Kesshō stood on a gravel path between a building to her right and a garden to her left. The building seemed to be a simple wooden structure with a tiled slanting roof. Its walls were made of hard paper with a sliding door towards the path, its floor lined with mats. In the center of the building was a raised square platform. On the right side of the building were racks of weapons. Swords, spears, bows, and many weapons Kesshō didn't recognize were neatly arranged in separate racks.

Kurai and Yuki brought her here in the evening to introduce her to the warriors from afar. This was the building they built for training others, a structure from their homeland as Kurai informed her.

Yuki was wearing a completely white, full-sleeved long dress with a white coat, to keep her warm. It possessed several glittery snowflakes decorated everywhere. Kurai wore the same black outfit he usually wore. Kesshō wore an outfit identical to Kurai's, the only difference being her dark pink coat instead of a black one. She also allowed her ears and tails to remain out, as Kurai told her to.

After a little wait the warriors arrived. A girl with long black hair and black eyes wearing a white kimono and red hakama, slightly taller than Yuki, and a man with short black hair and black eyes, slightly taller than Kurai, wearing a red kimono and black hakama, a scar lining the right side of his face. The both of them walked with an air of authority, though they did not seem to be nobles. The man possessed two scabbards tucked in the belt on his hip, one taller and one shorter.

The both of them gave a slight bow when they reached Kurai and Yuki. Kurai had told Kesshō it was common etiquette where they come from, following Kurai and Yuki, Kesshō bowed as well, stepping out from behind Yuki.

The both raised their head and caught sight of Kesshō at the same time. The girl just wore a shocked expression on her face but the guy jumped backwards and unsheathed his sword. The swords the knights used were symmetrical, a triangular point towards the end, while the one this man held slightly curved towards the end.

"She isn't the one you want us to train, right?" The girl inquired, recovering from the shock.

"Well, I don't suppose there is anyone else here," Kurai replied with a nervous smile.

"It surprises me that you even brought a hybrid here in the first place, they only cause death and destruction," The man fumed.

"I doubt she would even kill an ant right now," Kurai said trying to calm him.

"We will never depart our arts to hybrids of all things, teaching your village was already more than enough." The man declared before sheathing his sword and entering the building. "Don't even dare step inside of this sacred place." He warned Kesshō before closing the door behind him. The girl however, still looked conflicted.

"I am not ordering anyone or trying to force anyone to teach her, I am only requesting you to," Kurai said turning to her.

"Fine, I will teach her. But I can't teach her everything, you will need to persuade him if you want to teach her everything," she sighed.

"Thank you very much," Kurai responded with a bow, Yuki following him. "I will need a while to persuade him. Till then, please teach her about the different weapons for today, and start the rest from tomorrow," He suggested, walking towards the building.

"I will," the girl called back.

"But how? I am certain he isn't going to happy with Kesshō even seeing any of his weapons." Yuki interjected, glancing at the building.

"There is one of every kind of weapon with me currently, I will show them to her there." She gestured Kesshō to follow her.

"I didn't think anyone was going to accept a hybrid with open arms like that," Yuki mumbled.

"Unlike him, humans have done me more harm than any hybrid ever could, anymore at least. And, it's the two of you asking me to so I can't deny," The girl responded.

"Don't make her change her mind now." Kurai said to Kesshō before gesturing her to go.

She bowed slightly before following the girl.

"I am Mei by the way," The girl introduced as Kesshō reached her.

The both of them walked along the gravel path till they reached a door carved into the mountain. It wasn't as big as the main gate of the fort, but was still big enough for two people to walk through at the same time with ease.

"Wait here," Mei said before disappearing inside.

She came out after a while pushing a cart filled with weapons. She tilted her head, gesturing Kessho to follow, before pulling out a sword sheathed in a completely black scabbard, just like the one that man carried.

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"Can you push this while I explain?" She inquired.

Kesshō tried pushing the cart, the completely flat ground helping her do so without using much strength. As weak as Kessho was, she was still able to push it quite easily.

"This is a katana, a kind of sword used where we came from." Mei informed as she unsheathed it. "This is called a saya, the word for a scabbard where we are from." She said pointing to the scabbard before continuing. "The tip of the katana is called kissaki and this cord attached to the saya a sageo." She looked towards Kessho to make sure she was understanding everything before continuing. "I am very sure you would have noticed that a katana is very different from a knight's sword. There are two main reasons for that. One, unlike a knight's sword which has two flat sides and two sharp sides, a katana has two flat sides, a blunt side, and a sharp side." She turned the katana for Kessho to be able to see that one side was sharp while the opposite was comparatively blunt. Sheathing the katana Mei put it back in and took out a bow.

