After he said that, Byrael took a stance. With his upper body straight as a board, he widened his stance and brought his left leg forward. He then gripped the wooden sword with both hands and slowly raised it up straight over his head. Byrael conducted each movement slowly, making sure that his son saw them.
After making sure that Shi had caught all of the movements, he channeled strength into his abdomen. The strength from his abdomen quickly rose to his chest and then his shoulders before he used slashed downward. Due to the speed and force of the slash, the wind howled as if it had been cut.
After the slash had been completed, he moved his lowered arms toward his left waist and took a step forward with his right foot. Once his right foot had touched the ground, he exerted force throughout his body and swung his upper body toward the right, bringing the sword up in upward slash.
Without taking a break, he brought the shoulder up toward his right shoulder, keeping his arms straight and parallel to the ground before stepping forward with his left leg. Planting his left foot on the ground, he used the momentum to slash left, once again causing the wind to seem like it howled.
From that position, he pulled his body back toward his right foot, releasing his left hand from the sword. Bending his right elbow, he suddenly exploded forward with the wooden sword stabbing forward. After that, Byrael recovered and looked toward his son.
Even though each movement had been executed slowly so that he could see it, Shi was still six years old. The attack might seem simple enough, it took Byrael years and years to perfect them to this stage. He didn't expect much from Shi as of now, just as long as he understood the movements.
"So Shi, what do you think?"
Shi was mentally going over those movements. It seemed to him that the swordsmanship in this world was more focused on fluidness and using the body's momentum to add strength to the strikes, which impressed him. In his old world, the swordsman didn't care too much about that and just focused on crude slashes and using mana to add to their strength and speed.
'Hmm…. Even though the sword isn't my favorite of weapons, I could use this later in my forms…'
While he mused over the difference, he finished analyzing the movements and stood up.
"Dad, you mind if I try those out?"
"Sure, of course, go ahead."
As he said that, Byrael stepped aside and gave his son some space. Inside his mind, he approved of his son's actions. It was best to memorize and then try newly learned moves immediately so that you would not forget them.
While thinking so, he watched Shi as he began to get in the starting stance. As he was about to go and help adjust Shi's stance he stopped and looked in surprise. The form that had taken him years to perfect was right now imitated perfectly by his son who had only seen it once.
'…My son must have talent, to be able to analyze the stance and be able to imitate it to such perfection...'
As Byrael contemplated this, he saw Shi take a deep breath and began to focus again.
After he had released the breath, Shi's body flew into action. As he forced the strength from his abdomen to rise to his chest and shoulders, he slashed down with all his might. Even though it wasn't as ferocious as when his father had swung, a soft screech could be heard from the wind suddenly being forced to part from where the sword appeared.
Using the momentum, he brought his sword toward his left hip. Exerting power into all his muscles, he pulled his sword upwards to his right. Although the swing was slower than Byrael's, it had a mesmerizing feel to it.
After his swing has been completed, he brought his arms down toward the right portion of his body. With the arms still stretched and now parallel to the ground, he stepped forward with his left foot. Using it as a pivot, he slashed horizontally to his left shoulder.
As he released his left hand from the sword's grip, he twisted his body towards his right foot, bending his elbow. Straining his muscles, he explodes forward with a thrust. Finally relaxing after the thrust, Shi stood up and looked at his father to see how he did.
Byrael had his mouth open in shock. Even though the speed and strength weren't nearly as strong as him, each form was executed almost perfectly, albeit the transitions were a little awkward. That level of skill would be hard to find with people who have practiced less than two years, not to mention someone who did them for the first time! Is…is my son perhaps one of those mentioned geniuses?! While contemplating that, Shi brought up a question.
"Hey dad, can we spar? I would like to test these forms out in a live trial…"
"Huh? Oh, sure!"
Even though he was surprised by the sudden request, Byrael immediately accepted. Even though it is ridiculous that he would spar with someone who grabbed the sword for the first time, he was very curious about his son's battle instincts. Even though he had never seen it before, there were tales about people who had been born with instincts wired toward the battle.
They both took some space and prepared to engage. Even though he did prepare, Byrael still wouldn't go seriously. His son was still a six-year-old child still after all. Even though he might look like this right now, he wasn't a sword instructor for the Baron for no reason!
