It was horrifying.
Sunny was made aware of what had happen to the blind dreamer.
Pity engulfed him, like a brother watching over his little sister. He was made aware that his duty doesn't end in family but also for those who needed it.
'She resembles Rain.'
Although not actually in appearance as the two are completely different but in their presence. He found someone worth protecting.
***
As Cassia sat within the canteen of the academy, barely holding herself up she recalls their final moment. Their final struggle.
Her mother breathing through puntured lungs, the ribcage biting in, piercing through the lungs into the back of her mother's spine. Her father missing his entire jaw along with his throat. It was a miracle they lasted for several days.
Literally hell on earth.
What's left of Cassia is death, death from winter solstice. There's nothing more to expect in life but the inevitable.
***
Meanwhile the sword whistles through the air, rippling through the wind.
How does one punch with little to no distance for proper momentum.
By twisting every muscle fiber to generate enough momentum. Starting from the bottom of the toe through the leg and thigh, then the core. Flexing and stretching the abs and back muscles, then the shoulder. Everything flows into the knuckle which would also twist maximizing as much force while also maintaining a solid stance that never falters, supporting each movement.
Without proper execution, the resulting impact would be far too little. Like a simple push it did nothing but give the enemy an opening.
The same would also be applied on the sword. This has been Nephis' core training separate from her family's swordsmanship.
During sparring in the academy, she never once showed her family's techniques, by now everyone would have noticed she was adamant using only the basic swings combined with minimal movement.
She epitomizes the strength of simple swordsmanship. Never showing any complex movements, just a proper stance, a horizontal and vertical slash. Downward and upward, left and right. Despite always loosing in sparring the opponent is force to exerted more effort than her.
When it comes to being unarmed, she only jabs left and right, an uppercut and straight punches. And also a proper posture.
It was too simple and downright ridiculous, people understand that basics are important but to maintain such basics after more than a week, people now stopped ridiculing her. Not that she cared.
Caster who has been her sparing partner for more than a week felt it.
'Monster'
His mission now felt more daunting that he could anticipate.
'Why can't I beat her...' the rage of an aspiring dreamer, the pride of his upbringing. Caster may have won in all their sparring but at the cost of using his ability and sometimes his clan's swordsmanship.
As the sparring continues, Sunny just watches from the side, the thought of her being that famous did linger in his mind.
'The immortal flame is no joke.' he thought
by now he had memorized her movements, but never once tried to imitate her. He had too much on his hands, doing basic stretching is one of them. His body did got enhanced but still wreched by it's past experiences.
A boy shouldn't have struggled this much early in his life, overwork at an early age, the simple act of punching is already a struggle. But that was after he recently conquered his first nightmare.
Through Julius' guidance, his body hecame flexible again. But not without experiencing extreme cramps all over his body. Sunny was used to pain already, this much wasn't close enough to his first nightmare.
Bombarded with too much knowledge, even the proper way of writing a journal was hammered into his mind. Yet it didn't matter. A slight headache is all it was.
Despite the overwhelming books stacked on top of each other, memories of the sparring session occupy his mind. Like a broken projector, it repeats itself non-stop.
"Focus!"
Julius pointed out Sunny being distracted by other things. And he knew what those other thing was.
"I know it might seem pointless what Im teaching-"
"Nearly everyone is sparing, learning how to fight except for me and Cassie!"
a rare outburst from sunless, his childishness something he tought would never come again resurfaced.
"Oh? have you been close to her recently?"
"This is not about that, and yes I have been chatting with her from time to time. I want to defend myself, is it that hard to see?"
Paranoia forced him to divert the topic as much as he could.
'Damn flaw!'