Age of Strife Book 0: The Path of War

Chapter 9: Principles of Combat

 A year would pass since that insightful discussion with Kazuma, as Hiryu now age nineteen would begin martial training to become a fully fledge member of the Ninth Schools ranks. Now holding the rank of novice his presence among his peers would be of respect akin to an adept disciple, as his rise to such a rank was rather rapid compared to the norm. No longer would he be learning about the history of kingdoms or monasteries, Hiryu now learn the art of combat as he was promised two years ago. As he walks into the sparring hall for his first lesson Hiryu would be greeted by Kalyd "It is good to finally teach you, Intia- I mean Novice. Allow to me to introduce myself properly as I am the unarmed instructor that will both guide and teach you, Balyek will teach you in swordsmanship and if you so choose Me-Yun, Uruiz or the others can teach the other combat arts. Shall we begin?" Hiryu adopting a basic unarmed stancebeckons Kalyd that he is ready. With a smile she charges at him striking him with a kick, while successfully in blocking it Hiryu staggers as he tries to counter Kalyd but is blocked and countered with another kick from her. In the second martial lesson Hiryu is training with Balyek in swordsmanship, he charges at Balyek with a thrust and see him jumping high above him thus evading the attack. Balyek riposting with his own attack uses the momentum from his fall to downwardly thrust into the ground Hiryu took, of course in response Hiryu would dodge and attempt to slash at Balyek but would fail as in a quick motion he is disarmed by him. The fourth lesson with Kalyd would have Hiryu attempting to land an unarmed strike on her to very little success, as with a quick sweep at his legs would have Hiryu laying on the ground look at Kalyd in frustrated defeat. In the eighth lesson with Balyek, Hiryu fights him with an inversed grip on his sword and would have little success on hitting Balyek but would improve his guarding techniques and reactions. The twelfth lesson with Kalyd, Hiryu would actually be able to keep up with her as some of his strikes would land onto her forcing to take the offensive for the first time. In the sixteenth martial lesson with Bayle, Hiryu would manage to properly counter the strike Balyek had and force him to take the defensive. For his twentieth lesson with both Kalyd and Balyek respectively he would best them and force them to surrender in defeat. Feeling proud at mastering the core fundamentals both fist and blade, Hiryu felt as though by some instinct within he should learn what the other seniors have to teach him. Thus dedicating more time to learning what the monasteries seniors can teach him, things such as Me-Yun's missile-like throws, Uruiz's polearm pirouettes, Hark-Ban's stunning strikes, Felicia's hidden dagger, Ry'ar's elementalinfused attacks, and Lucille's rope-dart techniques. Another year would pass as Hiryu now twenty years old meditates in the Ninth Schools arboretum. In-tune and in-harmony with the forest Hiryu breathes in deep as his thoughts recount his masteries over the martial practices he learned whilst here. His thoughts are broken when he hears leaves of the trees shaking, hear this he comes back to the present and stands up. Looking around him all he sees are the arboretum's trees that are surrounding him and the sound of the birds chirping fill the air. Afterwards however all is silent as Hiryu continues to look and wait for something to happen. With deafening speed a flurry of knives fly towards Hiryu, with blinding response Hiryu draws his personal weapon; a sword and deflects the blades away from him. Raising his blade in defense, Hiryu now listens to the sounds that are being made through the leaves and foliage that surround him. Silence fills the space where sound should be, until awoman lunges at Hiryu and slams her heel unto the ground as he evades the attack. Slashing at the woman Hiryu is blocked as each attack is countered by a series of blocks; this goes on for but a few seconds as until the woman then attempts a kick from below. Hiryu dodging the kick grabs her leg and spins around for moment before tossing her aside into a tree. A brutish man with a quarterstaff emerges from the foliage alongside a stout short man with a pair of clubs. The brutish man thrusts with the quarterstaff but the attack is dodged, to counteract the man spins both his staff and himself as to gain momentum against Hiryu. The stout man lets out a battle cry as he charges at Hiryu while swinging wildly at him, avoiding both swings from the clubs and quarterstaff Hiryu backs up to then charge at the man with the quarterstaff. At the last moment of the charge Hiryu breaks into a slide but has his foot caught up with the quarterstaff's pirouette, however going with the motion Hiryu leverages his other legs to then kick into the man and forces him to stagger. Falling to the floor after the kick, Hiryu sees the stout man attempting to slam his club onto him and immediately rolls out of the way. Slashing at the stout man causes him to reel away, allowing for Hiryu to charge at him and pin him to the ground with his sword before punching him square in the face. The brutish