Shinmai Maou no Testament: The Village

Part Eleven: Maria's Solution

Basara, while being flattered by all the attention, decides it is time to stop this before weapons are drawn. "OK gang, let's head to the park." He will call Maria later to let her know where they are. As they go outside, Basara says, "Yuki, Mio, play rock paper scissors." They look at him a bit confused, but both shrug their shoulders and play, with Yuki winning.

Basara walks up behind Yuki, pops out his wings, puts his right shoulder under her right armpit, wraps his arms around her tummy and begins flying! As they start flying towards the park, Mio says, "No fair, I was going to call two out of three!"

Yuki is holding onto his arms tightly, and is having the time of her life! Even though she has trained to keep her emotions in check, she cries out like a little girl on a roller coaster!

"Yuki, I haven't heard you like that since you were 10 years old!"

Yuki smiles at him and says, "I've never done anything like this before, and I got to do it with you!"

Basara is strangely moved by her words. When they land he gives her a tight hug and a kiss and says, "That was sweet, what you said before." She smiles at him, "you know I can be even sweeter, and don't forget you owe me one."

He had forgotten all about that! He smirks and says, "And I always pay my debts." About this time Kurumi arrives riding a wind current. "No fair! I want a ride too!" Basara and Yuki both laugh and Basara says, "You get a ride home when we are done."

He leaps in the air and goes back to get Mio and Sakaki. As he is flying, he sees them walking. He lands behind them, swoops each one in one of his arms and takes off! Both girls squeal with glee, and hold onto him tightly; as fun as this is, neither of them wants to fall off!

When they get there, they give Sasaki a lesson in basic combat techniques. Basara is used to using a large sword, and Yuki is closest to Sasaki's fighting style, which for her seems to be a 'skill' type. Kurumi gives her tips on fighting a ranged combatant.

After they finish combat 101, Yuki draws Sakuya and says, "Summon your broadsword, then hold it in a defensive stance, like we showed you." Sasaki does that, with her legs set wide and her back bent a bit, giving her a lot of movement options. Basara, Yuki, Kurumi and Mio all nod approval at her stance; she is catching on quick!

Yuki takes a swing, a soft swing easily parried by a novice. Then Yuki swings again, a little quicker, then again, a little harder. Sasaki has no problems stopping these swings, something that all of them expected. A Broadsword is more of a defensive weapon that can do big hits, but at a slower pace than a sword such as Yuki's katana. Hikari no Danbira is probably guiding her movements, helping her defend better.

They are out there for about an hour. Mio and Kurumi are working on ranged combat together. Mio teaches Kurumi how to raise a fire barrier that stops all attackers in their tracks, and Kurumi shows Mio how to use wind currents to fly. Then Kurumi realizes she left her phone at home, and she is supposed to call a friend at the village. She waves goodbye and rides the air currents home to make her phone call. As she leaves, she yells, "YOU OWE ME A FLIGHT ONII-CHAN!" Basara rubs his eyes and sighs, it seems like he is always in debt!

Basara and Yuki focus on swordsmanship with Sasaki, something she is picking up quite quickly. They both know though, that they really need to work with Sasaki on her durability. She is getting tired too quickly, and every time she takes a hit it really is painful to her. Basara and Yuki are both holding way back, and they decide the most important thing they need to show her is how to ignore pain and work with her body to significantly improve her recovery and regeneration.

As they are working with her, she steps in a gopher hold and falls to the ground. She lies there holding her ankle. Everyone goes to her, and Yuki can see it's just a sprain; she should be good to go in a day or two.