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Sounds good. I shall be waiting to continue our battle!!

The similarities were striking, that was for sure. Maybe that had something more to say about these gods in which men worshipped. However it was not up to him to question things of that nature. Instead his attention focused upon the last thing which Yukimora spoke.

"As a warrior by heart, soul and blood.. I shall take you up on that test of might. Tis a shame we met in such a situation. I fear you will underestimate me as weak, having seen me in such a state.."

Brandt would let out a slight sigh. If there was one thing he hated about resting, it was the resting part. The giant knew he was losing valuable training time. A battle with someone like Yukimora could have proven to be a useful experience.

"I have a feeling this will be one of mqny meetings. The gods did not put you here for no reason.."

Brandt's arrows would miss, and the giant's blade would fly over his opponent's head. However the giant would not catch sight of the man's next attack, for the giant would have continued swinging his sword around. Lucky for the giant, the projectiles would be deflected by that large shield on his back as he spun.

The giant had planned to keep spinning the sword in a 360, but as he had rotated fully back around he noted that Shou was no longer there. Those pale green hues would scan the area just in time to see Shou reappear. Brandt knew he had to clear the distance before his opponent realized what happened. Hunching forward and bracing himself, the giant would activate his shields special ability.

A massive explosion would rip from the backside and launch the behemoth forward toward Shou as he was attempting to re-arm himself. Swinging his sword around, the giant had become a propeller of destruction. However just as he neared Shou another explosion would sound out, this one coming from the back end of his sword blade, thus adding even more speed and momentum to his whirlwind.

Heavy footsteps would signify that the giant was not far behind the Demon of Totomi. Thus far the man had found himself around Takehiro a lot in recent times. Of course it made sense, Brandt was after all learning from him.

His attention jumped to the skys though as he soon heard someone's screams from above. Brandt would watch as another flew in to catch him with wings of light. It seemed they knew Takehiro. They also seemed to be here for the same thing.

"What legends await, my friend?"

Thus far the skirmish was not weighing on Brandt's favor. The tide of battle was pulling against him, but there was no way that he would allow himself to submit to defeat. A volley of arrows were fired toward his small squad of remaining soldiers, and he roared out immediately.

"Shieldwall up! Do not let a single arrow through!"

Pulling his own shield to the center, his fellow soldiers would immediately intertwine their shields to form a dome of protection. As the barrage hit, it was like the continuous thunder of deadly rain. No arrow took a life, though some managed to crack and splinter shields. immediately more commands would sound out from the giant.

"Push forward! Slow, steady and strong!"

Pushing forward first, Brandt would lead his soldiers forward as they moved into another barrage of arrows. The Nord would encourage them to hold strong and continue pushing. Two more volleys would fall before they were close enough, many of the warriors shields littered with whole or broken arrows.

"After their next volley, Split in two! I will take them head on. KEEP THOSE SHIELDS AT YOUR SIDES AND GIVE THEN NO QUARTER!"

As soon as the next rain of arrows finished, every warrior of Brandts would roar out in unison as they split into two seperate groups. They would circle around to take the group at the sides. Brandt would rush forward only to drop his massive shield to the ground to brace it, while the shell side faced the enemy skirmishers. With a thunderous explosion would rip fourth from his shield, scattering metal balls in a large cone in front of him.

Most of the troops that didn't catch the explosion or get torn to bits from the shrapnel, would be quickly overrun at the sides as he shield warriors bashed and slashed away. Eventually the pings and pangs of warfare would settle to the sound of glorious war crys. The giant himself leading the victory cheer himself. It had been a grueling challenge, but his squad had overcome it in the end.

Brandt seemed to knock his opponent away with the sword, for he had received no incoming attack afterwards. And now it would seem to be Brandt's turn to take to the offensive. His gauntlet hand would lift and he would release a burst of five, eight inch barbed bolts from mounted crossbow.

The small cone of arrows were more or less used as a distraction to let him clear the distance and get close enough to attack. As soon as he had fired, the giant rushed forward through the dissipating darkness and toward Shou like a beast from the depths.

As he approached he would watch his opponents movements to the best of his ability and judge how to attack from there. If the male jumped moved backwards Brandt would rush in thrusting his sword. If he side stepped either way, the giant would rotate to match, swinging widely with quite the range behind his attacks.

Regardless of the outcome, this was sure to be an interesting spar.

