Chapter 183 :

Episode 36 : Upskilling (2)

On an island that should be for exploring, there's a training section for ‘The Rebels’ Guild's members to undertake.

SLASH!

Amongst the clashes of daggers and thunders, Raiden gave his opinion on Alaine's every move that she made during their training.

Every step Alaine took, every corner she ran to, every spot she chose to attack, everything was conveyed to Raiden through her actions.

"Swing harder! And faster, my disciple! If you go that slow, your enemies will strike back fiercely!" 

"You don't go easy on me at all, Sensei!"

As Alaine was talking, she circled around Raiden, attacking from each side while slashing her daggers in quick succession.

"Going easy means putting you in a dangerous situation in the future! That's what my Sensei taught me." 

"Oh right! What should I be calling JoonChul if he's your mast—Whoa!!" 

Thud!!

Upon having to fall from Raiden's attack, Alaine got herself dusted with sand on her clothes, including her face. "Bleh! I got sand in my mouth!"

"Focus, disciple!"

"Ehh?!"

In no time, when Alaine became aware of Raiden's lightning rod being thrown toward her, she managed to barely evade by rolling on the ground and returning back on her feet.

"That's more like it! Good!" Raiden praised with a grin.

With a charge toward Raiden, Alaine etched a confident smile on her face as a response to Raiden.

Not only that, Alaine tossed her dagger right at Raiden with her free hand having grasped a handful of something.

"Woah there!" Raiden struck the dagger away with his thunder until he noticed Alaine appearing in front of him.

In the blink of an eye, Raiden was greeted with a handful of sand being flung to his face, blinding his sight in the process while Alaine took this chance to strike.

"Well done using your surroundings!" Said, the unfazed Raiden.

CLASH!!!!

Apart from Alaine and Raiden who weren't the only one undergoing weapon training, there was Crystal who was having a practice battle against Behemoth.

Instead of weapons, Crystal was learning some sort of martial arts for animals which led to a battle between bunny and cat.

"My paws are burning from all those clashes! Ouchie.." Crystal groaned while swinging her poor paws to and fro.

Behemoth who didn't seem at all affected by the fight, scoffed at Crystal. "Meow meow."

"I don't know what you said, but somehow, I wanna punch you hard." 

"Mrow meow!" He laughed in a teasing way.

"Hiya!!"

A paw to the face of Behemoth, Crystal had landed a good hit on that cat, and it would have made Mirai proud if she were to witness this.

"Mew!" 

With a hiss, Behemoth disappeared from his spot before he busted in with a hit to the gut to Crystal, launching her far back into the forest.

Fwoosh!!

Getting back up immediately, Crystal exclaimed with her might. "I will not..!!"

As if Crystal would allow herself to lose against a cat, she instantly laid bare upon Behemoth with a kick to his side when he was surprised and couldn't avoid her counterattack.

"Mrooow!!!"

This time, Crystal is the one who scoffed at Behemoth. "Now do you feel like teasing me?"

"Meeoww!"

All within one second, Behemoth rotated his body a bit as Crystal was in the middle of kicking him, immediately grabbing Crystal's small head and proceeding to hurl Crystal into the sand with a great amount of force.

BANG!

"Pfuu!!" Crystal coughed and hit her throat to get the sand outta her mouth, grunting a little because of the impact.

"Meow." Behemoth snickered after backing up from Crystal.

"Stop giving me that look, weirdo!"

"Meow?!"

..Swishh!!!

Moving on from Crystal and her tutor, there was Mirai who was tutoring and assisting Mya with her bow, even going so far as to produce cocoon targets for Mya to take a shot at.

"Concentrate closely. Don't force yourself to shoot and take your time~" Mirai advised Mya, holding onto the latter's shoulders to help her relax a little.

Taking a deep breath as Mya should, she slowly but surely started to aim at her target before drawing her bow.

And then..

Swoosh~

Sooner or later, an arrow was pierced into the target's neck when in actuality, Mya was going for the head and felt slightly disappointed in herself for missing her aim.

Upon seeing her temporary student looking displeased, Mirai tried to enlighten Mya to the best of her ability. 

"Baka~ This isn't the time to feel depressed over a mistake. If you have time to feel disheartened, then you're not ready for battle. That's what my captain said to me." 

"..! Yes, I'll keep going!"

"Good girl~" Mirai let out a faint smile while patting Mya's head.

As a reply, Mya grinned alongside Mirai, giggling contentedly. "Ahjussi is so considerate, I'm happy that he allowed me to train like everyone does."

"Hai, you should be~ When I was your age, I was like you who had the same treatment. Captain was too nice and caring, ah~ Isn't he so wonderful?" Mirai seemed to be enjoying her time talking about her captain.

"Eh..? But Ahjussi is an earthling..? How would he have met Aunt Mirai in your youth?"

"Ara ara, so you're smarter than that black cat."

