Mao Mao's Sisters

Time to go Back

Forty-eight hours have passed since the fight began, and Brunhilde has spent that time swinging her spear nonstop. The storm, which pelted her with bullets of water hours earlier, had eventually dissipated into rays of light, shining down and lighting up the grassy plains like a dance floor.

The Unbeatable Master, Brunhilde's adversary, is a man who's rumored to have gone his whole life without ever losing a fight. Upon hearing this, she sought him out to learn his secrets. It had taken her nearly a year to just find find him, and that was just the easy part.

When she asked for him to teach her his secrets, he had initially refused, he had told her he wasn't looking for students, and that he just wanted to be left alone. But if there was one thing Brunhilde learned growing up in the Mao Household, it was not to give up on your ambitions.

Weeks passed by, and Brunhilde never stopped asking for the Unbeatable Master to teach her. His patience, finally drawn thin, waned, so he decided to ask why a hero such as herself would go so far out of her way to seek him out.

A question to which she replied, "I seek power, power that will ensure that the next time I start a fight, it gets finished."

The Unbeatable Master found this answer unsatisfactory, hundreds sought him out in the past saying something much more lighthearted than Brunhilde's answer. Those same hundreds have ended up using that power for the wrong reasons, rather than what they had told him. With an answer such as that, she was bound to be no different, someone who will say anything to get what they want; at least that was what he had thought at first.

As the days turned to weeks, and the weeks turned to months, Brunhilde wouldn't stop coming out to his hovel in the middle of the wide and open, grassy plains. When his patience ran thin for a second time, he asked her to explain in great detail why she needed "power". Feeling conflicted, she hesitated to tell him, it didn't take long for her to brake; after telling him a certain tale, his perspective was altered just enough to consider taking her under his wing for a trial run.

That was three years ago; since then, Brunhilde has proven herself to be a woman of her word. In the time between their sessions, she put the skills she learned to practical use in the field, defending the defenseless in surrounding villages.

The Master eventually changed Brunhilde's "trial run" into a full apprenticeship. The sessions continued from there, the two warriors would spar, honing skills in actual combat, rather than explain and execute. The Master would watch Brunhilde as she fought, spotting mistakes, seeing where she had room to improve.

Exhaustion was starting to edge into Brunhilde's conciousness, two days without sleep was starting to take its toll. Her movements were starting to slow down, and her attacks had become sloppy at best.

Taking notice, the Master reached out and grabbed the pole of her spear as it arced over his head. "I believe that's enough for now."

Brunhilde, no longer able to force herself to stand, fell to her knees, her body feeling unusually heavy, and not because she was donning a full set of steel armor.

"Please Master," wheezed the knight, trying to force herself back to her feet. "I can keep going."

"Brunhilde, your dedication is as admirable as it is self-destructive," the Master stated, bringing his hands behind his back, watching as the knight attempted push herself off the ground. "You need rest."

Brunhilde looked up at the Master, her gaze showing she had a fire in her eyes. "Please, I need to get stronger."

The Master spun on the ball of his foot, making his way back to his hovel. His home wasn't all that big, just big enough for a twin-sized bed, and a coffee table with a tea set resting on top; at the age of ninety, material possessions weren't the most important thing to him.