So about focusing on FB Rewrite. I don't know why, I just really enjoy writing Nightshade at the moment. It's nice to know that people are enjoying these characters I've made. It might inspire me to get on with No Land Beyond at some point XD

But I'll see you at the bottom.

Chapter 12

Sword Dance

Lord Grant smirked as he saw his opponent rush in. He ducked under the strike, which was impressively low down for a guy of his size, before slamming his sword into his opponent's open gut.

"That's the match!" The stern looking woman called the match declaring Lord Grant the winner. He bowed to the crowd before heading to the bench. The woman gave him some words before the next match started, probably about making sure his blade stopped short, but I knew he wouldn't take them to heart.

I hadn't seen him do anything out of the ordinary, but it was certainly working. Sure, he was focusing more on his opponent than normal, but if he kept this up, he'd end up graduating in the same place he's in anyway. And to qualify for the Four Empires Unity Tournament, you had to be in the top 3 of the Academy.

We were on the second round already. Both Lord Grant and Lilith were still in the running. There were some very clear victors and some close matches. There was one other competitor that was worth watching though, and that was Zenith. He was ranked second in our Academy, but I hadn't really heard much about him, mainly because he was out in the city at every possibility and stuck to himself.

Kimiko jumped as she woke up. "What's happening? Who's won?"

"It's only the second round, no one's won yet."

"I told you to wake me when Lilith is fighting."

"It isn't much of a fight when it's over in two hits." I smiled, remember Lilith rolling over the poor guy's back, giving her an open strike.

"Hmm…fine." She yawned, rubbing her eyes. "Well, she'll be up soon."

"With Silph? That's not a match, that's a one-sided massacre."

"Wait, he won? How?"

"Garret tripped over his own feet."

Kimiko rolled her eyes. "Typical."

This is going to be fun.

I smiled to myself, brushing the wooden training sword down with a cloth. I could see Light talking with Kimiko up the top. I knew that my last performance wasn't exactly the best, but I didn't want to overexert myself before I had to. My next match however might make me sweat a little.

A second ranked noble by the name of Hammel. He was the poster boy of a noble. Cocky, arrogant, and the skills to back it up. He typically used a curved sword, which he had a wooden version especially made for training. Something that threw off a lot of his opponents was that he was left-handed. It would be a tough bout, but I knew I could beat him.

I had to. Otherwise I would've been a pretty terrible teacher.

Time to show Light that I'm actually worthy to be his teacher.

My name was called and I got out off the bench. I brushed my orange coat down and ran my fingers through my hair, pushing it backwards. Hammel stood opposite me, twirling his sword around on his finger, that cocky attitude shining through. "Ah, Sept Grant. I remember that you used to be taller."

"You wound me with your originality." I readied my blade, the excitement in my gut building.

Hammel laughed. "I'll be happy to wound you further."

"Please, keep these up. You might kill me on the inside before you even land a strike."

"Enough." Ms. Azurica said firmly. "The match between Elite Disciple Hammel and Elite Disciple Grant shall now begin. We shall be attempting stop short." She glanced at me, as if she knew I was already planning to hit this guy with my strike.

Ms. Azurica raised her hand, ready to start the match. Hammel held his blade behind him, the sword glowing blue. I knew this move. It was a two hit combo his family called the Hurtling Slash.

Well then, let me show you some of my family technique.

As soon as Ms. Azurica's hand dropped, I turned my back to Hammel. He was already soaring towards me, but I knew the timing of his strike well. Two seconds between the start of the Art and the end.

In the first second, I had my blade down by my waist. My sword started to glow red. I could hear him right behind me, blade coming in from the right.

In the next second, my feet swivelled around, my feet squeaking against the wooden floor as they came around in a perfect curve, and my sword coming around to my front. I put all my power into this strike. The blue glow was in my face as my sword connected with his.

My muscles in my arms flexed as they held back the recoil from the strike. I knew I couldn't just throw off his attack, as he had a second strike, and I wouldn't be able to hold it. Luckily, Storm Wave was already a powerful counter strike, and combined with my strength, it would take a few seconds for Hammel to break through. That's a few seconds where I could end this lock on my terms.

"Don't hold back sir."

I smiled as Light's words echoed in my head. I felt a sudden surge of energy in my legs and I used that to duck down and used that energy to push his blade up. It made him stumble back a few feet, his blade glow fading away. I dug my feet into the wooden floor and launched myself forward. Hammel tried to bring his second strike into play, but it was already too late, and the look of fear that I saw on his face as he realised that was priceless. My blade was at his throat and I raised my hand to grab his wrist, stopping his strike in its path.

"That's the match!"

I drew my sword back, resisting the temptation to release the energy behind my blade and send Hammel flying. I rested the blade on my shoulder.

