Volume 1 Chapter 4: Part 1: Fight to the death

 

"Keep moving around! Analyze your surroundings and use them to your advantage!" Vargar shouts out at a charging Onyx.

 

I know! Onyx swings his sword to the ground, causing it to crack and debris to fly up into the air. 

 

He swings his sword at the debris, turning them into bullets rushing towards Vargar. But Vargar side steps away from the bullet path. But that's what Onyx wanted! He takes advantage of his movement and swings his sword at his legs!

 

"Heh." Instead of blocking Onyx's sword, Vargar swings his sword against his, causing the two blades to clash! The two's clash caused a small shockwave!

 

Onyx got pushed back from the wave. He had no time to think about his next move as Vargar's sword came slicing at his eyes!

 

"Damn!" Onyx's curses. He's being pushed back more and more. That gave an opening. Vargar pounces the moment Onyx has one of his feet off the ground.

 

Tripping, Onyx falls to the ground leaving himself wide open. Placing the sword onto his throat, Vargar smiles, "Do you give up?"

 

Onyx sighs, "I give." 

 

"Good." Vargar extends his hand, and Onyx takes it, "What does this loss make it? The 124th?"

 

"....135." Onyx grits his teeth and shouts in frustration, "Why can't I win even once!" Every time Onyx thought he got the edge over Vargar, the man would pull out a trump card and reverse the entire situation. 

 

"Do you really think you can beat me, who has years of experience? While you, who only trained for a few weeks? Don't get cocky, brat." Vargar smacks Onyx's head with his scabbard. 

 

I will hang up my sword and quit being your teacher if I lose to you! How could Vargar be beaten by a newbie? But Vargar adds, 

 

"But you improved a lot. A few weeks ago, you would have dropped to the ground in a minute." It has been a few weeks after Vargar and Onyx's first lesson. Every time they had a training session, Onyx and Vargar would spar against each other.

 

And every single time they spar, Onyx would get his ass beat down by Vargar! 

 

The number of bruises and cuts Onyx had each time they finished was too many to count. It got to the point where the knights training on the same ground were unfazed by the bruised-up Onyx. 

 

"Why don't you use magic? If you use magic, it'll give you a bigger chance to beat me. Don't you see that over there?" Vargar's finger points at the side. Giant explosions are occurring near an outpost. 

 

"Irene! Don't aim at the wall again! Aim at the sky! The sky! SKY!" Everybody can hear the tearful voice of Walter as he shouts at Irene. The next second, Onyx can see the castle walls being destroyed again. 

 

Not again. That was a regular occurrence as well. Onyx can already imagine the scolding she'll get from the maids. 

 

"Anyways," Vargar ignores Walter's wailing and tells Onyx, "If you use magic, it'll be easier."

 

"I can't use any attack magic."

 

"Huh? What do you mean?" Vargar looks at Onyx strangely. 

 

"The only magic that I know is mana ball, and that's it." After a few weeks, the only magic he knows is still mana ball. Bron continued to teach him about knowledge and history rather than magic.

 

"..." Vargar stays silent when he hears that. 

 

"Hmm? What's wrong, teacher?" Onyx doesn't know what kind of emotions Vargar has on his face. It was just blank. 

 

Vargar snaps out of his trance and waves at Onyx, "No, it's nothing. Actually, using magic would be bad for your physical training. If you consistently rely on mana, it'll cause a detriment instead." 

 

Onyx nods to that. His thoughts were the same as Vargar's. 

 

"Alright, let's go back to training." Vargar raises his sword into the air, and Onyx responds the same. 

 

"Let's go!" Onyx won't be satisfied until he lands a clean hit on Vargar!

...

"So why did you call me out here?" At the end of the training, Vargar called Walter to their office. 

 

"I'm going to be taking Onyx on a trip in a few days. So tell Bron that he doesn't need to worry about teaching Onyx." Vargar says this, not caring about Walter's mouth turning wide. 

 

"Huh?! When did you decide this?!" Walter had never heard about this in the past few days. 

 

"A few hours ago." Vargar doesn't look at him As he continues to sip on his tea while working. 

 

"..." Walter doesn't know how to respond to that, but he asks, "How long will the trip be?"

 

"The shortest will be about a week."

