Suddenly, the rustling wind died down. The leaves fell silent, and an eerie, heavy stillness washed over the entire forest.
Khyber let out a deep breath, resting his hand near his scabbard as he muttered under his breath, "Yes... this is the perfect atmosphere. For your next phase of training, this place is absolutely ideal."
Nearby, a shallow stream gurgled softly, its clear, flowing water filled with fish swimming without a care. By the bank, the door of the hut slowly swung open.
Daker stepped out without a shirt, his movements quiet.
The dim, piercing light of the sun hit his eyes directly. The sudden burst of brightness blinded him, leaving him unable to see anything clearly in the glare. Instantly, Daker raised his hand to shield his face.
Just as the shadow of his hand fell across his face, granting his eyes some relief, the sharp toll of a bell shattered the silence—Tinn...
Stumbling slightly, he took two steps out of the hut and scanned his surroundings. Dozens of bells were hanging from the branches of the trees surrounding the shack, emitting a rhythmic, haunting 'tun... tun...' sound with every faint breeze.
As Daker watched the bells sway, a sudden chill ran down his spine. He sensed someone standing right behind him, dangerously close to his back.
It was none other than Khyber.
Daker's body shuddered. He turned around slowly and, in the next instant, jumped back in pure shock. His heart hammering against his ribs, Daker clutched his chest, exhaling sharply to force the panic out of his lungs.
"Are you trying to kill me before the tournament even begins?!" Daker yelled, glaring at Khyber. "Who sneaks up behind someone like that?!"
Khyber's face twisted into a mocking, mischievous smirk. "I do, kiddo!"
Daker shook his head in sheer frustration. "It's completely useless talking to you."
Khyber shot back instantly, "Then why do you keep doing it?"
Taking a deep breath, Daker looked into Khyber's eyes and asked, "What are you planning to do now?"
The amusement vanished from Khyber's face, replaced by a chilling solemnity. "I am going to blind you."
Hearing those words, Daker froze. The blood in his veins turned to ice. He asked in utter bewilderment, "Have you completely lost your mind?"
Ignoring his panic, Khyber stated coldly, "You were the one who wanted to become the 'Blind Crow Knight,' weren't you? For that, I will plunge you into darkness... and then, I will pluck your eyes out."
The moment those terrifying words left Khyber's mouth, Daker's survival instincts kicked in. In the blink of an eye, he drew the dagger from his waist, the sharp ring of metal cutting through the air. He took a calculated step back and threw himself into a defensive combat stance.
Seeing Daker ready to fight, a demonic, cruel smile spread across Khyber's weathered face.
Before Daker could comprehend the movement or shift his weight, Khyber blurred like a shifting shadow, vanishing into thin air and reappearing directly behind Daker.
Before Daker could launch a counter-attack, Khyber wrapped a thick, pitch-black cloth blindfold around Daker's eyes with terrifying speed and force.
Daker was utterly stunned. Flustered, he reached up to touch his face, realizing it was just a piece of fabric.
"Hahaha...!" Khyber burst into loud, boisterous laughter. The booming sound echoed throughout the dense woods.
Still laughing, he began to pat Daker's bare back forcefully. However, in his burst of over-enthusiasm, he struck Daker's back with such immense force that the young warrior lost his balance and crashed face-first into the dirt.
Daker tried to open his eyes wide in pain and anger, but he was met with nothing but darkness beneath the cloth. Lying on the ground, scratching his head in frustration, he hissed under his breath, "I'll get you for this, old man..."
In the next second, Khyber grabbed Daker's shoulder as if he were a weightless dummy and yanked him straight back to his feet.
Khyber's voice turned dead serious. "Alright kid, your real training begins now. Bells are tied to the trees all around you. I will attack you in tandem with the sound of these bells. You have to do only one thing: focus all your awareness on the sound of the bells and the sound of my voice, and evade my strikes. If I come close and manage to even touch you, you lose, and you will have to start all over again. Understood, boy?"
Controlling his ragged breathing, Daker replied, "Yes, I understand."
Khyber laughed mysteriously. "Good... let's begin."
