*whoosh*

A blood colored shadow darted in front of Calron as it abruptly burst into a cloud of crimson mist and reappeared a few meters ahead of its previous location.

“Huh?”

Calron dumbly stared at his surroundings.

Darkness.

It felt like nothing existed in the world besides the black void that surrounded Calron. There were no signs of any life or objects within the vicinity. It was completely pitch-black except for the blood shadows darting around as they exploded into bursts of crimson mist!

Not even a hint of a breeze could be felt on Calron’s skin, as he simply observed the scene before him.

“What is this place? Is that the Blood Mist Step?”

Calron muttered as he saw the blood shadows continue to burst into clouds of mist and instantly reappear several yards away.

Sensing that he must gain insights into the technique on his own, Calron sat down in a meditative position and intently examined the movements of the blood shadows.

The longer Calron gazed at the shadows, the deeper he became immersed in his concentration. He felt like he was absorbing bits of information as small tendrils of the crimson mist entered his body while the shadows kept bursting apart.

“Hmm, this seems familiar… ”

Calron had already experienced the sensation of the crimson mist before, when the Blood Legacy started breaking the seal out of its own accord. Recalling those memories, Calron entered an extremely profound state of meditation.

“I’m hungry, Master! Can we take a small break?”

Fatty pitifully asked the old man sitting on the large rock in front of him.

“You just took a bathroom break a few minutes ago. Concentrate on your training, Roran.”

Elias answered in a strict tone.

Earlier, Elias had been fooled by Fatty when the boy had requested for multiple breaks for either the bathroom or for drinking water. After continuously leaving, Elias figured out that the boy was simply too lazy, so he forced Fatty to train without any interruptions!

With a dejected sigh, Fatty continued his training as he unceasingly punched the air in front of him, while drops of sweat rolled off his body.

Meanwhile Elias just sat on the rock, and hummed a slow tune as he watched his second disciple labor in the Formless Fist.

Tendrils of crimson mist constantly drifted into Calron’s body as he remained in a state of  deep meditation.

On the outside, a dense scarlet cloud was ominously floating above Calron as he slowly absorbed the crimson mist. Unbeknownst to him, the number of the blood shadows in the surrounding area were slowly decreasing, the more Calron continued to absorb the crimson mist!

Soon, Calron’s skin started to glow with a faint red hue as traces of sweat started to form around his body.

Not only was he absorbing the crimson mist into his body, Calron was also inhaling the blood mist!

After a few minutes, his skin had turned completely red as hot steam sizzled around him. An intense pain shot across his body, as Calron cried out a hoa.r.s.e roar!

His blood felt like it was slowly being boiled, as his body temperature rose to abnormal amounts!

“This is what Master warned me about… “

Calron rasped as he struggled to maintain his consciousness.

There was simply a colossal amount of source energy within his body at that moment, and Calron was unable to safely control it!

“d.a.m.n IT!”

Gathering every single drop of willpower he had, Calron furiously bellowed into the darkness!

*shua*

Abruptly, his palm started to heat up, as a series of symbols rotated around his hand.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed as it revealed a large translucent shield behind the seated Calron!

The shield had three distinct symbols etched into the center, and they were exactly identical to the symbols that were imprinted on Calron’s palm!

“The Legacy Armor… ”

Calron softly whispered in the darkness as he suddenly regained control of the blood mist.

*hisss*

A fist viciously struck the empty air, as a sound of a small explosion trailed behind it.

“Haah… Hah… I did it!”

Fatty panted and tried to steady his breath, as he suddenly dropped to the ground in exhaustion.

“Good job, but you are still far away from perfecting it. I guess, that is good enough for a day’s training.”

Elias gently said as he looked down at his weary disciple.

“Calron should be done as well… I hope he can endure it.”

Elias quietly murmured as he gazed in the distance towards his other disciple, who was currently entranced in meditation.

Suddenly, a deafening explosion reverberated throughout the forest!

Both Fatty and Elias abruptly looked towards the source of the sound and were shocked at the scene in front of them!

There was a tornado of crimson mist encircling Calron as the boy had his eyes closed, with a faint smile tugging at his lips.

Seeing the sight of the crimson mist spiraling around his disciple, Elias let out a small sigh of relief and a moment later, a smile started to spread on his face as well.

“I think I’m starting to become numb to the number of shocks this disciple of mine continues to throw at me.”

Elias said while letting out a low chuckle and walking towards Calron.

Fatty had his mouth wide open at the sight of the crimson tornado in front of him, and immediately stood up from the ground.

“Wah, big brother is simply too amazing!”

Just then, the tornado abruptly calmed down and dissipated into the air, as it revealed the complete figure of a dark haired boy.

Calron turned his head as he noticed his Master and Fatty approaching him.

“Seeing that silly smile on your face, I’m a.s.suming it all went well?”

Elias asked with a grin on his face.

“Yes, Master! This disciple has successfully learned the basics of the Blood Mist Step!”

“Good, good. I’m curious as to how you endured the pressure of the second step. Was it your Azure Lightning that aided you?”

Elias curiously inquired his young disciple.

“No, Master… It was this thing that you previously said was extremely powerful.”

Calron replied as he showed his palm containing the three distinct symbols.

“Haha, I forgot you had inherited the Legacy Armor! So, do you still think it is a useless ability?”

Elias asked in an amused tone.

“N-no, of course not! How could something that Master said was powerful, ever be useless?”

Calron stammered out the words as he slightly blushed.

He remembered a while ago, when he had complained to his Master about how useless the symbols were, and today, Calron experienced just how powerful of a defensive ability those symbols really had!

“Well, what are you waiting for?”

Elias stated with a mischievous grin on his face.

“Huh?”

Calron was utterly confused at his Master’s behavior.

“Let me see just how proficient you are in the Blood Mist Step!”

Elias responded as his grin turned even wider.

In a flash, Elias disappeared from his spot, as he left a trail of crimson mist behind him!

With his instincts kicking in, Calron immediately activated the Blood Mist Step and moved a step back.

Unlike Elias, Calron had not yet learned to move large distances with the Blood Mist Step, so the most he could do, was move a single step!

Fortunately, Calron evaded his Master’s fist by a hair’s breadth and counterattacked with his own palm.

Just as Calron’s strike was about to land on Elias, his Master abruptly vanished again! However, this time, Calron was prepared for it and a part of his arm turned into a cloud of crimson mist and suddenly reappeared behind him, where his Master stood there with a surprised look on his face!

With a sly grin, Calron launched another strike against his Master in hopes that he would catch him off guard.

Seeing his disciple adapt so quickly to battle and the technique, Elias was momentarily shocked but he quickly regained his composure.

“Still too early for you, my young disciple!”

Elias calmly stated, as he exploded in another burst of crimson smoke right before Calron was about to strike.

Within a span of a second, Elias instantly reappeared next to Calron and had his finger placed firmly against Calron’s neck!

“Not bad for your first try.”

Elias whispered as he gave a proud smile to his disciple.

Hearing his Master’s praise, Calron beamed with happiness.

“I will definitely improve, Master!”

“Wow! I want to learn that cool trick as well!”

Fatty abruptly interjected when he realized that the spar between his brother and Master had ended.

“Hmm, you have not yet perfected the Formless Fist, so master that first and you can learn the Blood Mist Step as well, Roran.”

Elias gently voiced as his second disciple jumped in excitement.

Smacking Fatty on the back, Calron stated in a serious tone.

“Master, I think I’m ready for the tournament!”