"You mean Blackie? Am I smarter than that? It does look intelligent for a cat though."

..Clap~

"Alright, enough talk~ Let's resume our practice~"

"Erm.. Yes, Aunt Mirai!"

———

Shaa…

From the ice ship's right side where the sea was being covered a little with ice, there were three people standing on top of it.

They were Noel and Noelle who were using their Chakram to practice while moving on a slippery floor.

"Haa!!!" Noel exclaimed as he jumped behind Frostina and was landing a strike.

At that moment, Frostina's indifferent expression was set to irritation as she stretched her whip out to get Noel's Chakram. 

Then, she commented. "Fool, unless you're doing it purposely, which I doubt it, you shouldn't reveal your position by making pointless noises."

"Argh! I'm only doing it to distract you!" 

From how confident Noel sounded and where he was looking, Frostina couldn't help but shake her head by how idiotic Noel was.

Whoosh!

Ignoring the fact that Frostina crushed Noel's confidence immediately by dodging Noelle's sneak attack, she spoke yet again.

"You gave away your position and also your sister's next attack. How foolish you are." Frostina stared at Noel, frightening him even though she had the same cold and indifferent expression.

"Yeah?! It's because you had a lot of experience! And we don't!"

"Experience is one thing, but being smart in a battle is another."

"Grrr!! I'm going to win!" Noel growled as he took a step back to launch himself toward Frostina.

"This is not a competition, foolish brat."

At that moment, Frostina stood in her place to see what Noel was up to, and mostly because she didn't need to move at all, considering how Noel was too impatient.

‘This fool needs more training. Aside from him, a diamond in the rough as his twin sister, Noelle.’ Frostina thought as she shifted her gaze up to find Noelle descending down with her Chakram.

‘She may prove to be beneficial.’ 

Upon having Noel coming her way whereas Noelle from above, Frostina appeared to be cornered by the twins.

..or so it seems.

"Use every knowledge to your advantage, that's how you'll achieve a greater victory."

For anyone's information, Frostina learned that from her liege.

In any case, as Frostina instructed Noel and Noelle, she had hopped onto Noel's Chakram that should have hit her yet was turned into a stepping stone instead.

"No way!!" Noel gasped until he felt less discouraged. "But you can't dodge my sister's attack!"

"Fool, take a look." 

As per Frostina's words, Noel took a glimpse of the sight that Frostina was attempting to show him. "Huh?!"

Before Noel could even comprehend the situation, he witnessed Frostina take a leap toward Noelle, dumbfounding Noelle who was about to land her Chakram into Frostina.

With that window of opportunity, Frostina's hands grabbed hold of Noelle's Chakram, splitting that weapon apart to make two half circles weapons.

Because the Chakram can be separated, an opening was created where Frostina could easily hit Noelle's face or chest if she wanted to.

..But..

FLICKER!!!

Sparks flew from the hands of Frostina, rejecting her hands from ever wielding another weapon aside from her whip which forced a massive amount of sparks to ignite in-between Frostina and Noelle.

..Whoosh!!

In the end, shockwaves reverberated violently to push both Noelle and Frostina far from each other, bewildering Noel to the point of opening his mouth in awe.

"Sis!" Noel exclaimed before sprinting carefully on the slippery ice.

Shortly after, Noelle was caught by Noel, leading Noelle to have a safer landing without clash landing into the thin ice which would have led to her doom of drowning.

"What did you do to my sister?! If I hadn't saved her, she would have drowned!" Noel bawled at Frostina, showing no respect to an adult like her.

Frostina, who showed no reaction to Noel's glare, whipped her weapon onto the ice platform, prompting the thin ice to break and scatter apart.

"What now!? Are you going to really make us drown!? I'm telling my father about this!" 

"Please do tell." Frostina taunted.

"Eek..! Do you think I won't tell him?!"

"And what will that accomplish? Fool, you'll only receive your father's disappointment."

"..!!! H-How would you know!?"

"My liege assigned you to me for reasons you should know. So do not displease him with your foolishness."

"I really don't like you at all! Hyaa!!!" 

When Noel's sentence ended, he hurtled toward Frostina with his Chakram splitted into two, and was prepared to strike down Frostina in any ways possible.

..SPLASH!!

On the left side of the ice ship and far from Frostina and the Absolute twins, Louis and clone HwanGi were fighting against their tutor, clone JoonChul.

They both were fighting in coordination and collaborating with each other to defeat their tutor.

Even though it was supposed to be weapon training, Louis was showing an intense emotion of wanting to beat some sense into clone JoonChul.

"HwanGi, now!" Louis shouted to clone HwanGi as he was dashing toward clone JoonChul.

From Louis' signal, clone HwanGi immediately sprinted at clone JoonChul with his sword aiming toward clone JoonChul's back.

And before clone JoonChul could even think about dodging, Louis ran in for a thrust toward the former's front which left no openings for him to escape from.

