The sun had barely crested over the pine ridges when the snap of wooden sandals echoed across the clearing. Birds scattered. The forest grew still.
Rei stood barefoot in the center of a weathered stone ring, sweat already dripping from his brow despite the morning chill. His torso was wrapped in linen, bruises blooming like ink on pale parchment. Across from him stood Kirozan—staff in hand, expression unreadable beneath the wide brim of his straw hat.
No words were exchanged.
This was not training.
This was war in silence.
Rei exhaled, fists raised in a grounded stance.
Kirozan moved first.
Crack!
The staff swept low.
Rei jumped, barely dodging the sweep—only to be met with a sharp jab to the ribs. He stumbled but didn't fall.
He never fell.
Kirozan didn't stop. The staff became a blur. Overhead strikes. Spinning sweeps. Thrusts. Feints. It was an onslaught not meant to test Rei—but to break him.
> "Faster," Kirozan barked mid-strike. "Your enemies won't wait for you to catch your breath!"
Rei ducked, rolled, then came up swinging—a sharp elbow toward the old man's chest.
Thud!
The blow was caught effortlessly. Kirozan's knee struck Rei's abdomen, folding him like paper.
Rei dropped to one knee, coughing, vision blurry. But his eyes… they burned with something.
Not just rage. Not just pride.
Conviction.
He surged forward again, faster this time. Feint left. Sweep right. Duck. Lunge.
His fists moved like trained daggers. Still raw—but hungry.
Kirozan narrowed his eyes.
> "Better," he said, parrying a punch with the end of his staff.
But then something shifted.
Rei spun into a backflip—unexpected. Not flashy. Just pure instinct. As he landed, he immediately dropped into a low sweep—clipping Kirozan's shin.
Thud!
The old warrior stumbled a step back.
It was minor, but in a world of fighters, a single step meant death.
They froze.
A second passed.
Then another.
Kirozan tilted his head.
> "Where did you learn that?"
> "I didn't," Rei said between gasps. "I felt it."
Silence again. The wind whistled through the treetops.
For the first time, Kirozan smiled.
> "That," he said, "is your soul trying to speak. You're not ready yet, but it's close. Very close."
He turned and walked toward the edge of the ring.
Rei stood shakily, blood on his lip, arms trembling. Yet something about him felt… brighter.
The exhaustion didn't feel like defeat anymore.
It felt like growth.
> "You said we begin the Aura Path today," Rei called after him.
Kirozan stopped.
> "We already have."
He tossed something to Rei — a small stone with an ancient glyph carved into it. It pulsed faintly.
> "What is this?"
> "A seal," Kirozan said. "One of seven. Each king holds one tied to the core of his Aura Dominion. This one… was mine. Before I walked away."
Rei stared at it, eyes wide.
> "You were a battalion commander of the Crimson King…?"
Kirozan didn't answer.
Because that answer would shatter everything Rei thought he knew.