I'd spent the last thirty minutes dodging and barely surviving. Honestly, I was pretty sure he was going easy on me.
"Hahahahaha!" Erelya cackled beside me, floating lazily like this was all just a circus performance. She'd cloaked herself in aether—completely undetectable to the others.
"If you've got time to laugh, you've got time to help!" I snapped at her between dodges.
"Nope. I much prefer watching you squirm," she grinned.
"What the hell?! You do realize that if I die, our contract is null and void, right?"
"Hm, when you say it like that… I guess I can give you one little hint," she teased.
"You're an angel," I pleaded dramatically, giving her the most pitiful eyes I could muster.
"Nope. I'm a fucking demon, remember?" she smirked. "Anyway—try using aether to sense his movements."
"You expect me, a nine-year-old who hasn't even unlocked aura, to pull off something intermediate swordsmen do?!"
"You're using aether, not aura. Think of it as the cheat code to existence. Simpler, more efficient," she shrugged. "Anyway, good luck. If you die after all this, you were useless to begin with."
And with that, she floated upward like a damn drone.
"Going to get a better view. Bye! Fight hard!" she called cheerfully.
'If I live through this, I swear I'm killing her myself,' I thought bitterly.
But her words echoed in my mind. Aether is basically existence itself... Maybe if I tried sensing more than just presence—more like… intent—I'd have a shot.
I stopped running. My feet planted firmly as I dodged using only minimal movement, body honed like a blade's edge.
FWOOSH.
A huge fist barreled toward me. It was massive—like a truck with knuckles. If this were some bedtime story, that would've been the part where the brave boy got squashed. I barely threw myself out of the way.
"HEY, DUMBASS! ARE YOU STUPID?!" Erelya screamed from her perch.
I stumbled mid-dodge. "Don't yell! I'm trying to focus!"
"Do you think this is a game?! I said sense the aether, not close your damn eyes! Why would you blind yourself?!"
"I thought I was supposed to use the sense I don't usually rely on! Like… feeling or hearing!"
"You're so dumb, ugh—use all your senses at once! Don't focus on just one!" she snapped.
"I've already done too mu—"
FWOOSH.
Another strike came at me. I don't know if what I felt was truly aether, but something screamed death in my soul.
Before I could even process it—
BOOM.
An explosion.
The shockwave hit hard enough to send dust spiraling into the air.
"What the hell?! Who attacked?!" I shouted, coughing.
"Darling, you shouldn't use that kind of language," a calm voice said behind me.
My heart dropped. Mom.
She stepped into the arena like she owned it—and by the look in everyone's eyes, she basically did. The fear was tangible. People actually backed away as she walked forward.
She didn't spare me a glance. Her eyes were locked on the hulking man who'd been chasing me around—Viktor.
"Viktor," she said coldly, her voice laced with quiet fury. "I told you not to use this training method. It's inhumane."
"Madam, please! Have mercy!" he stammered, dropping to one knee.
"No. You like chasing people, don't you?" she said, cracking her knuckles. "Then run."
At first, I thought she was joking.
She wasn't.
Viktor bolted. He sprinted like death itself was chasing him.
"Your mom's not joking," Erelya whispered, still watching from above. "She's materializing an insane amount of mana."
But Erelya didn't even look fazed.
"So… what now?" I asked, frozen.
"He's probably fucked," she replied matter-of-factly, her lips twitching with amusement.
This wasn't a fight.
This was a hunt.
Mom moved like a shadow—one second calm, the next, she vanished from sight.
CRACK.
Viktor slammed into a wall as if he'd been hit by a freight train. He barely got up before a wave of fire surged at him—her spells blending into her movement so fluidly I couldn't tell where her body ended and magic began.
He tried to counter with a wall of ice—
SHATTER!
She broke through it with her bare fists. Literal fists.
"Mrs. Selene, please! Calm yourself!" Reggie, the head butler, called from the sidelines.
BOOOOOM!
A blazing fireball flew toward him—accidental or not, it didn't matter. Reggie braced himself—
SLASH!
A silver arc cut the fireball clean in half.
My father appeared, sword drawn, the heat barely grazing his coat. His presence was like the eye of a storm—calm, commanding, and terrifying in its own right.
Swoosh.
He vanished again, and suddenly—he was behind Mom, gently holding her shoulder.
"Selene," he said softly.
She froze. Her breathing slowed.
And just like that, the storm passed.
The dust settled. Viktor was unconscious—or playing dead, I wasn't sure.
I looked up at Erelya, wide-eyed.
"She's scarier than your dad," she whispered.
"You can say that again," I muttered.
My mind was blank after that.
If she's this harsh… what the hell would her discipline be like? I thought, already preparing myself to never mess up again.
40 Minutes Earlier
Aldric stood tall, his arms crossed as he looked down at the two men before him.
"You are not to use aura," he said, his voice low but firm.
"Yes, sir. You can count on me," Viktor replied immediately, standing at attention.
Aldric narrowed his eyes. "Oh, I'm sure I can. You'll use just barely enough aura to keep him in motion—no more. No less. Understood?"
Viktor gave a stiff nod. "Yes, sir."
Then Aldric turned his gaze toward Reggie. His tone darkened as he pointed a gloved finger in the butler's direction.
"And you… Keep Selene away from the arena. I won't repeat myself. You know what'll happen if she shows up."
Reggie straightened his posture with visible tension. "No, sire. She won't come near."
"Good." Aldric didn't need to raise his voice. The weight of his words was enough. He turned and walked away without waiting for another word.
The silence that followed lingered like a storm cloud. Viktor exhaled shakily, while Reggie muttered under his breath:
"…Why do I always get the impossible jobs?"
Back to the Present
After that quick little drama, they had to rush Viktor to the capital for emergency healing.
And just before leaving, Reggie dropped a bomb on me.
"Young master, your sister will be returning home the day after tomorrow," he said.
"And starting tomorrow, your training will shift to light exercises to build up your stamina."
He paused, then added with a meaningful glance, "It might do you some good to bond with your sister, by the way. She's… quite eccentric."
Then he turned and walked off, leaving me with a sinking feeling.
"What the hell? Do you have bad luck or what? It's like one problem after another with you," Erelya muttered, floating beside me.
"Yeah… I probably do. Anyway, I've got to prepare for the day," I said, trying to smile through it.
"Yup, you do," Erelya said, patting my back.
I knew she was just teasing—but damn, it didn't help.