Chapter 10:

First comes the spirit, then the technique

The Divine Punishment


*It's back to the first person with Tenkei."

We had arrived in Italy, theoretically, the city was called Trento, the south of the city to be precise.

"Hey, guys! Look up front, there's someone!" said Evan to us, who was driving.

"Yeah, who is it?" continued Emmy.

He looked old, in his 60s, he also had a katana at his side. We stopped in front of him and asked him who he was.

"I'm Acuro, I'm on my way to Frankfurt. How come you guys are going the other way? Also, how do you guys use an electric car?"

"Well, I don't know if you understood what kamiens are, however, I have the electricity one, so I can make this car work. She has the wind one and he has the fire one."

"Yeah, I pretty much figured out what they are, so they do exist! And, if you have these powers that can be useful for the survivors, how come you are leaving?"

"There are people who want these kamiens, they attacked Frankfurt...the senator...he's d-dead," Emmy said sadly.

"D-dead?"

"Yes. We're going after those people, we deduced they went this way and stayed there."

"B-but, so the zombies also serve those people? I thought this was a zombie apocalypse..."

"If you're referring to those monsters similar to video game enemies, yes. They were made with the kamien of life energy, giving life to objects, debris, or corpses of any animal or race."

"So, they're not the same as the ones in the movies, right?"

Well, if you mean that if when they bite you, you become one of them, no, that has nothing to do with it."

"So I can't become a zombie, thank goodness."

"There was a wave of them at the 'Frankfurt attack, but most of them died, some however stayed, I suppose you've met some of them, are you okay?"

"Yes, I am proficient in martial arts, katana to be precise," he said showing it off.

"We know how to use kamiens, but in non-powered combat we are poor, we could practice."

"You are the salvation of mankind, and you don't know how to fight! I will personally train you!"

"But you must go to FrankFurt as soon as possible, the food supplies will run out..."

"Don't worry about me, I am an old man, you are the people who can save this world. I will help you to grow to defeat those who have killed hundreds of innocents for their selfishness."

"..."

We were saddened, but we accepted the help of the man, who was definitely stronger than us.

"Okay, when do you want to start?"

We looked into each other's faces, and together we said:

"Now!"

"Okay, let's get started!"

"I like you guys," he said.

"So first, do you guys use weapons, or do you fight barehanded?"

"We don't use anything at the moment, but we do have a sword and a chainsaw with us, though I don't know how useful the latter will be," I said.

Evan glared at me. I had expected this.

"Anything dangerous is useful, even if I never learned how to use it, I will teach it with my skills to one of you."

None of us knew anything about combat, so we kept quiet and waited for his orders.

"Mmmm...you will be using the chainsaw," he said pointing at Evan.

"W-why me?"

"Looking at your physique I can see how your skills can be more or less. By the way, your kamien can be very useful to you for your weapon, which in any case wouldn't work without the fire kamien, plus it already instills fear, think about if the one using it goes up in flames as well."

"Oh ok," he said remaining serious.

"Then, I give the katana to... you!" and pointed at me.

"M-me?"

"Yes, you can run electricity through the sword to make very strong attacks, maybe you can even use it to power up the ones you've already created."

"Y-yes."

It was shocking, he could figure out the best strategy for each person, you could tell he had some experience and was very strong.

"Last but not least, you." pointing to Emmy.

"You have the wind, you don't need a weapon to put on your hands, you need your body and to be cunning to beat the enemy, you will fight with your bare hands."

"C-certainly..."

Emmy was not very convinced. But we had to trust the old man's words.

On one hand, she was a little sad because she was the only one without a weapon, on the other hand, she was happy because she didn't have to worry about carrying one with her.

"Good. Now that you've all had the initial pointers you needed, I need to give you some additional tips individually. Since I use the katana, I'll start with you...Tenkei right? In the senator's message, it said so."

"Y-yes, my name is Tenkei."

"Okay, now I'm going to tell you how to be on guard against an opponent."

He had me hold the sword with two hands, the handle down and the blade up.

"Now, you must see yourself from which side you're going to strike, up, down, right, left, or with a lunge. Try that tree nearby."

I walked over to the tree he was pointing at, and hit up, down, right, and left, I had to repeat this many times.

"Okay. Now you need to figure out how to parry: where I hit, put your sword in front of you, and hold it hard."

Um... so he will now use the swo-

With speed, he pulled out his katana and brought it closer to me without hitting me.

"You have to be ready, if you were an enemy I would have killed you."

"He was right," I thought.

"Let's try again, be ready"

"Yeah-"

He caught me off guard and tried to "hit" me with his sword. I did as he told me, and it worked, his sword stopped. I suppose it was a light blow, but I had figured out how it worked, also I had to repeat it at length.

"Excellent, boy, now you're going to use everything you learned in training against me, I'll be gentle but not too gentle."

"Alright--"

This time it was predictable, he came up and unsheathed his katana at me, I parried it and moved to his left, tried to hit him in the side, but he dodged it. I thought he would move away, but instead, he tried to lunge at me, which I avoided by backing away, he tried again and again giving me difficulty. At one point, I dodged him by jumping to the right, and then I tried a lunge. There I managed to stop him, he stepped back and told me:

"Well done, you've gone over the basics."

