Professional, Hero, Unbeatable: Kirito
I dodged, dipped and parried the attacks from the incoming blade. I was getting more into my groove as I cross blocked my swords and strafed back.
"You're getting good at this, M." I congratulated.
"All thanks to you, Kirito. I did not know just how powerful a sword could be." He marveled at the larger sword I had lent him for us to train.
"You sure make it look easy." I praised.
"You've taught me well. I shall not soon forget what I've learned." He held it out for me to take.
"Keep it. You've earned it." I smiled at him.
He smirked with a nod and sheathed it upon his back.
"You ladies done out here yet?" K came out first with the others following behind him.
"You know, I was actually gonna come looking for you. I wanted to put on a good show for our friend Mountain here, show him what a true tense battle looks like. You in?" I challenged politely.
K just cracked his neck in preparation.
"Damn right." He smiled, loving the taste of a skilled fight as I do.
"Shall we?" I stepped away from everyone a ways and dragged one of my swords along the ground.
K followed and spun his sword after taking it off his back.
"No magic." I stated.
"Yeah? Alright." K obliged.
We both stood still and waited until the wind died down. We both lunged at each other and let our swords do the talking. The first loud clang set the tone as the two of us moved to follow up. Clashes and flashes of light flared as our swords collided and crashed. We moved at extremely fast speeds, both of us trying to gain the upper hand but never reaching it. I would step forward sometimes to try to gain some ground but ultimately, K would do the same. Back and forth we went exchanging many intense attacks, none of which ever landing. K dipped a slash of mine and strafed back to reset. He lunged back at me strong and began one of his signature spin combos. Thanks to my dual wielding, I was able to easily keep up and block every single one of his attacks. I began trying to fit in little jabs of my own, most of which he dodged. I did get a couple good pokes on him actually but he kept slashing, spinning and moving against me. Eventually he went in for a hard slice that I forcefully blocked to leave him open. Just as I was about to take advantage, I felt a kick to my chest that sent me sliding back along the ground. I looked back up at him but he rested his sword on his shoulder.
"You get the picture." He chuckled.
"Scared you won't win without magic?" I taunted.
"We would be here all day. Come on, we should be getting home. I miss my daughter." K admitted.
"Fair enough." I understood his feelings.
"Are you coming with, M?" Asuna asked.
"I think I will return to my village to tell them the good news. Should ever you need me, I will be there." M nodded gracefully.
"It was good seeing you, M." K waved as he headed off first.
"You too, K." He smiled.
We wandered thru the streets of the Sylvain town centre. The sound of whirring began to rise and we looked up to see an airship get launched like a cannon.
"Seems like the airport is done." I noticed.
"Let's take a look." K suggested with a smile.
We made our way up the grand tower and in thru Sakuya's dining room. The large double doors to the landing pad were opened and Sakuya could be seen gesturing with her hands. K approached just ahead of us and stood to admire. When we all caught up we saw it. A massive lens of light and runes to create a seamless wind cannon.
"You've outdone yourself." K marvelled at it.
"I simply told casters what you told me." Sakuya gave credit.
"How has it been?" He asked.
"Good so far. We've just sent out our first shipments to each settlement. We'll hear back from them upon their return." Sakuya assured.
K smiled up at it again, appreciating the design.
"Can I test it?" He asked with a tilt of his head.
"Test it?" Asuna questioned next to me.
K calmly stepped forward and took a slow breath to ground himself. He stood strong, opened his wings and closed his fists at his sides. The casters on either side of the pad began to exert their winds. The lens appeared with a glow and K began to rise up to the middle of it.
"K?" Sinon wondered.
Without flapping his wings, K was held in place by the powers of Sylph wind. The runes on the lens began to spin and glow brighter as a whistling grew apparent. K hunched ever so slightly and with that, he was launched like a bullet.
"Wooo-hoooo!!!" Was all we could hear as K jetted off like a rocket.
He left a cloud trail behind him as he banked towards the World Tree. It was just barely beyond our view, but we saw his trail curve smoothly around it and come back towards us. K performed many quick consecutive barrel rolls before pulling up last second above everyone. He angled straight up and used the momentum to carry him as high as it would and when that wasn't enough, he flapped to get higher. He exhausted himself trying to ascend but he didn't stop even then.
