Chapter 10. The Brutal Training.

  The first day has started, Kael woke up on the air mattress while Katrine still slept in his bed. He quickly got up and put on some comfortable clothing, when he opened the door both Tenebrae and Mediae were already waiting for him.

  -"Master, we shall go now. The day is still early, let's go now, we have a long day of training."

  Kael quickly nodded, 4am, the sun still hadn't begun rising and it was still dark. When they arrived in the forest Mediae quickly summoned her spear and pointed it at Kael. Kael not even registering what was happening barely dodged her attack, Mediae didn't stop there. She began thrusting and slicing with her spear while aiming for Kael. It was clear to see that she was aiming to kill, it was probably meant to make him get used to fighting opponents who won't hold back. But Kael had no option to retaliate, worst of all many of the attacks came from the left side. And since he lost his left eye during the mag-tech break-in he couldn't see anything in there, so many of close calls that have happened were from the left side. It slightly infuriated Kael that she aimed there, but he also understood that it was meant to have him get used to being attacked from blind spots. After around one and a half hour of constant dodging attacks from Mediae, she suddenly stopped. Kael quickly dropped onto the ground panting heavily. Training in Limbo didn't cause any physical stress, but it was reality. Mediae made her shadow spear disappear and approached Kael offering him a bottle of water, he was quite grateful for it. As he drank the water down Mediae asked him.

  -"Master... I don't get it, why don't you summon a weapon from your shadow? Mistress Tenebrae did so when she lacked a weapon to fight it, besides our foot soldiers could summon them too... Meaning, you're weaker than a foot soldier of Mistress Tenebrae, Master..."

  Kael hearing this had his spirit go down slightly, he looked at his hand and clenched his fist. He didn't know how to summon a weapon from his shadow, he did it in Limbo before. But it was a weapon created by his imagination and not from his shadows, so it's different. Although Tenebrae told him that magical power to be used effectively needs powerful imagination, he still was new to it and was probably even worse than a toddler of Tenebrae time's. It infuriated him severely, as he was thinking how to do it Mediae approached him again.

  -"Master, I shall teach you how to summon a weapon then. Firstly reach into your shadow, then make your magical power flow out from your body. After all of that imagine a weapon suited for yourself and pull it out..."

  Kael, hearing this, thought it was quite simple so he decided to try, but he still had problems with magical power. So he often needed to focus extremely on even thinking to use it, he couldn't do it subconsciously like Mediae did. As he reached into his shadow he followed the steps that Mediae provided him with, he imagined similar swords to 'The Dual Cursed Swords of Darkness'. What he pulled out were twin daggers, they'd do the job for now. But if he wanted to fight in the future he'd need to master this technique, but for this sparring with Mediae it was enough. As he readied his stance he put his daggers up.

  -"Come at me Mediae, this time I can fight back..."

  He tried to sound confident but he was extremely scared on the inside. He didn't have time to react when Mediae charged at him again, but this time instead of dodging he managed to block the attack. He felt the tremendous force behind it, it was clear she was attacking with more force now than before since he had a weapon to defend himself. As the sparks flew around Kael constantly dodged and blocked, he tried to search for an opening to counterattack but there was none. He was growing tired, he felt his muscles ache and breathing getting laboured, but he didn't give up. He continued to fight, as Mediae struck from above he found the opening. He quickly blocked it with one dagger which pushed him slightly into the ground from the sheer force of the attack and then he put the second dagger to Mediae's throat. He won this sparring match, he saw that her eyes went wide. She didn't anticipate Kael to learn or adapt this fast. Tenebrae, who was watching from the sides, started laughing before commenting.

