User blog:Rexis12/Early years.

“Front and centre!!”

The group of trainees stomp their foot and stood at attention, their chainmail armour clinking as they did. A woman walked past each and every one of the trainees, her  blue eyes had a powerful sense of authority that made some of the trainees gulped as she walked past them. Her armour, heavy-looking steel armour that covered every inch of her, gave the woman an imposing figure. Her sword, a powerful looking broadsword, sheathed in her white scabbard dangled slightly from her right waist, her light grip on the weapon made sure that the trainees were staring ahead instead of her.

The woman finished her examination and stood of front of the formation, her mouth was pulled into a scowl. She brushed a lock of her green hair “This is all I have to work with? A bunch of pampered weaklings?” She said out loud, her statement caused a few trainees to wince, “Just a reminder for all of you, you are now currently worthless” Her eyes swept across the formation, trying to sense any weakness, she saw some gave her a snarl. “Right now you are nothing more than lunch to the monsters out there” she jabbed her thumbed into her chest, the steel clanged on impact  “But lucky for you I’m going to be training you, and when I’m through, each and every one of you are going to be stone cold Order warriors” her eyes noticed the flash of different emotions in the trainees eyes.

She saw the fear in the younger ones, excitement in some of the adventurous ones, indifference in some, she allowed a small grimace to appear on her lips, these poor souls had probably seen more than they should. She saw a Scottish looking one with a barely noticeable grin on his face, a man who looked like he was from Zipangu give a blank stare, two brothers who looking left and right anxiously and a young man whose knees looked ready to buckle underneath him.

She let out a loud growl, forcing the trainees to jerk back into attention “Now you little shits better prepare” she suddenly drew her sword, the blade glinted in the sunlight, the runes that were inscribed gave a homey golden glow. The sight of the blade made the trainees look at it in awe, she suddenly slashed the air in front of her making a few take a step back. Her blue eyes seemed to shine brighter as her green hair framed it “Because I’m going to make your training a living hell” she stated with a grin, scaring the trainees even more.

She twirled the blade before sheathing it, “Now get up and give fifty laps” she barked, the trainees fumbled before they ran in their respective formations. She saw the young man stumbled and fall on his knees before he quickly got up. Her grin widened, ‘This is going to be fun’ she thought to herself.

Team building

“Come on, march forward you maggots” the trainees marched faster at the order. They were all panting, the heavy armour they made them wear was nothing compared to the human shaped weights that they were lugging on their shoulders. The trainer’s blue eyes shot to any that were slowing down, immediately followed by her angry bark of orders forcing them to follow the speed of the others. Some like the Scottish and Zipangu one were far ahead, moving without a falter in their strides, inspiring others to do the same. Some would suddenly stop their march and hunch over in exhaustion for a short while, looking ready to pass out, before a comrade would quickly encourage them to move. This brought a smile to her lips, teamwork was what this was about, not moving faster nor lasting longer.

As she marched along her squad, her eyes noticed that surprising lack of  a particular young man. Her eyes scanned the groups and found that he was in neither of them, immediately she scowled. Her order to stop their march was interrupted by a pained grunt, fromwaybehind the formation. She slowed her march, being careful not to disrupt the marching formation. Once she reached the trainee, she saw the exhaustion in his movements, his hands were barely holding onto the weight, his breathing was dangerously rapid making it easier for the man to get dehydrated. Before she could get close, he suddenly collapsed, falling forward painfully, he grunted as the weight fell to his right side forcing him to fall to his side.

“Recruit!” She exclaimed in surprise, she rushed toward him. He gave an clumsy salute when he saw the woman kneeled in front of him “C-c-captain Min-Minerva” he breathed out heavily, his eyes closed and opened in an attempt to stay conscious while his legs tried to get him to a standing position. Immediately Minerva, grabbed his arm to assist him into a vertical base “Come on recruit, you handled tougher, so don’t pass out on me now” she grunted as he stumbled before managing to stand upright “So get up and keep marching” she told him reassuringly while still keeping her authoritative tone. A tired grunt of conformation was her reply as the trainee grabbed the weight and marched forward, breathing heavily the entire time.

