"Another form... wonder that one can do," Tetsu whispered.

"I'm not sure, but maintain your guard!" I said as I glared at my guardian angel.

Aventine continued to smile as she flew higher into the air. She raised her right sword up while pointing her left one at us. Mana started to gather on the left one's tip until a dense sphere of violet energy formed.

I gasped. We needed to get out of its way now!

Tetsu stepped in front of me and smiled. "Don't worry I got this."

"Huh?'

He held his hands up and glanced at Aventine. "Bring it!"

She laughed as the sphere continued to increase in size. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah! I am!" Tetsuya yelled.

I took a step back, but Tetsu remained in place. It'd been a long time since I'd seen him this self-assured.

I sighed and turned my back to him in case Aventine decided to sneak up on us from behind again. "If it proves too much, let it go. I can take a hit."

Tetsu snickered. "I should be the one saying that. I'm used to taking damage."

"That may be the case, but I hate seeing you get hurt because of me," I whispered.

"No worries, neither of us will get hurt," he said as he began to spin his hands in a circular motion. Suddenly, a screen of purple energy appeared in front of him just as the sphere reached us. Aventine's dark orb struck Tetsu's barrier head-on, but it dispersed rapidly.

Both my guardian angel and I gasped at what just happened.

Tetsu grinned as he continued to spin his arms. "Deflect!"

Aventine moved her head slightly to the right, narrowing missing a direct hit to the head.

She snickered. "You really are a man of surprises, just like your old man!"

Tetsu sighed as he lowers his arms, causing the barrier to vanish.

Both of us stared at him, waiting for him to say something. Instead, Tetsu vanished into the shadows and reappeared behind Aventine.

She moved her right rapier, blocking a hit to the head from Agnes.

"Oh, that's an old one. I remember you used it against Serrano in the palace after the accusation," Aventine said as she spun around. "A very nifty skill to have."

I gasped as I noticed Aventine's left rapier was glowing.

"Tetsu! Move out of the way!" I scream as I flew up toward them.

Aventine smirked as she pointed her left rapier not at Tetsu, but at me. "Foolish boy."

I gasped as something hit my left arm. Beams of energy were being shot out of the tip of her sword.

I flew down and maneuvered around the other incoming beams as I tried to get closer to Tetsu.

Tetsuya vanished and appeared next to me, causing me to nearly crash into him.

"Don't appear like that!" I yelled.

He gave me a shy smile as he put up a barrier around us. "Sorry. Is your wound okay?"

I took a deep breath and stared at my arm. The hole had closed, but it still stung.

I nodded. "Yes. I'm an abysmal like you, I can take bullets and survive. So long as they don't strike my core."

He rubbed the back of his neck with his shield hand. "I see, but the fact that your core can get shattered worries me. While I'm not invisible either, at least my core is protected."

I blinked. "It is?"

"Yeah. You see, Tekeshi..."

"Enough resting, boys!" Aventine yelled as she struck the barrier with both rapiers. Our defenses exploded, sending Tetsu and me flinging into the dark void in different directions.

"Serra!" Tetsu yelled as he tried to come to a halt.

"Don't worry about me!" I yelled as I landed on a sizable chunk of rock. It appeared to be part of a broken pillar. "I'll make my way over to you!"

Aventine smiled as she split into two balls. One purple and the other orange.

I held out my sword and formed a wall of stone around me. It was great to have Tetsu, but having him here was also a detriment. I had to learn to fend for myself. I was no longer the weak kid who would cry whenever he was pushed around.

I grunted as my wall of stone turned into dust as soon as the purple shadow ball made contact with it. The sphere shifted into a violet-haired Aventine.

I glanced over at Tetsu quickly and saw that he was dodging the orange sphere.

Had she split herself into two?

The purple-haired Aventine flew back and raised her weapon at me. It was the rapier with the amethyst.

I blocked with my weapon and pushed her back.

"Ohh? Where did this surge of power come from?" Aventine asked.

I smiled. "I'm a bit of a slow starter, but once I'm into a fight, I really go all out."

