A New World Part 4

Getting up, Laena dug her feet in the ground and glared at her training companion which was standing still and relaxed. He had wiped off the blood from the corners of his mouth and seemed quite fine while the elf's clothing had taken a green color thanks to her rolls in the grass.

"Round 2?" She said with a small smile.

"Round 2. You may come whenever you want." Ashley replied with a small taunt.

Laena simply nodded and rushed toward him an instant later. Surprisingly, the beastman didn't charge her this time and simply waited for her assault while lowering his stance. His arm was hanging harmlessly on his side like a snake hidden and ready to strike with its several kilograms of iron.

When Laena arrived in blade range she hesitated a little, wondering where was the best place to strike before forming a plan in her mind and feinting a slash at his legs. What she hadn't included in her plan was that Ashley was surprisingly nimble and quick to react. She had hoped to force him to parry it or at least show an opening. Instead, she was now the one to show a flaw in her defense and the sound of an axe cutting through the air confirmed that the one eyed lion wasn't going to let her fall back easily.

Frowning, she brought her blade next to her shoulder and crouched to the maximum in order to create and angle on which the axe would slip. The impact had still been rough and she nearly lost her footing before seizing the opportunity and trying to stab him. However, he dodged her strike and she only left a light cut in his skin before he rammed his armless shoulder into her, sending her flying once again.

This time she hadn't let go of her weapon and hugged it without cutting herself while she rolled on the grass before jumping on her feet again. To the outsiders, their fight seemed like a deadly dance where Ashley gave the rhythm while Laena acted like his partner. Both slowly got used to the other's fighting style and improved themselves steadily.

The elf discovered how it felt to fight someone with way more experience and strength than her while the lion slowly got accustomed to his recent handicap. Their styles were different and through their strikes their explored the other one's. Jack had influenced Laena's elven one through his lessons and she now seemed more patient, thoughtful about her actions.

On the other side, Ashley seemed to swing his axe randomly and acted like a brute with crude kicks and shoulder bashes. However, his movements had been forged through years of experience and each strikes created an advantage for him. His instinct was also sharp and he reacted surprisingly fast, even faster than Laena who had always believed in her race's superiority.

They stopped after a while, panting and heaving while many cuts could be seen on their bodies. A brief exchange of gaze with Ashley told her that he was as satisfied and exhausted as she did. A smile rose on their faces as they understood each other without a single word whilst they sat down on the cold grass.

'In the end, he has dominated me throughout the fight. Well, that was educative at least.' She thought while remembering herself of the intoxicating feeling of power she had felt when Jack had buffed her against the wolves.

'Even with this, I would have a hard time. I have to train harder don't I...' She sighed mentally before noticing that Evelyn was bandaging her gently. Pain made her wince a little as the cold her seeped into her wounds.

"You've been awesome Laena ! Your fight has amazed everyone !" The young girl cheerily said while giving a potion to her friend.

"What do you mean by everyone...?" She muttered while turning her head after having chugged her bottle. Then, she finally noticed that the area was brighter than before since a small crowd with many people holding torches was standing on the side and talking quietly with each others. The low luminosity hadn't bothered her nor Ashley since they saw relatively well in the dark. On the other side, their human spectators had brought more light sources in order to see something else than flashes of silver of and red strike each other.

"It seems like our training has attracted the eyes of the others." Ashley chuckled after having thanked Evelyn for her healing too. Meanwhile, the crowd was slowly getting louder and louder. Soon, it started to creep her out as some finally became brave enough to ask some questions.

Ashley laughed even more when he saw her reaction to her fame and decided to force himself a way through the crowd in order to attract their attention. He soon became crowded with praises and questions while Laena ran away sneakily while dragging Evelyn by the hand, silently acknowledging his noble sacrifice.

What the two duelists hadn't noticed was that a shadow had been watching them all along and nodded silently when they had finished. It then sneaked away and presented a rapport written on a parchment to its master without saying a single word before vanishing out of his tent. The master, a man with thin and luxurious silk clothing read the paper while smiling before going back to the maintenance of his trusty armor.

Meanwhile, Laena had reached her tent and landed on her blanket exhausted. She had explained her fight in details with her friend while they walked and together, they thought about the key moments where her magic would have given her the upper hand. Unsurprisingly, Gravity magic would have helped her greatly whilst her fire magic would have allowed her to wound him greatly since he was covered in inflammable fur.

At first, they had decided to sleep quietly since their teacher was still focused but apparently he had left the tent. In reality, he had been called to do his guard round begrudgingly and currently stood outside with his eyes open while he focused his attention on his creations. The girls seize this opportunity to talk about everything they wanted even if they avoided the sensible subjects. They worried about Andrew's party and their mental health without mentioning anything related to them, wondered how strong the other A rank were and discussed about the racism in the Kingdom.

