Kapitel 45: Chapter 44

Once Jeanee cleared the area to get some medical attention, to which she didn't forget to send a glare toward Sephiroth's direction for what he did to her. The next match could start with Kiba and Saeko.

The next fight was just as good as Sephiroth's and Jeanee's match but this one went with more back and forth between the two of them. It was more about speed and technique between the two of them, and while Kiba is extremely strong in swordsmanship Saeko was just as good when the tournament started but only got stronger once she had fought Jeanee in the girls division of the tournament.

While the match lasted for quite a bit because neither were able to land a hit on each other, eventually Saeko put Kiba on the defensive slowly to where he wasn't able to counter attack properly against her, leading him to losing the match in the end.

Walking back to the group Kiba didn't look sad that he lost but showed an expression that he learned a great deal from the fight, which in reality he did. He learned some of the areas that he was lacking in when he was fighting Saeko. While he learned some things when he fought Sephiroth when he trained the girls, he was too highly skilled that it was hard to gauge himself properly if he was really improving or not. But against Saeko he was finally able to see the results of his training and while he was disappointed that he lost he still learned something in the end, which made him content for now at least.

After a short break the next match was set to start Sephiroth versus Siegfried, no words were said between the two. Sephiroth had an indifferent expression on his face and was in his stance for the fight. While Siegfried had a small smirk on his face, he was confident that he was going to win this fight even after what he saw of Sephiroth's previous fight against Jeanee.

The referee signaled the start of the match and Siegfried dashed forward with an overhead swing aimed at Sephiroth's head, he put his full strength into his attack. Siegfried is more of a strength swordsman than a speed or technique one. While Sephiroth excels at everything in swordsmanship so he has no apparent weakness that is known.

Sephiroth blocked the overhead attack and redirected it to his side and stepped to the side and followed up with a horizontal swing to the waist. Siegfried raised his shinta up quickly to block Sephiroth's attack and they then entered into a lock situation. Where their shinta were crossed with each other each one trying to force the other's shinta back and it turned into a contest of strength.

Siegfried was pushing hard with gritted teeth trying to push Sephiroth back and give himself some space but Sephiroth wasn't showing anything on his face and looked like he wasn't even struggling right now. He was just applying enough force and was mildly surprised by the amount of strength that Siegfried was able to muster in their sword lock.

Deciding to give an end to this lock Sephiroth added enough strength and pushed Siegfried back a couple feet making breathing room for both of them. Siegfried giving into his frustration came at him again with his full strength aiming for a diagonal slash, Sephiroth in response stepped to the side and leaned out of the way dodging the swing but that wasn't the end of it. Siegfried quickly raised his shinta up again and went for another attack on Sephiroth, but Sephiroth kept either redirecting the attacks to the side or side stepping them or leaning a bit out of the way dodging them all. Giving an attack here and there breaking up the momentum Siegfried was trying to build up.

Having seen everything that Siegfried had to offer, Sephiroth decided to end it with something that he knew Siegfried wasn't going to be able to block given the speed he has shown so far. Sephiroth attacked Siegfried to force him to back up a bit and with his last attack of his combo he sent Siegfried shinta up forcing him to raise it up over his head. Taking this chance that he created Sephiroth followed through with his next attack [Sudden Cruelty] two sword swings that deal multiple hits and he aimed for both sides of Siegfried stomach area with such speed that Siegfried wasn't able to react in time and get his shinta in position to defend himself.

He took those two hits like a champ and didn't show any visible reaction to the pain that he was in right there. While in his mind he was cursing Sephiroth for his attack because it really hurt his ribs and they might be cracked now. It was then that the referee called the end of the match and gave the win to Sephiroth.

While walking back to his group he walked beside Siegfried and spoke to him but just loud enough for him to hear and no one else. "Strength isn't everything for a swordsman, speed and technique are just as important. Focus on only one creates weakness that someone can exploit" After saying that he walked back to his group.

'Is what Sephiroth said right? Did I focus too much on my strength and create weakness for myself. I'll just have to train that much harder then to eliminate my apparent weaknesses' Thought Siegfried while he showed a determined expression on his face and walked back into the crowd ignoring the pain that he was in so that he could watch the rest of the contestants fight.

Haven't met back up with his group, Kiba asked him something: "what did you say to him, Sephiroth?"

"Something that he needed to hear" Kiba just nodded his head to his statement, sure that whatever Sephiroth said to Siegfried was helpful to him to some degree. Sephiroth isn't one to say a lot but when he does speak it is direct and to the point.

Sephiroth is going to the finals and now the next match up is Sephiroth vs Saeko for the last round of the finals of the mixed division. After giving Sephiroth a short break and getting some encouragement from his group especially Kunou who wanted him to win it all. We can find them standing across from each other each in their own stance. Both confident in their own skills in the sword and both giving off an aura of a supreme swordsman.

Once the referee announced that they could start, Saeko came forward fast and sent several testing blows at Sephiroth to see how he reacted to them and determine his sort of style that he uses. Sephiroth reacted easily and blocked all the attacks that Saeko sent toward him and he knew what she was doing and decided to play along to see what she was going to do. Out of the three people that he wanted to test, the one that he really wanted to test was Saeko because she was the strongest out of the three especially now that she evolved her swordsmanship even more yesterday during the finals against Jeanee.

They went back and forth several times like this never truly go all out but seeing how each of their styles worked and found out about each other that their sword style, Saeko used what she called Moonlight something similar to her father's style but made her own while Sephiroth used his own created style Transcendence. They each focus on all three aspects of swordsmanship; strength, speed, and technique. It makes them well rounded and gives them no weakness to speak of against someone that is the same level as them.

