Theia's silky white hair swung to the right as she revealed herself from behind Luna's back. Her dark red eyes looked toward Reed and Vii, who stood observing her.
Luna looked at Theia, looking at her red, blushing face and her twitching eyebrows. Seeing her, Luna said, "Her name is Theia."
"Theia, you say," Reed repeated while assessing her. Looking her up and down, he didn't seem to notice anything. He turned to Vii, saying, "She doesn't look dangerous; her body isn't trained at all."
Hearing his words, Vii looked at her as well, assessing her, but came to the same conclusion, "Her mana isn't that potent."
Reed looked at Theia, lingering for a while, and looked back at Vii. "Right? Then that's fine. She never really had any friends."
Reed breathed in and walked up to Theia. Crouching in front of them, he asked, "Do you have any family?"
Theia bobbed her head vigorously and grabbed Luna's arm, hugging it. "Her!" she said.
That gesture made Luna's drawing a heartfelt, eye-crinkling smile onto her face
Reed let out a quick chuckle and stood up. "Then alright. If you don't have any family, then you can be hers."
Vii added, "Her family."
Reed glanced at her and back at Luna. "Ah, yes. Her family, I meant."
"Well then, Luna, do you want to start now or rest and do it later?" Reed asked while walking up to the wooden sword rack, picking a sword for himself and for Luna.
"I'd like to do it now. The sooner the better, right, Theia?"
Theia hugged her arm harder and nodded along, her blush deepening. Luna caressed Theia's hair, and she looked up at Luna's face. Seeing her smile, she let go reluctantly as Luna continued, "Thank you. Let's play later, okay? We'll have a lot of fun."
Theia nodded cheerfully, walking up to the red pillar in the right corner. She sat beside it, leaning her back on it, and watched Luna from afar.
***
Reed, holding both his sword and Luna's in his hands, walked toward the middle of the space where Luna stood.
"You don't need to hold back. Try your best—I'll stop the duel when I've seen enough of what you've learned this month."
Luna swallowed and watched as her dad walked from the sword rack to the middle, stopping in front of her.
Reed looked at Luna and tossed the sword from his left hand; it embedded itself into the ground in front of her.
Luna grabbed the hilt and pulled the sword out of the dirt. She gripped it tightly, inhaling and exhaling slowly.
"Then start whenever you want to."
Vii slowly backed away from the middle, watching from afar how the duel would proceed.
"Okay." Luna took a deep breath in and out, focused her gaze on Reed, exhaled, and lunged forward.
Running in a straight line toward Reed, she slashed horizontally at his waist.
Seeing it, Reed jumped sideways to the right and slashed back at Luna.
Luna ducked in and swung at the base of Reed's sword. The attack connected, but it barely did anything—it didn't move the sword at all.
Luna attacked relentlessly from right and left at Reed, but he blocked every attack, his eyes tracking each movement, predicting how best to block without hurting her.
As another attack came, Reed swiftly snapped his wrist, sending Luna's arm flying to the side. As Reed prepared to attack, Luna jumped back and watched him slowly walk toward her.
What do I do? Any attack I try won't work against him. Luna thought, her arms aching, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
If nothing direct works, then let's try something indirect—a surprise attack might do, maybe.
Luna ran forward at full speed, attacking without a second of doubt. She slashed at his right side, then followed up to the left, repeating the attacks.
Just as Reed kept blocking, falling into a rhythm, Luna decided to surprise him.
He's not fully focused on fighting me, so this might work.
Luna gripped the handle and imagined a fire crawling up the hilt of the sword—a strong, deep white fire. Just as she imagined it, a sinking feeling in her chest grew strong, a hot white fire that sapped the strength from her limbs even as it enveloped the sword.
The moment the sword ignited, the air itself seemed to scream. Reed jolted, a cold sweat instantly beading on his face. The world around the sword twisted, and it suddenly felt like there was no air left to breathe. Luna swung with her whole range of motion and struck Reed's sword.
As it touched, Reed let go of it immediately. The sword flew toward the wall, but before it could hit, white flames erupted along its length. In the space of a heartbeat, the sword became nothing but a shower of ash.
Reed watched the sword burn up in the air. He looked at Luna, whose sword was burning pure white, then back at her, confused. As she held it, the sword slowly turned to ash in her hand, disappearing completely.
Reed straightened his back and scratched the back of his head, sighing, "Then I have no other choice but to accept it."
"I'll approve of your training."
Hearing those words, Luna lunged toward Reed, hugging him tightly around his waist and digging her face into his stomach. "Thank you!" she shouted happily.
Reed, seeing it happen, caressed her hair. He was about to respond, but hesitated—and instead, he smiled gently.