Glory of Liondos

Chapter 7: Training Day- Part 2

Yocker just stared in the direction of the mannequins, absently like nothing was happening. He leaned back slightly, as if observing. Then, he focused.... Staring straight into the distance, and leaned his head. And then....

SLASH!

Yocker vanished from his position for a few seconds like he had teleported. He came back right after like nothing happened. The mannequins took a step forward, then collapsed into pieces.

Everyone looked a mixture of horrified and shocked, Glorioso's jaw could hit the floor even if that was possible! Sarcasa's mouth and eyes widened in excitement as if she had just seen the best thing ever. "Oh... my, HOLLANDIS! THAT WAS SO AWESOME! I'VE NEVER SEEN A BOOGEYMAN DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT THAT WAS SO FREAKING COOL-" Sarcasa stopped to catch her breath. Yocker put his hands on her stomach as if he was a doctor checking her heartbeat. Then he nodded. Sarcasa was confused but due to Yocker's attack, was too excited to react.

"Um, what are you doing to her?" Lorthax spoke up. He had a deep and husky voice, much like an older miner. Yocker looked up. "C-ch-chec..... king." He replied in a mumble. "Checking? Checking for what?" Lorthax replied as the room got awkward.

"H-har-heart."

"What about it- EEK!" Sarcasa felt a strong pain in her chest. It felt like someone was squeezing her core from the inside as tight as they could. "Oh, oh no! Need my potion!" Sarcasa reached inside her vines, where Birchlings kept small things, and pulled out a small little flask that looked like a zippo lighter, and drank from it. Instantly the pain vanished. She chuckled and turned back to the class. "Sorry about that. Just a bit of core trouble." Instead of hearts Birchlings had cores. They looked like glowing orbs and would tire out if you lead a fit lifestyle, requiring a potion made from Jast Tears and Beckerine leaves. She breathed heavily, then touched her face. "It's fine. I'm okay. Let's continue!" She said, seemingly lacking confidence in what she said. Only Glorioso and Lorthax noticed, or cared, as the rest of the class were more concerned about the fact that the mannequins were getting back up. Though in a different way.

This time their limbs flew through the air in a vortex of planks and splinters, fusing together to create one chimera of wood. It had no arms and multiple pairs of legs, Glorioso counted 8, and crawled on them. However it had multiple heads all stacked on top of each other, making it look that much taller and more uncomfortable to look at. It began crawling towards the class. Glorioso took out his sword from its hilt, much to Sarcasa's excitement. She was a history nerd after all. However he wasn't the only one, Lorthax suddenly pulled out a long and narrow blade that was razor sharp. It looked like a violet crystal chiseled until it was sharp enough to use as a weapon, rather crude but effective. Lorthax brandished it in front of him, before charging. He charged surprisingly fast for someone of his size, dashing by everyone and leaping a great distance.

He then sliced the chimera in half as he fell downwards. The chimera fell to pieces, clattering against the floor... only for a piece to smack Lorthax upside the head. "What kinda..." He said as he turned around, words stuck in his throat.

The mannequins didn't reform but instead were flying around in a spiral, like a dust devil. It wasn't horrifying per say but it was fairly shocking. Lorthax backed away, as if trying to see what he could do. He couldn't just slash it again, that would take too long, and besides pieces would be everywhere and it could just reform. He didn't know what to do.

But Glorioso did.

Glorioso pulled out his sword as he inched forward the storm of mannequin parts. He entered a defensive stance, holding it upward in front of him. He took a deep breath, and then charged. Sarcasa looked confused and shouted "Hey, what are ya doin- GLORIOSO!" She shouted. The young prince fell to the ground, smacked in the face with a piece of wood. He laid on the ground for a moment before getting back up. He looked a tad different, as if he realized what he was about to do. He was mumbling to himself, like had gone crazy. He closed his eyes as his mumbling became more intense. His fellow students looked at him like he had lost his mind. They didn't know what was going on.

Glorioso had activated the Multivoice.

You know you shouldn't just charge in just to summon me, you don't need me that bad.

"Oh shut up, Voice of the Focused."

What do you want me to do?

"I don't know, but something!"

Very well. Maybe try doing that blade of wind technique?

"Good idea."

Glorioso was talking with just one part of the Multivoice. The Multivoice was an inherited blessing from Glorioso's grandfather. It was a consciousness of sorts, that enabled you to see what would happen if you made a certain choice. Well, not what happened per se, but more of allowed you to talk to a version of you that DID that choice, so you could tell what they did wrong.

And therefore, learn from it.

It was used religiously by Glorioso's grandfather, however he refused to say where he got it, other than it was a blessing. To this day he kept silent on how he got such a blessing. Rumors were spread about but no one knew for sure. Glorioso thought himself above such rumors, though obviously he was still curious about it as well. He wasn't creative enough to make his own conclusions or theories, but he still had a sense of curiosity especially about his grandfather.

Now is not the time to think about that, Glorioso thought to himself. He was dealing with a whirlwind of mannequin parts. He remembered the Wind Blade technique that his grandfather taught him. It was a simple yet difficult technique where he had to slice with the blade rapidly. It was especially useful against a flurry of projectiles.

Glorioso took a deep breath, and began doing blind slashes, not intending on hitting anything. To the outside perspective it looked like he was swinging his sword around like a child. A few students chuckled, which he heard. It wanted to make him stop out of embarrassment, but he decided to focus that anger and swung at the pieces faster. And faster. And faster, until it looked like dozens of blurry gold slashes were happening at once in front of him. He then dashed forward, hitting dozens of
pieces at once. The parts turned into splinters, flying everywhere. A few even got stuck in his face but he was too focused to care. The parts vanished in less than 30 seconds.

Glorioso stood back and took a deep breath, looking at the former mannequins. He was proud of himself for doing all that with just his sword.

"Good job my guy!" Sarcasa patted him on the back gently, though it felt like all the air had been knocked out of Glorioso's body. "T-thanks." He replied weakly. "Glad that's over."

"Oh no, not yet, you still gotta fight someone!"

"WHAT?! But-"

"How about that Lorthax guy? He can tank your sword blows."

Lorthax bowed his head. If he had a mouth, it would have curled into a somewhat sinister grin.

"I would be more than honored to dual with you, Your Majesty."