  -'I told you Mediae, this boy is learning hella fast and adapting even faster. He'll reach my level faster than we anticipated, if not even reaching further. He still has ground to improve on, but overall he's learning fast and it'd take him no time to refine his techniques. Besides… I think you know he already has some “experience” when it comes to fighting…'

  Kael, hearing this put a smile on his face, he thought he was developing at a slow pace, but that comment from Tenebrae shattered his image of slow development. When he thought about it she was right, it was around 3 weeks since he heard Tenebrae for the first time. He truly was developing at an insane pace, inhumane even, but he knew it was probably possible due to being reborn in Tenebrae's darkness. He inherited some of her power and two basic abilities, he still hasn't come closer to mastering either, but he could use them at crucial times which mattered to him. But it was still not enough, he was still too weak. He hated himself for his weaknesses, he wanted to literally beat the living shit out of him just because how weak he is. Suddenly he stood up and gripped the shadow daggers again, pointing one at Mediae signalling her for another round. Mediae quickly understood this, summoned her shadow spear and charged at Kael. This spar was way more brutal and aggressive, Kael constantly attacked and pushed Mediae into defence, he was fueled by rage and anger of how pathetic he was.

  Those emotions are oftentimes regarded as the most powerful emotions to fuel a warrior in a fight, and it was clearly seen here. Sparks flew everywhere and both Mediae and Kael started breathing heavily, Kael's muscles ached and screamed for a break, but he pushed himself even further. Mediae thrusted from the left side which Kael deflected with one of his daggers throwing the other one at her, it was quickly swatted away by Mediae with her hand. Now Kael only had one dagger left and was heavily tired, but he still pushed onwards not giving up, he swung his dagger left and right trying to hit Mediae. But suddenly Mediae blocked one of his strikes and turned the spear around, thrusting the blunt part into Kael's abdomen making him puke from pain, even though it was just a blunt part strike it was powerful, even more powerful than he ever felt before. As he hit the ground hard he curled himself into a fetal position, he felt similar pain when he was shot into the back of his head and lost his left eye, but now it was different, way more painful. Mediae made her spear disappear and knelt down in front of Kael.

  -"Master, that was a good fight, but please, don't let your emotions control your movements. Use the emotions as your blade and make them strike your enemy, otherwise you'll lose control completely and potentially hurt your companions. Okay master?"

  Even though her voice was cold and calm as usual, it had a tinge of worry in it. Kael knew everyone was worried about him since it hasn't even been a month since he got reborn in his own darkness. He pushed himself up and rested on a tree, he looked at his hands seeing blisters where he gripped the daggers. He knew that he would suffer more if he went down this way, but he had no choice but to continue. He made his choice and he's not the one to back down now. He stood up, his abdomen still ached heavily so he was slightly leaning forward. Mediae wanted to support him but he refused her proposition, he wanted to endure it all alone. If he was constantly cared for and fed with a silver spoon he wouldn't develop. He knew it was hurting his comrades and family more than it hurt himself, but he knew it was necessary. He decided to rest for now, as he was standing there, Tenebrae approached him in her wolf form.

  -'Oi Kael, you know, not everyone will fight with honour and dignity every time. Most use dirty tricks to get the upper hand, you need to learn that as well. If you're going to be the worst scum to fight with, you'd at least be the strongest scum to fight with.'

  Kael understood what she said, he needed to play dirty to win most fights. As he was standing there he heard rumbling in the bushes, he quickly summoned the daggers from his shadow. When he looked over onto the side, Mediae had readied her spear as well and was waiting for whatever would come out. As they stood there ready to pounce on the unwanted visitor, suddenly out of the bushes came out Katrine holding two bags. Kael seeing this quickly made his daggers disappear and Mediae put her spear away as well. Katrine approached Kael and put down the bags on the ground, suddenly she stood on her tip toes and adjusted Kael's eye patch.

  -"I've brought some food for you all, since you've been training here since 4 in the morning... You know what time it is? It's nearly 7am, did you have breakfast at least?"

  Her voice was both accusing and full of care, deep down she didn't want Kael to overwork himself in any way. She was worried about him, she knew that Kael since that mag-tech break-in was constantly pushing himself to the limit and beyond. It hurt her, she knew now what she felt towards Kael, and seeing him push himself like that was even more painful than before. As she finished adjusting Kael's eye patch she sat down on the ground pulling out boxes from the bags that were full of food she had cooked, Kael sat in front of her. His breathing was still laboured and it was clear the strike to the abdomen left it's lingering mark. Mediae soon approached and sat down next to Kael and reached for one of the boxes opening it to start eating. Kael followed what Mediae was doing. As Kael, Katrine and Mediae ate in peace, Tenebra watched from the side. She didn't need food to survive, even in her wolf form, which was physical. Kael suddenly turned to Katrine.

