BLOOD SAMURAI

THE STORY OF THE BANDIT KING PART2 (THE MAKINGS OF A WARRIOR)

Early the next morning, Maxwell and John headed to a field in the middle of the forest. John told Maxwell to step back a couple of feet away from him and wait on his word. There were several sticks wrapped in cloth next to him and, without warning, John began throwing the stick at Maxwell at blazing speed. The projectiles were upon Maxwell, but he dodged them with ease and within a fraction of a second. But before Maxwell could come to terms with his current situation, John approached him faster than the projectiles and he threw a variety of kicks and punches some moves Maxwell didn't know that the human body could do, causing Maxwell to go on the defensive. He evades all John's attacks with ease because of his slight frame and remarkable agility and reaction time.

As the fight goes on, Maxwell looks for an open and tries to roundhouse kick John in the rib cage, which was rejected as John caught Maxwell's foot and launched him into a boulder. As Maxwell tries to recover himself, John walks towards Maxwell thinking to himself, "what an amazing boy. He dodges my attacks and even has time to counter them. I know I am getting old, but this boy is the real deal", and with that rockets himself towards Maxwell, who is still trying to get back on his feet. Maxwell only notices that attack at the last second and rolls out the way, as he does this, he can see that John's attack completely shattered that boulder into pieces. "If that punch landed on him, he would certainly be dead," Maxwell thought to himself as sweat mixed with overwhelming fear ran down his back. As he gathers himself back up, he can realize that the calm and friendly aura that was surrounding John has changed drastically from peaceful to downright destructive. As he focuses on John, he can see his aura change from a bluish-white to a purplish black.

John, as he walks towards Maxwell, laughs, stops, picks up one stick, and twirls it in his hands. Instantaneously, the stick that was once been in John's hands was in front of Maxwell's face. Maxwell dodges the attack by rolling backs, but like magic, John was standing over him with the stick in his hand, bringing it down towards Maxwell. Maxwell grabs a nearby stick and propels himself to block the attack. After that, the two went on an all-offensive, no holding back battle, with each one blocking the other ones' attacks and trying to counter this went on for several minutes. Before Maxwell grew tired. "You're one amazing kid, Maxie, '' stated John as he laughed, watching Maxwell catch his breath. "You held your own, you got remarkable reaction time and ability, just your weak child body can keep up with what your mind wants it to do," he continued as Maxwell passed out because of exhaustion.

As John carries Maxwell on his back towards the house he whispers ever so softly. "But we will fix that and when I am done you will be the greatest warrior that ever lived". The next morning the pair were in the backyard. "Today we're going to focus on building your core strength". Stated John," my core strength?" replied Maxwell. "Yes you have everything down but your weak child, terrible weak so we are going to fix that" replied John "How?" asked Maxwell. Well today you're going to do one hundred pushes one hundred situps, one hundred squats, and after all that one that big rock across there," remarked John as he points in opposite direction to where Maxwell well was standing. As Maxwell turned around he was in shock to see the massive rock two his size and about ten times his weight. "I got to move that big thing after going all those other things?" Maxwell replied in shock and anger whilst pouting his face. " Not only do you have to move it but you will have to carry it up that hill" laughed John as he points to a new location. As Maxwell looks at the new location he begins screaming " Up there seriously". The hill was at least two hundred feet in height and was steep and tough.

As Maxwell looked at the massive hill in fear, John picked him up but his shirt collars and stated, "let's begin". It took Maxwell two hours just to finish the pushup situps and squats, only reaching thirty in each exercise. The time came to move the massive rock. It refused to move, not even an inch for the nine hours Maxwell spend trying to move it. The next day, he tried again with the same results and this continued for many months until one day he could complete his one hundred sets of each exercise. He could move a few feet before passing out from exhaustion. The next morning, Maxwell began his training early but John could even awake from sleep determine to move the rock up the hill. He moves the rock to the base of the hill but with everything to push it up the hill, the hill would just push back down. For hours Maxwell and hill battle with the hill be victorious until he brought the rock halfway up the hill. But it froze him because of the pressure the task had placed on his body. He was stuck. His body trembled with overwhelming pain, his chest felt like it was caving in on him, his heart was beating in an offbeat manner. The only thing that was keeping him standing was his mindset and willpower. Maxwell started to lose conciseness until he heard someone screaming with awoke him. When he turned his head, it was John screaming and at him to keep going. Finding his second wind, Maxwell gain a burst of strength and energy and quickly scaled up the second half of the hill, finally completing his training. Maxwell quickly ran down the hill to celebrate with John. "Did you see that?" asked Maxwell with overwhelming excitement. "I sure did, Maxie. you were great. You handle yourself like a true warrior". Replied John, "I did?" asked Maxwell. "you sure did kid" proclaimed John. "Ok, now the real training can begin". replied John

