Chapter 6: Chapter Five: Meld And One Of Seven
Meld was walking down one of the hallways in the castle. He had just gotten finished with training the younger soldiers, and then sparing some of them before sparing a more experienced opponent, just to give the trainees a show.
And then like perfect timing when he finished Zerads personal guard appeared saying that Zerad needed him for something.
So, that's where he was heading now. He wasn't really in any hurry, Zerad would wait for him, no matter how annoyed he would be by it.
Meld was what some would call the stereotypical knight. He was one, if not thee, strongest knight in the Demon Lords territory, possibly the world. He was even offered a job to be the Demon Lords personal guard once, but turned it down in favour of being out on the battlefield, actively helping in the war.
He was almost constantly wearing his silver coloured armour, with a red cape hanging off the back of it. A sword at his side that would make most people shocked at it. As swords were usually of a reasonable size, while his was a great sword just waiting to cleave through enemies.
He had tanned skin that he got over years of being in the sun and fighting almost seemingly endless battles. His hair was a dark brown while he had a short trimmed beard on his face.
He eventually Zerad who he saw looking out the window of the castle, surprisingly without his suit coat.
"I thought you never took that thing off. What changed?" Meld said jokingly, an obvious reference to the Demon Lords absent jacket.
Zerad only clicked his tongue in annoyance. "That's not important." Zerad refuted immediately. "What is important is that the plan worked." Zerad said proudly while pointing over to the door of the room.
Meld was shocked. That stupid, reckless plan of Zerads plan actually worked. Unbelievable.
Just to make sure Zerad hadn't actually gone crazy, Meld used his senses and pried into the room Zerad had pointed at.
He did in fact find a presence in the room. It wasn't a demon, but a human. But he could sense the powers of a demon inside of her. More specifically, the power of the Seven Orbs. Not just one either, all seven.
Meld turned to Zerad, a bit of anger in him. "Are you crazy? You could have killed them trying to put that much power into them." Meld said, his eyes glowing a little and his hand clenching.
Zerad looked at Meld, before his aura began to be released in small amounts. "Don't threaten me, Meld. I knew what I was doing." Zerad said sternly.
It was true he knew what he was doing. And besides, even if the girl had died, the Orbs Powers would still be intact and he could try again and again, until he got the result he desired.
The only way the Orbs wouldn't survive that process was if he interfered. That would make the Orbs self-destruct, or at least dissipate their powers. The reason for this is because the Orbs decide if someone is worthy or not. And if someone interferes with the process then the Orbs wouldn't give anyone else the chance and destroy themselves.
Meld backed down after a staring contest between them. He might be stronger physically, but in magic he was weaker and Zerad was still his Lord, and he would serve.
"Yes sir." Meld said through gritted teeth. "What are your orders for me, sir?" He asked, putting more force into the word 'sir', showing his current dislike for Zerad.
Zerad only scoffed, shaking his head, before answering. "You are going to train them, and I need you to stick with this story."
Zerad then suddenly put his hand on Meld's head and put some information in there. It was just about what he had said to Fumiko after she didn't remember anything.
Meld took a second to process it before responding. "Yes sir."
"Good." Zerad said before starting to walk away. "You'll train her for most of the day until it's time for a meal, but until then I expect some constant training." Zerad ordered, finally walking away fully.
Meld groaned in annoyance. Zerad might be the Demon Lord, and Meld might follow him. But that didn't mean he liked the way Zerad did things. Especially when it came to this.
Meld decided he would forget about it, no use in letting things he couldn't control get to him. He let his sense roam into the room with the hero in it, and saw they were done getting changed.
Well, he didn't 'see' Per se. He just 'felt' the aura of the person and what they were doing, and some more things.
He walked over to the door and knocked on it. "Excuse me, hero, but I've been ordered to train you." He announced.
He picked up an emotion of shock in them, maybe from his sudden talking to them. "If you could come out and then we can start on your training right away."
On the other side of the door Fumiko looked at herself in the mirror, for the last time in what would be a while. After all, she was about to go out training for the first time.
Her clothes were surprisingly modern, although she doubted they were common clothes. And they probably wouldn't be used in battle, something she got shivers thinking about but was determined to pay back Zerad in any way she could, but the clothes would probably be used in training.
She took a breath before opening the door to her room and stepping outside.
Meld looked at the hero, as she looked back at him. He was going to be honest with himself, he didn't think it would be so ugly and weak. But that wouldn't change the way he was going to train her.
And besides, it wasn't like looks had anything got to do with strength. It was just that most people that were powerful happened to be better looking as long as they didn't have scars, but even then they somehow managed to make it work for them.
"So, what's your name? It's important for us to know the basics about each other before we train." Meld asked as he started walking towards the training ground. His hand doing a 'follow me' motion.
Fumiko followed along while she answered. "My name is Fumiko Genji. I'm seventeen years old. I'm a girl. I'm not practically strong… but I'm willing to work hard to get there." Fumiko said with a strong conviction. "What about you?"
Meld smiled at the resolve she held. It might currently be weak, but even the weakest of resolves could become the strongest of iron wills.
Meld answered the question seeing as it was only fair. "Meld Stronoff. I'm currently thirty years old. I'm serving as the knight commander in the Demon Lord's army, I'm also currently one of the strongest demons, aside from Zerad, in the kingdom right now."
Fumiko nodded her head at that information.
The two talked the rest of the way to the training ground. Talking idly about random things about themselves, favourite colour, hobbies, preferred weapon.
And although the answers varied greatly between them, especially the last one, they built a small bond between the two of them.
