Precursor to the Second Great War (2) - Training

Support my main contracted novel and winner of Writing Prompts #26 - The Legendary Mage!

Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn!

https://www.webnovel.com/book/12013957905760805/Desolate-Mage%3A-A-Legend-Reborn!

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[Sunday, 18 August Year 1802 of the Age of Empires]

It was the wee hours of morning; just before sunrise. The last few sounds of insects had stilled as the night was almost through; and some of the early rising crepuscular animals could be heard rustling through the trees and foliage.

As the first rays of dawn broke across the sky; doors began to open; and the sunlight brought with it the fresh, cheerful sounds of the townspeople's clearing up after breakfast to start their day.

But underlying the cheerfulness was uncertainty; fear - and sorrow.

Compared to the weeks before, the bustle of the town was subdued; in some ways forced. The smiling faces looked weary; strained; while the enthusiastic greetings were less boisterous; tinged with grief and sorrow underneath.

More than half of the families here had lost a loved one or a friend.

Over the course of the week since their battle at the planar portal, news had trickled in – horrifying news.

Chaos and turmoil across the entire middle continent.

The flames of war were rising. Reports of the beastmen amassing a horde of warriors, beasts and even great wyrms and mammoths. An undead pirate fleet terrorising the middle seas. But closest of all was the infernal invasion.

Aachen, Berlin, Rome, Turin, Barcelona, London, Paris. 7 planar portals had emerged inconspicuously within each of these major cities – bringing with them small armies, each led by a divine-level Demon Duke and multiple semi-divine Marquises.

Of these cities, Paris and Berlin had suffered the most; the royal hegemonies nearly wiped out before the empire-founding heroes Charlemagne and Kaiser could respectively repel their enemies.

The other cities had fared much better; able to fend off the Demon Dukes – but still at the cost of tens of thousands of lives.

And none of the Demon Dukes had been taken down. Too late it was discovered that despite the massive force laying siege against humanity's largest cities on Uro, it was merely a smoke-screen – the invaders had ambushed and wiped out all life on the island of Sardinia to setup their base there.

And the 7 Demon Dukes were gathering strength to strike once more.

Throughout the tumult; it was expected that the east and west continents would not assist; on the contrary, these distant neighbours were already lying in wait to devour the scraps of the wounded middle continent.

Even worse were the beastmen nation to the north in Siberia – frequent raids a common occurrence for the Gautaz armies border guards.

As the citizens and rulers of Gallia, Britannia, Catalunia, Rome and Gautaz [1] were reeling from the tragedy that befell them; one question was on everyone's mind.

Where were the gods?

Even as the townspeople proceeded with the facade of normalcy; while the leaders of towns and villages; cities and kingdoms deliberated what to do; Principal Snow, Caitlyn, and the rest had one more question in mind.

Where were the 8th Demon Duke and That young Captain?

How about the planar portal just 200km south of Pari…? There was no news or reports of that Demon Duke and Demon Captain. Where had they disappeared to…?

* * * * *

Sam was covered in sweat as she trained; which was unusual - her gargantuan stamina pool barely ever reached its limits. She was panting, breathing heavily as she kept her open right palm up in front of her while tucking her left fist close to her waist.

Sam was facing the powerful and forceful Sebastian - Shiba Tian.

"Haaaat!!" The heavily built butler thrust forward, crossing several metres with a single step. The ground where his foot landed split slightly; surprisingly; as the force of his movement should be enough to disintegrate even the hardest stones.

This was proof of his control over his strength.

He released a rising knife hand with his palm facing inward; a signature move of Baguazhang - aimed straight at her chin.

Though he was using strength on par with her, at the peak of level 13, the strength from his perfect control of his body and force made the simple move lethal enough to blow the head off an ogre.

Sam felt intense wind pressure restricting her movements, as if she were falling into a vacuum that sucking her forward into the strike - a psychological effect from facing an opponent far more skillful.

"Hyah!!" She released a burst of air and raised her spirit; countering his movements by similarly thrusting her right palm forward and tucking her chin; altering the trajectory of Sebastian's attack. She grimaced at the high-speed impact with the higher leveled opponent as she forced his arm up, leaving his right side open.

At the same time, she hopped forward and checked Sebastian's right shin with her own right foot; preventing him as he started a kick; drawing a smile from the butler turned martial arts trainer.

"Very good! You're learning fast!"

Sam returned the smile as she then pivoted; lowering her body and twisting her hips to shoot forward with an elbow at his ribs.

Her smile faded when she found herself suddenly upside down.

Sebastian's masterful application of force and technique stunned her.

In his vulnerable position - right arm raised from her defensive move and ribs open - he had made 3 instant moves to turn the situation around.

Right hand turning downwards to touch her elbow - applying rotational force, diverting her strike to brush past.

Switching right and left feet position; a low kick to the back of her right knee; causing her leg to buckle and removing her footing.

Snaking his left hand to her chin - and pulling backwards.

With one smooth movement; these 3 simultaneous actions were done. Sebastian upended her; spinning her head-over-heels and head-first to the ground.

Their round of sparring had ended - 41 wins for Sebastian, 0 wins for Sam.

The task of training Sam had fallen to Sebastian - the others weren't able to; or at least that's what they said...

Caitlyn: Do you want me to be smashed to a pulp?!?

Romilda: I-I don't have a weapon... And I don't use my fists...

Principal Snow: *pats Sebastian on the shoulder*; my back hurts... You can do it, my friend.

Sebastian: *serious* ....Okay.

