CHAPTER 5

"It's good and you're awake," Alexander sat on the chair and caressed Charlotte's face. "You seem tired from the quest we did, I was naive to let you use your power to make our mission easy!"

Charlotte mumbled as she's too weak to speak up. "It's not your fault, I also wanted to help you as much as I could. In fact, earlier was the first time I used my power to the fullest!"

"Didn't you have any exercises done when you were in your kingdom?"

Charlotte nodded. "I haven't had any training since I've been locked inside a dungeon for eighteen years!"

Alexander's voice rose slightly and he frowned. "That is fucking crazy. Is this serious? Why did they do that to you?"

"I can't figure out the reason either, but I would like to learn how to use a katana so I can be useful to you!"

"I like your fighting spirit, if you want we can train outside once you fully recover your strength!"

Charlotte tried to raise her body but she feel ache even in the slightest move.

"Don't force yourself, Charlotte. It's important for you to rest for the meantime. I've already asked a favor to Isabella and she promised you'll live here while I'm gone!"

"Where are you going?"

"We have another training to be held at frozen cave stream as our forthcoming foundation anniversary is getting closer. We, twelve zodiac warriors of Prince Arthur have been assigned to guard every corner of our island to keep the peace and make sure that no enemy is going to interfere on the most special day in our land!"

"What about Isabella? Is she coming to your anniversary too?" asked Charlotte.

"Yes, she is a close relative of King Bartholomeo. Don't pay attention to her rude behavior earlier. She's so obsessed with me but I've been rejecting her for a long time!"

"Is that so? Now I fully understood why she was acting that way, she was so jealous of me!"

"Don't worry, she won't treat you that way again. If she does, then tell me immediately so I can avenge you!"

Alexander took the food from the table and fed Charlotte himself. Isabella slowly opened the door and was jealous to see them happy together and stormed off. Charlotte heard the banging sound of the door and rolled her eyes towards the door. "Looks like someone wants to come in?"

Alexander turned to the door and saw nothing. "There's nobody in the door. Isabella will knock if she wants to come inside!"

Few hours later, Charlotte regained her strength and Alexander agreed to train her in the basement of the guild's hall. Isabella secretly peeked at them through the window and sees that Alexander is holding Charlotte's hands and they seemed both happy practicing together.

Isabella was extremely jealous because she had never felt Alexander treat her the same way. She became more enraged with Charlotte and she wanted to hurt her but she knew Alexander would be pissed off to her. Isabella brokenheartedly left the area, knowing that her unrequited love for him devastated her whole life.

The next day, Alexander left early in the morning to head to the frozen cave stream where their intense training is taking place. This cold place surrounded by fog is located behind the kingdom of Alabama. The area is off limits to others and they need to ask permission from King Bartholomeo before they can get inside. All the zodiac warriors are present. Their celestial swords have different designs and shapes but their armors are the same as the other warriors. Their leader is Leomord whose zodiac sign is Aquarius as he is regarded as the strongest among all of them.

Zodiac warriors march in unison and formed three rows. They remained standing until Prince Arthur arrived and they saluted him. He wore trousers, leggings, cloaks and tunic. The tunic, being the outermost garment, was decorated with embroidery and gold lacing. He has a long hair, bristly eyebrows, hawkish nose, defined cheekbones, titan masculine shoulder. His posture alone makes him even more handsome.

He stood in front of his zodiac warriors and raised his gold Tizona sword which hilt has a cross-guard with two flat quillons, curved towards the blade. Both the guard and the pommel are openwork, with Gothic-style motifs. The blade is almond-shaped in cross-section, with a shallow central fuller from the tang to the middle part and with a rounded point. His sword was bequeathed to him by King Bartholomeo. It is the mightiest sword in the entire celestial spirit world. King Bartholomeo once used it to separate his kingdom from the Canopus.

"I'm glad that none of you arrived late in this intense training. I assume you are taking it seriously as well. You probably know that the war in the Kingdom of Solomon is still raging and it's only a matter of time for the official result to come. According to the information I gathered from my father, King Abaddon of the werewolf tribe possibly annihilated the magicians using one dozen of his werewolves and have taken King Solomon, his wife, and two children captives." Prince Arthur strolled while rolling his eyes to his zodiac warriors.

"If King Abaddon has already conquered the kingdom of our mortal enemy, we should stay alert at any time. So let's intensify our training because we are my father's strongest warriors!"

"Yes your majesty!" shouts the Zodiac warriors. A few moments later, the ground shook intensely because of footsteps of an approaching creature. They turned around and pulled out their swords when they saw a giant t-rex dinosaur in front of them. They were about to attack but Prince Arthur spoke again.

"Everyone calm down, that creature is a golgozur. A type of t-rex that can only be found in our kingdom. Believe it or not, that's the smallest I've seen of their race. Their bodies are harder than stone but I'm confident that you can cut it with your zodiac sword entrusted to you by the Celestial King!"

