Chapter 6: Saved.

“What are you doing!? Unhand me you filthy mongrel!” Octavian shouted as Kalon stood with his eyes closed awaiting his death. He slowly opened his eyes to see slightly damp grass fluttering in the wind.

‘I’m still alive?’ He thought that he would die or at least be injured by his brother’s attack but he seemed to be in one piece. He then looked up at the direction he was attacking from to see something he didn’t expect to.

Master Ranwald had a single hand on Octavian’s shoulder and was seemingly holding him in place with just the tips of his fingers pressed against the top of his shoulder. Octavian was completely outclassed by Master Ranwald.

Although Octavian was a Vampire and possibly one of the strongest people in the empire by default. Master Ranwald was far too superior. Even being born strong couldn’t measure up to someone who had put in many years of training and fought countless battles to gain their strength. There wasn’t a single thing he could do but complain.

“Do you know what you’re doing!? I’m a prince! I will have you hanged for this!” Octavian threatened Master Ranwald without realising just what situation he was in.

“Shut up boy.” Master Ranwald roared in response to Octavian’s threats. Octavian’s face went pale upon hearing his voice and went completely silent. Master Ranwald then turned to look at Kalon who was still confused as to how he was still alive.

“Are you okay?” He asked. Kalon was still in a daze but quickly came to his senses as he saw the look in Master Ranwalds eyes. It was the look of someone who was bordering on tearing someone’s head off.

“Y-yes,” Kalon replied with a gulp.

“You’re lucky. If Luna called me even slightly later than she did then I don’t think I would have made it in time.” Master Ranwald said and then looked back at Octavian.

‘Luna called him? Wait but I didn’t hear her call for him?’ Kalon thought but then quickly realised that she had howled before starting her transformation before Octavian attacked.

‘That explains why she didn’t fight back. She called Master Ranwald here to stop him…’ Kalon concluded that Luna had thought ahead of time and then felt stupid since he was ready to throw his life away for someone who was never in danger, to begin with.

“Now, What should I do with you?” Master Ranwald said before looking down at Octavian.

“If only your mother was still around to see this. She would have torn my arms off for even laying a hand on you. But then again she would have done the same to you for attacking your siblings.” Master Ranwald sighed.

“Don’t you dare talk about my mother! You don’t have the right to say anything you dumb dog!” Octavian shouted out in anger.

“Ah, Forget it. Just take your things and go. I don’t have time to deal with brats today.” Master Ranwald then let go of him. He could understand the pain in Octavian’s heart but that still didn’t excuse his actions.

“Just wait until my father finds out about this,” Octavian muttered to himself as he walked away and then bumped his shoulder into Kalon who was silently watching.

“Hey! There's no need to take your anger out on someone younger than you. You asshole!” Luna shouted before running up to Kalon and hugging him once again.

“My sweet Kal was trying to save me! I feel so happy now, that I could die!” Luna shouted as she picked him up into the air.

“Ahem.” Master Ranwald coughed, making Luna let go of Kalon immediately.

“We’re a little short on time now. So if you don’t mind I would like my student back now.” He addressed Luna who quickly stood at attention with her hands behind her back.

“Yes Sir!” She shouted in response.

“You’re not a pup anymore. You don’t need to address me as Sir.” Master Ranwald sighed before leading Kalon into the training field, far away from the watch of anyone nearby.

Kalon looked down at his hand and clenched his fist before following his teacher.

‘What was that back there? I felt… Strong. Did anyone else see it?’ He wondered as he walked behind Master Ranwald before coming to a stop.

“Kal-” Master Ranwald was about to say but Kalon spoke at the same time making him stop to listen.

“Sir, Do you think it’s possible for a human to ever be as strong as a monster?” He asked and then looked up with hesitation. He didn’t want to know if he would be weak for the rest of his life. But he needed to know if he could get stronger than this.

If there was no possible way for him to get stronger then he would just be training his body for nothing.

Master Ranwald laughed.

“Is it possible for a human to become strong? Let me ask you this. If humans were weak do you think that the war between our races would have lasted for over one hundred years already?

The truth is that human warriors are incredibly strong. And not just that. They also outnumber us ten to one. We are often on the retreat when we go to battle with them and they kill hundreds of our men every year.

There are even a few human warriors that are capable of making a whole unit of Sylton’s knights surrender in fear. But they are few and far between.

I wouldn’t say humans are weak by a long shot. They are just better at different things.” Master Ranwald explained a little bit of information to Kalon without going too into detail. But it seemed to satisfy him.

Now that he knew that his effort wasn't for nothing he was ready to learn and more eager than ever.

“Thank you. I’m ready to learn.” Kalon bowed his head to his teacher and then looked back up to see him smiling down on him. Although Kalon wasn’t the strongest student that Master Ranwald had. He was still incredibly proud of him.

It seemed like all the odds were stacked against him but despite that. He was always excited to pick up a sword. Even if that meant he would be thrown around the field for a few hours. But he never surrendered. Every time he went down he would get back up with even more passion than he had before.

“I can see that. Here, catch.” Master Ranwald threw a wooden practice sword toward Kalon along with a dusty old leather-bound book with pages that looked like they had recently been ripped out.

“Have a look through that and then try to copy the forms from the diagram. If you manage to defend against one of my attacks I will buy you some lunch down at the tavern.” He laughed, knowing that it was an impossible task but even so Kalon clung to every challenge like he knew he would succeed.

“Okay. Just make sure that you have enough money. I’m going to have a feast!” Kalon shouted before sitting down with his legs crossed on the damp grass beneath him and then opening the book before reading the first page.

As he read, Master Ranwald pulled out another wooden sword and placed it on the ground next to him.

“Don’t forget. It is a dual sword technique.” He said with a smile and then took a step back and watched as Kalon tried his best to copy the moves shown within the book. But his body was too stiff for him to get into the stances naturally.

“Wrong.” Master Ranwald hit Kalon’s leg with a thin stick causing a whipping sound to crack out throughout the field before he pushed his legs to the right position.

“And hold your left sword in front of the right blade. You want to strengthen it with your dominant arm. If you have it the other way you won’t be able to stop anything from getting past your defence.

See this is good.” Master Ranwald praised Kalon for getting into a good defensive stance and then gave a slight push to the blades that he was holding. Causing him to stumble back and fall on to the floor.

“But that was bad. You want to drive your feet down into the ground. Imagine you are climbing a tree. You want to be able to have a good grip no matter what surface you're on. So push down into the floor.” He instructed Kalon with how to fix his mistakes and then watched as he got back up off the floor and got back into the stance.

He gave another push and nothing happened.

“Good. That’s good. Again!” He shouted before pushing against the blades harder this time.

Kalon flinched a little bit as his arms couldn’t help but shake under the pressure but he held the form without giving in to the strength forced upon him.

“Wow, that’s better than I thought it would be… I gave it quite a bit of strength at that time. Okay, this time I’m going to attack you for real so you had better get ready.” He said before drawing one of the very real and metal swords from his hip and then looking Kalon right in the eyes before raising the blade into the air.

“Wait! My swords are only wooden! They won’t be able to-” Kalon didn’t have time to speak before he was interrupted.

“Ranwald! Royal summons. The emperor wants to see you!”