Giliath demands your power stones!
*
Meanwhile as certain groups began to strive for their own paths or was happy tp reunite with friends they haven't seen in years, Naoto was now well underway in learning the way of the sword under the guidance of Arseid Dojo's acting master, Klaus, with having Laura as a fellow disciple and the head of the Arseid Family observing from the sidelines.
Yet it still seemed there was still some movement elsewhere in Erebonia, apart from Isthmia Great Forest, Legram, or Ordis, to where Crow was currently training.
Somewhere over the Eisengard Mountain Range.
"Smoldering fist!", A voice of a girl echoed deep inside one of mountain rifts. If one took a wrong step, they could easily find themselves tumbling downward the steep mountains. Yet this girl didn't seem phased by the challenge, as her focus was currently placed in front of her.
This girl seemed to be around ten years old now, sporting a short cut lilac hair tied into a bun. As she first started her journey with her teacher, she had decided to cut it off, only to maintain it short. She was mostly wearing a gi like her teacher did, and her fists could be seen tightly wrapped with white bandages.
Yet one would think twice to confront this girl. A crazy yellow earthen aura currently wrapped her entire body. The blood that runs through her body is thicker than most, on top having denser bones as a result from a certain experiment. Yet as she had her battle qi active, steam started to pop around her closed fists, on top of steam releasing from her mouth. She appeared quite fierce right now.
As the qi wrapped around her fists, this girl rushed inward, and did an upward motion of her fists. In front of her was a very large and dense rock monster with a very thick shell made of minerals. But once the girl struck out, the monster didn't dodge, only for a loud crack to reesound nearby. Visible cracks and a loud bang struck, causing the monster to let out a curling shriek. It didn't end there though, as the girl's fist launched this large rock monster into the air.
Seeing her job done, it was this time a second and third voice spoke out, initiating skills of their own as two quick blurs struck out while dashing in the air. These two figures used the large crags around them to seemingly run on air for a brief few seconds.
"Second form, Gale!", An older boy's voice yelled, only to follow with the sound of a katana being unsheathed. In the next moment, a figure swiftly leapt into the air and slashed forward. Upon a closer look, he appeared to be a black haired boy. He quickly arrived in front of the large rock monster, slashing away at the injury the lilac hair girl caused.
As the rock monster tried to mend its body, the black haired boy continued his motion. He also began to leak some battle qi, covering his katana in flames. "Third Form: Flame Impact!", The black haired boy yelled out again, only to reappear above the large rock monster above him. He slashed down fiercely, letting his flames collide with the giant rock. The force caused it to get blasted downward, creating a large quake.
Yet the lilac haired girl remained steady, only to pound her fists together.
"Earthen Wall!", She yelled, only to create a yellowish defensive shield around her as the monster kicked up several debris her way. The monster attacked simultaneously as it tried to mend its body, yet its attack didn't seem to phase the girl.
This allowed the third brown haired girl who appeared to be the oldest of the group, around fourteen years, to draw her blade in a similar stance as the black haired boy's. She crouched a bit as the shield began to fade, only yell out a similar skill.
"Fourth Form, Eight-Leaf Blitz!", The brown haired girl struck out. She dashed right in front of the rock monster. Slashing forth, she rapidly struck its body, akin to slashing leaves, splitting them into two. The monster couldn't even manage to last the last couple of strikes before it started to vanish into oblivion, dying mid-combat.
Seeing the large monster now dead, the black haired boy fell down and landed beside the two girls.
"Heh, that was a piece of cake.", The brown haired girl replied, sheathing her blade away, only to make a peace sign. She then turned around, only to see the lilac haired girl cease her battle qi, as the black haired by sheathed his katana.
"Still, you Taito practitioners sure are sturdy. Though you are training under Zin The Immovable, so it makes sense, haha!", The girl continued to say, letting out a laugh.
"Yeah. I do know there are lots of dojos out there, but it seems you two are mostly traveling around, not tied to one.", The black haired boy chimed in.
