This didn't take long at all, but then again, we haven't gotten to the duels yet. Still debating whether I should dedicate an entire chapter to each duel, but then again, some duels will take more time than others.

Eh, I'll talk about it more at the bottom. Enjoy.

Chapter 23

On the Road to Home

The wooden training dummy bounced back towards me, and I struck at it again, the force from my sword knocking it away from me again. I continued this routine of knocking the dummy back and forth, focusing my strikes at the arms and waist, harder areas to defend while in a swordfight. I tried to focus on speed and accuracy, making sure my strikes would hit where I aimed while doing it as fast as possible.

My speed began to increase with the heaviness of my breathing, smacking the dummy from side to side, making it wobble. I flourished my blade, rotated it in my palm so the point aimed for the centre of mass. The blade glowed gold, recognising my move, and I slashed at the dummy. The wooden stick that had been straining under my hits finally snapped, and the dummy went tumbling away.

I began panting, using the training sword as a support. I doubled over, my heart feeling like it was about to leap out of my chest. Wiping away the sweat with my sleeve, I managed to stand up straight and let out a groan. I overdid it. Mr Galsworthy is going to kill me if I can't repair this.

I grabbed the dummy and tried to line it up with the splintered stump in the ground. I let out a sigh as I couldn't repair it without a Sacred Art. I grabbed a bandage and began wrapping it around the fracture. It wasn't perfect, but it was the best I could do.

In an hour, I would be in Norlangarth. I just wanted to get a bit of a warmup ready for the event. After all, I knew this would be an incredibly hard challenge to overcome. And it wasn't even the final hurdle. If I was going to fight Kimiko, and possibly Diaz, and in the future, the best of each Empire, I needed to be at my best.

"Light? Are you seriously still practising?"

Footsteps came from behind me. Luna's hand reached out towards the training dummy, muttering a Sacred Art for the metallic element. A metal band wrapped around the bandage, finally reuniting the two parts. I smiled at her. "Sorry, I went a little overboard." I scratched the back of my head.

She shook her head. "Never mind that, we should get going."

The bell rang out for the final hour before the final Advancement Exam. I took a deep breath. "Right, I need to hand in my Night Shadow Blade." I walked toward the purple blade and sheathed it on my belt. "Ready to go?" Luna nodded.

The carriages were parked outside the front of the Academy. We both go in one and soon it was on its way to Norlangarth.

A giddy excitement began to build in my stomach, as well as an overwhelming nervousness. My stomach felt like it was twisting itself in knots. I wondered for a second if this was how Lord Grant felt. After all, he was dead serious that day, an emotion he rarely expressed. I could see Luna looking at me with concern, which I had likely done that tipped him off that I had noticed his change. And probably in a year's time, she'd be in my position, realising all of this too.

"You okay?" Luna asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. Just a little nervous. There's quite a bit of pressure today."

She smiled. "I bet…"

"Will you be sticking around Norlangarth afterwards?" I knew that Wesdarath and Norlangarth students could watch the other Academy's duels.

She nodded again. "I'd like to see the people you're up against in the finals."

"Yeah." My mind flashed back to Eldrie, and I wondered if he would be one of my opponents during the Four Empire Unification Tournament. He certainly had the will and determination to get there.

"I saw Kimiko this morning." Luna relaxed and looked out the window. "She looked terrified. Though I could tell she was ready to take you on. She'll be tough."

"Yeah."

"But…if it means anything, I believe in you." Her cheeks tinted a little.

The knots in my stomach eased a little. "It means a lot, thanks."

The rest of the journey was sat in silence, the jiggling of the carriage driving over the paving stones acting as white noise. Soon enough, the carriage stopped at the gate to the Sword Mastery Academy. I opened the door, letting Luna step out first.

The familiar air of Norlangarth hit me again. The bright green fields and forests around the Academy had become a familiar sight thanks to the amount of times I'd been up here. The voices of various students began to fill the air, a cheerful tone shared mostly by all.

