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Part Forty-One

A young woman stood still with a lance gripped in her hands. Her legs spread apart and the lance pointed at her target. She had a black bob cut with an exceptionally long ponytail.

Her black eyes focused on the six men in front of her. Each one of them was older than the last. One of the men was almost double her age, which was shown by the wrinkles on his face.

“Are you sure you’re up for this Rachel?”

One of the men asked her as he wasn’t sure they should do this. It would be taxing on her body and he didn’t believe she could handle it.

“Don’t mind me and give it all you’ve got. It is important I test my limits.”

Rachel knew what he body could endure so she didn’t mind them being six while she was by herself. It was a test to see where she was at, and an experience that needed to be learned.

“If she said it’s no big deal, then there’s no problem. Do not forget whose child she is!”

“You’re right, sorry for doubting you, Rachel.”

“No need for apologies, just prepare yourself.”

The man would never apologize to anyone else, he only did it because of Rachel’s status. He was a proud member of the guardian family thus he held his head up high.

To show he meant what he said, he pushed off of the ground and dashed straight for Rachel. A red light flashed over his right hand before a short sword appeared.

It’s been a year since he last sparred against Rachel and there were so many questions in his head. How much has she improved? Did she still fail to guard when she pressed the attack? It was a fatal weakness of hers, but hard to exploit unless you countered her. If she did, then there was almost no chance she’d lose in a fight.

His blood boiled just thinking about it.

“Tom, he’s so hot-blooded rushing in like that. Can’t even stick to the plan.”

“That is his own fault. The field of battle changes something within you and Tom has experienced it numerous times. If it wasn’t for grandfather i’m afraid he would still be there today.”

“Enough talking, since he already rushed in we should follow. As much as I hate ganging up on others, it is what she asked for.”

The older man spoke up causing the others to nod their head and dash off in her direction. He still could not believe that Rachel asked for this type of training. Had she come that far she was confident to face all six of them?

When his brother, Klyde told him to accept her offer he imagined it was just a joke. The seriousness on Klydes face told him otherwise, he was serious and wanted them to fight his daughter.

‘It’ll be a good learning experience for her.’ Those were his exact words.

As Tom and Rachel clashed sparks from their weapons flew. It was a head-on collision but Rachel stood her ground. For someone who just turned sixteen, he was impressed.

Her strength was not to be underestimated, some would even say she was a female Hercules.

Tom’s sword flashed and disappeared from sight, but Rachel bent back like a bow. His sword appeared only a few inches away from her face. If she didn’t move the sword would have stabbed through her skull.

She twisted her body and used both her legs to propel herself forward with her lance taking the lead. However, it fell short as it was met by a claymore.

Her eyes grew as she looked up at her cousin. She was focused on Tom she almost forgot about the other five. A mistake she would not make again. Rachel distanced herself by swiftly jumping back.

“Don’t tell me that’s all you’ve got?”

“I haven’t even broken a sweat yet, we’re just getting started.”

Rachel licked her moist lips. She was nowhere near finished! Her body was burning with energy.

“Good!”

All six of them rushed Rachel. Rachel did not let them gain all the momentum, she too dashed forward.

“Brandon, attack her right. Josh, attack from the back.”

The two males nodded their heads as they vanished from their positions.

Rachel had her senses on full alert. What she couldn’t see with her eyes, she’d hear and feel. It was like a sixth sense of hers that was born from constant battle. Not a unique skill since anyone would be able to learn it as long as they fought. The harder the battle, the faster you learned.

Rachel twisted her wrist as she stabbed with her lance causing the winds to shift. One could feel the power of her strike just from the air alone.

A loud ding sound echoed in their ears. Her target was her older cousin with the claymore. He focused more on brute strength than anything else. Even with his strength, he could not hold his ground as he was pushed back. His feet created a small trench in the ground.

Rachel stopped her assault on him as she moved her body forward getting out of the way of the attacks coming from her sides. She swung her left arm as a golden light covered it before a shield appeared.

Multiple weapons banged against it. The sheer force from taking multiple attacks caused Rachel to grunt. Her lance would not have been able to block all those strikes which is why she summoned her shield.

One of her older cousins clicked his tongue. She wielded two weapons, one a lance the other a shield. Rachel could also summon the two of them at the same time without fully transforming. Not uncommon, but very difficult to do for someone of her age.

“You’re able to summon two huh? Not bad!”

Her uncle started to praise her in the middle of their fight. When he was her age he could not summon two parts of his transformation.

A normal member of their family would be able to transform into a mythical being, something only heard of in legends. As time progressed you’d learn how to control your transformation and only summon certain parts of the transformation. Be it the weapon or armor.

A full transformation would give them a major boost in battle, but it used too much essence. Which is why it was best to use pieces of your transformation as it used less essence but required more concentration.

