Settling an old reckoning

Taiki, Tsuyoshi, Chizu and Rya were just entering a practice area which was located westerly of Kaishi village. On that practice area there was a kind of hut at the other end, which probably served as a dwelling for Rya. The cabin was quite modest, as was the entire square. On that training ground, two boys were fighting a fierce battle. One of them had fiery red hair that stands up wildly. His cat-like eyes also glittered in a dark red. In addition, cat ears grew out of his head. To his cat ear also protruded a cat tail. Taiki had never seen such a being before. Taiki could feel that there was a strong fighting spirit in him. The second boy had bright white hair that had individual green strands. His narrow eyes shone in an enchanting emerald green. This boy, like Rya, has scales on his skin, but they were baptized in a light grass green. Furthermore, his horns and wings, as well as his tail, were hardly formed. Both boys wore peasant dresses. When the two collided with each other again with their blades, they were interrupted by Rya: "That's enough for now! I would like to introduce you to three new acquaintances who will spend their time with us in the near future."

"Ui! Looking forward to meeting you! My name is Cyril Chiba! I am the younger brother of Rya. I hope that we can train a lot together to become stronger." The dragon boy introduced himself. Shortly thereafter, the kitten greeted the newly arrived ones as well: "Woe betides you stand in my way of getting stronger." "Icarus! Be kind!" Rya raised her voice. "Sorry. My name is Icarus Keito! I am a cat person who previously worked as a servant in the Elven Kingdom! And now I am here to become the strongest fighter in the world so that I can free my conspecifics from their bondage!" Said Icarus self-opinionated. "I'm looking forward to meeting you! I am Taiki Wakanabe and these are my colleagues Tsuyoshi Abu and Chizu Fujimoto!" Taiki introduced himself with his friends.

"Wait! Chizu Fujimotot? Like the Chizu, who is considered the strongest fighter in this country?" Asked Icarus, while his tail was wagging a little with excitement. "Yes, I am, but don't be so excited, my little one," Chizu said somewhat embarrassed. "But how can I not be excited when such a powerful warrior flies in front of me!" Replied Icarus even more excitedly than before. While Icarus was completely over-the-top, Cyril remained solidified. He just couldn't believe that such a powerful individual was standing in front of them. "Tell me! Are all the legends about you true? In the fight against Lupus and Bertinoff Crimsos, the main commander of the royal army, did you really use such a powerful spell that both were on the ground in seconds? And have you really been able to banish the Child of Darkness to the deep plains of a forest, so that she could never again bring mischief to the world?" Icarus wanted to know with a beaming face.

"Yes, I did all that, although I have to admit that these legends were told quite exaggerated, although it was actually a bit quieter at that time. Moreover, there is always the question of whether I am perhaps a God, but this is not true, because I could die like anyone and I am not invincible. If you have the necessary strength, you can also easily defeat me," Explained the half-demon. "I have to introduce you to another person. He is our master," Rya interrupted the two over-the-top children. So they marched into the old hut, where an elderly person sat in the middle. His white, long hair touched the ground. His wrinkled face showed that he was in a deep meditation. But then he slowly opened his eyes, after which red wings and a tail unfolded. Some scales were also formed on his skin. He inspected the new guests with his grey eyes. "Tell me, daughter. Who are these people?" The old man first turned to Rya. "I picked them up in the village after there was a little fight between Taiki and an Elf. I offered Taiki and Tsuyoshi to train them in swordsmanship. I would ask you to train them in magic," Told the dragon girl her father.

 Then his bald gaze turned to the two, whereupon he said: "I will train Taiki, but not Tsuyoshi. He lacks the necessary magical power. At most, he can be further trained in fist or sword fighting. His aura tells me. However, I'm not going to start Taikis training today. He's not ready yet." "Ready?" Wondered Taiki inwardly. Shortly afterwards, the group left the hut, so they stepped into the warm rays of the sun. Taiki and Tsuyoshi enjoyed this warmth. It washed away a little of the grief they still have. "Forgive me for the question, but is your father blind?" Asked Taiki curiously. "Don't ask such a question about our master, even though that you just came here!" Enraged Icarus. "That's fine," Said Rya, who then told them: "That's both false and true. He cannot recognize the normal world as we see it, but he can dive around in the spirit world during his meditations. So he can visit the already deceased. Most of the time, however, he visits my mother. He lost he in a battle against the Demon King, as well as his eyesight. At least he can get a lot of energy through meditation. In addition, he is able to feel and see the auras of people around him. He can assess how strong a person is and what talents lie dormant in him. But otherwise he only sees the world in a dull gray, without any outlines." After Rya told this story, she made a slightly sad face.

