The Lesser One Arc 2 Version 2 Chapter 1: Training Arc

 

Training Arc

I duck underneath the flying kick. Wind sweeps past me. Off balance, I stagger backwards to put distance in between myself and him.

Sebastian motions with his right hand. “Not good! Put pressure on your opponent!” He aims a jab at me.

I block the jab with a swish of my hand. It’s a new move that I just learned. Sebastian’s fist slips past me. I stagger again.

Sebastian backs up and bounces on his feet. “Good!” He charges at me, catching me in a grapple.

I fall to the ground. Sebastian pins me and bends my elbow almost to the breaking point.

“Ow!” I shout as pain shoots through my arm.

Sebastian lets go and stands up. He continues bouncing on the balls of his feet. “You were too stationary. You could have stepped aside, or you could have come to meet me.” He pulls a few punches in the air and then sets himself.

“Come at me.”

I inch towards Sebastian. He is still bouncing on the balls of his feet. “You’re too slow!”

I charge at him, holding my hands out as I run.

Sebastian sidesteps me and slams my neck with his palm. I hit the ground, rolling over.

“Ahhh!”

Sebastian steps away. “Up!”

I crawl to my feet. “Okay.”

“Come!”

I take a hesitant step towards Sebastian. “What now?”

“You figure it out!” Sebastian wiggles his fingers.

I charge Sebastian. Just as he is about to grab me, I twist my motion and hit him from the side. Sebastian twirls and, using a judo technique, slams me to the ground.

I cough. Saliva flies from my open mouth.

“Up!”

I stand up. My whole body aches.

Sebastian motions. “Come at me!”

I think for a moment about what I’m going to do. I take a deep breath.

I charge. Just as Sebastian is about to grapple with me, I turn aside and slam my hand against his leg.

Sebastian falters. I disengage.

Sebastian is grinning. “You are understanding! Come at me once more!”

I shake my hand a few times to get the tingles out. I sprint towards Sebastian and slam into his chest. Using my hands as grapples, I push him to the ground.

Sebastian locks his legs into mine as we fall, twists his body, and ends up on top. “No good!” His face is inches from mine. “You weren’t watching your opponent.” He disengages.

I cough again and stand up. My whole body aches.

Sebastian makes the “come at me” motion for the umpteenth time this session.

I wipe spittle from my mouth. My hand comes back covered in blood. I circle Sebastian a couple of times.

Sebastian’s eyes track me. His body moves, one foot staying put, the other rotating as Sebastian watches me.

I run towards him.

Sebastian strikes at me with his right foot.

I duck underneath and perform a running roll, popping up right next to him.

Sebastian’s eyes flicker to mine. He ducks underneath me and grabs my legs. Using my momentum more than his own, he slams me onto the ground face-first. My nose cracks.

I am on the ground. I turn over and stare up at Sebastian.

Sebastian’s grin is almost evil. He is a devil, after all. Sebastian holds out his hand.

I grab it. He lifts me to a standing position. Taking a potion out of his pocket, he hands it to me.

I drink it. My nose uncracks. The blood coming from my mouth stops.

“Thanks.”

Sebastian snaps his fingers and a devil whose name I do not know drags a whiteboard to where he is standing.

“Here’s what you did wrong.” We spend the next half hour going over the session. When we are done I am absolutely trashed.

“You have your meeting with Crayton.”

“I don’t think he wants to see me.”

Sebastian sighs. “You’re going to have to talk with him sometime. I know he’s in a funk because of his daughter, but you do have a contract that you must fulfill with him before you go back to your home.”

I sigh. “I know. I’m sorry. I’ll try my best.”

I walk into the changing room. We are in a dojo that we’ve rented out near the Esmex building. Ever since the end of the Wales portal ordeal, Sebastian has insisted that I learn how to fight. I always get my head beaten in, but I have been improving.

I put on my suit in the changing room and make sure I look the part in the mirror. When I am satisfied, I leave the room. Sebastian is next to me, also in a suit. We exit the dojo and head back to the Esmex building. We take the elevator to the penthouse floor.

When the doors open, two men in black ninja outfits are standing in the hallway.

The one on the right performs a flip, jumping off the wall, and aims a kick at me. I dodge. The ninja slams into the back of the elevator. Sebastian engages the ninja with a grapple. The elevator door begins to close.

“I’ll handle this one!” Sebastian yells to me while the doors slide shut.

I face the second ninja, holding my feet in a stable back stance. “What do you want?”

The ninja sniffs. “You can’t see Mr. Crayton. He doesn’t want to be visited.”

“That’s not news to me.”

The ninja scoffs. He pulls out some nun chucks and flips them around his body. They whistle through the air with alarming speed. I conjure a katana. It’s the first weapon I could think of in this situation—and I don’t know how to use it.