Minerva gave the trainee a worried look. He was one of the more problematic recruit regarding his physical abilities, he was arguably the weakest of her entire squad, he would be the first to hunch over in exhaustion, the first to fall in any combat situation, she was worried of his health as he has shown to be sick rather frequently. Yet what stopped her from disposing him and telling him to work in a farm, was how he interacted with other members of her squad. At first because of his less than stellar fighting abilities she would assumed he would be an outcast, but whenever he was around she could practically feel the atmosphere lighten, she could feel his friendliness radiate off him, and whenever he joins a group in any activities, said group would perform wonderfully, even if the group consisted of incompetent trainees. She had seen him rouse the spirits of others, lifting their confidence even if they would fail. All in all she could see that he would become an excellent leader in the future.

Maybe it was because of that she had taken a liking to the man. Not to the point of affection mind you, she was still a captain and her main priority was to train her squad into the toughest group of monster hunters. But she wasn’t ashamed to admit that with his natural charisma, he would make for a far better leader than her. At her own reminder of her training, she noticed that he was still far behind the others, she turned and gave him a sneer “Come on recruit, are you going to just stay behind them like a wimp?” She shouted. He shook his head and increased his speed, while she followed him.

Not long after they caught up with the others, another trainee smiled and clapped the him back, causing both of them to stumble. While marching the two talked with each other as well as the other members of the group, probably to keep their spirits up from Minerva’s training. The captain herself gave a slight nod and marched towards the others. Until she heard a few words from their conversation.

Though three words stood out to her it was ‘lucky’, ‘captain’ and ‘jealous’, she snarled and turned towards the conversation, she ordered them to focus on marching, not flapping their gums. An order they quickly followed. She moved forward in the formation, slightly agitated, though there were some truth in their words. It was fairly obvious of her liking towards her ‘recruit’ heck the nickname should’ve given it away already, something which she noticed that the others had (Good naturedly) teased him about. She gave a sharp sigh, she noticed in the corner of her a trainee was staring at her. “Eyes up front” She barked, making the trainee turn her head in front of her.

Different race, same heart.

The Scottish man bashed his shield forward, knocking his opponent down on his ass. “C’moan laddie ye hae tae dae better than 'at.” he said with a smile, he rolled his shoulders and playfully swung his sparring sword “Cause ye wooldn't lest lang in a real barnie if ye keep gettin' knocked doon loch thes”. His opponent groaned and stood up, picking up his wooden sword that had been knocked from his hand when he fell, “Forgive me, for not possessing your Scottish strength Balthair” he replied sarcastically to the man.

<p class="MsoNormal">His reply, a boisterous laugh “Th' wey ye blether aye amuses me Hannie” he chuckled out. His sparring partner scoffed and took his stance “It’s very reassuring that my way of talking is a source of amusement to you” he deadpan. Balthair chuckled before shaking his head, he resumed his fighting stance and smirked at him.

<p class="MsoNormal">Then he suddenly charged, catching his partner off guard. Allowing him to backhand the poor man to the ground again. “Hah is that th' best ye git?” Balthair taunted, in retaliation his opponent jumped to his feet with surprising speed and dashed towards him. Balthair quickly raised his shield, he grunted in surprise with he rammed his opponent rammed himself into his shield with his own.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Here you go” Han said energetically as he swung his shield outwards, using his momentum to force Balthair’s shield out of the way. Quickly Balthair brought his sword down, but a quickly parry from Han caused him to recoil, taking the advantage he twisted his body and slammed his shoulder into the Scottish man’s chest, pushing him back.

<p class="MsoNormal">Balthair looked at Hans with an amazed expression, he smiled “Ye'r a quick jimmy Hans” he told him. Grinning Hans swung his wooden sword in a quick zig-zag “You have your strength, so I have use something else to take you down” he replied. “Aye ye do” He laughed good-naturedly.

