Ura Mansion, Prosarea, Peacius, 29th Day 5th Phase 1454th Set.
Curved wooden katanas sliced through the humid air of the Ura Dojo. Sounds of wooden planks being stomped on echoed throughout the dojo. Two katanas' edge met each other in a violent clash, minute splinters broke away from the body of the katanas. Wooden Katanas slid back to protect their masters, Teiga and Levi. Father and son had an intense stare off, bracing themselves for the next encounter. With the alert eyes like an owl except his eyes had unruly blue flames burning, Teiga scanned his father's posture. Looking out for the slightest movement of a single muscle strand, while his father looked into his son's soul. Trying to predict his son's thoughts. Almost as though being choreographed, Levi moved his calve muscles and Teiga thought of striking his father on the right side of the waist. Both of them stomped their master legs onto the ground, given themselves a boost forward with their swords tracing behind them, waiting for their masters' command. Another clash of the swords but this time, Levi pushed his own weight onto his sword, forcing Teiga to kneel down on one knee while his arms shook uncontrollably. His veins were showing themselves, trying to escape from the captivity of the skin. The father showed his son a condescending smile that attempted to persuade the other sword to give up. Upon given the condescending smile, the buff father loosened his tight grip on his sword. Seizing this opportunity, Teiga quickly pushed himself up and turned the tables around. Giving one portion of his remaining strength, the young teenager flicked his father's sword out of his hands. The sword abandoned its master and laid on the wooden planks of the dojo. The last remaining sword rested beside the neck of Levi, trembling due to its thirst for blood.
"Well done my son, I can't believe you can beat me when you only just started yesterday," Levi said.
"You are just going easy on me, my father. No way that I can beat you so easily," Teiga said as he panted for breath.
"Nevermind that, what I've taught you up till now is just the basics of sword fighting."
"Really!? So are you going to teach me some of the unique techniques of the Ura Blade?" questioned the inquisitive teenager.
"No, the Ura Blade specialises in letting the user create their own move. I shall show you mine. Now step back."
Levi walked towards his resting sword and picked it up apologetically. "Seems like the Ura Clan really respects their swords eh?" Teiga thought to himself. Now that the wooden sword is back with his rightful master, the master stood up right and held the sword in front of him with the left leg in front for stability. The ever watchful eyes closed and he took in a long and deep breath before bringing the sword to his cheeks. Opening his eyes, his jet black pupils constricted and focused on a crawling ant that was minding its own business but it was just its unlucky day. Before Teiga knew it, the wooden sword cut through the air seamlessly with a whistling sound and stopped just before striking the ant.
"My father- What was- That?" asked Teiga, controlling his laughter.
"Look at the ant,"
Teiga looked down on the ant only to see two ants.
"Wait, those two black spots are not two ants. It is the sliced body of the ant!" exclaimed the dumbfounded teenager.
"Not just that, look beyond the sliced ant,"
He squinted his eyes and tried his hardest to look beyond the "ants", only to see evident sword marks on the polished wooden planks. Teiga stood rooted to the floor, paralysed by the sight of the dents. The only thing that moved was the grey fluttering training robe that he wore.
"Hmph, see this, my son? THIS, is my own move, Focused Strike," proclaimed Levi proudly. "Whenever I use this move, the target that I focus on will be the only one that gets sliced."
"Wow... I will be able to come up with a move that can be just as strong as your's or better?"
"Of course! Just spend at least 2 years cultivating your own unique style and use it in actual combat," Levi says. "if you have any queries, just ask me. I'll help you to the best of my abilities as your father and mentor."
"Yes, my father! Trust me that I will come up with a technique that is peerless in terms of power!"
***
Ura mansion, Prosarea, Peacius, 3rd Day 6th Phase 1454th Set.
A weak wind blew around the completely closed dojo as Teiga mightily swung his wooden katana diagonally in the dry air.
"This technique is still in its infancy, it needs MORE training," Teiga said to himself. "Well, my father did say it will take at least 2 years to have a combat ready technique."
Sweat trickled down the tanned cheeks of Teiga, racing each other down the cheeks before dripping onto the wooden floor. As a droplet of sweat hit the ground, the sliding door to the inside of the dojo slid open and the feminine witch popped her head around the edge of the door. Slowly sneaking into the dojo, Henestia tiptoed behind the concentrated Teiga who is currently oblivious to his surroundings.
"BUAH!"
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Upon hearing the greeting from his mother, Teiga swung his sword behind him and stopped before the edge of the sword hit Henestia in her stomach. Turning around to check who was the perpetrator of the surprise, the sword remained stable and aimed at her stomach. Once the sweaty teenager laid his sight upon his loving mother, the sword immediately fell to the ground together with the knees.
"I'm am so terribly sorry, my mother! I'm sorry for raising my sword against you..."
"Ahhhhh, I really don't mind. I shouldn't have surprised you while you are concentrated anyway," Henestia say.
"Still I am sorr-"
"Speak no more. I am here to bring you some refreshments for you to relax from your technique training." Henestia said as she raised her right hand to show a basket with fruits and a bottle of water packed into it. She then gestured to Teiga to stand up and take the basket from her. He reached out his sweaty hands to fetch over the basket from his mother.
"Thank you so much, my mother, I will not let your kindness go to waste," Teiga said in reply to his mother's kind actions.
