Joined training

"We decided to give it a shot today and train with all of you together. With that, we can see if we can get along well and see how we synergize as a team. Oh and Emilia wants to focus on her buffing skills instead of her healing skills for now since she is lacking behind in that area. This would also benefit the team more as two healers are a bit overkill for six people", I explained to Iris.

"Yeah, no problem. I'm not really forcing you to join anyway, it is your decision as I said a couple days ago. Using Emilia as a secondary healer and buffer for the team seems like a great idea to me, but won't we miss out on her healing skills in that way. She is better than Althaia after all", suggested Iris.

"It's just for this training session, we can figure it out once the both of us made our decision. I would like to spar with you by the way and Emilia could train with the two boys. I guess the two of them are sparring together most of the time when training, or am I wrong?" I asked her with almost certainty.

"You hit the mark with your conclusion, your plan seems like a great idea. Althaia can heal us if we get hurt. I guess you won't be using that katana of yours while training, so I will be using a regular sword as well", said Iris, pulling out two normal looking swords and handed one to me.

Emilia went over where Julian and Lander were standing. The two of them were eager to battle each other in a buffed state. They would probably get hurt more than usual but that didn't matter with Emilia on the side. As soon as they felt the buffs active on their bodies, they jumped on each other and engaged in hand to hand combat. Both of them were pure muscle heads but their techniques looked quite refined. They traded blows and appeared to be about equal in power. After a stalemate of five minutes, Julian hit the finishing blow on Lander to win the fight and Emilia started to heal them.

Iris later told me that Julian was always the stronger one of the two and that their fights usually ended in this way. Lander only rarely managed to achieve a win against Julian which was possibly because their difference in power was small.

After I watched their fight come to an end, it was my turn to spar with Iris. This time I would be in a bigger disadvantage, as my katana hard carried me in the last fight. I decided to go for a rather passive and defensive stance just like last time. Iris on the other side went for her usual aggressive stance. We counted down from three and at zero Iris charged at me as expected.

The weight behind her sword was far more manageable this time however and I parried her without too much problem. But just right after, she hit me in the stomach with her fist and I lost my stance because of that. Iris pointed her sword at my neck and said:

"Just as I had predicted. Your overall sword skills are still good even with a regular sword, but you aren't used to cheap tricks from your enemy. Mr. Black taught me some of those because he thinks my fighting style is a bit to clean for a demon hybrid. He wants to get my savage side out and now I see what he means by that. By surprising your opponent with another way of attacking, one can break their stance easily if they aren't prepared for it and end the fight far faster."

I started thinking back to all the fights I had so far and it was true. Nobody used any cheap tricks against me before, which made it clear I wasn't prepared for them at all. Lisa always took me head on and she had no need to use such tactics to win against me easily. Iris also decided to fight me head on in our last spar, as she wanted to show the gap of power between the both of us. She probably didn't need to use such tricks to win against me with a regular sword either but the fight would have taken a lot longer.

"You're right, Iris. I think you and I will be good training partners. I also have a lot more to learn and I have to catch up with your celestial energy cultivation. Your body is clearly far stronger than mine since I lack behind so much in that area. I would like to join your team, but the final answer depends on Emilia", I told Iris.

"Although training with you would benefit me more than you", I thought deep in my mind.

"No problem, but I think Emilia will get along with us quite well. Just take a look at her and you will see what I mean", Iris said and pointed at Emilia.

She was taking care of the two boys together with Althaia and the two healers were chatting with each other the whole time. Their similar abilities made them think alike a lot and immediate best buddies. Emilia wasn't usually the most talkative and it took her some time to open up to most people but with Althaia, she seemed like another person.

I was happy that she managed to find a new friend and as they finished batching up the boys, they came over to us. Iris wasn't hurt at all but I had some pain in my stomach area. Her punch packed quite a lot of power behind it and I was sure she was still holding back with it. This just showed the difference in our skill levels once again.

Thanks to Emilia's healing abilities I was soon relieved of my pain. Even though she found a new friend in Althaia which she also trusted, she still insisted to be the one to heal me.

"Yoru, could you do me a favour?" she asked as he took her hands of my stomach.

"Sure, whatever you want", I answered.

"Then spare with me please…"