The Eye Of The Eagle

Gongamtei looked at Isabella and said, "You look weaker than your mother boasted about. Anyway, that's not important. I have trained way more weaker people than you. Show me some of your moves and then I can say from where we can begin your training." Isabella nodded and showed some well trained punches and kicks and then bowed before Gongamtei. Gongamtei said, "Well, it was indeed suprising. But, the people who you are going to fight have some advantages, especially that Alice." Isabella asked, "You know Alice Cooper?" Gongamtei smiled, "Yes, I have encountered her twice. She is feisty and wild when she fells danger but other than that she is quite manageable." Isabella asked, "What advantage does she has?" Gongamtei said grimly, "She was born with that advantage. But, anyway she is not important now. We have to focus on you and how you can make yourself ready for the upcoming tournament." Gongamtei took out a purple potion and gave it to her and said, "This is an age old medicine my master taught me to make. This potion has saved my life at many ways and made me capable of becoming a top warrior." Isabella took the potion and drank it. It had an uncanny taste and after ingesting it, her stomach felt quite cold. Isabella asked, "What was that potion made up of?" Gongamtei smiled, "The ingredients are still a mystery to me, but my trust on my master never let me question him about it." Isabella said, "Sorry." Gongamtei said, "Since you are good in your punches and kicks, we won't waste our time in basics. I was a military grade assassin and spy, so my fighting style involves a lot of weapons and deadly strikes which of delivered at the right force can easily incapacitate anyone. But, since you are not going to kill anyone, so I will teach you how to make yourself strong yet agile enough to dodge the strikes and keep yourself safe till the last round." Gongamtei took a kendo stick and started beating Isabella. Isabella looked at him and pulled her hands up in the air in surrender. Gongamtei said, "At first, you will suffer pain but eventually you will get used to it and soon this much pain will be nothing for you." Isabella looked at him and said, "But,‌ sir. If you beat me like this, I will get injured." Assayah appeared and looked at them and asked, "So, how's your training going? Did you have some improvements?" Gongamtei looked at Assayah and said, "Isabella is mortally fine at attack. So, I was trying to make her more durable and agile so that she can withstand longer in the octagon." Assayah said, "She is a girl. She has a weaker structure than men, so I don't think training her so manly would do any good to her, especially when the tournament is in three days." Isabella said, "I believe that I can withstand till the end of the round, but hurting me like this won't do me any good." Gongamtei looked at her and said, "Power comes from mind, young lady. If you think you are sufficient already, how can you acquire more power?" Assayah said, "Isabella dear. You go and take a five minute break. I have to discuss something important with your master." Isabella nodded and went away.

Gongamtei looked at Assayah and said angrily, "You told me to teach this brat and now you are interfering in my work." Assayah said grimly, "I'm not interested in interfering in your work. But, if you try to kill her, then I have to come to rescue her." Gongamtei said, "She is not going to defeat Alice if she cannot withstand her blows." Assayah said, "I don't think that she is going to use the spear's power in the tournament. As far as I know, Alice seems quite righteous and fair." Gongamtei said irritated, "She maybe righteous and fair. But we are not. We are planning to kill her. You hear, we are planning to kill her and by the laws of any sane person, she will try to defend herself, won't she?" Assayah said, "I know what the plan is. But, I don't want you to waste both our precious time on this useless girl. I want you to posses her body and kill Alice in the tournament." Gongamtei said, "Are you nuts, Assayah? Possession of her body would mean killing her and you won't want me to kill your client's daughter, would you?" Assayah smiled, "If you succeed in killing Alice and taking the spear from her. Then, hell with Ms. Shepherd and to hell with Mr. Watwell. They will be my servants and I will exploit them as much as I want." Gongamtei said, "But, whoever is protecting Alice will easily recognise me in Isabella's body and that would be problematic." Assayah smiled, "Don't worry about that. I have covered all the loose ends. Once you possess Isabella's body, I will create a special aura around you that will completely cover all your pheromones and no one will be able to recognise you. Then, it will be easy for you to kill Alice." Gongamtei asked, "But, there's still one slight problem. When I will try to kill her, what if she transforms into her ultimate form. I have encountered it once and I have to say, it was quite chaotic and she even managed to kill a powerful orc like Krymon. I don't want to say it, but I'm a little afraid." Assayah said, "The ultimate form will not come so easily as it requires an immense flow of energy that can only be generated when all the cells in the body starts to boil in anger and combines with the spear to release a gigantic amount of power which has can even defeat the most powerful gods too." Gongamtei said, "If you had seen the scene that I saw, then you would have been afraid too." Assayah said, "Alice is still in its developing stages and if I'm not wrong, she might have still not learned to control the immense flow of rage and it will prove lethal for her if she cannot withstand it." Gongamtei said grimly, "Courage cannot be borrowed, but can only be created. I don't want to fight and risk my life for your happiness." Assayah said, "Fine. Here, take this talisman. It was created from the navel of Xao Lin when he was imprisoned in the volcano by Mother Manaca. It contains great power and said to be able to control large amounts of power and deflect them to the attacker." Gongamtei asked, "Then, why didn't you gave it to me earlier?" Assayah said, "Because, it is a special talisman and I had to ask for Bacca's permission before giving it to you." Gongamtei asked, "Bacca gave permission for it?" Assayah said, "Not without convincing. He has said that if you fail to take the spear this time, he will imprison you into a bottle and bury you in the hot lava of the Earth's core."

