?Kimura Taree smashed her tiny palm into Hisato''s chest, blood spraying everywhere from his already-open chest wound.


    "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-- theycked bite, killing potential.


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


    Tycon raised his eyebrows in silence. He''d 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,nding solidly and sweeping his metal staff sideways and striking Hisato''s already weakened knee.


    The man yelped in pain and swung his de, 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 red at the boy. Bucket grinned back as if nothing was wrong. This child was ridiculous-- he was performing far better than during training. Tycon nced at the girl again, Taree of House Kimura. It seemed the girl motivated the boy. A rivalry, perhaps?


    "Sir Tycon?" Bucket smiled innocently.


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


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


    Tycon narrowed his eyes into yellow, glowing squints. The boy had been assigned punishment as atonement. Mistakes are to be remembered but forgiven. It was one of Tycon''s lessons to him.


    Well yed.


    "Very well. Speak your mind, young friend."


    "Could you lend me your sword?" The boy grinned shamelessly.


    Tycon''s annoyance turned to amusement 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-toorge longsword, Shatterspike, across the ground.


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


    Hisato screamed, his face a mess of bruises, "You whore! Hold still and DIE!"


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


    "ck 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, unable to dodge.


    She performed a series of rapid hand seals, "Discipline!!"


    With her incantation, the dark, crackling talisman fell to the ground, inert. Tycon inwardly apuded the girl''s quick thinking.


    Taree managed to reach Hisato, but she was immediately rebuffed by a swing of his ringed saber.


    "Taree!" Bucket yelled, rushing up to her.


    He held the Shatterspike low with both hands, the tip touching the mossy ground. Tacitly, the girl hopped onto the de t 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 thirty-three pieces and feed you to the beasts!"


    Tycon narrowed his eyes. That was... awfully specific.


    Hisato mmed his oppressive ringed de down with all of his might, but Bucket was simultaneously swinging the Shatterspike upward. Hisatopleted his swing... but the man''s hope was extinguished seeing the majority of his dend a couple of yalms away, stabbing harmlessly into the dirt. The de 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? "Bucket, don''t just stand there."


    He snapped his fingers.


    [Commander''s Strike activated.]<novelnext></novelnext>


    Bucket had positioned his sword at the furthest he could rotate. Powerful mana thrumming from his small form, the boy swung the t of the de precisely towards Hisato''s temple, "Craaaashing THUNDERR!!"


    [Commander''s Strike has evolved into Crashing Thunder.]


    Another crack resounded throughout the clearing as the t 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 hells was that?!"


    [Crashing 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 copsed 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!"


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


    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, disy effects of Crashing Thunder, if you would... ?


    [Crashing Thunder. Support ability. Bucket ispelled to make an instantaneous bludgeoning strike against an enemy with increased uracy. 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; Yoshio...


    Tycon observed the white-haired youth. His System had disyed 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 wasughing quietly to himself like a madman.


    The two children had approached him, and Taree had ced her hands on her hips, "What''s so funny, Yoshio?"


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


    Tycon didn''t care for the fellow''s viinous spiel. Going behind the children''s backs, he began to loot the green-robed Young Master Hisato''s unconscious form.


    He found a magic ring. That was nice... But there seemed to be nothing else of value, save a few paper talismans.


    ? System, identify: I hope this is a spatial ring. ?


    Tycon recalled that Martialists liked those.


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


    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 brought him... was so infinitesimal that it baffled him. He''d wait until he was away from prying eyes before he dealt with that...


    ? Thank you, System. ?


    Bucket had returned, his face carrying 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 anxiously, "Sir, there''s a problem. Mister Yoshio''s told us that some of House Muto''s sect elders have been sent to guard Master Hisato."