Toma descended upon the castle gates at the high rise of noon. The castle didn't catch his eye resulting in a bored sigh. He was greeted at the front gate after meeting some of the guards. Lackluster and pathetic was his first impression as they were slumped and not ready. "Is your Lord here?" Toma spat out as the gates opened; a vampirish man walked out. Dressed in black, he cleared his throat before addressing Toma. "I'd presume you are the mage I requested?" With a simple nod, Toma raised his hand freely, allowing sparks to dance across his palm. The man returned with a nod of agreement and walked inside the castle as Toma followed behind.
"As you should know, my men are in dire need of training. While not entirely hopeless, they have decreased overall ability. Even if bones must be broken, get them together" The two entered the courtyard with a phalanx of guardsmen lined up. Glancing back at Toma, Toma cracked his neck before walking before the men. Looking them up and down, they were all wearing plain black clothes. Black tunics and matching black pants and boots. All of them had an assortment of weapons suited for training.

"All of you attack me at once," Toma said, standing perfectly still, not a waver in his voice. The men looked confused as Toma took on a fighting stance. Murmurs broke out as he smacked his palms together, a magic circle created. Lightning crackled across his body, increasing his strength. Before crouching, he had made another magic circle before bursting forward—a trail of lightning left in his wake. Appearing in front of the first man, Toma would kick with all his might. He was driving from the bottom of the earth and shooting his left leg into the guard's jaw.  The guard went flying into the air as the other looked stunned.  Taking the opportunity, Toma ran forward to grab the next man he saw. Putting him in a clinch, he would pull the man forward before driving his knee into his nose—a spray of blood and a crunch of bone. After seeing two comrades taken out, the guardsmen now had the gall to retaliate.

With a quick jump, Toma tucked his knees to his chest. Narrowly avoiding the wooden spears and swords, the men strike each other. He whipped his legs out to hit every one else around him, knocking them to the ground. With ease, he plopped back onto the floor, dusting himself off from the courthouse sand. "I'll let you recover; you all have 2 minutes before hell begins." Toma walked back to his employer, leaning against the wall next to him with a smirk. " Now that I have a basic assessment of their skills, I see how to move forward. I will teach them a basic routine for maintaining strength and stamina. Then combat drills and sparring for the experience." Sirius nodded as Toma walked over to the recovering men. He was going to get them right and get paid.

WC:513 Mana 550/600

Spoiler:

In all seriousness, Toma couldn't look down on the guardsmen. In hindsight, they were similar in strength to him. However, he had the gift of magic and clearly more battle experience. "Down." In synonymous unity, the entire group of guardsmen dropped. From here he would make them hold their push-up position until he got tired. Toma believed in the power of strength conditioning. "Up" Upon that next command the soldiers tapped their opposite shoulder with one hand. They would do it 4 times on both sides. This was a exercise to focus on stability,mobility, and strength all in one. Currently they were at 90 and had 10 more reps to go. This was the least that they should do. Earlier Toma had a simple circuit. After a self warm up the guards they would cycle between a exercise then 80 percent sprints. "Now Run." With a quickness the guards were at their feet. Keeping their tight formation they started to run around the courtyard. Keeping their tight formation the first to last person was able to make pace. It seemed after properly warming up they could keep up with one another. Waiting in the center arms folded Toma continued his observations. It seems like after this last set they could advance. Phase of Toma's training plan would consist of practical training. Weapon groups would form and then finally sparring. Glancing over at the Lord of the castle he continued to watch in silence. Such a prideful fool he thought.

"Finish up and gather your weapons!" Toma didn't yell but he did raise his voice. The men and all dispersed and went to grab their weapons. " Line up in formation !" With that the men were moving like a well oiled machine before standing in line in front of Toma. "Gather you space and get ready, Begin!" In unison all of the men striked the air. With each part of the movement a number was called. In a cadence of 4 the men moved through to a downward slash. Second was a return strike. Last was a overheadblock and finally finishing off with a riposte and stab towards the abdomen. Again Toma waited until they could flow through to 100 strikes before clapping his hands signalling them to stop. "Now we spar men. Give me a single spearman and a swordsman now!" 2 of the guardsmen fell out of rank and towards Toma. Toma stepping back gave them room before gesturing his palms out. A signal for the two to begin. Turning to each other they bowed before taking up their fighting stances.

"Spearman keep in mind you have range and swordsman you must close said gap." With a slashing of his open hand through the air the spearman shuffled forward with a stab towards the swordsman's chest. The swordsman attempted to parry stepping to the strike but was knocked forward and slightly off balance. The spearman whipped his spear around his back to slash at the swordmans open flank. Toma continued to quietly observe and saw something quite interesting. Very clumsily the swordsman swung himself out of the way and used the last of his energy to tackle the spearman before making him concede.

"Enough!" The dark and brooding master of the castle walked towards Toma. Reaching for a envelope he handed it as Toma collected his payment. "I am satisfied with the progress you re free to go." With that Toma made his leave.

WC: 580 Total WC: 1,093