Emperors War

Aker finished making breakfast for all the fighters and after cleaning up he headed over to the forge where Fish Eyes and Muscles were already waiting for him.

"Sen..ior Brother.....I mea..n Aker, I wa..nted to thank you in advan..ce for m..mak..ing my weapon." Fish eyes greeted Aker, his excitement was evident in the way he was moving his hands as he paced around.

"It's no problem at all, truth be told I would be in the forge practicing anyways so having a weapon to make for someone is all the better. Now tell me, what kind of weapon do you want?"

Fish eyes stopped pacing, his complete attention focused on his answer, "I've b.b.been th…thinking about this long and h..h.hard since yesterday, I want.....I want.....can you make me a...saber with an extra-long blade?" Fish eyes seemed to stutter around Aker ever since the fight with Finley yesterday.

"Sure thing, anything else? Such as heavy or light? thin or thick blade? Maybe you want a specific ability, like Shawn's sword adds a bit of cold in each attack." Since Aker was already going through all of the trouble, even if it added more work it wouldn't be much more and since that was the case Aker would be willing to completely customize this saber.

More importantly Aker enjoyed forging and viewed the process as training. It wasn't just training his forging skill but it was also training his body. When Mavis had first introduced Aker to the Forging Body Tempering Art it had taken Aker every bit of his ability, his stamina, and perseverance to swing his hammer five thousand times.

Since Mavis had first introduced the Forging Body Tempering Art Aker had managed to go from swinging the hammer five thousand time to ten thousand times. Every single time he was done swinging his hammer he would fall to the ground in exhaustion, not a speck of strength left in him, but it was worth it as he could feel his body getting stronger and tougher.

Before Aker left for the military Mavis explained that the Forging Body Tempering Art had five levels, and as Aker broke through each level his bodies strength and toughness would grow exponentially. In order for Aker to someday become a master blacksmith he would have to condition his body to be able to handle the backlash of creating such high-level weapons.

Most blacksmiths didn't follow the path of a magic fighter as they didn't have the time, resources and talent for blacksmithing and magic fighter training. As such they would have to focus on body tempering art in order to continue advancing as a blacksmith.

Without a body tempering art, even if their skill and knowledge was to advance, their body would never be able to handle the force generated when making advanced weapons especially when using advanced metals, fires and other elements.

Initially following Mavis teaching him the Forging Body Tempering Art Aker didn't put too much stock in it, he was following the path of a magic fighter and his body would strengthen more than enough to handle whatever level he managed to reach as a blacksmith.

It wasn't until Aker discovered that when combining the Forging Body Tempering Art with his Peerless Body there was an exponential growth of his strength and agility. His Peerless Body increased his skills as a percentage of his base stats and he found that by following the magic fighter path and the body tempering path his bodies base stats increased significantly faster, thus increasing the effectiveness of his Peerless Body.

While all of the effects of practicing the Forging Body Tempering Art were minuscule today, in the future when Aker broke through the fifth level of the Forging Body Tempering Art and reached the Nature Core level, wouldn't having both give him a huge advantage when combined with his Peerless Body?

"I..I..trust A..Aker.r's judge....me..nt!" Fish Eyes stuttering continued as he spoke. It seemed to Aker that this Fish Eyes even had trouble looking at him without looking away.

"Sounds good, why don't you come back later this evening to pick it up. I saw you practicing today so I have a decent idea of what I can do with the weapon." Aker who had helped Fish Eyes earlier this morning correct his stances and practice a few block and avoid combinations had noticed his movements and had a plan for his weapon.

After Aker disappeared into the forge Muscles turned to Fish Eyes, head c.o.c.ked to the side and asked "Why do you stutter around him?"

Fish Eye's gave Muscles a meaningful look as if wondering if he wanted to explain to him or not, his face changed several times as he thought over his considerations before he finally looked up and answered, "Let me ask you, have you ever seen anyone as capable as Aker at his age before?"

Not understanding what he was asking Muscles continued, "I can't say that I have, he seems extraordinary so far in everything he's displayed. Whether it be cooking, forging or fighting he is the best I've seen."

