30 - Weapon

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Stand your ground and grip your weapon.

An unimaginable battle that you cannot fathom.

It does not stop, not until the war is won.

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Ferocious blows were being thrown, but none of them were landing on Grisia.

Aisia could be seen lying down on the snowy grass, catching her breath as she watched Kairo's turn to try and catch Grisia with his fists.

Left, right hook, then a middle kick. It was all too predictable for Grisia. This simple combination of attacks would never reach him. He saw a glaring opening that, to him, almost lasted for an eternity. He flicked Kairo's forehead to punish him for creating such an opening.

Kairo was thrown back from the outrageous force of such a simple flick, wincing for a moment before returning to his rush of attacks.

It was the start of their true training. Their pre-training of two weeks was through. After their usual warm-up, they were told to come at him one at a time so that he may appraise their hand-to-hand combat skills.

So far, his assessment of them is as follows. They're both capable and eager to learn about combat more than the average person, but their juvenile bodies only put them around the same level as an active adult. Above average, but nothing too special.

Aisia was quite nimble, she was far quicker than Kairo with her attacks and could sustain a rush of attacks for longer. But that also meant that she tapped out faster than him, expending more energy in a shorter amount of time. Amateur mistake.

Both of them have never hit him once, but even if they did, she would lack the power that Kairo was dishing out. Grisia noticed that Kairo had been conserving his energy, but Kairo was mistaking smart tactics for attacking with a lack of serious intent, therefore it was easy to predict his uncommitted attacks. 

"Light weapons would fit Sia quite well. Meanwhile, Kairo would need lethality to combine with his attacks if he's to continue to fill it with superfluous thoughts," as Grisia thought about which weapons would suit his two students best, Kairo was beginning to get frustrated with hitting nothing but air.

He grunted, charging for a heavy blow. He activated his ki aura and unleashed it, aiming for Grisia's inattentive mug. Grisia caught it with his hand this time, his messy, red hair that drooped to his face becoming displaced for a short moment before returning to its natural downward disposition.

Kairo finally made him block an attack. He smirked. Though he didn't see Grisia coated in ki aura. He must've blocked it solely with his own strength.

As Kairo was pondering over how much of a beast Grisia was, Grisia's eyes locked with Kairo's, making Kairo flinch. "Too early to start training with「 Ki 」," Grisia remarked, letting go of his hand.

"But how are we supposed to hit you then?!" Kairo sighed, his ki dissipating.

"Get stronger. Do not rely too much on your tools, or your tools will use you instead."

Grisia taunted him with his hand to continue. Kairo returned to a combat stance and rushed Grisia once more, without his ki aura this time.

"You're good at arithmetics, right? Think of your ki aura as a multiplier. You would be better off with your base strength higher, this would make your multiplier more potent, as well as not having to need it for the most mundane of problems."

"That makes sense," Kairo replied before grunting and launching another assault. "But working on the multiplier still has its merits, no?"

As Grisia kept dodging more of Kairo's attacks, he replied, "Yes. But like I said, it's still too early."

Grisia hadn't given them strength training yet, so there was undoubtedly room for improvement regarding the weight of their attacks. Their agility and stamina were far more important for ensuring survival in actual combat. He intended that to be the foundation of their training, hence why jogging was the choice for their warm-up.

After that, he planned to teach them the correct stances and forms for martial arts, and how to handle various arms. This would enable them to face opponents who are physically much stronger than them head-on.

Once Kairo's barrage was noticeably starting to slow down, Grisia called off the observational spar. Aisia stood beside a panting Kairo. He wiped the sweat off of himself and was bemused to find Grisia completely unexhausted.

Grisia spoke an incantation once and manifested various armaments which dropped on the snow using a spell.

"Normally, a single manifested weapon using magic would last for some hours. Since I manifested quite a number, they will crumble to dust in only a few minutes. Until then, pick what you like and we'll see how it fits you."

There was a wide array of options, from large battleaxes, claymores, staves, to matching gauntlets, shortswords, and daggers.

"What's this one do?" Aisia asked, holding a blue staff with a green crystal held by golden ornaments at its top end.

"A staff enables a magic caster an easier time casting spells and whatnot. As you may know, I do not need to use it, but if you aim to become a powerful, long-ranged—"

"Nah, too long. What's this?" she said, immediately moving on to the next weapon on the ground.

Grisia sighed at her foster daughter's brattiness, but it was his fault for slightly bragging to her. "It is a wooden nunchuck, a complicated martial arts weapon. I know fully well that you're not gonna pick that."

"You know me so well, pops!" she said with a cheeky smile, placing it back on the ground.

"You found anything yet, Kairo?" Grisia asked.

Kairo was sitting on his feet, his fingers on his chin, hesitating between a one-sided axe and a mace.

"Hmm... not yet, Grisia. Come back to me in a few," he replied.

"Very well."

"Pops, pops, look!" Aisia tried to get her foster father's attention with such excitement in her voice. "This. Me likey."

Grisia wearily stared at her wide, anticipating grin as she barely held the giant, two-sided battle axe with her dainty arms. It nearly escaped her grasp and in her clumsiness, she almost swiped her own head before grabbing hold of it properly again. Her grin turned into a guilty smile.

"No."

"Aww," she whimpered before placing it back down with a large thud.

"What was I thinking, letting two eager children pick?" he said to himself, which the two heard anyway. "Before the time runs out for these weapons, let me give a suggestion based on my assessment of you two. Kairo, I think a shortsword or an armsword would be what you're looking for. Sia, try those daggers over there."

They both walked over to the weapons suggested by Grisia and picked it up.

Aisia examined it and told Grisia, "This feels lackluster."

"Then take the other one as well."

"Ooh, can I use two at once?"

"Yes. It's called dual wielding."

"Sweet!"

"What about you, Kairo? The armsword might be too heavy for you at your age, so I recommend the shortsword more."

Kairo examined the armsword. He had to hold it with his two hands or else he wouldn't be able to lift it over his stomach.

"That is not a two-handed weapon. You will face unnecessary strain if you force yourself to use a weapon too heavy for you."

Kairo nodded to Grisia's advice and finally stuck with the shortsword. It felt better on his hands, he could swing it comfortably without hunching forward.

"That's better," Kairo said.

"Wood: Thicket Silhouettes," Grisia spoke.

Using chakra, wood sprouted from the ground, growing then forming into a shape that vaguely resembled two humanoids about the size of an adult.

"These are wooden dummies," with a swipe of his hand, the unchosen weapons poofed into smoke. "You should have more time with those weapons. For now, I'll teach you how to wield them properly. Apart from martial arts as the focus of your training, you should know how to handle various weapons as well."

"As you wish!"

"Oh, yeah!"

Their asynchronous response had been bugging Grisia for a while. It bred lack of discipline, he thought. "This will not do," he spoke. "As part of your training, you will shout a loud 'ha' if you understood what I said. Is that clear?" he said mundanely.

"H..ha?" Aisia awkwardly repeated how she heard him say it.

"Louder."

"Ha...!" they started to shout in unison.

"Louder, or I'll cook your breakfast for a week instead of Tiraga—"

"HA!!!"