BXBX NOVEL Chapter 66 With Your Life, Aye?
In the morning, Anicia opened her eyes but instantly squinted in discomfort as the sun\'s rising yellowish flare abruptly got in her eyes.
She lazily propped herself up reluctantly on the bed rubbing her eyes cutely with her small hands looking around the surroundings.
Momentarily she jolted in surprise seeing the unfamiliar room but shortly remembered the events of last night. This made her realize something as she looked beside her only to find out that Ethan wasn\'t there.
"I had a great sleep last night… I think I might have slept too much!" Anicia muttered in embarrassment pulling the blanket over her body closer to her face.
"Did he wake up already? Where did he go?" She murmured looking at the empty side of the bed.
Acting on her sudden urge, she stretched her hand and curiously touched the spot where Ethan had slept. As soon as she felt the warmth still lingering on the bed sheets—she pulled her hand back at lightning speed as if an electric bolt had run through her.
"W-what am I even doing…" Her cheeks turned red immediately as she got off the bed and quickly left Ethan\'s room like a little cat sneaking off discreetly.
***
"Ziing!"
The sound of a sword slicing through the air rang in the courtyard of the White Family mansion instantly followed by the voice of Albaer, "Dodge!"
Ethan who was standing in front of Alier with a small sword at hand in a defensive posture sidestepped seeing the approaching wooden sword as he stretched his body backward as soon as he heard Albaer\'s voice.
Alier struck with the training wooden sword swinging it at a low pace. The horizontal slash was targeted at Ethan\'s chest but missed narrowly due to Ethan dodging promptly.
At least that\'s what Ethan thought until the sword missed his chest scraping by and unexpectedly struck at his side with enough force to knock Ethan off-balanced as he groaned, "agh!"
"Bad footwork! The distance between your legs is too much! It affects your mobility! Don\'t rely on your sight to see the opponent\'s sword, rely on instincts! You should be able to know where the sword will hit, what\'s its reach and how powerful it is just by instincts!" Albaer tutored.
Alier pulled back his trainee sword and Ethan readjusted his posture as he nodded at Albaer while thinking, \'Shit, I really suck at this! This damn sword is fucking heavy!\'
"Again!" Albaer announced and Alier got in the stance as well.
With much reluctance that Ethan did not show on his face, he as well got in his stance with his left leg forward and the right leg a few meters back holding the sword with both hands in front of his chest vertically.
Alier once again got into action this time he targeted Ethan\'s head with a direct and quick assault.
"Block!" Albaer who was standing at the sidelines instructed as soon as Alier made his move.
Ethan gripped his sword tightly as his feet sunk into the ground, his weight shifted equally throughout his body creating equilibrium as well as a firm foot in the ground.
"Thak!"
The sound of impact rang as Ethan moved his sword to block Alier\'s assault. The wooden sword came striking like a meteor with enormous force behind it as if to devour Ethan completely.
Just as both swords clashed, Ethan\'s feet protruded into the ground even more as the tremors of vibrations traveled through his entire body giving him a jolting sting.
Alier did not just stop with a single assault as he soon followed up with more, one, two, three—one by one he bombarded Ethan\'s delicate body with a flurry of attacks making Ethan\'s body shake involuntarily from the pressure.
His firm posture gradually began breaking down as his knees began bending, his back tilting down and his hands which were holding the sword got numbed from all the tremors.
Finally, with an especially cruel and strong strike, Ethan\'s weak defense broke into smithereens as the sword slipped out from his hand and he collapsed to the ground.
"Defense is not bad, you handled the pressure well but you need to build your body to not give in at a crucial moment." Albaer encouraged with praise that was half true and half false.
Ethan could handle the tremors going through his body as well as the pressure majorly because of his experiences in the Arctic Domain. But apart from that, his body wasn\'t quite in a warrior-worthy shape.
"Now again!" Not giving Ethan any chance to recover, Albaer announced.
Alier did not waste any time as he swung the sword, although this time deliberately leaving a blind spot in his posture.
Ethan had been waiting for Albaer\'s instructions as Alier struck but his voice never came as he soon realized the fact that this time he was on his own, \'Damn you!\' Ethan cursed inwardly.
Fortunately, Ethan knew what to do… His reaction might have been a tad bit late but he parried the strike with all his strength, although he did it successfully—but the force behind it made him stumble to the right.
Ethan also noticed the blind spot at the side of Alier\'s torso, he used the stumbling as a facade and abruptly swooped in taking advantage of his small figure. He closed the distance between them in no time and launched a counterattack targeting Alier\'s lower body.
Just as he thought that the strike would be a great hit, he felt an abrupt resistance all of a sudden as he saw that Alier had stopped his sword with just one hand wearing a kind smile. Then Ethan felt an acute sensation of pain in his chest area after seeing Alier move the back of his sword as he was then sent flying backward. Shortly after Ethan fell to the ground on his butt with a thud.
"Aghh!" Ethan groaned in pain rubbing his chest and inwardly cursing Alier\'s seven Ancestors to damnation.
"You do have the mind for it, but lacking in precision, skill, and strength. Even if you recognize your enemy\'s flaws but can\'t take proper advantage of them… then what\'s the use?" Albaer said as he sighed looking at Ethan.
He was very worried for him, the assassination attempt had happened just the other day therefore he wanted Ethan to have enough skill to at least protect himself.
"From tomorrow onwards, you will go to the castle early in the morning and do your training with the others. Understood?" Albaer declared in a matter of factly tone.
"Yes!" Ethan said, brushing the dust off of him inwardly thinking, \'My days of slacking off are truly over now.\'
"Brother, don\'t be too harsh on him. He\'s doing quite well! Don\'t worry, I will not let anything like that happen once again even if it costs me my life!" Alier comforted with a reassuring smile on his face as he moved forward and gave Ethan a hand.
"Thank you, uncle!" Ethan said with a thankful smile as he smirked cunningly in his mind thinking, \'With your life, aye?\'