Emperors War

The fighters had two very compelling reasons to show up to Aker"s training area. Firstly, Aker had proven his mettle when he fought against Finley, his skills with a sword were superb to say the least. At least in the D Company no one was even close in capability to what Aker displayed.

Secondly, only by partic.i.p.ating in Aker"s practices would they be eligible to compete in "hold the stage" later in the day for the right to have Aker forge their weapon.

Aker seeing the crowd gathered around his training area was feeling a little apprehensive. Primarily this was due to the fact that he had spoken such intimidating and domineering words as he stood up on that fighting stage and stared down at the crowd yesterday.

Truth be told, Aker wasn"t sure exactly how to approach training this bunch of ruffians at all, Aker had never trained anyone before, unless you count Kara in the medic station. On the flip side of the coin Aker had never gone through any formal type of training either. Vance would simply show him some different stances, he would throw out a few attacks, a few blocks, a dodge or two and then let Aker practice.

As Aker looked out over the crowd gathered, his eyes took in all of the different types of weapons and his first thought was "let"s initially break the fighters up by weapon type".

"Everyone who uses swords line up here..." Aker pointed to a spot..."Everyone who uses sabers here...." Aker continued walking while calling out the different types of weapons and pointing to spots.

After a few minutes of organizing Aker had five lines formed, one for each primary weapon the fighters in the military used. Starting from the left and moving to the right they were lined up sword, saber, halberd, spear and staff. As Aker looked on, he was surprised to see the longest line was surprisingly not the sword or saber but instead was the spear, it seemed to be the preferred weapon in the military or at least in D Company.

"You two, let"s see you spar" Aker pointed to Muscles and Ashton as he stepped aside giving them room.

"Brother Ashton I"ve always lost to you, but today will be different!" Muscles holding the hilt of his new sword dropped the tip into the ground in a display of might.

"What makes you think today will be any different than any other day? My memory hasn"t always been the best, but try as I might I can"t remember you ever defeating me". Ashton"s heroic voice carried a slight tinge of laughter, it was clear to all who were listening that these two were good friends and were giving each other a hard time.

"Perhaps you didn"t see it but I have a new sword, I would be remiss if I didn"t take advantage of this opportunity. At least until the day that you receive your new weapon, I have no intentions of losing to you. Don"t under estimate the strength of my.....SWORD!" Muscles began charging at Ashton as he cried out.

Muscles brought that blue beauty up and swung it down, there was no trickery or misdirection in his attack. Muscles who had tried to trick Aker on their first meeting wasn"t known for his ability to scheme, generally speaking he was considered a very straight forward person. This straight forwardness was reflected in his attack on Ashton, it gave a strong and brave feeling.

As Aker watched on, he was shaking his head internally at this move by Muscles. Based on how everyone interacted and treated Muscles he had to be among the stronger of the fighters within D Companies regular fighters.

Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"If this is how one of the stronger fighters of the group attacks it"s no wonder that the fighters of this company are picked on to such a degree, hopefully Ashton will give a better display." Aker wasn"t disappointed with the attack by Muscles, in reality he was just trying to get a sense of their fighting capabilities. As he was considering how to train this group it occurred to him that he should first ascertain where he should begin by learning their capabilities.

"Same ol" Muscles, his attacks are always so predictable. So, what if he has a stronger and more powerful sword, isn"t it the same either way? At the end of the day Muscles is still Muscles." n.o.body present caught it, but Ashton"s lips curled up ever so slightly as Muscles attacked.

Ashton brought his sword up and positioned it to block the simple attack by Muscles. As the sword struck down Ashton braced his body and prepared to take the blow, his intention was to counterattack following the successful blocking of the attack.

This was the sequence that Muscles and Ashton would go through in each of their previous battles.

"After I block this blow, because Muscles always swings his sword with everything he"s got, it always leaves him susceptible to an easy counterattack. That swing of his will throw his whole body out of balance and that"s when I win". Ashton"s slight grin spread just a little further, he could already see the scene of him lording over his perpetually losing rival.

Still grinning as Muscles sword made contact with his, Ashton was getting ready to counterattack as usual until he noticed something slightly peculiar. It seemed that Muscles had somehow moved away from him before he had a chance to counterattack "That sly b.a.s.t.a.r.d, did he finally figure out that he left himself so wide open after that attack? Did he just trick me?".

Until the second that Ashton"s back slammed into the ground, he was still under the impression that Muscles had fooled him. It was only at that second that he found himself staring up into the sky with the cold hard earth under him that he realized that it wasn"t that Muscles moved back, it was that he"d been sent to the ground.

As Ashton put his hands to the ground to get back up, he felt a chill in them that made it difficult to move his fingers. His sword was already laying a meter away, he had somehow lost it in the blow.

