New Day

On the first day of training, Diana was not exactly patient with the young Illya. She began their training by going all out in combat. The brazen Diana fought in a way that would make anybody believe it was a battle to the death.

The Jarl’s weapon of choice was a scimitar. It was a short, single-edged, sharply curved blade. This was not Diana’s primary weapon of choice, but she found the curvature of the blade to be advantageous on horseback. While the sword in close quarters was lighter and swift in one’s hands compared to the swords that men tended to use.

The young Illya found it difficult to evade her strikes, often getting cut by her attacks. Diana’s swordplay was on another level compared to his. She took advantage of the curvature of the blade, which excelled greatly at delivering powerful slashes and cuts.

It allowed the user to remain agile. Her sword allowed her to deliver swift strikes and to withdraw from her opponent, without risking getting struck.

Illya wielded a straight sword. It was a double-edged sword that was designed to be used with a singular hand. This allowed Illya to carry his shield in his other hand. Illya’s sword lacked the elegance that Diana’s possessed, his blade was designed to thrust.

Diana effortlessly delivered slash after slash across his arms, intent on making it harder for him to wield his sword. Ilya was growing tired at her endless assaults, while her slashes were shallow — it still stung — because she delivered her attacks with her energy infused into them.

It had not been half an hour, and yet Illya felt cornered by her endless assault. Noticing his lack of tolerance, Diana grew furious — this time she would strike his wrist. To her, it was a miracle that Illya did not die in the last campaign. He fought sluggishly and lacked the discipline to maintain his stance.

In a display of her speed, Diana attacked him with greater force and precision. Each strike landed on Illya, slashing his torso and neck even. He was unable to keep up with her pace, and this disgusted her even more.

In an attempt to keep up with her, Illya began to focus on the tip of her sword — it was the part of her sword that could help him pinpoint her next strike. When Diana had become certain of being able to cut his wrists, she pursued him with no fear. To her surprise, Illya had anticipated her strike, using his shield to deflect her strike, causing Diana’s eyes to widen in shock.

Immediately, Diana stepped back, trying to keep her distance from him.

‘He managed to defend that one,’ she thought, her eyes locked with Illya’s. ‘Perhaps, there is hope, after all.’

‘She retreated,’ he thought. ‘I better use this momentum to get on the offensive.’

Illya stepped forward, intent on being the first to make the move. Diana raised an eyebrow, surprised to see her student making the advance this time around. She welcomed it.

Illya slowly approached her — his shield in his left hand and his sword in his right. With a swift, practiced motion, he shot the point of his sword at her throat, forcing her to move out of the way.

Diana’s soul nearly left her body, causing her heart to beat rapidly from the scare. Illya would have killed her if she had not evaded him. On the other hand, Illya was satisfied with himself, finding himself fulfilled by forcing her to evade him.

The Jarl was not pleased by his smirk, believing herself to have found one of the fundamental flaws of his approach to battle — his pride. She intended to shatter that pride here and now. To her, there was no room for pride in battle. The only thing battle has room for is death.

In a display of dominance, she came at him with the intent to kill. Her attacks were a lot more ferocious than before, but they still carried the same elegance that she had displayed earlier. Illya was unable to keep up with her — this time she was delivering deep slashes onto his body, causing him to grit teeth from the pain.

First things first, she sliced the wrist that held the shield, causing him to drop it on the ground. Next, she spun around him to deliver a brutal slash from behind, which she used this opportunity to stab her blade through his other arm.

She had pinned him down to the ground, leaving him completely immobilized.

“Diana!” he groaned.

She retrieved her blade from his arm, alleviating the pain that he felt. “You are worse than I thought!” she exclaimed. “At this rate, I will have to fight Alkibiades myself, Illya!”

He faltered to his knees. The boy grabbed onto his arm, wreathing in the pain that she had inflicted on him. “I thought,” he said. “You were going to go easy on me! I did not think you were serious about this!”

“Oh, please,” she retorted, finding his cries to be pathetic and hypocritical. “You nearly took me earlier. Do not cry when it happens to you. Now come here, boy, I will fix it, and we will continue our training.”

Illya stood on his feet, walking on over to his master. She grabbed onto his arm tightly — causing Illya to squirm in the pain — she smiled.

“I did not think you would like to see me in pain,” Illya commented, his voice having some sass to it.

“Only when it is between us,” she replied. “Now, now, it should be fixed now.”

In a matter of seconds, she had healed the wound on his arm. Diana possessed the ability to heal herself and others. Albeit healing from another person is less effective than healing oneself.

Illya swung his arm around, still feeling a slight pain in his arm. However, it was better than what he had felt before. Diana ordered him to grab his sword and blade. The two warriors returned to their stances, each eying the other — almost as if provoking each other to make the first move.

At that moment, the boy decided to throw his shield aside — a complete shock to Diana, who could not tell whether he was arrogant or believed in his own capability to defend himself without the shield.

It was all the same for her. He was not capable of getting one over her, especially not on their first day of training. Illya briefly closed his eyes, recalling that power he had against the Nori.

That power. Where did it go? Not only has his energy control become sloppy, but he was unable to call for that power.

