Chapter 4 – Loss & Gain

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

The sudden crashes came from the bokken being smashed multiple different positions on the youth’s body.

*BANG*

An agile strike hit him in his arm causing him to retract his bokken slightly which gave an opening for another strike.

*BANG*

Another quick and precise strike which pierced the body gear of the youth and the power behind the thrust caused the youth to tumble back a bit more.

Confused at how such a person could have this much strength caused him to feel anger as he started to let his emotions control him.

He suddenly let out a large grunt and fixed his position and charged again towards his opponent.

The way his opponent moved was as if he was a blur because every time he would strike he would hit the air rather than his opponent.

He felt like he was being toyed with which caused his anger to be fuelled to its limit and his blood was boiling like a pit of lava. He felt like he was being controlled as if his opponent was reading his moves right before he would strike.

“BANG”

A final slash caused the youth to stumble down and lose the grip of his bokken. When he hit the floor, there was a long and eerie silence which filled the atmosphere.

All the people were staring towards the youth who was standing and displaying an expression as if he hadn’t even moving in the first place.

This youth was of course Kazuki, he suddenly moved back towards the starting position of the arena and stared towards Allen.

“I fulfilled the promise right so now I get to fight you, don’t I? I would like to start this as soon as possible so please make your preparations” (Kazuki)

“Yeah, I did promise you so I will fight you, however you shouldn’t look down on an opponent too much you know. I would like to advise you that it’s okay to carry a bit of arrogance and pride but you shouldn’t let it consume you and make you look down on others” (Allen)

The man looked towards Kazuki with a serious expression while giving him a bit of advice. The youth seemed to pick up on that and nodded towards the man with his casual demeanour.

The man equipped the body gear and picked up the bokken and slowly made his way towards the starting point in the arena.

The people watching the match were tense and were quite shocked.

They were tense as they were watching their Sensei going against someone who was younger than them and he seemed quite serious about the match.

They were shocked at how easily Ben had been defeated and how quickly it had been done. The match between Ben and Kazuki only lasted for around 30 seconds with Ben getting no strikes while Kazuki hit all 3 of his strikes with speed and precision.

They watched as their teacher and the boy named “Kazuki” were opposite each other and staring towards each other.

Both opponents seemed to be calmly analysing the other and checking to see if their opponent was showing and weaknesses or openings.

A girl suddenly came forward from the crowd and walked towards the middle of the field and gave a glance to both participants before stating.

“Since dad is the one competing this time I will be the one to countdown the match, are you ready?”

The girl has short hair which went to her shoulders and it was tied into a small pony tail which was held together by a red ribbon, the girl had blue hair and eyes and stared towards both participants before asking the question. She posed the question towards the man who seemed to be her father and then looked towards the boy

“Yes, start the countdown” (Allen)

“Yeah” (Kazuki)

The participants replied with an eager tone which sounded like they were excited as they both glared at each other with anticipation.

“Okay then I the match will begin in” (Shiroyuki)

“3”

“2”

“1”

“Begin”

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Both opponents leapt out at inhumane speed, the one surprised the most by this was Kazuki as he had never fought an opponent who was able to match up to him in terms of speed, however this thought was put to the back of his head as he began concentrating on the match.

*CLASH* *CLASH* *CLASH*

As they both reached each other the sound of swords clashing was echoing throughout the room, despite using wooden swords the sound which came from the clashing of the bokken sounded like steel swords clattering against each other.

Each of the opponents were using good amounts of strength in an attempt to overwhelm the other one, and Kazuki who was confident in having more strength felt that he was overwhelming his opponent which caused a slight grin to appear on his face.

*SLASH*

The grin he displayed was completely gone from his face as he tried to replay what had just happened in that second.

*SLASH* *SLASH*

Before he could figure out what had happened another two slashes had hit him, one on his leg and another on his lower torso.

Kazuki realise that he had just been hit 3 times in a row with a first hit landing on his arm and another 2 consecutive hits on his leg and torso.

“W-what the heck, how did you hit me?” (Kazuki)

The youth responded with a shocked face as he stared towards the man who seemed to be smiling towards the youth.

“I was just using the technique of my sword style rather than using brute force which you are doing, although that is a good way to overwhelm your opponents it won’t always guarantee victory” (Allen)

The man responded while smiling towards the youth and giving him a bit of advice on how the 3 strikes had hit him. Although the man seemed to be unharmed by any of the youths attacks he was very surprised by the power he had displayed.

