The Original North God Style

As the friendly seniors continued telling Rudeus more about his new home, one of the black armoured knights ran out of the front door of the palace.

"Hey is the newbie out here? The mistress wants to speak with him!"

Rudeus turned to the knight who was calling for him and sighed. He still held a streak of defiance in him. He did not want to throw away his pride and submit to the beck and call of the Demon King.

However, his armour glowed slightly upon sensing his hesitance to obey even an indirect order like the one he had received, promising to deliver blinding pain for disobedience.

The other knights took notice of the glow and shook their heads in pity. They too were like that once. With defiance and stubborn pride in their heart, determined to resist every step of the way. It took numerous punishments before they learned their lesson and started obeying without a hint of rebellious thoughts.

"The mistress is calling for you. You better go meet her as quickly as you can. You're still young, so try not to get punished as much as possible." Grayson gave him a friendly advice, "Who knows how the lightning will mess up your growing body."

Rudeus bit his bottom lip bitterly, but had no choice but to obey. Though he remained defiant, there was also a small part of him that was looking forward to being taught by a legendary figure like Atofe.

The other knights went back to their posts. Their guard duties were mainly for the purpose of keeping out challengers who were unqualified to even meet Atofe. They had explained to Rudeus that before any challenger could face Atofe, they first needed to get past her elite guards. Only if they proved themselves sufficiently were they allowed to enter the castle.

The knights also always gave these new challengers advice, such as 'turn away, you will thank us later' or 'don't throw your life away, you will regret it'. They were not allowed to openly reveal what the actual reward from Atofe entailed, so they could only give cryptic warnings like that.

But the muscle-brained martial artists who made it all the way here were all idiots, so they only had one thought to their minds. They would always disregard the warnings as cheap tricks that was meant to demoralize them. Only after being forced to join Atofe's guards did they understand and appreciate the warnings for what they were.

Rudeus followed the knight that had come out to fetch him back in to the castle.

Along the way, the knight was similar to the other friendly seniors, talking to him kindly and sympathetically. He also advised Rudeus to learn all he could from Atofe. Despite her habit of collecting strong warriors as her subordinates, there was no one better as a teacher in the Demon Continent than the immortal Demon King, he told Rudeus.

The knight did not lead Rudeus to the audience chamber, where he first met Atofe. Instead, he was brought to a massive training field / arena located in the back of the castle. It was a large field surrounded by a perimeter of fences covered in thick beast hide, while training dummies, exercise equipment and various weaponry were placed orderly.

In the middle of the training field, Atofe was fighting a black armoured knight. Rudeus recognized the armoured knight as Moore, who he had previously fought in a duel he mistakenly thought would have granted him his freedom if he won.

"How disappointing, Moore! Losing to a human kid! Looks like I have been too lenient with your training, HAHAHA!" Atofe laughed while clashing against Moore.

Moore fought back with zeal, despite obviously being overwhelmed by the indecipherable techniques of Atofe. His North King strength, although seeming formidable to Rudeus when they fought previously, could not hold a candle to the North God Atofe.

The Demon King was also holding herself back, Rudeus observed. She was not wearing the intense Battle Aura of a God-rank combatant. Instead, she was only using King-rank strength to test Moore. Even then, her techniques and battle experience were so far above Moore that she was still able to overwhelm him with ease.

Rudeus spotted Atofe glancing at him as she smiled.

"Looks like time's up." She remarked, before her arm blurred. Moore's two arms suddenly fell to the ground and blood sprayed out of his bloody stumps.

Moore looked like he didn't even notice his arms had been chopped off. He only bowed respectfully to Atofe as he bent down to retrieve his appendages.

"Thank you for guidance."

The arms magnetically moved back into place, affixing themselves once more on to Moore's torso. The armour that had been cracked open also self-regenerated, Rudeus noticed. So just breaking the armour apart did not seem sufficient to break the curse. Of course, if it had been that easy, all these knights would not have remained subservient to this day.

"Good luck." The knight that brought him here wished him well before leaving for his other duties.

Rudeus entered through the opening of the beast hide covered fence, walking towards Atofe.

The Demon King wasn't wearing her full regalia today. Instead of the full body armour she had donned when he first met her, today Atofe was only wearing armour that protected her arms and shins. Her long white hair was still tied up in a loose pony tail folding over her bat-like wings.

She had on pauldrons that covered her shoulders, vembraces and gauntlets that covered her forearm and hands, and greaves that covered the bottom half of her legs. On her torso, she wore a black one-piece swimsuit like attire that was extremely form fitting. Her toned leg muscles were on display for the world to see, as was her voluptuous body that was barely restrained by the bodysuit.

