After the pretty nurse had informed her superiors, the superiors informed the Knights.
"Do you feel alright? Do you remember your name? How about your parents?" The nurse questioned the boy who lay there, staring at her, his eyes lifeless and empty, telling the nurse all she had to know. "Poor thing, he's suffered so much. I hope he recovers soon." The nurse was interrupted mid-thought since she heard the door slide open.
"Is he really awake?" A bald man barged into the room questioning before his eyes met anyone else's. The bald man took a second and proceeded to question the boy, "What's your name?" He received no answer, just an empty look. After a few minutes, it was clear he wasn't going to speak up, and that's when the magic knight commander walked in. He ordered everyone to leave the room, and then the grand magus walked in.
They asked questions but received no answers, so the grand magus resorted to peering into his memories. Performing the magic chant in a little less than 5 seconds, the great magus infiltrated Koku's mind, but this was not what he was expecting.
"What in the world?" The great magus said, seeing it as it was—nothing. An empty and endless space. He couldn't even see his own body, let alone his hand. But then very vaguely, he felt something breathing down his neck. The great magus, turning around inside Koku's mind, met a pair of shiny black eyes. Seeing this, the magus felt shivers vibrate throughout his whole body as he lay frozen in fear. Again, he felt something behind him.
Not being able to turn around this time, his eyes still fixed on the creature that was in front of him. The creature slowly stood up on both legs. It must've been 12 feet tall, the magus thought, as this thing began moving its arm up into the air. The freakish monster, covered in this coat of dark purple pelt stained in blood, slashed downwards. "What is this boy?" The magus said just as he was slashed in his mind. This didn't kill him; it merely pushed him out of Koku's mind.
Upon being forced out of Koku's mind, the magus was a little pale, and for a moment, he didn't say anything. But then spoke up, "It's best if we get rid of him; he's too dangerous or mysterious." The magus stated and then went on to say what he saw in there, but this only piqued the interest of the magic knight commander. "With this kid's help, I just might have a spot amongst the 7 great commanders," the magic knight commander thought to himself as he turned down the idea and instead presented the idea to train him and make him into a weapon.
The magus wasn't for it but wasn't against it either. "I must go; I have things to tend to at…" Saying this, the magus left, and the magic knight, seeing Koku's lifeless eyes, knew that he'd be his puppet. A big grin formed on his face. "With this weapon, which of the great commanders will I strip of that title? Infantry, archer, cavalry, magic, defense, assassins, or maybe the highest authority, grandmaster?" The man had this messed-up smile and quickly changed back to normal.
A month after that, they had managed to get Koku off the bed and do some work. He helped around in the hospital, and as one might wonder, he was devouring information endlessly. Not having his emotions in the way, he had no need for being lazy or had excuses, and just after 2 more weeks, Koku was as informed as the head doctor and nurse, but the knights had no intention of leaving him there, since they wanted to make sure he was back to full health before they started having their way with him.
So after those 2 weeks, the knights arrived and simply took him. He went willingly, and from this point on, he'd start to train, but not train in the usual way. He'd only be observing the magic knights train. He'd read on their jobs, reports, both old and new; he'd even, on his own time, try to improve his abilities with a small wooden sword.
The knights often saw him train and slowly get much better at wielding the sword… even if it's a small wooden one. Something they all noticed was his very sharp reflexes and movements, that and the fact he never made an excuse. This was amazing for a kid. Something to note is that the knights were trying to get him ready for something.
Speaking as the few watched Koku do his training, two knights spoke to one another, "Do you think he'll be ready for the entrance exams?" "Eh? Maybe… The problem is he has 6 months for that, that and having to get him ready." Another knight joined in on the conversation and had something to also say.
"You know, I hear the kid's knowledge is on par with the best doctors and nurses of the city, and only after a month... In other words, if it's books, that won't be a problem. So how about we start teaching him how to really fight?" This was suggested by a knight called Sabito. All three knights just watched as Koku continued to train for hours on end.
After 3 hours, two of the knights had left. Sabito was the only one there, and to his surprise, Koku had learned the proper footwork. "So he wasn't just swinging that wood sword; he was working on the footwork, and since his body is small and weaker, he needed weight added to keep him on balance; he'll be interesting." With that, Sabito began walking away.
A week after this, Sabito took the chance to stay away from deployment, and so that he could teach Koku a few skills. After looking around for a few hours, he was about to give up for the day, but just then he had seen someone with light grey hair walk towards the woods. "Hmm? Maybe…" Sabito took no chances and followed the person and after following him for a while, he was able to confirm that it was Koku.
