๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐๐ 8: ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ 2
The sole foot of his attacker sends him crashing on his back.
Anthony rolled to a crouching position, tightening his grip around his sword more.
He takes in a long deep breath as Senior Kiraya had instructed. He focused on his surroundings trying to predict the next attack.
Finally, Senior Kiraya springs from the trees above bearing down on Anthony. "Kekekeke!" He laughs out.
Anthony senses it in time, he swung his sword high to block the attack. Senior Kiraya sees this and with ease maneuvers himself in mid air, redirecting his attack and planting a kick on Anthony's shoulder. This makes him loose his footing and stamina, causing him to fall to his face.
Anthony grunted as he forced himself to sit on the floor in a sprawling position. The results all the same, he kept on failing everyday without blocking any of Senior Kiraya's attacks, he was certainly trying his best, but nothing seemed to work.
"Anthony K, you don't seem to be getting it," Senior Kiraya stood by him. "Your breathing is all wrong."
"I don't understand," Anthony spouted, "This Aura I can't really feel it, I don't know what to feel."
"Aura is the life force in every living being it is everywhere," Senior Kiraya explains, "when you hold a deep breath and feel for it , you'll sense the thinnest form of Aura, the more you try the more the form of Aura would increase."
" The Aura force in the air increases our strength and speed, it increases our vibe and gives us special forces. When you huff out, you will release a foreign energy... Like so."
Senior Kiraya held out his sword for Anthony to examine. The sword caught ablaze with dark foreign energy.
"Whoa," Anthony says under a surprised face. The stunning view of the dark enigmatic energy surrounding the sword gave him goose bumps.
"Hehehe, you want to see what I can do with this?" With one swing of Senior Kiraya's sword, a great scores of trees were fell by a dark crescent beam.
Senior Kiraya turned his gaze to Anthony who looked stunned by his power. "You want to know how to do that kid?"
Anthony nods distinctively, "yes Senior."
Senior Kiraya cackles loudly. "Get on your feet boy, let's focus on your Aura sensory."
Anthony obeys instantly. He stood awaiting his next instruction.
"Widen your stance!"
Anthony widened his legs holding the hilt of his sword with both hands pointing the blade down at the ground.
"Now breath in and hold the air in," Senior Kiraya's voice was stern, "shut your eyes for better concentration."
Anthony did so. He held his breath and searched for any foreign energy he could. There was nothing but silence and warm summer breeze.
"Use your own Aura to attract the Aura from your surroundings." He heard Senior Kiraya say.
Anthony manifested the heat in his body, in hopes it would work. He suddenly felt it, the thin energy surrounding him. Anthony opened up his eyes slightly as he heard Senior Kiraya gasp.
He wielded his eyes to open a little bit more and was jolted to see his sword giving out dark sparks of flame.
Excited he exhaled, and almost immediately his sword caught a large fire for a second before going off. "I did it, I summoned A..."
Before he could complete, he received a slap on his cheek which made it redden in pain. "Anthony K, you lost concentration!" Senior Kiraya barked out.
Anthony clenched his cheek tightly, "sorry Senior... I got carried away."
Senior Kiraya cackled, "getting carried away would cause you body parts."
Anthony recalled Vindacurve saying the same... Senior Kiraya was a weird and joyous character. Was this how he kept himself from being perplexed of his losses? And was this why Vindacurve had assigned him to the Senior?
Anthony widened his stance holding in a deep breath, he focused on the life force around him. As he did this there came a sudden drought in his chest, his heart throbbed and his legs began to rattle.
He whizzed out the air abruptly dropping to the ground and falling to his knees. "I...can't."
Senior Kiraya taps him on his back calling his attention. He hands Anthony a note and turns to leave almost immediately.
"When you have accomplished every task on that list I will be in the cottage," Senior Kiraya spoke lastly before leaping into the trees and further disappearing.
Anthony took a long detailed glance of the note. He gulped, 'you need to widen your Aura core, to reduce the occurrence of Aura drought. The longer you can hold your breath the more Aura you can manifest, so this is what you should do.'
