All the emotions I had been repressing inside of me started to trickle out. It felt like an intense wave of water crashing over me but, despite my feelings, I continued meditating and tried to bring myself back to a place of serenity. I had to stay strong for Darius's sake.

'This is taking forever,' I thought, feeling exhausted after only five minutes of energy control. With my head pounding from the influx of energy coursing through my body, I was forced to take a break with my clothes drenched in sweat. A newfound respect for Hikaru settled in; this type of training took great effort and perseverance.

Now, on my second break, I hadn't even reached the ten minute mark—eight minutes and seventeen seconds the first time, and seven minutes and fifty-four seconds the second. My chest heaved as I searched for a way to reduce my energy drain with no luck. Appearing that more willpower was all I had left to rely upon, I channeled my innate energy around me, trying to steel myself against the mental pain which was repetition.

. . .

After many battles and matches had been fought, the Shogun of Iron declared that there would be a bonus awarded to the 99-manned hunting party. They left the city's arena and ventured near the village where the evil force had previously been sighted, in hopes of finding clues about the strange sword wielding boy who had been seen. However, when they reached the nearby village, no one had seen him or could even remember having interacted with him.

. . .

Hikaru finally arrived at their training grounds with a mischievous smile on his face. "How was your training going?" he asked.

Tapping my foot impatiently, I replied, "It took you long enough! I've been practicing for at least an hour."

"Oh, sorry," Hikaru apologized. "I had some important business to take care of."

"So tell me," I inquired, "when will we start?"

"Right now, if you'd like," he shrugged but I believe that in your current state you wouldn't be able to train efficiently nor properly.

Taking a moment to assess my situation, I knew his words were true; I was practically starving and smelled horrible. Heeding his advice, I quickly sprinted off towards the spring where we had originally settled when we first arrived. After a refreshing bath in the cool water, which cooled me down from the blistering sun, I dried off using a method I had been practicing by myself. Soon after, I felt re-energized and changed into some clothes before heading over to the cabin, where I ate some leftover soup that I had made not too long ago with the help of Hikaru's book. It had been an accomplishment to make it on my own but I doubted Hikaru would be impressed - he was far too focused on training to care about anything unrelated to fighting, which prompted me to chuckle.

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. . .

It was impressive to see how quickly Darius picked up the energy control training. It had taken me five long days just to make a small improvement. My sword skills were good, but my energy reserves were mediocre at best. I could only use my energy to surround my blade for less than 17 seconds. If Darius tapped into the demon's power, he could boost that time up to about one minute, but that was still not enough in a battle. His innate energy reserves were decent, but useless unless he learned to control them properly without burning through them too quickly. Luckily, after five days of consistent practice, he managed to increase his time limit to about 56 seconds, which motivated him to keep going. Over the years, the long hours of training and academy work paid off as he eventually increased his time limit to an hour. Yukito and Keiko would always encourage us by reminding us that hard work pays off, no matter how tough it gets along the way.

A wave of nostalgia washed over me, thinking back on our days and nights spent training—pushing each other past our limits—and testing our new skills during the academy's monthly tournaments. We were often regarded as oddballs by the guards, but it never bothered him; he knew that in order to become the strongest, he must take the weirdest path.

"Alright, I'm done!" Darius exclaimed, looking much more energized than before.

"Took you long enough," I teased.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered.

"Okay, so here's what you're going to be doing," I said. "I'm going to attack you with all sorts of stuff while you have to protect your whole body. Then I'll teach you how to protect specific areas instead of your whole body and how it can be useful."

"Got it!" Darius replied confidently. "Let's start now!" His energy was palpable as his enthusiasm filled the air.

. . .

The search had come to a standstill, so they decided to make camp in the forest. The leader of the army guided them to a clearing and set up tents. Afterwards, he ushered everyone into his tent where they drafted their plan for the following morning: scout the region for any clues, then divide into teams and search areas with potential hints as to his location.

"Haa!" shouted an armored man from a clearing in the forest.

He'd been training hard since hearing about the disappearance of the second-in-command and being charged with this important mission. Although his skills were unknown, he was determined to be ready no matter what. Surprisingly, he possessed a strange power which was difficult to master but could be used advantageously once harnessed. This skill had been bestowed on him by the Shogun of Steel, whom he owed much gratitude for his guidance in mastering it.

"Huuaa," he exhaled again as a metallic red aura surrounded his hand as it waved in the air easily cleaving the boar in a multitude of pieces.

After another taxing session of kata training, I decided to take a break. On my way back to the tents, I thought I heard something and saw a shadow just outside the tent. Shrugging it off as a trick of the light, I finished up some paperwork that had to be sent to the shogun.

. . .

"Hufff Pufff Huuu," Darius panted, struggling against his opponent's attacks.

"Hahahaha," I laughed maniacally, "You wanted this, so you should have known how difficult it would be."

"Fine!" he growled, summoning an energy barrier to deflect the weapons I was throwing at him.

Once I was certain Darius was too tired to keep going

with our sparring session, we made our way back to the shack we shared. That's when I asked him about his mysterious change in energy color.

"Hey Darius," I said.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"How did your innate energy color change?"

He pondered for a moment before replying, "I'm not sure...but when it changed, I felt a wave of warmth — at least that's when I activated it after you left."

"Interesting," I mumbled, "if you notice something peculiar, let me know; this isn't anything I've encountered before in the village records."

"Okay," Darius yawned tiredly, "I'm going to rest, I'm too worn out to eat right now."

"Sure thing," I answered as I sat down and admired the sunset outside of the shack.