The Strength of a Knight

With the loud crack of her wooden staff breaking, Hilda rolled into the far wall before collapsing onto her stomach.

“Stand,” Mania ordered.

With fresh bruises and blood pouring from her mouth, Hilda shakily stood up and straightened her back.

“Rearm yourself.”

Hilda slowly walked towards the stand of wooden battle staves, took one and moved back into the circle Mania had drawn.

Stood across from her, untouched, was a Machai holding an identical stave, though his had several indents and blood splatters on it.

“Again. Try to successfully parry the Machai this time. If you can’t defeat a Machai, how can you possibly be our Master’s knight? Machai, don’t hold back but don’t kill her.”

The Machai nodded and readied itself, putting one foot forward and holding the staff in both hands.

Hilda, despite her injuries, did the same.

Mania’s training had been brutal from the beginning and today had been no exception.

The training had been so intense that Mania had secretly sent a servant to buy a crate of healing potions specifically for Hilda to use after their sessions. Thanks to that, Hilda’s injuries, no matter how awful, were properly treated.

After the first two days, Mania asked Hilda if she’d changed her mind or wanted to stop, but Hilda shook her head defiantly.

“…I won’t…stop.”

Mania had assumed it was something like pride or stubbornness that kept Hilda from admitting defeat but, in the following sparring sessions, Hilda had gotten better every time.

She perfectly absorbed all of Mania’s teachings about tactics, weapon techniques, stances, situational awareness, and her reflexes had gotten much sharper.

After a week, Hilda had defeated her first skeleton; then, just a week later, she had defeated three at once.

Mania realised there was no point in having her battle weaklings, so she brought a Machai in for Hilda to spar with, and the results had been as she expected.

Hilda had been beaten, bruised, had bones break and cuts emerge across her body, but still kept going until Mania decided Hilda reached her limits.

One of the maids who tended to Hilda after their sessions had gone to check on Hilda in the night, expecting her to have night terrors or trouble sleeping.

However, Hilda had been sleeping peacefully and that creeped Mania out a little.

Today’s training had been no different.

The Dark Lord himself said that they weren’t strong enough to destroy Themis, and they needed everyone to pull their weight.

“Begin.”

Mania would turn Hilda into an unbeatable knight worthy to serve the Dark Lord, no matter how brutal or cruel her training methods had to be.

No doubt the little one would be angry with me if she could see this, Mania thought with a bemused smile. I wonder what kind of face she’d make if she saw this first hand.

Mania almost laughed but bit down on her lip before she did. “I can’t think like that. I can’t disappoint Master again.”

Even after the Dark Lord’s warning, Mania struggled to control her succubus nature, especially her sadistic nature.

A loud crack echoed again and, in Mania’s mind, she had already guessed what had happened; Hilda had been sent flying again and that would be the end of their training session for the day.

However, to Mania’s surprise, the staff that had broken was the Machai’s.

Perplexed, both the Machai and Mania stared at Hilda who was so exhausted that she had to use her staff to support herself.

She coughed up blood and slid onto her knees, which prompted a nearby servant to give her a healing potion.

She struggled to get out of bed not too long ago; how can she be this strong? Mania wondered. Is it her natural talent or is it the strength of her devotion?

Mania smiled and clapped, impressed with Hilda’s growth.

“Excellent work. You can take the rest of the day off. Escort Hilda back to her room and have a maid tend to her needs.”

“At once, my lady,” the Machai growled.

It lifted the panting Hilda into its arms and left immediately.

Once she was alone, Mania folded her arms and thought about Hilda’s training.

She had struggled against the Machai in single combat, just as she had against the skeletons three weeks ago, but now she was capable of destroying a Machai’s weapon in battle.

“Why is Hilda this strong when the castle guards were so weak?”

Does it secret lie in her or in her training?