[Kael's POV.]
Me and rin had went to sleep almost in an instant. the next day came in a few seconds to us. in an hour or something, we had packed all the food and water for four people. we had arrived at the restaurant and met up with Sae, she led us at an abandoned training ground of the ADC. Kaito was sitting there, practicing his form. which was perfect to me.
"Alright. Rin and Kael, remember the conditions? i choose what you train, if meika finds out, i never said yes, and you never train without us. so first step, i know kael can use nyth, what about rin? can you use it?" Sae asked rin, i almost forgot, Sae or kaito, or anyone for that matter wasn't aware of how we trained in secret and Rin had an ice nyth.
"uh... yeah.. i think" Rin said, it wasn't a convincing lie. but not like i had anything better.
"Show me." Sae said, as Rin took a deep breath, raising his wrist to his right, making a meter long ice spire. Sae was surprised, but quickly composed herself. Kaito seemed even more surprised.
"Well damn kid. you can make ice, kael can make fire, i like the irony" kaito said, nodding.
"Either way, its impressive. atleast i don't have to start from the basics, ill train Rin, kaito you train Kael. the reason ill be training you (Rin) is because you have an ice nyth, that's my original nyth too, so i have experience with it, kaito has fire, so naturally he'll train kael." Sae said, it made sense. but anyways, me and kaito situated a little further from those two and we started training.
"now fire unlike most nyth requires more physical and mental durability due to its weird nature, so we are going to focus of endurance today. how many one handed pushups can you do?" Kaito said, standing a few feet infront of me.
"i only know how to do basic pushups, i haven't tried one handed pushups before..." i said, a little nervous for my actual training.
"then cmon, get down. we're doing some basic exercises. basic for me, intense for you." Kaito said, as he got in the normal pushup position, as i followed as he did a one handed pushup with ease. i tried doing it, and surprisingly. i managed to do one, just one though, I tried doing it again, but fell to the ground.
"See, that's where your wrong, your thinking of pushups as purely physical. Try to use your Nyth, imbue your Nyth in your arms. Like y'know that feeling of increased strength in your arms before you release a flame? That's Nyth enhancing your arms. Try doing that." Kaito said, while doing one handed pushups with ease constantly.
"I think I get it.." I get in the pushup position once again. Focusing on channeling my Nyth to my arms and core. it was simple, but fairly hard, I managed to do it though. As I started doing one handed pushups along with kaito. It was as hard as a wall pushup, which was really easy. I felt strength in my arms, I raised my eyes and saw Kaito smirking,
"Your pretty good at that, Kael. Now pushups anyone can do, but now let's spar. Try to imbue Nyth in your body while fighting, don't rush it. Kay?" Kaito said, stand up, taking two wooden swords, tossing one to me, I glanced to Sae and Rin who were already sparring, but it wasn't my business. I stood up. Taking a deep breath.
"Can I use my fire?" I ask, already in my stance.
"Nope, you can't use fire, or elements in some situations, you need strength without magic, one of the most important steps to upgrade your core." Kaito said, as I nodded. Focusing Nyth on my arms, and legs, this was hard, as I took a step forward to see how it felt, moving felt easier, but a little distraction from trying to keep my Nyth in places of my body was hard while moving, this was more of a mind battle then physical.
I charged at Kaito, focused and not losing, and keeping Nyth in the areas I want it to be, I felt faster, stronger and the recoil didn't hurt me when kaito blocked. He did parry, knocking my blade downwards while our blades were connected, I quickly used the momentum he gave me to the downwards and a little to the left to avoid his attacks, I couldn't see his face as I got behind him, as I was about to hit him, he disappeared, I scanned the area, to see him behind me with a smirk.
How'd he do that? I have no idea. "wha-" I said as he was about to hit me with his wooden sword, I blocked, or tried blocking. The sudden surprise of his seeming teleporting surprised me, my Nyth had gotten dispersed, I had weakened, I had to do something, and quick. i gritted my teeth, channelling the Nyth into my arms, I wasn't going to give up or run away, I knew I wouldn't win this clash of strength, I wasn't close to a solstice's level of strength. As I channeled some Nyth in my legs to not lose balance, and the rest in my arms, and sword so that neither would break, kaito continued pouring more and more strength into this clash.
"your good kid! But ofcourse, I'm still better!" Kaito said, a sudden increase in strength which was pushing me back, my feet sliding against the floor as kaito walked while pushing me back, then I hit a tree, my back against a tree and my arms crumbling under Kaito's insane strength. I channeled all my Nyth to my arms since I couldn't be pushed back for now, I used more and more strength, my arms were starting to give out though. I gritted my teeth, mustering up every last ounce of strength into my arms, and I reflect Kaito's blade, but barely, as I'm exhausted, I lean against the tree, sliding down it, as I feel myself fading in and out of consciousness.
"dude, you okay? Shittt... Sae! Kael's passing out!" Kaito said, right before my vision turned to black.
[Rin's POV.]
I had been fighting sae for the past 40 or so minutes, I hadn't noticed what was going on with kael and kaito, Sae was obviously holding back, but I think I did pretty good, maintaining an equal amount of Nyth around my body was pretty easy for me. I was also getting better at controlling my ice. When in the middle of our spar, kaito called out, saying "Sae! Kael's passing out!" As Sae looked surprised but glanced at me for a second before dashing towards kael and kaito at inhumane speeds. Surprised me but the two solstice's didn't look like it was unusual.
