Under the Veil of Night

Master Rudy's Place

"You're truly a monster, Rei," Dean commented as he watched Kanae finished the training. Just a few weeks ago, Kanae had trouble to finish them all. Now, she barely sweat to finish them. He remembered himself having troubles to finish them in the past. It took him months to be able to finish them better, but this brat did it at a much faster rate.

Kanae grinned. "It's all thanks to your teaching, Brother Dean."

"Call me Master, you brat!" Dean chided and attempted to smack the girl's head. However, Kanae evaded Dean's hand as she moved to the side.

The young man on the side nodded his head approvingly. "It seems you have truly developed your skill over the past few months of training with us."

"You're right," Kanae smiled brightly. The current her was already much stronger compared with before. Even though she was already known for her speed in the past, which allowed her to live up the name of the legend of the street, now her strength was also in par.

"Which mean, it's time for us to have a serious match," Master Rudy walked with a long halberd on his hand. He grinned excitedly. "I have been waiting for this for a long time, brat. You better work hard to satisfy me."

Dean and the young man face palmed. To this old man, nothing was better than a good person who could match his strength. They silently prayed for Kanae's safety as they knew that Master Rudy was really strong when he was serious.

"Okay," Kanae readied her stance.

"I'm moving first, then," Master Rudy chuckled. In the next moment, he disappeared from his place and appeared next to Kanae with his halberd ready to hack her down.

CLANG!

"Huh? You're not bad, girl," Master Rudy grinned happily.

Kanae was forced to move back a few steps because of the collision. Her eyes hardened. She already parried the attack, yet her arm still could feel the impact. The difference in strength between Master Rudy and her was still quite great.

Dean thought for a moment. "Rei, I almost forget, Master Rudy real talent is similar to teleportation. He rarely uses them because it drains his energy so much, but when he's serious, he always uses them to corner his enemies."

"Dean, you brat, why are you leaking out my secret so early?" Master Rudy yelled in annoyance.

Kanae's eyes widened. This was not the first time she clashed with people who have special talent, but someone at Master Rudy's caliber was the very first time. She tightened her grip on her small sword. She had to be more careful.

"Well, since you already know about that, let me show you the peak of my power!"

In the next moment, Master Rudy had appeared next to Kanae with the tip of his halberd millimeters away from Kanae's neck. She stretched her body to the limit as she used the sword to parry the attack and moved to the side forcefully. Bloods dripped down from the side of her neck. A bit more, and she would have been dead.

Master Rudy didn't give her any chance to rest as he appeared behind the unstable Kanae. His halberd was swung to her back, leaving a deep wound as Kanae stomped her feet to move forward, narrowly missed her vital point.

"This is simply massacre," the young man thought to himself. Kanae simply didn't have the chance to counterattack at all.

Dean shook his head. "You haven't seen her real power."

"What do you mean, Master Dean?"

Instead of answering, Dean's gaze was locked on Kanae. He didn't lose his title as the strongest to a nobody. Although Kanae's normal strength was still below him by a lot, at that time, he saw for himself, what a real monster was.

He didn't fight against her, but he saw her fight with his own eyes. A young girl who should have been far below him hold her ground facing someone stronger than him.

Kanae forcefully shifted her balance to make sure that she didn't fall to the ground. Right when she sensed that Master Rudy appeared by her side again, she stomped her feet to reach that place, bypassed the long halberd and reached the man's side. Her small sword swung straight to Master Rudy's stomach.

SLASH!

Narrowly avoided it, Master Rudy smirked. "You can sense me now, you brat?"

'It was shallow,' Kanae could sense that she barely wounded Master Rudy. She quickly chased after Master Rudy and attacked him once again.

Sounds of metal clashing with each other rang loudly. In terms of strength, Kanae was at an utter disadvantage, but Master Rudy was unable to surprise her anymore. Whenever he moved using his skill, Kanae would sense where he would appear and attacked as fast as possible. Her accuracy increased as both of them suffered numerous wounds.

"Adaptability," the young man muttered. "Is that right?"

"Yes," Dean nodded his head. "As long as she could sense them attacked her clearly, she would be able to think for a counterattack even without her realizing it. Her fighting skill towards those stronger than her is the one that makes her far stronger."

BANG!

Kanae was pushed back as she tried to block the attack. The pure strength from Master Rudy was enough to send her flying pretty far away. Wiping the blood that trickled down her mouth, she was prepared to dash again when Master Rudy raised his hand.

"It's enough, you win."

"Master Rudy?" Kanae was stunned.

Master Rudy smiled with satisfaction. "Don't you see that I'm already out of stamina?"

Her gaze landed on Master Rudy's legs. They were slightly shaking as Master Rudy was already used up most of his strength during the fight. Although allowing him to move place immediately was pretty advantageous, it drained his stamina very quickly. He used it numerous times against Kanae in their fight, making him unable to stand properly.

Master Rudy laughed. "Finally, you manage to catch up to me, you brat."

Kanae's eyes reddened slightly. How many months have passed since the time she learned under this man? Every teaching he had has finally bore the real result.

She bowed down to Master Rudy from her place. "Many thanks for your guidance, Master!"

"Since you manage to beat me, now you're my true disciple, and I'll teach you more skills in the future," Master Rudy laughed heartily. His requirement for disciple was only two, he liked them and they manage to defeat him. Since Kanae fulfilled both conditions, he was more than happy to accept her to be his true disciple.

"Of course, that's only if you agree."

Kanae beamed. "Thank you very much, Master. I'll be very happy to learn more from you."

"Rei, let's stop your bleeding first," the young man stepped forward and hurriedly pressed the wound on Kanae's neck. It was bleeding profusely and if it was left unattended, Kanae might die.

Dean also moved forward and helped the young man to apply medicine and stopped Kanae's bleeding. Master Rudy shook his head when he saw his disciple took care of Kanae but left him alone. He took the first aid box and cleaned up his own wounds while complaining inside his mind.

Tsk, shouldn't they care for their master first?

It took them some time to finish applying medicine on Kanae and wrapped her in bandage. Seeing her appearance on the mirror that the young man brought, Kanae wanted to cry. She looked like a mummy!

"Now, that's better."

"Brother Dean, are you purposely use too much bandage?" Kanae asked in accusing tone.

Dean smirked. "What are you talking about? I'm just applying medicine for you."

She had numerous wounds on many parts of her body, so the bandages were everywhere. The apparent ones were the one at her neck and arms as it truly made her looked like mummy.

The young man smiled. "You still need to dress them again after a few hours, so it'll be better if you have some rest and go to doctor."

"Got it."

"Now, shouldn't you formally introduce yourself to me after you already accept me to be your master?" Master Rudy suddenly asked.

It was then Kanae realized that she was still using the cloth to cover up her mouth as usual. This was her usual getup to avoid people knowing her real identity when she dressed up as Rei. However, she no longer needed to wear it anymore because she knew that she could trust these three.

Kanae heaved a sigh internally as she gathered her resolve. With this decision, she had firmly placed herself in the underworld. She might not be able to get out again in the future, but it was all worth it.

Since there was no one around, only these three, Kanae opened the cloth, showing her youthful face to them. She proceeded to bow towards Master Rudy for the formal ceremony.

"Kanae Nali greets Master."