[Book 5: Moonlit Tides and Darkened Seas]

A tide of shadows arrayed themselves against the blinding walls of Licencia. Within the sea of absolute shadow, pinpricks of blue glittered as they channelled mana skywards, forming a gigantic globe of blazing death. Claud looked around at the blurred faces of the other Moon Lords, and his heart twisted as the ritual spell launched itself towards the fragile walls of his home.

Before he could take a step forward, the entire world twisted and faded away, driven away by a sound too cute for the situation right now.

“Meep!”

Claud shot up from his bed, the vivid dream scattered to the winds. He looked around the place, and then heaved a small sigh. Pulling off a thin shirt, which had been drenched with cold sweat, he hung it up.

“Just a dream, then.” Claud let out a small sigh. It had been a few days since the Third Bearer of Destiny had died at his hands. Peace and tranquillity had returned to Licencia, as a result, but no one dared to be complacent. Even if the ominous warnings hadn’t appeared, the fact that Duke Istrel was about to ascend was more than alarming enough.

War was on the horizon.

“It’s New Moon’s Eve,” said Claud. “But I just had to have a bad dream anyway. Thanks, Crown. For waking me up.”

Crown hopped onto his hands happily, and then spat out a Pure-Life Gem.

“Oh, it’s done?” Claud examined his loot, and then stashed it away in a small locked box, which he carried on his person at all times. There were already ten Pure-Life Gems in that box of his, all spat out by Crown at some point or another. “Thanks, buddy.”

“Meep!”

“You want another one, huh.” Claud reached for something underneath his bed, and then undid the lock on it. Producing a low-ranked lifestone, he rolled it over to Crown, who immediately pounced on it gleefully.

He watched on idly as Crown spun on its edge happily, and then left to wash up. It didn’t take long for him to be done, and after hiding the little fellow in his pocket, he made for the gardens of Moon Mansion, where the others were already assembling at.

With the grave prophecy and the threat of war, Schwarz had suggested for everyone to meet up every morning for some training. Swords, which were the most common weapons that could be picked up at even the lousiest of smiths, were naturally their object of training, and it therefore went without saying that Dia was the leader of just about every session.

Risti and Schwarz were already chatting in the garden when he arrived, while Lily was looking up at the dawn sky, an absent-minded look on her face. As for Dia…she was already holding a sword.

“You’re just in time,” Dia noted. “But you look like a right mess. What happened to you?”

“A nightmare,” Claud replied, before trying to pat down his hair. Sidling over to Lily a second later, he asked, “Do I really look like a mess?”

For some reason, Lily had a sympathetic look in her eyes, and an odd feeling welled up in Claud’s heart as she rubbed his head tenderly. The overflowing affection he was sensing from her now, however, was not something he could bring himself to brush aside easily, so Claud simply let Lily do whatever she wanted.

It was great that she was expressing her emotions in front of the others, after all.

“You’re late, Farah.” Dia’s voice echoed out mercilessly, and Lily’s hands stopped moving. Claud felt a bit disappointed, but he didn’t have much time to think, as Dia shifted into her fearsome instructor mode.

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“Sorry,” said the countess. “Had a stomachache.”

“Drink some water,” Dia replied. “Not too much, and if you don’t feel well, stop immediately.”

“Y-yes.”

Claud found the sight of see the authoritative Farah being instructed by Dia very refreshing. The countess, who was a master at handling issues Claud seriously didn’t want to care about, usually dictated the overall direction of their meetings. Rarely did she ever give others cause to instruct her, but this was one of these really rare occasions.

“Good. Take your place, then.” Dia turned to the members of the Moon Guards, whose numbers had fallen drastically. The remaining Moon Guards were all actually sub-folders, and each of them all had the Mana Manipulation skill. If need be, they could actually contend against the weaker one-folders for thirty minutes, or even defeat them if the circumstances permitted.

“Good,” said Dia. “We’ll now start off with a hundred repetitions of basic overheads. Go.”

