Step by step (Part 2)

Days have passed since Samael has decided on his combat arts and started to include them in his practice. During the past days, Julian Clyde, the Princess' fiancee came twice and had spar with Samael.

This allowed Samael to consolidate his training and find more flaws during the heat of battle as he could test the moves against a proper opponent. He didn't include and elemental attacks during the spar, he wanted to first build a stable foundation before starting to assimilate his elemental attacks.

Because his opponent was stronger and was well-versed in fighting with a weapon, Samael lost to Julian twice but it didn't matter to him. He took it as a lesson to further better himself.

Also, he hadn't been able to meet with the Princess during the past few days, she seemed to be busy.

Today, Samael has just finished his daily spear routine and took a break. He has already been at it since the sun rose from the horizon and he was always like this everyday. The maids and guards of the palace had long been accustomed to his early practice.

As he walked towards the Castle entrance, Samael saw two maids standing with a tray of water and towel. They were two young ladies who were not bad and were quite attractive. One had a twirly twintails and the other had long hair flowing down her back.

"Young master, here. Please use this." the twin-tailed girl shyly said, presenting the towel.

"Thanks. Hey, what's your name?" Samael took the towel and as he wiped himself he got curious.

"Uh, me?" The twin-tailed girl pointed at herself.

Samael laughed and said. "Yes, you."

"Oh, I'm Katie." She said.

Samael nodded and looked towards the long-haired girl, "You?"

The Long-haired girl lightly smiled and bowed with her answer "I'm Natasha."

"Ohh..." Samael nodded.

Katie had that cute and petite body type but she had a large rack and an adorable face to boot. Meanwhile Natasha had the tall and slender body type, her breast were ample as well but Katie has her beat. Her charm lies in her aloof and calm demeanor.

"Nice to meet you, both. Alright, thank you two for the towel and water. I'll go and resume my training." With that, Samael waved his hand at them as he walked back to the training area.

The two maids stayed there for a while and they had different reaction. Natasha barely had any reaction at all but her eyes contained a trace of surprise and admiration. While Katie was blushing and the infatuation could clearly be seen from her eyes.

"You're drooling, you know?" Suddenly she was shaken back by that.

"What? No I'm not!" Katie wiped her mouth and saw that there was no drool on them, she glared at Natasha.

Seeing Katie's blushing red and glaring at her, she laughed as she opened the Castle entrance. "Come on, we have other jobs to do. You can see your prince charming later."

"Humph, as if you're not interested in him either. I saw you yesterday you know, you were staring at him for the whole duration of his practice as if you had stars in your eyes." walking inside, Katie blushed even further, she crossed her hands then she sneakily smiled at Natasha.

Natasha's reaction was not as one would expect. She actually stopped in her tracks and blushed but it was only for a moment. She then said "No i was not. What else would i look at if i was station to serve the young master yesterday? He spent most of his time at the courtyard anyway, yeah, that's it."

But Katie didn't bought it, she rolled her eyes "Yeah, sure. Whatever you say."

...

Back at the courtyard.

Hu!

Samael thrust his spear with one arm before drawing it back and doing a full swing with both arms, slamming the wooden spear on the guard. Like this, he executed moves after moves that were in the "Orion's Luminous Spear"

"Your Spear form is looking better since the last time i saw it."

"Julian!" His practice was interrupted when he heard someone, when he turned to look at who it was. It was actually Julian.

Samael wiped his forehead and said. "Aren't you too early? Isn't our appointment tomorrow?"

Julian warily smiled and scratched his head "Yeah...about that. Ugh, how should I explain this?"

"He won't be able to come tomorrow." Then an attractive female voice drifted over.

"Sis Lina," Samael said. That's how he's been calling her after a few weeks of living in the castle and the two have grown accustomed to it.

"He'll be with me to attend to the officials that would come and facilitate the Academy's recruitment." She said.

Julian had already taken off his Formal clothes and underneath were his training clothes. "Exactly, so I came to have an early spar. Taste my blade!" and then he suddenly rushed forward with a stab.