man recovering from the kick then swings the quarterstaff at Hiryu's head but is quickly evaded; stopping the staff mid-swing Hiryu immediately disarms the brutish man and swings the staff at his stomach and then striking at the back of the neck to knock him forward to the ground. As Hiryu relaxes for a moment until a dart is thrown at him, forcing him to block with the quarterstaff. Seeing that the dart is attached to red rope, before he can even resist the staff is pulled out Hiryu's hands and is seen being pulled toward another woman. Hiryu readies for her next attack but hears a branch snapping and dodges a cut at his side. Spinning by his heels he grabs a very short woman with a dagger by the back of her collar and picks her up with one hand. Turning her around the short woman procures another dagger and attempts to stab Hiryu in the face, but is immediately intercepted and slammed into the ground. The rope-dart is flung to Hiryu's face but is dodged and grabbed out of trajectory, now look directly at the woman's obscured face he pulls her toward him. As the second woman is being pulled forward she readying an unarmed strike but misses as her arms immediatelybecome tied up, and she too is slammed into the ground. Standing up, Hiryu sees wolf-man and humanoid man approaching out the foliage and respectively one wielded a sword and the other wielded his fists. Walking toward the stout man's body Hiryu retrieves his sword and begins to break into a charge as he strikes at the Wolf-Man to force him to block. The unarmed man strikes at Hiryu, but is dodged and given a slashing strike in return forcing him to back up. Hiryu refocusing on the wolf-man continues giving strike after strike until the wolf-man drops to the ground and sweeps at his legs. Back flipping away Hiryu is then barraged by the unarmed man's attacks but immediately recovers, and begin properly block the attacks before countering with a pommel strike to the head. Afterwards he'd follow it up with a right hook to the face and then elbowing him away forcing him to his knees. Hiryu focusing on the wolf-man now sees him charging towards him with a thrust. Blocking this attack and getting close to the man, Hiryu immediately drags his sword across one of his legs and across his stomach before kneeing him causing the wolf-man to fall forward. Hiryu breathing heavily looks around again and is met by silence once again for a few moments. Suddenly the sound of wind singing comes from behind, as Hiryu once again turn to deflect the blades away from him and sees a tall lanky woman with small daggers in her hands. Hiryu readying his blade prepares to charge just as the woman readies another set of daggers to be thrown. The two standoff in silence for a moment until in a quick motion, Hiryu closes the distance and is at the woman's throat. Hiryu keeping his blade at the woman's throat for a moment, then release her as he let out a heavy sigh of exhaustion and says "I win." "I would seem so." The woman responds as she removes her mask to reveal herself as Me-Yun. The other seven attackers begin to stir and standup looking haggard "Gah, you didn't have to hit that hard lad!" the stout man cries as he revealed to be Hark-Ban. "Guh, you think that's bad? My head is killing me." cried the humanoid man who is Ry'ar. "Nghh... I call shenanigans, I got body slammed." the short woman retorts weakly as she show herself to be Felicia. "While I won't deny you the pain you feel... Gruh... I think I took one of heavier ones." The wolf-man utters as it is Baylek. "Ugh... this rope is ruined." as the tied woman who is Lucille say as cuts her ties. "Really, that's all you can say? You darted my staff away!" The brutish man complains as he removes the cowl to see Uruiz. "Perhaps you should've gone with a spear?" the unarmed woman says as she is revealed to be Kalyd. As the seven recover from their initial injuries they all gather around Hiryu and bow to him, Hiryu bowing back in returns says "Thank you for this experience. I hope to have lived up to your expectations." "Live up? Hah! Lad you exceeded them!" Hark-Ban bellows. "Indeed, your training from all of us has exceeded anything we've expected. The fact that you were able to adapt so quickly... it was something to behold." said Baylek. "You should be very proud on how much you've accomplished in such a short amount of time. Even when we were novices we only managed to master so much." Kalyd said in a motherly tone. "If you were here alongside with us years ago, you'd definitely be a senior." Ry'ar says. "I concur with the sentiment but focusing on who he is now... he certainly meets and exceeds the capabilities of an Adept." Uruiz adds. "Maybe we can have him skip a rank, and make him a senior!" Felicia exclaims excitedly. "And, defy the rules of promotion? Even if the grandmaster agreed, many would still demand for him to be properly ranked." Lucille chides. The seven talks amongst themselves as they soon devolve into a light argument, but Me-Yun talking to Hiryu directly tells him "You've come a long way, Hiryu... I'm proud to have both watched you grow and teach all you know." Hiryu smiling at MeYun's praise simply responds "Thank you senior, again I'm glad to have made all of you proud."