Chapter 11 – No pain no gain

Ariel stood in the center of the training grounds, sweat dripping from his brow, his breath steady but heavy. The morning sun had barely begun its ascent, yet he had already spent hours refining his technique. His sword felt familiar in his hands, his stance firm, his attacks precise. He had come far—farther than he had ever thought possible when he first stepped onto these grounds.

But today, something was different. Selene stood before him, her posture as composed as ever, yet there was a shift in the air, an intensity he hadn't felt before. She raised her sword, the edge gleaming beneath the soft light.

"We are done taking it slow," she said, her voice as calm as it was unwavering. "This is where your true education begins."

Ariel stiffened. He had thought the past weeks had been grueling, but something in her tone told him he had only scratched the surface of what was to come.

"You have learned to move your body, to wield your sword with purpose," she continued. "But that alone is not enough. If you wish to truly become a warrior, you must learn to fight as one who wields mana."

Ariel swallowed hard. He had anticipated this moment—knew that one day, he would have to merge his combat skills with his mana. But knowing it was inevitable did little to prepare him for the sheer weight of the challenge ahead.

Selene's eyes locked onto him. "You know how to summon your mana. You know how to let it flow through your body. Now, you will learn how to wield it in battle."

She lifted her sword. And then, without warning, she vanished.

Ariel's breath caught in his throat as a force slammed into him from the side. He had no time to react, no chance to brace himself. The impact was like a battering ram crashing into his ribs, sending him sprawling across the ground. Pain erupted through his body, his breath knocked from his lungs in a violent gasp. Before he could even register what had happened, Selene had reappeared, standing exactly where she had been before, as if she had never moved.

'what the--'

"That was mana-enhanced movement," she said. "Speed beyond the limits of the body. If you cannot follow it, you will always be left behind."

She disappeared once more.

Ariel's instincts screamed as he swung wildly, but his blade sliced through empty air. Another impact struck him from the opposite direction, sending him staggering back. Too fast. He couldn't react. He couldn't even see where she was coming from.

"Mana is not just a tool. It is an extension of yourself," Selene said, her voice surrounding him from every direction. "It is woven into every movement, every strike, every breath. Until you understand that, you will never keep up."

Ariel gritted his teeth. He refused to stand here, helpless. He focused, drawing mana into his limbs, feeling the familiar pulse of energy thrumming beneath his skin. He could do this. He just had to—

Another strike. This time, he barely managed to raise his sword in time, but the force still sent him stumbling.

'How the hell am I supposed to react and fight while focusing on controlling my mana?'

'Especially when I'm getting beaten to a bloody pulp!'

"Stop thinking. Feel. Let your mana guide you."

'Ah so very helpful' 

Ariel exhaled sharply. His heart pounded, his muscles screamed, but none of it mattered. He had no time to process the pain, no moment to adjust. The blows rained down, unrelenting, brutal, each one heavier than the last. His world was reduced to the feeling of impact, of force slamming into his body from every angle. He couldn't see. He couldn't react. He could only endure.

His knees buckled, but he forced himself to stay upright. His breath came in ragged gasps, his fingers numb around the hilt of his sword. The mana within him flickered wildly, chaotic, uncontrolled, slipping through his grasp just when he needed it most.

Selene struck again, and his vision blurred from the sheer force of it. Everything hurt. He couldn't tell if the ground was beneath him or if he was falling, couldn't distinguish between the pain in his ribs and the burning in his lungs.

'What am I supposed to do? I can't keep up. I can't even think.'

Ariel's instincts screamed for him to run, to defend, to move—but he couldn't. Not in the face of this overwhelming speed, this inescapable force.

"Stop resisting," Selene's voice cut through the storm of pain. "Stop thinking. Feel. Let your mana guide you."

Ariel tried. He forced himself to surrender, to let the energy within him do what it would. No control. No direction. Just movement.

And then, for just a moment—he saw it.

The shift in the air. The way the mana bent as Selene moved. The faint whisper of energy trailing behind her form.

She struck again.

And he braced for impact.

Pain erupted through his body, but this time—it was different. He could feel it. The motion, the force, the very fabric of the strike before it landed. His body didn't react fast enough to stop it, but something deep within him understood it.

Selene stepped back, her expression unreadable. "Better," she said. "But we are far from done."

Ariel barely had a moment to catch his breath before she attacked again.

And so the real training began.

Selene's strikes came faster, each one sharper than the last. Ariel's mind swam as he tried to track her, but it was impossible. His body screamed at him to move, to react, to do anything other than take the relentless barrage of attacks. His mana flickered at his fingertips, but it wasn't enough—he wasn't fast enough.