In the next instant, the atmosphere shifted drastically. Daker stood entirely alone amidst the labyrinth of bells hanging from the trees.
Behind the thick black blindfold, he shut his eyes. He shut out the external world, channeling his entire consciousness and focus into his ears.
Then, slicing through the dead silence, a bell chimed... 'Tun...'
Then another... and a third... then a fourth...
Slowly, one by one, all the bells began to ring, filling the entire area with a disorienting symphony of echoes. An auditory maze had been constructed around him. Daker stood tall, holding a wooden practice sword in his hands, his confidence unshaken.
Suddenly, he heard the sharp, frantic clanging of bells coming from his left. It sounded as if someone was charging toward him at breakneck speed, colliding with the bells along the way.
Using his honed hearing, Daker anticipated the direction of the incoming assault. His muscles tensed, and just as he was about to unleash a counter-strike...
All the bells fell silent at once.
The forest plunged into a suffocating, graveyard stillness. Daker's heart thudded violently. Under the immense pressure, beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, tracing his cheeks before disappearing down his bare neck. His throat felt completely parched from a mix of dread and absolute concentration.
At that exact microsecond, he felt a strange, sudden warmth near his cheek—the unmistakable heat of someone's breath.
Before he could process it, a brutal, heavy blow landed squarely on his face.
Thud!
The impact was so devastating that it sent him crashing hard into the dirt. Fueled by a surge of rage and blinding pain, Daker ripped the blindfold off his face. For a fleeting second, it felt as though someone had slammed an iron sledgehammer into his jaw.
As his blurry vision cleared, he saw Khyber standing over him. In his hand, Khyber held an iron chain, to which a heavy brass bell was attached.
Looking down at Daker with cold disdain, Khyber said, "What did you think? Did you think that tournament is going to be some playground game of tag? If you enter that arena with such a pathetic mindset, anyone will shatter your face into pieces."
Daker's face was already swelling severely. A deep, purplish bruise formed in a straight line right beneath his eye, oozing a trickle of blood. Wiping his mouth, Daker spat out the blood pooling in his jaw.
Without uttering a single word of complaint or asking a question, he tied the black cloth back over his eyes, grabbed his weapon, and forced his battered body to stand tall once more.
Seeing this resilience, a wave of shock rippled through Khyber's mind.
'I struck him with immense force...' Khyber thought to himself. 'Whenever I put other Blind Crow recruits through this nightmare, most of them give up and run away. But this boy... he's built differently. There is definitely something special within this kid...'
A deep, sinister smile curved Khyber's lips. He murmured softly, "Very well... now the real fun begins!"
Khyber executed the exact same maneuver. The bells clanged wildly, creating a dizzying illusion of sound, but this time, he didn't strike Daker with an object. Instead, utilizing his raw physical power, Khyber delivered a devastating kick straight into Daker's stomach.
"Ugh...!"
The wooden sword slipped from Daker's grip, clattering away into the brush. Clutching his abdomen with both hands, he collapsed to his knees with a heavy 'thud.' Blood mixed with saliva began to drip from his lips.
The agony was excruciating, but Daker refused to stay down. Raising his lowered face toward Khyber, an overwhelming, terrifying smile of pure defiance stretched across his bloodied lips. Defying the agony, he began to stand up yet again.
Khyber's eyes widened in utter disbelief. He was completely taken aback. Desperate to crush the boy's unbreakable spirit, Khyber unleashed a barrage of rapid, relentless strikes.
But this time, Daker did not budge an inch. Amidst the searing pain, an old piece of advice from his mother suddenly echoed inside his mind—
"Daker, you gain nothing in life by killing someone..."
The moment those words resurfaced in his consciousness, a jolt of electricity seemed to course through his veins. Without relying on sight, purely gauging the air pressure and the trajectory of the sound, Daker anticipated Khyber's timing.
Dropping low, he lunged forward and locked his arms around Khyber's leg in a vice grip.
Gathering every ounce of his remaining strength, Daker swung Khyber into the air and slammed him into the earth with a catastrophic impact.
Boom!