<p class="MsoNormal">[Scene]

<p class="MsoNormal">“I think it would be better if we were to form multiple defensive lines up front. This would give us a good human blockade in case of an attack” the man moved pencils, placing them in a horizontal lines to represent their formation. The man in front of him raised an eyebrow “But Zeph, If you place them like this one strong blow from a frontal assault could possibly end us in one fell swoop” he grabbed one of the pencils, and turned it vertically “Besides, focusing too much on a frontal attack could spell an end to us if we were to be attacked from the sides” he pointed out.

<p class="MsoNormal">Zeph gave the pencil formation a look, he grabbed another pencil, a smaller one and placed it inside the box like formation “If you put like that Hans, then we have to put extra members in the middle if one were to sneak inside it” he then proceeded to grabbed other smaller pencils and placed them inside the formation, while replacing the ones that form the box like formation, with shorter one.

<p class="MsoNormal">His black eyes flicked towards the man “And that would stretch our squad, making us less effective in facing monsters in large numbers” Zeph then proceeded to move the pencils back in their original positions, although this time he place shorter pencil on each end of the horizontal pencils “This formation would be the most optimal, as it would allow us to defend from the front and the sides as well as giving a good opportunity to push an attack” He finished and leaned back in his seat, a small smirk on his face.

<p class="MsoNormal">His partner could only stare slack jawed, he chuckled “Shit Zeph, you should really apply as a strategist when you join. I mean you could save a lot of lives wit-” “They don’t kill, only abduct” Zeph interrupted. Hans blinked “What?” he asked, Zeph gave him a blank stare “There monsters don’t kill as they used to. Instead they abduct and rape, and they keep doing it until your mind breaks and you fool yourself into thinking that you enjoy It. Personally I preferred when they just killed you, at least when that happens to a friend, you know that they’re gone for good and that they just die, instead they become sperm bank to some horny demons” He muttered the last part.

<p class="MsoNormal">Hans placed a comforting hand on Zephs shoulder “Hey man, I know it sucks, but remember we’re fighting so that the we can save human race from extinction and by extension the Elves and the Dwarves” He gestured to the pencils “And with your strategic mind, you would be a great asset in that fight. So it’s no use lamenting about how the past used to be and we should focus on how we make the future” he told the man. Zeph nodded and muttered a “thank you.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“By the way” Hans suddenly started, snapping Zeph out of his depressed state “Why do you have so many pencils?” He asked curiously. The Zipangu man couldn’t help but chuckle “Drawing wears them down surprisingly fast” he admitted.

<p class="MsoNormal">Reluctant pride

<p class="MsoNormal">It happened, after god knows how many months years at her hands, her squad was officially trained to be Order Knights, well those who made it anyway. She watched with concealed glee as they stood in their Order steel waiting for their turn to be called. They accepted the badges with honour, though she could see the dismissal look in Blathairs eyes, even though he smile and gave a polite thanks as he took the badge from the hero Wilmarina. Minerva was with the other captains who were charged with training the troops, her eyes would lit up whenever a member of her squad was called to receive their badge, or course she still kept her stoic pose and face as she was supposed to.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Number Sixteen Zephyr Gin”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Number Thirty-Two Lodan Fulcrum”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Number Sixty-Three Oliver John”

<p class="MsoNormal">As this went on, she felt an odd sense of worry, she knew that the numbers were already designated for a graduate, but the feeling that her ‘recruit’ wasn’t going to be called made her shift uncomfortably. However she maintained her posture and watched as the rest was called, she needed to calm down.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Number Ninety-Six Hans Markus”

<p class="MsoNormal">Minerva let out a sigh of relief which was followed by a barely noticeable squeal. She watched her ‘recruit’ went up the stage and accepted the badge from the hero. His brown eyes were sparkling with excitement, and he looked ready to burst as well as many others. But the years of disciplined training prevented them from acting as such.

<p class="MsoNormal">While Minerva watched proudly, a sudden feeling of paranoia filled her. She watched what remained of her squad, immediately a vision of each and every one of them dead flashed in her head causing her to stiffen, before immediately relaxing. She shut her eyes to calm herself, she opened them and found herself staring at Hans. This time the vision of him getting dragged away appeared her mind, the sight of him screaming in terror as a monster grabbed his ankles and pulled him back to their lair assaulted her thoughts. She let out a sharp gasp, catching attention of the other captains, she quickly let out a fake cough, diverting the attention away.

