A Crimson Tainted Past (On Hold)

Chapter 3

Here it is!! CHAPTER 3 GUYS!!! This one has some information on what's going to happen in the next few chapters, so keep yours eyes open till the end. And most of all.... EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED!! Other than that, vote, comment, fan..... you know the drill.... LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!!!! I'll be waiting!! ;3

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I caught my teacher’s sword within my twin blade, the sharp metal resting on the hilt of my own sword. What I loved about these classes was that the most of them were a one-on-one class with the teacher, making it easier to learn.

            “Good! That’s it! Now, remember what I showed you,” cried out my teacher, a smile spread wide across his face. “Don’t hesitate on your manoeuvre. The longer you wait, the faster you’ll die. Remember that with this counter move, you need to prove yourself the faster opponent.” He came back up with his sword and backed away, facing me again, his sword ready to strike. “Now, let’s try it again, shall we? And this time, follow through and try to disarm me.”

            Once I nodded, I got into a defensive position as he came charging back at me, sword raised. He closed the gap quickly, and then I caught his sword in my own once again, this time not hesitating. I quickly grabbed my blades and connected them together with his sword, then pulled up, disarming him and sending his weapon flying across the room to chime on the cold ground as it landed. With my sword at its full length now, I raised my blade up to his throat, making him back up a step. He smiled with satisfaction, as did I with my proven skills upon this new technique.

            “Very good! Looks like you’ve got the basics down. I truly am impressed!” I brought down my sword with a smile. I had impressed myself as well with that technique. I was beginning to love this weapon more and more with every passing minute. My teacher walked up to me and patted me on the shoulder, which at the time didn’t bother me. He then continued. “With your kind of skills, I think you have the potential of mastering this new weapon soon enough. All you’ll have to work on is your speed now. Once you figure out the secret behind the switching, then you’ll be able to bring it to full length in a matter of a few milliseconds. You hold one of the deadliest weapons used by assassins, and you’ll find out soon enough why. Once your match comes around, you’ll have to be extra vigilant and careful, for if you aren’t aware of your actions, you may very well kill your opponent without really wanting to.”

            I only nodded, letting his words sink into my mind. I knew I had the full capability of killing just about anyone with my twin-bladed sword, so I started taking extra precautions while training with it.

            A few days went by and by then I had really started getting quicker on the switching, only taking about a full three seconds on the transformation. I knew I still had a ways to go before I mastered the Transfiguration Counter technique, but in the mean time, I got to practice on some worthy opponents, in other words Luna.

            “Why so slow? You’re half as bad as what you normally are today, Lulu,” I cried out after I had so easily dodged her attack, making her nearly trip over herself. She flashed back a furious glare at me, and then came back in, thrusting her sword at me. I caught it between my own, easily disarming her and sending her sword sprawling away behind me. I brought my now extended blade across her neck, making her back up a little. She then smiled, as if admitting her defeat.

            “You’ve got guts calling me that,” she answered calmly, her smile slowly fading. “Even if it’s to get me to purposely mad against you to train harder, it still isn’t a good idea. I could really hurt you one day, you know?” She did have a point, yet I doubt she would have done any kind of critical damage to me. Somewhere deep inside, I knew she wouldn’t be able to bring herself to hurting me badly, even if she meant to do so.

            I then lowered my sword and retracted it, bringing it to be its original, double-edged self. “You know you wouldn’t be able to, even if you tried.” She gave me a look of confusion, but it quickly got replaced by a knowing smile. I smiled back, re-sheathing my sword. “So now you see what kind of skills I’m asked to perform. So, how’s yours coming along? Getting the hang of it yet?” I knew the skills she was being taught weren’t half as complicated as mine were, but as long as she was getting some good practice in and she was working hard at them, she could easily defeat me in combat, even if we were to use two different weapons.

            She nodded her approval. “I’m really getting the hang of it, as have you as we all can tell. Anyways, I hear you’ll be facing a graduate for your next challenge. Are the rumours true? Will I be able to see you in combat with a real assassin?” She was getting anxious to know, judging by the excitement in her voice. If the rumours were already going around, then there was no doubt that my match versus my brother was bound to have a full crowd. I simply nodded slowly, my smile fading. I wanted to make her think I was scared of whom it was, which had worked, seeing as in her smile vanished instantly. “Is it that bad? Who is it? Some over powerful assassin? A legend? Who?!”

            My smile reappeared and I laughed under my breath a little. “Fooled you! Anyways, it’s not bad… I mean, if you consider my brother as a threat, then it could be.” Her smile seemed to reappear out of nowhere, as if I had given her some sort of gift that she had always wanted.

            “NO WAY!!” she yelled out, making me go deaf for a few seconds. “Are you serious?! Where is he?! I haven’t seen him since he left!!” Of course she’d want to know. Luna had always seemed to admire my brother for one reason or another, even though I had better skills then he could have ever obtained from my age. I think she had developed a crush on him over the time he was here, yet it would have never worked out. He already had a girl he admired, and Luna was far too young for him, anyways.

            “He’s got himself a room here under Headmaster Valkynhein’s invitation,” I replied calmly, trying to un-pop my ears from her yelling. “He’ll be staying until after our match. But enough of him, who do you have as your next opponent?” I had to get her to stop over reacting whenever my brother was mentioned, and changing the subject was one of the easy ways to do so. She kept on smiling, yet she wasn’t as excited as she was two seconds before.

            “I haven’t been told yet. I’ve tried to find out, but my teacher won’t spill it. He says he doesn’t want to spoil the surprise, yet I have a feeling it’ll be a true assassin like you.” She was probably right. If it was that big of a surprise, then it probably was a graduate like me. However, I didn’t want to spoil it to her either, seeing as in I already knew who her opponent was.

            “Well, I guess you’ll find out soon enough. In the meantime, keep on practicing. I’m sure you’ll need it if you’re going to be going up against a graduate like me.” She simply nodded at me, then turned around and left without another word. She was probably going to do some more practicing and such like I had suggested her. Either that or she was going to go stalk my brother. I also turned around to head back to my room, only to be stopped by the very person I thought she’d be going to see.

            “Looks like she’s in a good mood,” my brother said with a grin wide across his face. “I haven’t seen her in months.” I hated the fact that he was always so cheery. It wasn’t like an assassin like him to be cheerful and happy all the time. Most hide all their emotions and keep a cold heart, only releasing their anger on the demons they encounter, and those are the deadliest kind of assassins.

            “You should watch yourself around her,” I replied casually. “She’ll tackle you down once she sees you. Anyways, aren’t you going to get some training done? You only do have two weeks.” He kept on smiling, probably because he knew he had more than me to challenge during his stay.

            “Don’t worry about it! I’m only training to defeat you. I’ll more than likely be going easy on everyone else, but it doesn’t mean I will. Anyways, I’ll be seeing you around.” With that, he turned around and left me alone. He had about four different matches coming up against other students, all with different weapons. But for Luna’s sake, I did hope that he was going to take it easy on her. If she were to lose against her inspiration, I wouldn’t know what else could crush her even more.