"Damn!" Arthur curses as he falls to the ground for the tenth time since he began training with the blood golem created by Aria; the ten bandits he killed were nothing compared to this construct, with a power level firmly in the Fighter rank.
The golem stops attacking as soon as Arthur drops his sword, and Aria approaches to heal his wounds. "I told you this training would be difficult; after all, it was intended for when you were at the Mystic Fighter Rank or at least close to it..."
"I'm fine," Arthur wipes the red mud from his face as he grunts in frustration. The problem with the opponent is that it cannot be intimidated, it's always fully focused and seems to be stronger and faster than him. 'How do I fight someone like that?' He wonders.
Aria notices his mood as she hugs him and tries to comfort him. "You're doing fine, darling. It takes years of hard work to master a weapon, and even your father had to fight for decades to reach the Master level."
Arthur ponders that as Aria helps him to stand. But she doesn't let him continue training, dragging him inside the house instead. "Let's take a break; you've been fighting for a whole hour without stopping."
Arthur isn't too keen on resting, and he looks at Margaret to see how she's doing. The girl continues to sleep on the couch in the living room with a serene expression on her face, making his mood feel much lighter.
"I can't stop, not now, mother," He speaks to Aria and immediately returns to the backyard, picks up his sword, and fights with the blood golem again. He tries to ingrain his old habits in his body, as his mother watches over him.
"I do not have much knowledge on weapons, darling, so you'll have to rely on yourself from this point, but I will make sure you can keep going." Aria may not be too helpful at this moment, but she can heal any injuries so he can keep training.
His movements are fast, his attacks full of strength, but for each action, the blood golem has an equally quick reaction. Arthur keeps failing to land a hit on the golem, which deflects every blow with its sword and even counterattacks.
Arthur is knocked down dozens of times throughout the day, and Aria continues to heal his wounds. Margaret wakes up after lunch and is moved to see him undergoing such brutal training to protect her; she tries to help in her own way, always having fresh water and snacks ready for him.
Eve eventually joins in as well, curious about her big brother. With the support of the people he loves and their encouragement, he finally manages to gain an advantage against the blood golem when the moon is nearing its highest point in the sky,
*Whoosh* *Crash!*
Arthur manages to cut off the golem's sword arm, and while his opponent is stumbling, he strikes again, cutting off one of its legs and finishing it off by piercing its chest, exploding it into fragments of clay.
"I finally did it!!" He exclaims happily and runs towards Margaret, hugging her by the waist and twirling her body in celebration. She becomes shy from the spontaneous display of affection in front of Aria and Eve but feels happy and responds with the same level of enthusiasm. "You really did it, darling! You're awesome!!"
Aria feels proud and praises him as well. "You did well, baby; excellent work~!"
Eve also joins in, hopping like a bunny and calling his attention. "Big brother is so strong!!"
Arthur releases Margaret and hugs Eve, spinning with her in his arms. "You'll become strong, too, little bug."
"Alright, it's pretty late, so why don't we go to sleep and continue the training tomorrow?" Aria suggests.
"Alright, I do feel exhausted," Arthur agrees. "Tomorrow, I will fight two golems, though."
"Two?" Aria sighs in resignation, certain Arthur will get hurt even more facing two Blood Golems, but despite such a method being brutal, she also understands how it can help him improve quickly.
The little girl touches the tip of Arthur's nose with her tiny and cute finger. "Big brother, can you put me to bed?" Her pleading tone could get anything from him, so he led her to her bedroom.
Before Arthur returns, Margaret and Aria exchange thoughtful looks, and the bold girl gathers the courage to make her request. "Can I stay by his side? I won't be able to sleep knowing he's working so hard to protect me..."
Aria wishes she could enjoy Arthur's childhood a bit more, but he is already a complete young adult, even having two women acting like loving wives. So all she can do is sigh while looking at Margaret. "Just let your parents know; also, I don't think he'll stop anytime soon, so you might bring some clothes and live here until we've dealt with this situation."