"What the hell was up with your eyes!?" Hammel yelled.

I blinked a few times and shrugged. "Nothing that effected the outcome of that match. By the way, you might want to check your pants." I chuckled to myself as I headed back to the bench.

Now that is something I had never seen before.

During training, Lord Grant had never used an Art on me before. He had said he was a user of the Baltio Style, but he never showed me a single skill. Whatever that skill was, it was something he was extremely proficient with it since he broke through a skill with it. And the speed at which he performed it at was incredible.

"You know, I did question why he was ranked fourth, and I was kind of expecting Lilith to run through him whenever I saw him duelling. He always seemed to never take anything seriously. But now, I'm not so sure." Kimiko actually looked worried.

"That's kind of the illusion he wanted to put up. It can break the spirit of an opponent if someone you think is a pushover is suddenly kicking your ass." I nodded. It had hit me that he never went full out during training, and I was having it easy. If he wanted, Lord Grant could've demolished me.

Now that's the face I wanted to see on him.

One of utter shock. During my first match, I never had the opportunity to go full out. But against Hammel, I finally did. And I was proud that I could make Light look like that. Kimiko beside him looked worried, and I couldn't blame her. It was going to be Jade at the end of my sword next.

The next few match between Zenith and Apex was over pretty quickly, which surprised me. Apex was supposed to be the Rank 1, the best of our Academy, but he was knocked down pretty quickly. Then again, he was still recovering from a leg injury he suffered while out in Centoria. I knew he wasn't ready for a battle, but he still insisted in trying. The fact that he made it to the second round was a miracle to begin with.

But now it was time for the final rounds.

And this was when I needed to focus.

Jade was a friend, and it was always hard to fight a friend. She was the sister I always wanted but never had. I'm glad to have met her, and it pains me now to have to knock her back down. I knew it would be better to do that now rather than give her false hope that she can beat me in the Four Empire Unity Tournament. After all, it was my dream since a kid to become a knight in shining armour. The fairy tales I heard of proud knights, from Bercouli to Deusolbert. Both of them fighting the Dark Territory, looking dragons in the eye with no fear, being shining heroes to ordinary folks.

Our names were called and I stepped forwards. Jade was looking worried, but I could sense her determination hidden beneath that. It hit me that I was rather unfamiliar with her style. She was using a style exclusive to her, which she called the Common Westian Style. Something she developed by swinging at trees. I looked at the wooden training sword in my hand. Time for the trees to hit back. I chuckled to myself at that little joke.

"The match between Elite Disciple Jade and Elite Disciple Grant will now begin!" Ms. Azurica nodded to both of us. We bowed. I got into my stance ready. She took a stance that I had never seen before. She had one arm extended towards me, her sword extended behind her, and her knees bent.

I took a deep breath. This was definitely going be fun.

The hand dropped and Jade jumped towards me, bringing her sword down in an overhead arc. The strike was telegraphed really well, almost too much. I brought my sword up to meet her sword, blocking the strike. "Come on, if you're going to be that obvious, I'll-" A small smile appeared on her face as her body twisted and she launched a kick at my head. The height on her jump was so impressive, it almost made me forget to block it. I raised my hand to stop her foot in its tracks.

I held her foot in my grasp, keeping her in place as I brought my arm back for a swing. Suddenly I found myself on the ground, the world spinning. During my swing, she had twisted her body to kick me with her other foot, sending us both straight onto the ground. I got up as soon as possible, black dots dancing in front of my eyes. I managed to regain focus in time to see the sword coming straight at my face. I ducked under it, hearing the blade coming back around for another strike. I activated Storm Wave, bringing myself around to lock blades with her.

Jade smiled slightly from the other side of the lock. "You criticise your pupil for telegraphing his moves, but that swing back there was extremely slow Grant."

"Says the swordswoman who started this with the easiest swing to block." I grinned. That excitement in my gut was growing. "Martial arts eh? You've been keeping that a close secret until now."

"Keep your best cards close to your chest."

"Agreed."

I broke the lock, my feet creating a loud echo throughout the hall. Jade was getting into another stance, her blade beginning to glow white. I took a deep breath. I didn't know if I could replicate this, but it was by far the greatest skill I knew.

Thank you for teaching this to me Light.

I extended my left leg in front of me, bending my right leg. I had my blade parallel to the ground and at chin height, pointing at Jade. Her eyes widened slightly as she recognised the skill. My blade glowed gold, and we both unleashed our skills at the same time. I brought my sword around the front, aiming at her gut.

