Jiji no. 8

Holder vs. Balel

THE TRAINING FIELD OF the Guards and Soldiers of the Agnosbadtt is not just an ordinary, plain training field. It is massive. Holder never saw any kind of training ground similar to where they were standing. It was an arena.

The circular shaping of the lines of stone benches and chairs had almost intimidated Holder. He finds wary of where he stood, and realized that they were stepping on a shiny floor made of not tiles or marbles, but of simple blocks of stones, gray in color. There were gigantic statues standing around the arena, in which it also serves as the pillar of the architecture. These are the representations of Gods and Goddesses of the Middle continent.

“Is this where we are going to train?” asked Holder.

“Yes Holder, in this place.”

“This is for the Soldiers and Knights of the Agnosbadtt, isn’t it? But I am not a soldier nor a knight.”

“But we are. So in here we can use our powers much better. Besides, you can still be considered as the Soldier of the Kingdom. The only difference is, you are higher-ranked than us. And then more special.”

“I—”

“Balel is right, Holder. In here, we can use our power. This is the place in which the Gods and Goddesses can watch and assess your skills. In this place, they might see you and your potentials. They might bless you too if you are lucky,” said General Balfor.

Holder looked at the grand statues that were standing and surrounding the arena. He then shifted his stare towards the blue sky above, on the open roof parts of this architecture. The sky is clear and beautiful. The gods may have been watching them.

“Krrrr ~~” he heard Jiji whispering to him.

From that, he sighed. It seemed that Jiji wants to showcase his power too.

“Fine,” he said, “I don’t want to get an impression from the Gods that I am a weakling or scared.”

“That’s the spirit,” Balel said. “You know, I have been longing to test your skills and strengths. It feels like you are about to give me a good fight.” He then started stretching his body.

Jiji jumped on the floor, beside Holder who was starting to stretch his body too.

“General, would I learn something while having a combat with Balel?” Holder asked.

“You would. I have a very different way of teaching my students. And you would receive that kind of training. For now, you two shall fight.”

The moment that the General told the word ‘fight’, Balel quickly dashed towards Holder and landed a big blow on his unguarded face. Holder flew backwards, and Jiji shrieked a shock expression. But surprisingly, he did not growl at Balel nor attacked him. He knew that everything was just a training—a practice. He was now learning the border of rules for humans. Holder quickly stood up from the sudden crushing of his body towards the floor. He managed to use his hand to stop the uncontrollable jerk of his body from the forceful punch of Balel. His eyes became alerted and with stimulated by bloodlust. He clenched his fist, and then ran towards his enemy.

He shouted, “HAAA!” with fists ready to revenge him from that unexpected punching he received. He did not complain, of course. It was his mistake that he did not took enough attention as he stood at the Arena. He knew how the world works: everything is a surprise. And by that, everyone must be ready for it. Especially Balel’s surprise blows. Those are painful punches, Holder must admit. As he ran, his eyes were fixated at Balel who were just standing beside the General, smiling, provoking him to launch an attack. He did, of course. But, as he was charging towards him, Balel disappeared. Holder stopped. He was shocked. He became wary of the surrounding. He looked in different direction, but he cannot see any trace of him.

“Wuu! Wuu!” 

He heard Jiji shouting. He looked at him, and saw the slime pointing above.

Balel was there, above him. He was about to smash him with his giant lance. Holder grunted, and with a quick reflexes, and a split-second gasping for breath, he jumped—a springy jump. As Balel’s lance landed on the ground, the shiny floor shattered and turned into pieces of boulders. Holder realized how lucky he was that he was able to evade that attack. For if he did not, his body must have been crunched, similar to the situation of the ruined floor.

“Good reflexes, Holder!”

“Yeah, that was impressive Holder. You quickly adjusted to the situation. The moment that you realize I have punched you, the moment you also recognize that the battle had started. The menacing look in your eyes earlier gave me chills,” Balel complimented.

“Huh?” Holder asked, clueless. “Hey, Balel, you cheated!”

“But it was fine for you,” Balel said confidently.

Holder nodded. “Of course! In fact, I wish for more surprise attacks. That way, I could familiarize things on how to evade those—”

He was not able to finish what he was about to say. A blow from a huge lance had landed on his back, forcing him to jerk forward with a painful, almost broken body. Balel cheated on him again. But instead Holder being annoyed of it, he smiled. Balel is cunning and sharp. He had attacked him while he was distracted talking. He noted that fascinating fighting style of Balel. Because if this was a real fight, he would have been dead this instant. He let his body gushing on the wind from the forceful, surprised bashing of Balel’s lance to him. He had an idea how to outwit the A-class soldier. He closed his eyes, and then felt the movements in the wind. He concentrated. And then, he felt a quick—utterly quick—stroke of something in the air. As the stroke stopped, Holder was sure that it was about to come on his back.

And he knew that it was Balel.

He forced his body. He executed a quick, reflexive circling on the wind. He curled his body, and made an acrobatic spinning. Luck was on his side this time, for he managed to evade another of Balel’s painful attack with his lance. Holder, from circling in the wind, and evading the lance, managed to grip Balel’s armored feet. He then clung through it, swung his body—with terrific force—and then, with a scream, he took control of Balel’s balance, and threw him downwards, towards the shiny floor. 

Holder saw with his two eyes how Balel flung towards the ground, and crushed onto the floor. Just like what happened when the lance hit the floor, the throwing Holder made to Balel, had also made the floor to break and crush and turn into ruined giant boulders.

“Holder!” he heard from General Balfor. “At this moment, my son had probably analyzed that even him having a lance, you can still find ways to fight him. What do you think would he do next?” he asked.

“Uhm, I don’t know, General. Maybe he will become enraged, and summon a much more powerful weapon?”

“Partially true,” said General. “Balel would never resort to anger whenever he is fighting. That would affect his performance. It was a vital emotion that could lead you to death. Do you note that?”

“I—I noted!” Holder said, panicking as he looked at the boulders that buried Balel.

“But he would indeed summon his main weapon. That could be a vital thing for you. If this was real, in a moment, you would die, considering his power and mastery, and the fact that you have nothing in your hand to support you. Now what would you do?”

“J—Jiji!” Holder called.

“Krrrrrr!”

Jiji shrieked, and then jumped towards where Holder was standing. He transformed to a certain weapon which Holder willingly held. A shotgun. Just like the gun that Jiji had imitated from Benny’s weapon. He prepared it, and then placed the muzzle towards his front, to where Balel was buried.

“Good,” said general Balfor.

The warm wind swept in between of their spaces. General Balfor was observant, Holder was wary and alerted. With the hard pounding of his heart, Holder swallowed his saliva. And then he whispered to jiji, “Can you produce a more explosive firepower if ever Balel started attacking us again?”

“Prrrr,” said Jiji. Holder blinked. He imagined Jiji in his head smiling and confident that he can give what he had asked.

The pile of boulders started to produce a cracking sound. Holder again became alerted. Kind of nervous.

But, In the middle of the heat, in the middle of the boiling practice-fighting that they were doing, Holder found himself smiling—thrilled and enjoying the combat.