Rikunai: Genesis

Chapter Eleven: The Perfect Defense

It took Tiomoyo two more days to complete his Reiki pathway training. The day after that, on Friday, Raja led Tiomoyo further into the clearing, closer to the trees.

"It's time you put your training to use." Raja pointed to the trees and foliage as he knelt slightly to match Tiomoyo's eye level. "Remember what happened in the forest? I want you to take down this clearing of trees."

"Do you really think I can do it?"

Raja smiled as the sun rose behind him. "I don't think it matters what I think, it's whether or not you do. Now, I want you to combine your hands together, wrist to wrist, and arc your fingers to direct your Wind-form to the forest."

"You want me to use all ten fingers at once?"

"I want enough firewood to supply this cabin for years."

"Well then, here goes nothing, I suppose."

Tiomoyo planted his feet against the ground and positioned his hands and fingers as instructed. He summoned as much Wind-form Reiki as he could in a single motion and directed them through all ten of his fingers, creating a swirling mass of gray and white as the tempest of the versatile Seidou laid just beyond his fingertips. Tiomoyo yelled as he released the mass. It traveled in a straight path as the sphere of blitzing air burst from his hands, barreling into the trees. Tiomoyo released his hold on the condensed Wind-form.

The attack exploded with a massive shockwave that knocked back the master and student as every single tree in a fifty-meter radius snapped in half from winds clocking in at over four hundred miles per hour or more. When the wind finally died down and escaped from whatever semblance of containment they had, the forest was revealed to be flattened, with trees in the distance being bent as well.

Tiomoyo collapsed with heavy breaths as he felt a small stream of blood dribble out of his nose. The stress of the technique had ruptured blood vessels in his nose. He wiped the blood off of his lip and smiled, laughing as he realized he had done it. In just a couple weeks since the exercise, he had overcome his hurdle.

Raja, grinning like a proud father, extended his hand to help Tiomoyo stand. Tiomoyo composed himself and stood on his own, tired, but able to stand.

"You did it!" Raja exclaimed as he took Tiomoyo by the shoulders. "You really, really, really did do it! I thought it would take much longer, but you... You did it! I'm so proud of you!"

Tiomoyo felt the excitement bubble inside of him as he vibrated with joy. He wanted to leap around to celebrate his success, but he was too exhausted to do so. After recovering and cleaning up from the nosebleed, and relaxing for a moment, Tiomoyo's training resumed. For the rest of the day, Tiomoyo repeated this technique of throwing out a mass of hyper-condensed Wind-form. However, this time, he didn't max out his exertion with every attempt and instead focused on being able to reliably and quickly produce this technique, albeit at a lower level of power. He dubbed his version of the technique "Notus' Tempest", or simply a Tempest. The following day, on Saturday, Raja once again brought Tiomoyo outside for the next step in his training following his successful display of his extreme offensive capabilities.

"Tiomoyo." Raja looked out to the rising sun as he sipped on some tea. Tiomoyo, fully clothed in his new training outfit, freshly washed, walked to Raja's side and looked at the horizon with him.

"Yes?"

"Do you know what the Psionic Shield technique is?"

"The Akimicha's technique? Yeah, I know a bit about it. Why?"

"It's the perfect defense. By molding Psychic-form Reiki into a solid state by rapidly churning it around the user, an Akimicha can create an almost indestructible sphere of Reiki that protects anything inside from all attacks and prevents anything, Reiki or not, from getting inside. It's arguably one of the greatest techniques in their arsenal. Kiki's father reinvented it, as us masters did for most techniques known today, but even older records depict Akimichas using Psionic Shields."