CHAPTER 5:
[AT THE FOSTER HOME....]
It's been more than a month at the foster home where THE SIX were asked questions concerning the incident that happened at the alleyway and the missing parcel by big sister Evelyn.
[*The scene starts off at a secret training facility beneath the foundation of the foster home where the six and other kids aswell undergo combat training and weapons welding*]
At the training ground stood Ms Evelyn wielding a katana at both hands with a blindfold covering her eyes and encircling her were the Six; Draco, Lupus, Norma, Orion, Cygnus and Corvus, all wielding katanas aswell. All looking quite nervous as they prepared to take on the 'The Iron Lady' . It's wasn't their first time taking on Ms Evelyn during their training but this time around they had to fight her without holding back whilst she has her blindfold on. And to make matters worse they had to use actual blades rather than wooden ones. Everyone had a serious face on, the six could feel the tension in the air, as she exudes bloodlust that intensifies by every passing second. Trying to match her presence, they tried exuding an equal amounts of bloodlust enough to counter hers but failed, they just weren't as intimidating as she was. Then finally without a moment of hesitation, Draco swooped in with a slash so blindingly fast, that aimed directly at her neck with enough force to sever her head from her body in a clean shot. But she quickly dodged the attack by a hair, by simply ducking at a very precise moment, which the attack left behind a huge gush of wind.
"Whattttttt!!!? She dodged that!? Even with the blindfold on she was still fast enough to react to that attack point blank!? At this point I don't even think she's human!!!". —[Draco thought to himself as his face was ridden with shock]
Immediately she ducked the incoming attack from Draco she quickly followed up with a punch to his solar plexus sending him flying several meters across the room before eventually crashing into the wall. After witnessing such display of strength the remaining five were on high alert. They were reminded of whom they were up against, that even with a blindfold on she's still very dangerous. Corvus closed in on her, on what he thought was an opening, launches several barrage of attacks with his katana hoping to get at least one clean hit, but she blocks each attacks with precision and began to overwhelm him with a barrage of her own. Causing him to back-pedal as he blocks each attacks. Out of frustration he leaps into the air so high up (a gravity defying jump) as he creates a bit of distance between them and brings out a gun to a sword fight.
Corvus the silent, nicknamed 'The Crow' is known as the aggressor, he's an expert gun user and prefers guns to katanas or any other weapons, so in his fight with the iron lady when he got overwhelmed by her barrage of attacks he decided to pull out a gun (which are custom made) in mid air, fires three shots at her. She instinctively evades the first shot and slashes the last two bullets with her katana with very high precision. Corvus on the other hand who was more focus on watching his landing, dropped his guard down, as soon as his foot made contact with the floor, he quickly raises his head to see if those shots he fired earlier at the iron lady had done some damage, only to be at the recieving end of a katana whose edge were mere inches away from his right eye, and was closing in fast, it felt as though time slowed down dramatically as he was just seconds away from losing an eye, but in the heat of the moment, he was fortunate enough to instinctively give way just by a fraction of a second. The iron lady was surprised he managed to dodged such an attack by a split second, because she was sure it wouldn't have been possible for anyone to dodge that specific attack.
[*Corvus breaths heavily*]
"....the slightest hesitation from me and I would have lost an eye, and she wasn't even holding back one bit. It's like she actually intends on killing us..... Well I did pull a gun on her but still... Being able to evade three bullets from a precision shooter as myself whilst being blindfolded is another level of impossible. And what was that move she pulled just then. I barely looked away for a second and I almost lost an eye. I didn't even see her move." —[Corvus thought to himself as he gathered what was left of his understanding of reality]
[*She smirks*]
[Moments later...]
The few moments Corvus had to catch his breath after managing to survive such an attack from the iron lady would soon be short-lived as he comes to realise he let his guard down for the second time, his eyes wide open in horror, too scared to even turn around to witness the swinging blade of the iron lady about to ensure an equal levelling of his neck to both his shoulders. It's was already too late to think of evasive moves, then suddenly..