The collision generated a literal shockwave, the violent vibration causing several bells to snap from the branches and crash to the ground. Upon impact with the hard earth, the bone in Khyber's right shoulder dislocated with a sickening pop.
A fountain of blood erupted from his nose and mouth. A horrific scream of agonizing pain tore from the old man's throat, echoing far into the desolate wilderness.
Khyber was utterly defeated. Against all odds, Daker had cleared this impossible milestone.
Daker's body was completely spent, battered, and drenched in blood, but beneath the fabric of his blindfold, an enigmatic, eerie smile lingered on his lips. Due to the severity of his injuries, Khyber remained unconscious for the rest of the day.
The dark shroud of night had completely enveloped the forest. Commander Seraphina and General Valerius arrived at the clearing to check on Daker.
The moment the Commander and the General stepped inside the threshold of the hut, they froze, horrified by the state Khyber was in. He lay there, bloody and broken.
Relying on his decades of battlefield experience, General Valerius approached the unconscious man. Grabbing Khyber's displaced shoulder, he reset the bone back into its socket with a sharp, synchronized twist.
"Are you alright, Khyber?" the General asked, his voice heavy with concern.
Groaning in agony, Khyber nodded his head weakly. Looking up at the General, he spoke in a raspy, strained voice, "General... I wish to speak with you in private."
Understanding the gravity of the situation, General Valerius nodded. "Very well." With a subtle gesture of his hand, Daker and Commander Seraphina quietly exited the hut without a single question.
Once the door closed behind them, Khyber panted, struggling for breath. "General... there is no longer any need to protect this boy from anyone. I have taught him how to defend himself, how to fight. Now, we have only tonight, tomorrow, and tomorrow night left. In my current state, I am incapable of training Daker in weapon combat tonight."
General Valerius placed a reassuring hand on Khyber's uninjured shoulder. "Do not worry, Khyber. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you have achieved. Even at your age, you have done all of this for our sake."
Khyber exhaled a long, ragged breath. "Valerius... in all my years, I have never seen a boy like Daker. Out of all the recruits I have ever trained, ninety percent of them flee before the first day ends. Very few possess the iron will required to endure the grueling trials of the Blind Crows. Today, Daker proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is entirely worthy of being my disciple. I cannot teach him anything tonight... but tomorrow, I will ensure he masters his favorite weapon. I will condense my lifetime of experience into a single day. I know I cannot make him a master of every weapon in twenty-four hours, but whatever weapon he chooses, I will teach him how to strike the enemy's vitals with absolute precision."
The General nodded grimly. "Understood. Do as you see fit."
Outside the hut, a cool, gentle breeze swept through the woods. The nighttime air had turned crisp and cold, and thousands of fireflies danced in the darkness, resembling tiny, fallen stars against the black backdrop of the forest.
Daker and Commander Seraphina sat quietly near a large rock formation. Breaking the silence, Seraphina asked softly, "Daker, how was your day?"
Looking up at the canopy, Daker let out a long, weary sigh. "Nothing special, Commander..." He paused for a moment before continuing, "I don't know, Commander... all of you are putting your lives on the line to save me, but I am terrified that I might end up failing your expectations."
A flash of fierce determination, mingled with a hint of sorrow, crossed Seraphina's eyes. She reached out, gripping Daker's hand firmly. "If anyone dares to try and take your life, I will leap into that arena myself, Daker. No matter what the consequences may be... I will not let anything happen to you."
A melancholic smile graced Daker's lips. They sat together in comfortable silence for a moment. Trying to lighten the grim mood, Daker said softly, "Commander... why don't we stop talking about these grim things and focus on our fondest memories instead? Who knows if we'll even be here tomorrow..."
Seraphina smiled, nodding her head in agreement. And so, the two spent the rest of the night sharing the most beautiful memories of their lives.
On the other side of the door, General Valerius spent the entire night tending to Khyber, changing his bandages and monitoring his condition. In the midst of it all, the quiet of the night melted into the first light of dawn before anyone even realized it.
The crisp morning light flooded the clearing. Daker was fast asleep, his head resting gently against Commander Seraphina's shoulder.
