Techxin, the third child of the king and his seventh wife, was not just any prince—he was a legend. Favored by the Blood God, he stood at the top of the succession line, feared and revered alike. At just twenty-four, he led a mere hundred soldiers—only ten of whom were blessed—against a hundred thousand warriors imbued with the power of the Light, Wind, and Fire Gods. When the dust settled, only ten of his men remained, and Techxin himself had cut down the rest. The survivors spoke in hushed tones about the boy who fought alone, screaming and laughing, drenched in gore, chanting, "Blood for the Blood God!"
Well, who was the great Techxin Bloodheart to Maxi? Well, he was the only sibling that cared for him, even though he was intense at times like this time, and he was also Maxi's personal trainer.
Techxin, the bloodlusted, war-crazed warrior, stood before Maxi, grinning wide, his sharp teeth gleaming.
"There you are, Maxi. You know you shouldn't keep me waiting, but you did anyway. So you know what that means?" Techxin's voice was deep, rough, and cracked unpredictably, as if his throat had been worn out from too much screaming.
Maxi sighed as he thought, "How does my day keep getting worse?" He forced a polite tone as he said,
"Yes, I do. Twice the amount of laps, right? Can I just say sorry, big brother, and then you remove the laps?"
Techxin laughed. "I would if you were actually sorry, but no, you're not sorry—but you're about to be."
Maxi barely had time to react before Techxin disappeared in a flash. Maxi instinctively kicked his leg up as he tried dashing back, knowing that his brother would try to grab his leg, but by the time his leg was raised, Techxin was already there in front of him, crouched down to his eye level. A devilish smile was stretched across his face. Maxi's leg was already in his grasp.
"You knew what I'd do—it means you're learning. Good! Very good."
Then, without warning, Techxin took off running. Maxi screamed as he was dragged by his leg, his body bouncing against the castle floors. He went past the halls and out the entrance of his castle into the yard.
Maxi's maid was left standing in the wreckage of his destroyed room, stunned into silence. She was left there wondering, "Am I about to be fired for letting this happen?"
Techxin dragged Maxi to the training grounds, which were relatively nearby Maxi's castle, just a few meters away. Just as they were about to reach it, Techxin stopped abruptly, and before Maxi could even process what was happening, Techxin flung Maxi into the air.
Maxi felt the air brush past his face. He felt his heart stop for a second as his stomach dropped. He rose higher and higher.
When his momentum slowed, Maxi was able to release an unstable breath in and out, but as he flipped himself to look down, he immediately regretted his choice.
Because he saw the floor tiles of the training grounds, along with its four giant pillars marking the edge of the training area, which was made of red and yellow sand-like stone, forming a wave-like pattern.
The pattern that would mark his death.
Maxi braced for impact as the floor got closer and closer. He closed his eyes.
But then he felt everything stop.
"Am I dead again?" Maxi asked as he slowly opened his eyes.
Maxi looked up and saw that he was caught by Techxin. He was holding the back of his waistcoat as they were floating in the air.
But then, after a few seconds, they started falling again.
Techxin smiled. "Hey, it worked this time."
Techxin said, completely ignoring Maxi's comment from before.
Maxi looked up as he tried to take a deep breath as he said, "So you're telling me you threw me up in the air just to test out a move that only worked this one time?"
Techxin grinned as he nodded. "Yep."
Maxi stared at Techxin with a mix of malice and fear.
Techxin laughed. "Maxi, relax. Techxin never dies."
Maxi then shouted, "YES, BUT MAXI DOES DIE!"
Techxin's eyes widened in realization. "Oh yeah, I forgot—you have weak bones and fragile skin."
Maxi sighed. "Big brother, you're going to be the death of me."
Techxin smiled. "Oh, come on, Maxi, don't be like that."
Just as he said that, he threw Maxi in the air again. Right as he landed in the training ground, Techxin quickly caught him as he fell down, making sure he wasn't hurt.
"You see? No harm done," Techxin said with a smile as he ruffled Maxi's hair before he dropped him on the ground.
Maxi sighed in relief as he rubbed his butt from being dropped. "I guess."
"Okay, now let's get straight into business. Take off that stupid waistcoat and put on the leather training armor,"
Techxin commanded.
Before Maxi could even breathe, a leather chest plate hit him in the face, knocking him flat on his back again.
"God, give me strength," Maxi muttered as he tried to get up.
But before he could, Techxin gathered an assortment of wooden weapons—an axe, a sword, a rapier, a dagger, a bow, and some dull arrows—and dumped most of them on Maxi.
Maxi groaned under the weight.
Techxin, unfazed, sat beside a training dummy, dusting off his red-and-black pants lined with golden runes. He then sheathed a wooden sword, putting it to his side as he surveyed the training area before finally speaking.
"You know the drill, right?"
Maxi pushed all the weapons on him to the side as he said, "Yeah. First, a one-on-one fight with our preferred weapons. Then you help me refine my stances with my weapons. Then we end it off with regular workouts and endurance training. Then we're done, right?"
Techxin nodded as he tossed around his preferred weapon—the axe. He then grinned. "Yep, you got everything but one thing."
Maxi looked to the side, expecting to get sneak-attacked, as he thought, "Nope, I didn't forget. I didn't mention it because I hoped you would forget about it."