"You could say that. Thanks to a certain incident, Teacher no longer visits his dojo, so we've been wandering Zemuria as he does his bracer work. And now, we've found ourselves here at the Eight Leaves One Blade School.", The lilac haired girl said in confidence.
"I didn't think you'd want to see how we train though, but it looks like its been serving you well, Sherryl.", The black haired boy said.
"Yes. It has been quite fruitful training thigs high up. You said you were Rean, right?", Sherryl said, looking at the black haired boy.
"Ahhh. Rean Schwarzer. Dad owns a Barony down the mountain. You should visit the hotsprings sometime.", Rean suggested.
"Hotsprings...", Sherryl uttered softly. Yet as she said that, the brown haired girl clasped her hands together happily.
"You make a good point, little brother! Why don't we pay Ymir a visit and have some fun after thus training is over?", She suggested.
"Haha, you really do enjoy those hotsprings, Anelace.", Rean said, scratching his cheek a bit.
"Hmph. I gotta take all chances u can get before Grandpa takes me to Liberl for me to take the Bracer Exam.", Anelace said, feeling a bit disheartened as she said that.
"You are keen on becoming a bracer though, so I can respect that. And if you're going to Liberl soon, you may come across Big Brother at some point. Though according to Teacher, it seems he left the country again...", Sherryl said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Your big brother huh? Maybe I'm already anticipating in going to Liberl even more now. But we should sweep the rest of this mountain path first. There are plenty of more monsters for us to chase down.", Anelace said, pumping her arm a bit, showing off her vigor.
"Yeah. We should be able to make a clear path before sundown.", Rean also said, nodding his head.
"Got it.", Sherryl said, tapping her fists together.
With the three in acknowledgement, they soon started to wander further upward and deeper into the mountains as they continued their training excursion...
Yet it didn't seem these three were alone. Further toward another tall crag in the distance, two figures could be seen, standing calmly. One seemed to be quite old, currently having his hands behind his back as he observed the trio in the distance. Next to him was now a man in his late twenties. Of course these two were Yun Ka-Fai, the master of the Eight Leaves One Blade School, and Zin, a master of the Taito school of martial arts.
As for Yun, despite being on this rocky terrain, he was still wearing his black slippers, acting as if the terrain beneath meant nothing to him. Yet as for Zin, respect could be seen in his eyes, as a junior would look to an elder, despite being masters of two different schools. Zin's gaze also fell on the black haired boy, showing interest in his eyes.
"And here I thought you would start touring Calvard again, old man. Still, Rean Schwarzer huh? And you call him your final disciple?", Zin asked Yun.
"Hoho, it seems you have interest in your eyes. I am still a bit unsure to tour Calvard again considering my old age, but I do not plan on recruiting any more disciples for the Eight Leaves One Blade. For now, Rean is my final disciple.", Yun said, nodding his head. "The others are currently going about their own business apart from Anelace and Rean, here. Specially Shizuna, she has some unfinished business to attend to in Calvard, which is why that place currently holds my interest again.", Yun said, explaining his situation a bit.
"So that's it. I hear you are going to take Anelace to Liberl first for the bracer exam. Oh and before I forget, I am grateful for having Sherryl partake in one of your training exercises. She's quite a monster at Taito. Even I almost feel unfit to be called Teacher.", Zin said, looking down at the lilac haired girl who has been progressing at a phenomenal rate. Yet despite being ten or eleven now, she has not grown the wrong way either, most of her skin is tender and slim. She currently appears to have a bunch of inner qi within her that allows herself to deliver powerful blows. She does have visible muscle, but it was not protruding outward like Zin's muscles were.
"You needn't dive into it much. It seems you still have more to learn yourself. She is a disciple, and you are her teacher. it is as simple as that. Keep her path straight and progress forward.", Yun said, giving some insight to Zin, causing him to turn quiet as he observed onward...