Anthony dug his head into the stream with a huge splash of water, he held his breath the best he could.
He withdrawed his head after nine minutes breathing heavily. He took off his cloth for this trainings since it involved him getting wet, sweaty and dirty. It wasn't good enough, he needed to do this for more than fifteen according to the task list.
He takes a longer breath and after dug his head into the stream water again.
'You must expand your lungs to take in more air a use up less air, this would help you for situations when you fight a short ranged battle."
Anthony pushed himself up again before falling flat to the ground, three hundred push ups, he needed a thousand. "This trainings are difficult." He grunted.
"You will also need a strong physique, muscles to support rigid movements."
Anthony jogged the forest over the hundredth time, at least he could do this one right. But what came after was intricate and agonizing. He was to strech his body to it's limits.
Anthony was in a split position, "ahhh!" He screamed out as the muscle pulls from jogging being stretched out felt hurt like hell. "Grraahh!" He shrieked in pain.
'When you can achieve your flexibility and all this you can actually finally start training.'
Anthony mouth fell, his face filled with frustration, "start training!" He yelled out. "After all this... Ahhh!"
Sixteen minutes! Anthony withdraws his head from the stream breathing heavily, eyes and face pale with strands of hair we're all over. "Yes!" He exclaimed.
One thousand three hundred! Anthony jumped to his feet flaunting his newly gained muscles to himself. "Finally! I completed the training... Now where is Senior Kiraya?" Ever since he received Senior Kiraya's note six days ago, he never felt his presence being close. Sometimes he even thought Senior Kiraya abandoned him, which sounded absurd to him anytime the thought crossed his mind.
"Anthony k!" He turned his gaze to Senior Kiraya waving to him from afar. "I watched you complete your tasks! You did great!"
Anthony smiled widely, "thanks Senior."
"Please come over! I have something to give you."
Anthony rushed over to Senior Kiraya. "Senior," he said after stopping before him.
Senior Kiraya hands over another note to Anthony, "this is the sheet for Aura training."
"What!" Anthony glowered at the fact the training tasks he just completed was nothing.
"Yeah!" Senior Kiraya yelled happily, "that was just the preparation for training... This the real deal." Anthony's heart palpitated.
"To be the greatest you have to stop complaints, take double of every training and maybe some day you would have a great enough power to take on a Monster rank." Senior Kiraya adviced.
He was right, Anthony needed to be enthusiastic about this trainings if he really wanted to defeat Undomno.
"OK! OK! OK! Let's train!" Anthony yelled energetically, a smile formed on his face for some reason, he felt just like-Kiraya.
Senior Kiraya pulls the note from Anthony's clench and tore it. "He saw Anthony's look, confused and shocked to have seen him do that. "Seeing how committed you are! I have decided! To teach you myself!" Senior Kiraya fervently said, "thank you for motivating me Anthony k."
"Yes Senior."
...
Anthony did his stance holding his sword with both hands, it's blade pointing up. He took in a deep breath and held it, he search for the Aura in his surroundings.
This time it was much easier as he sensed a handful of Aura freely flowing in the environment, he manipulated them attracted them to himself.
"Open your eyes!" Senior Kiraya commanded.
Anthony's eyes shut open to see his sword set ablaze with a thick dark red luminous flame.
"Yeah!" Anthony exclaimed quickly turning around and swinging his sword for a tree, his sword sends a crescent beam flying towards it.
The tree split in half, the top tumbling down to the ground with a loud cracking sound.
"I got it!"
Senior Kiraya clasped Anthony's shoulder, "you have reached great feat in such little amount of time." Senior Kiraya's tone sounded proud. "Thank you for being my student."
Now Anthony finally understood Senior Kiraya's mentality, the reason why he always had a jovial attitude. He tended to be appreciative of all he had, he assumed they were more than his reason to be alive, as a reason to fight.
"Thank you for being a greater teacher," Anthony bowed in respect.
"We will still need to work on your Aura speed and strength," Senior Kiraya said. "But you have earned rest for the rest of the day."
Anthony chuckled. His face turned frustrated suddenly, "darn I am hungry... I need real food in my body, not the tiny fruits you left for me during the last few days."