"This is just a normal bow, you load an arrow, pull the strings, and shoot." She said tugging at the strings. Putting the bow back in, she pulled out a spear-like weapon, the blade being only on one side. "This is a naginata, mostly used by woman. It has the advantage of reach and could be easily spun around to strike with more force." She spun it around in her hand, stopping with the naginata's bladed side facing front. "And you can also throw it, only as a last resort though." She informed before throwing the naginata towards a tree. It embedded itself deep in the tree's trunk, shaking the entire tree as it did.

She pulled out the naginata and put it back in as they reached the tree before taking out a smaller katana-like sword. "This is a wakizashi, a short sword. It looks just like a short katana and works similarly, even though it is a bit different." Putting the wakizashi back in, she searched around inside the cart for a bit. "It's not here," She sighed after her search was done. "I was going to see which one would be better for you, but I guess it would need to wait till Kurai persuades Hori." She said with a sigh before taking the cart from Kesshō.

"Now, let me tell you a bit about what you will be learning." She continued. "I am going to be teaching you Kyōjutsu, the art of the bow, and Bōjutsu, the art of the bō, a staff and any similar weapon basically. Hori will teach you Taijutsu, the art of hand-to-hand combat and Kenjutsu, the art of the sword.

Kesshō didn't know which of these was going to be the most useful to her, or which one she would perform the best in. She never even laid her hands on any weapons before like these before, neither was she ever taught how to fight. She was capable of taking on strong monsters like ogres with ease, but only because of her tails and venom. In a war, the more weapons she could use the better, and knowing how to use them was necessary for that.

"Wait here," Mei commanded as they reached the building. "This building is called the Hō-oh-no-ma by the way, meaning hall of the phoenix." She informed as she walked ahead. "Hori named it after the training hall of our lord which was burnt down and destroyed by hybrids."

She entered the hall and closed the door behind her. Kesshō heard a sound in a tree to her right and turned to see the cause of it, but saw nothing. There was no sound of wings so she was certain it wasn't a bird, but she wasn't able to see anything on the tree. Turning around, pretending to not suspect anything, she used her side-ears to investigate it.

The tree was just as unoccupied by anything as Kesshō thought, but in a bush to her left she was able to make out a humanoid figure to some extent. It didn't move, even the rising and falling of the chest while breathing could not be felt. Kesshō decided to stay on high alert while waiting, not knowing who it was.

Some movement caught her attention after a few minutes, but not from the same bush, instead the tree she suspected at first. A humanoid figure was pressed to the opposite side of the tree, the reason why she wasn't able to sense it. By pressing themselves to the tree the person was able to escape her echolocation, seeming to be part of the tree to her, but only for as long as they didn't move.

The person bent their right hand around to the left side of their head and threw something towards Kesshō. With only her echolocation to rely on Kesshō kept track of the object'd movements. She stepped slightly to the right and bent her right hand to the left side of her head. Relying on her echolocation she closed her hand just when the object would hit her hand. She timed it perfectly and caught it, near effortlessly. Without wasting any time she spun around and flung it back towards her attacker, following mostly the same movements which he did.

It struck the side of the tree, a hairsbreadth from her attacker's head. He fell backwards, startled at the unexpected attack. Suddenly the other bush erupted into movement and she barely sensed a similar weapon flying towards her. She bent backwards, barely dodging the attack. Using her hands for support, she completed an involuntary backflip and landed back on her feet.

Both of the attackers pulled out another similar looking weapon from their pockets and prepared to throw them at her. A clap stopped them mid-throw, the one behind the tree however, already threw his. Distracted from the clap from behind her, Kesshō failed to react in time and the star-shaped disc collided right at her heart.

Kurai was by her side instantly, a gasp from Yuji easily audible from behind. He inspected her before giving a nervous laugh with a sigh.

"What?" Yuki questioned, confused on the sudden change.

"Is she alright?" Mei inquired worriedly.

"Very alright." Kurai replied, turning Kesshō around so they can have a look.

Everyone stared at her wide-eyed, Yuki, Mei and Hori. The disc had torn right threw her clothes and skin, but it failed to even lay a scratch on her scales. "She has scales under her skin?!" Yuki exclaimed seeing the black scales as Kurai pulled out the disc stuck in her clothes, revealed only by a slit in her skin.

"Very tough ones considering that a shuriken didn't even lay a scratch." Kurai responded, patting Kesshō on the head.

"Her skills are praiseworthy as well to catch one with relative ease. Fine, I will train her, but don't expect me to go easy on her just because you recommended her," Hori mumbled, still seemingly not very willing to train her.

"I just ask you to train her well, nothing more than I want from you." Kurai said with a slight bow. "How about teaching her Ninjutsu as well while we are at it?" Kurai suggested to Yuki with a smile.

"I would like to see how she performs in the others first. In a war Ninjutsu isn't going to help her as much as Taijutsu or Kenjutsu," Yuki reminded.

"True," Kurai mumbled. "Well then, be prepared because this isn't going to be easy." He informed Kesshō as he tapped her forehead.