It Can't Rain All The Time

"Right, right." A voice echoed in the air of the large, desolate landscape that the two beings stood upon. "We have some serious training to do!" It said once more, before the bats that floated in the air coalesced into a single being and revealed the source of the voice: Kain Daisuke. He characteristically appeared as his jovial self, with his silver hair glistening in the dark ambiance of the realm and his red eyes staring right into the soul of the person he was conversing with. Despite his position and announcement, though, his dressy black jacket, pants and associated attire would suggest that he's come out for some sort of dinner! "But first, we have to warm up. So, I'll stay in this form for now."

Myst Kagekyo, the woman whom Kain was conversing with smiled. It was just like her teacher to appear over-dressed for such an occasion. She had decided to wear not a fancy outfit, but rather her standard attire. A sleeveless turtleneck poked from under a white overcoat, likewise sleeveless. Contrasting her partner, she chose to wear a brown miniskirt instead of pants, although she did wear black shorts underneath, the legs of which barely poked below the skirt itself. On her right shoulder was a crimson, blood-stained cape that hung lazily, while her left shoulder was covered by a metal pauldron, dented in a vaguely hand-shaped pattern, two worn and faded yellow stripes along its surface.

Rose-colored hair blew in the light breeze as her icy-blue gaze met Kain’s own. “A warm up with you used to be our whole session. I wonder if I can keep up.” she said, resting her hand on her sword, a former Zanpakuto, now just a soul-less husk of its old self.

“I’ll leave you with the first move, sensei.” As the words left her lips, she entered a battle stance, her hand leaving the hilt of her blade. She wanted to rely less upon it, in order to hone her own physical abilities.

"Well, let's hope you don't regret it!" Kain cheerfully stated, immediately snapping his right arm upwards, throwing his cane at the same time as he conducted this motion. Intriguingly, a red aura permeated from the cane in soft, ripple-like shapes as it descended at eye-level before Kain, before proceeding to levitate upon his command. "Get ready, my Queen!" Kain exuberantly stated, before softly making motions with his right hand in a horizontal '8' formation. "Three powers, Seven Sins, Seven Virtues. Deny and perish, tormented soul, broken heart. With Hell's witness, the flames of Wrath's pyre, ignite once more!" His incantation concluded, rather rapidly. From the cane itself, the red aura that pulsated before Kain proceeded to transfigure, recollecting itself as a bloody orb that violently trembled. "Release yourself, Gekirin!" Kain commanded the spell, leading cracks to form in the orb before him as it erupted into a massive explosion of crimson flames that soon pursued Myst's position, shaping itself as a serpentine dragon that wished to devour Myst and annihilate her existence completely.

As the young ruler heard the incantation, her eyes widened in fear. She knew the power of the spell quite well, having learned it from Kain personally, as well as using it with variable levels of success, and none without being burned herself. Seeing it cast, however, she began formulating a means to deal with the spell itself.

While the dragon-shaped flame closed in, she focused her energy in preparation of her own spell, a personalized variation of one of the other six she was taught. “Three Powers, Seven Sins. Gaze and Envy at my power. Let nothing escape, and feed on your foolishness.” The words flowed quickly, almost too quick to be intelligible

Vibrant rose-colored light surrounded her being as the spell was cast, illuminating her and the area around them with its glare. The effigy of flame struck the light and seemingly stalled, until the entire conflagration was gathered in front of Myst’s eyes, bound into a sphere. With a single wave of her hand, the true nature of her defense became manifest, as the inferno of bloody fire rebounded away from the light, back along the path it took originally, only this time pointed directly at Kain instead of her.

When she she saw the flames rebound along their path, she smiled. Her spell was the perfect one-shot defense, no technique could break through, and she thanked whatever deities there were that Kain had only seen her cast this iteration of the Senbo spell, mitigating the odds of him having a simple counter for it.

"Interesting enough." Kain admitted to himself. However, he seemed unimpressed. He raised his right arm, his palm facing the sky as he did so. Placing his hand there for but a moment as the dragon rushed towards him, Kain descended his arm slightly, changing the position of his hand so that a single finger pointed directly towards his floating sword. Heeding its master's command, the sword changed directions, with its pointed edge facing the dragon of flames. "Watch and learn, my Queen." Kain thrust his arm forwards, his sword mimicking the action and parting the dragon of flames with ease, before the said flames became an ethereal white as they surrounded Kain in a circular formation. Becoming a series of waves repeating over and over as Kain moved the fingers on his right hand, he looked towards Myst with keen eyes.

"Your first lesson shall start now, my Queen." Kain clicked his fingers, dispersing the flames into the air as nothing more than little embers that danced around the environment. "As you might have guessed from your encounter with Kei Yume, the nature of advanced spiritual beings and their combative prowess is not solely based on one's spiritual pressure or technique. Rather, it is based upon their willpower and their ability to exert control over their own state and, if possible, their opponent's. Why was I able to reclaim control over those flames? Because I exerted my will upon them." Kain paused for a moment, allowing his Queen to collect all this information. "And this skill is named, aptly, Will Materialization. Of course, you must awaken it yourself, for it is something that cannot be taught."