Chapter 55 - Combat Practice

[I still can't believe they bought that], I heard Voxea say as I was getting out of bed.

[Well they love me, I'm their daughter and...], I could somehow feel Voxea give me a withering stare even though she was inside a drajule. [Alright it probably helped that I just pinned the blame on Monster's Night and maji shenanigans. It's not my fault that it makes such a good excuse].

[Just because we made the dragons, doesn't mean we made Monster's Night. It just sorta happened, apparently].

The evening before, my parents decided to just attribute the unusual circ.u.mstances of Azalea to be the will of the aether...or in more blunt terms, blamed it on the fact that Monster's Night has a tendency to make the aether act funny, turning even the most docile majimonsters into ferocious man-eaters. Either way, they let me and Azalea off the hook about where she came from and I was dismissed to bed.

Before I went to bed however, my father informed me that tomorrow and the upcoming weeks was going to be dedicated to combat practice and majimonster control. Even though we normally hide away during Monster's Night, he and mother thought it would be prudent to practice for just in case things gets... hairy. He used another term, but I was told not to use it unless it's for justifiable circ.u.mstances.

The next morning, after completing my morning rituals, I proceeded to go downstairs and got ready for combat lessons.

"Alright Silvia, today we're going to see what a Bushinado can do. Summon Azalea and we'll have her face Magni". After saying that, my father prepared Magni's drajule and called him out with the words, "Magni! Smashing thunder"!

A white and yellow summoning circle with symbols representing the Basic and Lightning affinity appeared in the air in front of my father. The next moment, a squat bipedal rodent monster rolled out of the circle. The W.o.m.batant looked at his bare hands for a second before plunging his hand back into the circle and pulling out a large war club as big as he was. The circle then disappeared while an intimidating W.o.m.batant with lightning sparking off it's hair remained and stared daggers at me.

"Alright...Azalea! Bewilder and Bl.u.s.ter"!

As I clanged Azalea's drajule tuning fork, a summoning circle with Verdant, Fury and Wind symbols phased into existence in front it me. From the inside of the circle, a pair of wooden gauntlets reached out and grabbed the edges of the circle. The Bushinado inside the circle then pulled itself out of the circle, revealing a fierce horned mask with intricate patterns, pauldrons that were carved into the shape of demonic faces and a wooden chest piece that looked solid yet light. Once Azalea managed to get her waist out of the circle, a blast of wind propelled her forward and she flew into the air for a bit. As the circle dissipated, Azalea slowly hovered downwards until it was by my side.

I forgot to do this yesterday, but I took a look at Azalea with the Dragon's Eye to see what exactly what a Bushinado was capable of.

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Name: Azalea

Species: Bushinado

Affinities: Verdant/Wind/Fury

Grade: Bronze 3 stars

Traits: Assassinination

Health: E

Strike: A

Protection: D

Magic: B

Discipline: C

Speed: A

Brawn: B

Talent: B

Description: A brand new majimonster born from the fusing of an Agustus and a Grassassin. What new potential lies behind it's creation?

Voxea's Notes: As far as I can tell, this majimonster is like a ninja. Ninjas were assassins and spies from a land beyond the Old Empire's borders. They were fast, illusive and we're better at illusionary tricks better than most illusionists I know. If I had to take a guess, Bushinado should be able to move fast and hit hard, but won't be able to take a hit.

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The fog of war soon overcame my senses and the battle bond between me and Azalea flared up in a moment. This was the first time I made the battle bond with a majimonster other than Rakka, due to me never summoning Voxea to do battle before, and it felt familiar yet different. My bond with Rakka could best be described as being in the center of a snowstorm that I could control. It was wild, instinctual and powerful.

My bond with Azalea however was much...calmer? No...controlled. The bond with her gave me the same feeling as standing in the middle of the forest on a very windy day. The wind would be raging and roaring at the very top of the trees,but it would be dead silent on the forest floor as if waiting for something to occur.

A set of techniques that Azalea knew flowed into my mind from the battle bond and I could tell that using them was going to make this battle get weird.