Pitter-patter.

The slash cut from his face down his neck to his chest. Blood splattered, the katana tainted and the ground left untouched from the sheer skill. Kazi gasped for air, only to spit out blood.

From the side, while his retainers were shocked by the display, Emperor Toru tilted his head. “Is that all you can do?”

There were mutters. Fear that he was on the cusp of death. Genji himself seemed surprised and took a step back. “I…I shouldn’t have…my training…”

Kazi extended a hand, stopping him, his breath raspy. Pitter…patter…

“Huh?” Genji looked up at the sky. A gray darkness had taken hold and droplets of water were falling. “This isn’t…”

“Divine Healing Water in the form of rain? No magic circle either,” Emperor Toru remarked. “Now that is impressive.”

However…

“Ngh.” Kazi winced. The fire didn’t go out. Just as the Divine Rain healed him, the bright gold fire burned his chest. It was a searing sensation unlike anything he had seen before. He healed, he burned, he healed, he burned. His health remained in the yellow zone, three-fourths down.

Then there was the matter of the abilities’ activation. It was strange. Upon his first attempt, there was a huge block like someone was seizing control of the clouds, but then—as if realizing it was Kazi—granted access. Kazi couldn’t think long on it, the flames on his chest flickering. He considered himself lucky that it didn’t linger on his neck and face. Two beats passed. Genji loosened his stance. Kazi drew in deep, meaningful breaths.

“Come on, come on,” Emperor Toru said, clapping his hands. “Fight! I don’t care which of you dies—just fight!”

‘The rain is simmering it down, if only a little.’ Pain and fear. If they had possessed both, he would have collapsed. He would have given up. But fear did not exist in Kazi’s world and thus he decided to keep fighting. The fear of death, the fear of losing, those notions did not exist in him. On the other end was Genji, his fingers hugging the grip of his katana one-by-one. A gradual shift into his two-handed stance, feet wide and green eyes regaining their fire. He was not like father, the Eternal Emperor. The blessings of the sun lay not in his eyes but his blade.

“O Amaterasu…!” The golden flames raged anew. “O radiant Amaterasu, mighty goddess of the sun. I beseech thee, lend me thy strength in this hour of need. Grant me the fire of thy divine presence. To smite mine enemies and purify the darkness that surrounds us." As the incantation reached its crescendo, the golden flames began to flicker and dance along the tip of Genji's katana. At first, they were but a mere glimmer, a faint echo of the goddess's power. But as he breathed, the flames grew in intensity. He was planning something. A new technique.

Kazi’s eyes remained glued to it. Genji raised his katana high in the air and—slash! Hurled the golden slash through the air, streaking through like a comet. Kazi’s body worked faster than his eyes and he dashed past the slash, his shoulder brushing past the projectile slash. His garbs were lit up for a second and were swiftly simmered by the Divine Miracle Rain

Genji was surprised and he raised his blade in a flash. He had done it thousands of times, and knew that this weakness existed. Kazi pointed a finger—Fire Dart. Blam! Genji sliced through it even at such a short distance and managed to block Super Spark Strike too. Clang!

‘He’s too well-trained,’ Kazi realized. The element of surprise was with him, Mastered Flow of Mana at full blast and in conjunction with Super Spark Strike, yet he failed to land a decisive blow. ‘He might be young but his entire life has been spent swinging that katana of his! I need to get rid of it if I want to win!’

“O Amaterasu…!”

That chant! That was what gave him the power to summon those golden flames, so passively powerful that they negated his Divine Healing Rain. He slipped from their sword lock and jumped back, a finger cocked ready. “Fire Dart!”

Before his little chant could reach critical point, he interrupted it with the hyper-fast fire projectile. Being forced to end the chant and slice the Fire Dart left Genji breathless. An opening. ‘Fire Dart,’ he activated for the second time. Once again, Genji’s reaction speed was quick enough to flash the bullet-like flaming dart in two. This wasn’t like his fight with Drona. There was no sixth sense or automatic radar system; Genji was deflecting based on reflexes.

Fast and overwhelming was Kazi’s line of thought for victory. He strategized on the fly and adapted as necessary. In this battle, with his new eyes, he had too many choices. He needed a second to think. ‘I can see into the future with Foresight but doing so will drop my Mastered Flow of Mana. This isn’t like my fight against Jack. Jack was running on fumes and only used Flow of Mana in short, specific bursts. Genji is fresh. He is maintaining Advanced Flow of Mana at Level 7 like it’s second nature.’

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Two seconds passed and Genji was back to raising his blade. “O Amaterasu…!”

‘Fire Dart.’ Finger snap and a dart flew at him. Genji canceled the chant and wasted the golden flames on the projectile. That was when Kazi made his move. ‘He’s not confident in his endurance!’

“Fire Dart, Fire Dart!” His mana swelled up to full capacity as he ran and casted the two spells. Slash! Slash! Kazi swung Stormedge and Genji was ready for it—until he swung the blade into a feint and replaced it with a pointed index finger.

“Fire Dart.”

This time, he was too close. Smoke erupted from his face and he staggered back. Kazi nearly leapt to end the battle but his instincts told him otherwise. A cornered fox was more dangerous than a jackal, after all. He snapped one more Fire Dart and as his instincts proclaimed he slashed it apart. Genji was still in the fight.

