Ch.3 - Preparation

In the King's office, Saint Maxime and King Charles Grimoard are having a discussion on the future plans to defeat the demon king.

"So, Is 2 years really enough to beat the demon king?" asks King Charles towards Saint Maxime.

"It all depends on the hero, King Charles. But worry not, at the rate hes going now, we'll surely be able to defeat the Demon King. I am confident that he will be able to get on my level in less than 2 years with the blessings that he has gotten." replied Saint Maxime.

"Is that so.." murmurs King Charles.

"Do we know of the Demon King's strength and powers? Our world has never seen a demon king before and even the demons that we have are way stronger than the average adventurer. Does your god know of the Chaos God's method of attack and the blessings It's able to give? And is your god strong enough to protect this world?" questions King Charles.

"That, I am not sure. But, i can assure you we have a pretty good chance to win! I will soon asks of our god for your answer so do not worry." said Saint Maxime.

"A pretty good chance is still not a confirmed victory. Do you know of how i became the King? How i became the 5th swordmaster of Grimoard? THE SACRIFICES I MADE TO TURN THIS KINGDOM INTO HOW IT IS NOW?"

"I did it through calculated decisions, I made sure everything goes my way in a fight, in a war and in anything that allows for competition."

"Even if i am not strong enough, If im not good enough for one, I will make myself stronger by taking from what I can. But the world is at stake now. I have to know of what the enemy is capable of in order to be of help. So please, ask of your god to give us information." pleas King Charles.

"I.. Understand, I will try my best to answer your questions. But i will need to have access to a statue of zenith in order to communicate with our god. For the time being, i will go back to the church to answer your questions but in that time, I need the kingdom's help of building a church complete with a statue near the castle." demands Saint Maxime.

King Charles sighed, "I can have that arranged, but who will be training Ludwig on how to utilize his holy energy?" asks King Charles.

"Ludwig will be good on his own. I will only be out for 3 days. He should learn how to infuse mana into his weapon to make it stronger and sharper first as holy energy usages are of the same way." replied Saint Maxime.

"I see. You can leave for the church now. I hope to hear some information when you get back." said King Charles.

"I assure you I will be back with what you desire, My King." said Saint Maxime before leaving the King's Office.

In the training field, Me and Christophe were brainstorming ideas on how to incorporate magic into swordsmanship.

"This made the sword sturdier but it didn't make it any sharper or destructive. I wonder how that works.."

"Sword aura that us swordsmen use ties directly to our soul and it changes our swords the same way."

As for me who have done nothing but trained for 17 years, my soul calls for a sword which can cut down to go forward so my sword aura gives me destructive power."

But mana is shapeable and in theory, i should be able to change the properties but i havent been able to." I said while swinging and cutting with the sword.

Cristophe suddenly went into thought until a face that says he has an idea appeared.

"Im not a mage but while talking with Yves and Maxime, i realized that mana and holy energy works the same way."

"If you manipulate the mana in your surroundings with the mana in your body to create magic circles and spells, what if you instead manipulate the mana in your surroundings to go in your body and leave through the sword while manipulating the shape of the energy?"

"Although it sounds difficult, i believe you can do it. Why dont you give it a try?" Suggests Christophe.

Saint Maxime enters the training hall, unbeknownst to Ludwig and Christophe.

"Thats a great idea, Christophe. I am surprised you were able to suggest that through our conversations!" said Maxime who listened to our conversation after arriving in the training hall.

"Ah, Saint Maxime! I didn't realize you were here. How did the talk with my father go?" I asked.

Maxime's face turns into uncertainty.

"It went okay.. I will have to leave for the zenith church today but I will be back in 3 to 4 days."

"I need to speak to our god. In that time, you should try to master shaping the mana in your sword."

"You should also be able to combine it with attribute magic or spells. For example, gravity magic to make your sword lighter or spells from wind magic to make it sharper in order to make your attacks more powerful, I got the suggestion from Yves."

"You can also combine your attacks with holy energy. After i come back, I will be teaching you holy magic." explained Maxime.

"I see..! I will try to execute your suggestions. Have a safe trip, Saint Maxime." said I.

"You dont need to worry about me." said Maxime while chuckling and leaving.

"Alright then, I guess I'll try to channel the surrounding's mana into the sword." said i while focusing on the sword.

As the mana flow within my body, i carefully direct them into the palm of my hand and enveloped my sword with it.

The sword then starts to radiate a blueish light which has an unstable shape.