This was perhaps her casual outfit, Rudeus mused as his eyes scanned the person who he was now forced to call his master – not in the sense of instruction, but in terms of ownership.

Atofe turned to face him with a smile, "Looks like you are finally up. Did you try to run away?"

"I did." Rudeus answered honestly.

Her grin widened, "You are still as gutsy as always. Now, I promised that I will reward you with strength. And I intend to deliver."

"It will be my honour to learn from the immortal Demon King."

Rudeus lowered his head slightly. Though he had been forced into slavery, there was nothing immediate that he could do right now to remedy his situation. As such, he was not opposed to grabbing this opportunity to learn from one of the best, however out of his hands this decision was.

"Fu fu, very well. Then listen closely. I watched your match with Moore. Answer me this, you have learned the Sword God style, correct?"

He nodded, "Indeed. I have achieved up to Sword Saint rank in the Sword God style."

"Judging from your movements, you are also well versed in North God and Water God techniques. Tell me, which one do you prefer the most?"

Rudeus thought about it for a moment, "I am the most proficient in Sword God techniques. So if I had to choose, that will be my preference."

Atofe shook her head, "Wrong! You do not suit the Sword God style at all!"

'…Why did you ask me if you were going to tell me anyways?' Rudeus snidely thought to himself, though he did not dare speak out with such rudeness.

She continued, "Sword God swordsmen are people who are direct and straightforward. What they rely on, first and foremost, is the speed and strength of their sword."

'Kinda like you, right?' He wondered why someone like Atofe did not pursue the Sword God style which so obviously suited her personality.

"However! You are someone filled with tricks, using your magic to surprise your enemies with chantless casting. Am I wrong?"

Rudeus agreed, "Mistress is correct. Since I learned how to use magic without incantations, I have been developing a Magic Sword style that incorporates magic with swordsmanship. And I have been told that the greatest strength of my original techniques is its ability to surprise enemies."

Atofe nodded with a smile, "That is why, for someone like you, North God style is the most suitable! And fortunately for you, I am the foremost expert on North God style!"

It was true, Rudeus concurred. His personality had always leaned more towards the North God philosophy of adaptability and winning via any means necessary. His preference for the Sword God style was only a result of Ghislaine's influence. It was the only sword style that he was able to achieve Saint-rank in because he had no one else to train him in other sword styles.

As for the third sword style, Water God, it was the one he had the least affinity in. Being defensive and patient did not suit his personality when it came to fighting. After all, he had been a striker back when he still played soccer. Charging in, dribbling past opponents and sprinting down the field to score a goal was his modus operandi.

Reaching Advanced-rank was perhaps the most he would ever achieve in the Water God style. Breaking through the threshold to Water Saint required not just talent but an appropriate temperament as well.

Atofe continued, "But these days, North God style has been distorted to become unrecognizable from what Kal created originally."

The Kal she referred to, was of course, the first generation North God, Kalman I. Her husband and progenitor of the North God style that had already passed away, leaving her a widow.

"Too many people have learned the North God style, and too many schools have been created teaching their own interpretation of the North God style. Things like using external devices like bombs and poison, while they are valid under the North God way of fighting, are added unnecessarily to the original North God way."

Atofe took a step forward and picked up her massive broadsword that had been stabbed into the ground next to her.

"What I will teach you is not the current mainstream North God techniques popularized by amateurs. You will be learning the original North God style, taught to me by Kal, and what I have also taught my son, the second generation North God. Do you wish to learn this?"

The original North God style that was created by Kalman I, inherited by Kalman II and subsequently passed down to Kalman III. All of whom were able to reach the pinnacle status of North God. Of course Rudeus wanted to learn it! Being taught by Atofe was the equivalent of learning the Sword God style by Gal Farion.

"I am willing!" Rudeus answered loudly, his body tensing in excitement.

Atofe laughed, "Good! Today I will be showing you the original North God techniques. Raise your sword."

Rudeus tilted his head in confusion but obeyed her instruction, unsheathing his magic sword that was strapped to the back of his waist.

"I noticed that you have the ability to use Healing magic. That is very good. Since you are just a human, I can't get too rough with you or you might just die. Humans are after all weak and fragile. But you can heal yourself, so I don't need to worry too much as long as I don't cut off any limbs."

He was getting a little worried hearing her words. What was she planning to do!?

Atofe grinned wildly, "The best way to learn is by experiencing it personally. I shall show you the original North God techniques by carving it in your body! HA HA HA!"