Dripping head to toe in sweat, both Sora and Yukio panted heavily after their battle with the old man.
"Well, I am very impressed." Takeo said, breathing a little heavily but he was completely unscathed nonetheless. "Though we are not done here."
Sora's eyebrow twitched and Yukio flinched. "What do you mean?" Yukio asked.
"I have many complaints, though. You two basically only used the same attacks over and over, no variety." The old man shook his head in disappointment.
Sora immediately raised both arms in protest. "You JUST said you were impressed?! This is not fair. You just want to beat up two little boys." He also shook his head in disappointment.
"Well, let's do that one more time. I will use every movement from the Kagamihana Style. And you two are not allowed to use either the downward slash or the skyward slash." He said with a smile.
"What the hell is the Kagamihana style? And how is that fair?! How are we supposed to beat you if we can't use the only attacks you have taught us?!" Sora barked in disbelief.
The old man gave him an incredulous look. "I have taught you many attacks, yet you insisted on using only the skyward slash. The Kagamihana Style is the true name of the Mirror Flower Style and it is the name I use when referring to the movements of the art. There are ten movements in this collection, each one incredibly difficult to learn." He said with a scholarly tone.
Yukio's eyes gleamed with anticipation. "Will you teach them to us?" He asked with hope in his voice.
"No." Takeo replied with a cheeky tone. "You will have to learn them yourselves from our fights. We will only have 5 sparring matches and then you must learn the movements yourselves." He said, a kind smile on his face.
Sora nearly exploded in rage but his eyes widened as Takeo flew towards him.
He quickly raised his guard and managed to parry the blow.
"Kagamihana-ryū, page 1: Flower Reflection." Takeo said softly, his blade immediately moving with deceptive slowness, the tip of the sword drifting off center as his body angled away from both students at once. His stance hid both distance and his damn intent simultaneously! His weight distributed in a way that made it impossible to predict which direction he was going to move.
But Sora lunged anyway.
He ignored his aching muscles and drove in hard, refusing to give Takeo time to settle, his sword snapping forward in a horizontal cut, trying not to use the skyward slash. Takeo didn't meet it though. He just shifted slightly out of the way so that the strike passed through empty air, his body moving with the swing.
"Too direct," Takeo said calmly. "You're forgetting to keep your intentions hidden."
Yukio moved the moment Sora's attack missed.
He slipped in along the angle Takeo had vacated, blade flicking forward in a tight thrust. But the old man's sword rose lazily to intercept, the wooden blades making contact as he perfectly anticipated Yukio's timing. For just a moment, their blades were perfectly aligned, still.
But then Takeo made another move.
He adjusted his rhythm to match Yukio's bated breaths, his steps falling into the exact same cadence. "Kagamihana-ryū, page 2 : Still Water Mirror." The movement stretched, Takeo's movements syncing perfectly with Yukio's, until the poor boy felt as though he was fighting his reflection.
"Feel it?" Takeo asked. "He's leading you without touching you."
Sora could see it all.
His golden eyes flashed as he traced Takeo's chakra as it smoothed, flattened, spread evenly throughout his limbs. There wasn't a surge, no telling movements, it was seriously moving in perfect harmony! Sora snarled and forced himself to slow down, breaking his own rhythm.
Takeo smiled faintly.
The instant Sora changed pace, Takeo moved.
His blade vanished for a fraction of a second as he turned, drawing and cutting in a singular fluid motion that didn't seem to disturb the air at all. "Kagamihana-ryū, page 3 : Mist Draw." The edge flashed out of nowhere, aimed for Sora's midsection, appearing only as the cut was already finishing.
Sora's eyes opened wide, not even the eyes of god could see that attack! He barely managed to twist out of the way.
Yukio immediately reacted, stepping in to pressure Takeo before he could fully reset. He swung in a controlled diagonal way, careful not to overextend, making the old man parry.
And he did, but that didn't mean he stopped moving.
He passed by Yukio as he effortlessly deflected the strike, gliding past his shoulder with a shallow cut that would've probably cut down to bone if these weren't wooden blades. "Kagamihana-ryū, page 4 : Butterfly's Edge." The motion kept moving, but it never committed, it just brushed past and disappeared, almost like a distant memory.
Yukio stiffened, not only mesmerised by the technique but also realising what had just happened.
"Don't follow my blade," Takeo said as he moved away. "Follow my body."
Sora charged in, far faster this time, his muscles bulking up as veins bulged. His blade reached low as if he was about to use the skyward slash, but then suddenly snapping the blade sideways, trying to box Takeo in against the dojo's wall.
Takeo stopped.
Not physically though… intentionally?
He paused just long enough for Sora's instincts to explode at the chance of an opportunity. "Kagamihana-ryū, page 5 : Shadow Invitation." The pause was bait, deliberate and unmistakable.
And Sora idiotically took it, obviously.
He lunged, his muscles pumping even more as he fully committed to the attack…
…and Takeo stepped into the attack and collapsed the space between them instantaneously. His shoulder slammed into Sora's chest, his blade twisting sharply to knock Sora's blade aside as he drove a short yet brutal blow into Sora's ribs with the flat edge of the blade.
