[5] Training Pt. 2

Act 1 | Prologue | Training Pt. 2

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Zack grinned widely as he licked the blood of off his lips. The tangy copper taste tingled his tongue a bit but he paid it no mind as he wordlessly made a shield with this left arm stretched out as he playfully twirled the wand in his right one.

Max matches his grinned as he tried cast a minor healing charm to heal the cut on his cheek. The little devil had unexpectedly done a number on him. It had only been four months and the boy was almost going toe-to-toe with him and while he lacked combat experience hw made it up with his bizarre tactics, improvised spells and sheer tenacity. That showed his combat potential in a lethal fight.

"Conjure!" Zack conjured a stone slab and trasfigured into a twisted lance and hurled it at Max. Max raised a earth wall but was blown back as the lance exploded on contact. Max growled as he was hit with stray rubble.

"Punk!" He growled with a grin. "It's starting to get annoying now."

"What do you mean?" Zack asked grinning like a savage. "The fun games has only began."

Taking a step back he twirled his wand as water drops appeared out of know where shocking Max. The water gathered and swirling to form menacing arrow-lances. Not losing the grin Zack raised his left hand and the arrow-lances became frosted, now more deadly.

"Accept my gift mentor." Zack said and with a snap of his finger they were fired at him.

"What a generous disciple you are." Max grinned flicking his wand a giant alligator made out of dirt formed to chew on the icy projectile and management to stop very all except the last one.

As the last lance approached the alligator's mouth opened wide but to Max's shock the lance changed form and transformed into an airborne snake who narrowly 'snaked' past the alligator and toward Max it's fangs gleaming with malicious intent.

"Bombarda" Max grunted as the spell hit the snake and it exploded into shards but he was once again scared shit less as the shards transformed into pointy ice needles and was forced to cast a 360 protego. He sighed as the ice needles broke down against his shield. Dropping his protection he was startled as Zack was frantically running towards him a bizarre move but it worked as Max began hurling multipe minor spells at him which Zack either dodged or deflected with 'Discedo'.

'Discedo', a minor spell he created to deflect spells. He had yet to perfect it since it was useless against true dark arts and the unforgivables but for now they got the job done.

Reaching a still both looked at each other and smirked

"Expelliarmus!" Both shouted as two beam of magic meet in between, a red and a blue one trying to overpower the other but either refused to give an inch.

Max gritted his teeth trying to hold the spell while Zack merely smiled. Sure he fell short on experience but now it was the matter of power and he had large reserve and naturally me potent magic. He simply increased the output as cracks appeared in the wand but instantly Max felt his knees buckle as the pressure increased. Grinding his teeth he leaned to side and with a burst deflected the magic to the others while quickly firing a 'Stupefy.'

Zack narrowly dodged and raised his wand towards the sky as he began pouring a large amount of magic.

"Aquamenti!" He screamed. Max's eyes widen as he hastily looked up expecting a monstrous conjuration made up of water but only became confused as there was... Nothing. It was only when his body went stiff and he fell to the ground he realised that he was fooled.

As he laid stiff frozen on the ground he sighed as he heard footsteps approach. Zack popped into his view with a smug smile plastered on his cute visage.

"Soo... How's it down there? Petrificus Totalus is actually a formidable spell especially good against an unsuspecting or a dum dum opponent." Zack bragged, rightfully so too. It was his first win against Max after all. "So? Feel like giving up yet?"

"Whatever." Max snorted in annoyance. "You win! Now remove the spell already!"

"Hehe!" Zack giggled as with a wave of his hand he lifted the spell and merrily skipped back to have some snacks to reward himself for his good work leaving Max sitting alone with a bitter smile.

"Verdammt... I lost... To a kid. Man, I feel like dying from embarrassment." He muttered to himself and sighed looking at the sky with a grin. "Man, what a monster."

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Zack breathed out trying to calm his nerves as he applied pressure on the gushing wound on the stomach of the lady who was thrashing due to pain.

When Camilia decided to advance his training not only did she decided to impart get knowledge on Alchemy to her but also train in Apothecary, Healing and support.

Right now he was in a medical ward as the part of the practical lessons. The lady auror had been rushed here as she was take out by surprise by a dark wizard and stabbed by a rusted knife.

"Don't move!"Zack scolded the thrashing woman. 'The more she moves the more she aggravates the wound losing more blood and causing more pain which leads to more of this behaviour!'

He had to fix that first and fast. He quickly cast 'Petrificus Totalus' to seize her movement followed by a pain numbing spell.

Now that the movement seized and the blood flow was under control he raised his hand over the wound and closed his hand.

'Totus Diagnosi', he thought as he found himself in the familiar scene of the starlit sky of his mindscape. But this time infront of him was the holographic projection of the woman. Focusing the hologram zoomed towards the wound and aside the exact depth of the wound and the affected organs he could also see the rusted shards of the knife which had broken off from the blade and lodged themselves into the abdomen of the woman.

This was exactly his concern. He could have easily healed her with a simple spell had she not been stabbed by something this vicious. The rusted pieces would have remained inside her if he had directly done that.

Now that he had the perfect picture it was easy now. Opening his eyes, they glowed as lightly placed his left and turned his right palm upwards.

"Commentitius : Accio." He muttered.