"Corvus watch out!!!!"—[Cygnus yells out]
Sounds of blades clashing against each other could be heard, with little sparks of fire generated by the friction of both blades. Cygnus had swooped in without a second to spare, holding his own against the iron lady. Cygnus nicknamed 'The Northern Cross' although lacks in the the weapons wielding department, he's still fairly capable at wielding weapons, but he specializes in hand to hand combat. Orion and Norma both rushed in from behind her, seeing as she had her hands full dealing with Cygnus. Norma threw Orion's blade high up into the air, right above the iron lady, Orion follows up with a physics defying jump, grabbing the blade in mid-air, as he positions the tip of the blade at where she stood, allowing gravity to aide his thrust as he decends towards her. Norma on the other hand came in full clutch for an attack as he approached from behind her, everything seems to be going according to his plans, having a skilled assassin as Orion dealing the aerial attack, whilst he comes up from behind her undetected with an attack, as Cygnus completely have her attention as he holds his own against her. Cygnus, Norma and Orion were all in position, as they simultaneously launched their various attacks, there was no doubt in their minds that it was going to be a clean hit, since they all have her where they wanted. And besides they had already swung their blades before she even had the chance to react, leaving barely no openings; since the attack is coming from both sides and above aswell.
It was a full proof plan, the margin of error?nonexistent.
The iron lady continues crossing blades with Cygnus oblivious of the attack coming from above and the one coming from behind her, as Norma was able to conceal every step he took approaching her from behind, even the loud sounds produced from blades clashing on impact played an important role aswell in concealing Norma and Orions footsteps. It was all part of the plan. But they failed to conceal their bloodlust, Orion on the other hand being an assassin type was the only one who did but to a degree. He failed to conceal his completely, and the iron lady sensing a faint of bloodlust right above her could tell someone was right there and it wasn't long before she eventually sensed Norma approaching from behind her. But it was already too late they had already launched their attacks moments ago leaving her right in the middle of it. All three attacks were in sync about to deal the final blow...
[*She smirks*]
All three attacks landed successfully on target, or so they thought, it took a second to realize what they had actually hit was an after image and they all back-pedalled immediately, as they nervously looked around in search of where she might be. Before they could even process what had just happen Orion was sent flying at insane speeds across the training hall violently crashing into the wall leaving huge cracks at the place of impact, before Cygnus could tell what was going on, he too was sent flying across several meters, crashing into the wall, Norma was scared as he knew fully well he was next, as he tried to come up with a way to evade her next strike even though his eyes were rapidly scanning the entire training hall in search of her. And finally there she was, in a split second he only had a glimpse of her so close up in his face having a pale and cold expression on her face, already launching an attack; not with a sword but with her palm aiming straight at his torso. Within that split second felt like a minute, as he tried forcing his body to move but to no avail. He had thought of several evasive actions to take during that moment but his body wasn't willing to budge, but seeing the iron lady; so fluid and precise in her movements while he failed to even move a muscle proved to him that she was operating at a much higher level of speed than they initially thought. So fast in fact that their reaction time becomes completely useless. Before Norma could even blink he found himself crashed into a the walls of the training hall. And the iron lady stood there like a menacing figure exuding ungodly amounts of bloodlust.
[A few moments passed...]
The iron lady sense a presence several meters across from her approaching. She was eagerly anticipating an attack from whom ever it was. Then suddenly the presence completely disappeared and reappeared right behind her already swinging for an attack, but she instinctively blocked the attack...
Lupus nicknamed 'the wolf' after carefully analyzing how she fought decided to join the fray.
[Inner monologue]— "did he just..... And I barely even sensed him, he's fast I'll give him that." —[she said]
"Your foot work is quite impressive, you've really improved.....Lupus" —[she said]
"I picked it up a second ago, as I watched your fight with the others you seem to be using some special kind of legwork and so I copied it...."
"... Wait....you could tell it was me!!?, even with the blindfold on...tsk.... So any hopes of catching you off guard is out the window then." —[lupus remarked]
[inner monologue] — "that foot work 'The Double Step' is a very difficult technique that takes years master but he was actually able to perform it by only seeing me use it once. There's no doubt about it his a prodigy amongst prodigies. I wonder..." —[she thought]
[*She smiled maniacally*]
They both kept going at it for a while, clashing swords that left behind bright sparks, the iron lady did several backflips to create some distant between them, Lupus noticed her retreating in an attempt to create some gap between them, he locks in and decides to use the double step technique to close the distance in an instant, but the iron lady knew he would take the bait and clutched in with a powerful right kick meant to be a jaw breaker the instant Lupus's face gets within perfect range of her foot to connect the kick. Everything had to be perfectly timed since she already knew he would be using the double step technique. But he quickly ducks and she failed to connect the kick which left behind a violent gush of wind that blew everything away. Behind the blindfold was someone who had a look of shock on her face.
