A clean swing cut through the empty air. The wooden blade moved in a clean horizontal arc before Wein pivoted on his leading foot. The motion flowed into wide sweep, the sword whistling softly as it passed through the quiet training hall.
Reverse stance, then repel, push and dodge. The resequencing continued without pause but this time it was better.
Wein's breathing rose and fell with each movement, controlled by heavy hours of repetition. Sweat dripped down his temple down through his bare chest and to his stretchy pants which had dampened with sweat.
Still he showed no signs of stopping. Days had passed since Voss's initial invasion of Ulix and the two forces entered a fleet stalemate. Not only had it been weeks of war, but also weeks of Wein's personal training.
This time, Wein had delved deeper into the forces from guarding to attacking. After days of this constant routine, the forms were no longer foreign to his body. What had been once stiff and unnatural had grown to familiarity.
His muscles remembered the rhythm even before his mind finished recalling the exact movement. Yet it was still not enough. The Divine Core within his body continued to pulse faintly an indicator that it was growing with every movement.
Again Wein began horizontal strike.
***
14 days after retaliation
Back on Ulix-Ultra, the war had not slowed.
It had been a few days but Voss had secured the skies over the initial hemisphere, allowing their forces to hold firm against repeated Ulix attempts to break through. Voss troops were just shy away from driving Ulix out of the megacity and claim it, the massive industrial complex known as Ulimare.
It had been days of relentless fighting and Voss had pushed most of Ulix out of the city. A major milestone for them.
The streets of Ulimare were still smoking when the first Voss banners were raised above the central tower. Armoured divisions pushed through the remaining resistance, methodical and unhurried.
The fighting that remained was scattered, Ulix holdouts in underground corridors and collapsed buildings, cut off from their command and waiting to be taken prisoner. Even with this, the megacity was Voss's, a success.
***
Deep beneath the mansion in Eclipseon, Wein found himself seated down in a dark enclosed space. He sat crossed legged, this time wearing a shirt and training pants.
His eyes were closed and his breathing slowed while he recalled the Accretion he had been doing the past days interchanging with training.
The technique had proven to be far more difficult than the sword forms. Where the forms had demanded physical discipline and repetition, Accretion demanded control over something far more tangible and the risk of destroying his Divine Core.
His awareness slowly turned inward and appeared within his mind's space. It was still foggy with sense of direction, just endless mist, and the faint sense of a seeding power below him.
Despite that, he inhaled slowly and began the routine he had done gathering energy for the seed so that it can grow into a tree and he can begin Accretion like the other nobles.
He concentrated, being careful to breathe in and out.
Energy gathered, the warmth spread all off his chest before slowly being drawn out of his body and settled below on the seed.
The process was uncomfortable and at times painful. Each time he gathered energy without a conduit like the tree, the energy came fast and raw. When he redirected it to the seed, it felt like forcing heat through his vein.
Worse, he had to drain every drop of that energy, since in its raw state it was like poison. He also had to stay focused enough not to fracture his Core.
His breathing faltered slightly, the energy almost gathering and it being a waste but he steadied himself and safely redirected it to the seed until not a drop was left. Then he opened his eyes, body heating up, strength gone from his muscles and eyes blurry.
He breathed himself calm, knowing he had to go again. Once that seed bloomed, then he could start accretion in earnest.
While his mind was still dizzy, his eye blurry and his body heating up and aching with chest pain he closed his eyes returning to his mental place. At least there, he was not blurry or heated.
He stood over where the seed was, he could sense the power he had lent it, how he was growing it. He placed his hands over it, there was progress and soon it would bloom.
At least there was that.
***
Three weeks after the initial retaliation.
The fall of Ulimare marked the beginning of Voss claiming more and more of Ulix's territory on the world of Ulix-Ultra.
Transport carries descended daily from the huge carriers station above the skies of Ulix-Ultra. These brought fresh supplies, troops, and armoured vehicles to reinforce the expanding frontline and establish order on the parts under Voss rule.
Supply convoys were established stretching for kilometres across the captured lands and pockets of bases erected between city districts, zones and paths connecting to other megacities.
Under Velis's command, Voss advanced cautiously.
After securing a new territory, she ensured that it was well fortified before they could even think about advancing. Soon it was news all over, that Voss had captured more megacities and minor cities all over the continent and they were short on just pushing Ulix out of the continent, to the next.
Even so, Ulix had also begun adapting. They too focused on secure fortification of their strongholds and swift reclamation of their land.
***
Back at the training hall
Wein came out of the dodge and immediately launched into the push stance, driving the wooden blade forward with both hands. The strike hit nothing as he swirled to change stance and a barrage of offensive attacks.
He was so immersed in that, that he could make out the outline of an invisible being in the training with him. He had lost count of how many times he had been doing these thrusts that if he had lost it, he would be surprised.
He continued. Seeing himself in the sword forms from the manual he moved attacking the figure. At times he shielded and guarded himself, then pressed on, discovering the deeper logic behind the basics.
The basics worked well together but they were also very educational once they were understood. Each stance seemed simple when viewed alone but together they formed something greater.
The basics, guard flowed seamlessly into attack, attack allowed for movement and movement returned one to defence. The cycle continued like this, again and again, each time he moved he was smiling because through this, he could see the progress.
***
Two months into the campaign, the war shifted once more.
Ulix had managed to reclaim two cities through sudden counterattacks launched from fortified mountain bases. These being led by their Iron Guard, for a brief moment their banners returned to those districts and their commanders announced the victories as proof Voss could still be defeated.
But the victories did not last long.
Within days, Voss reinforcements arrived from orbit. Descending in waves led by Voss's best Shock Troopers they were able to reclaim the cities in hours. Far faster than Ulix could settle in.
Voss then managed to take three other cities and in turn took the entire continent, that was the turning point of the war. When Voss claimed the continent, they moved to the eastern coast where a stronghold was already prepared, ready to advance into the neighbouring continent.
A realisation came to Ulix leaders, they needed to find a way to stop this onslaught before they lost far more than they could endure. The continent Voss would soon invade was the mainland, a large land mass which was the backbone of Ulix-Ultra.
***
Back on Velmora, Wein finally succeeded and got the seed to bloom.
The moment the seed finally bloomed, Wein instantly felt it before he even opened his eyes. A faint warmth fell over him condensing into the once painful chest which now flowed in quiet steadiness spreading all over his body.
In the endless mist of his inner space, the small seed had cracked open. At the moment all the mist in a small radius was pushed away. Below Wein a barren land appeared, it was like nothing Wein could explain.
Before, the mist had blanketed the entire area, turning everything upside down, but now there was land, solid land. He was curious but that was not what was important, he had succeeded in making his own tree.