Shi, on the other hand, was very excited. He had not lifted a weapon or had any battles since he had arrived in this world. Even though he had wanted to badly pick up a weapon and train, he had refrained himself so that he would not do any harm to his growth. Even though it was just a spar, he could let his body go loose and focus on fighting. He was also curious about the strength of swordsman in this world and wanted to experience it firsthand. While getting ready, he asked his father something that he had always been curious about.
"Dad, what is your rank?"
"Ho ho, curious eh? Be proud! Your father is a wind element, Emperor Rank warrior!"
'So he's above average, eh? He's stronger than I expected. Usually, sword instructors for places that are far away from the capital are weaker. Well, that just means it's better for me!'
As he thought that, Azrael finished his preparations. Byrael, also complete, asks if his son is ready.
"You ready son?"
"Yes dad, let's begin"
With those words, Byrael rushed at him. His father was quick! Even though he had already lowered his speed for him, Shi had to put all of his focus on his father to just see him. As his father raised his wooden sword for a slash, Shi calculated the speed and trajectory before tilting his body left, dodging it by the smallest of margins. Seeing an opening, Shi then releases a counter-attack.
Byrael was shocked. For his son to have dodged the slash by that small of a margin, he had to have been able to calculate the speed and trajectory. To think of counter-attacking from that position means that he had remained calm and seized a moment of opportunity. Without even thinking about it, Byrael's body began to move on its own and did an upward slash to block the strike. Unintentionally using too much strength, Shi's sword spun out of his hand.
Afraid that he might have accidentally hurt his son, he dropped his own sword and immediately inspected him. As he meticulously inspected his son, he sighed in relief to see nothing had broke and there was no sign of an external injury. Just to be safe though, he asked Shi.
"You alright Shi? Is there anywhere that hurts?"
"Haha, I'm fine dad. My hand is a little numb from the shock of the last exchange but I will be fine."
"Whew….. I got scared there for a second. Sorry about that son. Your old pops got excited and used more strength unintentionally….."
"No, it's fine that. I'm actually glad you did so that I could understand better. Anyways, from today onward you're going to teach me right?"
While saying that, Shi beamed a smile toward him. Seeing that, Byrael chuckled.
'This boy… even trying to bribe me with such a face…. Huhu. Well, it'll be fine since I already decided I would. He has such a great feel for the weapon and great instincts, it'd be a crime to let that talent go to waste! Surely when he grows older he will surpass even me and bring our family great honor!'
While thinking that he ruffles his son's head and nods.
For the next year and a half, every morning, Shi ran ten miles. In the afternoon he received sword lessons from his father. At night, while everyone had gone to sleep, he would train his magic with his elementals secretly.
He thought that if it was found out he could do magic, he would immediately have to take the mage test and go to an academy. Even though he wanted to quickly become stronger, he also wanted to spend his time preciously with his family. Also, his elementals, particularly Samjoko, were excellent teachers and gave him pointers on how to use magic in certain ways.
During this time, his body had also grown. He was around five foot tall now and his muscles, though not large, was toned and looked sturdy. His black hair now reached down to his shoulders. While he was running every morning or doing errands, he noticed that some of the younger females were beginning to look at him with interesting glazes.
Currently, the Celeste family was out on a picnic. Once the twins had grown up a little more, the family had started to do a picnic by the lake every week during the springtime. The family was currently enjoying the beautiful weather. As the shone brightly over them and a nice cool breeze surrounded them, the twins were running around and excitedly chasing after each other. Byrael, Azela, and Azrael were sitting on the blanket that they had brought out and watched the two with warm eyes.
After watching them for a while, Byrael turned his gaze to his oldest son, Shi. During the past year and a half, Shi had quickly improved his swordsmanship and had just recently reached the Knight rank for warriors. Even though it is true that you improve the most at the beginning, the speed at which Shi had improved was astronomical. It usually took five years of training for people to be able to gain enough strength, speed, and experience to reach that level but Shi had only taken a year and a half. He was now able to freely use control of his mana and spread it to portions of his body to increase their strength and speed. When he had asked Shi what elementals he had, his son played it off. Thinking it wasn't that important himself, for now, Byrael let it go and continued training him.
Even though he himself had made a good name for himself throughout the NIfl Kingdom, they were still just a regular family. As Shi grew older, he would surely become even stronger and might be able to bring their family into the ranks of lower nobility. As Byrael thought of this, his chest filled with pride of his son.
