A usual morning in Kajima's house involved everyone coming down for breakfast at first light. Azi would eat a light meal to then go do his morning training while Shizu would have a big appetite due to how she knew that her work would keep her too busy to eat a proper meal later in the day. But today, Kajima opted to not cook breakfast as he knew that Azi would be a bit hungover from the alcohol and would be cared for by Shizu. His suspicions were correct as the dining room was empty at the crack of dawn. Knowing that the two were going to have a late start to the day, Kajima left the house and went into town to buy some prepackaged foods. Returning home a couple hours after first light, he found Shizu at the dining table with reports spread out in front of her. He could also hear the metallic clanging and banging coming from the workshop which he suspected to be from Azi. "Morning Shizu, Is Azi alright?" Still focused on her work, Shizu responded to Kajima in a plain tone. "Yeah,
Awaking in an empty bed, Shizu's eyes blinked awake. A bit of panic filled her mind since she did not feel the familiar sensation on her arms or the familiar scent she was becoming accustomed to.Hearing the sound of metal clanging and banging muffled by the door of her room, Shizu remembered that Azi was still working.She thought that it was unnecessary for him to ban her for 7 days from sleeping in the same bed as him, but she remembered what Kajima said yesterday."Azi is currently challenging himself, it is best you comply for now. If it gets dangerous for him, you and I will step in but for now leave him be. He has made his choice, it's time to see who he will become from his choices."With his words ringing out in her morning mind, Shizu wondered if her actions were the cause of why Azi was pushing himself. She was quite harsh on him in the past month of training and knew that this was because Ozen had told her to accelerate his training so that he would be able to produce resu
"I need more hands." This is what Azi said to himself as he looked at the pieces of the blood steel sheets he had finished infusing magical energy into. His magical tethers were connecting his hands to the pieces and an idea clicked in his mind. Looking over to Kajima’s work area, Azi saw numerous hammers of varying shapes and sizes that Kajima would always use. Extending his right hand out, Azi began focusing his attention to his tethers. Currently, he was moving two hammers and connected them to 5 pieces of Shizu custom weapons to prevent the magical energy in the pieces from dissipating. He then began to split his right-hand tether into more numerous small tethers. These tethers then grabbed on to 4 more hammers and 2 metal tongs. Azi's mind felt fuzzy as the strain on his mind when performing the task was like a never-ending headache. Moving so many tethers caused him an incredible amount of mental strain and he could feel his focus starting to dull. Grabbing a stamina potio
Decem 8th of 4831 AS During Kajima's day off, he awoke at the first crack of dawn. He noticed that the sounds from the workshop seemed to have gone silent. This confused him which made him reflexively jump out of bed in a panic. He rushed to see if Azi was ok as today would mark the 5th day Azi was still in the workshop. To him, he thought that Azi must have fainted during the middle of the night and could be endangered. While Kajima did check up on him from time to time during the past few days, he could not help himself to worry about the boy like a doting father. Since the loss of his wife and children, Kajima's house had a silence that was only recently broken by the new company he had in Azi and Shizu. So when the silence returned, he feared that the worst had come to pass. But his worries were wiped away as a soft humming noise could be heard as he approached the entrance of the workshop. His steps slowed as he grew nearer to the workshop door until he was fully stopped in
Decem 8th of the year 4831 AS The wind in her ear and the feeling of the snow being crushed beneath her feet, Shizu and her comrade Touma were on full retreat as they ran as fast as they could to their camp. After rushing back, they ordered the volunteers and soldiers to prepare for battle. On their tail was a swarm of gengiri that were commanded by a few kengiri. Fortunately, the more dangerous kengiri were occupied by the smell of the curse bait and did not fully pursue. While the expedition could push a full retreat back to Shisayama, the effect that a swarm of gengiri and kengiri would have on the nearby ecosystem would be detrimental to Kujyuri as a whole. The forest near Shisayama extended into many other territories and had routes that connected these territories to Yamato and Kujyuri. Numerous merchants and travelers made use of these routes and if they were hindered during their travels, trade and commerce would be greatly affected. Wild animals and game would also dwin
Decem 9th of 4831 AS After the battle, Azi was forced to face a long and harsh scolding from Shizu and Kajima. They then attempted to get Azi in bed as the both of them were still worried sick about his health. But Azi did not go off to bed just yet, before acquiescing to their demand he first presented Shizu with her new weapon. Shizu's original metal umbrella was mainly red and slightly black in color with a light brown wooden handle. Now, her new weapon was now mainly black and with red streaks in its metallic parts with a black lacquered wooden handle. The metal of the katana and umbrella sheets were a black color with numerous streaks of crimson red magic channels. This was the result of the quality of the blood steel’s initial appearance and prominence of the red streaks were amplified by Azi's magical infusion which stored magic energy into the channels. This made them glow a bright crimson red when fully charged. The handle was also infused to allow small amounts of magic t
Decem 5th of 4831 AS Morning light shone into the room of a young girl who lived in the palace of Kujyuri. As the light shined on her face, her eyelids twitched as it reflexively responded to its touch. She slowly opened her eyes in response, still a bit sleepy, but she felt nonetheless well rested. Today felt like another usual day for her and she wiped small bits of sleepy sand from her eyes. As she was about to get dressed she realized that she was still wearing her casual clothes for the day before. A feathery red, pink, and white dress that had feather-like ends at her sleeves and with similar patterns sworn into the hem and seams of her attire. Each part was adorned with a feathery pattern in order to give her an elegant look as moved. She had long brown hair with ribbons that adorned her two fluffy ears at the sides of her head. Her ears twitched when she suddenly heard a knock at the door and she called out in response. "Who is it?" "It's me Rulu, are you ready?" Recogn
As Touma launched his flare, Azi exited Shizu’s tent. He had been sleeping for the past few hours and he felt a bit better. After being awake for 5 days straight, Azi's mental exhaustion was peeking. Ironically, due to his experience in the black void he was able to adapt to the uncomfortable feeling of sluggishness that persisted in his body by dulling some of his pain receptors unconsciously. Azi had no idea that he was doing this as the black void still seemed like a lucid dream to him. Seeing Shizu at the center bonfire of the camp site now turned small fortress, he approached her. Shizu noticed that Azi was awake and asked as he approached with a still sleepy expression. "Morning Azi, or more like good night, how is your body? Are you ok?" "*Yawn* Still a bit sluggish but my stamina and magic energy are both restored by about half. What happened while I was asleep and what's with the stone walls?" Shizu explained to Azi about the cursed bait and the current situation they n