Part 1: Fate
After the sudden, unexpected kiss on the lips from the princess.
Leo become instantly embarrassed and his face burned bright red.
He steps back quickly, stumbling slightly over his own feet.
And he completely leave the room in a panicked rush to clear his mind.
Seeing the boy flee, the royal knight Ken slowly walks over and sits besides Yumi on the edge of the bed.
"What exactly did you just did right now, Yumi?" Ken asked, his voice filled with curiosity.
"Today, I finally went with him out into the bustling streets of the kingdom."
"And I feel very good and genuinely happy today, more than I have in years," Yumi says softly.
"I don't really know all the details of what happened right after my birth."
"I was just told by the old elders that princess Ariel's mother and my own mother both left the kingdom together."
"And because of my forbidden hybrid birth, I am originally going to be executed by the high laws."
"But at the absolute end of that dark situation, my amazing older sisters saved my life."
"Princess Ariel and Flora stood up for me and completely save me from death."
"They defied the court and fully accepted me as their true, loving sister."
"But things were still very difficult for me."
"From the very beginning of my life."
"All the mens in the palace and the city only saw me with pure lust."
"They looked at me like I am just a shiny tool or a prize for them to possess."
"And when I grew up as a teenager."
"I become even more beautiful than before."
"And the mens started to saw me with even more intense, disgusting lust."
"I absolutely hate that kind of superficial life."
"And also, because of the constant danger, I rarely ever go out of the castle walls."
"I want to go out and see the world so badly."
"But I was never able to go out freely on my own."
"And that's exactly why I want a special men who could truly fulfill my needs and protect me."
"During that search, I finally found Leo."
"Who came along and make me feel completely free like a wild bird."
"For the first time, I truly feel my own freedom."
"And the brave way he saved me from those disgusting, aggressive mens in the market really stole my heart today," Yumi says, pouring her soul out.
"So, does that mean you truly love him now?" Ken asked with a knowing look.
Yumi started to blush intensely, her cat ears twitching in panic.
"No, no, absolutely not!"
"That's not what you are thinking at all, I was just meaning that he is my exceptionally great friend!" Yumi replied quickly, waving her hands in denial.
Ken smiled a little at her obvious reaction, keeping his thoughts to himself.
Then, early the next morning.
Leo and Ken go out together to a wide, open green field far behind the training grounds.
Ken hold his giant, heavy sword firmly in his dominant hand.
"Come straight at me with your full, unrestricted power," Ken says, setting his stance.
Leo didn't hesitate and take out his massive, rugged Wolf cleaver.
Then, a dense, swirling yellowish aura completely covers Leo's body.
And Leo's dark eye started to glow a fierce, predatory red color.
And it is clear that this powerful energy come directly from Leo's wolf cleaver.
Then, with a loud roar, Leo charged at Ken with explosive speed.
He swung his arm and smashed his heavy cleaver down directly on him.
In the very next second.
Ken was completely gone from the spot.
That massive cleaver hits the empty ground with full force.
And a massive wave of destruction happens, shattering the green grass and dirt.
Ken was already standing safely beside him.
And he casually do a swift counter attack with the flat side of his giant sword.
The impact was heavy, and Leo goes flying away a long distance across the dirt.
Then, as the dust cleared, it clearly shows the truth.
Ken is also a highly skilled, high-tier weapon user himself.
And from Ken's giant sword, a terrifying, red dominant aura was releasing into the air.
And Ken's eyes are also glowing a bright, dominant red color.
Then, Ken looks across the battlefield and says.
"Show me the true power of your hidden beast."
Hearing those words, Leo remember about the dark time when he first teleport into the world of Tenzu.
During his early survival days, he faces well over 100+ certain death situations.
He almost got died multiple times in the deep wilderness.
But he was incredibly lucky to barely survive each time with extreme difficulties.
That time when he arrived, he was just a helpless 6 years old child.
And during that period, the constant danger of the primal forest Leo face in the forest was exceptionally high.
In one horrific encounter, Leo tragically lost his one arm, his one leg, and his one eye to the monsters.
He was starving and could only eat food after 10 agonizing days of hiding in the mud.
That's exactly why Leo have to become incredibly strong and ruthless just to survive this deadly, harsh environment.
And during that lowest point of survival, Leo found a mysterious Wolf cleaver stuck in a high mountain peak.
And from the moment he touched that blade, Leo's severe injury got completely healed, regenerating his limbs and eye.
And from that day forward, Leo started to fight brutally against the wilderness.
He relentlessly hunted and killed almost all dangerous creatures living in that entire forest.
That's the sole reason why he is this capable and strong right now in the present.
The sudden flashback ends in his mind.
Leo screams at the top of his lungs, venting his old trauma.
His yellowish aura increases drastically, shaking the air.
He lunges straight at Ken with full, blinding speed.
He swings a brutal horizontal attack.
Ken smoothly dodge the blade by tilting his body.
He again attacks with a rapid vertical downward strike.
Ken again dodge it effortlessly with a side-step.
He again thrusts his blade forward.
Ken again dodge the point by a hair's breadth.
The exchange happens too quickly for a normal human eye to track.
The sheer speed causes the surrounding air started to bend around their frames.
It was very fast, leaving afterimages on the green field.