Saeko was impressed with the style that Sephiroth used and could see that it focused on the same thing that her own style focused on obviously with some difference in the stances that they used since they were cratered to their own body.

Saeko was getting excited as the fight was going on and it showed on her face and she showed her true face while they were fighting and Sephiroth was the only one that could see it. It is something that he could recognize because he has a servant that is the same way and knows another that is somewhat similar, Saeko was sadistic when she was fighting someone powerful finally answering the question he thought was off about her. Her normal personality is so different than when she is fighting so most people wouldn't see this side of her.

Saeko seeing that after fighting for so long that nothing has changed really, she wanted to try one of her moves that she has been working on for a while against Sephiroth knowing that he will either block it or at the very least not die from it.

Quickly attacking Sephiroth with three quick slashing to his body, she knew that he was going to dodge them by stepping back which is something that she wanted. She needed the little bit of space that he would give her so that she could perform her attack on him.

Sephiroth did exactly that, making her smile internally and then using her shinta she performed her next attack "Moonlight style: Shattering Moon" muttered Saeko. It was an attack that thrusted forward aiming for the heart but using her whole body's muscles and taking a step forward she was able to transfer all of that built up momentum in her arm that was launching the attack, once the attack lands it acts like a drill destroying whatever it touches.

When Sephiroth saw what she was doing and the momentum behind her attack he knew that if he tried to block that attack his shinta without any kind of strengthening wouldn't be able to handle the stress and he would lose the match because of a technicality and that is something that he wouldn't allow.

The only thing that he could do was to dodge it or use an attack of his own to fight it, he chose to fight it with one of his own techniques he had something that would defend him and open Saeko up for a counterattack. When Saeko's shinta got within his range of attack Sephiroth used [Tempest] an attack where he would spin on the pivot of one of his legs and using the force and momentum that he built delivered a powerful slash to the opponent.

In this case he was using it to strike the shinta of Saeko and push it aside and then leaving her open to a counterattack, and that is exactly what happened which really surprised Saeko because she didn't think that he would do something like this and be fast enough to spin in front of her and accurately strike her shinta in mid attack.

After Sephiroth knocked Saeko's shinta to the side with his attack he didn't let up and used another of his attacks [Transience] a single slash which hit's several times before knocking the foe backwards. Saeko saw that Sephiroth was going to attack her again but she wasn't going to be able to do anything to stop it. Her last attack stresses her muscles and slows down her reaction speed to some degree and not to mention that she was overextended in her last attack so she knew that there was no way she could pull her shinta back to block this attack given Sephiroth's speed.

Sephiroth's attack landed on her and she was pushed back several feet but she still didn't let go of her shinta even though she was in some massive pain and had sore muscles all over her body right now, her pride wouldn't allow her to drop her sword no matter what. Sephiroth was impressed with this fact, he expected her to drop it given the damage that she took not to mention he noticed the twitching of her muscles as well and figured that it was from her own technique and she still held on strong to her sword.

The referee called the match "Winner Sephiroth Crescent" yelled the referee and the whole crowd cheered for him and were excited by the match that they just watched. It was by far the most fierce out of all the matches that this whole kendo tournament held and many couldn't help but admire these two for the skills in the sword.

Walking toward Saeko and offering his hand to her, he was still holding an indifferent expression on his face "Come find me when you want a rematch" was all that Sephiroth said but when Saeko grabbed his hand she could feel a warm sensation enter her whole body making her feel relaxed and comfortable.

She could feel that her sore muscles were being taken care of and the damage that she just took was fading fast, she was extremely interested in what was happening to her right now. But she had a feeling that Sephiroth was the one doing it because as soon as she touched him that is when this feeling came about. This made her really interested in Sephiroth and his apparent ability to heal her injuries.

She felt so good she wanted to moan and just when she was about to the feeling went away because Sephiroth took his hand away from her hand, she kind of felt flustered now because of what just happened to her, making her have a slight blush on her face. Sephiroth was using his senjutsu to heal Saeko injuries when he held her hand, he came to respect Saeko for her skill with the sword and figured that he would help her out a bit. He then walked away from Saeko without waiting for her reply to his statement having done what he wanted for her.

Watching him walk away from her she was in deep thought 'I don't know what you did to me Sephiroth Crescent, but you can count on a rematch against me in the near future. I need to find out what school he goes to, maybe a new environment will do me good' Saeko brushed herself off and then walked back to the crowd to get the information that she needed, while still thinking about that feeling that Sephiroth gave her not that long ago when they held hands.

Jumping onto Sephiroth like a Kola onto a tree, Kunou was rubbing her face on his "Onii-chan congrats you won the mixed division and even beat the champions for both the girls and the boys division of the tournament. Doesn't that mean that you won the whole tournament then right onii-chan?"

"I guess technically you are right Kunou-chan, he beat both the champions of their respectful divisions making him the best of the three." Kiba stated on the side giving out a slight chuckle at the actions of Kunou right now.

"Of course lord Sephiroth would beat these worms, they are only weak humans after all" Raynare said with a smile on her face trying to butter up her boss for some kind of benefit later. She also didn't like humans anyway so watching them fight each other with wooden sticks reminded her of monkeys in the wild fighting with sticks.

"Let's get going Kunou, I need to drop you back off to your mother. I have to go to school tomorrow again" Sephiroth said to the group but mostly to Kunou letting her know what they were going to be doing next. He had to promise to spend the rest of the day with her before they separate for the night, something that he wasn't against. Kiba, Raynare, and the kendo girls bid Sephiroth goodbye for now and said that they would see him tomorrow at school.

He was unaware that next week was going to be interesting because of a special visitor that would be coming, a certain fried chicken of a certain noble family from the underworld.