  -"Hey Kat... Thanks for the breakfast and all, but why did you bother yourself with doing all of that? You could've just waited a couple more hours for all of us to return home, so you wouldn't have to bother yourself with coming here."

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  As Katrine heard that she suddenly stopped eating, Kael was right, she didn't have to bother herself with doing all that. At that moment she wanted to confess her feelings to Kael for real this time, but she felt as if it was still too early for now, so she decided to give another reason.

  -"Because I know your dumbass wouldn't bother himself with coming back home to eat, you'd focus on training and nothing else. Somebody had to feed you, even if it'd take me spoon feeding you like a baby... ? кр?м того я люблю тебе..."

  The last sentence she said was so quiet everyone there barely heard it, she thought she still wasn't ready to say it out loud. She was angry at herself for being a coward. But decided to keep those feelings to herself for now, she knew her truth and she was happy with it. As Kael finished eating he stood up and summoned the shadow daggers again, Katrine seeing this got startled and nearly flipped onto her back, even though she was sitting. Mediae immediately got the sign, stood up and summoned her shadow spear, another round of sparring was now in action. They took a couple of steps from Katrine and Tenebrae so as to not hurt them by accident. Once they were far enough away they started, Mediae was the first one to attack. She swung her spear in a wide angle from the left side, since Kael didn't have a left eye, it was his blind spot. Kael decided to retaliate immediately and blocked the strike with both of his daggers, he pushed the spear away and jumped towards Mediae. She thought that he'd attack from above, but instead Kael landed early and attacked from below. Mediae blocked the attack at the last second, sparks flew everywhere. The battle was fierce, and Mediae noticed that every time they fought, Kael was getting better. Kael sensing he couldn't break through the defence of Mediae jumped backwards and decided to rush again, this time he decided to follow the advice of Tenebrae on fighting dirty.

  As he approached her, he kicked up dust into Mediae's face and decided to attack from both and left with his daggers. It was a deadly attack in normal circumstances, but Mediae, expecting this, jumped back and brushed the dust from her face. Now she was slightly angry that Kael got an upper hand for a longer while, so she decided to be more aggressive. She quickly struck the daggers away from Kael's hands, and as she was about to finish it with a deadly strike, Katrine stood in front of Kael. She shielded him with her own body, Mediae immediately seeing this stopped and put her spear to her side. And she spoke to Katrine in a low, dangerous tone.

  -"Lady Katrine... What you just did right now is both careless and stupid, if I haven't stopped myself... Both you and Kael would be dead by now... Move... Aside..."

  Kael quickly grabbed Katrine's shoulder and pulled her to his side, he was furious that Mediae stepped out of the line and threatened someone close to him. Mediae, still in fervor of battle, didn't notice his anger at first, but once she cooled down she saw what she had done and said. She immediately made the shadow spear disappear and bowed down, when she was about to apologize she suddenly felt a hand on her head. It was Kael, he was patting her head, even though she nearly killed someone close to him he still was doing this. Tenebrae watched this exchange with growing intensity, she wanted to see how Kael would deal with this. She thought that Kael would comfort Katrine and scold Mediae, but what he did shocked everyone.

  -"Raise your head Mediae... It's not your fault, it's my fault... And only mine, I wanted to spar with you again. Besides I used a dirty trick that made you angry and more aggressive, which made Katrine step in, nearly getting herself killed... It's all my fault... I hope you can all forgive me..."

  Everyone hearing this froze for a moment, he took all the blame in himself and his seemingly "selfish" actions. Katrine hearing this hugged Kael and Mediae raised her head up with a face full of confusion, she expected him to scold her and Katrine. But instead he was doing something like this, in her mind it was stupid. Why would he apologize? This didn't make sense in anyone's mind, but Kael was serious about it. After a silent while Mediae bowed down again.

  -"I'm sincerely sorry Master, but i need you to know that I-"

  -"Stop, you don't have to apologize... So stop, easy as that."

