Kiyomaro
ONE WEEK HAS passed since Alice Rose's declaration of winning the upcoming Fight Festival Tournaments One-on-One category.
Before he begins training for the tournament's Team-versus-Team category Leo Blackbriar left for Snapdragon Village to go see his girlfriend Yui.
Since they're not entering the tournament, Kiyomaro Kurosaki and Abaddon 'Abby' La-tif have volunteered to help train Alice, and Lilly.
Corym Elyra declined entering, and left to go find the four missing girls and Aria. He's accompanied by Fiora Elyra, a Templar general and his mother. Corin, Silver, Poppy, and Holly are travel companions of Fiora and are faeries.
Oz, Headmaster of the Hunters School, and lastly Dale and Bonaluria, former members of The Black Archers.
Luna Crestfall was offered the chance to study under Asmodeus to further her knowledge of magic. She'll be entering the Team-versus-Team category along with Lilly and Leo.
Today Kiyo, Alice, Abby, and Lilly are dressed in workout gear derived from the twins' memories. With a little help from Lilith and Asmodeus.
Kiyo is wearing a navy blue keikogi and hakama. Normally he'd be barefoot, but seeing how he's outside he chose to wear the tennis he had on when he got to this world.
Alice is wearing a silver sports bra, dark green leggings, and pink running shoes. Her blond hair is pulled into a ponytail.
Lilly has on a black sports bra, black leggings, her silver cuff bracelets, and no shoes.
Abby is sporting a red sports bra, purple leggings, and black running shoes. Her purple hair is also up in a ponytail.
The training arena is one hundred meters wide by one hundred meters long, and flush with the ground. A two meter pillar with a clear orb on top stands in each corner of the arena. The orbs erect a barrier to protect on lookers as well as light up at night when in use.
"Now that we're warmed up, let's begin our hand to hand combat session. l'll demonstrate some basic drills with Abby. Then you guys will try."
"You got it Kiyo." Replied Alice.
"Will this training help me defeat Kino?" Asked Lilly.
"It'll give you a better understanding of her combat style. As to whether or not you can defeat her is another matter entirely."
"Good enough."
"Abby, put these punch mitts on your hands." Kiyo hands her the mitts
"Why? What's the point of all these strange things?"
Abby was referring to not only the punch mitts but also Thai pads, strike shields, and punching paddles. All of it was made possible thanks to Asmodeus and Lilith.
"The point is to train noobies how to fight without hurting themselves or others during training."
"I've never used such things when I trained."
"But fighting is offered as a part of the Summoners class whereas us healers focus on healing the body."
Lilly adds to the conversation saying, "I use practice dummies when training with my whips."
"Alice can just heal herself if she gets hurt." Said Abby.
"Do you honestly think her opponent would allow her to do that?" I asked.
"There's also the possibility they'll put a limit on how often I can heal myself during the tournament."
"Okay, fine. I give. Let's get started already."
"I'll go over what each of these training aids are used for starting with those punch mitts you have on. Those are used for accuracy, timing and speed drills.
Abby, I want you to hold the mitts by keeping your elbows close to your body to maintain stability and prevent shoulder injury. Keep it about my shoulder height.
Now when I throw a punch I want you to meet my punch by moving your mitt about six inches, providing light resistance.
"This first punch I'm gonna throw is called a jab. I'm gonna position my body at a slight angle rather than face my opponent head-on by placing my left foot and hand forward to lead with the jab while keeping my dominant right hand back for power.
I'll keep my feet shoulder-width apart, my knees slightly bent, my hands are up to protect my face, my chin is down, and my elbows are tucked. Lastly I'm distributing my weight evenly, on the balls of my feet, allowing for quick movement.
"This is called an orthodox stance. You use this stance if you're right handed. If you're left handed then it's called an unorthodox stance, and you do everything in reverse."
"I'm right handed." Said Alice.
"I'm ambidextrous." Admitted Lilly.
"Then Lilly, you can use whichever stance you want, but I want you to get used to that stance before you try the other one."
"Got it."
"You ready Abby?"
"Bring it."
A sharp, high-pitched 'pop' accompanied by a deeper, meaty, thud echoes out.
