Sunday, 14 October 2018, Arcturus
After the group splits up with great success, they end up staying in Arcturus to start what would end up being the stay focusing a lot on heavy training, where everyone would also improve their magic in a harder way, where they will be taken to the limit of their bodies and will be able to get by not being spied anymore by the members of the order that were watching everything from the mansion and taking some information around how strong they were, but that this time for being in another place things might differ a lot.
The day started at four o'clock in the morning, Laura arrived waking up all the girls for the training, using spells of water that was being thrown in the face of one by one, who woke up exhausted, even McLaren herself was also showing tiredness, but she managed to hold herself up very well, especially after having a nice cup of coffee.
" Mum... It's still night time, why wake us up so early? " asks Diana.
" Very well, now our training begins, where we will first of all stretch and push our limits of flexibility, I want everyone to be able to stay like this," said the Irishwoman who managed to put her leg at face height and then let go.
" Oh... Do we really need it? " said Frank.
" Yes! This can help in a battle, we'll need to be flexible to also have more speed when it comes to striking and everything else, so do what I do, I'll make sure to pull each one of you to the limit " said the blue"eyed one who was beginning to show a little of the flexibility she still had.
The stretching session was starting there, and many were already having the difficulty of opening their legs that way, but soon the redhead was coming and pushing a little more, which were perceptible the groans of pain of all, along with the stretches that were very hard.
At least on Amanda's part, Akko and Diana weren't having as much trouble because they were already used to stretching like that, but they were still put to the limit of what they could handle.
A very long stretching session with all the possible movements being passed, which already generated many complaints of pain, with everyone lying on the floor tired, this only at the beginning of the training.
" That's nothing yet, come with me, now the warm up part begins," said Laura.
" Ahhhh, there's more " Akko said grumbling.
" I wasn't kidding when this training would be tough.
The Irishwoman came down from the tree house amidst the still dark early morning sky in Arcturus, they all followed her, already noticing that she was sort of preparing for a run, warming up her body.
" Now a little race, follow me and don't forget that the forest has its dangers " McLaren said.
The race started, the dangers showed up in the form of plants where the girls went dodging in desperation following the redhead that was running on top of her, which forced the others to run too, and little by little they were getting tired, losing some speed.
" Mrs. McLaren... Mrs. McLaren, can't you slow down, I am getting tired to death " said Andrew.
" A boy that tired, spare me boy, follow the path, if we stop it will be worse " said the blue"eyed one.
" Ahhhhhhhh, I don't know if I can take it, I'm already dying here " Hanbridge said.
" Come on Andy, you can do it man " said Frank motivating his friend who picked up the pace a bit.
The walk went on for a considerable amount of time, tiring all of them who were slowing down, even the Irish girl, after so much punching and hitting the plants that were attacking her like the others, was another factor that caused an even greater fatigue, even so the oldest one kept going.
A good few minutes passed and they went back up to the top side, where they were all practically drinking all the water in the world, as if they had come out of a desert and from there the sun was already starting to show its face, dawning on the forest having a very beautiful landscape as a background.
" Ahhhhhh, finally, we used to walk a lot in the mansion, but not all that much " Atsuko said breathlessly.
" I said we would take it harder, even I'm tired, but it's an age thing," Laura said, rubbing the back of her neck laughing.
" And now what will it be? " Amanda asks.
" Now we're going to gain body, we're going to decrease this, to who knows come this " Said the Irishwoman showing her belly and then momentarily turning it into a defined abdomen until it returned to normal for the belly she had a bit.
The redhead is the one who dictates the pace, not even Constanze escaped from all this physical training, even though she is the weakest of them all.
After 50, 100, 150, until 200, which was the limit that McLaren could handle. It was notable that the others were also there, dying of pain, but even so she got up and started doing push"ups.
" Let's go! Push"ups! Follow me! " Laura said.
" Ahhhhhhhhh, there's more... I've got my abdomen killing me here, it feels like I've been stabbed several times " Frank said.
" This is just the beginning for now," said the redhead.
The push"ups went on and on, everyone was already a bit tired, barely managing to do one by one, but even so the Irishwoman kept insisting and even so she only counted how much everyone did, it was 50, 100, 150, reaching the same 200 of the abdominals, which then ended all the terror of the push"ups, and everyone got up including taking healing potions.
" Well that was to warm up, now let's get to the more physical training, now that it's daylight, let's go outside again " Said the Irish girl picking up a broom and then handing it to everyone.