"Come on!!" K almost shamed himself for not being able to make it further.
He pushed himself harder but could only get so much higher before he ran out of energy. K's wings suddenly stopped flapping and he began to fall.
"K!" Sinon worried.
I approached her and put my hand on her shoulder.
"He's just being dramatic." I smirked.
She peeked at me for a moment only to go back to watching K. His arms started to splay out as he neared just above our heads. I could see his hands start to prepare and at the last possible second, he pulled up to shoot thru the lens again. It launched him with equal speed to before, if not faster. K ignited his hands in his purple fire and rocketed away to loop the world tree again.
"I wanna try!" Leafa excitedly sprung up to be caught by the wind currents.
"Wait, Leafa! Be carefu-" Before I could contest, she fired off after him.
She too barrel rolled consecutively as she flew in pursuit of K. Leafa followed along his fire trail and caught up in record time. They banked around the World Tree but K took the inside and retained his lead. They both pulled up and slowed to land on the pad to rejoin the rest of us.
"Not a sweat." K boasted as he pretended to dust off his shoulders.
"What? No way, I almost had you!" Leafa giggled as she playfully slap his arm.
"Well? Your thoughts?" Sakuya inquired.
"It's everything I hoped it would be." K nodded in approval.
"Splendid. With your seal of approval, we can install one of similar design within your own kingdom." She suggested.
"W-what?" K was caught off guard.
"Would you not want an easier channel for transport?" Sakuya asked.
A moment of silence befell him as he realized the implications of his own wind tower.
"That would be amazing." He appreciated deeply.
"Then it shall be so. I'll appoint a few Sylphs to stay in your kingdom for easy use of said wind tower." Sakuya bowed graciously and gratefully.
"Sounds perfect." K agreed.
"Let's say... Fukaziroh." She stated.
"So you're finally pawning her off onto me, eh?" K put his hands on his hips and smirked.
"She's been dying to work with you. Please, indulge her." The queen requested.
"Yeah? I bet she has. She's more than welcome in my kingdom." K nodded.
"Splendid. I'll send them off momentarily to begin preparations. You've done a great thing for me and my kingdom, K. I will not soon forget." Sakuya was grateful.
"Nonsense. I merely provided the blueprint." He bowed humbly.
"In any case, we are in your debt. Should you have need of us, we will happily serve." She graced.
"I thank you, Queen Sakuya. You have been too kind to me all this time. My gratitude exceeds expression." K did the same.
"Of course, sweetie. I'll be around should you need anything." Sakuya nodded and returned to her royal duties.
"Be seeing you!" K waved as he looked back to the wind cannon.
"Lookin for a fast way home?" I saw his thought process.
"Is there anything faster?" He needlessly asked.
We all approached the platform together and looked to K who was most eager.
"Well, feathers? Lead the way." I nudged him.
He looked back at his wings for a moment before grinning at me.
"Please, after you." K bowed and gestured.
"Alright." I shrugged and stepped forward to be lifted up into the air by the rising wind current.
I was launched rapidly ahead, feeling the breeze practically squeeze me from the blinding speed. I angled myself to look back at my friends whom I watched fire off one by one.
First Leafa, then Liz, then my Asuna, Silica, Shino, and K who went last. My sister and the others caught up to me very fast but it seemed that K trailed behind.
"What's the hold up?" Asuna yelled back to Shino who slowly integrated into our formation.
"Oh, you know. Same old." She looked up behind her and we followed her gaze.
K had launched straight up to touch the clouds as he spun upside down to glide towards us at Mach speeds. In a matter of seconds, K was right behind us, bearing down fast. Just when it looked like he was going to go right thru us, he banked down and came up around the side of us. He followed his path as he angled over us and gunned it ahead towards the Spriggan kingdom. We saw the scuffed and marked ground that belay the final steps of the kings quarters and made way for it. K instantly landed with a click of his heel and stepped back with a grace to allow us to land with him.
"I have some things to attend to but you're more than welcome to go on ahead. Don't let my absence stop you." K saluted and took off back into the sky.
"I wonder where he's off to." Lizbeth prodded.
"Probably to some royal business." Sinon smiled as she watched him fly away.
"Love to see him go tho." Another voice chimed in.
We turned to see Fukaziroh, one of two Sylphs that are to remain here in this kingdom.