Sora tumbled backward across the padded floors, air ripping out of his lungs.
"Sora, you are far too overexcitable." Takeo said with a chuckle.
Yukio moved quickly to cover Sora's recovery, his sword moving up as Takeo turned toward him. The old man's rhythm changed suddenly, Sora catching the movements of his chakra just barely.
Then it completely shattered.
Takeo flew forward at breakneck speeds, breaking every single attack pattern or habit that he had established so far. "Kagamihana-ryū, page 6 : Shattered Reflection." His speed doubled, his angle changing mid strike as he cut into what should've been a safe zone.
Yukio only just barely managed to block, the force of the impact driving him backward, his arms momentarily turning numb as his timing was completely thrown off.
"Patterns are promises," Takeo said, his voice a lot sharper now. "Break those promises and you are sure to kill."
Sora was back on his feet, anger fuelling him now, but despite all of that… he reigned himself in. He didn't rush forward like usual, he just stayed back and watched.
His eyes were darting around rapidly, mapping out Takeo's chakra once again from scratch, noting how even when the old man attacked aggressively, his chakra never truly fluctuated.
Sora stepped in quietly, his presence completely invisible to anyone untrained and struck! Not too hard, not fast either, but EXACTLY when Takeo shifted his weight to respond to Yukio.
It was a tiny cut. Very precise though, almost invisible.
Takeo's blade barely stopped it an inch from contact.
"Incredible! I was just about to show you that move!" He said softly. "That was Kagamihana-ryū, page 7 : Voice of the Flower! A super restrained, nearly imperceptible strike relying on perfect timing. You nearly had it!"
Yukio immediately took that cue.
Not to attack, but he just let his blade fall barely out of line, a fraction of vulnerability introduced on purpose. Takeo's eyes flicked to it, his attention immediately drawn…
…and Yukio began a descending sequence of strikes, each strike flowing seamlessly into the next, Takeo noticed that the young boy's eyes were wide open and bloodshot… yet unfocused.
He had seen this before, in his final duel with his younger brother. It was the flow state!
Each attack perfectly synchronised with the last, angles slowly getting tighter and tighter, the pressure increasing through inevitability instead of speed.
Takeo's eyes shot wide open. "To think not only Sora, but little Yukio would both accidentally use a technique that was a spitting image of a page of the Kagamihana-ryū!" He said with a grin.
"Kagamihana-ryū, page 8 : Falling Petals." He said, his voice deep and serious. "It is a technique that involves constant descending attacks that overwhelm the opponent's perception rather than their defense!"
Yukio seemed too lost in the heat of battle to respond, his eyes getting more and more bloodshot from the strain and sweat constantly flicking into them. But his sequence of attacks completely overwhelmed Takeo's perception, forcing him to respond faster and faster.
Instead of doing that, he quickly retreated, parrying and redirecting. But Yukio's control was immaculate. Each cut arrived precisely where Takeo needed to be to defend the last one.
Sora quickly joined the sequence instinctively, not overpowering Yukio's barrage but reinforcing it! Striking only when Yukio's rhythm needed it.
Suddenly, Takeo vanished from the onslaught.
He didn't step back or forward. He simply didn't strike when he should've. "Kagamihana-ryū, page 9 : Empty Bloom."
Yukio's blade passed through the space where it should've been resisted. His balance wavered for just a heartbeat.
That was more than enough.
Takeo stepped in and struck both of them in quick succession, the flat of his blade snapping against Sora's wrist and Yukio's shoulder, breaking their rhythm and waking Yukio up from his special state.
"Don't try to finish your pattern unless you are ready for silence!" Takeo said. "Empty space is the most dangerous opponent you will ever face!" He said with a grin.
Sora sighed dramatically. "Whatever that means…" he muttered before he and Yukio quickly recovered, breathing a lot heavier now, drenched in sweat. The dojo felt so much smaller now, they were getting dizzy.
Takeo raised his blade one final time. "Let's wrap this up." He said with a grin.
His posture changed.
It was so subtle, too subtle for anyone without trained perception or the eyes of god… so Sora felt it straight away. Takeo's chakra drew inward, compressing, every unnecessary movement vanishing.
"Watch closely." He said.
He moved one time.
It wasn't very fast.
Nor was it very slow.
But it was one hell of a decisive attack.
"Kagamihana-ryū, page 10 : Mirror's End."
The cut was so unfathomably efficient it was almost invisible, a single motion that ended the entire exchange the moment it began. Sora and Yukio both tried to react together, their blades immediately snapping up to block, but Takeo's timing was perfect… his strike slid between their defenders, stopping a breath between contact with both of them.
The entire dojo went silent.
Then Takeo lowered his sword.
"Try to memorise Kagamihana, though it's nearly impossible." He said, looking between them. "You must embody it. Each form is a way of thinking. Forget the names, they're just there for show. Remember the feeling when faced with the movement."
Sora exhaled slowly, his grin creeping back up onto his face despite the agony his body was in.
Yukio nodded enthusiastically, his chest rising and falling and his eyes so itchy that it almost made him start sobbing uncontrollably.