She jumped back and sent several glowing purple orbs flying down at me.

I raised another earth barrier overhead and jumped out of the way.

"Then, I better finish this before you catch the wind and fly."

I swung my sword as fiercely as I could, causing the darkness around us to bend.

Aventine glanced around as several swords of darkness appeared out of the rift I had made.

"Thorns of Shadow!" I yelled as I flew upward, avoiding being hit by my own attack.

Aventine flew after me, but my shadow swords continued in pursuit of her.

I smiled. Figures. Things were never easy.

I closed my eyes. I needed to use everything I'd learned over the years in this battle. Everything from my early days training with Tetsu up to my countless matches with Setsuko.

I came to a stop, causing Aventine to halt too in suspicion. She gasped as she seemed to recall my 'Thorns of Shadow'.

She held out her hands and crafted a translucent amethyst barrier which absorbed my attack into its body just like Tetsu's earlier barrier had done with her energy sphere.

I should learn a technique like that.

"Say, I've noticed that you haven't used any of the secret techniques, why is that?" I spoke up.

She held out her hand. "That too would be too much for you."

I took a deep breath. Aventine had a point. Perhaps, it was best to abandon my pride and just take her weapon to finish this. That way, I could get around to learning the rest of Aventine's 'Seven Secret Techniques'.

I moved around her as fast as I could and struck the barrier with a barrage of stones mixed with my mana.

Aventine spun around, causing the barrier to sway like the waters of a rapid current.

I halted the stones being sent back at me and transformed them into crystal before relaunching them, but the outcome was the same.

She was more of a well-rounded fighter than I had expected. A true master of offense and defense. Then again, I should have anticipated the possibility. My grandfather had used her writings in the conflict against Kasai no Ki to take land and retain it.

Aventine was the strategist behind Kuroriku's early wars of expansion, back when the four great nations were moving out of their points of origin to grab as much of the continent's land as they could. For her, being well versed in both was optimal.

Yet, some thought the best offense was the best defense, such as her younger brothers. My grandfather also made the mistake of lowering his guard in his zeal to finish off Kasai no Ki as fast as possible.

I gasped. I was making the same mistake as grandfather...

I flew away from Aventine.

"Did my barrier prove to difficult for you?" Aventine asked as she gave me a mocking grin.

"Sorry, but I'm not Tetsu. I'm not drawn into conflict by words as easily as him."

She chuckled. "What a thing to say about your friend."

I shrugged. "Tetsu can take it. It's how we get along."

"My, how similar to Tekeshi and Osamu you two are."

"My uncles?"

"Oh right, I forget that you're also Osamu's nephew. Yes, the two exchanged harsh words of one another, but those words were a sign of their friendship. I believe it's what one would call 'banter'."

I laughed. "Sounds like you weren't too familiar with it personally despite being able to dish it out."

"Can't say I was. My siblings and I got along rather well. What banter I know I learned from my wielders and their ties to their friends." She scratched the side of her face. "Though, I guess some of the exchanges between my husband and I could be seen as banter."

The history books didn't mention much about her husband, leading many to think he was a nobody. Meanwhile, other historians claimed he was one the Seven Flames and thus was omitted from our official history. Aventine was often considered one of the founders of the Makkuroyama, so the latter theory did have some weight to it.

My guardian angel chuckled. "Seems I've gone ahead and gotten distracted." She raised her hand into the air, causing a giant of shadow to descend from above.

I gasped as I looked at its face. It looked just like Reno's Alabaster...

It vanished from where it floated. I spun my sword around and stabbed behind me, injuring the sentinel of shadow, which had tried to sneak up behind me.

"I smiled. I'm used to that trick," I said, smiling.

Suddenly, tendrils of shadows sprouted out of the wound in its hand and reached out for me.

I held out my left hand, stopping it with my dark powers. Meanwhile, I raised my sword and blocked Aventine's as she came in for an attack from the other side.

Aventine smiled. "Seems that you're starting to recover some of that lost power. That said, you should've stayed home to recover instead of accompanying Tekeshi and the others."

