The chime of a bell echoed across the Tenmo Grounds.
It was barely past six in the morning, and a bitter wind swept through the tiled roofs of the disciples' dormitory. Most of the young warriors were still half-asleep—if they'd even slept at all.
"Ugh…"
Raijin's voice croaked from behind a door. "My soul still dreams…"
The hallway was silent… until a loud bang came from the center courtyard.
Standing there with identical bamboo canes were Kazui and Suno, the instructors.
Suno's voice cut the dawn air like a sword.
"Everyone out. Now."
Groans, shuffles, yawns.
Eleven sleepy-eyed disciples trudged into the main training hall, rubbing their eyes and dragging their feet. The air smelled of fresh wood and chilled sweat.
Kazui smirked as he looked them over.
"Today begins your seven-day combined training. After this week, you'll be assigned into official teams."
Ayame raised a delicate hand. "Isn't it… a bit early?"
Kazui tilted his head, mock-pity in his voice.
"Oh? Poor flower. It's a cheap price to become a Samurai, y'know?"
He turned to Suno. "Tell them."
Suno stepped forward. "For today's training, you will be…" He paused dramatically, "picking beans. One by one. And placing them into separate sacks."
Raijin blinked.
"…WHAT THE—?!"
Lithos adjusted his collar. "You mean… eleven bags total? One per person?"
"Are Flow techniques allowed?"
Suno's face darkened.
"No."
Kazui added with a sly grin, "The sacks are in that room over there. Oh—and before I forget…"
He paused.
"You'll also be required to count and report how many individual grains it takes to fill a sack."
There was silence.
Eleven horrified faces stared at the two instructors.
Inside the bean room, time slowed to a crawl.
"Focus… patience… discipline," Zenith whispered, picking one grain at a time. "This is more than just a task—it's a test of mind."
Nearby, Hinazuki Tomoe, one of the Enforcer disciples, yawned like a baby fox.
Suddenly—
"NOOOOO!" Raijin yelled. "I lost count! Now I have to start again!"
Ayame dropped her bag. "Seriously?! Now I lost focus too! What kind of sadistic training is this?!"
She folded her arms. "My father's a Shogun, you know. I should be in bed, not counting beans!"
Kazui's voice echoed from outside:
"No one cares, kid."
The group groaned collectively.
But then—
Fushimi Ranka, calm and composed in her fox-patterned robe, raised her voice.
"Why not work together?"
Lithos snapped his fingers. "Ah. If we divide the work by aggregates of eleven, we can standardize the count per sack."
Zenith nodded. "Makes sense. Let's do it."
They spent the rest of the day quietly working, rotating beans between each sack in perfect 11-count shifts.
By sunset, the bags stood full. Each disciple collapsed onto the ground, covered in sweat and victory.
Kazui and Suno returned.
"How many grains per sack?" Kazui asked.
"2,143 grains," the disciples answered in unison.
Suno gave a rare smile. "Good job. The hidden training was teamwork. You nailed it."
Dinner that night was a feast.
A hall brimming with roast meat, vegetables, dumplings, steamed buns, and endless rice. Everyone devoured the food like wild beasts.
Ayame shook her head, lips curled in disgust.
"Savages, I tell you."
Ranka giggled. "That's boys for you."
"Hey," Ayame said softly, "since we're the only girls… wanna hang out sometimes?"
"I'd like that," Ranka replied, smiling.
"Thanks for your wisdom earlier."
Across the table—
"I could eat a whole cow!" Ishiguro bellowed.
Everyone turned in horror as Lithos finished gnawing the last bone of a full roasted chicken, burping unapologetically.
Oborozuka Tenmu, the silent enforcer trainee, squinted.
"His face and his appetite… don't match at all."
Everyone burst into laughter.
Kazui and Suno watched from a second-story window.
"This innocence…" Kazui said quietly.
Suno's eyes softened.
"Reminds me of us… back when these were the best days of our lives."
Day Seven: Forest of Death
"Today," Suno announced, "you will enter a live combat zone. A forest of Oni."
Zenith blinked. "What forest?"
Suno raised a glowing talisman and struck it into the ground.
A wave of light surged outward—suddenly, a massive forest bloomed from thin air, surrounding them in an instant.
Dark portals opened at their feet. Demons emerged, clawing their way into the realm.
