Chapter 2:

One on One

One Star Hero


Eden wakes with a smile on his face; he couldn’t stop thinking about being a Legion all night. He jumps out of bed, grabs his Armaments, which are sitting in front of the nightstand, and tosses them over his shoulder. He bursts through the front door and dashes out into the world.

The bright sun greets him as he zooms through the crowded pier like a lightning bolt. Along the way, he spots Sanders fishing.

“Hey, Sanders! I’m going to enroll in the training camp today!” Eden yells as he runs in place.

Sanders laughs and raises his fist toward Eden. “Go give ’em hell, son!”

“Yeah!” Eden bumps his fist into Sanders’s and darts away.

The training camp stands beside the castle of Basintroll. It is surrounded by an enormous brick wall that makes Eden stare up toward the sky. He enters through the steel gates and stands in front of the building. The base is ten times bigger than a noble’s home. It’s made of cobblestones, and at its top, the kingdom’s flag waves in the wind. The banner is white and the emblem on it consists of two fish circling one another in rings of water.

Eden walks up to the main door and opens it. It’s almost quiet inside. Distant lectures and chattering are muffled in the distance. A red rug leads him to a desk where a secretary is sorting through some papers. Just beyond the table is the hall to the training camp, the first step to becoming a Legion.

Golden portraits of groups of students with various types of Armaments hang on the stone walls. Each has a different year on it. Eden smiles at the pictures and paints himself into one of them, thinking he will one day graduate just like them. He approaches the secretary, bouncing up and down on his toes. He yells, “Morning! I would like to enroll in the training camp, please!”

The secretary shoots Eden a pinched expression and hands him some papers to sign, all without saying anything. He snatches the sheets and rushes through them like there is no tomorrow. He thrusts them back at him. A forced smile crosses the secretary’s face, but it disappears immediately as he takes the forms from Eden’s hand. He looks at Eden and back at the papers. Then he sighs loudly and rubs his forehead.

“We don’t accept One Stars here,” the secretary says and forces another smile as he waves his hand at Eden, motioning for him to leave.

“Wait, what?”

“We don’t accept One Stars here unless you are a knight with an enlistment letter.” The secretary avoids eye contact and goes back to sorting papers.

“Why won’t you accept One Stars?” Eden raises his voice and leans forward over the desk.

“Because you One Stars are weak, can’t do anything,” an aggressive voice interrupts them from the door behind the counter.

A tall man with gray hair approaches Eden. The older man wears silver plate armor and has a cigar in his mouth. Eden immediately recognizes him as Raphael Bigge, the noble who runs the training camp and who once served under the king of Basintroll as captain of the knights. In his younger days, he protected the kingdom by single-handedly slaying an entire army of foot soldiers. Raphael has since retired from the role and is now the headmaster of the Legion’s training camp.

Eden has always wanted to meet and learn from such a legend, but as the hero’s eyes narrow on him, that doesn’t look likely. Another person follows behind Raphael and peeks around him at the commotion. Eden’s eyes widen as he recognizes the young man.

“Travis.”

Travis is a young noble with chin-length brown hair and bangs that cover his right eye. He wears the training camp’s uniform, a green vest with a golden collar over a white dress shirt and tan-colored pants. A sword hangs on his hip.

Eden remembers seeing him at the summoning ceremony and his disgusting laugh when he became a One Star. His blood begins to boil. Why is he here?

“Dad, this is the guy I was telling you about yesterday,” says Travis.

Eden flinches at those words. Dad! Travis’s dad is the Raphael?

Raphael raises an eyebrow at his son and then looks at Eden. “One Stars like you should go back to whatever hole you came from.”

“What? No! I came here to train so that I ca—”

“Be a Legion?” Travis scoffs. “You’re a One Star! You can’t do anything.” He chuckles, shaking his head at Eden, and then shrugs. “Just go back to fishing, you Trench rat.”

Eden clenches his hands into fists and glares at Travis. The temptation to draw his weapons and beat him to a pulp gnaws at his mind, but he holds back and breathes deeply.

Raphael looms over Eden with a terrifying glare. He looks like a bear ready to fight. “You One Stars won’t survive out in the real world, and you sure as hell won’t survive in my training camp.” His voice becomes more aggressive with every word. They hit Eden like a blow to the gut. “So I advise you, youngster, go back to fishing.” He takes the cigar out of his mouth and breathes smoke to the side. “Your summoning was for nothing the moment you summoned a low rarity Armament.”

Heat flushes through every inch of Eden’s body, and he shoots a scowl back at the former captain. He takes a step forward until he is toe to toe with Raphael. The air turns heavy, almost as if a storm is brewing.

“One Star this, One Star that. Is that some lame excuse to turn me down?” Eden’s glare ignites like a fire. “Don’t mess with me. I’m going to be a Legion, and I won’t let you pigs get in my way!”

“Oh, if it’s a fight you want, I’ll take you on One Star,” Travis snaps as he steps between his father and Eden. He stands face-to-face with Eden and gloats, “Tell you what, One Star. If you can land one hit, I’ll let you enroll. But when you lose, I’m taking all your money.”

Eden stares coldly at Travis. All he needs is to land one hit on him to get into the camp. “Done!”