  It shocked Mediae even more, Katrine who was still hugging him stepped back. Tenebrae instead started laughing, it was funny for her seeing how Kael took the blame on himself, even though it wasn't fully his fault. For her it was stupid and careless, but she understood his resolve from the other side. He was training and he was going to suffer, he didn't want to pull anyone else besides him. After a quiet while Kael took a deep breath.

  -"Ehhhhh... Okay let's go back home, it's 8am already... We've been here for nearly 4 hours... Thanks for the help Mediae, and thank you too Katrine for shielding me with yourself... Although it was all my fault, I'm still grateful."

  His voice was sincere and he meant those words, for now the group headed back home. Mediae didn't feel necessarily tired after sparring and could probably do a few more rounds, but Kael was tired. He was sparring her and training for 4 hours straight, only having one breakfast near the end and only drinking water. No coffee, energy drinks or isotonic's, only water. His body had no way to regenerate the lost minerals and salts he expelled during the training so he obviously needed rest. As they were walking back home, Kael suddenly collapsed, his legs wouldn't move. Mediae immediately saw this and supported Kael and started carrying him, but because she was shorter and more petite than him despite her incomparable strength, she struggled carrying him. Katrine, seeing this, quickly stepped up and supported Kael from the other side, Tenebrae who was walking behind them started laughing.

  -'Damn Kael, i was joking about you making a harem, but yet here we are hahahaha... Oi Katrine you're going to be his main wife or you'll be the main wife Mediae hahahah!'

  The trio hearing this put their faces down in embarrassment, even the ever so stoic Mediae had her face red with embarrassment. Then suddenly the trio turned their head's back to Tenebrae and in unison yelled at her.

  -"SHUT UP!"

  -"SHUT UP!"

  -"SHUT UP!"

  Tenebrae hearing the trio telling her to quiet down got startled a bit, she didn't expect Mediae to even join in. But seeing this she started laughing even harder, in her eyes this was Kael's little harem, even though it was only in her eyes. After she laughed for a while longer she teased Kael again.

  -'Awwwww come on Kael, if you're making a harem don't leave Mediae out... You're going to break her heart y'know?'

  Kael hearing this didn't even turn his head back and instead showed her a middle finger, Tenebrae seeing this started laughing again. Kael thought to himself why Tenebrae wouldn’t just shut up with her perverted thoughts, the frustration on his face was clear. He gritted his teeth and decided to ignore her teasing and comments as he got carried back home, it was getting to him every time she decided to tease him. For now he decided to help Katrine and Mediae by trying to support his weight on them, as to help them carry him. As the group finally got into the house Katrine and Mediae dropped Kael onto the couch, Tenebrae followed them and jumped onto the couch sitting beside Kael. He knew the training was far from over again, after all he had to train in Limbo with Tenebrae when he slept. He had to follow this routine for a while, because he wasn't quite sure when the scarred warrior would appear exactly. For now Kael decided to lay back on the couch and rest, his legs still wouldn't respond and they were slightly trembling. As he was laying there, Mediae along with Katrine walked into the kitchen to prepare something to eat, leaving Tenebrae and Kael alone. Suddenly Tenebrae nudged Kael with her muzzle trying to get his attention, seeing she got none she decided to get into extreme measures. Seeing as Kael was still unresponsive she decided to "accidentally" step on his crotch, when she did so Kael howled with pain immediately covering his intimate area. After a while he grabbed Tenebrae by her tail and threw her off the couch.

  -"We don't allow dog's on the couch in this house you old pervert... What the fucks wrong with you anyways!?"

  Tenebrae, seeing this growled at Kael and decided to turn around and sit on the ground, Kael immediately noticed she was sulking and trying to get a reaction out of him. He didn't care and laid back again, he wanted to rest, not deal with an old perverted woman who thinks he's making a harem. As he laid back on the couch he smelt something delicious, it was probably Katrine and Mediae cooking some food. Suddenly he dozed off, he felt his eyelids grow heavy, his muscles relaxing. Suddenly he felt something heavy on his lap, when he opened his eyes, there was a small child. He looked similar to Kael, but he was way younger than him, he was 5~6 at max. Suddenly Kael in the corner of his right eye saw Mediae, she looked the same and had a maid outfit now. Suddenly the child spoke up.