"Oh man, I'm gonna miss it. I've got homework."

"You'd think Wesdarath would've made their own arena by now."

"Oi, Eugeo, wait up!"

"We'll be late. I can't wait to see them fight."

I followed Luna up the stone pathway, getting various looks from some of the students there, probably mostly due to my sword.

"I'll see you later then." Luna bowed before running towards the queue of trainees heading into the duelling hall. I went up to a side entrance where Elite Disciples were going. I saw an instructor at the door, which unfortunately wasn't Ms Azurica from last year.

"I'm supposed to deliver this to an instructor before heading in." I said, unsheathing my sword.

The instructor nodded. "Report to Ms Azurica after the matches have concluded to retrieve your sword then." She took the sword from me and would've ended up dropping it if I didn't grab the grip. I helped her put it against the wall before heading in.

To say tensions were high inside the room was an understatement. It was almost tempting to scare someone so everyone would start freaking out. The thought made me smile at least, which was good. I couldn't share the tension that everyone else had. If I did, it would cause mistakes in the actual duels.

The names for the starting duels had already been picked it seemed. I looked to see where I was. Instantly I saw Kimiko's name was right at the start. I let out a sigh of relief as my name wasn't in the first third. In fact, it was right at the end. Which meant I wouldn't face her until the very final match. The idea of going all out against her in the final match of the day was…exciting. Then I realised something worrying. If he won, Diaz was going to be my second match. I would have to knock him out of the running to the finals.

I have to win this though. I have to win them all. Otherwise I can't keep my promise.

"You make a better door than a window." I turned to see Kimiko standing behind me. I went to sit down so I could let her see the board. I watched her go to the opposite side of the room, a small smile on her face. She must've realised the same thing as me then. I knew why she didn't follow me to the corner I was in, not wanting to get too friendly before the fight. It would cause both of us to relax too much.

An instructor entered the room, clipboard in hand. "Now everyone's here, we can begin to go over the rules for the event." She flicked over the first piece of paper. "The tournament uses stop short rules using training weapons. It's best if you all avoid contact as much as possible to allow future matches to take place." I smiled a little, knowing she was referring to Lord Grant. "Any Sacred Arts are allowed, taking care not to affect the crowd. Any Sword Arts are allowed, adhering to rule one." She let the clipboard rest at her side. "Any questions?" The room was silent. The instructor nodded. "First match will be Kimiko and Bartlett. If you would both follow me to the duelling hall."

I saw Kimiko stand up on the other side of the room, breathing slowly. I didn't doubt she'd win this match. After all, it was Bartlett. He was a good swordsman, but next to Kimiko, he might as well be flailing around. Still, it was only natural for me to worry.

I had a while to wait until my match, being last on the list and four other matches between mine and Kimiko's. I leaned back on the bench and sighed.

My eyes began to drop…

"Come on, you're not even trying at this point."

I could barely see her behind the constant stream of sweat down my face. I wiped it away, but in that second, she had darted towards me, slamming into my stomach and sending me flying back onto the golden sand.

"Distractions like sweat is one of the things that will easily get you killed in a fight. Put up with it."

I got up, my lungs on fire from sucking in the tropical air. I readied myself for her incoming attack. She ran towards me, dropping low and scooping up a handful of sand. Instinctively, I prepared to cover my eyes, only to receive a gut punch. I doubled over, and a boot soon smacked into my forehead.

The night sky above me twinkled in and out of focus. I took in several deep breaths, attempting to force my vision to sharpen, but it seemed to only pull me further into unconsciousness.

A shadow appeared above, though I couldn't make out any clear features. I pointed up at her and smiled. "I almost had you…"

"Over my dead body. Or yours it seems at the moment." She sighed. The shadow began bigger as weight was added to my chest. "So now your completely unable to defend yourself on the enemy ship. Normally you'd be run through with a sword at-"

"I doubt anyone else is as good as you at hand-to-hand combat." I shrugged.

