"Dragon's Tail!" She swept her leg viciously, taking Hisato's footing from beneath him.

Tycon appraised the girl's every action. She was fast, but her strikes were mediocre-- they lacked bite, killing potential.

"Consecutive Stone Punches!" She rained down blows upon the fallen man.

Tycon raised his eyebrows in silence. 'I'll give her a slight increase in score for viciousness.'

Hisato faded into shadow, reappearing nearby holding a green talisman. Bucket dropped down from a tree, forcing Hisato to turn and block the metal rod with his ringed saber. Bucket was able to use the block's force to flip backward, landing solidly and sweeping his metal staff sideways and striking Hisato's already weakened knee.

The man yelped in pain and swung his blade, but Bucket blocked it with his staff close to his body. As the boy was quite light he stumbled backward, eventually sliding in the dirt, his momentum only stopping near Tycon.

Tycon glared at the boy. Bucket grinned back, as if nothing was wrong. This kid was ridiculous-- He was performing far better than during training. Tycon glanced at the girl again, Taree of House Kimura. It seemed the girl motivated the boy. A rivalry, perhaps?

"Sir Tycon?" Bucket smiled innocently.

Tycon pursed his lips, "What is it, young man? I'm still very cross with you."

"But Sir? I've already accepted my punishment?"

Tycon narrowed his eyes into yellow, glowing squints. The boy had been a.s.signed punishment as atonement. Mistakes are to be remembered, but forgiven. It was one of Tycon's lessons to him. "Very well. Speak your mind, young friend."

"Could you lend me your sword?"

Tycon's annoyance turned to amus.e.m.e.nt as he traded Bucket the magical sword for the metal staff, "It's called the Shatterspike."

Bucket nodded a quick, "Thanks, Boss!" and dashed back to the fight, dragging the much-too-large longsword, Shatterspike, across the ground.

Tycon's eyebrow twitched at the boy's lack of care. It seemed he had perhaps been too quick to trade.

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Hisato screamed, his face a mess of bruises, "You wh.o.r.e! Hold still and DIE!"

Taree was flipping left and right, masterfully displaying her speed and agility in dodging Hisato's magic, exploding talismans.

"Black Talisman of the Abyss!" Hisato screamed, blood gurgling in his throat. He drew a talisman and dipped it in the blood on his chest. Throwing it, the mana in the talisman went berserk, sparking dark energies as a crackling roar reverberating throughout the forest.

The girl was leaping forward in mid-air, but she was able to perform a series of rapid hand seals, "Discipline!!"

With her incantation, the dark, crackling talisman fell to the ground, inert. Taree managed to reach Hisato, but she was immediately rebuffed by a swing of his ringed saber.

"Taree!" Bucket yelled, rus.h.i.+ng up to her. He held the longsword low with both hands, tip touching the mossy ground. Tacitly, the girl hopped onto the blade flat and Bucket tossed her up, into the air, and over Hisato.

Hisato raised his sword high, ready to crash down upon the young boy, "Outsider! I won't let you die with an intact corpse! I'll cut you into 33 pieces and feed you to the beasts!"

Hisato slammed his oppressive ringed blade down with all of his might, but Bucket was simultaneously swinging the Shatterspike upward. Hisato completed his swing, but the man's hope was extinguished when he saw the majority of his blade stab harmlessly into the dirt, a couple of yalms away. The blade capable of shattering Taree's crystal prison could just as easily break Hisato's sword.

Taree grabbed the back of Hisato's head from behind and drove her knee mercilessly into its base, "Risiiiiiing STORM!!" The resulting crack from the man's head sounded like a peal of thunder had shattered it.

Tycon narrowed his eyes. Would the girl take Bucket's victory? He called out, "Bucket, don't just stand there."

[Commander's Strike activated.]

Bucket had positioned his sword at the furthest he could rotate. He swung the flat of the blade precisely towards Hisato's temple, "Craaaas.h.i.+ng THUNDERR!!"

