Dawn came and, as expected, Niton went into an uproar as the news that a new Grandmaster emerged reached all ears.
—-------------------
"Thank you for answering my call"
"Of course"
In the royal dining hall, Fredrick sat opposite the Emperor while they feasted on the delicacies served to them.
Bolton stood at the Emperor's side, watching Fredrick ever so closely, a gesture Fredrick kindly ignored.
Following yesterday's event, the Emperor summoned Fredrick.
Finishing the food on their plate, both men wiped their mouths away.
But before the Emperor could even say anything, Fredrick brought out a scroll from his space ring.
"What is that?"
Fredrick shrugged.
"I do not know. The guild master asked me to hand it to Bolton here"
With a stiff posture, Bolton snatched it from Fredrick and unfolded it. His face became unsightly as he read through it.
"Well? What is it?"
The Emperor wasn't one to be patient.
"It's…a record of finances"
"What use is that to us?"
"As evidence of transaction, they're relinquishing all that remains of the seven million loan"
"Oh?" the Emperor nodded.
"How much was squandered?"
"A bit above three million platinum. Three million and three hundred platinum to be precise"
"That leaves four million platinum to be relinquished"
Apparently, the Emperor wasn't as dumb about such matters as most thought.
"Yes" Bolton nodded.
He smiled inwardly, they might have not spent that much normally, but his hiking of land prices had the market inflated.
Not that things had settled, they would be unable to recoup the money in a short period.
'I have you in my palm now'
All he had to do now was to wait for the buffer zone to end, and then…
He chuckled just from thinking about it.
"So?" Fredrick inquired.
"It's accepted" Bolton said, his eyes still previewing the list.
Once done, he faced the Emperor while Bolton excused himself.
The Emperor sipped his tea.
"I was never good at pretending. So…as Niton's Grandmaster, I deemed that you have masterful potential"
He stretched out his palm.
"Join me. Of course, you'll be appropriately awarded. For one, you be appointed Niton's supreme commander"
Fredrick was taken by surprise. Being the supreme commander meant he could control Niton's entire force.
Then, he calmed, locking eyes with the Emperor.
"So…what is your answer?"
Fredrick stood, then sighed.
"Your majesty, I am humbled by your offer"
The Emperor smiled.
"But I'm afraid I'll have to reject"
His smile crumpled.
"Have others already enticed you?" he asked.
Fredrick calmly shook his head.
"Not at all your majesty. I do not intend to join any faction"
"Then where will you go?"
"I will take the helm of the guild that groomed me, and spend my time grooming others" he paused.
"For the betterment of the Empire"
The Emperor listlessly nodded, asking another question.
"What about my son? Are you done teaching him?"
"Him?" Fredrick waved his hands.
"The Empire has far better instructors, and besides, he'd be better off if he was taken to a training environment"
'So…this is why he started wanting to go to the academy'
Without another word, Fredrick exited the palace.
He smiled inwardly, thinking…
'How funny. They sent me away the moment I was deemed useless, and now they call me back like we were longtime friends. Funny…really funny'
Like so, he went away.
The Emperor was in deep thoughts of his own.
'It's a shame, or maybe it's better that he's not joining any faction. Black Jaws, Black Jaws, Black Jaws, there's definitely something off about them. Creating a Grandmaster in seven years because they had enough money…?'
He snorted.
'If it was that easy, we'd have tens of Grandmasters popping all over the place'
Within all three continents, you had less than sixty Grandmasters, excluding those of professions.
He tapped his chin.
'I'll have Bolton double the tails on them…they have something, I want to know what it is!'
'Then…' his mind wandered to his youngest son.
'There's something off about him as well' he had concluded when he met Ezra a few days ago.
The boy gave off an eeriness, and his presence had reduced by a large margin.
Naturally, he was happy that this son made strides of progress, but now that the one who was supposed to be his combat instructor suddenly became a Grandmaster, maybe there was more to things that he thought?
It was an absurd assumption, but anything was better than nothing.
Like so, the Emperor got moving.
—-------------------
In his chambers, Ezra battled his vassals, incorporating in them the essence of battle.
His first lesson to them?
"In battle, there are no rules"
From biting necks, to grappling groins, to suicidal attacks, Ezra roughed them up.
Determined to prove themselves, the siblings were relentless, and felt like dying multiple times because of it.
But their eyes shined brighter with each session.
Ezra stripped them off the illusion of battle.
That was never something amazing, but hellish.
His second lesson?
"Your tenacity is your greatest weapon"
Things got bloody as he broke their limbs while sparring, forcing them to face reality before they faced reality.
The objective was simple. When your bones are crushed and your arm is severed in battle, what would you do?
Would you fall down, cry or lament while the enemy's blade came upon you? Or would you adapt and save yourself from being beheaded.
Here, the siblings were reduced to pitiful things, crying in agony and wailing at such inhumane injuries.
