This might be my last chapter for a while. I'll explain at the bottom. But either way, I hope you enjoy this.


Chapter 17

A Mentor's Devotion

Luna launched herself at me, sword aimed at my right arm. I knocked it to the side and immediately swung my sword at her stomach. To my amazement, she brought her arm back with blinding speeds, angling her blade to block the strike. Nevertheless, I took the opportunity to go on the offensive. Luna leapt backwards, flipping her body to gain more momentum and using one hand to ensure she could rotate far enough. I prepared a Sacred Art, leaping forward with my sword pressed against my back. A few inches from her being in my sword's range, I brought the sword around. She jumped back as my sword slashed at her chest. My muscles tensed up for a few seconds. Luna prepared her own Sacred Art, her sword glowing white. My arms regained some feeling and I held the sword flat against my chest. She used Holy Cross, a six hit combo that hit in a cross shape. Luna had used it before, so I could easily block it. As soon as she finish hitting against the flat of the blade, I twisted my sword so the sharp blade was pointing towards her, and I stepped forwards and pushed my sword into her neck.

Luna made a noise of disgust, sheathing the practise sword on her belt. "At this rate, I'll never hit you."

"Mhm…" I placed my training sword on the rack.

"You've barely said anything for the last few months. You could at least tell me something to improve."

I turned to face her. "I'll think of something by cleaning. Sorry."

Luna's expression softened. "Well, the Summer Solstice Festival is coming up. You can always go and have a look for her during it."

I shook my head. "No, it's fine. I have stuff to do here."

Since I received the letter from Killian, I have been asking around for the carriage driver who had taken Myne back to Vetal. No matter who I asked though, there was no record of her ever hiring a carriage to go back. My best guess was that it was a personal carriage, which meant it belonged to Karma's family, and I would have to go to Vetal to ask Karma personally who I had to ask where Myne was. But that required a few days of rest in a row. I could go during the Summer Solstice Festival, but I was planning to enjoy the day with Kimiko, Luna and Becchi, to try and take my mind off it.

Luna let out a deep sigh, shaking her head. "I guess I'll look forward to cleaning then."

I looked down at the ground, feeling ashamed for being a terrible mentor to her. "Sorry."

"Well, you could let me hit you. That might allow me to forgive you a bit."

I smiled a little, glancing up at her. "But then in the future when you do hit me, will you know it's because of your own skill or because I let you?"

She rolled her eyes. "I hate it when you're right. But at least you spoke more than ten words in a row."

My eyes returned to the ground. "I guess."

We walked outside. Luna spotted a group of trainees and ran on ahead to talk to them. She had gotten very popular amongst the trainees since she had begun taking training seriously, especially with the boys. I've even had some letters for Luna slid under the dorm door. She never opened them though, saying that she didn't want to date anyone, as that might cause her to start slacking in her goal.

I walked back to the dorm alone, only half paying attention as I walked, dodging to the side to avoid other students. As soon as I was inside, I took a deep breath and flopped down on my bed, an arm over my eyes. Where could you have gone Myne?

Every possibility had gone through my head, and despite constantly thinking about it, I was no closer to cracking the mystery, because of one detail; the Taboo Index. Unless she or someone else had found a way to break it, there was no way Myne should've been able to deviate from Vetal.

I sighed as I sat up. I picked up another book that I had started writing in, where I had begun recording Luna's progress. I had descriptions of Sacred Arts from the Fencing Style, sketches of her stances that weren't very good, her footwork while striking and more. It may sound like a lot, but most of the descriptions were very basic thanks to my mindset.

I need something to help her. Just something…

I played our duel over and over in my head, but I couldn't think of a single thing she did wrong. In fact, everything was great. Her footwork was amazing now, her sword was always in a guard position, her stances were strong, and the transition between stances were smooth and calculated.

I tapped my finger on the table, trying to think, when someone knocked on my door. "Come in."

Kimiko came in and sat on the bed. "Luna's worried about you again. Becchi overheard her mentioning to another student that her mentor has been distracted, but she still can't hit him during training."

"Yeah. I just can't think straight."

"You know, you can ask Mr Galsworthy for some time off. He'll understand, and then you can go to Vetal to ask that rat bastard where she is." Kimiko looked disgusted. "I just know he had something to do with it."

"Karma?"

"Yeah. He tried hitting on me to get me to throw my match against him. He's always been trying to use his influence as a noble to get the easiest life possible." Kimiko lay back on the bed. "The fact that he's using Myne to try and become an Integrity Knight is low."

I nodded. "Thanks for the suggestion, but no. If I went off to find her, I would be a worse mentor to Luna than I already am."

Kimiko laughed. "You do know she was an absolute brat before you started teaching her, as you know. I mean, she still can be, but she's changed a lot. The fact that she's actually listening to you is an achievement."

I smiled slightly. "All I did was point out the truth. Something that no one else did apparently."