His left palm glowed over the wound and then there was a flicker on his right palm and then the rusted shards were in his palm result of his improvised version of the basic summoning spell. Setting the shards in the tray he put both of his hands on the wound.

"Purgo." They glowed as a black wisp seeped through this finger tips before vanishing. This was the remnant of the dark aura of the wizard that lingered in the wound while it wasn't deadly it could still be problematic. So he used his recently crafter spells 'Purgo' to disinfect the wound and tk purify the lingering energy.

"Plenus Recuperatio." His hands glowed and a golden glow engulfed her and the wound healed in a matter of seconds. Not only the wounds but the acne and some scars that the woman has also disappeared.

This spell was his biggest achievement so far. A spell that restores the targeted area to its prime condition. An especially overpowered spell considering how less magic it required to cast the spell. Camilia was hell of a proud woman after witnessing 'her' Zacky's achievement.

"Phew it's done." Zack leaned back wiping his body hands then his sweat off of his forehead.

"Are you okay young master?" A woman wearing the nurse inform said only now Zack paid attention to guys surroundings. He was in the emergency ward and the Healers and their assistants were all staring at him with dumbfounded expressions. Zack had zoned them out once he saw his critical the condition of the woman was.

"Ah, I am but my well being isn't a matter a concern for now but I'd be utterly grateful if you could provide me with something cold to drink? My throat is very dry you see. Thank you." Zack smiled politely before turning to the woman and lifting the pain numbing and binding spells. He picked up the pad that had the woman's details and assume a serious professional demeanor which looked more cute than anything. "Now let's see... Miss Vanessa Johnson I presume... How are you feeling?"

Vanessa the woman jn question is a brunette woman in her late 20s. A fairly attractive lass with brown eyes, pink full lips and a eye-catching figure.

"I'm.. feeling good." Vanessa smiled nervously as she tried getting up only to be stopped by Zack who gave her a reprimanding gaze and then covered her exposed tone stomach. "In fact I'm feeling better than ever. Just a bit lightheaded though."

"That was to be expected and welcomed. I have managed to heal you without any complications and the lightheadedness is due to the loss of blood. But, don't worry." Zack retrieved a medium-size glass bottle and placed it on the table near the womans head along with a tube of salve. "Here, this potion will help you recover the loss of blood, 10ml every six hours and the salve is for the soreness that you will feel from time to time for a week or so."

"Umm... Thank you very much." Vanessa blushed. Her saviour was a very cute kid several years younger than her and she didn't know how to act. Hearing her Zack smiled gently. "H-How should I repay yo-"

"Ah! There is no need for that. I did it because you needed help and I'm here to learn how to provide that to the one's in need." Zack said patting her head like a child's causing her to sink into her blanket. "Allowing me to work on you was enough. Thank you. Now don't stress yourself and just rest. And also the next time you see the one who did this to you make sure you repay him back for this brilliant favour. Okay?... Good. Now take care. Bye~"

Flashing a cute smile Zack jumped of the table and onto the ground after shaking hands and getting compliments from the other healers he walked to were Camilia was waiting for him with a proud smile.

Grabbing her hand they headed to a muggle icecream shop to retrieve Zack's reward for his noble deed.

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His classes for Legilimency and Occlumency were useless to him and for good reasons too. During his first official mind arts class Eve was almost too eager to jump into his mind as she wanted to know his every 'dark, wet and dirty secret', as she secretly puts it but was massively disappointed because she couldn't. Not only she but no one could.

His mind was naturally fortified to not let anyone in especially uninvited voyagers. Instead when she tried to force her way in the spell actually got reflect and Zack was face-to-face with every bit of her secret and boy, was he not amused with her fantasies.

But during that time he also learnt of a secret about his aunt. A dark secret now only he and Esther knew besides herself.

Eve wasn't his real aunt.

Nor was she even his mother's real younger sister.

She was 'Created' as a product of a ritual after the premature birth and death of his actual aunt.

She was a homunculus created after his real aunt to be his mother's playmate and companion.

Now he understood why his mother was said to be the sole heir. Eve's existence was kept a secret and her origins especially more guarded as she was first homunculus in history after Abe-No-Seimei's royal guards.

He also discovered a new disturbing and a terrifying secret. The life expectancy of a homunculus is half that of a human.

If a normal humans life expectancy is around 60 years then a homunculus' would be half of that which meant 30 years.

That meant she only had nine more years to live.

"Before my fifteenth birthday, I MUST find a way to get help aunt Eve out! She is the only family I have now!" Zack gritted as he was in the research room that Camilia had it made especially for his Alchemy and Apothecary practice. Zack had already read through almost every arcane text in the library but the knowledge wasn't sufficient. "This isn't enough!"

Zack sighed as his experiment failed. He was never cool with losing. The expectations placed on him wouldn't accept nothing less than success.

The only thing he was cool with losing, is losing his sleep if it meant he'd watch his dreams come true and right now amongst the top was saving his Aunt.

"No matter! Just wait Aunt Eve! I'll surely save you! I promise!"

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A/N: Edited :D

Totus Diagnos - Total Diagnosis

Commentitius : Accio - Improvised : Summon

Purgo - Purify/Purge

Plenus Recuperatio - Total Recovery