Side Story: Before The Battle

Author Note:

And. the story of Aelaranthea empire had reached its conclusion. thank you for reading.
Do you think this story is worthy of a sequel? let me know in the comments.

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A clanging of metal against metal was heard. Ae Zir was training with Velryne before the decisive battle in Antheria’s Capital. Aelaranthae were strong, they didn’t feel the need to use skills for all creatures were beneath them. 

Moreover, Ae Zir was weakened due to the events of the Mad King. Severely so. Even after years of recuperating, she did not regain her full strength. Thankfully, Ae Nae and Ae Nae’Ire were there. They transfused their blood to Ae Zir’s body, filling her with strength. Nevertheless, with the champion of the cultist present, that would still not be enough. She now needed weapons in hope to be able to match him, Rashandur the skullseeker. 

Fortunately, the sword called Blue Jewel Amantuile handed to them before, was up to the task. The sword grew stronger the more mana Ae Zir put into it. Aelaranthae wielded mana as easily as they breathed. So, by putting mana into her sword, the sword grew harder and tougher so that it could cut rocks with ease. Aelaranthae realized that the way she wielded her sword was different from Lotharine and Amantuile before their death. So now seek counsel to those who had mastered the way of swordsmanship.

So, she sparred with Velryne. The result? It was an overwhelming victory for Ae Zir. However, Velryne was not the goal. It was Rashandur. Ae Zir realized she had to get stronger. She couldn’t train with someone stronger, so she had to train with someone weaker. 

She knew now what it means to have skill. Velryne was certainly weaker than her. But he has more skill in swordsmanship. To train with him, Loli B had to make herself slower and weaker. She surmised that if she trained her coordination with Velryne, she would be better at it.

When she lowered her speed and power at just twenty percent of her usual strength, she lost. She decided that she would be training with Velryne at this level of power. Aelaranthae were smart, Ae Zir were capable of absorbing decades of experience Lotharine had accumulated in a span of few days. She didn’t manage to absorb everything, but she did improve so much that she was able to compete with other soldiers.

Thanks to this experience, when the final battle arrived, Ae Zir was able to limit Rashandur’s movement. With him out of the way, Ae Mercenary was able to fight the cultist without intervention. It was also in this training that she learned the final strike she used against the cultist. It was a shame that Amantuile had passed away without training his son Alantuile in swordsmanship for Lotharine to acknowledge that Amantuile was leaps and bounds before him in sword skill. Velryne had never met with Amantuile, he could only wonder how powerful he was.

Nevertheless. The training was enough. Rashandur was beaten and Ae Zir had won. To Velryne’s dismay, Lotharine sword skills which was taught to Aelaranthae through him will forever be recorded as the one who beat Rashandur even though his actual swordsmanship skill was average among Royal guards.