When Jack finally came back to his tent he found his two students sleeping quietly. Smiling a little, he did his best to focus and woke Evelyn after some struggle so she could to her guard round. Then, he readied himself for another hellish night where he would only sleep a few dozen minutes before waking up to tighten his grip on his ghouls before repeating the process ceaselessly in a mental tug of war.

He had done this method for a week and whilst it exhausted his body it worked well to control those frenzied creatures. However, this time his sleep felt different. He wasn't falling in a thoughtless abyss like usual. This time, he felt like something was tugging on his soul and revived a memory he had forgotten after his eons of isolation. He felt like he had found again a part of himself which had been lost for a long time.

Everything was fuzzy and distorted. Yet, he still managed to recognize his "lab" without any troubles. Many black rectangular box-like furniture filled the grey walled room and weird pinkish forms writhed inside of them. Distorted noises and moans reached Jack's ears but they felt familiars too as he remembered some experiments he made when he tried to reach the true origin of the Lifomancy. At that time, he had managed to isolate the Life mana but hadn't managed to create a living being out of it yet.

'Why... Why am I seeing this?' He thought as he looked around, trying to understand his dream.

Then, he heard steps coming from a staircase on his left and instantly recognized their noise. The door opened afterward, revealing the perfectly defined body of a woman. However, seeing her hadn't been necessary to drown him in his memories. Her smell, breath rhythm and simple outlining had been enough for him to feel nostalgic.

"You're still working darling...? There's no need to exhaust yourself like this you know... We'll manage to complete it one day after all." Her voice was gentle and calmed Jack, making all his worries and feelings other than happiness disappear. He surprised himself as he remembered his feelings at this time : All he had inside of him was determination and bliss as he, for the first time of his life, did something to simply be happy.

'It's true that at that time, all I wanted was to grant her her wish. Our wish. I did nothing wrong, I simply craved for a simple and quiet life. I... I wished nothing more than peace. I had left behind me my wary, monstrous self.. I was such an idiot and yet, ignorance was bliss...'

Then, after the calm came the storm. It wasn't a blazing wrath like the one which was constantly consuming his entire being.

No, this time it was a mournful scream of regret and nostalgia which made his soul vibrate. These few instants had been enough for him to remember something else than the pain he had swore to remember. Instead, he had revived a simple and ordinary moment... A happy moment of his life that had been washed away by the rivers of blood which had flooded his memory.

A roar full of pain and grief thundered in his mind before he woke up to the rhythmic sound of slaps on his cheeks. He then opened his eyes and saw a panic stricken Laena sanding above him.

"Wake the fuck u- Oh, you're finally up teacher ! What the hell is happening ? And.. Are you- your eyes bleeding?" His student was unnaturally white and seemed to finally relax as he came back to the realm of the awaken ones.

Instead of answering, Jack focused on the most important thing his mind could think of right now : His mission. The searing pain he felt in his hollow heart had hardened even further his resolve. Checking on the ghouls, the immortal was quite surprised since they didn't budge from the spot he had ordered them to wait at. Instead of being stubborn and crazed they seemed unusually meek and their mental screams had quieten down when they felt him oversee their consciousnesses.

Curious, Jack wondered why they reacted like that before focusing back on reality since he apparently had a more important matter at hand.

"What is happening?" He asked concisely after a few seconds of delay.

"You did your weird thing again ! There were things dancing in the shadows and I felt a terrifying killing intent... Hell, listen to the chaos outside !" She answered with a bit of distress and exhaustion in her voice. No matter how many times she felt this weird aura, the fear it imbued in her was always as strong as before.

"Oh... So this is how it is..." Jack muttered while noting that he was suffering from many internal bleeding caused by a massive outburst of mana in his body.

'Fuck me, this couldn't be a worse timing... I've torn many capillaries of my mana circuits... It's surprising to see that the rest has hold on though.' He grunted mentally while trying to heal himself. Yet, it was slow and painful so he forcibly realized that it would take a few days for him to be back to his usual state.

A few seconds later, a bell rang across the camp and every adventurers knew what it meant : It was the emergency bell, a signal which meant that everyone had to be ready to fight for his life.

"Go, I'll rest here. I'm... Nearly fine. Thanks for waking me up Laena." Jack gently said while drinking a potion and closing off his most dangerous wounds with Blood Magic.

"You are sure you're alright...?" The elf worried.

"Yes. Go, child. Otherwise they will worry but for you." The immortal laughed a little before coughing the liquid which had been filling his lungs.

Laena left the tent reluctantly and after an emergency meeting did a careful search of the whole camp for this mysterious being which had scared the whole camp. Yet, they found nothing and gave up after a while in order to rest up for the next day. However, the guards still got doubled and everyone slept with only one eye closed.