"One word of advice, my son. Focus a bit more on your surroundings, you were totally open,"
Henestia waved her son goodbye, gave him another warm smile and strolled out of the dojo, leaving behind a lingering smell of rose perfume that she wears now and then. Teiga sat down on the cooled wooden floor and placed his loyal sword beside him, awaiting his beckoning. He reached his hands into the basket and took out a crimson red apple and bit into the crunchy flesh of the apple. The sweetness of the flesh of the apple swept around in his mouth while the apple juice flowed into his throat. As refreshing as the taste of the apple is, but what was truly refreshing for him, was the consistent gentleness that Henestia always showered him with. With the last refreshing action of chugging down the bottle of water, he picked up the wooden sword again and restarted his practice session. Each time the sword swings through the air, the wind it generates grows in strength extremely slowly. So slow that no one will ever notice the change. Little did this young teenager knows that this technique that he calls his own will be used for the nearing war...
***
Intae Fields, Empire of Alantieus, 5th Day 1st Phase 1457th Set.
In this flat plateau of endless nothingness, a field away from a small trade city of Hemia that belongs to the Empire of Alantieus stood the 10,000 men strong Xenis. Each typical soldier was covered with dark grey armour that was impenetrable anywhere but the neck. A slit in their helmet allowed them to observe their surroundings. Spiky armoured joints that correspond to the human joints connected every piece of the full body armour. The smell of metal and sweat combined ravaged the battalion but the soldiers were all too used to the smell that it doesn't bother them at all.
The Lesser Commanders wore helmets that have navy blue horns while the Rear Generals wore helmets that have crimson red horns. The Lesser Commanders slowly guided their own platoons to form up with their commanding Rear General. Every company was in the shape of a rectangle, the Rear General rode his horse at the middle front of the company formation while the Lesser Commanders rode their horses directly behind the Rear General after forming up their own platoon. All the 100 companies had groups of Rear Generals and Lesser Commanders leading them into a wedge formation with Veteran General Kogher's own men as the head. Dust rose up from all the marching of the well-disciplined battalion, no one dared to cough, no one dared to tear up from the dust. A jet black armour rode on a pure white armoured horse, the armour had wings forged into the helmet. A grey metal long sword sheath attached itself to the back of the jet black armour hid the noxious and barbarous long sword that Kogher used in all his previous battles, the Deathreaper. Once the stout Veteran General unsheathed his long sword, a large flag that bore the Xenis symbol, an eagle clenching its talons onto a long sword was raised above all the ranks of the 100,000 soldiers in the middle of the battle formation. Every soldier soon unsheathed their own swords not with doubts but with efficiency and bloodlust.
"FOR THE GLORY OF NOCT!!! CHARGEEEEE!!!!" bellowed Kogher as he slowly but confidently pointed his sword towards the walled city of Hemia.
A deafening long blow of the battle horns gave further permission for the 100,000 men to charge forward. They all remained in the steadfast formation, ready to encounter any opposing forces. But there were no apparent enemy formations. After all, it was a surprise attack planned by the Empires of Noct and Persidius. The only defence that Hemia have are the soldiers guarding the walls that separated the invading Noctians from the Alantiens.
Reaching the 1-kilometre mark from the city walls, the battalion moved again briefly into a flat formation, ready to besiege the city. Shouts from the battalion boosted their own morale, their swords trained to the front but slanted slightly to avoid stabbing the person in front. The battalion's flag remained high in the air, displaying its pride to the enemies, attempting to strike fear into the hearts of the defending opponents.
Reaching the 500 metres mark from the city walls, the whole battalion came to a complete stop and the flanks slowly curved to surround the walls. Shields that were attached to the soldiers' backs were taken out and covered each of the advancing soldiers' heads. The shields formed a shelter that protected the Noctians from the shower of arrows from the defending Alantien soldiers. Gradually, the "shelter" curved even further to surround the walls. Now the formation was like the opened mouth of a serpent ready to devour its prey.
Reaching just below the city walls, wooden ladders stood up and leaned against the towering walls of Hemia. Soldiers carrying shields climbed up the ladders while arrows rained down on them without rest but the climbers did not flinch one bit from the impact of the arrows hitting the shield. These climbers are the designated siege soldiers that will always be the vanguard in penetrating the defence of the enemy soldiers that lined the walls. While the vanguards scaled the walls, battering rams appeared beside Kogher. Robust soldiers pushed the rams head on into the reinforced wooden gates of Hemia, arrows struck the shield-less soldiers but as proud soldiers of Xenis, no one dared to fall in front of the watchful eyes of Kogher. The battering rams gained speed and slammed into the gates with the loud cracking of the gate accompanying the impact. Every ram left behind a deep depression in the gates, deep enough for a man to fit in. Archers marched towards the front of the formation and raised their bows up, aiming at the desperate enemies who ran around trying their best to defend against the strong invading force.
"FIRE!" commanded Rear General Manx, the leader of the archer company.
Brown arrows flew into the blue skies and arced back down towards the enemies. Every archer was confident in their skills in not hitting their own comrades, and their confidence was not in vain. As if by a miracle, the arrows only penetrated, stabbed and scratched the enemies. Not one arrow grazed the vanguard. Seeing that the wall defence has weakened significantly from the arrows, the vanguard increase their climbing speed and jumped onto the platforms of the walls. The pure brute strength of the vanguards forced the fear stricken enemies to retreat into the city. Leaving the walls totally undefended.
Finally with one last ram, the gates finally gave in...
This is the start of the Sanguine War Era.