"Excuse me?" Sinon turned with attitude.
"Oh you know, he's just very nice to look at." Fuka bit her finger as she too watched K fly away.
"You realized he's married, right?" Sinon made that detail known.
"That's ok. I'll wait my turn." Fukaziroh smiled, implying she'd surely get one.
Sinon visibly snapped and stepped forward to push Fukaziroh.
"Shino!" I tried to keep her in check.
"Feisty one. We have that in common. Must be a quality K looks for." Fuka grinned as she dusted herself off.
"You shut your mouth, bitch!" Sinon fumed.
In fact, I had never seen her get that mad before.
"Or what? You gonna fight me? Come try." Fuka was clearly feeling confident.
"Couldn't if I wanted to. We're both in a foreign kingdom." Sinon reminded the rules of the game thru her clenched teeth without breaking eye contact.
"Did K not tell? This spot here is free from those rules." Fukaziroh slid her heels along the dry dirt oval that surrounded the two of them.
Sinon looked around at it for a moment before balling her fists.
"Then gladly." Sinon fabricated a serrated sword of ice with her magic.
"Ladies, please. Let's calm down." I stepped in and tried to diffuse things.
"Shut up, Kirito." Sinon barked without looking at me.
It was then I realized that no matter what I said, I wouldn't be able to stop this. So I backed up.
"At least you know to call off your dog." Fuka poked more.
I felt the wind change as Sinon lunged forward with a swing. Fukaziroh drew her weapons in a flash and with a jolt, completely denied Sinon's strike. The rapid parry caused Shino to stumble back a bit and bare witness to Fuka wielding her sanguine silver sai's. Sinon found her footing again and stood strong against Fukaziroh who didn't move from where she was.
"That all you got?" She giggled with a smirk and held her sai's down at her sides.
Sinon growled and stepped in again for many intentful strikes, but each was blocked by Fuka's defence centred style. The momentum was suddenly halted when Fukaziroh hit the bottom end into Sinon's stomach. This shifted the power and allowed Fuka to push forward with many insanely fast attacks. Sinon did her best to block as much as she could but despite the training I gave her, she faltered. Not being used to swords, Sinon was dismantled and knocked down by a punch to her cheek. Shino coughed a bit and spit on the ground as she recovered.
"So much for feisty." Fukaziroh spun her sai's and holstered them on her hips.
Sinon took a knee and held her splintering icicle sword in hand. It even dripped a bit due to the lack of temperature upkeep.
"Now, where's that wolf boy?" Fukaziroh turned her back to leave as if she were finished here.
Sinon roared loudly as the sword she held morphed into an ice javelin. She reeled back and threw it just as Fuka went to turn around. Her blinding QuickDraw speed allowed her to pullout her sai's but only enough to cross them in front of herself. The impact force from the javelin tossed Fukaziroh rolling back against the ground where she dropped her weapons and slid beyond the small arena. She shook her head as she sat up and looked to Sinon who stood strong still in the dirt circle.
"You won't... get a chance with him." Sinon spoke sternly but also fought back many emotions as she ball her fists.
"I know. Just wanted to get you going." Fukaziroh stood up and dusted her outfit off.
"Huh??" Sinon was dumbfounded as Fuka picked up her sai's off the ground.
"Ta-ta now." She waved as she walked away.
As Fukaziroh got further away, I saw Sinon's face expression change from being utterly confused to a mean toothy scowl.
"What was that about?" I asked now that the heat had died down.
"I don't like her." Sinon barked.
"Yeah, I've never seen you get that mad before." I admitted to her.
She looked at me and cracked a smile.
"Yeah. I'm a tough bitch, but I'm sensitive." Sinon said with a light giggle.
"Who knew?" I chuckled too.
Sinon laughed as well and tucked a bit of hair behind her ear.
"You okay, Sinon?" Asuna and the others came over.
"Yeah, I'm alright." Sinon confirmed.
"She did a number on you..." Leafa worried.
"She did a number on her! If it were me, I would have cut her jaw-to-jaw." Liz made the gesture of a knife with her thumb as she connected her jawline from the bottom.
Everyone had a good laugh at that and we decided we would go out dungeoning together like the good old days. Sinon left a note at the palace for K in case he returned before we did and we set off for a mountain dungeon near where we had all met the dragon of this region.