Every day, my routine was the same.
During the day, I trained with Dorna and practiced shooting.
During the night, while everyone else slept, I practiced Nature Breathing.
It wasn't exactly healthy.
I barely got any sleep.
But honestly?
I didn't care.
The more I trained, the stronger I became.
And the stronger I became, the closer I got to mastering all seven forms.
Right now, I was working on the seventh and final form.
The hardest one.
One night, I was practicing alone near the edge of the training grounds.
The moon shone brightly overhead.
I drew my black katana and took a deep breath.
Suddenly—
Crunch.
A noise came from the bushes.
I immediately spun around.
My grip tightened around the sword.
"Is it a demon?" I thought.
The bushes rustled again.
Something was definitely there.
Slowly, the figure moved closer.
I lowered my stance.
If it was a demon, I wouldn't let it get the first attack.
The shadow stepped out from the darkness.
I took a deep breath.
"Nature Breathing..."
The figure came closer.
"First Form..."
Closer.
"Growth Bamboo Thrust!"
I shot forward.
A green ribbon of energy followed my blade as I lunged.
"WHOA! IT'S US, BRO!"
I stopped inches away from Tobisa's face.
The three of us froze.
For a moment, nobody said anything.
Then Tobisa's legs gave out.
"I almost died."
Marie nodded.
"That was way too close."
I slowly lowered my sword.
"What are you two doing here?"
Marie crossed her arms.
"We've been getting suspicious."
"Suspicious?"
"Every night you disappear."
Tobisa nodded.
"And every morning you're exhausted."
"So we followed you."
I sighed.
Great.
My secret training wasn't a secret anymore.
"You won't tell anyone, right?"
The two of them immediately raised their hands.
"Swear!" they both said.
I looked at them carefully.
They seemed serious.
Finally, I nodded.
"Fine."
After that, I showed them Senjuro's book.
At first, they couldn't believe it.
Then they became even more excited than I was.
For the next few nights, the three of us trained together.
Marie helped me improve my stance.
Tobisa helped me test different combinations.
Together, we experimented with mixing forms and figuring out how Nature Breathing worked.
Honestly, training became a lot more fun.
And while studying the book, we learned something important.
Something about demons.
Apparently, there were different kinds.
The first type was Normal Demons.
These were the weakest.
Dangerous to ordinary people, but manageable for trained fighters.
The second type was Fake Rankers.
They possessed far more power than normal demons.
Some were strong enough to destroy entire villages by themselves.
Then came the third type.
The most feared demons in the world.
Ranker Demons.
There were only six of them.
Six monsters so powerful that entire armies feared them.
Even reading about them sent chills down my spine.
But at the very end of the page was another name.
A name written in larger letters than all the others.
Lord Katsuo.
The King of Demons.
The strongest demon alive.
The ruler of all demons.
For a moment, none of us spoke.
Tobisa swallowed nervously.
Marie looked unusually serious.
As for me...
I stared at the name.
Something about it felt important.
Like this wasn't the last time I would hear it.
And somehow...
I had a feeling that one day, our paths would cross.