(The months went by, they kept training and working hard, and just like that, 3 years have passed)
Clad, who was now 11, isn't a junior clan member anymore, meets up with his siblings at the house's backyard, which is an immense open field with multiple trees that pink and white petals. Multiple people of the clan are present as they talk about the upcoming clan meeting between the seniors and elders, which excites them as the best senior will receive the 'Divine flower pill', which will grant them divinity when consumed.
They see the 6 elders standing in front of them. The first one was named Atheriel. he was an old man around his 50s and had short white hair and a small white beard, wearing a similar uniform to Kio's but with armor, signaling him as a proud warrior. He was Clad's martial arts teacher for the past 4 years of his life and taught him the flower sword art.
The second one was named Ludvis, a tall, pale-skinned man with long smooth white hair and a beard that stops at his neck, wearing a black eastern costume with pink and armor, showing his seniority. Not much is known about him since he tends to never talk about his private life, but all we know is that he is the overseer of the clan.
The third and Fourth were Hardarak and Rina. Both of them were the same age. Hardarak was a beastman, maybe even the only beastman in the entire clan. He had amazing senses and fighting reflexes, even for his level of sword mastery and age. Although he tends to drink a lot of alcohol. While Rina was Rin's direct relative, her aunt, she used to spoil her all the time behind everyone's back, but it wasn't really to tell that she did it.
The fifth elder was Arajai. The man had dark skin, pink eyes, black clothes, and a pink and white square cloth on his right shoulder. He was the most calm of the seniors, as he often spoke to monks in his free time and farmed with the nearby villages to train his body in a more casual way. There also seems to be a rumour that he owes Hardarak 3 bottles of alcohol.
The last of the elders seemed way younger, if not probably from an entire generation apart from the 2nd youngest, Rina, who was 43 at the time. His name was Sahad. He awakened the second he started swinging a blade, and ever since then, he's been growing faster than anyone in the whole clan, quickly climbing the ranks for the past 9 years as he became an elder last year, and nobody was against it due to how strong he is.
The junior members comment on each one of them, and when they talk about Sahad, they mention that he is only 2 years older than Kio and is already a senior, unlike him, which Kio hears, and it makes him cry inside as he says.
"Sahad is just a monster that's not fair!"
A group of girls in the back look at Kio, and a girl talks about how a young brown haired girl named Janise has a crush on Kio. They tell her that she should confess to him before it's too late. She can't muster the courage to do so, but her friend tells her to try and confess after the event.
The seniors start talking about an item that they give to one senior every 10 years is finally prepared with the other time someone had it, being Sahad, the divine flower pill, which everyone is shocked to hear about it.
"The divine flower pill!? I heard that it grants whoever consumes it immense power and energy!" one of the students said as the other started to talk about it.
"The divine pill is going to be given to one senior clan member tomorrow, and today is the duel of the juniors," Rina shouted to them so that they could all hear her words.
Everyone is cheering, and the event commences.
(Later, as the sun went down and the event ended)
The young woman taps Kio's shoulder.
"Yes, how can i help you?" Kio says as he turns towards her.
"I-i-i was just wondering I-if it's possible for me and you to talk in private, that's all." She said with a stressed look on her face, stuttering and fearing rejection.
"Uh, okay!, Where do you want to talk?" He says with a kind smile on his face.
!!!
The woman was happy that he accepted, as she wasn't expecting him to do so; she had a small smile showing on her face, which Kio noticed.
"The nearby woods, if you don't mind," Janise says while playing with her hair
"Alright then, let's go," Kio says as he smiles back at her, making her cheeks flush red as she wasn't expecting him to have such a beautiful smile.
As the two leave towards the woods, Janise's friends are silently cheering her on from afar, and they both go on a walk towards the nearby woods. The girl musters the courage to confess and is finally about to tell him her personal feelings.
The forest was silent and dark, but had a soothing atmosphere to it, as if the woods were magical.
"So um, how do I say this..." She says as she tries to find the right words.
"Hmm?" Kio says as he is waiting for what she wanted to say in private for all this time.
"For a long time I've been watching you and every time I saw you, my heart beat fast, I-i didn't know what it was, but now..., now I know what this feeling is..." She says as she is tightly holding her arm.
"Kio..., I think I'm in love with you-" Janise says as suddenly her head gets cut off, leaving her lifeless body drop on the ground, revealing a man wearing a dark red uniform, and Kio immediately recognized it as the blood clan's clothing.
!!!
"The blood clan!?" Kio taught as he quickly unsheathed his blade. The masked man quickly attacked him, but Kio fortunately parried the attack in time using a flower sword technique.
[FLOWER SWORD ARTS: FLOWER GUARD]!
Pink petals form in front of Kio as he takes on a defensive form with his blade and proceeds to kick him into a nearby tree and quickly cuts his head off when he notices multiple other men running in his direction.
"Multiple of them!? Was this planned!?"
He, who knew he could not take on so many enemies on, ran away as he was parrying their attacks, defending himself as he ran back to the house of the flower sword clan.
"Get him!" One of the men shouted as he ran off.
As the juniors are doing their usual when they suddenly hear what seems to be violent shouting from outside. The group of kids looked towards the door to see Kio kicking it open, shouting that they are under attack, before getting cut in half. A group of people in black and red clothes is attacking the senior members of the clan who were watching over the children, shouted.
"It's the blood clan!"
As they started to attack the flower sword members of people, making the kids scared, and all hell broke loose as some got slaughtered and others tried to fight back to no avail.
Seeing this, Clad doesn't hesitate and takes both his siblings' arms and runs away from the place, and Shin takes two nearby swords that were on the ground before seeing an explosion of dark colors come from a nearby house. They saw someone in a black cloak saying words they couldn't understand.
"It's a dark mage!" One of the flower sword clan members shouted as he pointed towards the man on the rooftop, chanting spells.
"The dark magic tower too!?" the warriors of the clan said, realizing the two factions teamed up to make this attack work. The clan members were starting to struggle as they weren't prepared for and one of the seniors is about to get killed when. The seniors of the clan showed up and saved him by killing the demon clan warrior as they showed up. They see what is going on, and they unleash an immense amount of energy. As they all unsheathed their blades, Ludvis shouted.
"Elders of the Flower sword clan, tonight is the night we defend our home with our lives!"
The other elders, upon hearing this, already knew that they might die in the upcoming battle, but had no choice but to fight in it for the future of their clan and the remaining children, and all shouted in unison.
"Understood!".