Once they reached the training grounds Fumiko saw what it was like. It was a small area outside, although still within the walls of the castle.
There were some weights over in one corner, and some weapons over in another. The weapons were wooden or made of metal.
"Pick a weapon you're comfortable with. I'll tell you now, I use a sword so I can teach you the best in that." Meld informed Fumiko who nodded her head, but was still looking at the wall of weapons. "But I also know the basics in all the weapons here, and I know how to better handle some weapons other than the sword better than most as well. Point is, no matter what you choose I'll be able to teach you."
Fumiko just hummed in acknowledgment. She was still staring at the wall, trying to see what weapon she could see herself using in the future.
In the end she decided to use a sword. A basic choice, but the spear just didn't sit well with her, daggers would have her get too close to the enemy for comfort, although she could possibly use it as a secondary weapon if she lost her sword, and all the other choices would require some serious talent, skill or lots of training.
She picked up a wooden sword. Which was much heavier than she imagined it to be, but she was still able to hold it properly, or at least what felt natural to her.
"I see, so that's your choice." Meld said getting the attention of Fumiko. To Meld, the first weapon a warrior chose said a lot about them, although sometimes there were outliers.
Meld then picked up a wooden greatsword and stood in the middle of an outlined rectangular area. "Try and use your sword to hit me." Meld ordered as he stood there, his sword hanging lazily by his side, seeing no need to get into a stance against a beginner.
"A-are you sure?" Fumiko asked worriedly.
Meld only let out a laugh at that question. "Don't worry, you won't be able to land a hit on me. This is just to see how you use the sword with no training, see how good you are. It's a way to measure someone's talent with their weapon." Meld told her.
Fumiko nodded her head before running at Meld with her sword at her side, both hands on the handle.
Meld Analysed what he could just from that action alone. Clearly she hadn't held a sword before, no surprise really, if she did she would have had some proper muscle on her.
The gait at which she ran was clumsy, there was no pattern to it, or anything which would reduce the need for steps like extending how far her legs reached out before touching the ground.
And she had no plan in mind to do with the sword. She was probably going to strike in a horizontal direction.
And like he predicted, she swung her sword to his side.
She did at least have some idea how to use a sword. She stopped a few steps before him, but close enough that the sword would reach.
She didn't just swing the sword at him but used her whole body to get some speed to increase damage if it hit.
Meld blocked the sword with his, minimal effort would be an exaggeration to what he was doing. To him blocking that sword was as easy as breathing.
It was fast, at least compared to what he had seen from others. And the power behind it was as heavy as a fly landing on you. You wouldn't notice it until you actually looked at it.
Although that was the part of his mind speaking that had been through countless battles. The trainer side of his mind was impressed, she was a bit of a heavy hitter, maybe a sword like his would suit her better once she gained the strength and muscle mass, and her speed wasn't that bad.
Her form wasn't the best, hell it was one the worst he had ever seen. But he was usually training soldiers who had at least completed basic training on how to hold and handle a sword, some of them having already been in one battle.
But she at least had some potential.
Unlike what he expected her to do, which was to back off after that hit and take a second, perhaps wait for him to comment on her form or something.
But instead of that, she followed through with the swing, which had been deflected by his sword, and she used the force and speed from before.
She did a spin, the sword getting close to the ground on the way back around before getting higher and faster.
Meld was confused about what she was doing. Did she lose her balance?
Then in a surprise when she faced him again from her spin, the sword still having the speed and force form before and even more, started to come back towards him in a slope. Starting at his left shoulder before, aiming, going to his waist.
Meld's eyes widened a little. It would be a stupid move to do in a real battle, as she would be showing her enemies her back, but in a training situation like this it was smart, especially since he said he wouldn't attack.
Since he wasn't expecting it Meld actually dodge it. But instead of stopping she then forced the sword to go straight up, aiming for his face.
This time Meld blocked it, he could have dodged it but decided that she probably wouldn't stop in her chain of attacks.
When he did he was a bit shocked. Her hit was at least twice as heavy as before. And that wasn't possibly with the manoeuvre she had done. It would have increased the weight of the hit, but it wouldn't have increased it that much.
They were locked in a stalemate for a bit, with Fumiko determined to get through Meld's guard, but Meld not even batting an eye at the strength, still lost in his thoughts.
Meld finally realised what was happening when she got out of the lock with him and struck him again, or struck his sword again since he blocked. The weight behind it had doubled again, not that it had doubled Tom the first hit, and then added it to the stack already...
Meld thought for a second before thinking of a good analogy for it as Fumiko hit him again in another strike, which hadn't stopped, the only breaks being when they were in a lock together.
The analogy was this: her first strike was a one, then the second hit was doubled, being a two, and then that hit was doubled, making it a four. And then that last hit doubled again, making it an eight.
Meld knew what this was, he just hadn't expected it since she only got it. And, although her hits were doubling in strength every time, that didn't mean it was difficult for him, in fact he could still do this in his sleep, it would take around a thousand more hits before it made him struggle, and a hundred before he would properly acknowledge it. But even then he could still stop it, as although her strength was increasing, her speed was the same.
This thing she was doing was a skill. But not just any skill, one of the Seven Orbs, more specifically, the Orb of Wrath. With the effects of it being as he had said before.
This really was interesting to Meld.
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Original_Sin
Original_Sin Hi, sorry for not uploading for a while, but I at least had to get one more chapter out before this competition ended.
Anyways, I was going to add one more scene to this, but that would make it over three thousand words long. And I’m not doing that, two thousand words and a little above at most.
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