The tension in the dojo gradually dissipated as the Allborn sheathed his blade with practiced elegance. He studied Sera with those molten steel eyes, his expression thoughtful rather than hostile now.
"Tell me, Sera," the Allborn began, settling into a comfortable sitting position on the tatami mats that seemed to pulse with their own inner warmth, "what techniques of mine have you managed to access?"
Sera found himself mirroring the weapon spirit's posture, sitting cross-legged as he considered the question. "Only one, really. Starpiercer—it's a flame technique that concentrates fire into a single, devastating thrust."
The Allborn nodded slowly, his expression suggesting this was exactly what he'd expected. "Starpiercer... yes, that would be the first to awaken. It's the most fundamental expression of my fire element—crude but effective." He paused, fixing Sera with an intense stare. "But you've been using it like a brute, haven't you? All raw power and no finesse."
Heat rushed to Sera's cheeks as the accusation hit home. The Allborn was absolutely right—he had been treating Starpiercer like a simple attack rather than understanding its deeper nature.
"Flame is not merely about destruction," the Allborn continued, rising gracefully to his feet. His white kimono flowed around him as he moved. "Fire is adaptation, transformation, the dance between creation and annihilation. To truly master Starpiercer, you must understand what fire represents."
The weapon spirit moved to the center of the dojo, the air around him beginning to shimmer with heat. "Watch carefully, and learn what it means to embody flame."
The Allborn assumed a stance that Sera had never seen before—feet positioned for perfect balance, one hand resting on his katana's hilt while the other extended forward with fingers splayed. But it wasn't the physical positioning that captured Sera's attention; it was the complete transformation in the Allborn's presence.
"First blade release," the Allborn chanted, his voice taking on the quality of crackling fire. The next moment, an explosion of golden energy erupted from his form, transforming into flames that concentrated heavily on the katana, which was now dyed a bright orange-flame color.
"This is called Flame Blade," the Allborn explained, his voice now carrying harmonics of steel and fire. "Because you have not understood the essence of the blade, you merely use the skill as a blunt instrument. Your current mastery should be about five percent—if even that." The weapon spirit's words cut deeper than any physical wound. He gestured for Sera to stand, his burning eyes brooking no argument. "Now attempt what you have just witnessed."
Sera rose on unsteady legs, walking toward the Allborn with his heart hammering against his ribs like a caged bird. He summoned his katana, the familiar weight materializing in his grip, and took a thrusting stance. Drawing upon his memories of previous battles, he called out with desperate hope, "First Blade Release!"
Nothing happened. The blade remained cold steel, lifeless and ordinary. He called again, his voice cracking with frustration, but there was still nothing—no flames, no power, no transformation. Despair began to creep into his heart like poison, the instinctive thought that he simply didn't possess the skills necessary for true mastery.
THWACK!
Sera received a hard bump on the head from the Allborn's knuckles, stars exploding across his vision as the weapon spirit spoke with barely contained exasperation.
"Are you an idiot?" The Allborn's voice dripped with disdain that could have frozen lava. "You summoned the skill without acknowledging its existence, treating it like some parlor trick! When summoning a skill to use its full potential, do not think of it as merely a technique—rather, think of the element itself. Fire is heat that can melt mountains, and fire is flexibility that adapts to any situation. Fire is destruction that clears the path for new growth." His molten eyes blazed with intensity. "Now, you have already established a connection with my core. All you must do is look deep within my essence for the power you seek to visualize. Search for the fire that dwells in me, then let it acknowledge you—or you might get burned to ash."
Sera listened with complete attention, every word carving itself into his memory like sacred scripture. This time, he took the same stance but moved with his spiritual energy, feeling the power flow through him like liquid lightning. The blade in his hands glowed a bright crimson as Sera navigated the pool of darkness within the Allborn's core—that vast spiritual realm where conscious will met elemental fury.
