When Orgeeg lived among the Remu during his childhood years he'd begged his mother to let him learn from the Remu masters. He knew that mastery of a Form of Combat heightened his chances of entering Tabrimas. Nobody really knew where the Forms of Combat came from, some thought they were taught to mankind by the Gods, others believed that they were documented aspects of the Kings of Binoria's combat techniques whilst channeling the full force of the Jojoh Meena. But one thing everyone agreed on was that the Remu had refined the Forms beyond the limits of what was earlier believed possible. The Remu masters were known throughout the realm and Kingdoms often sent the most promising of their warriors to them to learn.
At first the Remu masters had been generous with their lessons but as Binoria grew and their wrath spread the Remu masters curbed their enthusiasm to spread the knowledge of the Forms for fear of said knowledge being used against the Remu. King Vayd Vigon took it upon himself to write the book Prowess of the mind with the aim of explaining in as much detail as possible the workings of the Jojoh Meena with the hopes that Binoria may grow to develop their own Forms of combat. Despite the King's effort few were capable of maximizing the knowledge of the book, Orgeeg was one of them.
He'd approached the Remu court as a child with permission from his mother, he'd sought an audience with a Remu master and his Binorian heritage had earned him one. He'd spoken humbly, pleaded his case and appealed to the master's purpose to teach. The master had looked down on him with his big brown eyes and said, "Fuck off." Orgeeg had been appalled and had gone crying to his mother.
"They hate us because we're powerful beyond their dreams," his mother had said. "The Gods favor us and the Remu envy that, we do not need them. You do not need them, you can learn on your own." She'd then gotten him a copy of the book written by Vayd Vigon and a Binorian tutor who was well versed in some of the Forms to teach him. Orgeeg had memorized every page of the book and had modeled all the knowledge into his techniques. He had not known it at the time but his tenacity in learning the Forms had had him breaching the basic level of prowess most attained in the Forms. He became a prodigy of the Forms of Combat and even went on to combine and evolve certain Forms into new techniques with the help of Vayd Vigon's book.
"Resist and we shall put you to death." Rank Four said. He hadn't turned to face Orgeeg after he'd stopped walking along. Instead they all stood still and a silence engulfed the back of the Palace Southwing, a silence laced with the tension of an upcoming battle.
"I don't want to kill any of the Black Guard." Orgeeg said. In truth, he really didn't want to do so. The Black Guard had suffered heavy losses over the past couple of weeks in the hands of the Commander and Desan's assassin. Any more losses and they would definitely lose face before Binoria for they were widely known to have pride in themselves and their combat abilities.
Rank Four laughed and turned around to face Orgeeg. His eyes had a gleam to them that Orgeeg had once before seen when the man had been slaughtering a pig for a feast. "Kill us? You already killed Rank six and Thirty four."
"I didn't-"
"If you didn't then stop resisting! We're only going to question you." Rank Four's usually cheery voice had an edge to it.
Orgeeg sighed, he knew there was no such thing as an interrogation and his eyes said as much for Rank Four raised his index finger and drew circle in the air. The Black Guards flanking Orgeeg reacted to the command. Seven seconds. That was the amount of time it would take before the two Black Guards to Orgeeg's distant right reached him. He didn't take into account the ones behind him, they were too far away provided he couldn't pick up their sounds.
Rank Eleven lunged at his midriff with his short blade in his right hand, he stood to Orgeeg's left so his angle was off and his turn clumsy and slow. At the same time Rank Thirteen implemented a Form of Pride, directing his short blade at Orgeeg's temple. Orgeeg did not have time to draw his blade, he did not need to. He opened his mind's eye and simultaneously sought a point of logic. Everything slowed as he plunged into that blissful focus he'd come to call home. He did not want to kill and chances of escaping without doing so were slim to none. All this came into perspective as time went still. The point of logic was evident, killing was necessary, it was either them or him but he didn't have to kill them all, just enough of them to send a message.
Orgeeg leaned into Rank Thirteen while ducking the stab of his blade, the man lost his footing and stumbled back. Orgeeg extended his hand in a curled fist that connected with the slow Rank Eleven's jaw. He'd practiced Forms of Grind and Pride until his knuckles bled, he could feel the man's jaw loosen as a grunt escaped his lips. He took a step back and Rank Eleven's clumsy lunge missed him by an inch provided his punch had disoriented him. Rank Thirteen was about to react but Orgeeg elbowed him in the face without looking back, forcing him to stumble further back.
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Orgeeg didn't wait for Rank Eleven's counter, he delivered another punch to the right of his jaw, dislocating it completely. The man attempted to yell but it came out as a squeal. Rank Eleven tried to stab at him once more with his mouth dangling open, an obvious mistake of over reliance on a weapon. Orgeeg dodged the stab and worked in close all the while keeping his awareness on Rank Four and Thirteen. Orgeeg combined the weight and force of Grind with the precision of Pride to crush Rank Eleven's throat with a punch.