Rachel grinned at her uncle. She believed it was not required to summon both but she was wrong. She overestimated her abilities.

These were not normal people she was facing, but members of the guardian family! Each one of them was as skilled as her or more skilled. Rachel felt excited as she pushed their weapons off her shield.

The fighting continued as Rachel was being pushed to her limits. She was holding nothing back and she had to divide her concentration to focus on all six of her opponents.

While fighting she started to adapt to her cousin's personalities and battle styles. As much as she wanted them to come at her with their full power, she could tell they were holding back.

Even when she summoned her shield, they never summoned another part of their transformation. She knew they could do it, they were the elites of the family. The only difference was they increased their strength and changed their tactics.

The sun was up high in the sky when they began, but now it was starting to lower. Rachel’s body was covered in sweat and she tried to hold her position as she did before but failed. She was tired, her body was already at its limit.

Her cousins, on the other hand, could still move around, but they were also tired as a few drops of sweat was on their forehead. Her uncle didn’t have one drop of sweat on his body. Seemed he was really holding himself back against her.

“Let’s take a break, no need to continue for now. If you try to forcefully push your body past its limit you’ll do more harm than good. Good work!”

“Thanks. You’ve been of great help and this was an experience i’d never received.”

Rachel was grateful for their help. They were her family but they had lives of their own. For them to take the time to help her, how could she not be grateful? The duties of the guardian family never stopped even for a moment.

“No need for thanks, we are all in the same family. The least we can do is help our little cousin out.”

“Call on us again if you need anything, Rach.”

Her cousins left one after another and each one gave her praise. She walked over to the wooden deck where her towel was. Standing at the door was Klyde dressed in a black and white suit. In his hands was the towel Rachel was going to use, he tossed it to her.

“You’ve done well.”

Klyde did not give her praises often, nor was he the kind to speak highly of others.

“Thanks, dad, but I still have a lot more to learn. My technique could use work, my footsteps should be lighter at certain times and heavier when stabilizing myself. I may have fixed one problem but i’ve encountered more.”

Rachel worked hard, she was always pushing herself. She wanted to be perfect, she had an image to keep up after all. Every time she pushed herself she always saw something wrong, and she wanted to fix it. Until she created the perfect fighting style she would never give up training.

“Don’t overwork yourself, there is time still. Let your body rest for a while and you can go over what you’ve learned to be better next time.

The tournament is right around the corner, are you ready?”

Klyde reminded her as the twelve god tournament wasn’t that far away. He’d hate it if Rachel wore herself out to where she couldn’t compete. It would look like he made her run away from a challenge. He couldn’t have that, it would make him the biggest laughing stock in the USA.

“I’m always ready. As the next leader of the guardian family, I will not fail you.”

Rachel said as she hit her chest with pride. She was her father's daughter, she wouldn’t let him down. Once he took over the seat of leader, she would follow right after him.

“There’s no telling what lies ahead, don’t say you are the next leader if you yourself aren’t sure. The balance in the power may have shifted my way, but that doesn’t mean it’ll shift for you. Like I always tell you, if you want something you have to take it for yourself. The only way things will go the way you want is if you make them.

Besides, this year's competition will be quite a show.”

“Why? Because Nick’s there? I doubt he’d cause me to use my full strength. I don’t understand why you have so much faith in him.”

Rachel crossed her arms in annoyance. She didn’t like her father talking about Nick. She heard his name from Klyde’s mouth more than once a day. She felt Nick was Klyde’s favorite child. The thing was, Nick didn’t even live with them! How could he be the favorite child when he wasn’t even around?

“Faith is not what I have, but he has more of a desire in him that will cause him to have explosive growth. While you were busy training do you think he was playing around?”

Klyde didn’t pay her attitude any attention as he explained.

“Humph! He is foolish and doesn’t even understand the circumstances of the past. Always dwelling over that fakes death. You should have seen his face when I told him she asked for it, he looked like he didn't believe me.”

“You shouldn’t tease him too much, one day you and him will be together on the same battlefield. But enough of that, what are your plans?”

Rachel thought it over for a long time. What did she want to do after she graduated? Take a post in the military? Most of the other members did that, but she felt she did not need to. What exactly was she training for?

She was striving for greatness, but didn’t know why exactly.

Seeing how she was lost in thought Klyde chuckled for a moment.

“Don’t worry about it too much. Expect the unveiling of something new this year, maybe then you’ll find your answer.”

Klyde said as he turned around.

‘Something new?’ Rachel was left with a question stuck in her head.

Her father kept her in the loop of almost everything. She’s never heard him mention something new was coming. She didn’t even know what it was. If Klyde kept it a secret from her she could tell how important it was.