Jade unleashed a six-hit skill. The first five hits were fast jabs that were focused on my sword. My concentration was broken when the top half of my sword suddenly flew off into the crowd. Then pain came as I felt the tip of a sword fall onto my shoulder. I could feel the bone crack underneath the skin. At the same time, the momentum from the Art was still carrying me forwards, and I ended up falling onto Jade, the broken part of my sword digging into her stomach. We both landed on the ground, the wood not exactly offering a soft landing for us.

The crowd were cheering, but it was drowned out for me, as my shoulder was exploding with pain. I looked over at Jade who was rolling around on the ground, clutching her stomach. I gripped my shoulder tight, biting my inner cheek to focus on something other than the broken bone, but to no avail.

Ms. Azurica crouched down in front of me. "Stay still." She took out some sort of round ball, breaking it between her forefinger and thumb. She began muttering a Sacred Art, and almost instantly the pain dulled. "That won't have healed properly, but the pain should go soon. Unfortunately, you're in no condition to fight in the next round."

"That's fine. It was a great match to finish on."

Ms. Azurica went to check on Jade. I clutched my shoulder, feeling it throbbing. I looked up at Light who was smiling.

Well then my boy, I've hopefully not let you down, even if I didn't win.

Kimiko had gone down to check on Lilith. I was going to see Lord Grant when he got out of the arena, as I could tell that he wasn't going to be able to participate in the next round with Zenith. I walked down the steps on the arena towards the doors to the central duelling area was. Soon enough, Lord Grant came out, clutching his shoulder. As soon as I saw him, a stupid grin forced its way onto my face.

Lord Grant spread his arms as far as he was able to. "Well my boy, how was that?"

"Incredible sir."

He patted my shoulder with his good hand and led me outside. "She won the match. I gave it to her, as she did break my sword. And she'll likely be fit enough to take on Zenith in a few minutes. It was lucky that I didn't cut her stomach."

I nodded. "I'll go and see her later. By the way, how did you use that Art?"

He laughed. "Honestly, I learned from watching you. It's simple, but an effective skill. I'm amazed you came up with that by yourself, though I'm not surprised."

I felt my cheeks getting warm. It was then I remembered the package inside my jacket. "Speaking of surprises sir…" I brought the bag out. "Here."

He raised an eyebrow, reaching into the bag. The moment he brought it out, I knew I had picked the right gift. His eyes lit up, his face splitting into a huge grin. "Wow…that's…thank you my boy." Tears formed in the corners of his eyes. "Light, it has been a privilege to be your mentor."

"Thank you for taking me as your page sir." I bowed.

He laughed. "The page you take in will be lucky to have you."

I shuddered. "I don't know sir, I'm not really the teaching type."

"You'll be fine my boy."

We both looked at the garden, where a bunch of flowers were blooming. The wind picked up for a second, which lifted some of the dead petals up and towards the Central Cathedral, which stood tall over everything.

I realised that I was one step closer to my ultimate goal; finding what my place in this world was.

A few weeks have gone by. Lilith had graduated second after her injuries from her duel with Lord Grant caused her to lose to Zenith. Eventually during the Four Empire Unity Tournament, Zenith went on to take first place in a brutal match against a Disciple of the Eastern Empire Academy.

On my side of things, during the Graduation Exams, I was Rank 8, placed so low because of my inability to cast a single Sacred Art. Luckily, the person I was sharing the dorm with was Kimiko, who was Rank 7, something she constantly reminded me of the first few days after we graduated from being Primary Trainees. She soon got bored of it.

I finished writing the journal entry, letting it rest on the table as I heard a knock on the door. "Hey Light, we're going to see the Primary Trainees now. You know what Mr Galsworthy is like when you're late to things like this."

"Yeah, I'm coming." I blew on the ink to help it dry a little faster. I closed the journal and grabbed the royal purple jacket that was on the back of my chair.

END OF PART 1

Yep, that was Part 1. I think it'll be good to have this be the end of the start of Light's journey. Now we're going into the part where he's not necessarily learning stuff. He's refining himself so to speak, ready for the upcoming battles. Though this next part will be focusing a lot more on his relationships with other characters, if that hasn't been focused on enough already XD

I hope you liked the shift in perspective. As we'll be saying goodbye to Lord Grant for a long time, I wanted to give him some spotlight. I've really enjoyed writing him, and will miss him. I hope you all will as well. May he drink deep from his sword bottle.

Reviews:

blackbutterfly1313: Thanks again for reviewing. I would love to add more environmental details, and hopefully I'll be able to do that when we move into Part 2. Unfortunately for this chapter, I didn't have much in terms of describing the environment, but I hope you liked the little flower scene at the end there. Blooming flower anyone XD

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed Part 1 of Alicization Nightshade. It's been an absolute blast so far, and I hope to keep improving as we go along.

Thank you everyone. And as always, Stay Cool.