Diana noticed his heavy breathing as he stood there. She did not like it one bit, and so she decided to make the first move out of spite.

“Do you think,” she barked, furious at his lack of engagement in the battle. “That Alkibiades will give you the courtesy of standing there to collect your thoughts?”

At that moment of fury, Illya was able to tap into that power. His desperation and call were answered as he deflected Diana’s sword. This left Diana’s side vulnerable — it was the perfect opportunity to strike.

Illya did not hesitate. In a swift and calculated attack, he struck her. Although she wore armor — it did not matter because Illya too struck with his energy infused onto his sword. The attack shattered her armor, penetrating her from inside.

She coughed out blood, proving the attack to have hit a critical point. For the first time, Diana knelt before him — unable to keep herself afoot.

‘He struck me,’ she muttered. ‘He pierced my liver…’

As she knelt there, Illya did not run over to comfort her. Diana was capable of handling herself and more. He waited for her to finish healing herself — this time, he watched her closely in an attempt to learn from her.

“So, you managed to land an attack on me,” she said, her voice filled with pride and joy. “I do not know how you did it, but something about your attack just now felt more potent. This is the first time somebody has brought out this feeling — this thrill of battle!”

“I will do my best from here on out,” Illya said. He reentered his stance, showing his conviction to get through this.

“Good,” she replied. “From here on out, I will put in the effort to kill you, like you were Alkibiades himself.”

“Fine, by me,” Illya said, “Come!”

And she did just that. Diana had not used her power in a long time, oftentimes not finding a worthwhile opponent to be worthy of it. She believed him to be worthy. Something about Illya had changed — had he tapped into his power unknowingly?

Just now, his strike and speed had increased significantly. A jump like that, could not be from simple reinforcement of energy onto one’s body and sword — no — this was different.

He had grown in power significantly — his crimson aura made it obvious. If she had to guess what his power was — it was most likely something that had to do with multiplying his power.

The question was — how far can he multiply his power? The drawbacks of such a power must be significant — if he had just tapped into it, right now.

It did not matter how strong he got — to her — it was irrelevant. Up until now, nobody had been able to triumph against her.

There was a reason that she was selected to be the Jarl of Stalavat over her sisters — she was the strongest out of them. Despite her great strength, she was forbidden to use her power against fellow maidens and defenders.

Within the walls of Stalavat, Diana III was forced to make a binding pact with the committee of Stalavat to ensure that she never used her power against her own people. They feared that Diana could rebel against them — her powers proving to be difficult to combat if she ever went rogue. Henceforth, restrictions were placed on her ability to use her power and realm.

Albeit, the restrictions of the realm were much greater than her base power.

Unbeknownst to Illya, Diana had activated her power. As she approached him, everything felt normal. He was certain that she would attempt to pierce him — a move so predictable that he found it unlike her — this was his first mistake.

As she thrust her sword forward, trying to strike his chest, the boy prepared to block. In that instance, he pulled his blade forwards — just to realize that he had pulled it backwards. Illya was bewildered by what he had done — he was certain that he had pulled his blade forward!

This gave Diana the opening she had been waiting for — piercing her sword into his chest. The boy’s knees buckled under the weight of her strike. She pulled her sword out of his chest, leaving him to fall onto his knees.

Diana was not finished, she intended to finish him off — for good. He had foolishly shown mercy to her prior — allowing her to heal herself. She would not do such a thing. In a moment of weakness, she relentlessly bashed her foot into his skull — each kick reinforced with her energy.

The boy was defenseless — he took every single blow. Afterward, he eventually fell onto his back — the pupil of his eyes gone. He laid there in defeat — unconscious with his face battered.

Satisfied with herself, she gazed at her student, who she had beaten to a bloody pulp.

“You lasted longer than I expected,” she said, her words sincere and proud. “Perhaps I am the proper person to train you, Illya. A monster, like him, will be capable of this and more…”

Eventually, she sank into the ground, pulling Illya’s head into the soft cradle of her lap. She wiped the blood off his face with her handkerchief, not wanting to see him like this any longer. The stern teacher disappeared at that moment — the woman that loved Illya emerged from within to take care of him.

Diana began to apply her touch on his wound, attempting to close the wound that she had caused. He had far more left to give her — she knew, he was capable of more than this. It took some time to fix his wound — perhaps she had gone too far with him.

His pulse remained, but he remained unconscious throughout the process. After an hour, the young boy opened his eyes, muttering to himself nonsense. Diana’s face lightened up — she had begun to grow worried about his condition.

Illya looked up at her, smiling at Diana — who was the very first thing he saw. “You sure put a beating on me, love,” he said.

Diana face turned red from his warm words. She wrapped her arms around his head in a protective embrace. “I apologize for it,” she whispered. “It was not my intention to harm you, but -”

“No, it is fine,” he replied. “You did what any other opponent would have done.”

“Good for you, to see it that way,” she said, her guilt disappearing as quickly as it came. “Illya, love, if you were defeated like that — I cannot be confident in your ability to take on the position of general.”