Senior Kiraya grinned widely, "actually, that was why I left you alone for those days, to renew our rations."
"How would you forget rations?!" Anthony barked out perplexed. "You are supposed to be packed with food, we all know that... How could you run out then!?"
Senior Kiraya cackled, "I guess I just have a large appetite."
...
Horinata walks though the forest with her bag of woods on her back. She took a glimpse of the moon shining high in the sky, she was late.
It was half past midnight and her mother wouldn't approve tardiness. Early this morning she had left to sell their farm produce and get wood, she was delayed by a customer who asked for her help watching her son for a while, the woman pleaded with her saying 'she won't take long,' she took more than long, she took the whole day to come back to pick her son. "Shity liar!" She insults resenting the woman's actions, "what am I a babysitter!" She spouted.
Now she had to walk alone in the dark forest deep In thought of what her mother would do to her when she would get home.
Avoiding coming even more tardy she took the shortest route disobeying her mother again. Her boots made a crunching sound as she marched onto the charred leafs and ashes.
The part of the woods that were burnt during the time the dicksons disappeared. Anthony, she thought within as she came up to the veiw of what remained of his house.
Though they didn't regularly appear in the village, the news of their disappearance spreaded faster than the flames that night. Some said they fled from their home since they were criminals hiding secluded, setting all the forest around and their house on fire to burn all proof. Some said they wanted the village to suffer setting a fire in the forest and running away. Last and strangely was the old timer who said it was demons, which everyone knew they didn't exist. But none of that checked since their graves were seen and checked accountable.
Crack!
Horinata turned sharply gasping in shock. A strange figure standing in the debris of the Dickson's house.
Horinata attempts to run but her anxiety got the better of her. She swiftly and silently paced to a dead dried tree for cover peeking on the enigmatic figure. From what she analysed, it was a man, no shirt on, pink coloured hair, muscular and standing perfectly still... Maybe it was her imagination? She had always been told to harbour an overreactive imagination.
She hesitates stepping and breaking a twig. She gasped shocked as the mans head sharply titled towards her. Her heart palpitated, she took cover behind the tree, in hopes she hadn't been found.
"Cursed twig!" She yelled within her. Her heart and body went cold, she had a sense of foreboding and wanted to run with all her might back home. "Damn anxiety! I better..." She senses the approach of the figure.
Her heart began to thump hard on her chest as she chanted panic stricken "please don't come... Don't come any closer... Oh no...no...no...what was I thinking." She whispered shutting her eyes tightly hoping it would all go away, but the footsteps continued to approach her even more faster.
"No!" Her eyes popped open as the footsteps came to a stop, she sees a chameleon sticking to the tree she hid behind, it huge eyes pairing with hers, it had beautiful pink iris that warmed her heart a little. "...beautiful."
Suddenly the chameleon exploded with pink ooze flying everywhere. Jolted, Horinata recedes but not fast enough. The pink ooze splashed on her face immediately giving pink wisps of smoke that melted her face off slowly "Ahhhh!" She shrieked in pain, wrapping her palms around her face.
"Help!" She screamed out first, "Help!!!" The second scream echoed the forest. She struggled in the agony shaking, crying incessantly, screaming uncontrollably until it finally became dormant.
She loosened her grip on her face, the burnt flesh giving an awful smell, her beautiful face melted and charred badly. She opened her eyes slowly but only her left eye answered the call to see again. "Ahhhh!!!" She screamed crying even more shocked to have lost an eye, the high pitched scream affected even her ears and hopefully someone else's.
"So annoying."
Horinata froze, catching view of the man pale face and horns, staring directly at her.
Frightened she stammers receding and crying even more, "d...d...dem...demon!!!" She screamed out at the height of bursting her lungs.
The man without wasting time lodged his hand into her chest in one attempt silencing her. He watched her eyes bulge in a death stare and grinned relishing the moment. He pulled his hand from the sticky insides of her body letting it drop to the ground with a thud. He licked the blood staining his hand off of him with his long grey tongue.
"No one spies on plague 5 Hanteg."