Ten years passed and Maxwell grew in strength, both physically and mentally. He could now do two thousand push-ups, situps, and squats in one go, and he could carry a massive rock on his shoulder up the hill whilst being tied to another rock below. His combats skills were next level as he was skilled in sword, ax, and spear-wielding. He was skilled in hand-to-hand combat, as he won every single sparring match he and John had. The boy was ready. He had finally become a man, not a warrior. Later one evening, after winning another sparring match against John, the two men lay under a tree laughing and telling jokes. "You're finally ready, Maxie," stated John. "For what?" asked Maxwell. "To go get your family's weapon," laughed John. "I am," proclaimed Maxwell in excitement, as if he was still a young boy. "Yes you are, you just have to complete one last test," replied John. "what is it?" replied Maxwell. "Battle and beat Gustave," replied John in a seriously deep tone." Gustave?" asked Maxwell, whose tone also changed from excited to serious. "Yes Gustave," remarked John. Gustave was a Helvete bear, which was a massive brown or sometimes black creature that weighed about eight hundred to nine hundred pounds and stood at seven to eight feet tall. The bears have 6-inch claws to go with their massive size and overwhelming strength and sharp 4 inch long teeth. But Gustave was different. For starters, Gustave was much larger than Helvete bears standing at about twelve to even fourteen feet in height. Gustave was a monster. He looked like he weighed about a ton and a half with eight-inch long claws and his characteristics differed from other bears of his kind that avoided humans, but Gustave was a man-eater and had killed hundreds of people in the near but town. Gustave was such a monster that gunshots had no effect on him and the villagers refused to entire the forest altogether. Maxwell composed himself and stood up. "Ok, I will find Gustave and win," proclaimed Maxwell. "I know you will," remarked John as Maxwell walks off to battle Gustave.

Armed with a dagger in hand, Maxwell processes to a cave. From outside the entrance of the cave, he and smell blood and death and sounds of a monstrous roar coming from the cave. "This must be it".remarked Maxwell. As he entered the cave, he could only rely on his sense of smell and hearing as the cave was pitch black and visibility was impossible, but even with poor visibility he could he Gustave watching him and without hesitation, Gustave attacked launching himself towards Maxwell with blinding speed. Maxwell pulled out his dagger and stab the bear in one of his paws but because of Gustave's overpowering strength, it still threw Maxwell across the cave. As the bear roared in pain, Maxwell composed himself and rocketed himself into the bear's body, slamming into him. The force of the impact was so great it would have killed a normal man and even knocked out an average Helvete bear but Gustave was unfazed.

Enraged the bear bite down on Maxwell's shoulders causing him immense pain. As Maxwell struggled to pull himself out of Gustave's mouth, he can hear the cracking of his bones as Gustave bites down on him. But with quick thinking Maxwell jam his dagger into Gustave's eye causing the bear to let go of him. As the bear roared in pain Maxwell remembered that a Helvete bear's weakness is in its mid rib cage as they have a spot that when hit knocks the wind out of them just like the solar plexus in humans. Maxwell roundhouse kicks the bear in his rib cage causing the bear to fall over. As Gustave came crashing down Maxwell took the opportunity to ram the dagger in the side of Gustave's neck. But even with the wind knocked out of him and a dagger in the next Gustave still strike Maxwell across the chest sending him flying out of the cave. As Maxwell gather himself back onto his feet he realized that his vision became blurry.