Rank Thirteen was on him in an instant as Rank Eleven dropped to the floor, his blade falling out of his hand. Orgeeg had only combined Grind and Pride, trying to limit the damage he'd cause but four seconds had passed and the two distant Guards were no longer so distant. He could also hear two sets of feet stomp the ground as the Black Guards who'd been tailing him approached. To the side of him Rank Four stood with his hands clasped behind his back, too proud of his Rank to lift a finger before it was necessary. It was time to launch his modified Form that sharpened the precision of Pride with the strength and weight of Grind behind it together with the dexterity of Sleight. The Form of Hector.
Orgeeg leaned forward missing the swipe of Rank Thirteen's blade by a hair. His breathing was shallow and quick, the first stage of the Form of Hector. He turned and dodged another swipe, his breathing became slow and deep as he backtracked another swipe. Rank Thirteen let out a yell and over extended a stab, Orgeeg's breath stilled. Orgeeg extended the index and middle finger of his right hand, using his left hand he knocked away Rank Thirteen's blade wielding hand and drove his two fingers into the man's neck, an inch from the trachea to the right and slightly above his Adam's apple. The Guard dropped to the ground and lay still.
"What did you do?" Rank Four asked, shock evident in his voice. As a reply Orgeeg straightened two fingers on his left hand as his right hand was and brought both hands before him while facing Rank Four. "What Form is that?"
Orgeeg didn't reply, seven seconds were up. He grabbed the short blade in his scabbard and turned around right as a Black Guard dived at him with his arms outspread, obviously seeking to implement a Form of Awe, his mouth was open in a war cry. Orgeeg drove the blade into the man's mouth midair while simultaneously dodging his outstretched arms by jumping to the side. It was unwise to fight with one's mouth open, but Orgeeg understood the thrill battle brought. The man dropped to the floor with blood gushing out of his mouth.
The Black Guard's partner took a several steps back and started circling Orgeeg while waiting for the two Guards who'd been trailing Orgeeg to arrive. A wise choice, the two guards were three seconds away. Rank Four started clapping behind Orgeeg but he didn't turn to face him.
"Impressive I must say, I've heard stories about your skill but it's something else to witness it myself." Rank Four said. Orgeeg noticed a blade at his foot close to the three Black Guards on the ground, he bent down and picked it up. The one whose throat he'd crushed was dead, so was the one with a blade in his mouth. He wasn't sure about the one whose neck he'd dug into with his fingers, the Form of Hector required insane precision, an evolution of the Form of Pride. The man could be anything between paralyzed and dead.
"We don't have to do this Four. You can all walk away alive." Orgeeg said as the two Guards arrived and joined the one circling him. The two newly arrived men glanced at their fellow Guards on the ground and the look on their faces assured Orgeeg that they were obviously of lower Rank.
Rank Four laughed from behind him. "My, my, we have the uppe-" He did not finish his words, Forms of Empathy were often looked down upon as just plain banter but words were just as powerful as a double edged sword. They could distract. Orgeeg whirled and threw the blade at the distracted Rank Four. The man reacted immediately and caught the blade in his hand by the shaft, slicing his hand in the process but stopping the tip inches from his eye. He was of superior Rank after all and Orgeeg knew he would never have landed such a hit, that's why he'd followed in the blade's wake. Immediately the Rank Four caught the blade Orgeeg was before him with his fist raised. Orgeeg punched the hilt and the tip sunk into the man's eye by a fraction of an inch.
Rank Four opened his mouth to yell while pulling out the blade from his eye but Orgeeg wasn't done, he solidified his stance by spreading each foot and dug his hand into the Rank Four's open mouth, grabbed his tongue and yanked it out of the man's mouth with all the force he could master. The Rank four dropped to his knees with his head bowed, blood splattering over the chest of his black leather from his mouth. Orgeeg turned to the three Black Guards who'd frozen behind him. As he'd expected they'd followed him as he'd rushed towards Rank Four but they'd stopped after they'd seen what he'd done to someone of superior Rank.
Orgeeg held Rank Four's dismembered tongue in his hand. The man kneeling beneath him stared at the ground with unfocused eyes and a bloody maw, clearly in shock. "He always talked too much." Orgeeg said and tossed the man's tongue at the feet of the three Guards, the three guards gawked at it. "Yes I know its extremely long, not that its longer for those who talk to much. I believe they are all the same size as you shall see once I get ahold of yours."
The three Guards simultaneous took a step further away from Orgeeg. "I am the Former Rank One, I will kill you all if you engage me." Orgeeg clasped his hands behind his back, moving his eyes from each Guard, daring them to act. He was glad that the fight had been far enough from the hall leading to the training grounds for it would have drawn more Guards. He needed a window to escape and could not afford to keep on relying on the hope that the distance from the training hall will be enough to not eventually draw more Black Guards. "Leave with your lives, go alert your superiors." Two of the three Black Guards met his glare but the third one had his eyes on the tongue before him, he bolted towards the training ground while keeping a wide arc of Orgeeg. After a while his two companions followed in his wake. Orgeeg nodded and ran in the opposite direction, leaving the Rank Four still on his knees.