Eventually, Clone JoonChul chuckled inwardly. ‘It's cheating since I already know what's going to happen, considering I am Clone HwanGi too.’ 

‘But.. That doesn't matter.’

CLINK..!

Using a Naginata, a sort of Japanese weapon with a blade stuck on a stick, clone JoonChul swayed his weapon's blade side to knock clone HwanGi's sword up, which in turn pushed down Louis' trident to the ground on the stick side of the Naginata.

"..!! What..?" Naturally surprised, Louis looked in shock as he gasped.

Later on, clone JoonChul smirked right at Louis' face, knocking Louis back with the end of Naginata's stick while slashing the blade part toward clone HwanGi.

Cling! Clink!!

In the end, clone HwanGi blocked the strike as clone JoonChul continued to press down onto the former's sword.

With Louis out of the way, it was just clone JoonChul fighting himself which is clone HwanGi. ‘I feel like I'm just training myself.’

‘Louis is being clouded by the idea of hurting me instead of training.’ Clone JoonChul sighed, not even going easy on himself.

‘How annoying Louis is being.’ 

Clattering!

‘Oops. Better be careful not to cause the clone to dissolve from significant damages.’ 

..Splashing!!!

Out of the blue, the sound of water splashing because of someone running on it caught the attention of clone JoonChul as he turned to look.

Pushing aside clone HwanGi, clone JoonChul speedily blocked Louis' trident from ever striking.

From what clone JoonChul could see, Louis was trying to penetrate his trident into his target's head, but failed.

Louis was really ruffling clone JoonChul's feathers, wasn't he? 

‘Is it even training if the student isn't even listening? Killing me? Really? Screw all of this.’ Clone JoonChul scowled.

Cling!

"That's enough." Clone JoonChul, looking daunting with his glare, started to parry Louis' attack.

When Louis heard clone JoonChul talk, the former already became aware of his trident ascending into the sky after the latter flung it up with his Naginata.

From there, Louis was weaponless and was hoping for HwanGi to jump in to stop clone JoonChul from attacking further.

‘Why isn't he coming to help?!’ Louis pondered, averting his glance to clone HwanGi.

However, Louis spotted clone HwanGi standing in the background, not doing anything to go on the offense or defense.

Eventually, Louis gritted his teeth. ‘Why is HwanGi just standing there? JoonChul is about to attack me soon if I don't do anything..!’

"We're stopping our training."

"What?! Why?! Is there something wrong with our training?" Louis asked in awe.

"Yes, it's you."

"What!?"

"Seems like you're obsessed with beating me because of your rage. Does your fury run so deep that you lost your purpose of training?"

"Isn't it training if I manage to beat you and win?"

"Then that's a duel, not training. If you wanted a duel, you should have asked."

"Joo—" Louis was about to speak but was interrupted by clone JoonChul.

"This is the most important time to train. If you have enough time to be drowned in frustration, then go drown in the ocean."

"Ha?! What did you say?"

"Would you prefer to win against me, yet lose in a future battle since you learned nothing but beating the crap out of someone who angered you because that someone was too mindless of children?"

"I—"

Cut off yet again by clone JoonChul. "Such an imbecile you are. Fooling around in times like these that matters the most, this must be why you're the weakest of everyone here. Even my children would do better than you."

"JoonChul!"

"Shut it, Louis. I feel so stupid by choosing to train you when you're not even in your right mind."

"...!!!" Louis was slowly snapping.

"Have fun aimlessly raging while I tutor HwanGi. You're just a waste of time for me." 

And with that, clone JoonChul's final sentence disgruntled Louis enough for him to be clutching his hands into tight fists, imprinting his nails into his skin.

"I'm only mad because you put the children in cruel training. They're growing after all, why make them endure this and train?" Louis grumbled, staring at Mya's direction.

He continued. "Don't kids get stressed easily under pressure and more so in life-threatening situations? I'm just so angry by the fact that you keep forcing them to do dangerous things."

‘Childs should experience the youth they have in joy.. Not something like life and death..’ Louis bit his lips while remembering his deceased sister.

Quietness arose for a couple of seconds until clone JoonChul broke the silence to give Louis an advice.

"Louis, become stronger. There's nothing better than being strong to protect your loved ones. In your obsessive case, protecting the kids' lives."

"..?" Puzzled by what clone JoonChul meant, Louis stared at him with a confused expression.

"I understand that it isn't right to put literal kids in battles and training like these, but it's what's best for them. For now, I'm sorry for doing this to them. Are you relieved of your anger now, Louis?" 

"...Sorry?" Louis was dazed by clone JoonChul's words as his only response was.. "Oh.."

At that point, clone JoonChul watched as Louis took the time to think it through properly.

In the end, Louis finally regained his composure and gazed at clone JoonChul with a firm yet unsettled glance. "Let's start training again, JoonChul. I'm ready to make up for my wasted time."

"Excellent."

..CLINK!