bring the other spirits I met to meet with you.”

Sei’s face did not change expression, and her mouth did not move when she spoke; However, her head tilted, and her eyes ignited several times over.

“Sei understand Cat feelings. Sei not like other Sei anymore. Sei use mana. Other Sei do not. Other Sei scared of Sei. Sei stay away from others.”

Alisson furrowed his mouth.

Spirits were said to be beings of pure mana, and use mana to live. That was before he had met two spirits that had contradicted this common knowledge. They said mana was alien and foreign, and that they didn’t know what it was. This one however, Sei, seems to have adapted, and now uses mana as its lifeforce. Sei was the most public and well known spirit, probably the only known one to that end, so thus people probably went with the logical assumption that all spirits are like Sei. It seems they were wrong.

“I see…Well, thank you regardless. I wish to repay unrequited kindness, but I don’t know what I can do for a spirit like you.”

“It okay. Sei go now. Cat in trouble.”

Alisson squinted at Sei, but just then he heard footsteps. Another group was coming. In the next instant, Sei was gone, and the Kensei clicked on her mask once more. He similarly collapsed his extended Bacilla back into their tails.

Alisson turned to see Tsuhara at the head of an armed procession. They were the new military police of the Queendom, soldiers adorned in white traditional robes and black insignias of the Queen. The Zantsuketsuden. They were an old, archaic order that had been revived in the wake of the swing towards traditionalism in the Queendom of recent. But why were there a dozen of them here, with Tsuhara?

“Wow, you look good shirtless…” Tsuhara mumbled in her usual, playful tune, but quickly cleared her throat. “Alisson Vi Nuam. You have been found guilty of misconduct with a citizen of the Queendom. You are under arrest. Come with us.”

The Zantsuketsuden approached Alisson, with hands on their sheathed blades, and circled him.

“I suppose our time is at an end. Thank you for everything, Kensei.” He bobbed his head at the Crimson Swordsman. “I will come quietly, but I do not admit to any wrongdoing, whatever it is that you have found me guilty of.”

Alisson swallowed heavily. This came sooner than he’d expected.

***