"Master Hikaru!," Darius exclaimed in joy as he pointed to the food stands with alluring aromas. "Can I please get something to eat? It's been so long since I've had a treat!" he begged, hopeful anticipation in his voice.

I glanced around the town, looking for a store that would have what we needed. "We need to find water and some other things first," I told him.

We drifted through the bustling town until we stumbled upon all the shops I had been searching for. With so many items to choose from, it was hard to decide what we needed. Eventually, we had collected everything we could conveniently carry and made our way into a different part of town, the weight of my wallet now less.

...

Venturing around the town looking for a place to settle down for the night, we eventually found a tavern that met our needs. We paid for a room and unloaded our belongings there.

After stepping out of our room, I asked Darius, "Are you ready to go check out the food stands you were so excited about visiting?"

The spark in his eyes shone brighter, "Of course! I wanted to show you the treat I've been wanting to try!"

I had spent some time with Darius, watching him try out the latest treats. As I walked to the last stalls, I started to feel an unsettling feeling in my gut that, at first, I didn't take too seriously. But as time passed, the feeling grew in intensity. What began to worry me was seeing shadows trailing us from a distance; although they were far away and hiding well, my heightened senses allowed me to spot them easily.

As I paused at another booth selling treats, I sent out a wave of energy to check if anyone was trailing us. Sure enough, the energy bounced back to me and revealed the presence of 12 people tracking our steps.

I whispered urgently to Darius, "They have people after us. Keep close to me."

Darius gave a barely perceptible nod to acknowledge that he understood, with the intent of not drawing attention from any potential pursuers.

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We were on a busy road, and the risk of them attacking us with innocent bystanders around was improbable but not impossible, I did have a small bounty after all. Knowing they were only after me, I decided it would be best to part from Darius; I simply couldn't put him in harm's way before he was ready for it.

I told Darius to go back to the tavern, then quickly ran towards a small patch of woods nearby, without making too much noise. I could tell that the figures were following me, my heart raced as I gripped my blade and speedily pushed forward. When I reached a clearing in the mini patch of woods, I began condensing my innate energy through my body while listening for them jumping down from the trees.

I spun around and with a demanding tone of voice I questioned, "What organization do you belong to and why were you trailing me?"

The white-cloaked figures didn't utter a word before drawing their swords and forming a circle around me. In the blink of an eye, they shot forward with their weapons at me with terrifying speeds. I managed to dodge most of their attacks until I released all of the condensed energy in my body, exploding myself towards the closest people. While airborne my blade piercing through all of their chest's. Taking many of them down in one strike only seemed to make them falter but they still kept pushing forwards, not letting their friends death be in vain.

I added a bit more power to my sword, making it glow with an intense energy. My adversaries, wearing white robes, reacted by emitting their own energy. As the group of trackers vanished from sight, I knew that something strange was going on. Out of instinct, I switched into and suddenly saw one of the weapons hovering just centimeters away from my forehead. In order to protect myself, I solidified my energetic aura around that area. The blade shattered as it made contact with my protected forehead.

The tracker I had killed looked taken aback by my swift attack, giving the other targets behind me a chance to ready their innate energy. The remaining trackers immediately burst through the trees with their own encased silver swords. They seemed confused that I had so suddenly disappeared only moments before they had found me. One of them noticed me high up in the air and shouted out something about form number 7. They then shot themselves upwards to meet my level. Knowing that I was in trouble, I quickly used <(Sword Dance 5th Form, Lunar Lambaste)>, managing to take out two of them. The other three screamed in rage.

When one of my attacks blew off their helmet, I saw the face underneath; I was stunned to recognize the face of the person I had killed previously. They must have been twins or possibly clones made from innate energy. After blocking an attack and getting shot down to the ground, it was the only thing that could make sense. I unleashed and sniped the remaining three clones in the air, then left and sprinted towards the tavern. Sitting on my bedside, I assumed that either the real person was either still around or long gone.

"You're here!" shouted Darius, with excitement.

"Yes, I had a bit of a run-in with some people," I replied. "Have you been rehearsing your sword techniques lately?"

"Absolutely! I can't wait to get my innate energy to manifest soon."

"Well then, let's get started, I believe that you should be ready after training consistently a ever since a few hours ago" I said.

"Thank you, Master Hikaru!" Darius said.

"Alright then, sit in the lotus position first. Then feel any cold sensations in your body and push them outwards until you feel warmth in your abdomen area. Lead that heat all the way through your body slowly and mindfully."

After a long wait, his innate energy surged outward with a medley of captivating colors.