As he slowly dragged himself back into the cave whilst holding his bleeding shoulder he was determined to end it. As he returns to the cave he can see the once-powerful Gustave lying on the ground unable to move, as Maxwell approached the bear he can hear small roars coming from somewhere at first he taught it was Gustave using the last of his strength but it wasn't. Out from the shadows came four clubs, three of which ran over to Gustave and the other stood in front of Maxwell as if trying to protect Gustave.

Maxwell proceed to walk in the club's direction causing Gustave to try to stand but the bear couldn't due to its injuries. That was when Maxwell realized that these clubs were Gustave's own and with that memories of the day his father died flashed through the young man's mind causing him to cry. Maxwell took a deep breath and sighed. "How can I kill a father protecting his children that not how warriors conduct themselves," remarked Maxwell as he exited the cave. While walking out Maxwell turned to Gustave "Try not to kill any more people I would hate to have to come back here you know" remarked Maxwell. The bear looked at Maxwell and shook his head as if to signal that he understood the young man's word and Maxwell walked out of the cave leaving Gustave with his clubs.

As Maxwell walked back home, he collapsed several times because of his injuries and blood loss. As he staggered into the house, he only made it to the front door before passing out completely. When he awoke, he was in bed with John sitting next to him. There was a moment of silence before John asked the question. "So, how was the test?" "I wasn't able to kill Gustave. I could and I should have but I couldn't," remarked Maxwell. "why not?' asked John. "When I saw him trying to protect his clubs even if death was the only option it remained me of my father and I don't want to be a man that kills a father trying to protect his young even if it Gustave" replied Maxwell "Just I failed right?'" Maxwell continued. John took a deep breath and replied, " You past being a warrior is not only being stronger than you enemy but knowing when to let your enemy live and when to show mercy Maxie" "So you knew Gustave had clubs"?" asked Maxwell. "I did" replied John. The two men remained silent and suddenly began laughing. "Guess am ready for the journey?" asked Maxwell. "yes you are?" remarked John.

The next morning, as Maxwell prepared himself for his journey, John call him into the kitchen. As Maxwell entered the Kitchen John ushered him to sit next to him. "Today is the big day," remarked John. "Yes, it's finally here," answered Maxwell, overwhelmed with joy as his years of training finally paid off." But before you go, I would like to tell you my story as I think it will help with your mission," proclaimed John as Maxwell sat silently, always wanting to know about his master's past but was always too afraid to ask. " As you know, I used to be a warrior from a land far from here," remarked John. Maxwell shook his head. "When I was a boy, about eleven or twelve, I was gifted as a warrior. I could defeat groups of grown men in my village. By age fifteen, I was the chief of my village and handled the village's defense and protection. By age sixteen, I was married and at your age and already had children. Everything was great until one day". John paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and continued. " When coming home from a battle, strange men ambushed us. They must have been watching us for a while and understood when we would have been at our weakness, but they overwhelmed quickly us and within minutes they killed all my men, captured the women, children, and the elder men.

When they reach my home, I was still trying to fight them off when I too was captured by them. They made me watch as they burned my wife and son inside of my home and fed my newborn daughter to their dogs. As John continued his story, Maxwell can see his master hold up his tears." After that, they package the remaining villagers and me into a boat and ship us here. For years, I worked picking their crops, tending their animals, being whipped, kicked, and stripped of my true self. Until one day, I snapped and killed the guards on the plantation. I even free my people but instead of rejoicing in their freedom, they looked at me as if I was the devil that's when I realized that even though they looked like my people they were not, their souls have far left this world and what remained with just mindless bodies worshipping their captors as if they were Gods and with that, all I could do is run and run fast.

For years, I stood alone in my depression. I even tried to kill myself by thinking I didn't deserve to see my family again since I had to fail to protect them. I decided it would be best to just live and suffer until I die until I found you in the forest and knew I had found my calling to make you strong." stated John as the tears began running down his face. Maxwell walked over to John and placed his head on his forehead." I can't bring back your family but I can save mine and you can become a part of it" remarked Maxwell whilst John looked up to him in shock."Since my dad died you have been the closes thing to him I might not be your son and you might be my dad but does that manner your important and that's all I care about" continued Maxwell as he rose and began walking out the house. "Thank you Maxie please come back home safe," remarked John whipping the tears from his face. "I will" replied Maxwell as he headed out on his journey to reclaim what is his.