Second Dagger

As Theresa lunged at me Mara grabbed her by the wing and planted her on the floor.

"Ow momma that hurt why'd you do that?" Theresa said gently rubbing her wing.

"Because you said you wanted to learn how to fight you simply gave me an opening and I took it never lose track of your opponent." Mara said sternly reprimanding Theresa.

"But Nyssa woke up I wanted to say hi."

"You can say hi after the match anyway good morning sleeping beauty how was your three year nap?" Mara said waving at me grinning.

"Besides the excruciating pain I woke up with it was great." I responded trying to match her tone.

"Hahaha you're adorable and dread for the love of Ignia can you stop lurking in the shadow dimension it's just creepy at least say hi." Mara said dread partially listening dropped out of the shadows but said nothing.

"Ugh dread you're silence is annoying sometimes anyway Nyssa now that you're awake I have news Theresa here after hearing that you were going to be asleep for a long time demanded a reason as to why her playmate won't wake up and when I told her she demanded that she get to join you so now she is the second dagger directly under you and believe me I fought her on it for months straight so hey she's loyal at least." Mara said clearly not the happiest about the situation.

"Yup I'm now your second dagger happy to see you awake commander." Theresa said with her hand over her mouth cheeks puffed up holding in her laugh as best she could.

"She's you're superior officer you can't address her that way though I doubt Nyssa will be that type of commander ok now Theresa go to the side of the room me and Nyssa are going to have a bout." Mara said looking me up and down Theresa listening skipped to the opposite end of the room and leaned on the wall.

"We will start when you attack just fair warning be careful with your mana." As Mara said this I dashed at her attempting to use gravity magic to make my strike heavier but it felt off my mana flowed more freely than before and using it I felt like a bottomless pit of pure energy. Mara dodged the hit but that wasn't enough the pure force of the hit still managed to stagger her.

"What did I say be careful with your mana you just had your core shattered and you just got stabilized." Mara said standing back up I attempted to use barrier magic and again I felt like a bottomless pit I could barely control my output drawing from infinity was much much different than drawing from a finite source.

"Your mother will help you when she returns for now we're going to focus on physical combat dread tells me you want to learn the spellsword well so you need to learn to use a sword and just so happens there's one on the wall go grab it and we will go again this time don't use magic."

"Trust me I won't I feel I'm going to accidentally blow up the empire." I said joking with Mara after retrieving the sword I launched at Mara trying to get the jump on her but she noticed dodging the blade and attempting to hit me missing her mark by a hair. I had a two handed grip on the sword and began attacking her Mara laughed at me then entire time until she decided to disarm me.

"Slow, sloppy, and blocky at least you're coordinated." Mara said

"What does blocky mean?" I asked

"Means you're stiff your moves aren't fluid it's like you're a block dread will straighten you out soon I just wanted to see me and Theresa will be joining you here for awhile you two will train side by side." Mara said proudly I looked to Theresa who had the biggest smile imaginable on her face.

"Yup I'm your battle buddy now momma says." Theresa said saluting to me then dropping to the floor laughing "I'm sorry it's just the chain of command stuff is hilarious." She said standing back up I can only imagine how our first operation will go.

"Now if you'll excuse us Mara you and Theresa can continue sparring I need to take Nyssa to the library." Dread said in her never changing tone Mara simply nodded and instructed Theresa on what to do. Once me and dread entered the library I saw a massive gem and a several orbs in the center of the room all varying in sizes from large to small.

"What are these for?" I asked

"Mei says they're to help you control the amount of mana you use her instructions are to start using the massive gem to try and control your flow of mana and once you start getting the hang of that to start using the orbs and filling them up perfectly one by one."

"That seems easy enough." I say walking up to the big gem hearing dread leave the room I held my hand to the gem and began letting mana flow it felt different much different there was no inconsistency it felt as if I truly had an infinite amount of mana. As I poured mana into the gem it began to glow and I stopped once I thought it was perfect but I had missed my mark and had to start again the second time I managed to get it right and I tried four more times each rime doing it flawlessly. I then started the orbs out of the seven infront of me I did the first five flawlessly the second to last one was the size of my finger and took me three tries but I managed to complete it. The last one was strange it was as big as my hand and as I attempted to fill it it changed size causing me to fail each time I tried its size changed making me fail each time. Until I realized I had to be able to change the amount of mana I was using accordingly nearly instantly after figuring that out it took me four more attempts to pass I then tried it three more times doing it flawlessly each time I continued doing it each time doing it flawlessly I heard the door open and turned to see dread.

"You learn beyond any reasonable capacity I've been gone less than an hour it's quite scary how fast you learn." She said while drinking what I could only assume was tea.

"It was only an exercise on mana control and why didn't I get a cup of something to drink."

"Because you don't need coffee you're five not millions of years old you'll live and I would be willing to bet that anyone else that would've taken months if you gave them infinite mana and no knowledge god mark regardless your mother expected this and I just lost a lot of money to our bet next we were to begin your sword instruction follow me."

Dread said walking out of the room I ran after her.

"Lost alot of money were you and mother betting on my success!?" I said not knowing if I should be insulted or take it as a compliment after a long pause I realized she wasn't going to answer me as we approached the training hall I could hear Theresa and Mara sparing their hits sounding like bombs we entered then walked to the door across the room to enter the second training room. Dread's sword materialized from seemingly nothing.

"Go grab one from the stand we are just going to start out slow get you used to some of the motions we will pick up the pace as we go."

I went and grabbed the sword unsheathing it and dropping the sheath to the floor.

"No pick the sheath back up put the sword back in tie it to your waist." Dread said sternly I could see her sword was held onto her arm.

"Why can't I put the sword on my arm like you?"

"Because that sheath isn't made for it it wouldn't work mine is custom made though in my opinion it is the best place to have your sword now tie around your waist opposite of your dominant hand."

"Jokes on you I can use both hands." I said as I tied it to my waist.

"Draw with your opposite hand keep a one handed grip once you've done that follow my lead." Once I drew my sword and held it properly Dread slowly began swinging her sword showing me different strikes and guards as well as tricks it didn't take long for me to pick up and we started to pick up the pace.