Villain's Valor: A Noble Fantasy Resurrection

"I won again," Anthony said with a soft smile.

"It's not fair!" Ema pouted, her eyes aggrieved as she looked at her older brother, arms crossed. Her face was a little dusty, and she panted a little.

Anthony approached with a damp cloth and wiped her face. She tried to squirm away, still a little annoyed, but couldn't escape Anthony's hold. After cleaning her face, he nodded, "Not everything is fair, you'll get used to it, understood?" Anthony said while ruffling her hair. Ema hesitated for a moment before nodding, "Okay, but again!" she exclaimed, her blue eyes becoming as serious as they could.

"Go ahead," Anthony said with a smile.

Ema nodded, and her hands shimmered, her mana emanated from her body and surrounded it. She ran at full speed with a shout; her little fist went straight towards Anthony. He calmly intercepted all her attacks. Ema's furrowed brow deepened as the minutes passed, as she also grew tired. She did all she could to dodge Anthony's attacks.

Anthony looked closely at her. Obviously, he wasn't going to hurt her; he just gave her little shoves, causing her to lose balance and fall to the ground. Ema clicked her tongue and lay on the ground, looking at her older brother resentfully, "Master! They are intimidating me!" she shouted in frustration. Steps could be heard behind Anthony.

"Don't you think you went too far?" Elsa asked, casting a glance at Anthony. He looked at her for a moment, "I was harder on you," he said with a mocking look. Elsa clenched her fists, her smile twisted, "She's just a child!" she yelled angrily. "Little Ema, you're all dirty, we must go take a bath," said Elsa as she cleaned Ema's training clothes.

She nodded with a pitiful look, glanced at her older brother, and stuck out her tongue. Lysandra let out a small smile and picked her up in her arms. Passing by Anthony, she looked at him furtively. He just looked away and said nothing.

"I don't think I was too hard, do you?" Anthony asked Charlotte, who was looking with curious eyes at Ema, looking away when she was about to support Anthony, she felt a couple of critical looks and shrank in fear.

"You were too hard on her," Charlotte said with a nervous laugh, while Lysandra and Elsa nodded in agreement. Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief. Anthony looked at her with rolled eyes, somehow he felt they were against him, but really, it wasn't that bad, was it?

After a quick reflection, he shook his head. In fact, he was too soft on his younger sister; besides, he couldn't stand seeing her hurt, it broke his heart. He was only helping her so she would at least learn some self-defense. Being a mage, learning these kinds of tactics would benefit her greatly. He glanced at Elsa from the corner of his eye, "What about we train?" he asked with a smile.

He was curious; he wanted to know how much Elsa had progressed. She looked at him for a few seconds, "Now you want to intimidate me?" she asked cautiously, taking a few steps back on guard. Anthony's smile froze. He just wanted to see how much she had improved, why did they think that of him? He shook his head internally. "Are you afraid?" he asked as he walked and picked up a training sword.

Elsa felt a chill down her spine, "I should be, after all, you're stronger than me!" she said frustrated.

Before Elsa could even object, she felt a tremendous pressure exerted on her body. She cursed internally as Anthony quickly drew his sword, and his eyes became serious. Anthony nodded, "No mana," he said before disappearing from Elsa's field of view.

She felt cold on her right side, quickly raised her sword, clenched her teeth, and felt her hands numb. She tried just like Ema to dodge all of Anthony's attacks but failed at every moment. Anthony showed no mercy; Ema felt like he was really intimidating her. She remembered how he did the same to her while he trained her.

She pursed her lips and endured the pain; her sword glowed, and she fiercely attacked Anthony. He was surprised; Elsa's speed increased considerably. He was satisfied with her progress, but his eyes turned cold.

Charlotte watched with concern as Elsa, Daniela's sister, did her best to defend herself from Anthony's relentless attacks. As the minutes passed, Elsa's complexion became paler, but her eyes didn't lose their characteristic gleam. This was precisely what Anthony liked about her: she never gave up. Despite the blows, Elsa maintained her determination. Stubborn and proud, Anthony thought internally.

Explore more stories at My Virtual Library Empire

Elsa's hands showed some bruises, and her body had some superficial cuts from which blood flowed.

With a precise blow, Elsa's sword flew into the air. For a moment, she went blank before her body trembled slightly. She looked at Anthony and swallowed with difficulty. He gave her a charming smile and pointed to the practice dummy, "One thousand lateral, vertical, and horizontal strikes, up and down," he said, leaving the sword in its place.

Elsa's expression became extremely somber; she walked with a lifeless face and picked up her sword from the ground, as if her soul had left her body, and headed towards the dummy. Her movements seemed mechanical, devoid of the liveliness and grace that characterized her.

Charlotte wanted to say something but stopped at the sight of Anthony's expression. With slow steps, she approached him. "Did you go too far?" she asked with narrowed eyes. He looked at her and lifted her into his arms. Charlotte let out a small scream before her face turned slightly red, but she didn't stop looking Anthony in the eyes.

He kissed her on the lips, and the lovely scent of flowers reached her nose. Charlotte's body trembled a little, but she let herself go and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"No, it's the way I was taught. If you let go of your sword during a battle, you're basically dead. Just for that mistake, you can die. This is a very small punishment, but one you have to learn from," he said seriously, remembering Sir Miguel's words.

Charlotte felt comforted in Anthony's arms; she nodded slowly as she closed her eyes, "By the way, it's your turn now," Anthony said as he caressed her, Charlotte's smile changed completely with those words.