"How can we defeat this fucking creature, your Majesty?" asked Leomord.

"I will not tell you what the strengths and weaknesses of your opponent are. You will be divided into three groups so I can test whether you are fit to be together in a team. Cooperation of attack and defense is a must if you want to win in any battles!"

"I'd like to go first!" said Leomord and he stepped in front of the beast. Alexander, Elshor who is a Capricorn, and Isaac, who is a Gemini stepped forward as well.

They took out their swords and surrounded the t-rex. They tried to cut its two legs but the scale of the dinosaur was too tough for their celestial swords.

"Prince Arthur is right, this dinosaur's body is tough!" Leomard said.

The golgozur dinosaur turned to Leomord and spanked its tail to attack him. Leomord was sent flying to the air before falling down on the trees. He vomited blood, and yet he stood up like its nothing and slowly walked towards the golgozur dinosaur. "Stupid creature, I would never have thought it possessed tremendous strength!" he said then he wiped his blood dripping on his mouth.

"If the strongest warrior in our rank can't stand a chance against golgozur dinosaur, then the rest of us have zero percent of winning either!" said Oshiro who has a Pisces sign as they all stepped aside and watched the fight.

"They need to work as a team if they want to defeat that beast," replied Prince Arthur. "That creature looks terrifying but it also has its vulnerabilities they need to figure out as quickly as possible!"

"Is that the same way we're going to fight Prince Arthur?" asked Oshiro.

"Indeed, but this is just the beginning of your training. Once all of you pass this test, we will immediately proceed to the more difficult battle. So you need to reserve your strength and fight intelligently!" uttered Prince Arthur.

The golgozur dinosaur attacked again and it managed to breathe fire in front of Leomord who used his aquatic sword to fight against the fire, saving himself from death. "You thought I was gonna die with one attack fucking dinosaur? How ridiculous!" he said with a grin.

The golgozur dinosaur was about to stomp on Leomord but Elshor and Isaac attacked and hit its face with their celestial swords. Alexander attacked from behind the golgozur dinosaur and slashed its neck. The golgozur dinosaur reared up and wiggled its body to remove Alexander from its back.

"Hey let us hit the eyes of the golgozur dinosaur, it would be difficult for it to hit us if it didn't see us," suggests Isaac.

"What if it goes berserk? It would be more difficult for us to land a hit!" Elshor disagreed.

"There must be a blind spot or area on its body that we can penetrate!" Leomord uttered.

"The mouth!" said Alexander as he tried to cut through the scales of the dinosaur. "My sword can't cut through its skin but I am sure that if we cut it from the inside out, we can do a lot of damage!"

"Your plan is too risky, Alexander! Golgozur dinosaur's teeth are sharp, we can die if we try to attack it from inside, not to mention it can blast fire from its mouth," replied Isaac.

"We have no other choice, we can only do minor scratches on its tough skin with our sword! If none of you are willing to take a risk, then I'll do it!" Alexander shouted. He jumped to where the three of them were.

"Are you sure you're going to do this, Alexander?" asked Leomord.

"Yes, I am willing to do it for the sake of our mission. I have heard that T-rex dragon can cast fire from its mouth but it has intervals, meaning to say it will take some time to cast another shot, so let us attack while we can!"

"What do you want us to do then?" asked Leomord.

"Try to attack it from behind while I find a way to get into its mouth!" Alexander said.

They immediately followed Alexander and jumped on the dinosaur's back. It spewed fire in front of Alexander, but he defended himself with his zodiac shield. When the golgozur dinosaur had finished spewing fire, Alexander's three companions forced their swords through its thick scale. When the dinosaur shook its back and opened its mouth, Alexander jumped inside the golgozur dinosaur. He slashed its entire body with his speed. The golgozur dinosaur collapsed and was defeated. Then it slowly burned to ashes.

Prince Arthur came over and clapped his hands in amazement. "Well done brave warriors, I am very impressed with the cooperation and teamwork you have shown. You may rest now!"

The four of them knelt before Prince Arthur. "Yes my lord!" they said at the same time. They stood up and went to the corner. Another golgozur dinosaur came out again. Serban with zodiac sign cancer, Oshiro with zodiac sign Pisces, Balthazar with libra zodiac sign and Odysseus with Leo zodiac sign stepped forward to fight.

"Should we use the same attack?" Odysseus asked as they approached the golgozur dinosaur.

"No, that's a shameful thing to do!" Oshiro looked at Odysseus as if he were an imbecile. "We need to impress the Prince so he can assign us to the main entrance," he said in an arrogant way.

Serban and Balthazar looked at each other in silence.

"We need to fight separately and use whatever strategies we have in mind!" Odysseus continued. He rushed to attack the golgozur dinosaur using his celestial sword but it did no damage.