The ninja sprints towards me. I step aside, but the ninja stops on a dime and whips a nun chuck at me. I just manage to duck underneath it. The whistle of the weapon through the air sends adrenaline pumping along my veins. The world slows.

I twist my body as I am recovering from the duck. Using the sword as balance, I slam my fist into the stomach of the ninja as he passes by.

The ninja staggers, rolls, and pops up facing me on the elevator side. I hold my katana in front of me.

“Stay back.”

The ninja flips his nun chucks. “I’m not getting paid to stay back.”

I take a deep breath, still holding my katana out. “Then I’m going to have to kill you.”

It’s the first time I’ve ever said anything like that.

The ninja scoffs. “Not likely.” He flips his nun chucks and releases one of them, sending it straight at me.

I swipe my katana. The nun chucks become tangled around the blade. The force of the hit sends me reeling backwards.

The door to Crayton’s office opens and a third ninja steps out.

“Hey, you—” The third ninja sees me and grabs me by the neck.

I struggle. The ninja knocks my blade out of my hand. It clatters to the ground.

“You’re Markus, aren’t you?” The third ninja’s voice is female.

“Who are you?” I decide to try and stall. If I can get them to answer a few questions, then Sebastian will have time to get here. It takes a not-insubstantial amount of time and concentration to summon devils from my zone. Under these circumstances, I won’t be able to call them from the zone fast enough. Even the beings form the Wales portal I absorbed won’t be here fast enough.

And there seems to be some sort of anti-spirit zone in place anyways. My katana disappears in a flash of light a few seconds after hitting the ground.

The female ninja holds a blade to my throat. “My boss wants to meet you.”

“Are you with the Silverbones?” I choke out the question through her grip.

“I work for an employer who fits that description, yes.” The female ninja’s words sound smug to me.

“Tell me more about him.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t.” The ninja slits my throat. I black out.

When I wake up I am tied to a slab in the middle of a dark room with only one source of light. A shadowy figure is sitting on a chair facing me.

“Why am I not dead?” I am able to speak, even though the last thing I remember was my throat being cut.

“Because I don’t want you to be.” The voice of the shadowy figure is deep, that of a male. “I want to make you an offer. I will let you go if you give me only one thing.”

“Who are you?”

“You don’t need to know that.”

“What do you want from me?”

The figure shifts. “I want you to do something.”

I do my best to turn my head, in order to see where I am. I am unable to. “Tell me, then. Get it over with.”

“I want you to wake up Alice.”

“What?” I am dumbfounded. “But that’s something that I want to do anyways!”

“When you learn the truth of things, you will change your thoughts on the matter.” The figure leans forward. “My name is Biren. I will have my helpers leave you with a way to contact me if you have any questions.”

“Are you one of the silverbones?”

“Why yes, I am.” The figure leans back. “And that’s all you need to know. I have a couple of friends who dislike you much more than I do. They’ll probably be sending a few underlings after you every now and then. Just to keep you on your toes.” The figure turns away. “By bye now.” The room fills with gas and my eyes go dark.

When I wake up I am laying in the gutter right outside the Esmex building. I stand up, my whole body shaking, my ears ringing.

Sebastian runs out of the building, his face filled with fear and apprehension. “Oh, master!” He kneels before me. “I failed you! I was unable to protect you!”

“You didn’t fail me, Sebastian.” I bow towards him. “You saved my life by preparing me for what was about to happen. If it weren’t for your training, I wouldn’t have been able to make it.”

Sebastian grabs me by the shoulders. “I don’t know what I would have done if I had been the one to lose you.”

“Yeah? I wonder about that. Won’t you just change masters to the one who kills me?”

“No, of course not!”

“Really?” I sigh. “Well, now’s not the time for revelations like this. I need a bath.”

“I will send your clothes to the cleaners.”

Something suddenly strikes me—a realization. “Crayton!” I rush to the elevator. It appears that everyone in the lobby is calm. So nothing big has happened. I take the elevator to the penthouse and run through the corridor where I fought the ninjas. I burst into Crayton’s office. There is nothing. The place is a mess, filled with empty ramen cups, six packs of beer, and other general filth. And there is no Crayton.

A single index card lies on the counter. It reads:

“You think it’s this simple? Think again.”

I hold the card up to the light to see if there are any clues. There are none.

Sebastian steps up behind me. “May I see that card?”

I hand it to him. “Sure.”

Sebastian takes it and looks it over. “It appears ordinary.”

“Someone has kidnapped Crayton.”

Sebastian grits his teeth. “This is my fault. I am the one who allowed myself to be trapped in that elevator. If I had stayed with you, I could have helped you defeat the shinobis and save Crayton.”

“We don’t know that he was kidnapped at that point. He could have been long gone. He hasn’t contacted anyone since he started being depressed and not letting anyone into his office.”

Sebastian bows. “I will do anything in my power to help you find this man.”

I look at the index card. “We’re in for a crazy ride here.”