"Damn, that was impressive. Are you sure you're a swordsman?" Lilly asked me.
"I am. However, I do have vast amounts of knowledge when it comes to all fields of fighting. Both armed and unarmed. Now are you two ready to begin?"
"Yes."
"Let's do this."
"Lilly, pair up with Abby. Alice, you're with me. Okay guys take your stances. Oh, one last thing before we begin. I'll be using a numbering system. Instead of saying 'jab' I'm gonna call out one. This'll make it easier for you guys to know what I'm saying."
"Got it."
"Understood."
"Ready. One."
(Three hours later)
"Let's take a break everyone."
"Sounds good, Kiyo." Replied Alice.
"Here, drink this." Abby hands everyone canteens of water.
"I'm surprised by how quickly you guys picked up on the basics. Especially you Alice."
"Hee hee, thanks." Alice quickly goes through a routine of throwing a jab, a cross, right hook, left hook, right uppercut and left uppercut. All while demonstrating proper footwork.
"Considering she has zero fighting experience, it is rather impressive how quickly she picked it up." Remarks Lilly.
"Hey Kiyo, let's you and I go a couple rounds."
Walking up to the group wearing a red leather armor corset, bracers, greaves, a battle skirt, and roman sandals – is Lucifer. She is a member of The Seven, who are personal guards to the royal demon family.
"Why? What's in it for me?" I asked her.
"How many times have you fought a SS-ranked opponent since coming to this world?"
"I've never actually faced off against anyone. Not Headmaster Brett. Nor with the Black Archers. Can't count Scarlett either. So yeah let's go a few rounds."
"Perfect." Lucifer has a sinister smile as she raises her hands, materializing her weapons of choice.
In her right hand is a glaive. A one meter long polearm with a point five meter curved blade.
In her left hand is a point six meter high by point four meter wide black steel shield, and weighs a good four point five kilograms. Which Lucifer handles with ease.
"Inventory." A small black hole looking thing appears beside me. I pull out my Twin Blades Onyx and Snow.
Abby, would you mind refereeing?" I asked, affixing the blades to the left side of my waist.
"Sure. But I'd advise you to go all out."
"I have a feeling if I don't, Lucifer would likely beat the shit out of me for holding back." I say drawing Onyx from its sheath.
"You're mistaken, Kiyomaro. I'd kill you."
I smile — as I shift my right leg back, leaving my left shoulder unprotected. I slightly bend my legs, my left foot faces forward while my right foot is at a forty-five degree angle. I hold Onyx at a forty-five degree angle facing the ground, below my waist with the blade's edge turned towards Lucifer.
𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑎𝑘𝑖-𝐺𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑. 𝐼'𝑚 𝑣𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡.
𝐵𝐴𝑁𝐺! 𝐵𝐴𝑁𝐺! 𝐵𝐴𝑁𝐺! 𝐵𝐴𝑁𝐺!
Lucifer begins banging her glaive against her shield. Both to psych herself up and psych out her opponent.
"Begin!" Shouts Abby.
Lucifer kicks off the ground at an astonishing speed. "Helm Splitter!" The blade of Lucifer's glaive grows twenty times bigger in both length and width.
She swings the massive blade down one handed right onto Kiyo's head – splitting him in half.
"Iaijutsu: Helix Slash!" Kiyo appears behind his own after image — cutting through it to attack Lucifer.
Thrusting out her enchanted shield, Lucifer attempts to reflect the magic back at its caster.
Upon contact the magic doesn't repel because a vacuum was created that briefly carved away space itself. The shield cracks, but that's all. It remains intact.
Lucifer jumps back, gaining some distance, or so she thought.
"Iaijutsu: Razor Wind!" Kiyo attacks with a current of wind by swinging Onyx down.
"Two can play that game; Razor Wind!" Lucifer slashes her glaive sideways.
The two attacks collide, kick up a fierce, but brief wind storm before canceling each other out.
"Iaijutsu: Water Bullets!"
Lucifer dodges the water bullets while closing the distance. She can't risk blocking with her damaged shield, at least not until it finishes auto repairing itself.
Kiyo stops firing, and meets Lucifer head on; their blades crossing.
"Wow!" Alice watches with amazement. "This is what it's like watching two SS-ranks going at it."