My eyes widened. So, Aventine knew...

My body and powers had returned following my battle in the Abyss, but not in their entirety. I wasn't even sure if I would ever completely recover from those injuries, despite my bloodline. Guess that was what I deserved for what I'd done to Tetsu...

I took a deep breath and drew mana into my hands. 

There was no use in thinking of that now. I had to get that sword and its companion to finish this trial.

"I couldn't leave Tetsu, Setty, and others to do all of the heavy lifting!" I said as I pushed her and the sentinel away with a burst of dark mana.

Aventine smiled. "You call yourself weak, but you're actually rather strong. Never once, did you use the lingering effects of the injuries you sustained in that world as an excuse for your losses."

I gulped. "Maybe not..." I flew higher and placed a hand over the center of my chest. "However, I did curse my weakness for my loss against Aster."

She looked up at me and snickered. "Well, that's understandable. We all desire to grow stronger, especially if it's to save someone we love. That is why you're here after all. To gain the power to protect Zionia and reclaim your little brother from the enemy."

I nodded as I pulled the nearby clumps of marble toward me. "Yeah, it is! Raining Meteor!"

Aventine dodged as the marble chunks raced toward her and the sentinel who stood still. It was glancing at its wounded hand with a sad gaze.

I looked up as my guardian angel appeared in front of me and swung her sword at my chest. I lifted my sword in front of her rapier and pushed her back.

My angel smirked. "I wish that you could see you with your full powers restored."

I snickered. "I wish you could too!" I glanced back at the shadow golem. Why did he resemble Reno's djinn? "Say, who is that?"

Aventine eyed the unmoving giant."That's... the one I couldn't save..."

I gasped. The one she couldn't save?

She turned to look back at me and smiled weakly. "You remind me a bit of him. Both of you desire power to protect your families and friends." She rubbed her arms. "Unfortunately, he never got a chance to take this trial, unlike your uncle and you, and the others who came before him."

This trial? Then that made him a past owner.

She raised her rapier and vanished. "Anyway, enough talk. I'll make sure that your fate isn't the same as his nor like that of your uncle," she said before kicking me in the back.

I gasped for air as I was sent flying into a large slab of marble in the distance.

I pushed myself up and rubbed my forehead. Great, I told Tetsu not to drop his guard, but I went ahead and did just that.

I turned around, expecting to see Aventine flying overhead, but she wasn't there. Instead, I saw Tetsu sparring with an orange-haired Aventine in the distance.

My cousin had trapped her in a barrier.

I took a deep breath and pulled in some mana from the surrounding air to replenish my dwindling supply.

*Boom* I opened my eyes and saw that the barrier containing the orange-haired Aventine had exploded. Tetsu thankfully managed to shield himself in time.

Aventine thrust her rapier at him, shattering the barrier he had just raised.

I dashed over toward them while keeping an eye out for the purple-haired Aventine I had been fighting.

I gasped as the corner of my eyes caught sight of beams raining down.

I smiled. That didn't take long. I came to a halt and swung Aventine over my head, sending the beams flying back at their origin point.

Another gasp escaped my lips as more violet beams surrounded me. This time they were suspended in the air as if waiting to receive their cue.

I moved around and swung my sword over, under and side to side while spinning as fast as I could. The beams away or dissolved upon impact with my weapon. However, another wave of rays appeared as I finished off the first.

I snickered. This had to be the epitome of beam spam.

Suddenly, something struck my back.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you there," Tetsu said as he had his back against mine.

I smiled. "It's fine. Let's finish this trial!"

He nodded and raised a barrier as the beams came down at once. Sadly, his defenses didn't last long. Things were made worse as even more rays came at us.

Tetsu snickered as he blocked several of them with his shield as I parried those coming at me.

"Looks like we're going to have to swat them away after all," I said.

He laughed. "Yeah, but it's fine! When the two of us are together, we're unstoppable!"

I chuckled as we bumped fists. "True!"

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter, if so then please click on the star and/or follow me. I'll love to hear your thoughts on this chapter.**