"I'll do it right away!" Margaret is thrilled with the possibility of staying by Arthur's side and sleeping at his house, so she quickly runs to her home to inform her parents about it and to grab some clean clothes.
Nyx uses this moment to appear and show her love and support for Arthur, who receives several kisses from her before they both go to sleep.
The next morning, while facing two Blood Golems simultaneously, Arthur is, as expected, overwhelmed and sustains several injuries in the first hour of training. As soon as Aria heals his wounds, he continues fighting. He manages to overcome the first by deepening his connection with his sword, but the second one always takes advantage of his loss of focus to catch him off guard.
Arthur hadn't had many sparring sessions with his father in the last three years, but Liam spent most of his life wielding a blade, and it's these memories that push Arthur to improve his sword skills. With every exchange of blows between his sword and the swords of the golems, he regains more of his past level of Mastery.
Between falling and standing up, he spends the entire day in the yard, ending it with a body full of wounds; however, he eventually overcomes both golems as he improves his focus. The results are astonishing, even for Aria, who always expects something incredible from Arthur. By the end of the second day, he manages to predict the attacks of the golems and counter-attack, dismembering them one after the other.
Another break to celebrate the progress, and this time, he is rewarded by Margaret with kisses and handmade sweets. Arthur feels that his sword skills are on the cusp of reaching his previous level, yet he can't help but feel that something important will happen once he does.
Regardless, he just defeated two Fighters at the same time while being in the fifth grade of the Mystic Novice Rank, so if he can improve just a bit more, it will certainly be very useful when facing multiple opponents.
After the arduous training, what follows is another relaxing night of sleep with his beloved Nyx in his arms.
Next morning, Aria can already predict Arthur's request before he even makes it, so she creates three golems this time. She hates seeing him get hurt, but she wants to support him more than anything else, so she endures the pain in her heart.
As she watches him fight against the three golems, she ponders how impressive he truly is. Indeed, any Mystic Warrior has the potential to defeat enemies one rank higher if other factors such as Lineage, Astral Beasts, and Weapon Mastery are similar, but Arthur is doing that just with his sword skills.
The Blood Golems are formidable opponents because their Mastery is at the Adept level, in addition to being in the Fighter rank, meaning Arthur already is well within the Adept level as well, probably nearing the Master level even, which should be impossible for his age.
'What kind of monster was Liam, and what kind of life pushed him to reach that level?' She can't help but wonder as she observes Arthur wielding his sword so incredibly. Every time he falls, he gets up even faster, and his movements become more fluid, more natural, and more lethal.
He spends the entire third day fighting the golems, only taking short breaks to use the bathroom, drink water, and eat a quick snack. By the end of the third day, he manages to defeat the three golems as well, with even more ease than the previous two days, astonishing Aria even more.
After all the hard work during the day, Arthur goes straight to the bathroom to take a good bath while Margaret and Aria prepare a delicious dinner for him.
Upon entering the large luxurious bathroom, he takes off his clothes and throws them on the floor before jumping into the huge bathtub full of hot water. "Wheeeew!" He lets out a long sigh as he submerges his body in the lavender-scented bath.
Before he can start washing his body, Nyx appears next to the bathtub, wearing her little black bikini. She is still too shy to take bold initiatives, and Arthur has been mostly focused on getting stronger in the last few weeks, limiting their interactions to kisses before bedtime.
But now, seeing Margaret getting closer and closer to him and how happy he is receiving her kisses, Nyx wants to make him feel good, too. 'I can't lose to Margaret!' With such a thought in mind, she picks up the sponge and soap to wash Arthur's body.
"Oh?" His eyes shine with expectation when he sees Nyx looking at him with a shy and loving expression. "Are you ready to try it again, honey?"
'I can do anything for you,' She keeps such a statement in her mind and just nods to him like an excited bunny.