"Tell me about it." Replied Lilly, "I'm blown away by the gap in our abilities."
"Can you see them, Lilly?"
"Barely."
Kiyo and Lucifer are moving so fast Alice can't see their movements, and Lilly can barely follow them. They can only track them by the sparks flying as their blades clash again, and again. Abby effortlessly watches them — her eyes tracking everything.
"Thrust!" Lucifer thrusts her glaive at Kiyo.
He deflects it with ease. Lucifer picks up the tempo. "Double Thrust! Triple Trust! Quadruple Thrust!"
Kiyo keeps pace, blocking or dodging Lucifer's attacks. Then katana and glaive blade lock.
"I'm impressed. You wield that two-handed polearm like it's nothing."
"I too am impressed. Your swordsmanship is magnificent. My compliments to your master."
Onyx starts glowing a reddish-orange. Kiyo pushes just for a second, forcing Lucifer to push back. Just as she does, Kiyo pulls back, collapsing Lucifer's stance. Allowing Kiyo to kick Lucifer in her stomach, gaining some distance.
"Iaijutsu: Heat Burst!"
Lucifer takes the hit, and counters with, "Earth Bullet Rapid Fire!" Lucifer fires off a multitude of earth bullets, like a gatling gun.
Kiyo draws Snow in a reverse grip, and begins blocking, deflecting, or cutting down the attack in rapid succession.
"Nito-ryu: Ice Vortex!" Kiyo generates a tornado of ice and launches it at Lucifer.
Lucifer's shield, having finished auto-repairing itself, reflects Kiyo's attack back at him.
"Gedan-no-kamae: Fire Wall!" Kiyo touches the tip of Onyx to the ground – a wall of fire rises five meters in front of him.
The ice vortex collides with the fire wall, neutralizing each other – producing a thick fog.
Lucifer sees Kiyo's outline and thrusts out her glaive. Her glaive extends out and pierces Kiyo. Feeling no resistance she falls back. "Dammit, where is he?"
She realizes her mistake when the tip of a blade touches the back of her skull.
"Drop 'em." Orders Kiyo.
Lucifer tightens her grip on her glaive and shield.
"I said drop 'em."
"I can't, my pride won't let me."
"Seriously?!"
"Yes."
"Hold out your arms then."
Lucifer complies.
"Hey Alice, gonna need your healing abilities. Also don't freak out."
Alice tilts her head in confusion. "Why would…holy shit!"
Alice runs towards them. After witnessing Kiyomaro cut off Lucifer's arms, at the elbow. She gets there just as Belphegor—another member of The Seven appears.
"One of these days your pride is gonna get you killed." Chasized Belphegor, as she cauterizes the wounds.
"Not dead yet. Can I ask you something Kiyo?"
"Go ahead."
"When did you create that after image?"
I just shrug. "You'll just have to fight me again to find out."
"Fair enough, and thank you, Kiyo."
"Anytime." I replied, unable to contain my smile as I re-sheath my swords.
Abby and Lilly have now joined them.
"Alice, will you accompany me back to the Infirmary to help treat Lucifer?"
"Sure, but why not treat her here?"
It's Lucifer who answers, "I placed a self-imposed rule on myself that if I obtain any injuries, during a battle or even a sparring match, I will momentarily endure that wound both to my body and my pride."
"Um, okay." Alice really isn't sure how to respond.
"Let's go. I'll give you a refresher on how to reattach severed body parts. As well as some other little tricks to healing yourself and others." Said Belphegor.
"Hold on a minute Belphegor, what if she fucks up and puts them on backwards?"
"Don't worry. If that happens I can always have Kiyo cut them back off and we can try again. After all, trial and error is how one learns."
It's at the moment Abby says, "I can always cut your arms up even smaller. Then you'll be left wondering if everything was put back in its proper place, or if you're missing anything."
"Please don't Abby." Pleaded Alice.
"Fine. I won't do anything." Abby's cynical smile sends a shiver down Lucifer's spine. "This time."
"What the fuck is this shit? Lucifer, did you lose to a human?"
Satan—another member of The Seven comes strolling up, the white leather strap across her chest can barely contain its contents, her white leather pants are skin tight, and the white leather boots have a gloss to them. A sānjiégùn hangs from her neck.
