The Messenger of Death

"Oh, really?" This piqued Xander's curiosity.

"The imitation is a lot easier than the real thing." Klein added.

"You said that you are a nonpareil, are you still at the Dao seed stage?" Bobby questioned.

"No, the Dao Sprout stage." Xander replied.

"Woah, you are quite talented. Although I was hoping you would be able to tell me about the concepts in your lightning, but since you didn't know of their existence right until I mentioned it, I guess you wouldn't be able to help me." Klein revealed.

"How are you able to tell that there are concepts in my lightning?" He wondered.

"Because it is what we cultivate. Almost everyone in the Sword Heaven cultivate the imitated version of the concepts. Nonpareils are rare talents that are difficult and almost impossible to find." Bobby answered.

"I want to see what the concepts are, I mean, I want to experience what you have cultivated." Xander blurted out.

As a sword user, he was so enthusiastic about this that for a minute he forgot all about the Midas flower.

"We can gave a short spar while you stand by the side and watch us. We won't use our cultivation to assist us while we spar, just the imitations of the Sword Dao concepts." Klein suggested.

"No, spar with me instead. Since you won't be using any assistance from your cultivation, I won't do that too. Just swordsmanship and instincts." Xander suggested with a little smile on his face.

['You must be really excited to see enthusiastic swordsmen, you even want to spar with them rather than go for the Midas flower first.'] Al commented.

['Alex, are you okay with this?'] Xander questioned and ignored Al's comment.

Alex could tell that Xander was excited about this, and Xander is someone that hardly gets excited. He even smiled at the thought of sparring.

['Yeah, it's fine. We still have time so… enjoy.'] Alex permitted.

He didn't want to deprive Xander of this opportunity.

Bobby and Klein looked at their selves before they looked at Xander once again.

"I'm sorry, but I can't agree to that, if anything happens to you during the spar, Mistress Ice will end our lives." Klein rejected Xander's suggestion.

"We rather get hurt than let the young master get hurt." Bobby added.

Xander's smile disappeared and his facial expression returned to the usual calm one that he normally puts on.

"Nothing is going to happen, and even if anything does happen to me, I'll make sure that I let my master know that I was the one at fault. You'll be free from any implications and punishments." He claimed.

"Even with that, I still have to refuse your proposal. We cannot let any harm come to you." Klein still didn't budge.

"Okay then, how about this. I'll put a few bruises on my body and head back to the Sword Heaven just to show the bruises to my master and tell her that the two of you were at fault. Would you like that or would you prefer to spar with me?" Xander threatened.

['Ruthless, hahahaha. That's why you're the second favorite alter.'] Al laughed at the brothers and the predicament that they were facing.

['Who's the first then?'] Alex questioned.

['Me!! Who the f*ck else!?'] Al bellowed at Alex. ['No offense Lex.'] He added.

['None taken.'] Lex chuckled.

['I wonder who made you their favorite, in my list, you are the least favorite alter.'] Alex stated.

['Ungrateful prick!'] Al insulted, but Alex ignored him.

"You are joking right?" Bobby frowned as he looked at Xander carefully.

"Do I look like someone that knows how to make jokes?" Xander replied as he stared at Bobby.

Looking into Xander's lightning filled eyes, Bobby couldn't help but feel like Xander wasn't one to be messed with and also, he wasn't the type to joke.

"Please do not make this hard for us." Klein bowed.

"You are the one making this hard on yourself. You were the one that ignited this curiosity in me and now you have to take responsibility and help satiate it.

Draw your sword and spar with me and make this easy on yourself."

Seeing that Xander wasn't going to give up until he had sparred with them, Klein decided to accept his challenge.

"Okay, since you're adamant about this, I will satisfy this curiosity of yours." Klein stepped forward.

"Good," That little smile surfaced on Xander's face once again.

Bobby sighed and gave the two of them space.

Xander and Klein took a few steps backward before they stopped and faced their selves.

