The next day, Raye and Kolt stood outside, each holding their weapons. Kolt was shirtless once again, he must have been used to the cold that he is resistant to it. Kolt was holding a short curved sword made out of the tail bone of a beast he once slaughtered and gained as a summon.
"That sword is made out of the tail bone of the steel dragon, one of the toughest dragon in the world,"
Will said as he watches Raye trained with Kolt. Auoun, Al and Amethia were shocked and one thing came to their mind. This is the power of the Dark Sage.
Kolt did not say anything to initiate the battle. He just walked to his left where Raye walked to his right. Suddenly, Kolt appeared in front of Raye and swings his sword at him, Raye barely blocked the attack before flying a few feet back. Before he could get ready, Kolt send another strike at Raye. Not long, Raye is already on the ground, panting heavily.
"Too slow, try training your reaction speed,"
Raye stood up as Kolt pointed his left hand at Raye. Bones of the dead were summoned and all pointed at Raye.
"This will be your training for reaction speed, and also your mana sense for a powerful opponent if you were to encounter one,"
The bones all flew towards Raye as he blocked the attacks. The attack came from all directions, making him relying on his agility more than his strength. Not long later, he was overpowered by the bones.
"You are not leaving until you have mastered it, you got to be quick if you want to move on,"
This words motivated Raye to train. for the whole day, the only thing he has been doing is training his reaction speed against the bones. When evening arrives, Kolt returned from collecting wood and found Raye resting on the ground, drenched with sweats.
"...How is it going?"
"I think...I...might have...mastered it..."
Raye huff and pant loudly as Kolt raised his eyebrows.
"In a day? We will see about that,"
Kolt dropped the woods and stood opposite of Raye. Same thing, he summoned bones from all directions and aimed at Raye. This time, he is able to parry and block it though he soon quickly falls because of lack of rest.
"...For someone who just trained with no rest...not bad, I wouldn't say you mastered it, more of you adapted to it,"
"(Huff) I-I'm good at adapting,"
"...That's it for today, tomorrow, we will train your sense of mana and your sword style.
While Raye was training with Kolt, the rest of the Everlight party members went and kill some beasts, collecting some items and experience during the meantime. The next day, Raye and Kolt were outside again. As always, Kolt did not wear his clothes. They stood opposite of each other as Kolt initiate the battle with the bones again.
Raye dashed to the side and parried all of the attacks from all sides. He leaped up and slashed the bones, breaking them to then using air slash to send them away.
"Not bad, lets make a change of tactic,"
Suddenly, few bones from above falls on Raye as he was busy blocking and destroying the bones. He look up and swings his sword up. A beam of light arose around the sword as a white beam was sent up in the air, disintegrating the bones from the above. Raye then took a deep breath and swings his sword with all his strength, creating a huge air slash as the bones around him were all sent away. Raye huffed as he looks at Kolt.
"...Pretty good, now then, let's start with another batch,"
More and more bones formed around Raye. While he was distracted with the bones, Kolt summoned a sharp bone that could pierced through Raye in a second and imbued lot of mana into it. This should make him sense the presence. Kolt thought to himself as he lowers the presence, testing if Raye could sense it if it was lowered. The bone was sent in a neck breaking speed towards Raye. Raye quickly caught onto it and swings his sword around, sending the rest of the bones away. He then imbued a lot of mana into his sword and parried the attack. Blood came out of Raye's mouth as the was pushed a few feet back. The only thing that is holding him is the thick snow on the ground.
The bone slowly stop spinning and dropped onto the ground. The impact of the attack was so huge that Raye's hair flew backward.
"...Not bad, though you could do much better, we will practice that another day, now then,"
Kolt walked forward and gripped his sword tightly.
"Let's duel,"
Kolt suddenly appeared in front of Raye. This time, Raye parried it without breaking a sweat as more strikes came from Kolt. Raye manage to stay firm while also retaliating. Kolt ran and did a somersault up high in the air and swing his sword at Raye, creating an air slash that flew towards Raye. Raye blocked the attack but it pushes him down. The slash was so powerful the snow below exploded up in the air. In this misty situation, Raye wiped off his blood on his mouth and looked around. It was so misty he could not see what is behind them. He looked around and then turned his back. A sudden attack from the behind swings down at Raye. He manage to blocked it but the impact send him out of the mist. Being able to see Kolt's shadowy figure from inside the mist, he raises his sword as light beamed in his sword.
"EXCALIBUR!"
The 'EXCALIBUR' that Raye produced is unlike his previous. It is now more powerful, more destructive and faster than before. The training with the Azure Vanguard sure did paid off. Kolt stopped running and pointed his sword at the beam. He did some sort of movement that gathered the power from the 'EXCALIBUR' at the tip of his sword. The beam swirled around at the tip when colt did some movement before being released back to Raye. Raye quickly gripped his sword tightly and stood firm on the ground but the beam was too powerful it sent him back.