Immediately Lupus ducked her kick he followed up with a ground sweep to knock her off her feet but she caught on quickly and makes a gravity defying jump to evade the attack, only to notice whilst in mid-air his presence had vanished a second ago. She calmly scans the entire training hall for even the faintest of his presence but it was well concealed. But there he was, standing upside down on the ceiling of the training hall for a gravity defying moment as he conceals his presence entirely, patiently waiting for the right moment to catch her off guard then deal a strike, his chance came and he pushes his weight against the ceiling to apply the double step technique to propel himself towards the ground at blinding speeds, where the iron lady was (still in mid-air), in order to attempt a vertical slash with his katana. Everything happened within a span of a moment, the moment her feet touched the ground, all surrounding sounds ceased completely, since she couldn't detect his presence, she decided to tune in to the vibrations in the training hall, and noticed a slight sudden shift in vibrations right above her, as if an attack was four inches away from splitting her head in two, so she instinctively uses her katana to block the incoming attack right in the nick of time. But the force Lupus had applied earlier along with the double step technique that propelled him at blinding speeds towards the ground was so great that when the iron lady managed blocking it the ground at the surrounding area where she stood got destroyed and rubbles and pebbles were sent flying in all directions. Lupus forces his entire weight and momentum he built up from the drop onto her. As he presses his sword against hers in a bid to overpower her. She garnered enough strength to push back, sending him flying a couple metres but he backflips mid-air and stick's the landing.
[*breathes heavily*]
—[inner monologue]
" What the hell is she!!? It's like she can predict the future or something. I was so sure that last attack would do the trick, she couldn't have seen me coming and yet it seemed she blocked it with just pure instincts!! Which is just insane...I gave it everything I had and I couldn't even leave a scratch on her" —[Lupus said to himself as he stood there covered in sores]
"It seems you've reached your limit, and I'd have to say am quite impressed, you're the only one amongst the six who was able to keep me on my toes the whole time. And you've even mastered the double step technique after seeing it only once. That makes you.... A prodigy!!" —[she said to Lupus]
".....a prodigy!!?....." —[lupus responds as his face lit up in excitement]
"Now then.... Since your already familiar with the double step technique, I want you to watch carefully as am about to show you the triple step technique!!" —[she said as she preps for an attack]
[*Drops her swords*]
Lupus nervously prepares for an attack, he then noticed she dropped both her swords and so he had it at the back of his mind to use the double step technique if she makes any sudden moves. The iron lady took three steps forward then completely vanished right before his eyes, he immediately tried using the double step technique but found himself crashed into a wall before reality could hit him. Her later regained consciousness, and found the remaining five surrounding him praising him for how well he fought. The six all lined themselves up as the iron lady walked past taking off her blindfold.
"Big sister Evelyn!! May I ask a question!?" —[Norma asked]
"I hope it has to do with how poorly you performed during your training!!" —[she replied with a cold expression]
[*Norma nervously laughs*]
"I noticed you were holding back a lot during this training, even with the blindfold on, you barely swung your sword like you meant it. Why is that?..." —[Norma asked]
"As you are right now, you are incomplete, merely an empty vessel and until you are whole; I will train you the best way I can. There are certain people out there who are as powerful or even more powerful than myself. Very soon you'll be unleashed into the world and you may come across people like that and would have to fight for your lives.". —[the iron lady stated]
" No wayyyy!! You mean there are people even more powerful than you!!?" —[Orion said in disbelief]
" What kind of people are they!!? ...I mean they all won't be bad people right!!?.... Big sis Evelyn!! —[Draco asked]
"They are!!, remember what I taught you about the mafia!!? Well at the time I didn't feel the need to tell you everything about them but now..... The mafia are known as The Red Valley Syndicate but as you are now you wouldn't have a problem taking out any of their members, but..... There's a certain group within the mafia who are as powerful as I am or maybe even more, they are the reason the government of this country are so scared to fight the mafia. They are known as 'THE MERCENARIES OF THE IRON ALTAR'
Little is known of their identities. So take your training seriously." —[the iron lady explains]
The six had their face glowing with excitement hearing the iron lady explained more about the mafia and the secret powerful group that exist within it. But the exciting glow on their faces immediately died when she added:
" Someday in the future you all may have to face me again, but this time it would be in the real world and I won't be holding back, it's kill it be killed, so better start now to prepare" —[she said having a maniacal smile on her face]
"Did she just say 'kill or be killed'!!? I sure hope she's kidding because she's definitely the one that would be doing the killing, c'mon it's clearly a one sided fight" —[Orion laments]
"You are all dismissed" —[she said as she leaves the training hall]