"Sorry if I somehow pinched you. I shouldn't have just asked something like that," Taiki apologized on the spot. Next, Rya wiped a little tear from her face and asserted, "Oh, that doesn't matter.....I've actually been over it for a long time. Let's start training!" "Tsuyoshi and Taiki! You will fight against Cyril and Icarus! You will improve through constant training and teach each other how you fight! The first lesson is to keep your balance! No matter how strong your opponent may be, if he can't keep his balance, he's easy to defeat. The second lesson is to anticipate the opponent's movements as best you can! This can be detected more easily with the help of the aura sight. I believe that Taiki has this gift without him knowing it. I guess once that you only labeled this as luck when you came up against Admeus for so long and maybe your immense anger played a role, but you could subconsciously see every movement of your opponent. Since you did not completely surrender to your hatred and did not want to kill him, especially because he was not the one, who made you so angry, you did not kill the elf, although you could see it through the aura view how you could have attacked in order to kill him. However, you should not only rely on this ability, as it may be that your opponent is much too fast, which is why your eye can not even come along. Furthermore, you can also deceive the aura view by certain spells, so that you foresee things that will not arrive at all and why you will then be tempted to wrong blocks or attack maneuvers. And the third lesson is to use your entire body! Use your arms, your legs and also your head for an attack. Use the sword for a final attack to spot your opponent or get him to surrender....." Rya began to teach her four disciples. 

Chizu, on the other hand, leaned back, relaxed and enjoyed the fights that occurred at any moment. Chizu also had the aura view, which is why the fights would be even more exciting for her. So the dragon girl continued to teach the four until she told them everything important. "I hope that you have now understood everything! First of all, I want Icarus and Taiki to fight each other. Without hesitation, the two opponents opposed each other. Rya threw a wooden sword at each of them. "Use them! I don't want to have to clean the place when you stab each other!"  Said the dragon girl. Then Rya looked up at the sky and spouted fire as a starting signal. Instantly, Icarus raced towards Taiki and stabed with his blade at the young boy. He immediately recognized where this blow would land and swerved. At that time, he kept his balance so that he will not fall. The kitten, however, did not hesitate for a second and shreded the sword on Taiki.

This attack was so fast that his aura vision almost did not come along, but nevertheless he managed to fend off this attack. Suddenly, Icarus stepped for Taiki, causing him to fall to the ground. "Crap! I thought that I had at least managed a halfway good balance," The young boy complained Internally. Out of nowhere, Icarus leaped up into the air and stabbed at Taiki. He rolled to the side to avoid the hit. Now Taiki stepped forward and struck with the wooden sword, which was parried by Icarus. Once again, Taiki carried out an attack, which Icarus had to dodge this time. From nowhere, Ikarus pushed Taiki away and with another attack Taiki was disarmed. However, this did not stop him. He got hit with the practice sword, which hurt like, but he gritted his teeth and dodged the next attack. Shortly thereafter, Taiki tripped Icarus up, causing him to fall and he saw a chance to regain his weapon. He took his sword and fended off Icarus, who suddenly him from behind.

Taiki envied the kitten on all levels. He is so small and young and can already do so much. It is clear to him that he could not easily stand up to Icarus. But he didn't want to allow that he is weaker than anyone again. He never wanted to let anyone be stronger than him again, even if he had to become a God butcher for it. He never wants to be so weak again that he can't save his beloved ones. During the fight, these cruel images appeared again and again, which spurred him on to become even stronger. He didn't want to lose. He never wanted to lose again. This is how he gathered his strength. He wants to be so strong after this training that he could take on a Desoboringa. Out of the blue, Taiki raced to Icarus, who was able to fend off Taiki's first and subsequent attacks. But then the young boy knocked him away and shredded his practice sword against the kitten, causing him to fall a little further to the ground. However, Icarus did not want to give up, even if blood flowed from his head through the hit. So the kitten sprinted forward and carried out an attack from below, which was repelled by Taiki. As a result, Taiki carried out further attacks, which Icarus could only block with great difficulty.

