Hostile Auras

At dawn, Blaze went to wake up Leus ...

"Leus, get up"

" ... "

"LEUS!"

Leus got up yawning ...

He looked at the window and then murmured

"Already?"

"Yeah. You have 10 minutes. I'm waiting outside" Said Blaze before leaving Leus' room.

Leus stayed on the bed for two more minutes then got up and used Water on himself

'Alright, focus. Focus'

Thinking that to himself, he went to freshen up then went outside ...

As soon as Blaze saw him, he threw the wooden sword at him

"Catch"

Leus caught the sword while yawning, and Blaze continued

"Take your stance and start slashing"

"Hmmm ... yes sure"

Leus took a deep breath, fixed his posture, then held his sword with both hands and raised it in the air, but when he was about to slash ...

'Again?'

Breathing became difficult, his legs started to tremble slightly, and his hands were shaking ...

With difficulty, Leus tried to maintain his stance, then he looked at Blaze for an explanation

"To get you used to hostile auras, I'll expose you to enough of it until it's no longer a threat. This is the most effective way"

Leus helplessly nodded.

"Don't worry, just ignore it and keep training. Eventually, you'll get used to it."

He tried to get back to training, but his body wouldn't listen to him; his legs were trembling non-stop, and his chest was heaving ...

'At least, I have a good grip on the sword'

'I must do it'

He took a deep breath, kept repeating that in his mind, and started slashing ...

However, it was extremely difficult; often, he'd lose his balance. Other times, he would lose his focus and stop slashing randomly, or he'd slash in the wrong direction, almost hitting himself ...

Sometimes, breathing became so difficult that he just had to stop and take a break ...

'The pressure is straining me ...'

'It is making me put so much extra effort into the simple slash and making things unnecessarily difficult'

As he continued, he started sweating profusely ...

Blaze tried to encourage him

"If you don't give up, you'll overcome it"

Leus' voice was tired but determined

"I never thought about giving up, but it's so exhausting"

He sighed

'Not being able to continue training for long is boring ...'

'It's like when I first started training my magic, but even more exhausting'

Every couple of hours, Viorica would come out and give them things to eat or drink ...

She noticed that since Leus started his sword training, he started eating more.

Leus tried to find tricks to be able to train longer, but he simply couldn't

'Ughh, how sad'

'I just have to rest, I get so strained that I can't even move a finger'

And like that, the training continued ...

Leus would take a stance, start slashing and thrusting with his sword, and after a bit of time, he would transition to the other stance and repeat the same thing ...

And while Leus was doing that, Blaze would unleash an oppressive aura, varying in strength. Sometimes weak, sometimes strong, and sometimes, he would suppress it and suddenly release it to surprise Leus.

Blaze would stay with Leus until he could no longer continue, then let Leus take a break to rest and recharge his energy while he spent some time with Amethyst and Merlin. After that they'd continue again, and so on.

After a couple of days, Blaze noticed the first signs of Leus' progress ...

'He's no longer having difficulty breathing, it means that his heart is calm'

'he will be able to fully control his body soon'

Leus himself wasn't really aware of the change ...

After the first couple of days, his mind switched to autopilot, repeating the same moves over and over without fully concentrating on it.

Blaze of course knew that, but he didn't really care.

'What currently matters is getting completely used to oppressive auras and overcoming them, not perfecting attack moves. Just training his body is enough for now'

And finally, 10 days later ... it happened.

"Leus, you made it"

Blaze's words took Leus out of his trance

"Huh? Really?"

"Yes, my aura isn't distracting you anymore. Now you don't show any reaction when I suddenly unleash it"

"Can you do it now?"

When Blaze heard that, he laughed

"I'm already doing it, you just can't sense it anymore. Focus"

Leus stopped swinging his sword and focused on his senses for a moment ...

His eyes opened wide

'I can feel it!'

A grin appeared on his face, and he raised his sword in the air

"YESSSSSS!"

Seeing Leus' celebration, Blaze faintly smiled. But quickly, he became serious again

"Now ... Killing intent.

But that'll actually be more difficult on me than you"

Leus furrowed his brows

"How so?"

Blaze elaborated

"Releasing an oppressive aura is easy; it's like getting ready to attack and entering battle mode.

Releasing killing intent, however, is much more hostile than that ..."

He sighed and continued

"It requires intense blood lust, I have to flare up my emotions to be able to release it, and if I lose focus, it'll simply fade.

Anyway ... it shouldn't take you long to get used to it. Just focus harder"

Leus replied in a determined voice

"I will"

Blaze began, and it wasn't pleasant at all ...

This training was very difficult, for both

To be able to maintain his killing intent, Blaze had to remember displeasing past incidents or imagine scenarios where someone would be trying to attack him or his family ...

'It isn't just that I have to remember or imagine the situations ... I have to live them'

'Without the intense emotions, it'd just fade ...'

At the same time, he also felt like he was doing something terribly wrong

'To intentionally release killing intent on my son ...'

This didn't sit well with him, making the situation even more difficult ...

Leus was observing Blaze, noticing his different facial expressions ...

Anger, animosity, antipathy, and sometimes very blank expressions, devoid of any emotions whatsoever.

It made him feel guilty

"Sorry that I'm forcing you to do this" he said under his breath

Occasionally, Blaze would lose his intense focus and his killing intent would fade. Also, any time Viorica, Amethyst, or Merlin would even begin approaching the yard, he would immediately cancel it.

And he'd often need breaks and ask Leus to keep training until he comes back.

Regardless, Leus didn't complain about anything and just kept training ...

'It's like an oppressive aura but way more pressuring'

Leus did his best to quickly get used to it and end this training, as it was an emotionally difficult experience for both of them.

Finally, After 5 days of intense pressure ...

Blaze took a deep breath and said

"Leus, it's over"

'I expected it to take 7 or 8 days but he did it in 5'

'Honestly, I'm happy with the results'

He was genuinely proud of Leus' efforts ...

"From now on, hostile auras won't distract you in combat, even if the opponent is stronger than you.

However, you must be careful; this is a double-edged sword."

He paused for a moment then continued

"Just because you can resist the pressure stronger foes exert on you, it doesn't mean that you can actually fight them.

Honestly, you will probably die after getting hit a single time.

So keep in mind, if your opponent is stronger than you, your goal should be escaping some way or another"

Leus was just happy that he was finally done with this kind of training

"Thanks a lot, Dad"

He was truly grateful for all of Blaze's efforts and was still feeling guilty

'The best thing I can do is to get better and make him proud'

Blaze smirked in response

"Thanks? Already?"

He looked into Leus' eyes

"We are just getting started ..."