Aker who watched the single exchange between two of the strongest fighters in D Company was left in denial that this could be a battle between fighters. When Aker fought Finley, it was evident that Finley"s skills were superb, his feints and trickery were first cla.s.s. That wasn"t due to just Finley"s experience, his form and fighting were also top notch, utilizing a fighting style that was designed to create openings in its opponent. After experiencing that fight Aker had a semblance of hope that when he started practicing with the fighters from D Company that he would be pleasantly surprised, what he learned just now was "not so much".

Aker called out two from every group as he watched the saber fighters, followed by the halberd, spear and finally staff display the same if not even worse level of skill. He had specifically asked and tried to identify the strongest fighters from each group and after watching each them display themselves in all their might Aker was left with one question, "how are any of these fighters still alive? Shouldn"t they have long ago died in one of the battles during this war?"

Being able to read Aker"s mind Muscles leaned in closely and whispered so that none of the fighters would be able to hear, "We"re not allowed to actually fight in any of the battles following the incident. Every now and then we are sent in to do cleanup and that might comprise of killing a few injured fighters, but were not trusted with anything. When the rest of the division heads off to fight, we are left behind to guard the compound. That"s the reason we have no blacksmith, no puer nuntius, no cooks and trainers. That"s also the reason that all of the other companies can get away with bullying us and there isn"t any recourse, h.e.l.l even the other companies" dogs and chickens are held in higher esteem than us."

Aker could hear the frustration and bitterness as Muscles spoke.

"At a minimum I should be able to fix the weapons and cooking situation, there"s no promises about the training though." Aker"s whisper confounded Muscles, rather than deride Muscles and the rest of the fighters from the company for being weak and being upset because he had been a.s.signed to such a useless bunch, his first thought was that he would be able to resolve at least a portion of their frustration.

"Alright I"ll demonstrate a different move and explain some of the theory behind it for each weapon. For now, I want all of the staff users to go and grab a spear or a halberd, I won"t be training anyone in the use of the staff. It"s not that it"s not a great weapon, it"s just that it is not the right weapon for a battle field...." Aker looked out and could see the disagreeing postures of the staff users, everything about their body language was screaming "you don"t know what the h.e.l.l you"re talking about!".

"When fighting for your life you need to....No, you must have a weapon that excels in killing and maiming. Even a fraction of a second can result in your death instead of your enemies. To be honest I"m surprised that they would even allow a staff as a weapon in the military. You can of course still practice the staff, I"m not stopping you from doing that, it"s just when you are training and practicing with me, you"ll have to choose another weapon. Think of it as good practice, a good fighter should be able to use multiple weapons."

"Ha! You talk big words but I"ve only seen you use a sword. There"s no doubt that your strength with a sword is impressive but that doesn"t mean that you can dictate what is strong and not strong with the other weapons. Go learn how to use a staff and then tell me it"s not meant for killing on a battle field!" One of the staff users was irate at the insinuation that the staff wasn"t usable on a battle field.

Without saying a word Aker walked over to one of the fighters who was holding a staff and grabbed it from him, walked in front of the group of staff wielders, put out his hand and gave a quick "come" gesture.

The staff fighter who had just told Aker he didn"t understand what he was talking about and to come back when he had learned how to use the staff was frozen stiff..."Does this kid already know how to use a staff too? That can"t be possible right? Someone as strong as he is with a sword can"t possibly be a strong with more than one weapon. I"ll beat him to within an inch of his life so that he understands that the staff is a killing weapon. Not only that, but everyone here saw how strong the kid is, after I beat him, I should be able to brag about it, maybe I can even somehow leverage that to force him to forge my weapon next."

Instead of being upset that Aker was picking up a staff and challenging him, this fighter was ecstatic. By defeating Aker the benefits he could potentially reap from this situation were huge. There was no doubting the talent of this kid either. There were some in the company that still only viewed Aker as a puer nuntius and as such they held no regard for him. This fighter on the other hand saw the fight and he understand even if Aker"s t.i.tle within the company was puer nuntius it was only temporary. With Aker"s skills and talent, he would quickly become a focal point, and in the future he would be able to brag to anyone who would listen about the time he put Aker in his place. He didn"t even care that Aker taunted him with a "come" hand wave, h.e.l.l in the future that taunt would add to the story and only make him look better.

Aker stood there like a statue, tall and proud, the staff perpendicular with himself straight into the air behind his back. Aker"s eyes appeared to be taking in the scene lazily, however, in reality he was watching and capturing every minute movement and detail in his surroundings.

With a whoosh the staff fighter jumped at Aker and elected to use a stab attack, the tip of the staff aimed for Aker"s solar plex.

As Aker watched the staff attack near him, he kicked his right foot out and crouched down low moving under the stab attack. In the same motion his hand slid down the staff until it reached the bottom, after reaching the bottom of the staff Aker gripped it tightly and then swung it out and around in a sweeping motion. The fighter who still thought that with his initiative and stab attack the fight would be over in one move was still moving forward at break neck speed.

