Evalyn journeyed to Rimo Forest in the morning and made her way to the top of the mountain. Kaze wasn't on the rock face, so she retraced her steps to the pond.
She stopped to examine the tree that he had felled the day before. The sight left her bewildered.
A dozen daggers sliced into it at a 45-degree angle and curved downward simultaneously, cleanly slicing the tree in half in a beautiful pattern.
It told her that he was teaching that power isn't developed by raw force but rather by control and fundamental understanding.
Evalyn walked into the area in a mental haze but snapped out of it when she saw Kaze cultivating with a serious expression on his face.
"Create a blade." He said without opening his eyes, "Your goal for today is to cut down a tree."
She nodded and closed her eyes. Moisture in the atmosphere cooled, recreating the blade from yesterday but with far more refinement.
Evalyn practiced for a few minutes, allowing the blade to fly around her, moving nearer and farther with her thoughts.
The blade abruptly stopped in the air, and she put her hands down and closed her eyes.
Another air dance began, only without her hands guiding it. Kaze opened his eyes and watched the blade drifting around slowly with a warm smile.
Evalyn opened her eyes and watched the blade recreate the emotions from her dance in amusement until she saw Kaze's vibrant green eyes staring at her.
She turned bright red, and the blade dropped to the ground.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Evalyn asked.
"I'm teaching you how to use your technique, and you're embarrassed that I'm looking at you?" Kaze laughed in disbelief.
Her eyes filled with annoyance, and she reflexively used her technique to lift the blade to look intimidating. However, her mind became hazy, and the blade shot across the ground at Kaze.
Evalyn's eyes widened in shock and fear.
Crack!
The sound of shattering ice filled the atmosphere. With surreal speed, Kaze moved out of the way and used his thumb and middle finger to flick the dagger, shattering it.
She stared at him in shock. Her eyesight had improved exponentially, slowing the motions until she could barely see his after image flicking it.
"Just like that. Only at a tree, and not your teacher." Kaze said in a charming voice.
Evalyn snapped out of her haze and realized she did use the blade to attack. "Why did it attack like that?"
"While you create and control the blades, the technique aligns with your basic intent. Since it's an offensive technique, it's sensitive to attacking intent." He said with a slight, mocking smile.
She blushed in embarrassment and then turned away to make another blade.
…
Boom!
A dagger hit a tree at full speed, causing the branches to shake and leaves to fall to the ground.
Evalyn stared at the tree in frustration. It was riddled with dozens of puncture marks, but it wasn't enough to make it fall.
"Come now." Kaze chuckled, "Surely you saw the tree on the way in."
Her eyes filled with understanding, and her lips pursed into a wry smile.
"I just figured I wouldn't have that level of control." Evalyn said bitterly, "I could barely make my blades dance, let alone swing twelve simultaneously at an angle."
Kaze scoffed. "Your blades almost slayed a mortal earlier, yet you've already forgotten that they sensitively align to your intent?"
"You're not a mortal and that wasn't my intent!" She snapped in annoyance.
"If I were a normal mortal, I'd be dead, and your weak intent would have killed me." He scoff-laughed, "Don't you think if you meant to attack me, it'd have better control?"
Evalyn froze, coming to terms with the consequences of failure.
"I'm alive, so wipe that concern off your face. Study your blueprint to see how you can make your dagger swing, and murder that tree." Kaze scoffed while rolling his eyes.
She took a deep breath and complied.
…
Snap, snap, snap! Boom!
A small tree fell to the ground, snapping branches from the neighboring trees as it fell to the earth.
Evalyn fell to her knees, taking long breaths with sweat dripping down her face.
Kaze clapped five times methodically. "Well done. It seems there's a Phoenix in you yet."
She looked at him in confusion. "Phoenix?"
"It's nothing. Just a bit a [legend] from the future." He said mysteriously.
"Is that so?" She asked suspiciously, wondering about her past self.
"Now, come. We have to learn another technique." Kaze said with a slight smile.
"Another technique?" Evalyn asked, "I haven't become proficient in this one."
"True, but this one doesn't require much self control, and it's useful." He replied with a ghostly smile.
She stared at him in confusion until she noticed his finger coming toward her forehead.
"Wait! Don't just put stuff in my—"
Her eyes clouded over as she parsed through the profound information flooding her mind.
"—head. Why is this useful?"
Kaze chuckled. "Surely you see it's general value, yes?"
Evalyn's filled with annoyance. "Of course I do! I'm asking why it's useful now."
He gave her another strange smile. "Because you need a practice dummy, and I need you to use that on me."
Her mouth fell open, and she stared at him with trembling eyes. "You can't be serious."
"Sure I am!" Kaze replied with a wide smile, "Otherwise, I wouldn't waste my time teaching you this when you have a multi-purpose offensive technique."
Evalyn trembled in fear, uncertain what to say.
"Now get up and start practicing it." He ordered with a smile, "If you can't use it correctly it's useless."
…
"Kaze. You're not going to say, [You fool! Why would you trust anyone telling you to attack them? Are you mad!?], are you?" Evalyn asked mockingly.
"Of course not." Kaze chuckled, "I'm not a good teacher."
She gave him a wry smile and took a deep breath.
Kaze was wearing red silk boxers; otherwise, he was completely bare.
"Do you at least want me to avoid you… you know…." Evalyn said awkwardly while looking at his bewilderingly generous package.
"Penis? No. Body tempering is useless if you don't use it on everything." He replied casually.
"If I always did that, my member would explode if an immortal walked into the area.
This method of body tempering is extremely disagreeable, but there are no treasures on the Mortal Plane yet. So it's necessary."
Evalyn nervously swallowed while getting into position. "Okay… are you ready?"
Kaze gave her a slight smile. "Any century now."
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Remember that you asked for this! Razor Flurry!"
A vortex of air developed around her hands, and then a blizzard wind shot thousands of shards of glass-like ice as Kaze.
"Gahhhhhhh!" A voice groaned in the flurry.
When the air cleared, Evalyn stared at Kaze's body in horror. He was riddled with thousands of cuts, and his face, back, and legs were bleeding.
He dropped to his knees and smashed face first into the ground.
"KAZE!" Evalyn screamed in horror as she approached his bloodied corpse. She pulled him onto his back to access the damage.
Tears fell from her eyes as she saw his face swallowing blood to keep breathing.
"Kaze…." She whispered, "Why did you make me…."
"You should see your face right now." Kaze laughed breathlessly.
His acting ceased, and a golden light enveloped his body. Evalyn watched in disbelief as the thousands of cuts she created healed.
"Do you think I'd ask you to cut my penis if I couldn't repair the damage?" He laugh-scoffed in bewilderment, "Are you mad?"
Evalyn's eyes filled with murderous rage. "You were riddled with enough cuts to kill you from blood loss, and you're thinking exclusively about your dick?"
"Of course I am. What do you take me for? A faithful eunuch?" He scoffed.
Her face flushed with annoyance as she stared at his mocking expression on the ground. She was still on her knees with her face close to his.
Kaze looked into her trembling eyes with a deep gaze, remembering her Frosted Blades dance from the day before. The two Evalyns transposed onto each other.
Evalyn lost control looking at him and aggressively pushed her lips on his.