Mana enveloped Claud’s training sword — which weighed a hundred kilograms — as he picked it up from the ground, and the sounds of air parting followed as everyone practiced the basic repetitions. A single repetition consisted of two overhead slashes, with a parry inserted between those slashes. The parry was meant to be instinctive, to cover up for the natural tendency for the body to rest after an overhead lash.

Dia had demonstrated the pinnacle of such a basic repetition four days ago, when the training first started. She could slash and parry continuously on for fifteen minutes without any flaws, over and over without fail. They weren’t just slow slashes either; she could strike out at blinding speeds, unleashing a force that Claud himself didn’t want to take where possible.

In a one-on-one battle, this would have led to a complete suppression of the target.

After three minutes of painful slashes, Dia called for a stop, and Claud lowered his blade immediately. His muscles weren’t the only things that were burning up; the insides of his head were throbbing madly too. After all, the whole time, everyone was expected to push their limits of their mana control too, and no one was dumb enough to cheat Dia, whose hawkish eyes were sweeping through everyone with an icy light.

“Two minutes rest, and then we’ll do a hundred repetitions of basic laterals.”

Claud was about to get up from his position for some water when an evil voice slashed through the silence. “Five seconds to get back to your places, everyone, or I’ll add another fifty repetitions.”

At these words, Claud rushed back to his position. His mind, which was still painfully clear, sunk into the depths of sweet inattentiveness as the monstrous training continued on through the dawn. His instinctive self-defence mechanism had finally kicked in, insulating his conscious mind from the worst of the it.

“…over.”

“Huh?”

“It’s over,” a sweet voice spoke in his ear.

“Oh, it is.” Claud glanced at Lily, enduring the scorching sensations in his body. He could only vaguely recall the crazy repetitions that Dia had put them through, and Claud could only hope that Lily didn’t remember them, for the sake of her mental health. “Are you feeling alright, Lily?”

“I’m fine.”

“Is that so? Anyway, pass me your sword. I’ll deposit it back in the stand.” Claud looked at her trembling hands. “In the meantime, can you get some water for me? I don’t think my fingers are up to the task of opening bottles right now.”

Claud opened his palm, where the webs of his fingers were currently bleeding.

“Oh my.” Lily nodded. “Okay. Here. I’ll be back, so don’t go running around, got it? Of the six of us, you’re the one with the least training. It’s definitely going to hurt.”

“I wish I could get a break, though. There isn’t enough time for my fingers to heal up,” Claud moped. “Oh well. Thanks, Lily.”

Passing him her training sword, which wasn’t all that heavy when Claud channelled his mana, Lily zipped off to pick up some water for him.

“Huh.” Claud looked around. “Where are the others?”

He looked around the garden, and then shrugged. The others had probably deemed it appropriate to return first, and in his befuddled state, Claud hadn’t noticed their departure. Lily had probably volunteered to stay behind to check on him, now that he thought about it.

After a minute or so, Lily returned, with an opened bottle of water in her hands. “Here.”

“Thanks, Lily.” Enduring the burning sensation in his palms, Claud raised the bottle slowly and sipped from it. The others had been training under Dia for a longer period, which was why he was currently the most…troublesome student.

Flashing a small smile, Claud said, “Sorry to trouble you for all this. Thanks, though. For staying to help me.”

“My pleasure.”

Silence fell as Claud took a few more gulps. It wasn’t anything like an awkward silence, though, and Claud found himself loosening up from Lily’s presence.

“I hear that the Holy Son of the Black God’s going to visit us today,” Claud abruptly said. “What do you think?”

“It’s probably bad news,” Lily promptly replied. “Has there ever been any good news when a noble or something of importance came over to Moon Mansion?”

Claud thought about it for a moment, and nodded. “Makes sense, yes.”

“Then we should brace ourselves,” Lily replied. “Come on, let’s get some food.”

“Speaking of food, I still owe you a cake…”