Dirt crunches beneath their shoes as Eden follows Travis and Raphael outside. Classes of students are practicing with their Armaments. Students with close combat weapons like swords and axes are trained by repeatedly striking wooden dummies. Students with long-range weapons like bows shoot their arrows at different sized targets. Some students are instructed to spar with each other. A knight shouts encouragement and sets of numbers to a different group doing push-ups, crunches, laps, and other physical training.

Eden and Travis stand a few feet away from each other. Eden immediately draws his weapons, but Travis leaves his hand curled around his sword’s hilt. Why isn’t he unsheathing his Armament? Eden wonders and clicks his tongue.

The students and knights stop what they are doing and gather around, forming a ring around the two. Eden’s chest tightens as the number of students increases by the second. They are all cheering Travis’s name in unison.

A grin crosses Travis’s face. He nods dismissively toward the crowd and then raises his hands to silence them. “Today, I, Travis Bigge, will have a one-on-one match with this One Star. He wins if he can land a single strike on me.”

The crowd of students snicker at those words and eye the One Star.

Rolling his eyes, Eden raises his shield, pulls it close to him, and grips his sword firmly. But his body begins to shake. I’m shaking? His heartbeat increases, and his breathing quickens. He shakes his head and tightens his grip. Regardless, I’m still just one hit away from my dream. Just one hit. Travis’s Armament piques Eden’s curiosity. He doesn’t even know what the rarity or attribute is. Not knowing his enemy’s cards makes him shiver.

Travis notices him staring at his sword and chuckles. “Are you wondering about my Armament?” He flips his hair up, pats it back down, and then grabs the sword’s hilt while smirking at Eden. “It’s called Bronze Talon, Five Star, attribute fire.” Travis pats his sword. His words sound like he’s telling it to everyone.

Fire. That’s one of the nine attributes an Armament can possess. Eden looks at his own Armament and frowns. He doesn’t even know what attribute he has. No use worrying about it now; all that matters in this moment is the fight.

The crowd begins cheering again.

Eden grips his Armaments tighter.

Travis is still in the same position, hand on hilt, ready to draw.

The two boys stand in their places. Seconds feel like hours as Eden stares at Travis like he’s waiting for the noble to blink first.

Travis lunges toward Eden in a flash. His sword sings out of its sheath and cuts downward.

Eden gasps, quickly raises his shield, and squeezes his eyes shut. Metal clashes against metal, letting him know the attack is over and allowing him to finally get a look at Travis’s weapon. The Armament is made entirely of bronze, from tip to pommel. Its pommel is a falcon talon, and its guard is a pair of wings. Along the blade are markings that look like flames, indicating the weapon’s fire attribute. Eden pushes the noble off and jumps back, but Travis closes in and strikes Eden’s shield over and over.

“What’s wrong? Fight back!” Travis shouts.

The bronze sword slams against Eden’s shield once more, but this strike is heavier than any of the other attacks. The impact flings Eden to the dirt, covering his clothes in soil. He grunts and gets back to his feet as quickly as possible, but Travis brings his sword down again in the blink of an eye. Another grunt leaks through Eden’s gritted teeth as he quickly raises his guard, blocking the blade. This time he thrust his own sword at Travis’s chest, but the noble pivots to the right with ease, like it’s nothing.

Eden swings at Travis again. Their blades clash together repeatedly, igniting an array of sparks like fireworks. He’s getting faster! Eden’s eyes widen as Travis’s attacks gradually pick up speed. The air leaves his lungs, slowing him down.

Travis smirks at Eden and smacks him across the face with the flat side of his blade.

Eden yelps in pain and tries to distance himself, but Travis closes in.

“Come on! Come on!” Travis repeatedly shouts, smiling widely. The cold steel blade of Travis’s sword runs across the other side of Eden’s face.

Eden let out a roar and charges, unleashing a storm of slashes. The noble retreats and calmly angles his sword against his attacks.

“Just! One! Hit!” Eden yells.

Travis swings his blade and knocks Eden’s sword out of his hand, making him gasp. Eden grits his teeth and puts up his guard, but Travis grabs the shield and pulls it down. Eden’s eyes widen as the bronze sword appears at the corner of his vision and then slaps across his face once again. Eden yelps and is flung across the field.

Lying on the ground, covered in dirt, and wheezing for air, Eden tries to get up, but his legs buckle. A dark silhouette looms over him. Travis. The noble looks down on him with a smirk on his face.

Everybody watching happily cheers Travis’s name. They give him high fives as they walk away from the One Star.

Eden weakly rises and picks up his sword without looking up from the ground. The laughter and cheering dies down. Everyone looks at Eden with smirks on their faces.

“I told you. One Stars are trash.” Travis laughs. The crowd follows and repeats his words at Eden. “Remember our deal, One Star. All your money.”

Eden sighs and painfully nods without making eye contact with anybody. He grabs his pouch full of gold coins and hands it over to Travis, but the noble grabs Eden’s wrist instead. Pain sears through his arm, making him drop the bag and his weapons and fall to his knees.

“Your attacks and movement are sloppy. I told you, go back to fishing, you trash ass One Star,” Travis hisses. Glaring at Eden as if he can burn holes through his head, Travis tightens his grip on Eden’s arm.

Eden grunts in pain. The pain is so bad, his eyes begin to burn. Travis throws him back onto the ground and walks away, laughing hysterically. Eden rises on shaking legs, picks up his Armaments, and silently leaves the training camp. His vision blurs with tears, but he keeps them from falling. 

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