And so, they had been having happy and light training sessions - at least, light for the level 24 Sebastian; who trained her while taking it easy despite his injuries.

* * * * *

The girl stood up and dusted herself off, meticulously removing dirt, grime and leaves from her body.

She took far more care of her cleanliness and appearance since striking up a close friendship with Marie's mother, Emilda. The motherly and loving woman had lost her daughter; and Sam had no family around. As a result, the middle-aged nurse had taken her into her home with the glad support of her husband, Michelin.

Sam did not reject; she felt warm, loved and affection for the husband-wife pair. And her mouth watered everytime she sat at their table; their cooking was good!

As such, she was progressively more girly now; wearing a tight fitting blouse; Marie's old clothes. Nevertheless, she still wore a wide-legged pants, thought slightly more feminine and with finer material than Lucius' adventurer's pants.

In actuality, the blouse was a full length dress; and could only fit tightly because Marie was rather busty. Whereas the pants was contributed by Stella's robust mother Helga who insisted, saying, "You remind me of myself when I was younger! Only so much prettier!"

Sebastian nodded in approval at her improvement. "Well done, Sam. You've grown so much in just this 1 week."

Sam beamed in gladness, skipping over to the man in his 50s. "Really? Really...? Yay!!"

These days, she could finally be herself for once. She was tired; having to be mature, grown up and making decisions on her own for the past few weeks.

Right now, she skipped and hopped as she followed after Sebastian back to the Golden Crown Inn, where the rest were staying. As they walked, they greeted the familiar townspeople who passed them by - though quite a number of them were cowed by the stern-faced and 200cm tall Sebastian.

The strong butler walked in front of Sam. "Earlier, your first move was quite innovative. However, the concept of Baguazhang is one of balance, of advancing and retreating in turn. Sometimes you will need to make forceful, direct moves; yet at other times you will need to withdraw to disrupt your opponent's rhythm."

Sam nodded happily, eyes shining and listening attentively to her first martial arts teacher thus far.

Her life was glad and happy with Aunty Caitlyn, Uncle Sebastian, big sis Romilda, Father Tristan, Teacher Mikael... She intentionally excluded the perverted bald old man Principal Snow.

Only...

"Shifu...?" The young girl's voice was still sing-song and innocent.

Sebastian paused in his steps as they were passing by the sundry store; he turned to look over to her. "Sam...? What's wrong?"

"If I want to grow stronger... What should I do?"

"What do you mean...? You're already growing strong very fast. And if you're really only 10 years old, you're probably the strongest 10 year old in the entire middle continent!" He intentionally left out the east - there were countless geniuses and monsters in the east who were even stronger than her at 9-10 years old...

"Why..." He tilted his head and looked up, thinking. "...With just another few months of training in martial arts and some combat experiences, you'll be able to easily defeat someone like that Demon Boy."

He waited; he could see that Sam still had something on her mind - he had learned patient over the years - in contrast to his fiery and arrogant days of youth.

After a short pause to scrunch her brows in thought, Sam spoke. "I... Want to be strong enough to fight alongside you and Aunty Caitlyn and big sis Romilda..."

Sebastian frowned; wasn't she being too hasty, too rushed...? He was about to chide her when he saw how serious and earnest she was; far too serious for her age.

He chose instead to probe further; "Child, is there something you desire strongly...? That needs more strength...?"

Sam slowly digested his words; then nodded - at first hesitantly, then again with more confidence.

"What is it...?" He was gentle, trying to make gentle his heavy, booming voice.

She looked up with her clear, glittering black eyes; and answered him with a conviction beyond her tender age.

"I want to protect those I care about; my friends; my family. I want to be strong enough to crush everything that hurts them!"

She looked down with sad eyes then continued. "I don't have a mama or papa..." Then she looked up again, eyes literally smouldering with passion as she nearly shouted, "But I have friends; like you, like Aunty Caitlyn, like, like... Everyone! And, and I want to protect everyone forever!"

The stoic training freak Sebastian felt awkward and fidgeted as he watched the girl begin to tear up; clearly she remembered painful memories.

But clearly he himself had no experience comforting people; he specialised only in discipline or war...

He hesitantly laid a hand on her head while maintaining a distance of an arms length. Then he patted her head. Once.

In a flash, she lunged into his chest to hug him; surprising the unemotional man.

(Aww... She's just a child after all; how swe--) Then Sebastian choked - her bear hug began to get tighter, constricting his breath; until the point he felt like his wounds were re-opening; his bones releasing *creaking* sounds...

Breathless, the butler could not get the words out to ask for help; he frantically tapped her arms to try to tell her to let go - but the titan-like girl was oblivious to his plight; only tightening her grip!

In his desperation, he threw away all the dignity he had to flail his arms and ask for help from the townspeople walking by, but...

Townsperson 1: Look at that family! How sweet...

Townsperson 2: What a nice granddaughter and grand-father...! Maybe she missed him a lot.

Townsperson 1: Wait, grandfather? But isn't that Lucius' granddaughter? How can that be Sam's grandfather?

Townsperson 2: You idiot! Doesn't a person have 2 parents and 2 sets of grandparents?!? What's wrong with having a 2nd grandfather?!?"

Townsperson 1: "Ohh..."

It was of no use. No-one came to his rescue on that day.

* * * * *

A year later, Sam's "2nd grandfather on her father's side" would reminisce and share sad stories with Lucius about Sam's bear hug - and whether she would ever find a boy who wouldn't go *squish* on their first date (and wedding day).