<p class="MsoNormal">Whether it worked or not she didn’t know. She was focused on her squad, feeling a bit apprehensive to see the trainees that she’s been for ear to be sent into combat. In short she didn’t want to see them die. The pride that she held suddenly felt wrong.

<p class="MsoNormal">Reluctant battling

<p class="MsoNormal">Placing his foot on the Minotaurus’s chest, he pushed her off his sword, the blade slid out of her covered in her blood, to which he quickly shook off. One couldn’t be too careful with monster blood. ‘Still’ Hans said in his head as he examined the dead Minotaurus ‘’ll never get over the fact they look like this’ he turned away from the monster and sheathed his blade. He looked at his comrades, who had also dealt with their monsters. A quick ambush nearly took them out, good thing no one was killed though as that would’ve made their expedition a lot harder. He was still queasy about killing them despite this being his forth mission

<p class="MsoNormal">Oliver, a man with black eyes and platinum hair, sat on a tree stump with a sigh. “Sheesh, these cows really were persistent” He said out loud, gaining a few affirmative nods from the others. “Do you guys think they know we’re headed to that mamono village to clear it out?” He asked the others, Hans scoffed “If you keep saying it out loud like that, maybe they would” He replied in a condescending tone, getting a few chuckles from the others.

<p class="MsoNormal">Hans couldn’t help but notice something “Hey Olive, where’s your brother?” He asked. Oliver gave Hans a sideway glance “Didn’t you hear, he didn’t make the cut” he said simply, he stretched his arms forward “They said that he was a wild card or something? I dunno, military excuses” He explained. Hans cringed a bit “Yesh, sorry man” The platinum haired man gave a dismissive wave “Eh, don’t worry about It, It’s not too big of loos him or me, we just joined because we had nothing else to do. He’d safer back home though, assuming he doesn’t go into the woods to be a hunter” He added the last part with a chuckle.

<p class="MsoNormal">They stayed like this for a while, before the squad commander told them to move. The got back into formation and headed towards their destination.

<p class="MsoNormal">Once they reached the village Hans couldn’t help but scowl slightly. There was nothing going on in the village, everything was peaceful, but it seems that any village that held these monsters were supposed to be wipe-out. He knew that when he joined the army he would be killing them, but he felt wrong doing this.

<p class="MsoNormal">They proceeded to attack. Hans charged forward with a group of other soldiers to clear out the village. Hans had a heavy heart every time he slashed his blade at a ‘unholy’ couple as they told him. He felt slightly disgusted as he plunged his sword into a man or monster trying to protect themselves. This feeling didn’t leave even after he completed the mission.

<p class="MsoNormal">Not the bad guys

<p class="MsoNormal">Hans let out a frustrated growl, he had lost sight of a fleeing succubus. The demon had made her ways through the alleyways and had eluded the lone soldier. Hans was too focused on chasing her, he had left him to be isolated. The hope of a monster not taking advantaging of him was high in his heart.

<p class="MsoNormal">The fluttering of leather wings caught his ears. He followed the sound and found the same succubus, this time accompanied by her husband, a middle aged man who looked really odd with the young succubus. Said demon noticed his presence and hissed at him. She gently laid the man against a wall, who weakly reached out to her as she took to the skies with a flap of her wings. Hans was quick enough to raise his shield when she fired a spell towards him. He moved around trying to force the succubus to land, an aerial battle with her was suicide and with him being isolated it would be a matter of time before other monsters would jump him.

<p class="MsoNormal">He finally coerce the demon to land when he started throwing rocks and manage to hit her left eye. “You Order scum, can’t you see you’re causing harm?!” She hissed at him as she clutched the bleeding eye, causing Hans to flinch as memories of his precious mission flashed in his head, he shook his head and pointed his blade at the succubus before charging towards her. The demon made use of her agility to swiftly evade Hans’ sword strikes.

