Chapter 12 -Trial-

LUNA LYRIC

The maids had told us that the dinner meeting would be rescheduled because of some inconvenience that had happened to the monarchs’, so of course I had taken this opportunity to train with Chuzeoth. “I should probably tell Julie if she is willing to train today.” I said to myself putting on training gear. I left my room and started to search for Julie since I knocked on her door for five minutes not getting an answer.

“Miss Luna, what a surprise to see you in training gear.” 

I turned to the source of the voice, it was Chuzeoth. “General Chuzeoth, I was actually looking for you to start training.” I said excitedly. The general gave me a smile that didn’t make it to his eyes but I could tell he was happy just to hear me say those words. “Well then Miss Luna shall we head down to the training area and start?” He asked, calling a maid, “Go look for Miss Juliette and take her to the training grounds.” The maid nodded and made her way to where Julie was. 

***

About twenty or thirty minutes have passed since we went towards the training grounds, in complete silence. “This is the training grounds, anyone is allowed here and I have already announced to the staff that you and Miss Juliette are welcome as young master’s guards.” I bowed to his words as a thanks for what he said before and now. “Thank you general Chuzeoth, for everything, you have given me hope that I could once again fight alongside Alter.” I felt emotions rile up inside but decided to keep them shut in a box, knowing that these emotions could be an obstacle instead of a way to help me. 

Chuzeoth had put his right hand on my left shoulder, “Miss Luna, I will give you a piece of advice. Never clog your emotions. You may think that they will get in your way, an obstacle instead of an assist to your growth. But it’s quite the opposite, your emotions will help you grow, suppressing them will only decrease it.”

His words sounded like experience instead of view. I clenched my fist with excitement, “Alright let’s do this.” but before anything training related happened, Chuzeoth had stretched his hand towards me as if expecting something. “Uh, Chuzeoth, what is going on?” I asked confused, the dragon gave a sigh before answering. “Miss Luna, have you forgotten what I said before coming here to Ezar?” I tried to remember what the general had said before. Then I remembered, there was a condition to us learning or training a way to at least fight alongside Alter. The usage of mana without the rings. 

Without a second thought, I reached for my ring on my right hand. Then I took it off without hesitation. The moment the ring was no longer connected to my finger, I felt the world around me twist, bend out of shape. Noticing this Chuzeoth grabbed me and secured me to a bench nearby. “W-what is this feeling, general?” I asked, feeling the strength I once had disappear without a trace. I could no longer sense mana. Panic started to rise into me, calm down, this is a temporary method for me to use ringless mana. “Don’t fear, Miss Luna, remember it. This feeling, the feeling of not being able to sense mana. This should help you start from zero and work your way up.”

“General Chuzeoth, Miss Luna Lyric. I have brought Miss Juliette Riley.” said the maid coming from the entrance of the training grounds. Seconds later Julie appeared behind the maid with the same training gear I had. The old general dismissed the maid and told Julie to hand over her ring. This time I watched how Julie removed her ring and felt powerless on her knees. 

“I understand that feeling, Julie, I too can’t use mana.” I said to Julie with a smile, “Is that so?” Julie said, giving me the same smile. The old dragon took us to where the training weapons were and told us to pick three of our choice or what we were comfortable with. 

I already had the three weapons in mind, so I went to look for them and found them. After picking them, I went outside to where the general was at. “Chuzeoth, I already picked my three weapons.” I said carrying the three weapons, a bow that was on my back, a sword on my right hand, and dual daggers on my left hand. The white haired old guy narrowed his eyes as if fascinated by my picks. 

“Interesting choice Miss Luna. You could use these three weapons without any restriction?” Chuzeoth said as I put the weapons on the wooden stance, “Yes, well actually, I could use more but these are the ones I’m most comfortable with.” I picked up the sword and started to do some practice swings while Julie chose her three weapons. 

“Chuzeoth, I too have chosen my three weapons.” Both me and Chuzeoth turned to see Julie’s weapons choice, “You finally seemed to use that.” I said putting the sword in front of me with the hilt almost as the same height as my elbows. I always wanted to use what Alter used, weapon wise. Sword, spear, bow, dual dagger and swords, and most of all a scythe. 

With time in our training during the war I could only use at best a sword, bow, and daggers. But for Julie, she was gifted with the power to wield a sword, spear, and daggers. Her way to use the spear was unique. There are some techniques that she learned from Alter, but Julie didn’t want others techniques, she wanted her own. Of Course like me, Julie worked behind Alter’s back to unlock some crazy techniques. 

Julie had grabbed her spear and did some warm ups before doing some stances and attacks. A cough was let out from the old dragon to get our attention, “Shall we start with the basics then?” Chuzeoth appeared to already have a sword which he had in his stance ready to attack, “Both of you will have to attack me with everything you have.” Julie and I both looked at each other before letting out a giggle.

“Don’t underestimate us Chuzeoth.” I said, ”We may not have mana but we still have experience in combat.” Julie continued. The general smirked at our words which pissed me and Julie off, I'm going to wipe that smirk off your face, I thought to myself. “Let’s begin!” 