"You can't tell at the moment, Satan, but I'm giving you the finger right now."
Standing before Kiyo, Satan sizes him up. "I really, really want to spar with you, but unfortunately Her Majesty is requesting your presence."
"And where might I find Her Majesty?"
"She's in the castle's actual library."
"As opposed to?"
"There's another library known as the Dimensional Library."
"I see. Well thank you for the explanation, Satan. Now if you all will excuse me."
𝑁𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝐼 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝐼'𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑆𝑎𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝐿𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟. 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑚𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑.
As I go to leave Satan blocks my path.
"Do you think it wise to force me to keep Her Majesty waiting?"
"Return here when you're done. I'll be your next opponent."
"If I am able to, I shall return."
"Good." Satan steps aside, allowing me to pass.
"While we wait for Alice and Kiyo to return, how about you and me spar for a bit, Lilly."
"You're on, Abby."
"Not so fast you two." Interjects Satan. "Lilly, I'll be your sparring partner for a while. I need to alleviate some of my boredom."
"I'd be a fool to pass on a chance to spar with a member of The Seven."
****
Castle Library
Seated on the left of The Empress is Leviathan, two others I don't recognize sit beside Leviathan, and a Lapis Stone the size of a snow globe sits in the center of the table.
Lapis Stone: used as a comm device. A large Lapis stone is infused with mana of its owner then small pieces are removed to make into an earring, ring, necklace, etc and then can be used to communicate by pouring mana into it.
"You called for me, Your Majesty."
Her Majesty motions for me to sit in the chair opposite her.
"Kiyo, thank you for coming. You're already acquainted with Headmaster Brett."
"Kiyo, can you hear me?" Parts of the Lapis Stone turned white with each word spoken.
"Yes headmaster."
"Just Brett, will do."
"I believe you met Leviathan. Who as you may recall is one of the personal guards to the Royal Demon Family."
"Yes, we've met. Most recently in fact at Your Majesty's wedding reception."
Leviathan, dressed in a well fitted black on black suit nods their head at me and I return the gesture.
"Now allow me to introduce to you Dr's. Stephanie and Ian Kaine. Better known as S.I."
One of the first things Stephanie and Ian did after being rescued from the Sea Labyrinth Prison was take a long hot bath.
Stephanie now wears a red dress with a pink rose and black boots. She's a pencil-thin brunette, with green eyes framed by brown tortoiseshell glasses.
Stephanie is the eccentric one of the two. Rather than use the door, she climbed through a square port hole window into The Ranger's sickbay, in order to ask Kino if she could talk with animals.
Ian has thick blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and a decent build. He's wearing a pink t-shirt, black pants, and brown boots. A gold earring in his left ear.
Unlike his wife, Ian is more grounded, but does enjoy pulling the occasional prank. Like convincing Kino he gave a vaginal suppository while she was unconscious. He did later admit to giving her an IV.
Stephanie and Ian hold several doctorates in: Medical, Botany, Zoology, Beastology, Anthropology, Ornithology, and Herbology, to name a scant handful of their academic achievements.
"I've come across some of your books. Even paged through a few of them. Very informative. Never would've guessed that S.I was a pseudonym for a married couple.
"We take great pride in our work, so hearing that makes me happy." Replied Stephanie.
"Same here."
"So what do you need from me?" I asked, jumping right in.
It's Ian who answers, "Nothing. We were called to examine the parasites that were inside Kino's head. Whom we've recently met."
"How is my sister?"
"Last time I saw her she was aboard a ship bound for the Harmonia Empire."
Stephanie chimes in, "that's after she saved a mermaid princess and her people. Rescued a unique Fenrir pup. A thought to be extinct Snow Kitten, and befriended The Bone Pirates."
"Bone Pirates?"
"Yup. Led by Captain Edward "Blackbeard" Teach."
"Did my sister say anything about becoming Pirate King by chance?"
Stephanie tilts her head in confusion, "won't she be a Pirate Queen?"
"Never mind."
"Sorry to interrupt, but I'm the one who asked to speak with you. There is a rather urgent matter we need to discuss, Kiyo."
"Oh, and what would that be, Brett?"