Strengthening. (6)

"I was told that amongst the Knights, Rhee here is second only to the Void Lord herself when it comes to the Healing arts." Nura interjected.

After saying this, both Nura and Relovan looked at Rhee, the disbelief in both their eyes so thick it was almost tangible.

"Can this guy really heal people?" Nura said as he inched close to Relovan and bent down, cupping his hand by his ear as if he was whispering.

"I have my doubts, Chief. Look at how blue and muscular this guy is. Everybody knows green is the colour of healing."

"I know, right? Does a person with Lightning Gloves even know how to heal?"

"You know, I can actually hear you two." Rhee said, sounding as though he was doing his best not to snap at them.

Chief Nura looked completely surprised by this statement, which appeared to annoy Rhee even further.

"How does that even surprise you, Chief?! Your whispers are as loud as a Mordhanian Swamp Shark's indigestion! And you, Mr. Green, the colour of healing is Red!"

"…he's awfully sassy for a Healer, isn't he Lawman?" The Chief 'whispered' again.

"I wasn't aware that sass was an important trait for Healers, Chief."

Rhee took a few breaths to keep calm, before ignoring Nura and turning his attention to Relovan.

"How are you feeling? The injuries you sustained while fighting Vo were bad enough, but I saw how even my own Mistress injured you further."

"There's no need for concern – I am fit enough to fight." Relovan stated bullishly.

"I'm glad to hear that." Nura said ominously.

Relovan turned around to see that Nura's demeanor had changed completely. His hands were down by his sides, but his fists were clenched and the look in his eyes was about as sinister as it could be. Just the sheer pressure the shift in attitude created was tangible enough for Relovan to feel on his skin, and without even asking, the Enforcer knew that Nura intended to do. Relovan took a few steps, creating some distance between himself and Nura. He set his small bag down, before taking off, folding and setting his jacket down next to the bag. A few deep breaths followed as he rolled his neck, before Relovan assumed a fighting stance and looked at Nura. The Chief stood with his arms by his side and his fists clenched, his ever-present grin displaying even more of his teeth, while Relovan, who was standing with his left arm low, closed his eyes. As he inhaled deeply, his senses heightened immeasurably, and he could quite literally feel everything that was happening around him on his skin. He could feel both Nura's and Rhee's breath, he could feel their heartbeats, slight changes in air pressure, temperature, everything. His body became a giant receptor and when he opened his eyes, he himself exuded quite the bit of pressure, caused Nura to clench his fists even tighter. His knuckles cracked, and the Chief looked as though he was getting ready to tackle prey of some kind. As Relovan blinked, he felt an immense and jarring change in the atmosphere of the room, with his body telling him complete and utter annihilation was approaching him. It approached far too quickly for Relovan to even react, and before he could open his eyes to complete the blink, something hit him square in the face. The pain was unlike anything he had experienced before, and Relovan thought he could feel his entire face contort and shatter. Meanwhile, he had also been launched off of his feet and was in the process of completing a backflip as well.

'What is this? What just happened?'

Those two sentences were the last thing that went through the Enforcer's mind as he flew through the air and his body went completely limp, with him losing consciousness before even finishing the first revolution. After some time, Relovan felt soothing warmth running through his entire body, and not long after he became aware of this warmth, did his eyes shoot open. He awoke to the sight of Rhee sitting next to him, with his hands hovering above his body. His eyes looked towards the Void Knight and after taking a few moments to make sense of things, Relovan spoke.

"…I'm still in the Training Room."

"That's correct, Enforcer."

"What happened?"

"You were knocked out cold."

"That much is certain… but how did it happen?"

"Your Chief closed the gap between you two with one giant step, and then punched you in the face."

"…how many times?"

"Just the one time."

"How was the damage?"

"If I didn't have a stock of Healing Essence Crystals with me, your face would have been destroyed."

"Yeah, that's what it felt like."

Relovan sat up in one motion and shook his head rapidly, as to rid it of cobwebs.

"Where is the giant?"

"He said he wasn't going to wait for you to recover and wake up, so he went to go have something to eat." Rhee said with a shrug.

"How long have I been out for?"

"Half an hour."

"Understood." Relovan said as he got to his feet and began to stretch. "So when will the Chief be coming back?"

"He told me to call him when you were up and ready to go again."

"Then, please do."

Relovan continued to stretch and loosen up as if he hadn't just been brought back from the brink of death. As he got ready, Rhee pressed a button that was on the wall, and looked at Relovan.

"Are you sure you don't want to recover a little longer?"

"I don't have time to nap and relax. The value of my life has to be increased significantly in a short amount of time, isn't that right, Chief?"

Rhee looked a little confused and looked around as if trying to find the Chief.

"Absolutely, Lawman."

Nura's voice echoed through the room before the door flew open with extreme force. The Adonian walked in while chewing on something and he looked at the Enforcer as if he was assessing his condition.

"Wow, you're practically good as new, Lawman! I felt a little bad for turning that handsome face into mush, but Rhee certainly did a good job patching you up."

"That he did. Let's get started, Chief." Relovan said as he glared at Nura.

"Yes… let's!"

Relovan, who had begun to focus during his stretching made sure not to blink this time, and he just watched the Chief carefully and silently. He assumed his fighting stance, and stared at the Chief with such focused eyes, that the Adonian could feel the gaze on his own skin.

"…very good. Last time, I took advantage of your blink and took you out, so you feel that keeping your eyes open is the key. Well, allow me to let you in on a little secret Lawman; keeping your eyes open will only help you if they can keep up."

Relovan was more than aware of the difference in strength, however he felt that he had to see exactly what was going to happen. Unfortunately for the Human, what the Adonian said turned out to be true, because the giant man disappeared from sight, crippling pain shot through Relovan's entire body via his face, and then everything went black - again.

This ended up being the pattern for the rest of the day, and by the time night fell, Relovan had been knocked out and healed half a dozen times, after which Rhee revealed something to Relovan.

"The Chief told me to relay a message to you, Enforcer."

"What message is that?" Relovan asked as he rolled his neck, as if testing to see if his head would fall off if he did it enough times.

"Tell Lawman that the condition for passing this training is for him to dodge a single punch at this speed from me. If he cannot do that, then he will die."

Relovan stopped moving and stood perfectly still and silent for a bit, before looking at Rhee.

"Dodging a single punch at that speed? And if I can't do that, then I will die? Hmph." Relovan snorted before crashing his right fist into his open palm. "I will evade that forsaken punch and live. Nobody has the right to end my life."

Relovan snorted once again, clearly determined to clear the first hurdle, and the first phase of the Chief's plan. The following week was essentially a repeat of that day, with Relovan being flattened and revived more times than he cared to keep track of. While Relovan was unconscious and being patched up for the final time on the seventh night, Nura decided to stick around and keep Rhee company.