[Completed] Legend of the Five Knights III: Song of Divine Wrath

Episode 39: Concentration

*Tetsuya*

The passage of time in this world of dreams was different than that of any world I'd been too, even Munil. It was hard to keep track of how long we've been here. There weren't any stones indicating a day in this world had passed, nor an equivalent amount of time provided to us so that we could calculate it ourselves.

In what time had passed, I had shown Serra several mana control techniques.

I smiled as Serrano continued to concentrate his mana on top of a tiny pin as he sat cross-legged across from me. Prior to me falling asleep, Kaliq had taught me and the other knights how to do this. It took me several tries to do it, but I had finally started to get a handle of it, well, at least enough to teach Serra how to replicate it.

"Okay, think that's enough for now," I said, clapping my hands.

Serrano kept his eyes on the pin. "I understand that this is a form of mana control, but how will focusing my mana on a tiny spot keep me from running out of energy quickly?" he asked, sighing. "I mean, it seems like it's more meant for dangerous attacks. Like how Kohri's Esquilino has the ability to focus his mana into an extreme density for extra damage at the cost of range."

Come to think of it, Kohri was the only Seven-Hill of the new generation I hadn't had a chance to spar against.

"It does?" I asked. I chuckled. "I'm going to need to ask him for a match, that way I can see all of his tricks."

"Good luck, Kohri tends have a rather savage way of fighting."

"Should you really be saying that?"

He turned away as he seemed to recall how he nearly killed me during our last sparring match at the palace. "Yeah, I probably shouldn't..."

I gulped. Maybe that was a bad move...

"Well, Rosa does too. She was like a whole other person when fighting Satoru after he had nearly killed me."

Serrano laughed. "Pretty sure that she was driven by anger."

I rubbed my head. Anger... I had allowed anger to take me over during my battle with Eiichi. Was it even fair to count that as a victory? I even hurt my mom in my madness... Rage, it could easily turn a person into a monster.

I sighed. Perhaps it was best to let go of the anger I felt toward my father. Though, at this point, that didn't matter much as he was stuck in The Abyss.

I slapped myself and shook my head. I need to focus on what is in front of me right now. Everything about the outside world right now is a distraction.

My eyes widened. Everything about the outside world... is a distraction... Setsuko said that in order to draw forth the mana of the world we need to zone out everything.

I stared at the black void around us. I snickered. No wonder my dad had me and the other Knights of Prophecy go to Munil, it wasn't only because it allowed us to train a year's worth of time in three days. The realm itself was a void, allowing us to not be distracted by the outside world. We were the only distraction... including ourselves.

Serrano snickered. "Hey, Tetsu! Stop zoning out!"

I blinked. "Huh? What? I wasn't zoning out!" I yelled, blushing. Come to think about it, I was already pretty good at zoning out the outside world. My inner thoughts were what kept on messing with me. I needed to clear myself, empty myself...

"Hmm, looks like you're doing it again."

I sat down on the ground and crossed my legs. "I got an idea," I said.