[Commander's Strike has evolved into Cras.h.i.+ng Thunder.]

Another crack resounded throughout the clearing as the flat side of the Shatterspike smashed against the side of Hisato's head. The crack was even louder than with Taree's strike and had sent the golden leaves near them to fly away outwardly in a burst.

Tycon stood up in awe, sensing the mana fluctuations from Bucket as much stronger than the mana he'd provided, "What was that? What in the seven h.e.l.ls was that?!"

[Cras.h.i.+ng Thunder added to Skill list.]

Tycon sucked in air through his teeth, knowing that Hisato had definitely suffered brain damage from the two consecutive head injuries.

Hisato's eyes rolled back, his knees struck the ground, hard, and then he collapsed to his side, unconscious.

"Yes!" Bucket rejoiced, "We did it!"

The orange-robed girl, Taree, crossed her arms, "What do you mean 'we'? I was the one who took him out!"

"What? Didn't you see that hit? I hurt him more!" Bucket was thoroughly shocked.

The girl was incensed, "Whatever! I hit him first!"

Tycon sat down and allowed his mind to drift as he ignored the bickering of children.

« System, display effects of Cras.h.i.+ng Thunder, if you would... »

[Cras.h.i.+ng Thunder: Support ability. Bucket is compelled to make an instantaneous bludgeoning strike against a secondary target with increased accuracy. Deals heavy damage and additional sonic damage. A modification of Commander's Strike, only usable by Bucket.]

...What a ridiculous child. Tycon wondered if the boy was a prodigy, or if the boy's elven bloodline has prompted the change... The only way he'd be more surprised is if the boy had learned a Skill on his own.

He observed the battlefield: Barza Keith, unconscious but stable; Blonde kid, Kimura Tamaki, unconscious; Muto Hisato, double traumatic brain injury; Yos.h.i.+o...

Tycon observed the white-haired youth. His System had displayed his aggression level with a transparent red tag: unapologetically hostile. How troublesome. The man had dragged himself to sit up against a tree, where he was laughing quietly to himself like a madman.

Bucket and Taree had approached him. Taree placed her hands on her hips, "What's so funny, Yos.h.i.+o?"

The man with pale features and sunken eyes only laughed harder, "You'll pay! You'll all pay! House Muto didn't just send Master Hisato, after all! Haha! Hahahaha!"

Tycon stopped paying attention. Going behind the children's backs, he began to loot Hisato's unconscious form. He found a magic ring. Nice. But there seemed to be nothing else, save a couple of green talismans.

« System, identify: I hope this is a spatial ring. I recall that Martialists like those. »

[Ring of Holding: Opens into a nondimensional s.p.a.ce of 10 cubic yalms and up to 250 ponze.]

« How convenient. System, inquiry: Does the Ring have any security measures? »

[System response: The Ring of Holding supports the following security features: Mana recognition, voice recognition, and verbal response. The ring is currently attuned to Muto Hisato. The ring's security features must be reset in order to soul bind. Reset security? Y/N?]

« Most excellent. System, inquiry: Will I lose my items if I reset the ring's security features? »

[System response: Affirmative. Contained items will be forcibly ejected upon resetting the ring's security.]

« The... inconvenience that brings... is so infinitesimal that it baffles me. I'll wait until I'm away from prying eyes, then. Thank you, System. »

Bucket had returned, his face a look of worry. Tycon covertly slipped his precious new ring right into his pocket. Wasn't it odd, now? And yet, why not? Why shouldn't he keep it?

"Sir, we should leave," Bucket said, returning the Shatterspike, hilt first.

Tycon took the sword and returned Bucket's metal staff, "Of course. I'd very much like to travel to the Gann den so we can roast a decent meal."

Bucket fidgeted with worry, "Sir, there's a problem. Mister Yos.h.i.+o's told us that some of House Muto's sect elders have been sent to guard Master Hisato."