Like Riding a Bike

"First of all, let's start with your body, Ajax" Skirk announced pointing Ajax "We will start cultivating it to make it able to use the power of the Abyss."

"Y-yes!" Ajax answered nervously.

"I'll tell you this. This will be painful and dangerous and not only your body will change, your mind will also be tainted, practically becoming a new person. Saying that you will die and become another is not wrong at all. But is the only way you will be able to leave this place alive." Skirk offered him a black marble "Take it or surrender to your death."

"Are you sure starting for this is the best?" Allen asked "Shouldn't be making him a little stronger first be better?"

"The optimal training depends on each person. He would change his self with this, lowering the usefulness of everything done before" Skirk explained "I prefer being efficient."

Ajax gulped "W-would I still remember my family?"

"Yes, your memories and experiences will be left intact, it's only your character that would change." Skirk answered.

"Okay" Ajax nodded and took the marble.

"Now sit down and swallow it." Ajax followed her orders, swallowing the black marble.

"Clench your teeth, shout with pain, do whatever you can but don't fall unconscious" Skirk stood over Ajax's back.

"Let's start" Black smoke surged from Skirk's body, completely surrounding Ajax and started disappearing inside his body.

"Hg!" Ajax's face contorted in pain as black spots started appearing over his body.

"Prepare for it when I reached 0." Skirk summoned two black short swords in her hands "10..." "9..." 8..." Suddenly, with a swift movement, she slashed over Ajax's, drawing what it seemed to be a circuit.

"Hg!" Allen groaned as he forced his eyes to see her movements and was shocked by the art behind them. What it seemed to be normal slashes, had a strange form in them, changing the profundity, and somehow affecting the inside of the body. This was a completely new swordsmanship that could create internal wounds!

'It might be a new style, but I doubt it has many uses. Those slow but swift movements...' Allen thought 'I can't think of putting them with my other styles and I don't think that focusing on it will be worth it, anyway.'

"And 0!" the swords disappeared from Skirk's hands "It's finished."

"Is that all?" Ajax unsure. Yes, he had felt a little pain when he wasn't expecting it, but it was nothing of what he was expecting. "I don't feel myself different."

"What was that?" Allen was shocked. He also really expected something more grand and life-threatening, not a simple slash that wasn't even a second being the end of it. And that way of counting... It seemed more like a nurse putting a vaccine. 'What a downgrade.'

"Yes, you are already ready for the Abyss" Skirk nodded and suddenly the air became heavier, that usual dark energy of abyss that seemed to not exist in this place returned "Now close your eyes, try to feel your surroundings, attract the energy inside you."

Ajax closed his eyes trying to feel it.

*Boom* Suddenly, his eyes went wide, black smoke surged from his body creating what it seemed as a specter over him.

"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" Ajax growled with fury, the air around him trembling and the specter returning to his body, materializing a red mask with horns over his face. Then, Ajax's body collapse to the ground unconscious.

"And it's done" Skirk washed her hands "Let him rest for an hour before starting with his combat and physical training."

"Why did you try to make it more sentimental?" Allen asked "It was not much and you do it pretty easily. There was any need to put it so dangerous at first? In the end, there was not much of a choice, everyone would choose to live."

"Dying as humans or living as monsters? Most people would choose to live and it would be too late once they repent of their choice. I want Ajax to be aware of the choice that "I" have given him. If he turns for the worse and seek revenge, I want to be the focus of it."

"Why?" Allen asked unsurely.

"Because in the worst moments, when you are lost, revenge is a good way to keep yourself together and..." Skirk smiled "he would be unable to complete that revenge as I'll never lose against him."

'Quite the strange woman' Allen thought as he looked towards Ajax who seemed to be sleeping soundly with the mask being kept on the side of his head. "What did you give him? That marble."

"If I needed to explain..." Skirk scratched her chin "I'll say it's a Vision, an Abyss one."

"Really?" Allen asked with doubts 'They are the gifts of gods, making people to manipulate elements. How can it be this?'

"It's not exactly the same, but it quite has the same function." Skirk explained "With it, Ajax would be able to manipulate the Abyss energy."

"So, did you create it? To start, can it really be created?" Allen asked confused.

"You as a Fatui should be quite used to that forced creations."

"Are you talking about Delusions?"

"Yes" Skirk nodded "But I'm unaware of how they create them and I suppose they aren't aware of my method. Let's say that everyone has their own methods."

"And Allen, I won't give you one" Skirk clearly saw through Allen's question "In the best case, nothing will happen and in the worst you will die, so it's truly useless for you. Only someone as ourselves could benefit from it."

"Okay" Allen groaned.

...

"I'm feeling quite well!" Ajax stood up and stretched his body "What's next?!" He asked while showing a bright smile with dull eyes full of eagerness.