I closed the gap between me and the general, thrusting the blade into Chuzeoth's head. In response he dodge the blow and striked me sideways with his sword, making me back away. But Julie was quick to respond that she sprinted with her spear and attacked the general while blocking simultaneously.  

Standing there, I saw her patterns and I knew what she was going for. Instead of rushing in front, I rushed from behind, since I have no mana, he can’t sense me, but god was I wrong. The moment I entered his range, he quickly parried Julie’s spear, grabbed her hand and slammed her to the ground, creating a crater. He then turned his gaze to me and twisted his body with a kick hitting me in the stomach.

“S-so strong.” I muttered gasping for air. I pushed myself to my feet, looking at the sword in my palm. Thinking about the war, about the path we have to walk, evil or good, it won’t make a difference if I don’t get stronger. I gripped my sword and dashed forward, swinging the sword aiming for his body. Julie came dashing too, this time trying even harder, moving faster than before. Both of us were in sync, letting my instinct take over becoming even faster to match Chuzeoth.

The faster Julie and I got, the more that the old dragon stepped back. Focusing on his pattern and footing, taking into account his speed. I took a longer swing than what was necessary, Chuzeoth noticed and acted on targeting me for that. But Julie wasn’t going to let that happen, when the old dragon thrusted forward aiming for my chest. Julie swung her spear down on his blade, making it derailed from its trajectory, then she would spin her spear and hit him in the back with the end of her spear. Knocking the general’s balance forward from Julie’s attack gave me an opportunity, giving him the same kick he gave me but straightforward instead of a spin kick. “I will give this back,” Chuzeoth slid back, hitting the wall.

Not letting our guard down, we stood in the same place ready to attack the dragon when he made a suspicious move. Chuzeoth, knowing this, wiped the dust that was in his clothes. “You girls are surely terrifying. Your adapting methods are something else, now I see why the young master had taken you two under his wing.” The air around us changed, as if we were next to a volcano erupting. The white haired man walked slowly in our direction, “Now let’s see if you two could do the same but with mana.” 

Still in our guard, our bodies felt heavier, as if we had trains in our backs to carry without breaks. But that was not enough to make me falter or yield. My determination was clear and I had no intention of not showing it. Chuzeoth kept walking at a normal pace, and at the moment he wasn’t there any more. He had vanished from my point of view, stubbornly I checked my surroundings hastily, trying to find him ASAP. 

My eyes barely saw fragments of his body as he kept on vanishing, high speed teleportation? Getting frustrated, whenever I saw his fragments I would strike that place but it would be too late since the dragon had been in another place. “At the pace that you two girls are going, you will never catch up to Alter.” said the old man from what sounded like every direction, “Feel your surroundings, feel the air, hear the sounds. Most importantly feel the mana in the air.” When digesting what his words ment, I gave Julie a nod before shutting my eyes to concentrate on everything around me.

I started to remember when I first started to use mana, I need to remember that feeling again. The only thing this time was that I had no ring to rely on. Many thoughts had rushed into my brain that I couldn’t concentrate fully, pushing them aside, thinking of mana and mana only. The way the mana flows in and out my body, the way that mana went into every corner of my body, the way that mana felt in my finger tips. 

Forcing every feeling of mana in my body back then on to now, making me forget the outside world, the training that was going on. Suddenly, I began to hear words… words from the past… before the war started. When I was just a little kid, I was living in the outskirts of Londorwin with my family, my mother, father and my brother. It was a quiet life, I enjoyed every second of it. That was until my little brother had developed signs of mana, our parents were all over him. Forgetting about me… I was told that I couldn’t use mana, but even so I did my best, I worked hard enough. Swordsmanship, knowledge… doing everything I could, yet they never looked my way even once. 

And without a warning, war broke out. It started from the middle of the continent to then spread to the outsides, catching us, the people from the outskirts. The villagers ran for protection from the kingdom of Londorwin but unfortunaly they were killed by basilisk on their way there. With hope giving us despair, we decided to leave the village early in the morning. With intentions to sleep the night there, I decided to stay up and keep guard but the fatigue that my body accumulated fell harder than a meteor. When I woke up, there was nobody in the village. 

My first thoughts were that they went to get help, so like a good kid I waited. But time passed, making the Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. My heart which was filled with hope had fallen into despair, food had runned out along with water. Before I knew it, basilisk had already been inside of the village searching for survivors and using them as slaves. 

I fought many nights killing low-ranking basilisks until a high-ranking basilisk appeared, I wasn’t strong enough to fight him. Not giving up, I fought until I was on the brink of death. “You no longer have the strength to fight me human. I will make you suffer even more” the high-rank basilisk said, having his sword above his head. I closed my eyes thinking that this was my last time alive, begging in my mind for someone to save me from this destiny, from this fate. Seconds felt like minutes, afterwards I heard someone’s voice.

[Abeyance]

Upon opening my eyes, there were two people standing in front of me. There was a girl about my age holding a purple spear. The other was a boy who looked younger than me yet older at the same time, he was holding a purple sword. “It seems like we made it in time, Julie.”