Thousand Cherry Blossoms

XXI

Potential
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Both brothers ran at each other, clashing their swords together. The ice sword withstood the blow of Senbonzakura.

The two engaged in a power struggle. Izuku looked into Shoto's eyes and saw his determination. He then looked at the sword he held. It was a beautiful katana made of ice. This was made possible thanks to Mayumi of course, but the sword still spoke of Shoto's mastery over his quirk.

The ice was so dense that it withstood a blow from a Zanpakuto. Vapour rose from the blue blade. He put his all into forming this blade. Izuku decided he would stop playing and give it his all as well and give Shoto a goal to reach if he was planning on becoming adept at the art of wielding a blade.

A pink, beautiful and graceful, aura rose from Izuku's body, taking Shoto by surprise.
Izuku inwardly was proud that his brother had gotten better at sensing spiritual pressure.

Vlad glanced besides him at the fatigued, trembling girl. He wasn't surprised that she was trembling. Any beginner who could see the aura Izuku let out would be surprised. But the fact Mayumi saw the aura could only mean one thing...

"So pretty..." He heard Hoshi mutter. He tightened his hold on her and smiled. The future of the Kuchiki clan was bright.

"Shoto. I'm going all out. Don't fall." With those words of encouragement, as Shoto interpreted it, Izuku parried Shoto's blade and swung horizontally in his direction.

With a burst of Reiatsu, a vertical aura shot towards Shoto's accompanied by cherry blossoms.

Shoto blocked it without much problem. He grunted and ran at Izuku. He formed Ice beneath his feet, taking advantage of the low friction to slide towards Izuku with a much higher speed. He went around and tried attacking from the side.

He brought his sword down but Izuku spun and dodged it. He quickly recovered and kicked the ground. An ice spike shot out which Izuku cut. Taking advantage of the opening Shoto slashed again.

"Sen." Pink flowers blocked Shoto's strike along with his vision. Shoto grunted and slashed the petals away by putting more of his quirk's power in the slash. He didn't find Izuku behind the wall of flowers but as he saw a shadow loom over him, he quickly figured out where his brother was.

He jumped away just in time to dodge Izuku's jump attack but Izuku didn't let up. He quickly rushed after Shoto who tried to block Izuku's path by erecting walls of Ice. But every wall he put down was cut apart by Izuku and Sen.

Growing frustrated, Shoto launched back towards Izuku, this time being much more aggressive. He struck again and again and again and got blocked again and again and again.

Screaming, he stabbed his sword into the ground and glared at Izuku. He held the hilt with both his hands and screamed once more. Cold vapour rose from his body and a thin sheet of blue crawled up his skin. His hair turned stiff from being frozen.

From the point where the sword was stabbed, ice spread everywhere on the arena like a plague. It crawled towards Izuku, who watched with curiousity, before erupting in spikes, trapping the long haired boy.

Izuku grunted and many petals appeared to help their master. The petals cut through the ice like paper.

Shoto grew more frustrated. He pulled his sword out and ran at Izuku again.

He hit him again, this time with even more power. Izuku blocked it.

He slashed again, with even more power. Izuku evaded it.