“Your lack of experience is concerning,” she continued, her voice sounding worried and doubtful. “I may have to join you for this campaign.”

“You join me?” Illya said, his voice sounding down and hurt. “I guess, I really am that weak, huh?”

“Weak? No,” Diana replied, her voice more compassionate. “It is just not wise to put you in a position to fail. From what I heard, Bay was a much more experienced fighter than you, and he even struggled to take on Alkibiades.”

“Look,” she continued. “If you really want to be the main act, you have to get up, right now! You must make every minute count in your training.”

Illya smiled at her words, finding her to be quite the adorable motivator. “With a face like that, it is hard to not get back up.”

Diana was not amused by the playful comments, smacking him across the head. “Take this seriously, please,” she demanded. “Your charms may have worked on me prior, but you have no idea how I am when it comes to matters like these.”

With her words loud and clear, the two began another session of training. This time, the young Illya found himself on edge for hours, struggling to adapt to her power. A power so simple, yet so terrifying. Despite his troubles, there was one singular moment that revealed how to counterattack her.

Illya closed his eyes, deciding to fight by instinct and not sight. He had to process the idea of his senses being distorted. The left is now right. Down was up. Forward was backwards. In his first attempts of fighting with instinct, he struggled to find results.

Diana was relentless — she continued to slash and nick him. The boy had resorted to reinforcing his entire body with his energy in an attempt to weaken the attacks of Diana.

Diana noticed his effort. However, she found it odd that he had chosen to close his eyes — instantly what came to her mind: was he trying to adapt?

This was the first time an opponent lasted this long against her. The opponent never had the luxury of time against her — henceforth, they had never adapted to her power. Although, it was incredibly difficult to overcome her ability.

Not even the most gifted fighter could overcome her, but that all changed when Illya, for the first time in hours, blocked her strike with his blade.

Diana’s eyes widened, shocked to witness somebody adapt to her. “Y-You blocked me!?”

His eyes still closed, he grinned. “That was troublesome, to say the least. From here on out, I will fully adapt to you and surpass you.”

“Surpass me?” she repeated, her voice thrilled, yet irritated at his arrogance. “Boy, I have yet to go all out…”

“You might want to,” he chuckled, his aura intensifying. “Because I will not only adapt, but I will also master my power here and now!”

The sun rose and fell over the walls of Stalavat four times. Their concept of time had completely been altered. Not at one point in these four days, did the two warriors stop to rest or eat.

By the second day, the shield maidens and the defenders murmured amongst themselves. They had never seen anyone — man or woman — stand against the Jarl for an hour — since, Alexander, that is.

By the third day, Illya adapted to Diana’s power. Illya no longer had to close his eyes to combat her. Diana’s armor and her padded garments were worn out. Illya was covered in cuts that had no chance to heal, showing the boy had not picked up on how to heal himself yet.

As the sun went down on the fourth day, their movements began to grow sluggish. The ground and sole of their boots had been leveled by the friction of their intense training.

Diana stood at the far end, her scimitar trembling slightly in her hand. Her hair was a wild mane, and her eyes were glowing with a terrifying light to them. She looked at Illya, who stood with his legs shaking, but his gaze remained fixed and unbreakable.

“Four days,” she huffed, her voice tired and dry. “You have lasted.”

“You cannot be surprised,” Illya panted, a single drop of sweat falling from his chin to the ground. “I can last long in most things. You should know.”

“You darn —” she retorted, her voice irritated by playfulness.

“Unable to finish your sentence?” he said. “How about you admit that I have adapted?”

She laughed. “Is this what all this is about? Yes, Illya, you have adapted to me — happy?”

“Very happy,” he replied, lowering his blade. “So happy that I could...”

Illya faltered on the ground, unable to finish his sentence. Diana was the last one standing, exhausted too, from their training. Diana’s legs began to tremble — her body unable to handle more of the training..

She looked down on his body. He laid his face flat on the ground, snoring. Diana smiled at the sight of this.

“Had you not fallen first,” she smiled, her knees buckling under her weight. “I would have.”

Diana too fell face flat, out of exhaustion from their training. The two slept for the next eight hours and continued to train until the time came.

A month has passed.

Rostov began to march towards Belomas. The day had finally come for the campaign to begin. Illya stood on foot, awaiting Rostov to arrive. He wore a new set of light, reinforced armor provided by Diana — who found him worthy of such armor.

Diana approached him, not as a teacher or lover, but as a Jarl. She was fully armored, her scimitar sheathed at her hip.

“Remember,” she said quietly, standing beside him. “We will not engage Alkibiades until he weakens him.”

She turned to him, her eyes softening just for a second. “He could not be expecting us to be the closing act. We must use this element of surprise to our advantage, Illya.”

“I know, Diana,” he said, his voice steady. “He will be a big help against Alkibiades. It is a shame, I could only train with him for a week.”

“He and I are not on good terms,” she replied. “When I told him about Alkibiades, I knew he would not back away from the challenge.”

Illya chuckled. “You woman, sure know how to have men eating from your hand.”

“Of course,” she said, her face prideful and proud. “I spent my whole life managing them — why would I not be able to move them as I wish, dear?”