"Allfather wills it. I will do my best.. I do not quite have the words to describe such a man. He surprised me like no other.."


Brandt would once again allow himself to ponder the day he had. What luck the gods had shown him this day. Brqndt would be well on the path toward a legendary warrior underneath the tutelage of one such as the Demon of Totomi.

"I am interested.. How did you end up meeting Takehiro?"

Brandt was tired, but he still had it in him to conversant for a short bit. The foreigner was curious to learn as much as he could about his new setting and the people that he would be learning from.

Brandt would not first answer eith words, instead grasping the handle of his Zanbato, and pulling it deftly from the brackets in his shield, to rest it upon his right shoulder. Pale green hues stared with a determination unlike any other.

"Then let us enjoy the symphony of steel together.."

The giant would then begin to make his way toward Shou. His pace was as if he had no rush to get this over with. He would stop around ten feet away from his new sparring partner. The man would be in range for strike if he wished, however he would extend the blade in front of him with both hands and wait to strike.

"I hope you to not fall as easily as the trees.."

Brandt would snort heavily as the last three coward away, dropping their crates and running off to live another day. Brandt did not feel the need to chase them down, after all that would leave the merchant unattended. He was lucky that man hadn't been killed in the skirmish as it was.

"Aye, that is was.. I am sorry if anything was stolen or damaged.. I did not expect the ambush. Forgive me."

The Nord would finish his sentence as he walked past all the men bleeding out on the ground, screaming in agony had they not bled out already. The giant would scan the ground as he passed by and begin recovering all the crates which had been removed from the cart. As he worked, his voice would sound out.

"If any of you rabble survive, let it be known.. Brandt Solvieg, The Sword of The House of Strength, will no longer stand for your actions against Totomi, or any region in Japan!"

Maybe it was just the adrenaline passing it's course, but the giant could not have helped himself. These bandits reminded him too much of home and the Nord had a new goal in mind. The northlander would take it into his own hands. Bandits of the land that did not know of him yet, would surly hear of the predator stalking them.

Figures.. Takehiro really likes those weights.

The giant was as ready as he would ever be, having rehydrated thanks to Toshi's spheres of water. Some things these people could do seemed amazing sometimes. That was for sure. But now his mind would step upon the new task before him. Thankfully Brandt was not unfamiliar with this kind of thing either.

Takehiro himself had introduced the Nord to his own pair the day they had met. That would help a little bit but he doubted very much that this would be easy to complete. It was hard enough to simply walk with them, let alone climb walls. Guess it was a good thing he was so tall.

Brandt would strap the weights to his ankles as he had previously done, and then he would begin the course. The pace he chose wasn'tthe quickest, but the giant was looking toward the endgame. These weights drained stamina quickly, so he would be careful not to over work himself. After all, he would be carrying over twice his weight.

The first three walls would give the giant the least issues as he could step over them without much of an issue, however as they got taller he realized how much of a pain in the rear it would be. However the Nord would not give up. He would continue until he reached the middle wall.

Brandt knew this would be the hardest part, but he had the determination of the gods. His body was already sore, sweat drenched his clothes. The giant would bend at the knees and jump to grab the top of the wall. His fingers would lose grip however, the pull of the weight tearing the skin of his hands as it happened.

Swearing under his breath, he would attempt it again with injured hands. Roaring out as if in the heat of battle he would grab the wall and strain every muscle in his body as he lifted himself and the weights up. It was slow going and he nearly thought his arms would pull away from his torso. Bit they held as he managed to make it over the top and dropped with a mighty crash upon the earth.

The worst was done, but he still had the last half of the course to finish. The foreigner would revert to his previous tactics as he finished crawling over the last of them and made his way to the end. Dropping to bis knees, the giant would relish the rest as he awaited the next test, tearing cloth from his pants to wrap his torn hands.

"Aye, you are right.. I will rest."

Brandt would follow behind Takehiro as he led him back to the tavern. He would watch a monetary exchange and then the Daiymo would point toward the nord. He assumed it was Takehiro's way of reserving a place for the giant to stay.

It had been quite the day. Brandt had met the strongest person he had ever encountered and now he would become his disciple, at least for the near future. Regardless, it seemed Brandt had just gained a valuable ally in the Demon of Totomi.

"Again, I thank you. And I look forward to our next battle.. Promise you I will be more of a challenge then."