She shrugged, sitting up. "Yeah, well, if you need it…" Her voice trailed off. "Sorry, forgot what I was going to say." A confused look passed over her face. "That's weird."

"You okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm good. Just got a lot going on between Becchi, studying and other things." She shook her head from side to side. "Enough about me though. You should really start to pull yourself together. Luna's gonna fall behind if you don't, and trust me, Becchi is looking forward to beating her in the Advancement Exam."

"There's still half a year left."

"That's half a year he can improve. So can Luna." She stood up, stretching her arms above her head. "And also, I won't feel good about defeating you in the final exams if you're distracted by this."

"Mhm…" I nodded.

Kimiko left the room. I looked at the book on my desk, frowning to myself. I flicked through the pages, seeing my notes. My eyes fell on a rough sketch, and I thought back to the Sacred Art she used. I quickly grabbed the book with the Style inside. The Sacred Art she used was called Holy Cross, and was mainly used with rapiers. It was apparently really awkward to use with swords, near impossible. The fact that Luna was even able to use it was incredible. Maybe I can do something…

Luna walked in and her eyes widened. "What have you been doing?"

I quickly shoved the piece of paper under a book. "Um…just some drawing." I looked at my desk to see several screwed up pieces of paper from failed drawings. "Ah, I guess I made a few mistakes."

"A few?" Luna sighed as she grabbed a waste basket and began putting the paper inside. "What were you even doing?"

"Just something on my mind." I helped with putting the paper in the basket.

Luna smiled. "You sound better."

"I do?" I leaned towards the back of the desk, grabbing the last piece of paper.

"Yeah. You don't sound like you've always got your mind on something else. You sound like you did back at the beginning of Spring."

I shrugged. "Guess I've found something to distract me."

She picked up the pile of books and placed them on the shelf. "So…is there anything I can do to improve?"

"Well…no." I spied the piece of paper wedged in between two books on the shelf.

"So, what? Are you saying that I can't ever get good enough to beat you?" She looked offended.

I waved my hands in front of me. "No, that's not it. It's more…" I thought for a second of how to say this without giving it away. "You're great, it's something else that's really holding you back, and I need some time in order to fix it."

Luna looked confused. "So what you're saying is that I have the skill to beat you now, but I'm being held back by something?"

"Yeah, basically. So because of that, I'm not going to be duelling you for a few days during training. Instead, we'll be doing something else while I get that thing sorted out."

Luna nodded, but her confusion remained. "Okay then. I'll wait with bated breath."

I smiled. "Good."

Let's hope I can get it approved by Mr Galsworthy.

"Elite Disciple Light, what brings you here?"

Mr Galsworthy looked annoyed as I entered the kitchen. "Sorry sir, I still don't know where your office is, so I thought it would be easier to go to a place I knew I'd find you."

He grumbled. "I'm also responsible for taking the register once students return from training you know. Though you always seemed to find some way to avoid it." He sighed. "Very well, what do you need?"

"I was wondering if I could get a weapon registered."

"On top of your two swords already? Have you secretly got a third arm somewhere?"

I shook my head. "It's not for me, it's for my page, Luna." I took the piece of paper out of my pocket. "I was planning to commission this at the blacksmith tomorrow during my day of rest."

Mr Galsworthy took the piece of paper, looking over it. "A training rapier? Shouldn't be a problem." He handed it me back. "I'm impressed that you're willing to go to such lengths for your page. Most Elite Disciples don't bother."

"Thank you sir." I bowed to him before turning to the door.

"And take care of that purple sword for the captain."

I looked back but Mr Galsworthy, but he was gone. The fact that he knew that the captain had the sword meant he was from Vetal, maybe even participated in the contest…but Mr Galsworthy looked too old to have duelled during then. Well, he could be a bit younger than the captain. The captain passed away after I got the sword from him. I smiled, patting the Night Shadow Blade on my waist.

According to Kimiko, the blacksmith in Wesdarath wasn't great, but there was a man called Sadore in Norlangarth that was a great blacksmith. So, if I wanted a blade to last, I should see him. "Well I've got a trip to Norlangarth tomorrow."


I hope you enjoyed, and hopefully I showed Light's sadness at losing Myne well enough. Where did she go, what happened to her etc. are all questions that will be answered later on. But the hints are there if you want to go looking for them.

Reviews:

blackbutterfly1313: I'm glad in a way that you care so much for Light that you feel bad about Light when he's hurt. I know that these chapters won't be for everyone. But hopefully this also means that Light will be relatable to some people.

Anyway, sorry for the shorter epilogue. Some family stuff has come up and I'm not exactly in the right mindset to be writing. But I finished this chapter and I want to get it out so I don't just leave it hanging there, and so the people who are reading this know that something's happening if there isn't a chapter in a while.

But anyway, enough about me. Thank you all for reading. I hope the next chapter won't take forever. Just depends on what happens. I hope you enjoyed.

Until next time, Stay Cool.