"What's he doing in the woods?" Sabito wondered; wanting to amuse his curiosity, he didn't show himself, but instead, he watched from afar as Koku began running, swerving, and maneuvering through the woods. "Hmm," Sabito was aware of what he was doing, "Training. I should maybe…" Sabito took this moment to strike something up with Koku, and as Koku ran past a tree, he felt a deathly aura.
It was more than enough to catch his attention; his body stopped moving, and he faced the direction of the aura. Koku was seeing a man slowly approach him; his armor was light brown and didn't have much of it, the man's eyes looked light brown too. "He's not scared, but his body is in shock," Sabito thought to himself.
Walking closer and closer, the man smiled, and Koku wondered why his body froze up after seeing the man. A few seconds later, the guy must've been standing 15 feet away and still walking, but at that moment something happened. Slowly a purple aura seeped out of Koku's body. It wasn't very much, but upon seeing it, Sabito felt on edge, so he stopped walking closer.
This aura began wrapping itself around Koku's arms. The aura coated Koku's body as well, but with very little aura. Sabito seeing this was confused, "This looks like mana coat, and it's on his arms, is he using mana coat at a condensed point to create a weapon?" Sabito was impressed as he thought Koku was doing this on purpose.
That, however, couldn't be farther from the truth. Sabito took a risky chance and pulled out his sword and swung it at Koku, making sure only the non-sharp side of the sword hit so he wouldn't hurt him lethally. Upon hitting him with very minimal effort, he noticed Koku's arm move towards his stomach.
Sabito parried what might've been a lethal attack if he didn't block it. "That's quite the attack there kid; how about I teach you something." After saying this, Sabito kicked Koku on the side of his ribcage. After being hit Koku just stood up ready for another hit.
Sabito looked in awe wondering how this kid's endurance was high, "Let's play a little more kid," saying this Sabito went on the offensive, never once showing him his full strength. Hit after hit, Koku stood up, and after a while, Sabito sighed and walked over to the kid telling him to come back tomorrow for more.
Koku seemed to not care about his pain and just looked at Sabito with a cold dead expression, and Sabito got close and placed his hand over Koku's head; he began patting him and saying things like, "You held up well, so go rest and come back tomorrow." Just as he was about to walk away, Sabito realized that Koku's arm was positioned against his armor, specifically over his liver.
"Wha- I couldn't sense that…" after a moment of speaking in his head, Sabito burst out into laughter, "Kid, you got me good; I didn't notice that. Looks like you have an infinity for stealth." After this happened, Koku's aura faded away, and he went back to the knight's headquarters. After getting there, he went straight for the bathing room and then to the bedroom.
After the next morning arrived, Koku got up as per usual and had breakfast. After eating, he went to the forest where he met Sabito, who was waiting, rested up against a tree. "You're here sooner than I expected." Koku began walking away as to do other things, and Sabito wasn't expecting that either.
"Wait, dammit, I was kidding, come back!" Tripping over a root that was poking out of the ground, Sabito fell and landed on his face. Sabito sighed, and a few seconds after, he began saying something, "Why was that there?" Hearing his pleas, Koku turned around, walked towards him, and simply sat down after a minute. Looking at Sabito, who just sat up, Koku awaited his instructions.
"Ahem, so uhhh, do uhhhh," Sabito was confused and didn't know what to do, as he had never taught anyone let alone had a student. "SO WE'LL DO THE SAME AS YESTERDAY," after abruptly yelling this out, Koku stood up and assumed the knight's fighting pose.
Sabito smiled and took a moment to study the situation. Since Koku had no weapon and this was their first training session, he decided to start with the basics of unarmed combat. He began by teaching Koku the foundational footwork and stances even though he already knew quite a bit of this. Sabito, however, wanted to focus on maintaining balance and mobility.
Next, Sabito introduced simple striking and blocking techniques, using only their hands and arms to demonstrate. They practiced these moves slowly, ensuring that Koku understood how each movement was important in hand-to-hand combat.
After the training progressed quite a bit, Sabito taught Koku basic defensive maneuvers the very next day. Instructing him on how to dodge and evade attacks effectively. They practiced these defensive actions, gradually increasing the intensity to simulate real combat scenarios as best they could.
Throughout the training, Sabito remained patient and provided clear instructions, though he wasn't really sure if he was training him the right way he still encouraged Koku to stay focused and attentive to the movements. Despite Koku's lack of emotions, his determination to learn was there, and because of his lack of emotions, he had an unwavering concentration.
As the training ended for that day, Koku had returned to the knight's headquarters knowing much much more about unarmed close combat.
Sabito knew that Koku had to grow strong as fast as he could. Not to be a weapon for others to use but for something else, something he couldn't yet describe, but nevertheless, he was confident that with continued training, Koku would become a strong person.