Before the first bell...
There was no sky in the Verdant Realm.
Only an endless canopy of emerald leaves stretching beyond sight.
Flowers bloomed without sunlight.
Rivers flowed without rain.
Nothing grew old.
Nothing truly died.
A young Kaien wandered beneath the great trees, carrying a basket of freshly picked blossoms.
"...Will we ever leave this place?"
An old voice answered from somewhere beyond the forest.
"When the gates open."
"They always open."
Kaien looked toward the endless horizon.
"...What are humans like?"
The old voice laughed.
"...Fragile."
"...Beautiful."
"...And frightening."
The memory faded like pollen carried by the wind.
—---------------
Silence.
The mountain wind swept through the clearing.
One side...
A Guardian of Flame.
A Guardian of Wind.
A young blacksmith gripping a borrowed katana.
The other...
A child of the Verdant Realm.
No one moved.
Until—
Hana sighed.
"...Alright."
She spun her spear once before resting it against her shoulder.
"You've got one ugly face."
Kaien smiled politely.
"I thought you found it pretty."
"...Not anymore."
She grinned.
"You wore it wrong."
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
BOOM.
The ground beneath her feet exploded.
Ren's eyes widened.
She didn't run.
She launched herself.
Like a cannon.
The spear screamed through the air, wrapped in bright orange flames.
---
CLANG!
Kaien caught the shaft of the spear with one hand.
"Mh...Strong."
Hana grinned.
"Damn right."
She suddenly released the spear.
Kaien's eyes narrowed slightly.
"...Hm?"
Her fist crashed into his jaw.
CRACK.
For the briefest moment...
The world disappeared.
—--------
Flames.
A battlefield buried beneath ash.
A woman laughed as she spun an enormous spear through the air.
Fire danced around her like a living beast.
She smiled with the exact same reckless confidence.
"Too slow!"
Her flaming fist slammed into Kaien's face.
The memory shattered.
—-------
Back to the present.
Kaien slowly turned his head toward Hana.
Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.
Then...
He smiled.
"...Marvelous!"
Hana blinked.
"...Huh?"
His emerald eyes softened.
"...You were..."
"...just like her!"
Before Hana could answer—
His open palm drove into her stomach.
BOOM.
The impact blasted her backward through the clearing.
She skidded across the stone before digging her spear into the ground to stop herself.
Silence.
Then—
She burst into laughter.
"Hahaha!"
"Oh..."
She wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth.
"...Now we're having fun.”
Ren couldn't follow half of it.
---
Kaien slid backward exactly one step.
"...Interesting."
Vines burst from the ground.
Not toward Hana—
Toward her shadow.
The vines wrapped around it.
Hana suddenly stopped moving.
"...Huh?"
She looked down.
Kaien raised a finger.
"The Verdant Realm does not bind flesh."
"It binds what follows it."
The vines tightened.
Hana's body jerked backward despite her feet refusing to move.
"...Okay..."
She laughed.
"That's actually kinda cool."
Then—
Fire exploded from beneath her feet.
The shadow burned away.
The vines crumbled into ash.
She stretched her shoulders.
"...Now we're even."
---
A blade of compressed wind cut across the battlefield.
Kaien leaned an inch to the left.
The attack missed his neck by a hair.
A mountain pine behind him split cleanly in half.
Then another.
Then another.
Five trees collapsed.
Only then...
Did the wind stop.
Kaien glanced sideways.
"...Wind."
Kaito stood where he'd always been.
His sword was already back in its sheath.
"...You talk too much."
---
Kaien chuckled.
"I don't. Usually."
He disappeared.
Not fast.
Simply...
Gone.
Ren blinked.
"...Where—"
A branch cracked overhead.
Kaien descended from the trees.
Palm extended toward Kaito.
Flowers bloomed in the air.
Each one burst apart into glowing pollen.
Kaito closed his eyes.
"...Don't breathe."
The wind around him changed.
Instead of attacking...
It circled him.
The pollen never reached his body.
"...Smart."
Kaien admitted.
"It rots the mind before the flesh."
Hana looked at Ren.
"...See?"
"...Ugly."
---
The battle continued.
Flame.
Wind.
Vines.
Steel.
The clearing slowly disappeared beneath shattered earth and burning roots.
Yet something bothered Ren.
Every time Hana landed a clean hit...
Kaien changed.
Every time Kaito altered his rhythm...
Kaien adjusted.
He wasn't predicting.
He was...
Learning.
Ren frowned.
"...No..."
---
Hana slammed her spear into the ground.
A pillar of fire erupted beneath Kaien.
The Realmborn walked through it.
His robes burned away at the edges...
But new vines quietly wove fresh cloth over the damaged fabric.
"...Beautiful."
He whispered.
"Fire truly refuses to surrender."
---
Hana laughed.
"You're weird."
She slammed bottom of the spear straight into the ground.
"But..."
"...I'm starting to like you."
Kaien smiled.
"I cannot say the same."
---
BOOM!
This time—
Kaito attacked from the front.
Hana from above.
A perfect pincer.
Kaien blocked Kaito's blade—
Then twisted just enough for Hana's spear to miss his heart by centimeters.
He still took the cut.
Blood splashed onto the stone.
But he smiled.
"...Better."
---
Ren noticed it again.
The first time...
Kaien barely reacted.
Now...
He was reading them.
Faster.
Cleaner.
Like every exchange was teaching him something.
"...He's changing..."
He whispered.
Kaito heard him.
Only for a moment.
Their eyes met.
Then Kaito returned to the fight.
He didn't answer.
But...
He remembered those words.
---
Kaien stepped back for the first time.
Not because he was overwhelmed.
Because he'd seen enough.
"...Fascinating."
His emerald eyes drifted toward Ren.
"You haven't swung your sword once."
Ren tightened his grip.
"...I'm waiting."
Kaien's smile widened.
"...Good."
"The patient ones..."
"...are always the most dangerous."
Hana groaned loudly.
"Can you stop flirting with my blacksmith?"
Ren nearly choked.
"...YOUR blacksmith?!"
She winked.
"You haven't died yet."
"That's basically friendship."
Even Kaito let out the faintest sigh.
"...Focus."
---
The wind stopped.
The flames dimmed.
No one lowered their weapon.
Because they all felt it.
Kaien's aura changed.
The playful curiosity...
Was gone.
For the first time...
He looked like he intended to end the fight.
He slowly raised one hand.
The entire forest answered.
Roots began breaking through the earth.
Trees bent inward.
The mountain itself seemed to awaken.
Kaien spoke softly.
"...Allow me..."
"...to show you why humans feared the Seven Realms."
---
End of Chapter 11
---