"I am guessing you are staying here in Areon, Leo?" Shin looked at him waiting for his answer.
"Kenji will be going back to the capital and Erina will go back to the East and protect the great city there, while I stay here for a while and turn Areon into a military occupation and then head back to the capital as soon as possible. I called Erina and Kenji who were the nearest to Areon when I got the news about the dark storm and I am glad I did. The DK's were sealed hastily and I am pretty sure they will return soon in a few years. I hope your plan works Shadow." Leo offered a handshake which Shin gladly accepted.
"We will be leaving at dawn, so pack your bags and don't pack to the extent that your storage space is almost full. Be at the Takahashi's house by 9 am sharp, Izumi. Lets go home Ken." Shin said as he waved a hand at Erina and Kenji bidding them good bye. Ryu led the way while Shin and Ken walked by him.
"Miss Izumi, your Soul sword should have cooled down and ready to bond with your spirit. I will hand it over in the morning." Ryu waved at Izumi as they walked into a distance.
Leo and Zeyner along with the other protectors took care of tending to the wounded and accommodating the army while Izumi returned to her half torn house and dozed off on the chair as she thought of all the things that happened in two days.
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"Let's start out you both." Shin shouted as he looked at the two talking with Ryu. Ryu took out a wooden box and gave it to Izumi who took it with a smile.
Izumi opened the box and held the Soul sword in the box with both hands. The Katana was a little more than 24 inches and had a snow white grip with small diamond shaped cuts on it. All in all, it suited Izumi's personality and was to her liking.
"Ken! This is for you." Ryu handed Ken a Double edged Katana which had a similar design to that of Izumi's but was double edged.
"Master Shadow, I got something for you as well." Ryu went opened a closet and took out a locked long box. Ryu handed over the box to Shin after unlocking it.
Shin opened the box and smiled at Ryu as soon as he saw what was in the box.
"Thank you Master Ryu." Shin took out a long sword that split into two swords after he fixed them behind his back.
"Aren't those the dual swords of the previous vice chief of the city, Dad!?" No one except the previous vice chief had dual swords in the city and Ken had seen his dual swords many times.
"They indeed are Ken, but after I found out that he used dark arts and was the fugitive behind the mass murders an year ago, the Shades organization ordered me to eliminate him.
"And after his disappearance, I was posted here as the new vice chief. At least now I know he didn't disappear from the city but disappeared from this world." Izumi sighed as Ryu let out a devilish smile.
"I hope they are to your liking, Master Shadow. We don't have anything better to offer you other than this." Lia said in a low voice as she stood by Ryu.
"Ken, you are an A-Rank right? Then how come you don't have a spirit?" Izumi raised a brow as she adjusted her new Soul sword by her waist on the left side.
"Ken isn't an A-Rank. He is a B-Rank." Ryu stated as he put a hand on Ken's shoulders.
"But the man who came with a crowd said there were three A-Ranks in the shop. One was me and other was you Master Ryu. Who is the third then?" Izumi asked with a questioning face.
"That would be me Miss Izumi, I am an ex-Shade." Lia answered with a cute and innocent smile. Izumi and Ken weren't surprised anymore as they got used to being surprised since the past two days.
"Thanks for everything until now Master Ryu, Miss Takahashi." Shin bent his head a little in respect and headed out with Ken and Izumi towards the south gate.
Everyone with their seals broken could open a space called 'Katastima' or 'Shelt' for short which would be accessible only by them. It didn't have an endless space but only about a one meter cube space. The guardians were an exception and they could open spaces with a volume of more than two meter cube space. Ken and Izumi put their stuff in their Shelt and followed Shin.
The trio headed out of the South gate and started walking towards the dense forest of Yerin as Ryu and Lia stood on the South wall as they saw them walk away.
"Do you think Ken can awaken him from his sleep, like Shin expects him to?" Lia asked Ryu in a low pitched voice with hints of concern.
"We just have to trust the Shadow's words for now, Lia. Don't worry, after all it's the Shadow who is with our son." Ryu comforted his wife as she leaned on Ryu's chest.
"So where are we going first, Master Shadow?" Izumi was as formal as she could be which made Shin and Ken sigh in discomfort.
Shin held out his right hand and a small white coloured map less than a 100 square cm appeared above his wrist.
"About 90 miles from here, there is a plain grassy area. We are going to camp there for a week and I am going to teach you and Ken somethings. After that, I am going to train you in a nearby small fort." Shin's let out a mischievous smile while he stated the last sentence which sent a chill up Izumi's spine for some reason.
"Lets hurry, notch up the speed. We need to reach our destination by 6 am." Shin released an energy layer around his body and sped up to a speed of 15 mph.
"Wait! I can't run that fast for long Shin, I can only use basic energy layer and run at a speed of 6 mph at max. Weren't you going to start training me after we reach the grassy plain? can't we go at a slow pace for now." Ken complained as he tried to match Shin's speed with a wavering energy layer around his body. Izumi had no problem with the speed as she was trained for years and this was the basic training for any Protector.
"This doesn't classify as training Ken. My training is not like the ones other protectors get, it is different and I told I would be training you guys in the fort. You will only learn some basics which don't classify as my training at the grassy plain. So, speed up Ken." Shin didn't bother to slow down. He was going to be hard on training and teaching Ken, he decided it the moment he took in Ken.
"Stabilize the amount of energy around you. Focus, Ken. Imagine wrapping an energy layer engulfing you." Izumi instructed Ken as she slowed down to his pace.
Ken closed his eyes slowly as he thought 'Focus' and the energy around him started to calm down. Ken started to go faster but he forgot that they were running in a forest.
'Thud' Ken hit a tree in front of him and fell to the ground, he was unhurt because of the energy layer around him but still lied on the ground.
"It's going to be a long way for this guy." Izumi looked at Ken with pity as she said those words while Shin pulled back and stood be Ken who was laying down on the ground and gave him a 'get up and move' look.