"R-really?"

"Yes, I told you you would be good with the katana. You even managed to avoid utilizing your electrical powers. I had seen right in your destiny."

"Well, I thought that since I was training with the sword, before attacking you with the kamien, I should know how to use the katana."

"That's what you had to do, I had to figure out if you wanted to learn how to use a weapon, otherwise if you did it unwillingly you wouldn't have been able to learn."

"T-thank you...sensei, was I good at fighting?"

"For a first-timer, you weren't bad."

"Oh? Thank you."

Now that you've figured out how to use it, practice with a tree or something nearby. Then we'll move on to the next phase."

"Yes sir!"

"Now it's your turn girl, your name is...Emmy?"

"Y-yes."

"Well, your guard is going to be obviously different: you have to put one fist near your mouth, and one near your eyes but further away."

He did as he told her

"Perfect, just like that."

Now, to hit me, you have to throw a straight punch: like this" he said showing her.

She concentrated and threw it.

"Yes, to hit the sides and up and down it's like this" showing her how it was done.

"Good. Now to parry, it is exactly like the sword."

"So I have t--"

He threw a light punch at her, which Emmy couldn't parry.

"Ouch!"

"I told Tenkei that too. Come on, you've already seen how it works."

"Y-yeah, sor--"

"You got hit again?!"

"I-I'm sorry-"

This time he threw a punch again at her, which she parried.

"Okay, if you get attacked you're right. We'll move on now, though, we can't go back to the parry explanation."

"I feel like--"

He made a move and tried to hit her, but she managed to stop him and tried to hit him back with a left. He dodged it and kicked her, hitting her, but she responded with a headbutt that pushed him away.

"Good for you too. But remember to focus your 'ki' through your whole body, don't focus it on one spot. You need to learn about your body and your limits."

"T-thanks, teacher."

"You too go train with a tree, or if you want you can train directly with Tenkei since he's free."

"Alright"

"Now it's your turn... who are you? The senator informed about only two guys."

"I came later, and my name is Evan."

"Evan, okay. Well, we'll use the chainsaw with you, however, first you need to strengthen your arms to hold it, so I'm going to put you through a workout specifically for you. To hold the chainsaw you need to put one hand here and one hand here."

He put his hands where he was told.

"Okay, like this. Now to attack, you have to compulsorily hit right if you have your hands like this, or left if you exchange right for left."

"Okay."

To parry, you have to necessarily try to destroy the opponent's weapon since the chainsaw always has an attacking style. Try.

He tried to do it.

"Ok, you got this too, now in the next phase I will do it with the sword since you have a weapon."

"Ye--"

With speed, he pulled his sword out of its sheath and tried to strike Evan. However, after having seen two training sessions, he had figured out what was going to happen and did what he had been taught. He put the chainsaw in front of the sword and Acuro had to stop, then he tried to hit him from the other side, but he defended himself there too; Acuro then made a jump, pretended to hit him, then landed behind him and tried a lunge. This time it was Evan who jumped, he also tried to hit him, but he wanted to do it seriously, he had no strategy to trick him. The master then had to force himself away with a backward jerk.

"Okay, you got the hang of it too. Now go practice with the other two, also tell them that you'll have to practice until evening, I'll let you know when it's time to stop."

"Yes sir."

Evan ran towards us.

"Hey, I'm here too."

"Ah, hello. We were taking a break, just about to start up again."

"Perfect, but my fucking arms hurt, the chainsaw is very heavy, how I envy you..."

They got back on their feet and started working out again.

"Fine, I'll start," I said.

I snapped at Evan, I wanted to see how he fought. When I tried to hit him, he put the chainsaw against the katana, it would break if I didn't take it off. Then he tried to hit me, I circled him, continuing until I confused him, and then entered a lunge. He jumped, I snapped away to see where he ended up.

"Let me fight too," Emmy said pointing at Evan as well.

He immediately went to parry, but Emmy slipped under his legs and tried to punch him, scared Evan jumped in front of her and went back to try to hit her. She jumped high and long at the same time to escape. She succeeded.

"Okay, now I want to do a 'free for all'," I said.

"That's fine with me," Emmy replied.

"Then go for it."

Together they had formed an equilateral triangle, with speed, we ran to the center and began to fight. I threw a broadsword at Emmy who dodged it, Evan took the opportunity to try and hit me, but I dodged it in time. Too bad that right after that I got a right hand from Emmy in the face. Evan pretended to hit her (because since it's a workout they can't kill each other obviously).

"Well, theoretically I won," Evan said.

"Not by much, I want a rematch" replied Emmy.

"I know I can beat you guys in no time too, it's just that because you know I'm stronger than you, you guys ganged up on me." said Evan.

"It was just a fluke, if I had been the one alone, I still would have been able to win."

"Guys, it's time to stop. Get some sleep and tomorrow will be the official training," said Acuro when he came at us. The sun was already setting.

"What will it consist of," I asked.

"You will have to face me with your kamien, also I will teach you how to match your moves using your energy, I will also engage."

"Wow, cool," Evan said.

"Well, let's get some sleep then" finished Emmy.

The next day we will have learned how to fight with all our skills. Cool.