<p class="MsoNormal">Feinting a right swing, he quickly bashed his shield forward when she fell for the ploy. Disoriented, Hans quickly followed up with quick slashes ending with her knees, forcing her to fall to her knees. As he was about to finish her off her husband called weakly towards him begging him not kill her, Hans stayed his hand just as the blade touched her neck. He saw the sadness in the man’s eyes, doubt filled his heart again, ‘Are they really the bad guys’ he doubted in his head.

<p class="MsoNormal">The succubus took the opening and darted forward, unfortunately with his years of training instinct caused Hans to reacted just in time to step back and to thrust his sword forward. He watch with slight horror as the succubus impaled herself on his sword. “No” her husband  cried out.

<p class="MsoNormal">His grip on his sword faltered as he stumbled back, he felt like he was having a panic attack. He stared as the husband seemed to crawl towards her in desperation, he felt his breathing get heavier as he softly touched his dead wife. “This is wrong, this is w-” Hans self-doubting was cut off as he saw a green glow emerge from the succubus, while a dark purple glow seemed to evaporate from the man.

<p class="MsoNormal">The green glow rushed towards the man, as soon as the dark purple glow finished leaving the man’s body. As soon as it did, the man took a deep breath and started coughing, he panted as if he had been holding his breath for a long time. His eyes returned to the succubus, this time however he quickly crawled away from the monster. The man looked at the corpse for a while, before his head snapped towards Hans “Is she, is she dead?” he asked in a frighten voice.

<p class="MsoNormal">Hans looked towards the ground in shame “Yes, I-I’m sorry” he muttered. The man looked at the succubus with disbelief, Hans expected him to cry. What he didn’t expect was the man to laugh, not a sad bitter laugh, or a laugh someone would make in acceptance. No it was a laugh of joy and relief “She’s dead, she’s dead! Hahahaha FINALLY, I’M FREE” he shouted happily. He rushed to Hans and quickly embraced the man in a hug “Thank you, thank you, thank you” he repeated, each word was as sincere as the last. This of course only sparked confusion in the Order soldier “W-wait, ar-aren’t you sad that your wife is dead” he asked cautiously.

<p class="MsoNormal">The man released Hans from his embrace to laugh once more, this time it was more cynical and patronizing “Wife? She nothing more than a bloody kidnapper, she took me away from my sons and daughters and kept raping me over and over and over again. She kept using that twisted Demonic magic to make me think that I like what she was doing” He then gave Hans the most thankful look he has ever seen “But you my friend, I thank you a thousand times, you save my life. You killed her and broke her spell and I am in your debt” he told him.

<p class="MsoNormal">Hans couldn’t give a response. At once, any doubt that he had about Order crumbled as he listened to another side of the story, he smiled and laughed softly. He looked at the man with a wide smile “I should thank you, I was just about to abandon Order. But with this, I know that I’m fighting for a right cause, seems like Order doesn’t look like villain to me now” He said, mostly to himself. The man nodded and backed away, he extended his hand to which Hans immediately shook.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Still thanks for saving me, I’m Harold by the way. Used to be a blacksmith before, you know” Harold said. Hans smirked “Hans Markus, Order soldier, so where are you going to go now?” He asked, the former blacksmith thought about it for a moment “I guess I have to head to Lescatie then, It’s the only place where I might be useful. Any other village would’ve probably been taken over by now” he stated. “That’s convenient, my squad is just about to head back to Lescatie” Hans chuckled as he placed a hand on Harold’s shoulder “Let’s just hope you don’t have too much Demonic energy in you” Both of them laughed good-naturedly.

<p class="MsoNormal">Serving the cause.

<p class="MsoNormal">Hans served in Order for the following months to come. While some of their methods proved to be questionable, Hans stood firm with his duty. He reminded himself that most of them were forced to be ‘wed’ to the mamonos and while sometimes he couldn’t save them all, whenever he could save one, he would feel proud.

<p class="MsoNormal">Given the chance, Hans would’ve enjoyed staying with Order until his retirement. Or course fate doesn’t smile too kindly on the optimistic ones.

<p class="MsoNormal">A/N You thought this was going to be a soldier abandons Order. Nope that shit is too cliché for Hans.

<p class="MsoNormal">