Chains Of Pride

The wind blew through Kia's hair as the bike sped along its predetermined route to the Shepherd's mansion.

He couldn't help but remember that night he was returning to his home after a long absence. It wasn't that long ago, only a few days at least but it felt strangely nostalgic.

Suddenly a refreshing fragrance entered his nostrils, as pink strands of hair started to tickle parts of his face. He just remembered that in front of him was Minayatsu Ayuki, a girl who sparked his curiosity and apparently whose hair smelled like really nice shampoo.

"You know I find it quite odd myself," Ayuki said after some time.

"What's that?" asked Kia who was enjoying the full moon, the clouds that struggled to stay hidden in the night sky and basically nature on a whole.

"The last person that held me as tightly as you, I ended up having to give him treatment in the Medic Ward." Kia's arms swiftly loosened his grip from around her waist, he didn't realize he was holding her waist so tightly.

"I normally have an issue with people touching me, so why don't I feel that with you I wonder? Maybe, it's because I see no disgusting intent in your eyes. Guess we both have something to be curious of the other huh?"

Kia didn't expect her remark to take such a turn. "Y-Yeah I guess, so why are you going to meet the Shepherd? I remember you were there the day me and the other two met together for the first time."

She appeared a bit dispirited when she heard his question, "This…I'm sorry, I can't talk about it, I hope you understand."

"No, it was my fault, I asked something I shouldn't have," Kia stated, realizing that there was a story there, but not one he was authorised to know, well, not now at least.

"We're almost there, there's Sir Hide's Mansion," Ayuki stated. It was as she said, the Shepherd's mansion was practically in front of them.

In a matter of minutes, they stopped the bikes in front of the Shepherd's house. After disembarking they pressed the return button on the bike to send it back to the bike hub.

"Man I love the new return feature on the bikes, makes it a lot easier than just walking from the bike hub after parking to where we need to go," said Lanzo after he sent his back to the hub.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up and let's see what that stone-faced shitty shepherd wants from us. Kia and that Minmayatu Ayuki already headed inside." After saying what he needed to say, Gero went inside Takeshi's mansion with Lanzo following closely behind.

By the time, Gero and Lanzo arrived in their small meeting room, they saw Kia sitting on the couch but Ayuki was nowhere to be seen. It would seem that she already retired for the night, leaving them to fend for themselves against Takeshi for now.

"Allow me to say this, congratulations on not being limb-crippling disappointments. Now that we got that out of the way, you're all within the realm of an Invata now, an Invata Prime to be specific, though you should be aware of this."

"The next stage would be to become a Core Invata, it's gonna take a while to climb the stages, and we're gonna make sure you're growth is not only consistent but stable." He paused for a moment while he took a sip of the tea he apparently brewed for himself.

"To be honest, though your jump in stages was impressive, it left you all with very unstable foundations, so we're gonna work on that before any breakthrough can be considered. I have the plans for your training for now as far as stabilisation is concerned, I have to get some things ready, so we'll start late tomorrow, any questions?" He asked as he drained the cup of tea.

"Can you really not give us any hints about the training we'll be doing?" Kia asked after a bit of hesitation.

"Let me tell you from now, ascending a realm is one part training and empowerment and one part comprehension. Though what we will be working on is stabilisation, I don't want to risk any unnecessary information making its way to you, so for now just trust me when I say, I will tell you when you're ready. Now you'll stay here for now, until we're ready to leave tomorrow."

Kia Gero and Lanzo's eyes opened in shock. "Eh…!"

"You want us to stay with you, in the same house?" Lanzo couldn't help but ask when he heard the Shepherd's words.

"First of all, don't act surprised, this is simply an act of convenience for me. It doesn't mean that you're going to act as you like while you're here. Make sure you shower, you all smell like a dead bison. I'll show you to your rooms and you'll all find some brand new uniforms and other unmentionables on the beds."

"You bought u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r for us too, what the hell's that about?" Gero asked with his face slightly red.

"Your sizes are within the Academy's database," Takeshi answered.

"That's not the problem here!" Gero fired back.