Allen blinked with surprise. "He seems a little different. Like more confident?" That timid tone and stutter had disappeared leaving a confident voice that seemed to be quite happy to be here. "Is this normal?"

"I'm not very experienced with the effects on other people but I say that yes." Skirk answered with a neutral face "It can create that high, especially at first is like being permanently drunk, and like it, everyone is affected differently. However, the Abyss affects one thing equally for everyone, it will boost negative feelings. Luckily, Ajax didn't seem to have any strong one, so it's quite good like this."

"So everything's good?" Ajax asked.

"While nobody angers you, yes" Skirk nodded "Take this" She threw him two black daggers.

"So, what do I do now?" Ajax asked taking each dagger over his hands.

"It's simple" Skirk extended her arm, a black and purple portal appearing from nowhere "Fight!"

From the portal, two wolves appeared. They were equal as the one that they encountered at first, except for the lack of pale blue color, being completely gray and black.

Seeing them, Ajax fearlessly charged against them while wielding the daggers.

"Are you sure that he would be fine?" Allen asked while putting his hand over the handle of his sword. How Ajax moved, how he faced the enemies, his collocation, even his grip over the daggers, everything showed that Ajax was a complete newbie that never had a serious fight before. Moreover, his strength and speed didn't really seem anything special. The only thing special was his lack of fear and that wasn't quite good at such times, being better to be a little more cautious.

"Stay still and observe" Skirk invoked her gauntlets.

Just as the wolves were about to slash at Ajax, Skirk made her move, shooting black bullets from her hands. However, the target wasn't the wolves, it was Ajax.

More than ten bullets directly hit Ajax's body, forcing him to kneel while backing his upper body, forcing him to avoid the wolves' slashes, passing under them. More bullets hit him, causing him to swung his daggers into a cross, slashing both wolves that disappeared into smoke.

"It didn't end there, continue!" Skirk encourage as more portals were created around Ajax, more and more wolves appearing from them "Go wild!"

Ajax clenched the daggers, jumping toward the nearest wolf while he was completely surrounded. Skirk's bullet flew towards him, hovering and spinning in the air and just hitting his muscles in the perfect instant, Ajax avoiding the enemies and counterattacking them.

Allen couldn't help for his mouth to open in shock as he looked between Ajax and Skirk. Ajax's movements were almost perfect, showing a great deal of experience, all of them while being minutely controlled by Skirk who with weak impacts over his joints was able to control him as if a puppet.

'What a monster!' Allen couldn't help to think looking at Skirk's control, however, it wasn't long before his focus turned over Ajax.

Ajax charged forward without fear, avoiding each attack and slashing at the wolves whose numbers were increasing each second, making the combat more difficult. But in a such difficult situation, he didn't show any doubt letting himself be used by Skirk while the smile in his face started slowly becoming a grin that only became a little bigger with each kill.

"He is improving" Allen realized "At an immense speed" Ajax wasn't lifelessly letting himself be controlled, his body was learning how to move, how to wield the daggers and essentially how to fight, lowering the required bullets to hit him as his normal movements improved. Allen could see even the traces of a style in what started as random slashes, meaning that he was truly learning.

'It's like the extreme version of holding the bike while learning to let it go once he gains confidence, making him go along while feeling that she was still there holding him.'

Reaching this state in few hours, was nothing short of a miracle "You...?"

"I know that I'm good" Skirk smirked "But not all the merit is mine. He is quite the natural. He goes forward, never stopping and enjoying it, wanting to become stronger to continue killing. His body is also quite good, with a great memory in it, being able to remember that style."

"I knew that with that character, daggers will be quite good for him" Skirk analyzed Ajax's movements without stopping her bullets "With such wild movements, a short weapon will be the best to start, especially with that style..."

"AG!" Finding himself surrounded by 10 wolves, Ajax spinned his body, creating a whirlpool around him and slashing every wolf, not leaving anyone behind.

Finishing them, the portals disappeared and finding no more enemy, he turned towards Skirk and Allen, charging at them while spinning his body.

"Take care of him, Allen" Skirk commanded.

Allen was a little wary that Skirk also acted, but without her, it's impossible for a newbie like Ajax to pose any problem.

*Clank* Allen drew his sword, head-on clashing with Ajax's, controlling the flow of the attack and stopping his spin, leaving him vulnerable in the air, kicking him into his stomach, and throwing him over 5 meters to the ground.

"Hehehe. Sorry" Ajax stood up again while cleaning himself a little and smiling silly at them "I was too excited to stop. Can I kill more of them?" Ajax eagerly asked.

"Later" Skirk negated "I'll teach you some theory, come" Skirk turned around, Ajax quickly following her.

'It's not only about technique. His strength had increased incredibly since the start' Allen looked at the ground, the two feet that he was pushed by Ajax's attack. Then, he turned to look over Ajax's and Skirk's backs 'What a monsters.'