Then, as i manipulate the condensed mana around the sword to create an edge, the shape gradually became that of the sword's.

"I did it.. I finally did it! It was quite difficult to control. If i lost focus even for a second there, the mana wouldve became undone and float back into the air." said I.

Christophe's face lights up in excitement and awe.

"That was incredible.. Its the first time ive seen something like that!"

"The way the edge was formed, its almost as thin as glass. I bet thats the sharpest edge that a sword has ever gotten and because its made of mana, i doubt it'll lose its edge in battle!" said Christophe excitedly.

"Now what if you imbue attribute magic into it? Like fire magic? That would look awesome." suggests Christophe curiously.

"I doubt i can do that right now. Im still needing to concentrate in order to keep the edge."

"Once I am able to do this effortlessly, i will be doing that. I wonder how it is when i do it with holy energy." I questioned myself.

I then dispersed of the mana and starts channeling holy energy through my body into my palms and a white, holy light envelops the sword.

"It worked. Its almost the same as controlling mana but a bit easier.. Is it because i have the blessing of the holy?" I think to myself.

As i tried the holy energy imbued sword on training dummies, i realized that it did not give the sword any additional properties.

"Holy energy doesn't make sword any sturdier or stronger.. thats unexpected."

I said to myself. "What if we sparred?" Suggests Christophe after over hearing me.

I accepted the sparring and we took up position.

"Try to use your mana sword first. I am very interested on what it can do." Said christophe.

"alright, I will do the holy energy next." said I.

I then start to manipulate the surrounding mana to flow within me into my palms to envelope my sword which created a bluish glow of sturdy and sharp mana around my blade.

"I am ready, Uncle Cristophe!" I exclaimed.

In a split second after i said that, Christophe had dashed across the sparring box which had an area of 24x24ft and stopped 2 feet across from me.

Christophe then swung his sword from below in a linear movement attacking my waist but I managed to redirect the attack with my sword in a way that forced his sword to hit the ground, which sent a shockwave throughout the castle.

I then counter attacked by slashing up after redirecting his initial swing and managed to scrape his face whilst he tried to dodge the attack by leaning backwards.

Then, Christophe leapt away from me and stopped.

"That was pretty good. Even though i strengthened my body with aura, you managed to cut through it like butter."

"Truly fascinating. Maybe i should learn magic as well!" Said Christophe while laughing excitedly.

"Now, use your holy energy. I want to see if it does something." Said christophe.

I then start to envelope my sword with holy magic.

"Lets start" I said to Christophe.

This time though, I went on the offensive. I leapt for christophe and tried to stab him.

The stab connected but nothing happened. His aura which is around his body and armour had blocked it.

I then tried to swing up to his face but it also did not work and the same thing happened.

Christophe then simply knocked me off due to our size difference with Christophe having the physique of a bear and me being the same size of an average adult with a leaner build, It was easy for him to do so.

"That did nothing!" I exclaimed frustratedly.

Christophe starts touching his face as if something happened.

"Uncle christophe? What happened?" I asked.

"The wound on my face, It's healed! Your holy sword healed my injury!" exclaimed christophe.

"How can that be? Is the holy energy sword not used for combat?" I think out loud.

"What if it is for combat, but only on demonic entities. Like Horned wolves, Vampires and actual demons." Suggests Christophe.

"That might be the case. I am going to reach Yves using communication magic and ask him to capture and demonic beast." suggests I"

"Thats a good idea. Lets do that." Christophe agrees.

I then start to manipulate the surrounding mana to create a communication magic circle, a 5th circle magic spell and an extension of locating magic, a 4th circle magic.

I then look for traces of Yves' magic in order to connect with him. After searching, I managed to find traces of his mana outside the king's office and successfully found his location and started to make a connection.

"Hello, is this ludwig?" Asks a voice.

"Yes, it is. Is this Yves?" I asked.

"Ah Yes it is indeed Yves, Why have you called for me? did something happen?" asks Yves

worriedly

"No, nothing happen I just wanted you to capture a demonic beast. I need it to experiment with holy energy." said I.

"Experimenting holy energy with demonic beasts? I dont know what you're up to but this sounds horribly bad without knowing the context." said Yves with a concerned tone.

"No, its not anything bad. While sparring with Christophe with my sword which i enveloped with holy energy, I healed Christophe's wound instead of hurting him."

"I want to see if it is suitable for combat against demonic beings instead." I explained.

"I see, congratulations on figuring out how to imbue holy energy into your sword. I assume you figured out how to do it with mana as well?" asked Yves.