Then, Leo directly use his strongest known attack technique.
"Wolf eater!" Leo roars, unleashing a massive bite of energy.
And he used it with every single ounce of his strength.
But, before the attack could connect.
Ken sits low on the ground, dropping his weight.
He brings up his knees and holding his giant sword incredibly tight.
He suddenly teleport completely away from the blast radius.
And he instantly goes directly at Leo's unguarded back.
And he use his own high-tier technique.
"Divine slasher!"
It was a bright, blinding red slash of pure energy.
That hits Leo squarely in the back.
And Leo fell heavily onto the ground, coughing up dust.
"From today on, your official training is to take care of Yumi everyday and do basic castle maid work."
"And then, you will fight with me here in the afternoon."
"It's your mandatory training regimen," Ken says, sheathing his weapon.
"Why don't I just train with you normally all day instead of doing chores?" Leo says, gritting his teeth from the dirt.
"Nah, you have to do exactly what I said without complaining."
"Now, get up and go straight to work," Ken says, pointing toward the palace.
Then, a defeated Leo have to go straight to the kitchen to wash piles of dirty plates.
From that day onward, Leo work tirelessly in the castle by washing heavy clothes and greasy plates.
And spending his mornings cleaning the massive castle corridors.
All though he do a lot of clumsy mistakes at the start, breaking items.
But the kind palace maid teach him his mistakes patiently.
And Yumi also kindly teach Leo a little bit about basic maths that Leo doesn't understand at first, but he still tries his best to understand it for her sake.
And he also diligently take care of Yumi's everyday needs.
Yumi absolutely loves spending every single moment of his time with Leo.
And during that long week, Leo also fought with Ken multiple times in the afternoons, but everytime he lost miserably.
But he consistently learns from his tactical mistakes.
And he tried to do better in every single battle that followed.
During that repetitive routine, in one specific afternoon battle.
Leo was fully confident that he could finally defeat Ken now.
The battle starts with a loud signal.
Leo attacks by creating a massive yellow aura around him.
And he lunges forward like a stray bullet.
He first create a powerful energy slash.
And Ken quickly dodge it by leaping upward.
Ken immediately counters with a heavy downward slash of his own.
Leo dodged it with great difficulties, feeling the wind scrape his cheek.
Leo then again attack with a relentless flurry.
Again and again, swinging his heavy cleaver.
It was completely non-stop, a storm of iron.
But, Ken flawlessly dodge every single strike with calm movements.
Then, Ken suddenly became brutal, shifting into high gear.
He attacks with multiple heavy hits on Leo's defenses.
Showing absolutely no mercy, one by one, all the powerful red Slashs hit Leo's body.
And at the absolute end of the combination.
Leo fell heavily on the hard ground, bleeding from his nose.
Usually, here at this point, the afternoon battle ends for the day.
But this specific time, Leo stubbornly stands up back on his feet.
And he refuses to give up.
Leo flare out his hand and his massive cleaver into the air.
Then, a massive, overwhelming yellow aura completely covers the entire area.
Then, that dense yellow aura form a yellowish giant wolf at the backside of Leo.
And it's giant eye is glowing a dangerous red color in the energy storm.
And then, seeing this progression, Ken decides to do the exact same thing.
And a giant, red bright mystical bird appears majestically on his backside.
Then, Leo and Ken both lungs at each other with their full manifested power.
They move so incredibly fast that their physical movement is looking like a literal light ray.
Like Leo is a the bright Yellow light ray and Ken is the dominant red light ray.
And they are violently clashing with each other in mid-air.
Like a cataclysmic light ray clash across the open field.
They go too fast for the human mind to comprehend.
Moving from one place to another far away in just one single seconds.
In their intense clash, whatever object comes between them got instantly sliced up into tiny pieces.
And the entire land was shaking violently under their power.
And the solid ground was cracking deeply from the inside out.
There was complete destruction everywhere around the training field.
At the very end of the clash, Leo do a final, desperate attack.
And his manifested Wolf attack in the land with a massive, crushing 200 meters range explosion.
But when the dust cleared, there was absolutely no sign of Ken in front of him.
Ken was already standing perfectly at his behind.
Ken attacks with full power.
With his giant mystical bird guiding his blade, he attacks.
It was far more powerful than anything before.
Leo hit very far away from the impact point.
And his body hit directly into a massive mountain in the distance.
And that solid mountain got destroyed instantly and shattered into pebbles for Ken's overwhelming attack.
Ken then walks over and uses high-tier magic to completely heals Leo's broken body.
And he told him the truth that he is specifically training Leo's focus through general household work.
And this was a necessary victory training process.
And from that intense breakthrough, Leo finally unlock a powerful new skill.
Called the Hidden Beast skill.
Every high-grade weapon has a unique hidden beast sealed deep within it.
And when someone is able to fully unleash that beast.
The weapon finally reaches its true, absolute full potential.
"And now, you just unlocked this legendary skill today."
"Now you have officially mastered it through fighting with me repeatedly," Ken explains.
"I would please like to fight today once more," Leo asked, feeling his new power surging.
"Nah, Tomorrow you go straight to clean the dirty clothes," Ken says with a smirk.
Then, despite his massive power awakening, Leo still have to go to clean clothes the next morning.