" Are we going to fly on a broomstick? That's cool," said Amanda.
" That's not a simple broom, pick it up " Said the blue-eyed one throwing it to O'Neill who ends up almost falling over with the weight.
" She's heavy! What difference does it make? " asks the American.
" Not only heavier, less stable, more unpredictable, you have to tame this broom, so you will be able to pilot any broom much better, besides that it can be useful even in our invasion when we are piloting the machines, it is something to improve your focus, control and agility " McLaren said.
Then she was jumping from the tree house, with the broom in hands, the others were following her, kind of starting to float, starting the flight, what the redhead just started down there, starting to follow an extremely dangerous route, in the middle of the trees, besides the creatures, it's a lot of things to avoid and the group kind of felt the difficulties to control that broom, that didn't go very well, including collisions.
Luckily the redhead made a point to use magic when something like that happened, knowing that they would crash and kind of transported it back to the track, what helped a lot to keep the training flowing, what even so the group kept flying uncontrollably.
" Ahhhhhh! This thing is crazy! I don't know how it's going to stay straight! " Said Atsuko trying to tame the broom.
" I warned you it would be tricky, it took me a long time to tame those brooms when I was a kid, but you can do it as fast as I can, just keep training like this around the course and relax that you won't die, I've protected you from rolling off," McLaren said.
" I've never flown on a broom in my life and I'm right on top of one of these things," said Andrew, who was going out of control.
They all continued along the route McLaren had determined for some time, returning to the tree house where it was possible that all of them had visible injuries, but were soon healed with potions, a long flight of 40 minutes being enough, while the girl herself was practically intact.
" Well that part I actually do better at because it's my speciality, flying the broom, plus you also did well Diana, who would have thought the race went through the blood anyway isn't it " Laura said.
" Even so I crashed a few times, it was painful, but at the same time I got the basics down, I think I can tame this thing next time " Cavendish said as she healed herself with the potion.
" And now what? What will the training be " Atsuko asks.
" Come with me " said the Irish woman.
They sort of walked to another part of the tree house, where from there it looked a lot like a gym, with some weights, which could be picked up with magic, and equipment, all geared towards physical gain, which was something even familiar to many of the people.
" Well here is free, exercise as if you were in the gym, I give two hours and then we continue more of the training, is to go at the limit even, we have magic, so the body restores at the time and can be pulled to the limit " McLaren said.
" And why train all that? We are witches just use a strong spell " Sucy said.
" Good because we are witches and our bodies are the receptacle of magic, we are like moving wands, if our body is well, so is our magic, stronger bodies hold more magic, stronger bodies release more powerful spells and as it also has a longer duration, so we train the bodies too, it's a matter of keeping the balance of body, mind and magic " Said Laura, who was doing a demonstration with her own arms that even had some considerable muscles.
After the explanation the academy session started, everyone was training some part of the body, even the Irish woman herself was doing it, for all the two hours, everyone there was putting on the limit of the physically possible, after that they drank potions that gave an instant cure, giving back some of the vigor, as well as getting rid of pains in the body although at the moment the pains were coming with everything, what was starting the gain in each moment.
After all this part of the training, they were all kind of tired, even with potions, the body was already at the limit of the limit, but they continued training in another way.
" Well, now we are going to relax, this I say still training, nothing like a training of the mind too, after all it is good to keep the balance, so let us meditate, reach the balance and keep calm " Laura said.
" Does it work? " Amanda asks.
" Of course, it has always worked for me," said Sucy.
" We have to keep a calmness in our minds, this can also serve to give a relief to what we have put our body just now " McLaren said.
A meditation session was beginning, taking practically an hour of the time, many were really managing to concentrate, mainly the most used to that type of training, where they were keeping their heads emptier at each second, only in the biggest silence of the whole world it was possible to notice how they were connecting themselves very much to magic, mainly because they were all with their eyes closed, the place around them was emanating a greenish energy, so much so that when they opened their eyes at the end of the whole session the girls were amazed.
" We really did well in that," said the Irish woman.
" What is it? I have never seen magic like that before " Akko said in amazement.
" This is our connection with nature and magic, we are getting well connected and calmer, this is the almost state of getting the perfect balance, we are improving our magic " Diana said.
" Exactly that Diana, now let's get to the final part, which involves, porradaria " Laura said, cracking her fists.
" Are we going to hit each other? " Amanda asks.
