The Maid and Her Princess [On Hiatus]

I Have Become Stronger! (Summer 5)

V.

"Raining, huh," Elise stood by the window. "Even in Summer. Wonder if those two moons mess with the rain in the atmosphere... How is this planet not all jacked up? Two moons should cause so many adverse effects and gravitational pulls on the tides and tilt of this planet...."

Madoka ignored the princess's strange musings. Her hands still felt numb from attempting to shatter the rock formations. The vibrations still made her grip twinge when she tried to hold her duster properly. She did not have enough "passion" for it, apparently. Her grunt was weak like the breeze; the remark brought about an odd sense of déjà vu to her. Leopride has made comparisons to her halfheartedness, the way her forms were just going through the motions without intention.

Was it really so bad to do so? For what purpose was she really supposed to serve with all this combat knowledge? Madoka couldn't fathom the political spectrum, no matter how many ways the princess explained it. To her, merely owning an axe was heresy for she was a slave who did not deserve to own anything. So it was a foregone conclusion that she would go back to being a slave once she returned to the palace.

Still, she had a desire: With or without passion, she would destroy those rocks. But could she really be half-hearted if she's come this far? Or is everyone else, Royals and Lords, simply blessed by their efforts that the paths they walk on are simply easier and far more rewarding?

Was it the hard mode that Princess Fiara mentioned?

The difficulty of life's circumstances were simply not in her control and therefore she was simply not meant to be this "woman of her dreams." Madoka was consumed by her doubts, the looming shadow of her princess's illness and curse. She stood up.

"Madoka?"

"I refuse," Madoka said, not finishing her sentence and instead, she picked up her axe. She will smash her frustrations outside. She did not know if Elise followed her out and nor did she care at that particular moment.

Thunder roared outside and rain splashed on her skin. A kind god's cold sweat, with lightning polluting the sky. Madoka lifted her axe, ignoring the pain from her previous attempts and the frustrations of her unanswered questions, and let her voice match the thunder's roar.

"Hrargh!"

Solid powdered into a dirt crater. A formidable pillar of magic stone into a crumpled heap of cracked pebbles. Each form she practiced these long and harsh months, tossed away for the moment of her pure but simple frustration.

"It was not enough, was it?" Madoka breathed. All rocks were shattered and Madoka's hands felt no different than before she cleaved each one. "Maybe I am not smart enough to ask the right questions. Maybe I am a slave and do not deserve answers."

"Is that so?" A voice rang out through the rain. The tall outline of a muscular figure approached her. Leopride came into her view, though he seemed different.

"Lord... Leopride?" Madoka wondered why he was out late. Perhaps she was hallucinating. Leopride did not answer, but instead raised a blade in his hand and tossed it over to her.

"I've waited long enough for you to break these," Lord Leopride said. His eyes glowed menacingly in the night. Madoka realized that both swords were not practice wood, but of real metal. "Now it is time to break you."

The unsheathing of his sword sent sparks flashing in the rain.

"Is this what you want?" Madoka's voice was but a whisper in the storm.

Madoka may have been broken in her confusions over the princess, but she knew she was not the same weak slave he had beaten tenfold into blues and blacks during the spring of colors. Her body remembered every wound he gave her. So you were pretending, Madoka mouthed inaudibly and took up the blade.

Let all the worry fall away like those rocks, Madoka gritted her teeth. Rain made it hard to detect the Cherish-man's presence. A mistake, she thought. Anyone could sneak up on her during weather and hours like these. The two regarded each other, Madoka waiting for his killing intent to rise like the old times. Her stance was ready.

Lord Leopride's eyes flared and had it not been for the training she did with Princess Elise's magic bubbles, Madoka could have easily been defeated by losing sight of him from his incredible speed. His first swing flashed by her, but she dodged it. He smirked and distanced himself to observe her. Madoka stood stark still in the storm. This time, she was the rock formation for him to shatter.

That's right, Madoka remembered. She is her friend, the reason she was doing all this training for. The princess is in her heart, no matter how much this man wants to tear it out of her and make it stop beating. The two eyed each other, knowing that the fight would be decided by one attack.

That's when Lord Leopride took a step forward and vanished. Madoka's eyes had deceived her - for he was just that fast. In a split second, everything she thought hinged between life and death. She sensed his bloodlust all around her ready to strike. So Madoka closed her eyes.

"I refuse," Madoka muttered once again. The sword in her hand was a bit heavier than a wooden one but it was nothing compared to the his gift she left lying in the grass amongst the shattered rocks. The bloodlust quickened, closing in on her. Her breath seized up, pulse pounding. Above her! She knelt just quick enough to provide the distance for her to raise her sword.

And so came the Cherish-man's strike like a lightning bolt. Madoka held firm against the flat of her blade as Leopride's sword beat down on hers. The flat sunk into her palm, making a horizontal bloody line across it. Madoka could care less about the pain if it meant she could survive.

His large form towered over her and his strength threatened to crash through her defenses and if he did that her heart would be next.

"I refuse to be half-hearted anymore! I will break through you!" Madoka let out a fiery roar, angling her sword and let Leopride's own sword careen off its blade to the earth. As she did, Leopride's force sent him downward — his heart stabbed right into Madoka's blade. "I don't care about anything you have to say about me!"

Madoka choked as Leopride gasped, the life escaping as blood out his mouth. He collapsed on top of her with both of their swords clanging against the earth.

"You are... worthy!" Leopride uttered. The duel was decided. Madoka was the true victor.

Madoka struggled to breathe beneath him, but then his form started to dissolve into a black mist.

"Was it an illusion?" Madoka asked no one in particular. She felt for the swords that were once in their hands, but they too were gone. Her palm where she reinforced her block against Leopride's strike was still bleeding, but despite all the pain she took it as a marking that her training was finally over.

She began to cry as the rain drenched her further, though she did not know why.