Nodding his head up and down in agreement with Muscles, Fish Eye's continued his thought, "It's not just that he's extraordinary, his speed was faster than Finley's, his skill with a sword was superior, did you see him learn how to counter Finley's attack while they were fighting? Who has comprehension abilities like that? Even today when we were practicing this morning, he demonstrated for everyone with the sword, the saber, the halberd and the spear, did you notice?"

"Notice what?"

"That it didn't matter which weapon he had in his hand, his skill with all of them were better than anyone else in D Company.....No, better than anyone I have ever seen in any company. With four different weapons he was that skilled. Now let me ask you, did it feel like he was going all out when he was fighting with Finley yesterday?"

Like a rock fell on his foot Muscles went stiff his eyes went wide and shock could be seen on his face as he comprehended what Fish Eyes was trying to get at.

'That's right, as he fought against Finley there wasn't the slightest bit of pressure reflected in his eyes, his eyes never had the slightest ripple of concern at all. It was as if he was just practicing while Finley while Finley was embroiled in a life and death struggle. If he wasn't even trying while he was fighting Finley then just how strong is he?'

"I don't mean to stutter when I talk to him, it's just that every time I look at him, I can't help but realize that he is the greatest genius I have ever seen or ever heard of. For someone of his caliber to be a puer nuntius, even if it's only for a short time, I can't believe someone would make that kind of mistake. I get the impression when I look at him that someday I will be standing in a crowd of people and all of us will be staring up at him. I know it sounds ridiculous, that's why I hesitated to say anything."

Muscles already had a very high opinion of Aker's ability, but after hearing Fish Eye's thoughts he couldn't help but ponder, 'does it sound crazy to imagine that kid put up on a pedestal like that?'

The more Muscles thought about it, the more he came to a conclusion, "It doesn't sound ridiculous at all. In fact, I think it would sound more ridiculous to say that he wouldn't end up that way."

Fish Eye's upon hearing Muscles agree with him and not ostracize instead caused a giant smile to spread across his face, "Hahahahaha that's right, with Big Brother Aker's abilities it would be even crazier if he didn't end up that way!"

Fish Eye's was so enthusiastic with Muscles answer that he didn't even stutter or hesitate when referring to Aker as Big Brother. He had been struggling internally with the situation and it kept him up all night. For someone of Fish Eyes age to refer to a Thirteen-year-old puer nuntius as Big Brother, it was hard to hide his embarrassment and he could picture everyone who would laugh at him as he called out to Aker as Big Brother.

'Big Brother Aker huh?' Listening to Fish Eyes words Muscles was contemplating Fish Eyes words and thoughts.

While the two were outside talking, Aker was in the forge working. He had identified the metal that he wanted to use for Fish Eyes weapon.

Fish Eyes was not overly strong, to be honest he was on the weaker side and was average in height. His arms were not particularly long and to be blunt other than his bulging eyes he didn't have any defining features. If he was to join another company, he would stand out due to his skinny body, but in D Company everyone was the same, so he looked completely average and normal.

As Aker had watched Fish Eyes footwork, his speed, and his perception, he felt that he didn't stand out in any area. Essentially Fish Eyes was a completely run of the mill fighter, and as such would be a great baseline that would serve as the standard that could be used as the concept design for weapons that would be suitable for most of the fighters in D Company. The same basic premise, whether sword, saber, halberd or spear could be applied to every weapon made for the fighters of D Company that he would design for Fish Eyes saber.

After considering for a few minutes Aker came to the conclusion that he would add a slight curve to every blade he made whether it be for a sword or saber. This curve when added with the proper technique would allow for the weaker fighters in D Company to glance off the blows of stronger fighters due to the angles of the blade.

As a standard, unless specifically asked otherwise he would make all of their weapons twenty percent lighter than standard weapons made by other blacksmiths, this was of course due to the relatively smaller frames of the fighters in D Company.

He would balance the weapons between the five elements with the first being Fire. Today he would make Fish Eyes weapon out of Efrium, a tough metal that was found in the cores of planets and was spit out by volcanic eruptions. This metal could cut through steel like it was butter, its sharpness was accented by the heat it naturally generated, thus allowing it to move through matter with less resistance.

As Aker swung his hammer, he focused on his breathing, his footwork and his hammer drawback. Each minute action worked to temper his body, with each strike of his hammer the resulting vibration would travel through his muscles and bones strengthening them ever so slightly. The more accurate his hammer strike the better result he would achieve...the mental strain of practicing the body tempering caused him to feel as much mental fatigue as it did muscle and body fatigue, every action had to be perfect.

