Chapter 4: Training!

The air was still, and there wasn't a sound to be heard except for a calm wind blowing in the area. Shinto felt like he was floating in air. He was awoken by a water droplet falling on his face. "Engh..." Shinto grunted as he slowly opened his eyes. He blinked a few times before his vision adjusted to the new atmosphere. After a minute, he got up and took a look around the area. "Where am I?"

His surroundings seemed to be trapped in time. The surrounding area had thousands of rain droplets that looked like they were once in motion but were now frozen in time and wouldn't budge a centimeter. In the far-off distance, there was a volcano in the process of erupting. There were dozens of magma boulders flying through the air but were also stuck in place, and the magma flowing out of it no longer had any motion and only let out an orange glow. Nearby was an icy area with a large ice castle that bordered the fuming volcanic area yet seemed to never melt.

Shinto got onto his feet and tried to walk towards the ice castle. He walked for a good 5 minutes, and despite that, he never got any closer to the castle. "Just what is this place?" Shinto said, slightly annoyed. Shinto gave up and sat back on the ground and tried to fall asleep.

...

"Hey! Wake up, Shinto!" Shinto heard a faint voice as he slowly regained his consciousness. His vision was still blurry from the battle with Yoshimura.

"Uhhh.... Saku... ya? Is that you?" He opened his eyes little by little until he could see clearly in front of him. Sakuya was above him, looking down on him.

"Shinto! Are you okay?!" Sakuya worried.

Shinto sat up. "Yeah. I'm fine." He said softly. He says that, but he still feels a little but of pain on his arms and legs. Shinto looked around. They were in his room. "What happened? Why are we in my room?"

Sakuya took a small step back. "You passed out after your duel with Yoshimura. You ended up losing consciousness and deemed the loser of the fight."

"I see... so that's what happened." Shinto looked at his hands. They were still dirty, and he had a few bruises on him. "Well, I guess it's unavoidable seeing as I'm the weakest one here."

Sakuya shook her head. "Even so, you fought amazingly! You were quite elegant." She said blushed.

"It's fine. You don't have to sugar coat it." Shinto said softly. "A loss is a loss, I've just got to accept it."

Sakuya sighed. "So much for trying to make you feel better. Tell ya what? How about after school from now on, you come over to the practice arena, and we refine your swordsmanship?" Sakuya offered.

"You... mean it?"

"Mhm! Even if you did look cool, there was a lot that you did wrong. Train with me, and you'll be skilled by the time the school tournament comes around!"

"I'll take you up on that offer." Shinto said as mustered the strength to get up.

"Cool! Let's head to the practice arena now, then!" Sakuya cheered.

"NOW?!" Shinto whimpered. "But I just woke up!"

"You'll be fine!" Sakuya reassured him. "We won't be doing anything major today anyway. We'll just adjust your form today." Sakuya begged.

Shinto sighed. "Fine... if you say so." After taking a minute to catch his breath, they walked to the practice arena.

As they entered, the receptionist told them that they were only able to use wooden practice swords instead of Soul Skills to train. They both grabbed a sword and headed towards a 30x30 square arena.

There were red markers on the ground that Shinto and Sakuya stood on. They were roughly 15 feet away from each other. "In order to fix your form, I want you to charge at me. I won't counter, I'll only evade and parry."

"Okay!" Shinto grabbed the sword and placed it in his right hand and held it with one hand. After they were both ready, Shinto charged at Sakuya with a flurry of attacks. Sakuya was able to parry all of them with ease and dodge them with ease.

This kept going for a minute until, "Stop!" Sakuya shouted. Shinto immediately jumped back to avoid hitting Sakuya anymore. "I have a question."

Shinto tilted his head. "What's wrong?"

Sakuya scratched the side of her head. "There's just something bothering me." She pointed at the wooden sword. "Why do you only wield your sword with one hand?"

"Why do I wield my sword with one hand?" Shinto repeated.

She nodded. "Yeah. Wielding a sword with one hand gives you less power on your swings."

Shinto looked at his sword, dumbfounded. "I'm not sure exactly. It just always felt natural to me, i guess? I never really noticed until now."

"Hmm..." Sakuya went off to her own little world for a second as she thought of what to do. "I've got it!"

"What's your idea?" Shinto asked.

"I dont try to recommend it to people often, but try dual wielding these." She grabbed another wooden sword from the wall and handed it to Shinto.

Shinto grabbed the sword in his left hand. "Like this?"

"Yeah, just like that."

Shinto stared at the sword in his left hand. "But what do I do with this?" He was trying to wrap his brain around how he'd try to even begin to wield the other sword.

"Try to imagine wielding two single swords and swing them independently."

He held out the sword in his right hand, pointed towards Sakuya while the sword in his left hand was pointed towards the ground. "This will take some getting used to, but I'm willing to try it."

"You already look like a natural! Let's give it a try! Try me!" Sakuya said with motivation.