I followed, or tried following behind her, as Sae was checking on Kael's condition. I got there and Kael was sweaty, he was breathing and unconscious.
"you should've been more careful kaito. He's just exhausted though. Nothing serious." Sae said, sighing slightly while on one knee, to Kael's side.
"yeah.. sorry.." Kaito replied, rubbing the back of his head, he seemed embarrassed. I chuckled.
"Nothing bad happened, so it's not that serious."
"Yeah, let's call it a day for now, we'll drop kael off at the medical ward, Rin, you go home alright?" Sae said to me, as i nodded.
a few hours later, i was studying, the door to mine and kael's shared room open, it was kael, he was wearing some long sleeve shirt, but i could see the bandages hidden underneath.
"your back, feeling better?" i asked kael while looking at him.
"better then ever, besides the little soreness in my arms, i also feel a little stronger, what about you?" Kael asked me, it was a good question, my training with sae wasnt the same as his and kaitos, sae was holding back, but enough to be a little stronger, she let me grow on my own. but used power when needed. she allowed me to use magic, but dont overuse it, so i could still keep nyth in my body for physical buffs.
"Yeah, sae wasnt crushing me unlike kaito, i dont mean to be rude and all... but likeeee sae is honestly a better mentor then kaito-" i say raising my hands.
"yeah, sure bud" kael replied, sarcastically. as he slopped on his bed, it was late at night, i should go to sleep too. as i went onto my bed, and slept.
in a flash, 3 months passed, Meika was going to return in a few hours. mine and kael's training was going well, we overheard sae and kaito talking about us being 'prodigies' but they never told it to our faces, we were proud as hell though. kael was great at using fire nyth, and he could also use earth, and air. though fire was his best. he had gotten physically stronger, faster and more durable as well, we asked sae to give us an approximate level of our strength a week ago, she replied with "id say... mid to high firecrest level. your progressing fast. faster then you should, be proud." and proud we certainly were.
i had learned how to use water, alongside ice. (extra note: nyth made ice doesn't melt unless hit with nyth made fire in this universe.) i was quite good it, but i had mastered ice. i was more focused on increasing my speed then strength, so kael was stronger, but slower, it was an equal trade. but regardless, we were both strong now, and the training made us taller too, which kael really bragged about, being taller then the rest of the kids. at 5'4, which was short, but for a 12 year old, it was quite tall. i was growing my hair out, kael was going to keep his short. it was Saturday today, so no school. me and kael could train for an hour, sae and kaito wouldnt train us right now, we asked them a few days ago about this, they allowed, but only for an hour. as we arrived in the woods, ready to spar, wooden swords out. suddenly, gravel crunching. Sae? no, she wasnt that loud. Kaito? hes louder. mine and Kael's head snapped to the sound. nothing, then it was just... like i was irrelavent to everything, fear, dread. Meika was behind us. i could feel it in my soul. i heard kael's blade drop. mine was about to drop. it didnt. as i regained my composure, turning around, taking a deep breath. looking at meika, who stood a little taller then me. her snow white hair flowing in the wind, i didnt even need to look at her to notice she was furious. kael turned around with me.
"meik-" i said, but meika cut me off.
"i told you no. yet you still went and started training, you weren't ready, this path would break you-" meika said, as kael cut her off. this idiot.
"then we'llbreak." kael said, how stupid was he? atleast he wasn't frozen in shock, but before i could say something, he said it first.
"meika, we.. we can fight, if we're just weak, do we constantly rely on others? even if some, some weak demon comes, we're both screwed. but now we aren't because we can handle demons...." Kael said. trying to reason with meika.
The air around us got cold, not because of the mood, or anything. it was just meika getting mad. she had ice nyth, like me. but she was miles better. her fists were clenched.
"fight me. no magic, if, you both can defend against me for an hour straight, then ill let you train, with me." Meika said, i was surprised. this would be insanely hard, but ofcourse, we would accept.
"alright, ill go first. kael, switch every 15 minutes, yeah?" I said to kael, still holding the wooden sword, as kael nodded, hmm, he actually listened, either way, he backed up. as meika charged towards me, i dont think she was going all out, because i would've been dead a while ago if she were, im barely firecrest, sae said. meika is a solstice. as i continued blocking, dodging, parrying, without trying to exhaust myself. seconds felt like minutes, as 15 minutes had passed, kael switched with me, i had time to breath and rest. as kael did the same as me, blocking, dodging, parrying. this continued for an hour, fighting, switching, resting.
we did it. we actually did it, i fell to the floor, as kael panted while laughing, meika seemed irritated, but something else also. as she sighed. arms crossed, she wasn't exhausted whatsoever, that much was obvious. but me and kael? we were absolutely burned out.
"ill see you both here in two days. dont bring anything, but be prepared." meika said, then disappearing suddenly, as kael raised an eyebrow.
"thats... it?" he said, probably more to himself then me.
"well, its good. we can train without having to care about it being a secret now." i replied, getting up. stretching a little.
"lets go home and rest, we need to get back in prime shape in 2 days." i said, as kael nodded. we went back to our shared rooms, the next 2 days felt like weeks.