In the night that had just fallen, Asti, who was busy cleaning, hurried to finish so he could start training.
He hadn't chosen to settle in this dojo for nothing: he wanted to become stronger and more useful in combat.
"Finally, I'm done," he sighed. "Alright, let's get started."
First, two hours of running to build his endurance.
Two hours later, Asti, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily, wasn't ready to stop. He headed toward the wooden swords and began practicing.
"Alright, let's imagine my opponent is that Sonia."
Asti started fighting an invisible adversary, relying solely on his memories. He fell to the ground.
"No way! How do I dodge her wind blades? My speed isn't enough."
He wasn't just drawing on Tony's fight but also on Dina's, which she had described to them in detail.
Three hours later, Asti struck from all sides, but he did so intelligently. He aimed for vital points, feinting to one side before directing his sword to the other.
But nothing got through. As Dina had said, Sonia was monstrous in close combat. Parrying her attacks was tough—extremely tough—pushing Asti to drop to one knee under the imagined force of Sonia's sword.
For the hundredth time, he was "killed."
Lying on the ground, his face showed no anger, only enthusiasm mixed with exhaustion. "She's unpredictable. It's easy to see why Dina lost."
With a smile on his lips, he muttered, "But alright, let's keep going."
At the same moment, in the forest, Tony and Hikiri crossed paths.
Surprised at first to see Tony, Hikiri quickly regained his composure. "You're finally back on your feet?" he asked.
"Yeah, though I'm not at my peak yet. What about you? What are you doing here?" Tony replied.
After eyeing Tony for a moment, Hikiri said, "Same as you—training."
A grin spread across Tony's face. "Alright, how about a friendly sparring match?"
"No holds barred, then?" Hikiri flashed a wild smile. "I'm in."
"First, let's move away from here. It'd be a shame to get interrupted by one of the troop leaders," Tony said.
A few minutes later, deep in the forest, Tony and Hikiri faced each other.
"You underestimating me?" Hikiri asked, glancing at Tony's empty hands.
"Nah, sorry if it feels that way, but I'm working on improving my control over lightning and fire. I rely too much on chaos, so I've decided to fight barehanded. You'll see," Tony replied.
"If that's what you want." Hikiri swung his sword five times toward Tony.
Seeing five air blades speeding toward him, Tony closed his eyes. "Here we go."
Lightning crackled around him, enveloping him like armor. A sword of lightning formed, growing as bolts of electricity sparked from it.
With a single swing of the sword, hundreds of lightning bolts shot forward, shattering the air blades instantly.
Shocked, Hikiri decided to step it up. But in a flash, Tony was already in front of him, raising his lightning sword to strike.
Hikiri quickly blocked the attack but dropped to one knee. This sword… it's too heavy and powerful, he thought.
Tony made his sword explode, and several lightning bolts struck Hikiri. Under the relentless assault, Hikiri scrambled for a plan. Use my elements in a way…
He inhaled a massive amount of air—far more than any ordinary human could—and exhaled violently toward Tony.
Tony was swept backward by a fierce gust. "You think that's gonna stop me?" he shouted.
If his lightning had extended three meters around him before, it now stretched to ten.
Hikiri didn't waste time. He summoned rain, and the droplets transformed into countless thin ice blades, which he hurled at Tony while charging forward.
Amid his lightning, Tony, who had withstood Hikiri's gust, conjured a sword of fire and lightning. Suddenly, an ice blade embedded itself in the ground before him. Looking up, he saw dozens more falling from the sky.
But that wasn't a problem for him. He shifted the lightning in front of him to above his head. As he advanced toward Hikiri, the ice blades were obliterated by the lightning.
Hikiri, rushing toward Tony, clenched his fists. Swift and powerful, he aimed a carefully prepared strike. He drew his sword and slashed through the air, unleashing a shockwave of incredible speed and force.
Tony felt the wind surge against him, but it was too late. The shockwave hit, dealing heavy damage and hurling him at full speed into a tree.
Hikiri collapsed to the ground, exhausted. That attack had drained him, but he knew Tony wouldn't give up.
He was right. Embedded in the tree, Tony laughed. He emerged, injured and limping, but undeterred. The taste of blood in his mouth and the smell of burning in the forest fueled him.
"Nice one, Hikiri! But get ready—I'm ending this now!" Tony shouted.
His lightning, which had vanished after the impact, returned denser than ever. Some of it gathered around his hands, forming a bow of intense light.
Tony pushed his lightning to its limits, feeling an immense weight on his body. "If you're going all out, I'll follow your lead," Hikiri said.
A tornado formed in his hand, growing larger and spinning faster. Though they were far apart, they locked eyes and shouted in unison:
"LUMINOUS DISASTER!"
"TERRESTRIAL DESTROYER!"
When Tony fired his arrow, lightning raged around him, tearing through trees and earth. Just before launching his tornado, Hikiri had infused it with air blades—lethal to anyone caught in their path.
Though his tornado didn't match the scale of a true one, it stood twenty meters tall. He unleashed it, determined to win.
The two monstrous attacks ravaged everything in their path—trees, earth, all swept away. When they collided, the arrow pierced the tornado, slicing through it like a phoenix. It emerged right in front of Hikiri, who dodged it by a hair.
But a hand shot out from the lightning, placing a fiery sword at his throat.
"How'd you do that?" Hikiri asked, stunned.
Emerging from the lightning, Tony grinned. "Strategy, Hikiri, strategy. When I saw your tornado, I changed my plan. I made the lightning arrow faster and sharper. You gave me the idea: I knew you'd lose sight of me once you launched that attack. So, I hid inside the arrow's lightning, and here we are."
Hikiri dropped to the ground, accepting defeat. "But tell me, why did my attack give you that idea?"
Tony let his fiery sword vanish and sat on the ground. "Well, tornadoes are fast, everyone knows that. But my lightning is quick and even faster. Even though the inside of your tornado spins rapidly, my arrow could cut through it without much trouble. But if you'd condensed your tornado into a smaller one with the power and speed of a twenty- or thirty-meter one, I'd have a hole in my body right now."
"You're giving me ideas," Hikiri said.
"Yeah, that kind of technique could be a last resort. Imagine a mini-tornado, three or five meters wide, with the power of a thousand-meter one. You could wipe out an army in the blink of an eye," Tony replied.
Suddenly, shouts echoed: "Over there! Look, a tornado rising from the ground! People must be fighting!"
"Find them and stop them—or kill them!" another voice yelled as several figures approached.
"I think we've drawn the western city troop," Hikiri said.
"So what? Send your tornado their way," Tony said.
"Are you crazy? It'll hit the city, and there are people who don't deserve to get caught in it!" Hikiri shot back.
"Alright, let's bail!" Tony said, grabbing Hikiri. "You're about to feel what it's like to ride the lightning."
Tony compressed the lightning around himself. "I hope they can protect themselves, or they're done for."
He unleashed the lightning, so powerful it reached the sky. Several members of the western troop were struck, their bodies charred, while Tony and Hikiri sped away.
Among them, a girl with a dark expression arrived at the battle site. She looked up at the sky.
"So, they escaped through the sky," Hirina murmured.