Shinto bolted towards Sakuya and started to swing both swords like how he swung with one. They were more rhythmic, though, and made crosses and arcs in their paths. His swings would sometimes follow the same path as well, forcing Sakuya to block in the same direction twice. Though his attacks were weak, they went even faster and proved even harder to dodge than before. After Shinto whiffed a double upwards slice, Sakuya ran up and seeped out his legs, spiraling him to the ground.

"Stop!" Sakuya announced as Shinto fell on the ground. She put away her weapon and helped Shinto off the ground. "That was surprisingly pretty good. Had me on my toes."

"I did the best I could. Though I was still very sloppy."

"Cant expect to be amazing right out the get-go. You'll get better over time."

"You're right." Shinto nodded, and they both exited the training arena. It was sunset by the time they exited the building. "That was very helpful, Sakuya. Thank you."

"No problem. Just be sure to meet me here after class every day, okay? Maybe we can even get an actual instructor for you?" She rambled on.

"Why are you going out of your way to help me so much?"

"Huh?" Sakuya replied, perplexed.

"I'm nothing but a stranger to you with unknown origin. And yet, you're going out of your way and spending your money for me. I've done nothing for you."

Sakuya smiled. "You're a very kind person, Shinto. It's that kindness that is the reason I'm helping you. I dont want to see people like you suffer. Even now, you're suffering, greatly, and I want to do all I can to help you." She turned around with her hands behind her back. "You also remind me of a dear friend of mine I haven't seen in a while." She said softly.

("I remind her of someone?") Shinto thought, but soon realized that he wouldn't be able to figure it out no matter how hard he tried.

They both said their farewells and headed back to their apartments. Shinto walked into his apartment and collapsed onto his bed. "So... tired..." his eyes slowly closed as he fell asleep.

...

For the next few months, Shinto would see Sakuya every day after class in the training arena to practice his sword technique. Sometimes, they'd even bring some guests over to help out with the training. One time, Calibur came over, and another time, Yoshimura came. They all made sure to only use their swordsmanship and not their magic.

"Alright, class!" Their teacher announced. "Today, we will focus on magic control and being able to strengthen and weaken it at will." She looked at Shinto. "Since you can't use magic yet, just take notes for when you do need to."

Shinto would also start taking very detailed and intricate notes for the small chance his Soul Skill would actually manifest. His training with Sakuya also proved to be very useful for him as he has started to have much closer duels with her. He almost won a couple of times.

...

Shinto quickly swung both swords in one direction as Sakuya deflected it with her sword. She swung horizontally, and Shinto ducked underneath it and started to slide towards Sakuya. She jumped back and deflected Shinto's low attacks and unleashed a flurry of attacks on Shinto. Shinto blocked all the attacks with both of his swords and jumped over her. Shinto threw the sword in his left hand at Sakuya. This caught her off guard and forced her to redirect its path to her right. Shinto landed and swung at Sakuya, stopping right before the wooden sword would hit her neck.

"Stop!" Calibur announced. "The winner of this duel is Shinto!"

Shinto backed off slowly, breathing heavily. Meanwhile, Sakuya looked like she barely broke a sweat.

"Well done, Shinto!" Sakuya cheered. "You've finally beat me! I'm so proud!" She ran towards Shinto and hugged him.

Shinto's face turned bright red as Sakuya's body touched his. "A-a-a-ahhh...." he's never really hugged a girl he didn't know how to react, but to Sakuya, it was natural. After a few seconds of silence, Sakuya let go of Shinto and took a few steps back.

"You've done very well! I think you're ready to take on the school tournament next month."

"Tournament?"

Sakuya nodded. "Yeah. In roughly 4 weeks, the school will be hosting a tournament between all students. This is a very popular event every year that many people look forward to."

"Are these duels some sort of sport?" Shinto asked.

"You can compare it to that." Calibur interrupted. "Just like with sports like soccer and football, many people go to watch it. Other schools and people outside of the school also get the opportunity to enter."

"Woah! That's cool!" Shinto replied.

"Not only does winning give you a massive following, but also a lot of money too."

("No wonder people are excited to participate then"). Shinto thought to himself. "Wait, but wouldn't I be at a clear disadvantage? With no magic, there's no way I could possibly win."

"Maybe so." Sakuya said. "But I believe that you can win at least one match." She smiled.

"I'll try my best." Shinto replied. "Can't garuntee anything, though." They exited the arena and headed their separate ways.

...

In a darkroom somewhere, only God could know where there were two people clothed in dark clothes, the only illumination in the room being the static on a TV.

"Are the preparations ready yet?" A devious voice said, hiding in the darkness.

"Almost." A different voice responded. "It should be ready by the time of the tournament."

"Perfect. Just remember, I will not tolerate failure."

"Yessir." The other voice said formally as he walked away.

There was a sound of someone pounding their desk. "We might have failed last time, but we won't fail this time. Your time is up... Shinto."

End of chapter 4...

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