Gongamtei said, "Typical Bacca dialogues. Anyway, I still don't want to go in the octagon because I want an apprentice. I know Isabella is useless right now, but with proper training and guidance, she can be a wonderful apprentice. My master used to say that having an apprentice is the most respectable thing in an assassin's life." Assayah said, "You are no longer an assassin, Gongamtei. You are a warrior of the Monastery and yes, warriors too have apprentices but think for one moment how much time will be needed to train, guide and test this little lamb when you can easily make a powerful martial artist or wrestler your apprentice who is already halfway through the training procedure."

Gongamtei said, "There would be no fun and pride in being the master of an already powerful person because he will have no trademark of mine in his repertoire. I want someone who displays my style, my way and most importantly my principles in his or her way of fighting, living and recognition. I want people to say that whoever trained my apprentice must be a great teacher and able warrior." Assayah smiled, "Who would have thought that Gongamtei would be so passionate about glorifying his name. Listen, power is like water. It may differ in quantity but never differs in quality. Any person who is a skilled warrior now must have been a naive student once. Your master didn't chose you because you were some next big prodigy, but because you were already a skilled warrior and was burning with a vendetta." Gongamtei said grimly, "Whatever you are saying is definitely not true. My master was blind and he never saw any of my training nor did ever praised my work. I was not even his favourite student and moreover, he didn't even know that I existed. He taught a class of thousand apprentices and students which were far better than me in all the ways of assassin code. Yet, I trained hard, attended all his classes and followed his every advice, not because I was burning with some vendetta, but because I wanted to become the best. I still remember that one day before my graduation, he said in his speech that the most powerful weapon in the world is not some sword or mace, but your will and determination. If you have firm determination and willingness to succeed, then no enemy or weapon can defeat you. I never met him after that day, but his shadow always remained on my way of fighting and living. That's the power of influence, Assayah. The influence that doesn't require any magic or force. And I want someone to remember me like I remember my master." Assayah smiled, "Maybe you are right. But, observe one fact carefully. Your master was blind and he had a whole class full of students whom he never know nor cared about. You chosed to be his apprentice, not that he made you his apprentice. You are a good man, but not everyone is a good man. Even if you teach your apprentice all you have learned in your lifetime, it's not necessary that he will praise you like you praise your master. He may act arrogant and selfish and don't forget killing own teachers is an age old sin committed by mortals in every age." Gongamtei said, "Okay. I will discuss my debate with you some other time. For now, let me teach Isabella some durability for her upcoming tournament." Assayah smiled and disappeared in red mist.

Aliyah looked at Alice who was panting heavily as she has just ran at full speed on the treadmill. Aliyah said, "Speed is necessary for the fighting technique you are learning, Alice. You have to be quite quick in your punch delivery as you are not very strong to take their punches." Alice said, "You are saying this words from the beginning of the training today. I understand that I'm weak but you don't have to demoralise me every fucking time." Aliyah said, "Anger is not going to solve your problems, young lady. You have to be at your best. I have a feeling that this tournament isn't going to be honest. Most of the fighters in this tournament have bad sportsmanship records and most of them were on banned periods before they were enlisted for this tournament." Alice said, "Don't worry. I have the spear for my protection after all." Aliyah said grimly, "No, we are not going to use the spear for the tournament. The spear is not some ordinary weapon but contains unlimited blood energy in it which can be devastating for your opponents and I don't want to make us visible in the eyes of the demons lurking around in search of the spear." Alice said, "Then, what if they use some unfair means to win?" Aliyah smiled, "Believe me, Alice. You don't need to rely on the spear to win. I will be by your side cheering for you." Alice said, "If I come out safe from this tournament, I'm going to kill that fat principal of mine." Aliyah smiled, "We will do that together, don't you worry." They laughed and then again continued their training....