The Sloth Bar was a popular bar among the old school figures of Obedin City.
Being a night bar that was located at a remote corner of Obedin City, Rex originally didn't have the qualifications and motivations to enter until he was invited here a long time ago by his master.
When Rex was younger, when he just started displaying his abilities as an excellent swordsman, he caught the attention of Master Fixten, the master in charge of the sword department of the Obedin Mystic Academy.
Master Fixten allowed him to grow alone for a year before he made his first personal contact with the kid, having confirmed his potential for the sword already.
Due to some restrictions in the academy, Master Fixten could not blatantly display bias toward a specific student so he decided to do it in a subtle manner.
He invited Rex to the Sloth Bar for the first time 4 years ago. That was the first time that the duo of master and student had a conversation about swordsmanship, and Master Fixten was impressed.
The knowledge about swords and swordsmanship in general that Rex showed was so far above his age that Master Fixten was convinced that he would become something big in the future, that was why he took him in.
He didn't blatantly start teaching Rex sword skills and techniques, rather he just engaged in intellectual conversations with the kid.
Though he didn't reveal much, the kid learned a lot. Rex had this terrifying intuition towards swordsmanship that made him understand a lot of complicated topics that other teenagers his age could not understand.
After serving in the Obedin Mystic Academy for years, Master Fixten finally met a student that really drew his curiosity and he invested a lot in him.
Throughout the years, Master Fixten already invited Rex to the Sloth Bar over 10 times which made him a familiar face here already since he was the only teenager among the old schools who ever came here.
To get to Obedin City from the Bowling Town at such a time of the night, Rex needed to improvise but he didn't have many problems since he was already a pro at it having done it over 10 times already.
All he had to do was go to the house of the nearest rich family in Bowling Town, sneak inside and borrow the electric bike of the family's teenager.
The bike had an A. I with security codes for opening it, but being a student who studied in the prestigious Obedin Mystic Academy for years, Rex was not new to A.Is, he cracked the security code in minutes and took the bike for a ride out.
It took Rex a few minutes, but he finally arrived in Obedin City and eventually arrived at the remote part of the city where the Sloth Bar was located.
On entering the remote alley, Rex walked to one of the apartments with metal doors and knocked. The door opened the next moment as the face of a beautiful lady with orange hair popped out.
"What do you want?" She rudely asked.
"I want to meet the Butcher Mama".
"Hmm". The lady finally focused a bit on the young man before her. "Oh! It's you kid…, come on in".
With that, Rex finally had access to the bar.
After walking through a long corridor, Rex heard old school music in the background before he finally appeared inside the fairly scanty bar.
This was how the Sloth Bar was, according to his master, almost all the customers who visited the bar were old friends who were mostly war retirees.
Sitting at the counter just after the corridor was the Butcher Mama. A huge middle-aged lady with a set of baggy shirts and jean trousers, and a huge hat covering her head, she was the owner of the bar.
Rex always saw her as an old lady who never got over the death of her husband. Her penetrating gaze and her joyless expression always spooked him.
Sitting across her were her 2 buddies, a blonde-haired middle-aged man who loved playing with knives and a black-haired reserved middle-aged man with a huge scar probably from a sword on his face.
Once Rex entered, they all turned to look at him. The 2 middle-aged men only looked for a second before turning away, the Butcher Mama glared at him though, Rex shuddered slightly before quickening his steps.
"He's on the balcony".
Rex suddenly heard this from one of the customers seated, he nodded in thanks before hurrying to the balcony where he met his master.
"Master". Rex bowed slightly in greeting.
Master Fixten kept on looking at the stars in the sky with his 2 hands behind his back, then he suddenly asked a question. "Rex, what is your ultimate ambition in this graduation tournament?"
"I want to come out on top". Rex replied without hesitation.
"Good". Master Fixten finally turned around. "Tell me all your abilities".
Rex was confused but he understood what his master meant. He didn't hide anything as he revealed his full repertoire of abilities.
Master Fixten nodded slightly as he spoke. "Plutonian Slash, Needle Stab, Drilling Stab, Boomerang Slash…, that is a nice repertoire of skill moves".
"Your movement technique is the Drizzling Rain Steps, while your sword technique is the Aurora Swordplay".
Master Fixten suddenly turned to look his student in the eye. "Rex, that is a nice accumulation of abilities, but I think it is not enough to clinch top place in the tournament, that is why I decided to aid your preparation a bit".
"If you agree, from today till the tournament ends, I will begin to supervise your training and correct anywhere you are being deficient".
Rex was ecstatic but he was confused. "Why? I thought…"
Master Fixten turned away. "You are the best sword genius that I have seen in a long time Rex, you understand the way of the sword, I don't want you to fail".
Master Fixten sighed. "And besides, I want the sword department to finally produce a winner".
"So, are you in?"
Rex didn't even need to think, he just grinned. If it was ok with his Master, then it was super ok with him. "Yes, I'm in".
"Now, show me your moves, let me see what your current level is".
Shing!
Having come prepared, Rex instantly pulled Berserker out of its scabbard and dashed towards his master as he activated his needle stab skill.
Clang!
With one move, Master Fixten pulled out his sword and deflected the attack before placing his sword to his student's throat in a fast-move execution.
"You executed the skill nicely but you lack experience".
"When you don't know how strong your opponent is, you don't go for a full lunge attack while wielding a single sword without preparing any defensive measures in the case of any emergencies".
"Fail, try again!"
Whoosh!
Rex went again, this time making a feint movement to the right as fast as he could before unleashing a Boomerang slash towards his master's face.
Master Fixten easily dodged the attack.
"Fail!"
"You only use feinting moves when you are faster than your opponent".
"Again!"
Whoosh!
"Fail!"
"You can't expect to win the graduation tournament with such immature moves…, Again!"
Whoosh!
After 2 hours of an intensive training session where Rex learned a lot and was tired both physically and mentally, Master Fixten finally brought it to an end.
He congratulated Rex for his improvement before sending him away.
…
On getting home around 10 in the night, Rex was ecstatic due to the decision by his Master and how much he learned and improved from this training session.
He felt happier since no Cassandra was lurking in his house bombarding him with questions about where he went so late in the night, she probably also trained till exhaustion and was already asleep.
Once he got home, Rex went to the bathroom to take his bath and once he was freshened up, he retreated to his room to sleep.
Before sleeping, he wanted to spend some time in Berserker's sword world but before doing that, he reflexively looked at the mirror to admire himself.
Once he looked though, Rex froze in horror at seeing the reflection of himself. At this moment, Rex looked nothing like himself.
Right now, his red hair looked redder than ever before, his originally brown eyes were now bloody-red, his facial appearance seemed pale like he was drained of all blood and the worst was the long fangs now jutting out from his mouth.
At this moment, Rex looked like a vampire!
Rex staggered back in horror.