The young boy became faster with each attack. Chizu used the aura view to see what was happening in Taiki, which made her realize that he was gaining a new title called "Ruler of Envy". "That promises to be interesting," Thought the half-demon. All of a sudden, Taiki kicked the kitten in the belly, causing him to fly away a few meters. "Why is he suddenly so fast?" Wondered Icarus, confused. Suddenly, Rya's father stepped out of the hut and watched the fight: "Very interesting.... Extremely interesting! So he got this title out of pure envy because he wants to be the strongest fighter to save those he cares about. So he envies Icarus for his experience." "Give me your strength, no matter who lies dormant in me! No matter who was rudely awakenend by this priest, lend me your strength so that together, we can achieve our goals! Just give me a little bit of your strength! Just a little!" Requested Taiki in his thoughts. Suddenly, a few shadows came out of his body, but it was not hatred, because it was not that that boosted him. It was ambition. In one go, Taiki hit Icarus practice sword so hard that it was divided into four. The splinters hissed through the practice area at enormous speed.

Those present there were lucky that none of them were hit by the splinters. Rya, Cyril, Tsuyoshi and even Chizu stared with their mouths open at what had just happened. Icarus, on the other hand, clenched his fists with anger because he simply could not accept defeat. "I want rematch!" The kitten demanded angrily. "I think that's enough, Icarus," The old master ordered. "It is truly impressive what a power lies dormant in you! I am fascinated! It is still expandable, but on the whole you have a lot of potential! I was able to see through you from the beginning! Within you lies an evil spirit that is only driven by hatred and can therefore give you power. However, you can never control this state because hatred is like poison and your mind is fogged. Before, you fought with envy. Of course, this is a lot better than hatred, especially since envy can give you the motivation to improve. Of course, it can go the other way around, but you used it perfectly, so you used the two deadly sins in unison to increase your strength without showing the intention of truly hurting someone. That's why no splinter from the sword has hit anyone here. You always fought so that you can save those you want to protect. Never fight just because of sheer hatred or anger! Otherwise, you could perish! That is why I first said that I would not teach you immediately and that you would not be ready yet, because I could see what power lies dormant within you and what sins drove them. I am blind. This is my ability. This is the ghost eye with which I can see every dead person and in you rages a spirit of revenge as well. Remember my words, Taiki! Never release him, otherwise this world might be doomed." The old master taught him.

 "But before we can continue with our training, I want to see the fight between Tsuyoshi and Cyril." He added. Right away, the two fighters faced each other. But while Cyril drew a sword, Tsuyoshi discarded his blade. He just wanted to fight with his bare fists. "May the battle begin!" Proclaimed the old master. Suddenly, the dragon boy hissed forward to give the berserker the first hit. However, he repelled the attack and threw Cyril backwards, causing him to hit the ground hard. The dragon quickly picked himself up and quickly ran to Tsuyoshi. But the berserker was just waiting. All of a once, Cyril's blade crashed into each other with the berserker's bare fist. "How can this be? Does he have a berserker rank or something similar? Otherwise, I could never explain to myself how he so easily fends off the attack with his fist without taking any damage from it." Cyril pondered. Out of thin air, Tsuyoshi hit the dragon in the stomach, which pushed him away. "Very interesting......Through Tsuyoshi Berserkerrang he has a naturally higher balance than Taiki. He is even driven by the same ambition as Taiki before. I would say that the fight was decided before it started." Chizu thought. Once again, the two opponents collided. You could see that the dragon had to fight hard against the power of the berserker. Suddenly Cyril spat fire on Tsuyoshi but he jumped to the side to avoid being hit. Out of nowhere, the berserker then raced forward. Cyril tried again to hit him with his flames, but Tsuyoshi was able to dodge every single shot.

