Lightsabers

Alex's training had been going on for more than a year and a half. And according to his teacher, Father Joseph, it was definitely possible to forget about physical exercises for a while. More precisely, now he was only required to undergo the usual intensive training, without having to break through the limit of his strength. The reason for this was quite simple. Alex's eight-year-old body already had more physical capabilities than the average adult had. A further increase in brute force could have a negative impact on his growing up. From that moment on, the growth of his powers had to be as gradual as possible, according to his biological growth.

- Now we will train your reaction, - Father Joseph said with a barely audible sigh, twirling in his hands a small twig that had recently fallen from a nearby tree and carefully looking at his ward. – Son, do you understand what this is for?

"Yes, Father," Alex nodded calmly, "any force will be almost useless if I can't see or hit my enemy.

"That's right," the man confirmed, and suddenly the thin twig that he was holding in his hand was only a couple of millimeters from the boy's eye.

Alex instinctively recoiled and almost lost his balance, but the man in front of him did not move even a centimeter and quickly threw his "weapon" aside.

- You see, young Alexander, – he took from the bosom of his robe a small handle without a blade, clearly belonging to a short sword. "It's called a lightsaber, don't you remember what they're for?"

"For killing Sith," Alex chuckled, but when he saw his mentor's serious look, he quickly dropped the jokes. – I'm sorry, Father…Lightsabers were given to us by the heavens so that those who cannot wield Holy Swords can resist the enemies of the human race.

"That's right," Father Joseph nodded."There are different types of lightsabers. Basically, they are divided into those worn by ordinary exorcists and those possessed by unusually strong fighters who, for some reason, could not get among the chosen ones.

The man gripped the handle tighter and at the same moment a small oblong blade consisting of dull white energy came out of it.

Alex's gaze involuntarily went over the entire short length of the blade and unexpectedly he noticed that the tip of the sword was missing. In its place was a small rounded pommel, as if someone had specially ground off the broken point by soldering a light knob into it.

- I see you noticed, - following Alex's gaze, the man nodded with satisfaction. "Yes, it's a special training sword. Unlike other types of blades, which are regularly recharged in heaven to always maintain their deadly form, it will be quite problematic to kill even a lower demon with this sword.

As if to prove his words, the father of the former exorcist ran his palm over the entire surface of the blade, where the cutting part should have been. Turning his hand towards his student and showing that it was completely intact, he continued:

- Such swords are recharged only once every few years and they serve for training future exorcists, as well as for various demonstrations. Well, we have just such a case.

- Training reaction with a sword? Alex raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Or do I have to master swordsmanship as well?"

"No," his teacher chuckled briefly. "I will conduct a swordsman course for you before you go to the academy, but it will be much later. Now you can just perceive this sword as a replacement for that twig ... the fact is, young Alexander, that the rapid development of reaction usually occurs when you really need to see or react to something that is much faster than you. Of course, in training we try to simulate a similar situation. However, if I just move fast, it will take you many years to develop even a tolerable reaction. You can't even think about the reaction speed of the average exorcist, it will take at least twenty years…

"Does that mean... we'll have to use the faster method again?" Alex sighed with a smile. – And I suspect he is much more painful, are you leading to this, teacher?

- Father Albo warned you, - the man nodded with obvious sadness on his face. – This is not an easy path and quite painful. However, there is simply no other way for us ordinary people to quickly become stronger. Even those who are born with His blessing comprehend and develop their strength through hard work... young Alexander.

The former exorcist looked at him with a shadow of hope in his eyes.

- Are you sure you want to go all the way? No one will judge you if you decide to leave now. There are many branches in the church where your extraordinary mind could be useful. Being a learned man of the Vatican is no worse than being its warrior…

"Thank you for your advice, Father," Alex calmly shook his head. – However, I have already decided for sure that I want to be a warrior. It may sound like I'm quoting from one of the books about heroes, evil dragons and princesses, however, when I look into my sister's clear eyes, I feel like I want to protect her and people like her from anything that could threaten them. Sometimes I really doubt if I'm doing everything right, but if I just imagine that a monster like a ghoul, a vampire, or even a demon will appear, and I won't be able to do anything... no, the feeling of helplessness will kill me before the most difficult workouts do it!

- ...I understand, - the man nodded with a slight hesitation, a whole bunch of different emotions ran over his face for a second, but he quickly pulled himself together. – Well, in that case we will continue…

The lightsaber in his hand described an elegant figure eight in the air between him and the boy standing opposite. Then he stopped a few centimeters from Alex's chest.

- So, - Father Joseph, as always, looked attentively at his disciple. – Now your task will only be to observe. After that, when you get a little used to my movements, I will stab you. I will only watch your gaze. If you catch the direction of the blade with it, I will stop the blow. If you can't, I'll touch your body with it. Of course, I won't hit at full strength and there won't be any wounds, but bruises are also unpleasant, so this will make you try your best ... let's start, just watch for now!

At the same moment, the sword in front of Alex's chest disappeared from its place and immediately appeared on the left, right, and even above and below its original point. The difference in the speed of the former exorcist and the reaction of an ordinary person was so great that it seemed to him that the sword was in four places at once. Only a faintly discernible ripple in the air helped to understand that the sword was moving from one point to another, stopping just enough for the ordinary human eye to notice it, and then accelerated again to freeze in a different position.

All this lasted about ten minutes, during which Father Joseph managed to change the fading points several times, showing the student where he would strike in the future. And that's when Alex more or less began to distinguish the movements of his teacher, or at least it seemed so to him, the sword stopped.

"So," the blade of light retracted back into the hilt. – Now sit for a couple of minutes, let your eyes rest.

Nodding silently, Alex sat down by the nearest tree, massaging his tightly closed eyes a little. After five or six minutes, the training resumed, the sword was almost resting on his chest again. However, now his coach was looking only into his eyes, watching every movement of his eyeballs and pupils.

- Let's get started, try to concentrate…

The sword began its movement in different directions unusually smoothly, gradually increasing its pace. Father Joseph made a few not too quick attacks, to which Alex managed to react. However, after that, the sword in the hands of the former exorcist began to gradually accelerate, it became more and more difficult to follow his movements, but the student still managed to prevent the rapid lunge that followed, noticing his new trajectory in time.

The sword's movements accelerated a little more, Alex was no longer sure that it was the sword he was seeing, and not its afterimage, but he had time to think. The blow to the stomach was so unexpected that he did not have time to strain his abs and doubled over with a quiet groan.

- Not bad, - there was a hint of sadness in his teacher's voice, but in general he was as calm as he always was. – I thought you'd miss the previous one…

Holding back a heavy sigh, Alex straightened up again and focused his gaze on the blade.

- Father, I'm ready…

The sword in the hands of the churchman began to move again, the training continued. The speed of the blade increased, the false attacks turned into real ones, until Alex missed one of them. Then a slight but painful blow followed and everything started over.

And in the window of the second floor of the orphanage building, invisible to the others, Asia stood and watched with a sinking heart as her brother repeatedly received blows with a blunted blade, overcame the pain, stood up in a stance and after a while received a blow again. One time after another. Looking at his face, full of fleeting resentment, anger and determination, Asia only looked down at her hands in resignation. She knew perfectly well that she would never be able to become a warrior. Her nature abhorred any violence, and even more so murder.

- I want to help you so much, brother ... - out of resentment and anger at herself, the girl forcefully lowered her clenched fists to the surface of the windowsill. –Why... why am I so useless?!