Swing after swing, dozens, hundreds and then thousands of swings later a bright red sword was pulled from the water, Aker had tempered the sword three times. Aker randomly reached out and grabbed a sword that had been created by another blacksmith that was left lying in the forge in his left hand and with his right hand swung down his newly created saber. The saber didn't slow down and Aker didn't feel the slightest bit of resistance as the saber split the sword in half.

"Excellent, Efrium will be the standard for all fire created weapons. Next, I'll make an earth-based weapon if the fighter has no preference as far as element is concerned. I'm not sure yet since I only have a basic idea of what the Harmony Fighting style will be, but having weapons from each of the elements should only make the fighting style stronger later since the fighting style itself will be based on the five elements."

Aker voiced his thoughts as he considered how to create the weapons. Now that he had a concept idea with the Harmony Fighting style, he would need to spend time to develop the details. He would need to create the different moves, stances and study to find which formations could be incorporated, but for Aker this was an exciting prospect.

By creating the weapons of D Company utilizing the five elements now, in the future once he did develop his Harmony Fighting style, they would be able to begin training with it immediately.

After finishing the weapon Aker walked out of the forge holding it in his hand, a small proud smile on his face as he saw the suns shine off of the saber leave a blood red reflection on the ground in front of him.

Walking through the door he looked for both Muscles and Fish Eyes but was surprised to find them nowhere in sight.

As Aker walked around aimlessly searching for them, he heard the faintest sound of yelling come from the direction of the entrance of D Company. He could slightly hear a commotion that got louder and louder as he started that way.

As Aker got approached, he heard someone yell out, "There he is right there, hurry go get him!"

Aker looked around and realized that the person they were yelling to get was none other than himself. As that person yelled out every head and all eyes turned to face him.

As the heads turned towards Aker, he was clearly able to see Muscles and Fish Eyes at the front of the group, it had been them who had been yelling at the would-be intruders.

After hearing the fighter call out and after his eyes took in that Aker had really shown up, Muscles face went white, it was clear that he didn't want Aker to appear at this time.

"I'm telling you; you can't take him. He's a part of D Company!" Muscles yelled, his voice was carrying a tinge of "back off or we will make you".

"Some pathetic fighter from the Frail Fighters is going to make me back off, hahahahahaha.....might as well ask an eagle to run away from a sparrow." With his bald head it caused his eyebrows to stand out that much more as they seemed to connect together to create one long eyebrow. He was a large man, his arms were as big as Muscles waist, as he looked at Muscles he jeered, he held everyone who was part of D Company in contempt.

"Who do you think you are to show up and demand someone from our D Company!" This time it was Fish Eyes who looked as if he was ready to explode, his face bright red, his eyes bulging as he challenged. Aker couldn't help but think back on the few times that he had seen Fish Eyes angry, every time Fish Eyes lost his temper his eyes would bulge to such an extreme it gave the impression that they could fall out at any minute.

"We already told you, our Leader sent us over here to get that brat, he's been reassigned to our G Company. The mere idea or notion that you bunch of worthless rejects would ever have a puer nuntius assigned to you is a joke played on you from the heavens themselves. What moron would waste resources by assigning him to you filthy weaklings? At least in our company he'll be put to good use shoveling horse shit! Spending time with you Frail Fighters is even more disgusting and a waste than having him clean up crap, at least the horse has value on a battle field!"

"Hahahahahahahaha" All the fighters from G Company broke out in laughter hearing this bald fighter talk to the fighters from D Company.

In reality the fighters were here for Aker but it wasn't for him to shovel horse crap, it was because they had all seen him fight and more importantly, they had seen the weapon that he had forged. There was even a rumor going around that Aker was a world class chef. When they went back to G Company and told their Leader he didn't believe them at first, but after he did some investigating, he quickly made the decision to have the fighters from G Company go and snatch Aker up.

Of course, he didn't ask anyone, who would care if they killed someone from the Frail Fighters much less snatched up their puer nuntius. Once they had Aker in their G Company, they would figure out what to do with him, the key was they had to get him before others learned about him and made a move.