"Pahhhhhh"

The sound of wooden staff hitting a knee caused every fighter watching to cringe slightly, but that was the full extent of it. There was no blood, there was no dismembered limbs, there was only the sound of the staff making contact with the fighter"s knee, a slight cry of pain and then a body hitting the ground.

Aker walked over and handed the staff back to the fighter he had borrowed it from, walked over to a spear user and grabbed his spear, then moved back to the same spot he had been previously. He held the spear in the exact same stance, put out his hand and then gave the "come" hand gesture once again.

This time the staff fighters face went white, his body trembled, and his teeth chattered slightly.

Aker stood there for roughly ten breaths without saying a word, only waiting for the fighter to take his stance and attack again, however, no matter how long Aker stood there that fighter would never be crazy enough to take up the challenge.

It was one thing to get hit in the knee with a staff but it was a completely different matter to be hit with a spear. If the first attack had been a spear instead of a staff that fighter"s leg or legs would no longer be attached, he would be a crippled for the rest of his life.

Everyone present understood precisely the point that Aker was trying to make, and amazing enough he never said a word of refute to anyone.

The fighter stood up, tossed the staff to the ground as he called out, "I understand, I"ll switch to the spear from now on."

There was nothing else to say. In these cases, actions spoke louder than words. Aker understood that no matter what he said, this group of staff users would never accept anything other than the staff. For a fighter the weapon they used became a part of them. It affected their mentality, their soul and personality. Saber users tended to brute and direct, spear users tended to be powerful and overwhelming, staff fighters tended to be reserved and blunt.

Sword fighters on the other hand tended to cover the gambit, it would truly depend on their personal school of thought as to how it would affect them. The point is though that a fighter"s weapon had a direct impact on them, so to convince the fighters to give up their staff Aker had to give an overwhelming and dominate show.

By grabbing the spear and daring that fighter to come again, none of the staff fighters could deny Aker"s statement. The fighter was more afraid of the spear in Aker"s hand than he was the staff. It wasn"t that a staff couldn"t kill, it was just more work to get the same outcome and it wasn"t relegated to killing alone. That staff blow to his knee hurt for sure, but it didn"t leave him crippled whereas that spear would have left that fighter incapable of continuing the fight.

Aker stood before the group and looked out as he put his thoughts together. Aker considered his words carefully before calling out, "While each weapon is unique, they have some basic similarities. For now, it is those similarities that I want us to focus on...."

Aker was making sure that all of the fighters were listening and understanding as he spoke. Satisfied that he wasn"t leaving anyone behind he continued on, "attacking, blocking and avoiding...these are the basics of fighting. It doesn"t matter if you"re using a knife, a sword, a saber, a spear or your hands. When an enemy attacks you have one of these three options but it doesn"t mean you have to pick one of the three."

As Aker stated the last bit the fighters became suddenly confused. If I only have three options then shouldn"t it always be one of the three? This was the prevalent idea running through the heads of everyone present.

Aker understanding their confusion continued on, at the moment as he spoke, to the fighters he appeared as if a young sage, "Why should I pick to block when I can block and avoid? When Ashton and Muscles were fighting earlier didn"t Ashton stand strong and take the full brunt of the attack? Wouldn"t he have been more successful if he moved away from the attack and used his weapon in a blocking position together? Didn"t I avoid the staff attack and attack concurrently ending my fight with almost no effort?"

The fighters from D Company who had never had a qualified trainer were suddenly struck stiff. They had all watched as Aker dropped below the attack hence avoiding it while in the same motion attacking the knee of his opponent.

"Pay close attention as I demonstrate these several combinations, whether using a sword, saber, halberd or spear, these basic moves work essentially with the same concept."

Aker walked each them through three different blocking and avoiding motions, combining and matching them in different variations.

"For the foreseeable future we will practice blocking and avoiding, forget about attacking your opponent. If you fall after only one or two attacks then you will never have the opportunity to attack." There was no mocking sarcasm in Aker"s word, he was just stating a truth, but to the fighters of D Company they felt a bit of shame in them.

What they heard was "you are not worthy to attack", which to them suddenly became a strong motivator. How much practice would they need and how proficient with blocking and avoiding would they have to get before Aker showed them attacking combinations?

For the fighters of D Company, they had all accepted their role, their place in the division. It wasn"t until yesterday as they watched Aker stand up to an invincible force that any of them felt an iota of self-respect or belief.

Sure, within their own company they talked a big game, but when they were outside of the confines of their company each of them walked around with their head down always afraid of who was going to make trouble for them.

Aker demonstrated the three blocking and avoiding combinations in each of the weapon types and then stood back and watched as the three hundred or so fighters practiced the moves. When he saw someone not practicing correctly, he would step in and demonstrate how to fix their stance or steps.

It had already been three hours since they had started and none of the fighters were indicating that they were done, all of them were so consumed with this training that no one notice as Aker slipped away.

While they practiced the blocking and avoiding that Aker had showed them, Aker was on his way to the kitchen "They are working hard today, I should make a hefty breakfast so they can keep up their strength".