Techxin grinned. "So, are you going to say it, or am I?"
Maxi sighed. "Yeah, yeah—I got to do double the laps."
Techxin laughed as he tested his axe. "So you didn't forget."
"Nope."
Maxi said as he sat up, rubbing his sore chest. He sighed heavily, taking off his round glasses and setting them aside. His vision blurred slightly, but not enough to stop him from fighting.
He adjusted his leather chest plate, secured the wooden dagger at his side, slung the bow and arrows over his back, and took up the rapier in his hand.
His stance changed. His demeanor changed.
The playful, exasperated younger brother disappeared.
A more calculative, focused Maxi stood in his place.
"Yes, I got it, big brother."
Techxin smirked, grabbing his wooden axe and taking a powerful stance.
"Good to hear."
With that, the fight began.
Techxin swung his axe down in a brutal chop.
Maxi barely dodged, the blade grazing past his shoulder.
Techxin looked at Maxi as he said, "Come on now, you better keep up."
Before Maxi could recover, Techxin released the axe mid-swing, letting it carry its momentum downward as it made a crater where it enlodged itself. At the same time, his hand snapped to his wooden sword, drawing it in a fluid reverse slash.
Maxi thought, "Oh frick, I forgot he also uses a sword. At least now he doesn't have his main weapon, so this fight might get a little bit more interesting."
A small smile appeared on Maxi as he rolled backward, just barely avoiding the strike, and used the momentum to counter. His rapier lashed out toward Techxin's exposed side.
"Okay, good, that's what I like to see," Techxin said as his eyes started to lighten up.
His movement started to speed up as he dashed back. He blocked Maxi's attack with a hanging right stance, putting his blade's hilt high up, nearly above his head.
"Frick," Maxi thought as he gritted his teeth.
Techxin smiled in turn. "Come on, Maxi, I thought you this stance. You should have at least tryed to find a way it could have be counterd."
Maxi paused mid action as he dashed back.
This stance was a trap. If he attacked at all, he would be easily counter attacked, especially with Techxin speed, but Maxi could tell he was holding back.
The question now was, "Will Techxin hold back enough for Maxi to recover from his counter attack, or would he just end the match?"
Maxi sighed as he took a risk.
He dashed forward.
He then slide down and sweeped Techxin's legs.
Techxin's eyes widen in shock and delight.
Maxi wasn't willing to the risk, so he thought out of the box. Techxin was expecting an attack, so he gave him one, just somewhere he didn't expect.
Techxin did the only thing he could—jumped back.
Maxi took the opportunity to jab forward with his rapier at Techxin's legs.
Techxin then swung his swords in a circular motion as he blocked Maxi's attack.
But in the process, he made both thier weapons fly to the side.
Maxi's eyes widen. "You... you didn't have to let go of your weapon, you know."
Techxin smirked. "I have no idea what your talking about."
Maxi nods. "Sure, big brother, but this doesn't mean the battle is over."
Techxin laughed. "We both without weapons, how are we going have a 'fair' fight?"
Maxi smiled as he dashed to the side where Techxin had left his axe. "Funny, because I specifically remember you saying there no such thing as a fair fight."
Maxi then reached for Techxin's axe.
But instead of feel a hard woody base of a handle, he instead felt nothing as he grabbed air. He then looked to were the axe was enlodged and saw it was gone.
Maxi then felt Techxin shadow looming over him.
The same axe Maxi was hoping to use to win the battle was now lightly pressed against his neck. The axe was pressed hard enough for him to feel the reality of the scenario, but light enough for him to just feel the weight of his loss and not the looming threat of death.
"Yep, and I also told you the only fights that exist are one that decided life and death, and fortunately you didn't lose that fight. No, you lost a fake fight, with nothing but your pride on the line and experience as your reward,"
Techxin declared, grinning down at his younger brother. "That's your two thousand seven hundred and ninety-seventh loss, Maxi. When are you going to start winning? I know I told you would have to train for another hundred years if you wanted to win again me, but at least try to make some progress," he laughed.
Maxi lay there, panting heavily from the stressful combat.
"Well, what the hell do you expect? You're the Blood God's favorite—out of everyone in history. The god even gave you permission to declare yourself his son or even the Blood God himself. Meanwhile, I don't even know who the hell blessed—or cursed—me."
Techxin threw his head back and laughed heartily, whipping away tears from his eyes. "Funny thing is you have three gods blessing you, while I just have one. I am only blessed by the glorious Blood God."
Maxi eyes perked up as he remembered his question from before, but he chose to hold off on asking Techxin untill they had some time to breath. This was just the warm up; they still had exercises to do after this.
Maxi groaned, still catching his breath. "Yeah, at least you are your God's favorite. As far as I know, you are the only person that a god has declared his favorite."
Before Techxin could respond, the sound of fast footsteps echoed across the training grounds.
A familiar voice rang out, filled with fury and concern.
"TECHXIN! What did you do to my baby boy?!"
Maxi's mother came sprinting onto the field, her face twisted in panic as she locked eyes with her lightly battered son.
Techxin's eyes widened as he threw his sword and his axe to the ground.
"Oh, nothing, auntie Ray. Why do you ask?"
Techxin smiled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.