" Well, that's exactly it, choose your pairs, come out in hand and we will stay like this for a while, when you get well hurt, take potions, we have to learn how to kick some butt, without using magic for now, it is the penultimate part of the training " McLaren said.
And soon the pairs of girls were being chosen, where they were all gathering at the Broom Ball arena, which has plenty of space to hold martial arts training and with that they were kind of starting to go out against each other, for almost an hour of training, which was very exhausting to all, but at the same time they could see how they were having an improvement, especially in terms of understanding each other's moves and tactics.
" Look I'm warning you, don't repeat the same doubles, alternate between them, you have to learn from different situations and styles, don't be afraid to use any dirty blows, it's a fight where anything goes " said the Irishwoman.
After an hour of training they were all exhausted, full of injuries, they took potions to restore the injuries, again getting well and without the fatigue, but it already showed that the training was getting heavy.
" Well to finish the last thing we are going to do in this training and it will be a hunt, we are going to go out, we are going to battle against the monsters and creatures here, the dangerous and hostile monsters even, that can kill, don't worry in case it causes damage, because the magic here always brings these creatures back that stay in their habitat " McLaren said.
" Those giant chickens? " Said Atsuko swallowing her saliva.
" Scars are very dangerous and that is a big yes, we are going to fight them, here anything goes, use magic, use whatever you have at hand, you will learn how to attack for real too " said the redhead.
" Then it's going to be fucking fun," O'Neill said excitedly.
They were all flying to the most dangerous side of Arcturus, there was beginning a mass attack on the creatures, that were also fighting back, Laura kept her eyes very attentive in all of them, in case something happened, she was already using her magic to intervene, kind of creating a defence so that the creatures themselves wouldn't end up dead and this happened many times.
" Beware! Any mistake can get you killed! You have to watch out everywhere or you will die! " Laura said from far away while everybody continued to train.
There were spells of all kinds, magic metamorphoses, giant weapons coming out, elemental spells, summoning of creatures, poisons, everything depended on the creativity of each one of them, who even helped each other in this matter, which cheered up the Irish girl a lot, who also gave healing when they needed it.
She was the only one who didn't participate because she could see from far away and serve to protect from possible deadly attacks, which was something very frequent in that beginning.
" That's it! You're getting better! I'm already using less protection spells on you, if you keep this up you'll get more than out of all this alive! " said McLaren, motivating everyone more.
Minutes after a hard training, McLaren gave a bigger protection to everyone by creating a big force field, raising everyone a little bit to the distance of the creatures, where they started to escape by flying at very high speeds to avoid the huge cockatrice that was following them, but McLaren simply used a spell to stun the creature and made possible a better and safer escape.
With everyone arriving breathless after a hard workout that involved a bit of everything, it was the extreme of how to fight with magic, testing the limits of each one.
" Woah, I'm dead now " Amanda said.
" You were all there, how much I protected you from deadly blasts you have no idea, I was all full with eyes on you, but well, welcome to the training of Arcuturus, it will be like this every day until we leave for the top, now you can take the potions and rest, later we will help the Cons to improve the MGE, I will only need some volunteers " McLaren said.
" Of course, I propose to help, I was the one who tested it for the first time really in practice in a fight, I'll love to see improvements, especially around the duration, it was bastard what happened against Margareth " Diana said.
" I also want to see what Cons can do, we can get a victory closer with everyone's help," Amanda said.
" It is very good to see you all helping each other, it will be worth a lot in the future, I am sure, if we help each other now, you will soon be free to fulfil your whole dream, we will finally be safe after almost 20 years trapped in the hands of those wretched cultists" said Laura, who was hugged by her daughter.
" We will work together on this one and victory will be our mother, I believe in us," Cavendish said.
" Let's do like Chariot! Our magic is to believe in ourselves! " Said Akko motivating more everyone that was healing and then each one was separating kind of starting to eat and rest after the arduous training.
" Look thank you for all of you existing, you are wonderful people in this world, I feel wonderful for your existence " McLaren said with a smile on her face.
From there everyone was spending their time resting, where later Diana, Akko and Amanda were helping Constanze with all the construction of the MGE, developing improved versions, which had a much longer duration in terms of magic, although in prototype version, it was little by little giving some improvements, which thanks to testing was possible to notice some defects and be able to improve.
The training in Arcturus is being very hard, but it helps the group to get stronger, creating what would be a totally strong group to come with everything in the attack on the base of the cultists who have no idea that in an attack to come against their base.
See you, trained witches...