When Cyril was about to be hit by a punch, he tore his practice sword into the air, which could repulse the attack. Tsuyoshi left Cyril no time to jump away or launch a counterattack, so he hit the dragon with his second fist. He hit the boy, who then crashed into a tree and fell unconscious. "Cyril! Couldn't you have restrained yourself a bit?" Rya alleged him. "Don't worry, daughter! Nothing really happened to him, even if this attack was a bit too violent for an exercise." Said the old master. "Did you have to exaggerate?" Taiki wanted to know, whereupon he received only an indifferent grunt from Tsuyoshi. "I have to say that you are not bad in battle. But still, at some point I will demand a rematch against you!" Ikarus turned to Taiki, because the cat boy was still agitated by his defeat. "Now I can start your magic training, Taiki! I'm going to teach you everything I know and that's a lot because dragon people can get quite old!" The old master began to talk. Out of the blue, he got down on his knees and held his head in pain. "Father!" Frightened Cyril, who had just regained consciousness again, and Rya. "Master!" Shrugged Icarus. "It's.....nothing! Only my head is boiling!.....I can't teach Taiki now!......Something terrible happened!......The spirits are screaming! The dead are crying! The living mourn and suffer!......Taiki you have to go to them! I see flames and life that has been shed! You have to go there immediately! Stop it!.....There are more and more dead people who sink into grief...A man talks to me....Named Shicho!.....He is the mayor of Fuun Village!.... Bandits have invaded!....Yukio and his right-hand man Juri! They burn everything down and indiscriminately kill anyone who disobeys them..." The old man told what he had seen.

"Shicho?..... But there were me and mine....." Taiki recalled in pain as the memories of his friends emerged. At that time, they were able to defeat a goblin tribe with their leader Ranak and thus also save two girls, the daughters of the major. "You have to go to Kaishi immediately! There's a survivor there! She is one of his daughter! Help her! He begs you to help her! Taiki and Tsuyushi help us!" The old master continued to speak the words he heard from the dead. Rya, Cyril and Icarus were determined to help the village, as were Tsuyoshi, Chizu and Taiki. "Let's save them together!" Taiki said with zeal. "We could then also form an adventurer group if you want." The young boy added. "I wouldn't mind and you?" Said Rya. Cyril shook his head: "I would love to join a group where I fight together with the strong Tsuyoshi." "Whatever! But woe betion you stand in my way when I defeat a strong opponent alone!" Icarus also agreed, even if it sounded more like a threat than an approval. 

So the group scurried from the practice area as fast as they could towards the village of Kaishi, where they immediately entered the guild house. When they arrived, They saw a little girl who spoke to Anja crying: "Can't you send one immediately? Otherwise everyone will die!" "I'm sorry, but I can't make an exception. You'll have to wait for an adventurer on the silver rank or higher to take an interest in your matter. In addition, your money is unfortunately not enough. If they were normal bandits, it would be a different matter, but these are Yukio and Juri. They are feared all over the world. They kill mercilessly and take whatever they want." The woman explained. "But...But if you don't do anything, my father and sister will..." She broke out into a violent cry. " We take over the quest! We will drive out Yukio!" The voice of Rya sounded, who wanted to help the little girl. Tsuyoshi and Taiki immediately recognized who the girl was. Hana immediately turned around and looked with joy at the berserker and the young boy. "Would you help me, as you did with the goblins?" The girl wanted to know, who still shed some tears.

Taiki didn't even think for a second and replied, "Of course! We will drive out the bandits and give them the just punishment!" Tsuyoshi agreed with a confident grunt. "I have to save this village. Not only because I can't see such people just get away with their crimes with impunity, but I also want to settle an old reckoning with Yukio and save that village that I protected with Ronin, Gloin, Aimi and Tsuyoshi with all my might from the goblins." Taiki thought. "But the money will not be enough for you and this is also too little for an official quest." Anja objected, but Taiki said: "That's fine. I want to save the village for personal reasons. I don't care about the money." Hana beamed with joy when she heard the young boy's words. "Then I would say that we are leaving," Cyril said enthusiastically. So the group made their way to the village.

In the devastated village of Fuun.

"Boss? Are you sure you don't want anything from her?" Yuri inquired his leader as he touched  Daiko, who was chained to a tree, and then shouted around desperately. "No. I just want to finally leave this village when we have all the valuables they own. All the corpses are already anoying me." Yukio replied. "All right. But you miss something. You miss her agony," Yuri said. "Sis....ster...Help me..." Daiko coughed. "There will be no help! I will destroy the adventurer who even dares to oppose us." the bandit smiled. Out of nowhere, he tore her skirt a bit. "You will give me a lot of joy for a long time until I found a better toy. Suddenly, he cut her stomach slightly, whereupon she cried out and some blood also dripped out. Again, he cut the girl's skin to see her clared. "Simply wonderful." laughed Yuri dreamily. Daiko began to cry. Hope for them was already dead. But suddenly a powerful firestorm hissed towards Yuri, which caught him and swept him aside. It was Cyril who had cast a fire spell on the bandit. Taiki and Tsuyoshi now saw the full extent of the destruction caused by these bandits. Blood flowed everywhere and corpses lay on the ground. Each house torched in an orange light. Even some trees of the forest burned. Nevertheless, some villagers were able to survive, cowering and trembling anxiously chained to a house.