 

"What am I going to do about the paperwork then?!" Around 70 percent of the paperwork was done by Vargar himself. How would he be able to do the paperwork for a whole week!

 

"I don't know. Figure that out by yourself. You're the king."

 

Tears swell up in Walter's eyes when he hears that statement. But then he asks him, "Where are you going to take Onyx? Depending on the location, I won't allow it."

 

"Relax, I'm taking him to Starfall mountain to hunt wyverns."

 

"Wyverns?!"

 

Vargar nods, "We've received reports there's a large number of wyverns there. So this is hitting two birds with one stone."

 

"I'm not thinking about efficiency. Will Onyx be able to take down wyverns?" From what he can remember about them, wyverns are hard to deal with. 

 

Vargar has an annoyed expression, "My disciple will be able to handle something as simple as wyverns. Worry about your natural disaster."

 

Walter's body slams down onto the table, wanting to cry even more, "It's not my fault that she's eager to use her powers."

 

Vargar snickers, "Don't lie. You're curious about what she can do." Walter could stop Irene from shooting her magic even before she fires it off. But Vargar knows his friend's character.

 

The reason why Walter didn't stop Irene was that he was excited about what she could do. It's in the last few seconds where he realizes he messed up. 

 

And Vargar realizes something else, "She's the spitting image of you when you were young."

 

"....I wasn't that bad."

 

"No, you were worse. You caused a lot of trouble for the two of us." Vargar shakes his head, remembering the past. But then he says, 

 

"Anyways, I finished my paperwork. You do the rest." Vargar neatly places his paperwork to the side and leaves the pale Walter. 

 

"........NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Walter screams out in despair. 

...

"We really don't need to take anything with us?" Onyx has a weird expression as he asks Vargar. 

 

Right now, He and Vargar are at the royal capital's gates. Vargar had told him about going out to train. Onyx was on board with it. However, what they are bringing with them looks like the opposite. 

 

The thing Vargar told him to bring was nothing. 

 

"We'll be going through a town before we go to the mountains. So we can buy our equipment on our way there." Hearing that, Onyx nods. 

 

"Now, let's go." Onyx and Vargar walk past the guards and out of the royal capital. 

 

"The first town we'll be going to is an hour away if we run there."

 

"Wait, an hour?" Onyx looks at him confusingly, "Isn't it 4 hours by foot?" He was taught the geology of the Espoir Kingdom during his secession with Bron.

 

So did Bron tell him the wrong information or something?

 

"It does take 4 hours to get to the next town. However, that's for ordinary people. If we use our full speed, it will take us an hour to get there." 

 

"Oh yeah." Their bodies are stronger and faster than ordinary people.

 

"Then let's get going now." Like that, the two dashed out of the capital. They pass through carriages and everything around. To the people around them, they saw two blurs rushing past them. 

 

While for them, everything was going in a fast motion. As Vargar said, it only took them an hour to get to the next town. 

 

"We're here. Let's- are you ok?" Vargar looks over to see Onyx holding onto his knees. 

 

"I just feel a little sick." Running so fast and seeing his surroundings moving in blurs was too much for him. 

 

"Oh yeah, I forgot this is your first time moving so quickly. That happened to me as well when I did it the first time. You'll get used to it if you continue to go that fast." Vargar pats Onyx on the back, "Take some breaths, and you'll be fine in a few minutes."

 

"I understand." Onyx takes deep breaths as he follows Vargar into the town. The town was different from the royal capital. Even though the buildings were smaller and less luxurious, stalls were set up, selling things. 

 

It reminded Onyx of his village. 

 

"Let's get some general items first." The first place Vargar leads Onyx to is the general store. 

 

"Welcome to-" Before the shopkeeper can finish her sentence, her voice begins to stutter as she goes silent. She only stares at the two.

 

"We'll be looking around." Vargar ignores the shopkeeper's dazed expression and looks around the store.  

 

"For a second, I thought she figured out who you are, teacher." Onyx chuckles. 

 

Vargar doesn't have his sparkling silver hair and amethyst eyes. Instead, he has light brown hair and sapphire blue eyes. He had used a magic item to change the color of his hair and eyes. 

 

"I don't usually show my face like Walter. So not many people will know how I look. They just know me for the color of my eyes and ear. But my face is....yeah." Even if nobody knows what Vargar looks like, it doesn't change that he's handsome. 