The mist subsides as Kolt sweat dripped onto the snow. Raye stood up to face Kolt swinging his sword at him. They exchange strike, each parrying each attacks. This goes on for a while before Kolt kicked the snow on the ground at Raye, stunning him in the snowy mist as he flow like water and swings his sword at Raye's neck. Raye quickly held his sword straight. The tip of his sword came in contact with Kolt's blade. Although how firmed Raye stand on the ground, the attack still sends him smashing onto two to three trees before finally stopping. He spat out blood as he is unable to fight.
Kolt breathe heavily as sweat drips onto the ground. He raises his hand and ended the battle. Kolt then walked towards Raye and gave him hand. Raye grabbed onto it and thanked Kolt for the fruitful battle.
"...I have noticed your fight style is more destructive, I won't say it's bad, it's just...consume a lot of strength and mana, which is why today, I will teach you about 'Water Dance',"
"'Water Dance'?"
Raye asked in confusion.
"'Water Dance' is a sword style technique that existed long ago, but first, what is your attribute?"
"Water,"
"Perfect, the perfect attribute for the technique,"
Kolt then brought Raye deep into the forest and sat in the middle of it.
"First, you need to be calm constantly, you can't use it if you aren't, this technique is founded by the water attribute in the first dawn, the user move smoothly as if they are like water flow through, not only that, the technique is very stealthy where the opponent can't hear your movement, it is like you are floating in the air,"
Kolt then raised his sword diagonally and slices down. No sound nor big movement were made, just simple swaying his sword down smoothly, and the tree in front of him was cleanly sliced. A loud thud shook the forest as Kolt swings his sword and held it with his blade facing down from his hand.
"Your turn, I want you is to focus, be calm, no need to draw out your weapon, this forest surrounded by trees is the best location to train that technique,"
Raye closed his eyes, trying his hard to focus, totally missing out of the point calmness. Kolt sighed as he swings his hand at Raye's head. He dodges it which shocked Kolt.
"...Not bad, but remember, I not only want you to focus but also be calm,"
Raye closed his eyes once more and took a deep breath in. He then imagined himself to be in a pool of shallow water. He breathes out and walked forward. He then opened his eyes and dashed around the forest. No sound was made. He ran around the trees. Dodging left to right, right to left. Up to down, down to up. He moves smoothly as he was a flow of water stream. He moves without needing much strength, it was as if he was floating despite the tip of his feet was brushing the ground. There were many leaves on the ground but even so, Raye manages to stepped over it without making a single sound. The forest was silent, only the sound of bird chirping and the water stream flowing downwards nearby. Raye did a lap around the forest then returned back to Kolt.
"So, how was it?"
"It was as if...I was a stream of water, so calm..."
Kolt smiled and pointed at one of the trees.
"You're a water attribute so this is expected, use what you learned and do what I did,"
Raye drew out his sword and swings his sword lightly despite having a hard grip on his sword. The tree was then cleanly sliced without any sound was made.
"I...did it!"
"Congrats, we will train for the next three days, only then, your party is allowed to leave,"
During those three days, Raye trained with Kolt and learned many things. After that, it was finally time they leave for the next kingdom. But before the day they left, Will find Kolt and chat with him one final time.
"So...what do you think about him?"
Will asked Kolt, snorting.
"Well...he adapts real fast, as if...he is no mere human, he has a lot to learn,"
"He's just like you, when you first became a Dark Sage,"
"I guess you're right,"
Will and Kolt stared into the aurora at the night sky.
"It's truly beautiful,"
"...I supposed it is, better than the sight you find in the Demon King Continent,"
Will laughed at Kolt's joke. Back then, Will would always complains about it and always wishes to explore the world.
"So...how does it feel...that your wish is coming true?"
"...I don't know, this journey I had, kind of giving me the motivation to...understand human again,"
"...You'll soon understand them, I may not be one, but when I first came here to hide, I watched the human's activities, it is no different from ours, except, they don't kill for fun, maybe some but...their expression are so genuine, different from your melancholic expression,"
"..."
Will from looking at Kolt to then looking at the aurora painted across the sky.
"...This journey...might make me turn over a new leaf..."
"...You know, coming here, I got to learn about human, this very race that we were ordered to kill, now that I've live alongside them, I come to learn that how wonderful such creatures they are, they are interesting creatures to say the least,"
Kolt breathed out a mist of air and continued,
"Humans aren't really the bad, are they? I have this feeling of coming to this place after our lord's demise, maybe it was because it fits me, or it was my curiosity to learn about the creatures I've been slaying over the years, I don't know the reason, but I'm glad that I trust that feeling,"
Kolt let out a wry laugh before standing up and walking away, leaving Will alone leaning against the fences outside of the house.