The One Unworthy of Legends - V1A1 - Maria's Ascension

~ Chapter 3 ~ The Hero

Cody deflected a spell launched at him by his current instructor, a small girl with black hair and a petite build, she was sparing with him. Her name was Annabelle and her purple eyes always looked sleepy and uninterested even now. A decent bit of time had passed since his first near-death experience, the Trap Spider. I'd been lucky that Aldwin had come after me, he arrived shortly after my fainting. Speaking of Aldwin.

Cody blocked a sword strike, displacing the momentum by letting Aldwin's sword slide down his own at an angle before pushing back. Aldwin, he was a handsome man with short neat brown hair and brown eyes, a thin but muscular swordsman. He wasn't just an instructor but a friend, a muscled-head with a good heart.

Cody went for a counter now that the sword was out of his way, but sensed danger behind and turned around to block the knife coming silently for his back. Cody dodged, his sword was nowhere near close enough to attempt a block.

He backstepped and took a defensive stance as his most mysterious instructor, Julius, seemingly disappeared from his perception. Julius was a thin, pale man with black hair and black eyes. A thin and wiry assassin that looked almost like a corpse. He was the most disconnected from this man, he spoke very little and his presence was almost always nonexistent. It wasn't just that though, something always felt off about this instructor, just a bad feeling it was probably nothing.

Cody raised a mana shield, blocking the incoming fire arrow. He then transformed the shield into an arrow of light before firing it back. He was speaking the incantations under his breath, keeping them quiet as possible, Annabelle taught him this. She currently wore a mage robe decorated with cat like silhouettes, her large brimmed witch hat was crafted to look almost like a smiling Cheshire cat. Her clothes had a black and purple color scheme. Annabelle was an anomaly to the king and the other instructors, a genius mage at the age of fifteen. Annabelle had just appeared one day and challenged all the court mages to duels in order to win the opportunity to fight the previous magic instructor. The elder wizard, Baltazar, she defeated him with the same cool and tired look she currently had. Annabelle took her spot next to the other pinnacles of their crafts. Then she went quite, like her aggressive almost boastful takeover of the seat was just an act she became a quiet recluse in her tower. Well, that is until the hero was summoned, like she had been waiting, the girl revealed herself once more just in time to greet the hero and grant him his element.

Cody swung his sword arm around to block Aldwin, however this time he couldn't deflect the force and was left holding a block. Locked in a battle of strength, Cody grunted  under his breath as his feet began to slide. Aldwin was dressed in brown pants and a white shirt with a leather chest plate and a scabbard hanging from his belt, Like annabelle he didn't seem to be taking this seriously. Cody's attention had to split, as spells fired his way, Cody was barely holding on as he summoned mana shields to block the attacks. They're slowly cornering me, I need to outmaneuver this. Cody took a chance as he suddenly released the pressure on his sword, letting Aldwin push him back. Cody leaned back as a fire arrow zipped past his face, he threw out his hand in response and launched and a few light arrows in Her direction. Using the backstepping momentum, Cody kicked the shin of Aldwin and grabbed his wrist with his free hand. Cody succeeded in letting himself fall and tossing Aldwin over his shoulder while Annabelle was dealing with the light arrows he shot at her. Though due to this being a three-on-one, Annabelle being a better mage than him, and Aldwin being a better swordsman, this fight was already decided.

Cody hit the ground and was immediately scrambling to dodge a fire arrow that singed the ground where he'd been moments before. Aldwin was already up and that was when Cody realized his sword was in Aldwin's hand. He shook his sore wrist but didn't move due to the cold feeling against his throat. Though Aldwin didn't step forward to declare the end of the match as Julius had appeared like the grim reaper a pale man in a black cloak with a Knife to the Hero's neck.