"I fail to see the problem, so that means there is no problem. Now follow me and I'll show you to your rooms." Takeshi replied as he got up to lead them to their rooms.

"You're insufferable you Shitty Shepherd!" Gero really couldn't stand the man.

"And you're the reason why I think all children are failures, now are you coming or what?" He said as he disappeared from view, not waiting for Gero to answer.

Lanzo was already following with a big smile on his face followed by Kia.

"C'mon man, in my opinion, you guys are pretty much alike," Kia said with the same smile Lanzo disappeared with.

"Don't even joke about that, that's enough for me to suicide on," Gero replied as he lazily got up and followed after Kia.

There, there and there will be your rooms for now. I set the mansion to grant you all LVL 1 authorization, as of now, you can come and go as you please. No noise at night, no pillow fights and I don't do bedtime stories." He said with a straight face.

Gero walked off to his assigned room when he heard this, "Tch, do we look like children to you, I'm gonna take a shower, everyone who doesn't have a stone face, goodnight."

"Ha, see ya tomorrow Kia…I wonder when's the last sequence gonna start? I really wanna fight that dark horse Academy that's been ripping through the sequences…" Lanzo muttered to himself as headed to his room.

Takeshi's eyes then slid to Kia who was just now heading to his own room.

"I also do not wish for anyone to exist their rooms for any foolish reasons," Takeshi stated, the intentions in his statement very clear.

Kia only paused for a moment before he continued walking, "Don't worry, there's nothing in this place that would compel me to leave my room." His room door closed after that.

When the Shepherd heard that, he said nothing more. He simply turned on his heel and left, heading back downstairs to where they have just gathered not long ago.

He slumped back in his chair as he began to collect his thoughts, after remaining like this for some time, he was just about to retire himself when his body involuntarily tensed up.

"Danger!"

This was the dominant thought in Takeshi's head, he didn't dare make any unnecessary movements. It had been a long time since Takeshi felt anything like this, it almost felt like fear, something quite foreign to him.

"What the…!"

Suddenly, a blade of nowhere came slashing towards him at an unusual angle. How was he to block this?!

Shing!! Clang!!

He didn't know how, but he managed to invoke one of his constructs in a split second effectively blocking that sword strike!

"Not bad, at least your reflexes haven't gotten too bad despite you lounging around all these years." A robust-looking old man sauntered out of the shadows looking at Takeshi with a smile on his face.

Takeshi's expression froze when he saw the face of the elder who appeared in front of him.

"Hokori Iryoku. I wondered when you'd find yourself here."

That's right, the old man who caused even cold sweat to wash Takeshi's back was none other than Hokori Iryoku, Kia's grandfather.

"Have you grown so disrespectful Takeshi, you dare to call me by my name with no honorifics, do you think you're all grown up now?"

Takeshi didn't answer the elder in front of him, he simply looked to the side.

When Iryoku saw this, he didn't pursue the topic as he started to circle the Shepherd with a slow walk, Takeshi's eyes never left the old man.

"I dote on my grandson a lot, well, him and his brother. So make sure you don't let him turn out shitty, or I won't levy a strike you can block." The glint of his katana cast by the moonlight was still visible as it slid into his scabbard.

"Anyways, after you reached out to me after a long time and told me what happened I passed on the Awakening Dragon Art to him, so that should be enough for his training for now. I'm leaving my grandson in your care little Takeshi, so please…"

Shu!!

By the time the elderly man fully circled Takeshi to stand in front of him, Takeshi only felt a cold blade rest on his neck. The afterimage in front still taking its own time to disappear.

"Take care of him."

Iryoku took this time to finish his earlier sentence. When the blade withdrew from Takeshi's neck, the old man had already disappeared. Small drops of blood started to bead up where the blade rested on Takehi's neck before it started to heal.

"After all this time, that crazy old man, he hasn't lost a beat…" He stared for a moment into space as if he was reminiscing about the past.

'Sighs.'

Takeshi only felt more exhausted after this, he wiped away the blood, before he got up to head to bed. He paused at the stair railing for a moment as he looked around for a little.

"I really should change the locks in this place."

He then proceeded to head up the stairs to rest for the inevitability of tomorrow.