"Yes i did, although it takes quite the concentration to do so. For that reason, I was not able to combine attribute magic or spells." I explained.

"Thats alright, we still have 2 years to train. You're a prodigy, you should be able to learn it fast. Once i get back I'll try to help you."

"For now, I have found a place which is dense with mana. Its near the Grimoard mana stone mine, Its where the largest deposit of mana stone in Grimoard was found."

"We can absorb the mana there. As for the demonic beast, I'll capture one on my way back." said Yves.

The connection then cuts off.

"Ludwig, can you try activating your sword aura whilst using your mana blade or holy energy?" ask christophe.

"I can try but, the energies might interfere with each other." said I.

"I doubt it would. Maybe that'll happen with mana and holy energy since they work in a similar way but a swordsmen's aura comes from the soul. It shouldn't interfere." explained Christophe.

"Thats possible. Alright, I'll try it now." said I.

I then start to creat a mana blade around my sword.

Then, i tried to activate my aura blade. As i activated my aura blade, I can feel my brain getting exhausted from computing both energies.

But, the sword turned from radiating a blue light into a purple light.

I then swung my sword onto a training dummy made of steel and i unexpectedly cut straight through it with no resistance.

Both me and christophe looked at what the mana and aura fusioned blade had done with our eyes opened wide.

We were speechless.

Never in our lives have we seen a sword doing such a feat.

"such a sharp and magnificent sword. And that isn't even a named sword.. Once you inherit a named sword from your father, i wonder how much stronger your swordsmanship is going to be." said christophe in awe of what happened.

I stood there speechless of what i had done but the silence was broken by the arrival of Yves floating above us using flight magic with a horned wolf trapped in a cage made out of water.

"Hey! Christophe, Ludwig. I am back with your beast." greets Yves while floating down onto the field.

"Wow, who did that?" asks Yves while pointing at the cleanly cut steel dummy.

"He did, he combined his sword aura and mana blade and did that." explained Christophe.

"Thats amazing! It's even got a swordmaster thunderstruck!" said Yves in a happy tone.

"Welcome back Yves, thank you for the compliments but i want to start with the experiment." said I.

"Ah yes. Let me release it first." Said Yves.

Yves then waved his hand and the cage made out of water collapses, releasing the horned wolf.

I then start to envelope my holy energy onto my sword while the horned wolf start going into a fighting stance.

It leapt onto me to try and attack while at the same time i swung my sword in order to block it but the horned wolf received a burn before hitting my blade.

Once my blade got in contact with it, it cut through the horned wolf like butter, leaving a searing cut as it fell in half.

All three of us was surprised at the result, It seems like holy energy and magic only works on demonic beings but buffs and heals anything that isnt and its very effective at both!

"That was AMAZING!" Yves exclaimed excitedly.

"I have never seen a sword being able to do that. While I knew holy magic burns up demons as I'd fought alongside Maxime in the past, Maxime only ever only used holy magic instead of imbueing items with it."

"It has a similar effect as holy magic but more concentrated and powerful. As with holy magic, its always in a large area and weakens the demonic so much so that they can be killed by non holy forces such as normal weapons or magic."

"But you can deal a killing blow with a holy weapon.. very interesting. I'd assume adding sword aura into that would only make it sharper and sturdier." Said Yves.

"I think so too, from what weve done today, your goal now is to be able to add magic attributes and spells into your mana blade, learn to efficiently use mana or holy energy and aura together and reach 8th circle or higher, Ludwig. Can you do that?" Asks Christophe.

"Yeah, I will try my best." I replied.

As we'd been practicing from morning till noon, we decided it'd best to take a break and went to explore the capital and taste the food. Christophe was most familiar so he was the guide while me and Yves followed.

While heading outside, we stumble upon my mother, Queen Yvonne who was trying to find me.

"Ah, Ludwig! there you are.. I have been trying to find you!" she says, angrily.

"Hello, mother. Why have you been trying to find me?" I ask.

"I merely wanted to see and talk to you. Every since you were 6, our contact with each other had been terrible, as your father demands you and your brothers to train endlessly."

"Fortunately, I managed to convince your father to give Alexandre and Théo a break and our relationship as a family is getting better. Now, its only you left."

"Tomorrow, after you've finished training, come and see me in the garden. I will be waiting for you there." said Yvonne with a motherly smile.

"Alright mother, I will" I replied.

The three of us then made our way outside to explore the capital, something ive never had the chance to do.