The reddish energy of his soul met with the black-purplish energy of the Allborn's core, and unlike their first violent encounter, the foreign power didn't attempt to tear him apart. Instead, it led him deeper, guiding him through corridors of spiritual essence toward the heart of elemental power. Sera flooded the pathway with his energy, and this time there was no resistance, no spiritual warfare—only a strange sense of homecoming.
Sweat beaded on Sera's forehead as he scanned the dark expanse of the Allborn's inner world, searching for the flame that would complete his understanding. Minutes passed like hours until finally, he located it—a reddish glow in the dark expanse that pulsed like a living heartbeat. He moved toward it with careful steps, his spiritual form approaching the dancing orb of fire energy.
The moment his energy touched the orange flames, Sera's entire body erupted in agony.
"AHHHH!!!" He cried out in pain, his voice echoing through the dojo like the scream of a tormented soul. Even though this was his soulscape, he could still feel every lick of flame as it seared his spiritual essence. His concentration shattered like glass, and he tumbled out of his meditative trance, gasping and trembling.
"Again!" The Allborn paid no attention to his sorry state, his voice commanding absolute obedience. "Pain is the price of power, boy. Accept it or remain weak forever."
Sera repeated the same agonizing process approximately ten times, each attempt ending in spiritual flames that felt more real than reality itself. But on the eleventh trial, as his energy approached the orange flames that had become his tormentor, understanding finally dawned. Instead of simply touching the fire energy, he remembered how he had flooded the Allborn's core with his own essence during their first meeting.
This time, as the flames prepared to consume him, Sera decided to flood the fire core with his red energy. The two powers clashed in a spiritual tug-of-war that sent shockwaves through both their souls. Sera pushed with everything he had, his will straining against the elemental fury, but the flame energy wasn't relenting—it doubled back every effort he put forward, meeting his spiritual pressure with its own blazing defiance.
Flames could be seen wreathing Sera's physical form as he contorted his face in agony, but he did not falter. He kept pushing, pouring more and more of his essence into the battle until sweat poured down his face like rain. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of struggle, he won the spiritual tug-of-war. The orange orb now possessed a reddish hue, and as if answering an unspoken question, Sera's form exploded in yellow energy before being completely covered in dancing flames. The fire orb had finally accepted him as worthy.
"That's less pathetic!" The Allborn spoke with a neutral expression that somehow managed to convey grudging approval. "You have now gained recognition from the flame orb. But this is only the beginning of making it truly yours."
Before the Allborn could finish his explanation, Sera's mind raced as he remembered Sirius absorbing flame energy into his divine form. Though the Allborn hadn't demonstrated this technique, Sera's intuition guided him to attempt absorbing the dancing flames into his own body. The moment he began the process, stinging pain coursed through every fiber of his being as the fire was drawn into his flesh, bones, and blood.
His heart began beating faster, pumping superheated blood throughout his entire body like liquid fire through his veins. His eyes, even if only for a slight second, glowed with an orange hue that reflected the elemental power now coursing through him. Then the visible flames vanished, though steam began rising from Sera's body like morning mist. Plastered across the Allborn's face was a smile of genuine recognition.
Sera had progressed to the next step without requiring instruction—a display of intuitive understanding that impressed even the ancient weapon spirit.
The Allborn readied his katana, his molten steel eyes now regarding Sera with a predator's calculating glance. "Now for the final lesson—combat application. Let us see if you can wield what you have learned."
Sera could barely hear the Allborn's words, for at this moment he was overflowing with raw power unlike anything he had ever experienced. His entire body was burning as though he had become flame incarnate, every cell supercharged with elemental energy. He squeezed his palm, trying to grasp this new power as though it were something tangible he could hold and examine.
At this point, he realized he was now on the same level as those lycans who had been hunting his group—perhaps even equal to their alpha in raw power. Sera smiled with fierce satisfaction as time seemed to slow around him, his enhanced senses picking up details he had never noticed before. His spiritual awareness had been constantly active since entering the soulscape, and presently the fire enhancement boosted that perception by fifty percent.
