Chapter 104 - Blades Tradition

"Come now, don't be such a big baby, Zach."

Gavin said to the young rookie Fire Slayer.

"I will have you know, these earpieces are not only for fashion purposes, no, they are in fact the symbol that you are a full fledged member of the Six Blades. It is quite an honor to be bestowed one of these."

The Serpent Summoner said to them.

Little did they know, Zachary was afraid of needles and syringes.

Scratch that, he was afraid of every single little thing which had the risk of being pointy enough to wound him.

"That is actually pretty awesome, Gavin. But, I have no holes in my earlobes, though."

"As I said earlier, Yin, I am going to pierce them, do not worry about it." Gavin's head turned towards Suna. "I am guessing you already have had your ears pierced before, right?"

Suna was absolutely clueless.

"I thought only princesses or those royalty figure people wear those. I thought that was the reason why you and the Commander wore them, to be honest, you know, because of your high ranks in the Slayer Corps."

She said.

"Don't sweat it, you guys! It is nothing at all. The pain goes away in a second or two at most."

Luken tried to act tough and put on a brave face in front of his rookies.

"Correct me if I am mistaken in recalling a specific memory, Luken. But weren't you the one who almost cried because our superiors tried to pierce your ears?"

The Serpent Summoner revealed the truth behind what happened during he and Luken's ear piercing tradition.

"N-No! I-I had sore eyes or something that day, I swear!"

Every single one of them laughed.

"If we are having our ears pierced, then that means Oliver should have his ears pierced as well, right?"

Zach asked them.

"Are you really trying to drag Oliver into this, Zach? How disappointing of you."

Gavin shook his head.

"Do mine first, Gavin!"

Yin ran immediately towards the Serpent Summoner's direction and positioned himself right in front of him.

"What kind of blade or needle are you going to use?"

Yin asked.

"What do you mean?"

Gavin was surprised as he pulled out his grimoire.

"W-Wait, you are not going to use your summoned creatures to carve a small hole into your earlobes, right?"

Yin wanted to make sure of it.

But little did he know, that was in fact going to be the case.

"How else would one even do it reliably?"

Gavin asked.

The Serpent Summoner then called forth a small petite snake from his grimoire.

The small snake hissed up until its small beady eyes saw that the Serpent Summoner was the one summoning it.

"Hey there. I believe you already know what I summoned you here for, right?"

Its tiny head nodded.

Zach gazed at both of Gavin and Luken's earlobes.

He knew that they already wore matching earrings but for a reason that he did not know, today, he knew.

Zach realized that wearing them is to be a significant part of the Six Blades history.

To be a part of their long running tradition of uniform black circular earrings was something that Zachary wanted.

He stepped forward and offered to do it first.

"I-I would like to do it!"

He screamed.

"Easy there, Zach. What's gotten into you? I did not know you had the pipes to scream that much."

Gavin was surprised.

"J-Just do it, Gavin."

Zachary had his eyes closed.

He had felt the snake slithering on top of his shoulders.

Zach knew that if he looked, it would be much more painful than it really is.

"Are you ready?"

Suna asked the Fire Slayer who was trying to force his eyes be more closed than it already was.

"Just do it!"

He shouted.

Zachary screamed in anguish.

It was the sound of someone who had undergone torture for the first time.

"I-Is it finished?"

He asked.

His question was answered back with laughter. 

Zach turned his head around and saw that Oliver was poking his earlobes with a sharp stick.

Just careful enough to wound it, but it sure was stinging him.

"Stop that, Oliver!"

He shooed the baby panda away.

To which Oliver responded by walking away.

His saddened face filled with fur stuck with them.

Suna ran towards the baby panda in attempts to comfort him.

"Seriously, Gavin…"

Zach was about to explode, he was fuming with rage already.

The Serpent Summoner laughed.

"Sorry, I was really going to do it, but Oliver wanted to know what the big fuss about your ears were, or at least that is what I think was in his mind."

The piercings were done with relative ease. Well, except for Zachary's overreaction at times, they were finished.

Yin Sohaya, Zachary Lancaster, and Suna Izanami were all donning the staple of the Six Blades members' look.

"Sheesh, you guys do look good in those. I am not going to lie, I hated it at first, I thought it just does not fit well with my overall vibe and aesthetic…"

Luken said.

They all ignored him and said their goodbyes once more.

Gavin, who walked in the middle of Yin and Zach in order to stop them from fighting, was already getting exhausted from the journey, and they still have not even left the hideout yet.

"Hey Suna."

Luken called out to her.

"Do you think Yin and Zach will be fine out there?"

The Commander's question genuinely confused Suna.

"What do you mean, Commander?"

"I cannot even hide it, I really am worried for them. If they High Council decided to appoint Kai Xin as the squadron's leader, then it might be a bigger fish than they could ever hope to catch."

The Commander's words did not do anything to quell Suna's puzzled expression.

"I get that you are worried for your rookies, sir. But you have got to trust in them, they are not mere children anymore. They are warriors of mankind vowing to fight against the outside forces and monsters that are trying to gnaw at us."

Suna said.

"Yeah. You are right. My energy exerted in worrying would be better spent elsewhere. I saw Zach's blue flames, although they were too prone to combusting and being hard to control, the raw power in his spells is undeniable. And do not even get me started about Yin and whatever his weird abilities are." Luken pulled out a cigarette from his pocket.

"I trust Kai to make the correct judgment in the battlefield, to ensure both the victory and survival of his members."

"Speaking of Kai, Commander, who is stronger between him or Gavin?"

Suna was genuinely curious as both of them were of the similar rank and they both had similar sounding monikers. Such as 'the Serpent Summoner' and 'the Dragon.'

Luken looked up to the azure blue skies up above.

"It is interesting that you brought that up, considering you never even fought Gavin. But, to answer your question, Slayer versus Slayer combat is never only reliant on the raw power that the other could exude, it also relies on intelligence, combat experience, of course strength is a factor, but the most important thing in a make-believe scenario of pitting Slayers of our caliber against one other is one thing."

Suna leaned in closer, for the first time in months, this was the only time she was interested in the Commander's words and coinciding with him being as serious as he was now, she thought it was going to be something important.

"The ironclad will to emerge victorious and never lose. For the only thing that awaits a Slayer who lost in combat outside these Red Barriers covering Niflheim, is death."

The Commander's words sent shivers both down Suna and Oliver's spine.

"Sorry, I kind of turned it into something complicated instead of answering directly. To cut the chase short, they are pretty even, but Gavin has the slighter advantage of battle IQ."

"B-Battle IQ?"

She was perplexed.

"Yeah, it is how productive and effective your choice of actions is once you are pitted in a do-or-die scenario outside the Gates. How smart you are whenever you are faced with an adversary and how you conserve your energy and such."

Luken answered while holding his point finger upwards towards the sky.

"Kai is no joke either, I am sure you already know that much considering the fact that you fought him right here."

Suna rolled her eyes.

"Believe me, I know." She sighed. "The guy was going toe to toe against me in close quarters combat. It was all fine, honestly, I felt like I had the upper hand as he was too focused on defense. But when he revealed that he was not even using his Anima cells, that was when it hit me…"

"Oh?"

"It hit me that people of your stature and how strong you guys really are is just on another level compared to us rookies."

"That's why you train. Pick yourself up. Assume a fighting position because I am going to be upping our training regime a shit ton more."

The Commander said as he grinned.

"Very well, Commander."

Suna responded back with an equally confident smile of her own.