"Klein, rank-9 sky realm cultivator at the pretense Sword Dao Sprout stage." He announced.

['Pretense? Nana did say something similar to this, pretense perfection. I think that was what she said.'] Alex recalled.

['In time, we will understand all of this.'] Lex mentioned.

"Alexander, rank-2 disaster realm cultivator, Sword Dao Sprout." Xander did the same, he felt like it was courteous to do so. He deactivated his lightning ability after that.

"I think it would be safer for you to fight with your cultivation." Klein suggested.

"Would you also be fighting with yours?" Xander questioned.

"No, but-"

"Then I won't do so too." Xander interrupted.

"At least, do use your Sword Dao against me."

"I will."

"Your weapon?" Klein arched one of his brow as he asked.

A weapon suddenly appeared in Xander's hands. It was one of the twilight twin swords. Black helm and sheath, with the Dragnel's insignia on it.

-Chik!!

Klein could feel his sword tremble within it's Sheath. "My sword is trembling in fear of your sword." He frowned as he blurted out.

"Your sword must be a master piece, a revered one. As expected of the Mistress's disciple, even the sword you wield is magnificent." He complimented.

"Although, it's seems like you haven't awoken the sword yet." He added with a smirk.

"Awoken my sword? What does that mean?" Xander wondered as his brows furrowed.

"Shall we begin, Young master? I mean, Alex."

"Yes. Do not hold back, doing so will only make me angry." Xander encourage.

"As you wish." Klein bowed.

"I will act as the referee for this spar." Bobby interjected and looked at Xander.

Xander nodded at him, signifying that he had no qualms with that.

Bobby turned and looked at his brother. Klein nodded at him too. "Ready?!" Bobby asked.

Both Xander and Klein entered their battle stance.

"Begin!!" Bobby announced.

-Whoosh!!

Immediately, Klein shot at Xander. Even with out support from his cultivation, Klein was still very fast.

Within a second he arrived in front of Xander and unsheathed his sword to attack.

Seeing Klein's sword slashing at him, just a second after they were asked to begin, Xander was caught off guard.

It's not that he wasn't prepared, it was just that he had underestimated the abilities of a swordsman that had no support from his cultivation.

Xander's eyes opened wide in shock as he saw the sword approach him.

Klein's sword produced some kind of red glint as it slashed at Xander.

-Chink!!

On instincts, Xander put his Sheathed sword in front of that attack, he didn't even have the chance to unsheathe his sword.

The force from Klein's attack pushed Xander back several feet. 

As soon as Xander landed, Klein was already there and already slashing his sword at him once again.

Without wasting anytime, Xander unsheathed his sword and slashed at Klein's sword. He held the sheath in his left hand.

He had just landed and haven't gotten his footing right yet. So at the moment, Xander was attacking from a position of disadvantage.

-Chink!!!

He successfully parried Klein's attack. Sparks filled the air as their swords collided.

Despite his successful parry, the force that was behind that attack pushed him back several feet, but not as far as the first one did.

While he was still in the air, Xander noticed that he was heading towards a tree. He flipped in the air and positioned himself in a way that he could use the tree to his advantage.

-Thud!

Xander's legs touched the tree first. He could already tell that Klein was coming for him. He used the tree to propel himself back into the air.

-Swish!

Klein's sword narrowly passed by Xander's nose. He watched as a red glint of light passed by.

There was a blue leaf just inches below him, the red glint passed through the middle of the leaf and sliced it into two.

Xander twirled and landed well on the ground this time. Immediately, he tapped into his Sword Dao.

At this moment, the pen-like leaf that was in his head started to draw in his mind. It drew a sword.

That sword kept on changing it's size, length and width, and then finally it settled down. Now the sword that was drawn in his mind looked like the sword that he had in his hands.

Suddenly, Xander felt more alive than he had ever felt. He could hear the sounds of leaves snapping of the trees around after being hit by the wind.

Without even thinking, his hand moved and blocked an attack that he didn't see coming.

This time he and Klein reached a stalemate…