When he clashed swords with the youth he felt shock because of the power behind the slash the youth had attacked with, it was strong enough to push him back who had been training his body and technique for 35 years.

The man didn’t show this shock on his face and kept an expressionless face while facing the youth so that the youth wouldn’t become too arrogant and cocky during the fight.

“T-technique? Isn’t strength and speed good enough to be able to overwhelm your opponent and defeat them quickly?” (Kazuki)

The youth posed another question to the man as he was quite interested in the technique the man had used to land the hits on him just now, by now the arrogance and aloofness the youth was radiating was gone and was showing a shocked and intrigued expression towards the man.

“Sure, strength and speed will allow you to defeat an opponent easily but if you don’t utilize it to its full potential by creating different techniques you will face people who may be weaker and slower than you but are still able to defeat you with techniques” (Allen)

“Techniques are about combining different elements and movements to come together and perform a technique. The technique I did just now combined speed and strength so that you couldn’t see the movements of the sword and they still landed some good hits on you right?” (Allen)

The man smiled towards the youth as he was surprised at how the youth had suddenly transformed from an arrogant boy into someone who was genuinely interested in the techniques of his opponent rather than cursing and getting angry at getting hit.

“Hmm, I guess you are right I haven’t really used techniques before as I believed my speed and strength were good enough to beat my opponent however seeing the technique you displayed as well as the information you told me I am interested in how a technique could improve my current abilities, thank you for explaining it to me I will put it to good use in the future. (Kazuki)

The youth looked towards the man while smiling and showing a grateful face, which shocked the crowd as the youth had been stern ever since he had come to the school.

The man felt shocked as well but he also felt respect for the boy as he was happy at learning something new rather than feeling angry at being in a losing position.

“Well then let’s finish this up then, if you like I will show you some of my other techniques if you would like to learn?” (Allen)

“Yeah let’s continue and I would be grateful if you could show me some of your techniques so I can get an idea on how to create my own” (Kazuki)

They both stared towards each other and smiled as they prepared their bokkens and were about to charge at each other before Allen raised a quick suggestion

“How about we make a bet that whoever loses must do something which the winner decides, it can’t be anything dangerous or life-threatening but it would be quite fun to have a wager what do you think” (Allen)

The man smiled mischievously towards the youth who was quite shocked by the proposition which changed into a grin and responded with.

“Sure, that does make the match a bit more interesting, you will still show me the techniques no matter the outcome of the match, right?” (Kazuki”)

“Yeah, I won’t go back on my word I just wanted to make the match a bit more interesting” (Allen)

They readied their swords and once again charged towards each other.

Kazuki was watching carefully while enhancing his eyes so that he could see the technique that Allen was going to use as he was excited but cautions to see if he would use another technique.

The man then started to move his sword in multiple directions which made the sword look like it was bending, this new technique displayed made Kazuki excited as he felt happy fighting against an opponent who gave him a challenge.

He was unsure on where his opponent’s sword was going to strike so he decided to dodge to the left while parrying which seemed like the safest option however the block he hoped for never happened when suddenly.

*BANG* *SLASH* *SLASH*

The youth fell onto the flaw with a loud bang as he realised what had just happened a gentle voice suddenly came into his ear

“The match is over the winner is father” (Shiroyuki)

The girl announced the results of the match with a cheerful tone as she came over towards the two competitors

“Sorry for being a little rough there, I haven’t fought like that in years you’re a tough kid you know” (Allen)

He came over to Kazuki with an apologetic expression while stretching the back of his head awkwardly. He then offered his other hand to pull the youth off of the floor which Kazuki accepted.

“Looks like we will be training together for a while, you are from around, here right?” (Allen)

“No, but I am staying here I guess I will extend my stay for a month before heading back home to Japan” (Kazuki)

They both looked at each other while shaking each other’s hand and then suddenly a voice from behind caught Kazuki’s attention.

“Hello, I am Shiroyuki Tanaka, I believe your name is Kazuki right. The man you just fought is my father and I am his direct student, since you seem to be learning under him for a while I hope we can get along” (Shiroyuki)

The blue haired girl offered out her hand towards Kazuki who extended his hand to shake her hand and replied.

“Yeah, my name is Kazuki, Kazuki Trask i guess we will be training together for a while so let’s get along” (Kazuki)

The youth let out a gentle smile towards the girl while staring directly into her eyes which seemed to make her feel embarrassed as she retracted her hand.

“Y-yeah let’s get along from now on Kazuki” (Shiroyuki)

“Yeah sure” (Kazuki)

End of Chapter 4