"You never know." I could make out the mischievous smile on her face. "But because I won't kill you…"

I suddenly felt her fingers dig into my side. I couldn't contain my laughter as she began tickling me. I couldn't muster the strength to push her off me. Tears began to stream down my face as she continued her attack.

"Oi! You two, it's the middle of the night!" A male voice came from the ship docked nearby.

"Then why are you still logged in!?" She yelled back.

"Someone needs to check we have all the gunpowder and cannonballs we need!"

I opened my eyes to see her fully in focus finally. Most of her face was in shadow thanks to her long brown hair falling on either side of her face, but I could still see those sea green eyes that were almost hypnotising in their beauty.

She wore a softer smile as she looked at me. "If you're going to continue to look at me like that, you're going to make me blush." The weight disappeared off my chest as she got off me and offered a hand. "Come on, that's enough for tonight. Isn't it like five in the morning where you are right now?"

I took her hand. "I told you, I don't sleep anymore." I was lifted to my feet, feeling the soft sand between my toes. "I'll do better tomorrow Kristina."

"You better. I don't put this amount of effort in for anyone else."

I woke from my dream, confused. I blinked several times to make sure I was actually in the waiting room for the upcoming match. I ended up rubbing my forehead to make sure there wasn't a mark there. The dream…it felt so real.

"Julian and Light." The instructor called. It took me a second to realise I had slept all the way until the start of my match.

I hated that I didn't have time to ponder on my dream. I felt like a hole was being torn in my chest again.

It must've been a memory. The feeling of the sand beneath my feet. That girl. That numbing pain that came when she kicked my in the face. It's all too real to not be.

I stood up and walked over to the instructor who lead me and Julian towards the duelling hall. Immediately I felt the adrenaline pumping through my veins as the crowd clapped to welcome us onto the stage. As I passed the entrance, I picked out a training sword and headed into the centre of the room.

From what I knew, Julian wasn't exactly an exceptional swordsman, but was incredible at dodging and weaving around his opponents, which in a one hit duel scenario could be deadly. All you needed was one hit. For my first duel of the day, this was going to be a challenge.

Sorry Julian. I've got a promise to keep.

He seemed rather tense. His breathing was rather heavy. I looked him in the eye as we shook hands to see if there was any sign of nervousness, but if there was, he was very good at hiding it. I took a few steps away from him as Ms Azurica stepped between us.

"The match between Elite Disciple Julian and Elite Disciple Light will now begin."

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as the crowd cheered in anticipation. I sucked in a few deep breaths to control my adrenaline levels. I place my fist on my heart, the customary swordsman salute.

Ms Azurica took a few steps back and raised her hand. I drew my blade and got ready in my stance.

It's time…

When I went into this chapter, I didn't expect to be doing another flashback to Light's past. But it was definitely one I've been wanting to do for a while, and will explain some of the more...interesting moves he'll do during his duels. Plus, Kristina is a character that I've been waiting to mention again for a while, as she's basically responsible for the majority of the Beyond Style's actual move set.

So, depending on what I decide, I don't actually know if I'll just have the next two duels be separate chapters, or maybe combine them. If there is two, then chapters will take obviously that's going to take a while to write, and the chapter will be very long. But if I separate them, it'll likely be two shorter chapters but written quicker. I'll probably end up deciding when I'm actually writing.

Reviews:

blackbutterfly1313: Thank you again. I hope there's been plenty of character, as this "final" part probably will contain less character moments and more duels, but hopefully I'll deliver on those well enough to make up for it. I mainly wanted to get the notion out there that the nobles can still bend the Taboo Index if they want to, because I've kind of shied away from that side of the nobility. But who knows, maybe Light might end up bending them.

Anyway, this chapter will probably be the last for a while if I decide to combine them. Maybe I should get back to Fatal Bullet Rewrite too. I've neglected that for a long time. Anyway, hope you enjoyed. And as always, Stay Cool.