The bandits became aware of the dragon boy's attack, so they ran towards him. "What's going on now?" Complained Yukio, sighing. When the bandits almost arrived to Cyril, Ikarus and Tsuyoshi jumped out of the bushes and both of them rammed a bandit aside. Suddenly Rya flew high in the air and pounced on one of the bandits, whom she then crushed his head with a bite. The blood burst out of the skull of one bandit. Yuri was just able to recover from the attack, after which he pulled out his blade and also went into battle. "I'm sorry we have to interrupt our games, Daiko. But don't worry. I'll take care of you afterwards," Yuri quickly turned to Daiko. But out of nowhere, Taiki attacked the bandit leader's right-hand man. However, Yuri dodged the attack and gave the young boy a kick that made him stagger back. Only now did Yuri recognize his attacker: "It´s you! What do you want here! I thought you were hiding behind Chizu because you can't come up against us, you maggot!" "Chizu is also here, but she will not interfere because I must not let her save me every time." Taiki replied as he crossed the blade with Yuri. 

"I'm already noticing that you've gotten a little stronger, but that's far from enough. Because of you, I had to interrupt my play with Daiko! You'll pay for that!" Enraged Yuri. Out of thin air, Yuri moved to the side and stabbed. Through the Auren view, Taiki could see this, so he jumped to the side and immediately carried out an attack from above, which could be blocked by Yuri. "Ah! That's how it is! You have the skill Aura View! Unfortunately, I have to disappoint you, but a leopard is much faster than what the aura view allows! I own that skill too, but I'm much more gifted with this skill than you! Cheetah speed maximum!" Yelled Yukio. Suddenly, the bandit became a lot faster in his attacks, so Taiki could no longer rely on his ability. Suddenly, Taiki was hit in the shoulder by two sword blows, where he was pushed further back. "What should I do? I can't rely on this ability and I'm not that gifted in combat, but if he uses the aura view and knows when I'm attacking or how to block and he then accommodates these movements, it means that I have to hide my intentions so that he can't see my attack even with the Auren view." Taiki pondered.

So he tested this tactic with Yuri. Suddenly, two sword strokes caught him again. This time in the leg area. When Yuri wanted to land more hits, Taiki faked a defensive movement. In fact, the bandit fell for it, which is why he changed his attack. The sword blow came closer and closer to him. "Now!" Taiki gave himself the starting signal inside. Taiki then dodged the attack, faking an attack that Yuri wanted to parry. Then Taiki changed his attack at as fast as he could, so that he hitted Yuri across the chest. Subsequently, Yuri received another kick in the face, which is why he flew away a bit and then landed on the ground. A cry of pain rang out from the bandit. In the background, Icarus, Cyril and Rya fought a fierce battle against the other bandits. The three could only see the fight between Yuri and Taiki fleetingly, but they knew taiki would defeat him. Yukio, on the other hand, sat bored under a tree and enjoyed the spectacle that presented itself in front of him. However, Yuri was not yet finished. He stood up and praised the young boy: "I really have to say that I didn't expect that. I never thought you could be so fast that even the speed created by my skill could be beaten. But now your end has come!" Yuri got ready to sprint forward.

His blade was pointed at Taiki. His eyes were shining with a thirst for blood. Taiki also got ready. His heart is racing. He was sweating terribly. Now the first step would be taken if he defeated the bandits and rescued the village. Next, he would have to visit Rosalie and Aimi's sister to pay his debt to his already fallen comrades. Out of the blue, Yuri hissed forward. Everything went so slowly. His blade came closer and closer to the young boy. Everything remained silent. Taiki only heard the sound of his breath and heart. Yuri wore a confident smile as he stormed towards Taiki. The two opponents swung their blades into the heights to stab the other. In one go, both struck at the same time. Swords pierced the flesh through the soft skin. Blood splashed out of the body. One was death.