  -"Daddy, daddy wake up pleaseeeeee... Mommy told me to wake you up since dinner is ready, come on daddy..."

  The child pulled on his hand, that's when he realised, his body seemed way bigger and more mature than what he remembered. When he looked into Mediae she said to him.

  -"Master Riggs, Lady Katrine is waiting in the kitchen for dinner. After all, leaving your wife and child to eat alone is a bad example, isn't it Master?"

  His child? Wife? Katrine? What the hell was going on? When he got up from the couch, the child quickly pulled on his hand and started dragging him to the kitchen with little ounces of strength he had. He noticed that in the kitchen there was a bowl of dog food and a bowl of water, with a sign reading "Tenebrae"... Tenebrae? That Tenebrae? Kael was extremely confused as to what was going on, when he looked up he saw Katrine. She was definitely older than what he remembered, but she was so beautiful and appealing to him for some reason. He felt a sudden urge to come up and kiss her but he brushed it off. He was probably in a dream, it had to be one. When he sat by the table he looked at his reflection in it, he looked way more mature and older, but his left eye was still missing and covered by an eye patch. He didn't get what was happening, why did he have such a dream right now...? He couldn't comprehend what was happening... When the child started trying to get attention from Katrine by pulling her shirt, she said softly to him.

  -"Calm down Avery... It's not nice to bother mommy while she's in the kitchen okay? You can play with daddy or Mediae..."

  Avery? The existence of this child made absolutely no sense, as he supported his head on his hand he looked out the window in the kitchen. What he saw made him jump from his seat and crash on the floor... The scarred warrior, he was there... But why now? Why here? Wasn't he supposed to be coming later!? Katrine, Avery and Mediae seeing his reaction immediately rushed to him questioning what he saw that made him jump like that. When he was about to say what he saw there was an empty thud sound on the window... When Kael got up he immediately covered his mouth so as to not puke... What was thrown into the window was a wolf’s body, it made a horrible image. Katrine, Mediae and Xavier seemingly not seeing what he had seen didn't react this way. Suddenly when Kael looked up at the body... It was slight twitching, as if the nerves were still trying to escape potential danger despite the head being decapitated...

  -"THE FUCK YOU WANT FROM ME YOU PSYCHO!? CAN'T I HAVE A NORMAL FUCKING DREAM!? YOU PIECE OF SHIT, WHY, WHY, WHY WHYYYYY!?"

  His voice was full of agony and anguish, the warrior didn't respond, instead he walked forwards. As he walked past Mediae, he suddenly cut her in half. As her body dropped to the floor, everyone acted as if nothing happened. Kael was about to puke on the floor, nobody even was bothered to react... It made Kael even more furious, he started crawling away from the warrior, he wanted to get out of this dream. When he looked back he saw the warrior had approached Katrine and stabbed her in her back, eliciting a blood curling whine from her, she dropped to the floor, her body was still twitching and blood was pooling on the floor in large quantities. Suddenly Avery walked up to Kael and tugged at his sleeve.

  -"What's wrong daddy...? Why did you scream...? I'm scared daddy..."

  Shortly after the boy was stabbed through his chest by the scarred warrior. He tried to scream but only gurgling sounds of blood came out. He pulled out his sword and made his way towards Kael. Kael was actually crying tears of pain and anguish now, he couldn't comprehend what was happening now. He crawled away from the warrior and rolled himself into a fetal position, he was laying in his vomit and tears. He didn't understand what was happening. Why did he have such a dream? But the warrior stood there, silently. It frustrated Kael even more. He tried looking in the way where the warrior was standing, but the image of his family and servant being killed in such brutal ways made him puke even more. He remained in the fetal position constantly puking and crying, he couldn't comprehend what was happening.

  -"Why? Why? Why? WHY!? WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO THIS!? WHAT THE FUCKS WRONG WITH YOU!? YOU FUCKING MONSTEERRRRRR! WHYYYYYYYYYYY!? I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU, I'LL FUCKING WIPE YOUR EXISTENCE OFF THIS FUCKING UNIVERSE! AGHHHHHH! I HATEEEE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

  -"Good..."