Shishio’s face turned as cold as the mountain ice, as hard as the heartwood of the Tree of Heaven. “It will not be the first time a student has died from lack of discipline.”

Sunwhisper didn’t even see him move. One moment they were facing each other, and the next, an invisible force struck Sunwhisper in the chest and sent him flying twenty feet until he crashed into a tree.

(So, I guess we’re doing this. You want me to come out?)

{Not yet.}

Shishio hadn’t struck him with his fist, he had projected force through his open palm. His stance suggested the blow had merely been exploratory, a means of gauging Sunwhisper’s ability to react, and he had found him wanting.

“You aren’t worthy of me.” He said. “Buru, play with this child until it stops moving.”

His bull stamped its foot and bellowed, its voice shaking the snow off of nearby ferns. It launched itself into the air, angling to come down on top of Sunwhisper, who rolled to the side. Eight Mines Clutch of Lead increased the density of his metallic elements, and he felt he could withstand a few more attacks like the last one without sustaining serious damage. He had no idea how strong the bull was, but it would at least be a less formidable opponent than the artist who had bonded it, he hoped.

Sunwhisper rolled up to his feet and shifted to Copper Mantis stance. As heavy as he was making himself, his mobility was affected, so he was going to focus on increased reflexes instead of jumping around. He snapped out a spear. Killing the beast was out of the question, the punishment for such an act would certainly be death, and besides that, the sacred beast was only doing what it had been told, but he imagined it could withstand a few pricks from his spear before they came to that.

It charged him, dozing through a small tree as it came, and he stepped to one side, narrowly avoiding the sweep of its horns. He jabbed his spearpoint into its back leg, as it went by, and the beast bellowed again. It seemed to be more annoyed than in pain.

The bull pounded a wide circle around him, coming in for another charge, but this time it jinked to one side, far more adroit than anything that size should have rightfully been. He stabbed it again, narrowly avoiding being impaled himself, and it struck him with its shoulder. He didn’t go flying this time, but it knocked him back, his feet carving lines in the snow.

Sunwhisper attached a web line to the end of his spear, drawing on Starscream’s techniques, and launched it with Impurities Rejection. His weapon rang like a bell as it shot through the air, and the bull jumped straight up to avoid it. While it was in the air, Sunwhisper tugged the spear back, caught it, and with his other hand, sent out a series of sticky lines to tangle the beast's hooves as it came down.

The bull tried to come around for another charge, but it stumbled, and Sunwhisper jogged around it, sending line after line of webbing between its legs.

(Lol.)

The beast struggled to regain its footing. It could have torn through a wall of webbing without difficulty if it were able to tackle the problem head first, but simple anatomical constraints prevented it from bringing its full strength to bear against the problem. It didn’t have hands, and its legs didn’t have leverage. As Sunwhisper circled closer, adding layer upon layer to the cocoon, it whipped its head around and snorted. Steam rose from its nostrils.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Then it blew fire.

Sunwhisper dodged, barely. He hadn’t been expecting the fountain of flame specifically but the bull was certainly advanced enough to have its own techniques. It jerked and contorted its body to have another shot, and a wall of mana infused fire sprang from its mouth. The ice and snow around it melted instantly, filling the air with steam, and unlike the first jet, these flames sustained themselves with spirit energy.

It sent out another wall, trapping Sunwhisper between the two banks of fire as he tried to circle around. He switched back to Lead Grasshopper to leap over the next fiery blast, coming down within feet of the bull. It lashed at him with its horns, and instead of going for a death blow, he used Eight Mines Clutch on his spear and swung it like a staff, striking the bull on the top of its skull with all of his strength.

The animal made a startled sound, shaking its head vigorously, and he struck it again, then a third time, before grabbing it by the snout and using River of Agony to transfer the anxiety he was still receiving from the Snow Flower into the bull.

“Stop.” He demanded. “I know you understand me.”

The bull moaned, but didn’t breathe fire again.

Shishio struck him from behind, sending him tumbling over the bull, who in no way appreciated his weight, and mooed in distress. He rolled over his shoulder and back onto one knee to face his instructor. The derision was gone from his expression, and the look he gave Sunwhisper now was appraising. A faint sheen of pinkish purple light shone from his eyes.

“Two cores.” He said. “I had heard there was a deviation in your class, but I didn’t bother to look too closely. I assumed one of them would be useless. How unusual.”

Sunwhisper silently thanked Yuyu’s scarf, which he kept tied around his neck and hanging mostly under his robes. If not for that treasure, Shishio would have surely seen how unusual he really was.

Shishio made a complex gesture with one hand, and the webbing around his beast’s legs separated as if it had been sliced with a blade. There was something there, a pulse of mana, but not anything Sunwhisper could see with his eyes. Shishio was an ultraviolet user, and whatever he did with his Ascendancy techniques was functionally invisible.

“Get up, Buru. It was only a little bump, why are you acting so shaken?” The bull rose unsteadily, showing none of the confidence and strength that it had displayed earlier. The Snow Flower, wherever it was, had only grown more fearful during the battle. Now the flames the bull had created were guttering out, and it carried the fears of a tiny Yosei off to one side at the command of its master.

“I will give you this one chance,” Shishio said. “Abase yourself before me, apologize and swear always to obey, and I will spare you, as you spared my beast. I will admit, you are stronger than I expected, and you may prove useful to the Azai in the future. I would prefer not to have to end your journey here. But there can be no more of this willfulness. Initiates with a little talent sometimes think to test their teachers, and they are always made to regret it. Why you have chosen this hill to die on, I do not know and I do not care. Renounce your foolishness, and let us be on with this.”

Sunwhisper heard a familiar cry. Karasu had arrived, alighting on one of the trees at the edge of the cliff. Janna appeared next, and a few of the other initiates followed in short order. They saw the burned ground, the broken trees, and Sunwhisper standing in opposition to their teacher.

(Okay, he’s giving you a do over. Let’s take it so we can stab him in the back later.)

“I apologize, elder,” Sunwhisper said. “But I will not kill the yosei, and I will not allow you to harm them either.” At these words, it seemed that the forest shivered around them. Just a moment, and then all was still again.

Shishio's eyes widened, and his nostrils flared. A second defiance was too much to countenance, talent or no talent.

“Then you will die.”