To this, Ezra remarked…
"You have to be able to handle this much to be called strong"
The siblings gathered closer to one another and helped them up.
Of course, Ezra wasn't trying to crush their spirits, so he let them stand.
Small drops made a pond, and being able to stand was affirmation that they had resolve.
Then, he helped them snap their bones back in place and gave them healing potions.
They were bedridden for a week, each laying in bed battling inner demons.
At the start of the new week, Ezra came to them, giving a few words which could be summed up as "Are you going to stay down because it's hard? Or are you going to get up?" and then left them to their thoughts.
Each person had battles only they could overcome.
Theron was the first to get back to training. Johan and Ashton followed after and then the girls arrived after an additional week.
Their trainers wanted to protest about such absurd treatment for children, but Ezra silenced them with a sentence…
"If they die in battle, will you die with them?"
He also added a few more…
"And please remember, you were hired. If you overstep your boundaries, you can very well be dismissed"
That had them shut their mouths like pets. The money they'd gotten here was unbelievable, and they didn't want it to stop any time soon.
The third lesson?
"You must be able to distinguish when to attack and when to retreat. Those who cannot end up dying worthless deaths"
He drew a sword.
"For this, the five of you will attack as one"
They stared at each other before nodding.
Truth be told, they'd grown fearful of Ezra during the past weeks.
When they were called, they all thought they'd grown to match, or almost match, his level.
'How wrong we were' lamented Theron as they circled Ezra.
Then, Theron attacked.
That was the beginning.
Prior to starting the exercise, Ezra said…
"I'll be stepping things up a bit"
They thought it was just a tactic to scare them.
Alas, it was not.
As Theron brought down his halberd, Ezra easily dodged it.
"Your movements are too obvious" he said and kicked Theron's stomach.
'Retreat' despite bracing himself, Theron was flung backwards.
Before Ezra could balance himself, Ashton came in, punching out with his gauntlets.
Upon jumping, Roxanne's whip sword also came upon him.
'Good' he smiled, coiling the whip sword on his sword as he fell.
Before he could drop, Velora came in, brandishing her double daggers while Ashton fired a punch towards him.
'Big mistake' Ezra smirked.
He dropped the sword, tapped on Ashton fist, and landed a kick right into Velora's stomach, knocking the poor girl unconscious.
"In battle, the opponent won't go easy on you because of your gender"
Focusing his senses, he tapped away from the girl's stomach and spun.
That moment, a saber came to him, barely missing his head by a hair's breadth.
"Hoo" Ezra was ecstatic, landing with a light step, only to fall to the floor like a palm tree in the next instant.
As he did so, Theron's halberd passed by his head's original position.
'They're really trying to kill me'
It only made him happier.
Landing on the floor, he kicked Theron who was behind, standing as he did to meet a flurry of Ashton's punches.
While from behind came Johan swinging his sabers.
'This…' Ezra's mind went to work, there was always a way.
Instantly, he took out a sword from his space ring, immediately lacing it with aura, and parried off Johan's blade, which sent the boy flying.
He turned, Ashton's punches incoming, dropped the sword and focused mana in his arms which he used to guard his chest in an 'x' shape.
Ashton's punches rained on him, pushing him back tremendously, when his instincts rang out.
'It's always good to have sixth sense at times like this'
Sixth sense. It was one of the most effective techniques in battle.
Unfortunately, while Ezra could imitate it, it wasn't the real deal.
He punched Ashton back, immediately turning around to see what danger came his way.
It was Roxanne's whip sword.
'There's no way to avoid this' he calculated as Ashton would soon be back.
'Guess I'll bleed a bit'
He let the whip sword wrap around his arms, cutting him.
"Yes!" Roxanne cried out.
"Hmph!" stomping the floor, Ezra pulled the sword.
"No!" Roxanne cried as she was lifted off the ground.
He threw her to Ashton, who inevitably paused to catch her.
But…he underestimated the amount of force Ezra threw her with.
Thus, both of them were flung back.
But Roxanne did not let go of the whip sword, hence scraping off the skin on Ezra's arm.
He hissed at the pain, but his stance didn't falter.
'They're learning well' he nodded, striding away as a Halberd flew to his former position.
'And I'm learning as well' he smiled.
All the sparring gave him a better handling of his body.
He'd been having trouble on that part because not all his movements as Kevin Reed worked well with his new body.
But not anymore.
Then, the wall he hit in progressing Infinite Forms was crumbling.
Little by little, he was advancing in his mastery and also making adjustments after having experienced battles with the siblings.
Battles in the mind and in reality were often very different.
At this rate of progression…
'I'll master the movements in no time'
Among other things, he was reading up on the academy.
While he didn't actually want to go, it was a valid excuse for him to leave the castle.
Honestly, even for his advanced mentality, the castle was suffocating.