At least he would have been if Kazi hadn't taken his back. The smoke was phenomenal coverfire. “Super Spark Strike—!” Clang! Stormedge rammed into his blue armour like a bat. He planted his feet deep into the ground and attempted to swing back. Kazi ducked and pointed a finger at his stomach. “Fire Dart—!”

Boom!

Through the smoke created, Kazi realized something was wrong. He backed off—and Kazi was lucky he did because what stormed out were the golden flames of Amaterasu. The chest armour plate took the brunt of the Fire Dart with Genji pushing through for his downward slash. His sheer focus in landing that one single strike, it was almost terrifying. Almost. Kazi raised Stormedge to parry and before he was overpowered placed one foot forward and glided along the underside of the katana, hitting the guard. Kazi grit his teeth at the close proximity of the flames and pushed upwards with Super Spark Strike. At such an uncomfortable angle, Genji was forced to backpedal. At the same time, he was geared up for another one of those overhead swings.

“O radiant Amaterasu, mighty goddess of the sun….” Genji was continuing the chant. The Divine Healing Rain was fading and the golden flames dancing alongside his chest began to grow. The sudden pain, the desperation to reactivate the Divine Miracle Rain, and his sweaty hands tripped Kazi up and he practically stood still as the katana came down at him. His arms not fast enough, on sheer instinct, he summoned the Ultra Magic Barrier.

Shatter!

It bought him a grand total of half a second. Barely enough time to swerve his shoulder on time. Blood splattered as the katana ripped through his black garbs, burning the top of his shoulder down to his elbow. “Super Spark Strike—!” His electric sword struck again. He expected to blast him back. It didn’t. Genji was rooted to his spot, his green eyes full of thirst for victory.

Blood leaking from his lips, Genji muttered, “I beseech thee, lend me thy strength in this hour of need…!”

Back, back, back! Run back! The golden flames were growing stronger, rising to the occasion of victory. But he was too slow. The instant he stepped back, the katana fell down on his shoulder.

Splat!

“Huh—?”

Kazi had given up on trying to defend or attack. It was useless at this range. So instead, he caught it. He caught the katana by enveloping his left hand in Divine Miracle Water. He was able to faintly counteract the golden flames of Amaterasu with Divine Miracle Rain and surmised that if he pooled together every bit of Divine Miracle Water into the palm of his hand and amplified it with Mastered Flow of Mana, he could block it.

Alas, blood gushed out and the katana had dug into his hand too deep for it to be effective again. However…

“Super Spark Strike!”

All armour had weaknesses: the eyes. Stormedge stopped just an instant before the blade penetrated his skull. The wisps of blue electricity were reflected in the green eyes of the son of the Emperor. Then, defeat settled in. It was over.

“Victory is yours, Kazi Hossain,” said Emperor Toru. “Go on. You won, didn't you?”

Blood fell down from his left hand, which kept a firm grip on Genji’s katana. The golden flames of Amaterasu had dissipated as did his will to fight. Gone was the single-mindedness. Gone was the hunger for victory. All that was left was shame and fear. The eyes of a boy betrayed by his own father.

“Not going to finish it?” the Eternal Emperor asked.

“...I don’t kill children.” Kazi spoke those words despite not wavering in intensity. He could kill him. He would kill him. For Marta.

‘For Marta.’

“Ha! I was just kidding! Like I would ever let a son of mine die just because they lost! Right, Lengi?”

Genji didn’t reply. Stormedge was still there. Death loomed. After five seconds, Kazi relaxed himself and released both the katana and Stormedge. The duel was over. It was Kazi’s victory. Genji staggered back and fell on his butt, drenched in sweat. The deep wound in his palm prevented him from heavy movement and his arm became limp.

The Eternal Empire smiled, pretty and annoying. “Ah, how about you fight some of the others? They’re probably stronger than little old Benji. I think you’ll have more fun.”

Kazi closed his eyes and opened them with a refreshing smile. “Agreed. Bring me the next one.”

“Ho?” The Emperor matched his smile, excited. “I knew it, you’re holding something back, aren’t you? Come on, come on, show me!”

Kazi flashed him a smile and said in his head, ‘Open status.’

[ Status: Kazi Hossain

Class: Sorcerer

Level: 75

HP: 1435

HP/Minute: 148.47

MP: 3349

MP/Minute: ∞

Attack: 547

Defence: 287

Attributes

Strength: 340

Resilience: 287

Agility: 290

Deftness: 1339

Vitality: 294

Magical Might: 497

Magical Mending: 288

Distributive Points: 221 ]

'I'll need to spend points if I want to keep winning and entertaining this guy.' Kazi exhaled and eyed his options. The searing pain in his palm wasn't going away anytime soon. Even with Divine Miracle Water, it was taking time to heal. 'If Genji could overpower me, then there's no telling about the others. They're stronger, older, and taller. I need to dump at least a hundred points in my strength stat.'

To rely solely on physical stats would spell defeat. The samurai were, at the end of the day, better trained than him. There was no way he was going to be able to defeat them at their own game. That meant Kazi had to change the game and beat them that away. He clicked on the Sorcerer Class and picked out four skills to learn. In the end, he was left with ninety-one distributive points.