Selene's sword blurred, and before he could brace himself, he was on the ground again, the cold stone biting against his back. He gasped for air, blinking up at the sky as stars dotted his vision.

"You will only learn through pain," Selene's voice was calm, but there was no kindness in it. No cruelty, either. Just a simple truth—unyielding and absolute. 

'You vile woman,' Ariel thought bitterly, gritting his teeth as he forced himself to his feet. 'Sadistic, cruel, heartless—do you enjoy this? Watching me get battered like a ragdoll?'

His legs refused to cooperate, trembling violently as he struggled to lift himself even an inch off the ground. His ribs throbbed with unbearable pain, each breath like a dagger carving into his lungs. His fingers twitched as he tried to tighten his grip around the hilt of his sword, but his strength failed him. He wasn't steady— and so he gracelessly tumbles to the ground curing under his breath.

Gritting his teeth, Ariel willed his body to move, but it was as if his limbs had turned to lead. No matter how much he fought against the crushing exhaustion, the weight of his own battered body kept him pinned to the dirt. He clenched his jaw. He could hear Selene's footsteps circling him, slow, deliberate.

Selene remained impassive, her expression unreadable. "Are you done wallowing? Or do you need a moment to complain some more?"

'You wretched abuser—wait, how'd she'

Ariel let out a sharp breath. "You know, a normal instructor would give their student actual guidance instead of trying to kill them."

Selene sighed heavily. "As I said you must learn through pain. Also a normal instructor wouldn't waste time on someone who refuses to listen."

Ariel's eye twitched. "Oh, that's just great. I get beaten into the dirt, and it's my fault?"

Selene took a single step forward. "You are still holding back. Still thinking instead of feeling. Until you surrender to the flow of mana, you will continue to lose."

Ariel wiped the sweat from his brow, exhaling through his nose. "Right. Let the mana flow. Let it guide me. Not like I haven't heard that a thousand times already. But doesn't that contradict everything you've taught me so far? If I let go, if I stop controlling it, doesn't that mean I lose discipline? I thought discipline was everything in combat."

Selene's lips curved into something that wasn't quite a smile. "Discipline and control are different things. A disciplined warrior does not try to bend the wind to his will—he moves with it, anticipates it, uses it. Mana is no different. You do not force it. You trust it."

Ariel scoffed. "Trust it? Like it's some kind of sentient thing?"

Selene's blade flicked forward in a blur, stopping an inch from his throat. Ariel flinched.

"Tell me," she said smoothly, "when you swing your sword, do you doubt that it will move? Do you question whether your arm will follow your command?"

Ariel swallowed hard. "No."

Selene lowered her sword. "Then why do you doubt your mana?""

Rolling onto his hands and knees. His muscles trembled, his body screaming for rest, but he knew there would be none. Not today.

He forced himself upright, gripping his sword so tightly that his knuckles turned white. He would not be beaten down so easily. He had made it this far. He refused to break now.

Selene circled him, slow, methodical. "You are still hesitating. Still trying to think through every movement. That is why you are slow. That is why you are failing. Your mana will never work for you if you treat it as something separate. It is not a tool. It is part of you. Let it be part of your instinct."

Ariel gritted his teeth. "How? How am I supposed to do that when I can barely keep up?"

Selene moved. Ariel barely caught the flicker of motion before her blade was at his throat.

"You don't keep up. You let go. As I said you must trust it" 

For the first time since his training began, Ariel felt something shift inside him. A realization, small but significant.

Selene stepped back, lowering her sword. "Again."

Ariel inhaled slowly. He closed his eyes for just a second, feeling the pulse of mana inside him, raw and restless. He had always tried to shape it, control it like something external. But what if he didn't? What if he simply let it move with him?

He exhaled—and moved.

Selene attacked, but this time, Ariel's feet shifted before his mind had even registered it. His blade lifted, his body twisting in a way that felt unfamiliar yet completely natural. Their swords clashed, and he was sent back a considerable distance.

Selene's gaze flickered with something—approval, perhaps. "Again."

They fought for what felt like hours, the courtyard echoing with the clash of steel and the sharp breaths of effort. Ariel still faltered, still took blows he should have avoided, but something was changing. He was changing.

His body no longer resisted. His mana no longer slipped from his grasp. It flowed—not perfectly, not entirely—but enough that he could feel it supporting him, guiding him where he needed to be.

Selene finally stepped back, lowering her blade. "Good," she said simply. "Tomorrow and the days after we refine it."

Ariel collapsed to his knees, sweat dripping from his brow, but there was no frustration this time. No lingering sense of failure.

Because for the first time after nearly two weeks of getting utterly beaten, he had truly felt it.