"These are prisoners from the Experimental Demon Pen," Kazui explained.
"They're real—and they will kill you."
The barrier sealed behind them.
Raijin muttered, "Those six days… were to prepare us… for death."
"I heard only two survived the last entrance," Ishiguro whispered.
"Then stop whining and MOVE!" Ayame yelled.
She vanished in a flurry of petals.
"Fourth Flow: Raging Blossom!"
A storm of petal-shaped slashes beheaded three Oni in one go.
"Flame Talisman: Foxfire!" Ranka cried.
Flaming foxes burst from her scroll, leaping onto demons and igniting them.
Ishiguro let out a war cry.
"Fifth Flow: World Splitter!!"
The earth cracked, his sword smashing through the ground and erupting in a quake that killed nearby Oni.
"Split up!" Ranka ordered. "Cover the flanks!"
Team Splits Begin
Raijin, Lithos, Oborozuka:
Oborozuka held up a mirror talisman.
"Mirror Style: Dividing Worlds!"
Mirrors encircled the air.
"Yin Talisman: Combining Elements!" Lithos followed.
Elemental strikes bounced through mirrors, multiplying tenfold and striking down flying Oni.
"Showoffs," Raijin muttered. "Time to stand out."
"Fifth Flow: God Burst!!"
Flashes of lightning surged through the battlefield, Raijin moving too fast to be seen.
Zenith, Hinazuki, Yatsurugi:
Yatsurugi conjured a murder of black ravens.
"Dark Talisman: Devouring Raven!"
Zenith moved quickly through the swarm, slashing one Oni after another.
"Fourth Flow: Zero Cut!"
A crescent slash erupted from his blade, splitting demons in clean arcs.
Hinazuki trembled behind them, paralyzed.
"Hey!" Yatsurugi barked. "You'll die like that!"
Zenith placed a hand on Hinazuki's shoulder.
"It's okay to be afraid… but I'll protect you, no matter what."
Hinazuki blinked—and in that instant, saw his older brother again.
Tears welled in his eyes.
"Big bro…"
"Mist Talisman: Demon Bind!"
A thick mist flooded the zone—demons inhaled and dropped dead.
A roar shook the forest.
Everyone stopped.
From the shadows emerged a colossal Oni—two-legged, crimson-eyed, with a horned snout and ringed nose.
The Platinum-Ranked Demon:
Tenkō no Gyakusha (The Havoc of Heaven).
Zenith narrowed his eyes.
"…A Platinum Oni."
The demon breathed fire.
Oborozuka's mirrors redirected it.
Ranka summoned a three-tailed fox, but the demon grabbed it by the tail and slammed it down.
Raijin's speed couldn't break its skin.
Hinazuki's chains failed.
Ishiguro screamed and smashed the ground, but it was no use.
The demon roared, unleashing a shockwave that sent all of them flying—trees ripped from roots, bodies battered into the dirt.
As they struggled to rise, Lithos pointed.
"There! A core in its chest—that's its power source!"
Zenith's eyes lit up.
"Then we only get one shot."
Zenith ran.
Fireballs came for him—Oborozuka deflected them.
Dark beams followed—Lithos countered with portal spells.
Ranka's foxfire burned down more beams.
Yatsurugi's ravens blinded the demon's eyes.
Hinazuki shouted, "Chains! Bind now!!"
The demon was held—barely.
Ishiguro slammed his blade into the ground.
"Step on!"
Zenith launched into the air—blazing upward toward the core.
He remembered his Sensei's voice:
> "My heart—still.
My soul—calm.
Let me become one with Flow… Let me become one with the universe."
"Tensei: Ryūkōzan!!!"
Kazui's eyes widened.
"…That's a mythic technique…"
Zenith's blade ignited with celestial glow, unleashing a dragon-shaped slash that struck the core.
The crystal shattered.
The demon disintegrated.
Silence fell.
They had won.
Until—
A spear flew through the trees—
Zenith turned too late—
Hinazuki leapt forward.
Thud.
The spear pierced his chest.
Blood spilled. Hinazuki fell.
"Hinazuki!!!"
Zenith's voice cracked as he dashed into the forest, following the trail of blood.
He stopped.
There, lying in crimson pools…
Two bodies.
The Arazaki twins.
And the last two members of their group.
Dead.
Zenith stood frozen.
"…What the hell… happened here?"