Suddenly, the door flew open and Khyber stepped out of the hut. Seeing the boy sleeping so peacefully, he roared at the top of his lungs, "Wake up, you foolish, lazy brat!!"
Daker startled awake, jumping up in a panicked frenzy. Blinking away his sleep, he stared at Khyber in utter astonishment, noting that the old man was standing perfectly on his own two feet.
Smirking, Daker taunted him, "Khyber! I thought you died yesterday?!"
Khyber squeezed his eyes shut in sheer annoyance, clenching his fist tightly as his veins popped. "I didn't die, you idiot! I was merely unconscious!"
Daker chuckled, fueling the fire. "For that long?! You parade around calling yourself a legendary Blind Crow, yet you got beaten by a mere child like me!"
That did it. Khyber's temper flared. Moving with supernatural speed, he appeared behind Daker and clamped his weathered hands onto the boy's ears, twisting them mercilessly. "If I weren't an old man, I'd show you what real power feels like, you insolent brat!"
Wincing in pain, Daker huddled into a corner, clutching his throbbing ears. Watching the comedic display, Commander Seraphina and General Valerius couldn't suppress their laughter.
Khyber shot them a lethal glare, his voice booming. "What are you two standing there grinning for?!"
The General and the Commander instantly wiped the smiles off their faces, shaking their heads in unison.
Letting out a long, heavy sigh, Khyber's tone shifted into something deadly serious. "General..."
Hearing his name, General Valerius's demeanor changed instantly. His expression hardened, and he stood perfectly straight.
Khyber continued, "We no longer have the luxury of wasting time. Today and tonight... I will ensure Daker learns to fight with his weapon of choice. But after that, when the next morning arrives... what is going to unfold is something no one could have ever anticipated in their wildest nightmares."
General Valerius turned a stern, unyielding gaze toward Daker. "Daker, whatever Master Khyber teaches you from this moment on, you must learn with absolute discipline and dedication. I will not be able to return here to see you. I must investigate that mysterious scroll. Where did it come from? What is the true nature of the ink used on it?
Because the very first time I held that scroll in my hands, and every single time I traced my fingers over the written words... a bizarre, unnatural shudder rippled through my entire body. It happens every single time. But before I can analyze it, I must find the scroll today, because it is no longer in my possession.
King Argus has hidden it away in a secret location where I cannot step foot without his explicit permission... King Argus's private chambers. I must slip in and find it secretly, without catching anyone's eye. Therefore, I will fulfill my duty... and Daker, you must fulfill yours with absolute loyalty. Queen Isabella has placed immense hope in you. I can smell a massive, deep conspiracy brewing beneath this entire game."
Looking directly into the General's eyes, Daker spoke with absolute conviction, "General, do not worry. Master Khyber has taught me so much that no warrior or prisoner in that arena stands a chance against me."
Turning toward Khyber, Daker smiled warmly. "Right, Master?"
The moment the word 'Master' registered in Khyber's ears, the corners of his aged eyes grew damp. Tears welled up in his eyes. Turning his face away to hide his emotion, he whispered under his breath, "Finally... the foolish brat called me 'Master'..."
Daker stared at Khyber with a bizarre, deadpan expression. "You've really gone senile, old timer."
Interrupting the moment, Commander Seraphina stepped forward. "General, our time is severely limited. You must leave at once. I will keep slipping away to check on Daker periodically."
The General nodded in agreement. "Very well. Keep a sharp eye on Daker. But ensure with absolute certainty that no spy or enemy from the castle is tracking your movements."
The four of them shared one final, solemn look before dispersing to begin their respective missions. Without losing another second, Khyber initiated Daker into the lethal arts of advanced armed combat.
On the other side of the woods, King Argus's strict orders had already been put into effect. The tournament arena was being cordoned off by heavily armed Knights, creating an impenetrable blockade so secure that not even a bird could flutter through without authorization. Commander Seraphina immediately set out to oversee the deployment.
Meanwhile, General Valerius mounted his loyal steed, galloping at breakneck speed back toward King Argus's Evergard Castle, where a dangerous web of conspiracies lay in wait.
[Chapter End]