Shi, who had been busy watching his little siblings, felt a gaze and turned to his see his father looking at him. Once Byrael noticed, he just smiled at his son which made Shi also smile back.
'Ahhh… to think that I would be able to grow up in such a loving family, it really is nice. I hope that our family can keep going like this forever…'
While Shi hoped for this from the bottom of his heart, fate suddenly decided to play its joke.
Suddenly, from the town, a loud horn blew three times. Hearing this, Byrael's face paled and immediately ran over to the twins to pick them up and bring them back. Hearing the sudden horn and their dad picking them up, the twins had confused faces, wondering what was happening.
Shortly after, rustles started coming from the north inside the forest. Soon afterward, multiple figures started popping out into the clearing of the lake. In total, ten figures stood out. Shi, seeing the sudden figures, immediately went on his guard.
Nine of those figures wore metal armor with a sword on their hips. Seeing the design of the armor and the insignia of the sword on their chest, he immediately figured out who they were: Soldiers of the Raxim Kingdom. It was most likely a small raiding party. The last figure was covered in a cloak and had a staff in his right hand: A mage. Azrael guessed that they were just a small part of a larger raiding force as kingdoms usually sent out at a minimum a hundred Soldiers to raid a town in another countries' borders.
By inspecting them, Azrael could tell that the warriors were only in the Knight or King rank. He, however, could not tell what rank the mage was. Even though warriors were physically more gifted, mages were always the most dangerous force in a group as they could use spells that did more damage and had a larger range against groups. Even though Byrael was a higher rank than the warriors and should be able to take care of them himself usually, it was a different story with the mage there.
Seeing the group, Byrael gritted his teeth. It would be much more dangerous as he couldn't do anything too hasty and risk the danger of his family. Without turning his head, he let the twins down and spoke to Shi.
"Son, watch over the twins and your mother. Even though they're weaker than me they have the advantage in numbers and might try to attack you all to distract me."
"Yes, dad. Don't worry about us and just take care of them. We have to go home for dinner soon, don't we?"
Fully understanding his dad's intent, Shi agreed and even threw in his own form of encouragement to his father. Hearing that, Byrael couldn't help but put a smile on his face. Slowly drawing his sword out, without a single word, he charged.
The speed at which he ran was incomparable to a year and a half ago when he sparred with his son for the first time. Now using mana and his full strength, he flew at them like a tempest. The Soldiers, seeing the sudden action, became alert and hastily pulled their swords out the scabbard. Not hesitating at all, Byrael rushed into their group and attacked mercilessly.
Surprised at the tenacity, the Soldiers desperately fought back. Even though they had the advantage in number, their opponent was someone that had a higher rank than them. Defending themselves was all they could do.
"Sh…Shit! This guy is strong!"
"Why is such a strong person out here in the boondocks?!"
In between the enemy, Byrael seemed like he was everywhere as he quickly rushed between them and slashed. Byrael was a peak wind element Emperor warrior. He was a warrior who prided himself in his speed and used wind magic to assist him further. His advantage, however, didn't last long as the mage finally came into play.
"…and bury the foe who dares to challenge you. Entrench!!"
As the mage finally finished his incantation, the ground around Byrael suddenly opened. Surprised at the sudden change in the ground, he didn't have enough time to evade it. When his legs fell in, the ground quickly shut itself, with his legs now stuck. The Soldiers, at the sight of this, cheered and attacked with vigor. Even though his legs were caught and he didn't have time to remove them, Byrael fought like a mad man and held the nine off for a while. Slowly, however, the Soldiers started to find openings in his defense and attack.
Byrael slowly started to tire as wounds opened up all over his body.
'Haa…. I guess this is the end for me. I'm just not strong enough eh? I need to make sure that the rest of my family runs though…'
While he thought that and was about to turn toward his family, he suddenly heard a large wail of anguish and a huge burst of mana.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Everyone who had been fighting stopped due to sudden noise and intense mana burst. Slowly turning around, they saw dense pure silver mana erupting from the child who had stayed back. Seeing the child, everyone, even Byrael, started to shiver as if their bodies had become afraid. The child looked at the Soldier with a hollow expression and quietly as if the grim reaper was whispering to them, says one word.
"Die"