 

Handsome to the point that many girls would turn around and stare at him blatantly. 

 

"Anyways, I'll teach you about some items you will need as you go out in the wild." Vargar points out a water sack, a small pan, and bandages. 

 

"For now, these will be the only things we'll bring. Remember to take only the necessary. You also have to note that taking too many items will slow you down."

 

After telling him some things, the two came out of the store. Each one wore a backpack. 

 

"Alright, now that we got our camping equipment, we'll go to the blacksmiths. It's not that far from here." Vargar and Onyx only had to walk a couple of blocks to get to the blacksmith shop. When the two walk in, they can smell the hint of iron throughout the store.

 

The sounds of hammering resound throughout the shop. 

 

"What can I get for you?" A tall and bulky man asks them from the counter. 

 

"We need to get a couple of swords and some armor."

 

"Are you guys going out for a hunt?"

 

"Mmmhmm, we'll be hunting some wyverns. For the armor, leather or steel would be preferable."

 

"I got 2 sets of leather armor over there for 12 silvers each. They're made from rock lizard hides. They can withstand the attacks of wyverns, and they're lighter than steel. For the swords, we have a bunch of swords over there. Just pick the one you need."

 

Vargar doesn't need to think as he takes a regular long sword from the rack. Onyx, on the other hand, was thinking about this hard. 

 

Should I go with two short swords for speed, or should I go with a heavy sword? It only takes a few minutes, but Onyx decides with the two short swords. 

 

With the items I have right now, I should focus on using lighter weapons.

 

"Onyx, go try on the armor. He'll help you adjust the armor." Vargar tosses the leather armor to him. The armor was built to block most of the vital positions on his body. 

 

After coming out of the dressing room, Vargar asks him, 

 

"Is it alright?"

 

"Mmhmm, I don't need any adjustments." 

 

"Good." Vargar gives the man the money, and the two leave the town after that. 

 

"We'll be on the road after this." After getting their equipment and supplies, there isn't a need to go into another town. 

 

"Understood. How long will it take for us to get to Starfall mountain?" 

 

"Hmm, we'll be taking the normal way. So about two days. So let's start walking now." As they walk, Onyx asks him, 

 

"If we go at full speed, can't we get there faster?" Onyx realizes why Vargar wanted to walk was due to before. 

 

"You're right. We can get to Starfall mountain if we run at full speed. But we'll be missing out on a lot of things around us. Take notice of your surroundings more. It'll build up your awareness." 

 

When Onyx hears that, he nods and continues to follow Vargar. The more they walk, the deeper they go into the forest region. Onyx continues to survey the surroundings, analyzing everything he sees. 

 

But then Vargar raises his hand, making Onyx stop. 

 

Enemies? 

 

Mmhmm.

 

Vargar and Onyx didn't say anything. But from the facial expressions they gave to each other, the two knew what the other was saying. 

 

Following Vargar, Onyx walks silently through the brushes. What they saw was a group of fang boars. There are more than 15 of them there. 

 

"Onyx, go deal with the fang boars. It'll be good practice for you, and we'll get our dinner too!" 

 

"Yes, sir." Onyx nods and walks out of the brushes and towards the fang boars. When he did, all the fang boars locked onto him.

 

They saw a threat. 

 

"Huff! Huff!" The fang boars begin to huff in and out deeply. They stomped on the ground, ready to charge toward Onyx. 

 

However, Onyx wasn't fazed by them at all. Instead, he unsheathes the two swords and gets ready to fight. 

 

One of the fang boars quickly charges towards Onyx, wanting to take his head off! But when he got to Onyx, the man wasn't there!

 

"Too slow." Above. Onyx had jumped up and was above the fang boar. Before it can even react, Onyx slices down at the fang boar's neck!

 

It was a clean kill. The beast didn't even have time to squeal. What's left is the fang boar cut into two. 

 

I've grown stronger. That's the thought in Onyx's mind. Remembering the tall monster facing the knights before, he thought they were powerful. But now, he was much stronger than them. 

 

He isn't afraid anymore. 

 

Onyx looks at the rest of the fang boars. His eyes glimmered. 

 

They look like a bunch of prey in his eyes. In the next second, Onyx disappears from his position. 

 

He charges at them without a care in the world.