"Ha-ha! Good, let's do this." Samael laughed and picked up his spear, he twirled it around his body and charged forward again.

The Princess found a place not far from their battle and sat there, observing the two men that were as precious to her as family. She suddenly blushed as she thought if this is how it felt like to have her own family.

While the Princess was lost in her own fantasies, Samael and Julian were having a fierce battle.

"Ha!" Samael blocked Julian's flurry of sword stabs and countered with a fierce stab of his own.

Julian saw the incoming stab which was so fast that he barely had time to react. The wooden spear lightly graze his neck and drew blood. He traced his neck and saw the blood coming out and with a smile, he charged at Samael with more ferocity than earlier. Flames rose from his body and he charged forward

"Blaze Lion's Claw!" suddenly Julian used a killing move from his combat martial path.

"Julian!" The Princess was jolted back as she felt the intense fluctuation of Profound energy coming from the battle and she saw her Fiancee using a killing move imbued with energy essence.

"Got mad, eh? Fine, let me try my own move as well!"

Samael gripped his spear hard with his right hand and drew it back. His feet dug deep into the ground from the force he was going to exert. Profound Energy rolled out of his body and black lightning crackled around him as it flowed from his body, into his arms, and finally coiling around the wooden spear. Samael put out his left hand and with a swift movement, he spun his body before jumping and slamming down his spear!

Orion's Luminous Spear: Dusk!

The Spear was like the dark of the night, swiftly enveloping the world in darkness once the sun sets.

Their two moves clashed and created an explosion that sent one figure flying and only one stood victorious on the spot where they clashed. As usual, Samael was blown off and Julian stood victorious. This was because of the difference in their cultivation and the amount of Energy essence that they can put into their attack.

"Ugh...damn. The bastard didn't hold back." Samael lay on the ground, groaning.

He then heard footsteps and heard a mocking voice. "You okay punk?" It was Julian, he came over wearing a mocking smile on his face.

"Bastard, you didn't held back at all!" Samael fumed.

"You didn't either, right? and still you lost!" Julian laughed.

Samael gritted his teeth and swore that once he has sufficient strength he would repay this humiliation two-fold.

"Alright break it up. Sheesh, don't you two get tired bickering all the time?" right on cue, Princess Lina walked in to stop the two from arguing even further.

"He started it."

"He started it."

The two spoke the same thing at the same time and this sparked their argument once again. The princess felt her head hurt then she said "Seriously, you two are acting like kids."

It took her a while to pacify the two before turning to Samael.

"Hey, turns out you're becoming famous. I heard some maids talking about you the palace. Who knew you were such a lady-killer?" The princess purposely added some mocking tone in that last sentence.

"Well don't they have good eyes for recognizing such an outstanding man like me?" Samael shrugged his shoulders with a smile.

"Ha-ha, someone's full of himself." Julian laughed.

"Humph." Samael scoffed at him but no harm was intended and Julian was well aware of this too.

The princess laughed seeing the two interact and then she asked Samael.

"The Academy recruitment will start 3 days from now and there is 3 test in total, how confident are you?"

Samael was a bit lost, he doesn't know the average strength of cultivators who were a few years younger than them, and if he were to assume that they were on the same level as Princess Lina and Julian would be an overstatement. In the end, he could only do as much as he can to prepare and do his best.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Be careful though. There will be a lot of noble children coming to take a shot, I doubt that very few of them would make a scene. If they do and you're involved...try not to kill them." Princess Lina warily smiled as she could almost see the catastrophe if that ever happened.

"Hahaha, yeah. Try not to or else their clan's old geezers would bother Lina's father and riddle him with complaints. Some may even try to kill you." Julian added but he turned serious in the end.

"Alright Sis Lina, I promise not to kill the little shits but I can't promise I won't break a bone or two though." Samael smiled at them but deep inside his pride burned "Let them try."

In three days, Samael would finally take his first huge step in his quest.