In an instant, Sera heard the whistle of displaced air. He turned to locate the source, but his blood ran cold when he saw the Allborn's heavy blade coming for his neck with lethal precision. Though Sera perceived his surroundings in a sort of slow motion, the Allborn was still faster than he could fully track. Sera raised his sword in a desperate block, but the attack carried such tremendous force that it knocked him backward several steps.
Unlike their previous encounters, however, Sera had actually managed to stop the devastating attack, sliding back only two steps instead of being completely overwhelmed.
The Allborn's smile widened with approval as he took a position similar to what Sirius had demonstrated earlier, delivering ten lightning-fast slashes in rapid succession. Out of those ten attacks, Sera managed to counter three: one cross slash, an upward vertical slash, and a mid-section horizontal cut. The remaining seven caught his leg, torso, arms, and wrist, but he successfully protected his primary vital point—his neck.
After ten minutes of intense combat, the flame enhancement finally died out, leaving Sera tired but not completely exhausted. He couldn't check his spiritual energy usage since his system didn't function within the soulscape, but he could feel the difference in his capabilities. The Allborn and Sera continued their training for another six rounds, and while Sera lost all six sparring matches, the number of cuts he received steadily decreased with each bout.
"Better," the Allborn acknowledged with something approaching genuine approval, his voice carrying notes of surprise at the rapid improvement. "You're beginning to grasp the fundamentals of true swordsmanship. Starpiercer will serve you far better now—not just as a crude thrust of raw power, but as a manifestation of burning spiritual energy given form and purpose."
As their intensive training session drew to a close, Sera felt a profound shift in his relationship with the weapon spirit. The initial hostility and disdain had transformed into something resembling mutual respect—the Allborn no longer saw him as a bumbling pretender stumbling through divine techniques, and Sera had gained genuine appreciation for the incredible depth of knowledge and skill his blade possessed.
"This is only the beginning of your true education," the Allborn said as the magnificent dojo began to fade around them like dissolving dreams. "Fire is but one of my elements, and you have barely scratched the surface of even that single aspect. When you have truly mastered what I've shown you today, when flame-style combat becomes as natural as breathing or the beating of your heart, then you will be ready to learn the next element in my arsenal."
The weapon spirit's form began to grow translucent as the soulscape dissolved around them, returning them to the realm of ordinary reality. "I will know when that time comes, wielder. Train well, push your limits every day, and do not disappoint me when we meet again."
The traditional dojo vanished like morning mist touched by sunlight, and Sera found himself back in the pristine white void where Sirius waited patiently, a knowing smile playing across his divine features like the expression of a master craftsman admiring completed work.
"Well?" the God of Blacksmithing asked, though his ancient expression suggested he already knew the answer to his question. "How did your first meeting with your blade's spirit proceed?"
Sera couldn't suppress his excitement as he recounted the entire encounter—the initial hostility and challenge, the crucial realization about his soulscape's true power, and most importantly, the detailed training in flame-style combat techniques that the Allborn had provided. His words tumbled over each other in his eagerness to share every detail of the transformative experience.
Sirius listened with growing satisfaction, his ancient eyes twinkling with approval like stars reflected in deep water. "Excellent! Far better than I had dared hope, actually. Most wielders require several painful attempts before their ego weapons acknowledge them as anything more than inconvenient burdens to be tolerated." He stroked his flowing white beard thoughtfully, his divine features radiating contentment. "The fact that the Allborn took the time to teach you proper fire techniques and combat applications speaks volumes about your true potential."
The god rose to his feet, his towering frame radiating the satisfaction of a teacher whose student has exceeded all expectations. "You have learned everything you came here to discover, Azrael—or should I say, Sera. The foundation has been laid with precision, the partnership forged in spiritual fire. Now it falls to you to build upon what you've gained through dedication and endless practice."
Sirius fixed him with a piercing stare that seemed to look straight through flesh and bone to examine his very soul. "We will meet again when you undergo your evolution—that much is written in the threads of fate itself. Until then, remember everything you've learned in this sacred space. The fire within your blade is not just a weapon to be wielded; it's a philosophy, a way of approaching both combat and life itself with wisdom and power