Azazul returned to his quarters and fell onto his bed. Rubbing his face, he yelled,
"Why the hell did I kiss her hand?! That was so stupid!"
"I should really stop doing what my emotions tell me to do."
Azazul got up from his bed and walked over to his tachi lying on the counter. He picked it up and unsheathed it—the electric blue blade revealing its splendid beauty. He placed the sword back down and started studying the sheath.
---
The next morning, Azazul was woken by a knock on his door. He quickly wiped the drool off his cheek and went to open it.
He opened the dark wooden door and met two mismatched eyes. Azazul was still half-asleep, so he didn't bother studying her features. Just as their mismatched eyes met, she said quietly:
"My prince... Miss Sylvia is waiting for you in her study. She says it's urgent..."
Azazul nodded.
"Tell her I'm on my way."
He closed the door and walked back toward his bed…
Last night Azazul had discovered something hidden inside his sheath. At first, he thought what he witnessed was the quantum realm—but he was very wrong. It was a message. Unfortunately, he couldn't understand it, so he couldn't advance his experiments. He had to speak to Sylvia.
Azazul took a quick trip to the baths and returned to his room, where he clothed himself in his scaled armor.
After a while, Azazul and his Shapeshifter were on their way to Sylvia. Azazul entered the study and found Rin and Sylvia already waiting. He walked over to the beautiful table and took a seat.
Sylvia waited until he was settled and then began:
"Now that all of us are here… I'll tell you why I called you."
After a short pause she continued,
"You two won't be training with the others anymore. From now on, you'll be training with me."
Azazul frowned.
"Why will we be training alone? Isn't what you're teaching them still going to be taught to us? I mean… you're their teacher, so why would training alone with you teach us anything they don't already know?"
Sylvia laughed.
"Well, my prince… when you train with me, I'll show you how to wield a sword better by attacking your weaknesses, not empowering your strong suits."
After a moment, Sylvia rose from her seat and walked to the door. When she reached it, she looked back at Azazul and Rin.
"Are you going to join me or not?"
Azazul and Rin stood and followed her.
Instead of leaving the castle, they went deeper and deeper. The air grew cooler the further they descended.
After a long descent, they reached a massive chamber. It had dark onyx tiles and dark onyx walls, with a ceiling so high it seemed like nothing but an endless void of darkness. And instead of lanterns, it looked as if the walls themselves were emitting light.
"Impossible…"
Sylvia smiled.
"And by that, I think you mean the light, right? No, the walls aren't glowing. It's one of my personal servants' abilities—she can turn the air around us into light. It's part of her lineage."
Azazul walked to the center of the room. He looked up into the endless void above his head. It felt familiar—almost as deep as the darkness in his nightmares, but still lacking… still nothing compared to the inner void. Even so, it gave him the same eerie feeling.
He was pulled from his thoughts when Sylvia's voice rang out:
"Sword incoming."
Azazul turned around quickly and caught the wooden sword. It felt like wood… but also didn't.
"My prince, imagine that sword as your tachi."
Azazul imagined his tachi, and the wood in his hand moved like liquid into the form of a tachi. Sylvia's boots echoed through the chamber as she approached him.
Azazul took a fighting stance.
"Duck."
'What?'
Azazul obeyed the voice, and a wooden sword narrowly missed his head.
'Crap!'
"Sweep her feet."
Azazul ignored the voice this time, and Sylvia thrust her sword forward. The tip of her wooden blade struck his chest, and pain shot through his body. He fell to his knees, going numb from the impact.
Sylvia yanked him back to his feet by his hair—jet-black strands flowing from her fingers like a pitch-black lake.
"My prince… your movements are the definition of feeble. Let's go again, shall we?"
She stepped back and took a firm stance. Azazul did the same. They launched at each other, Sylvia reaching him first. Azazul lifted his wooden tachi and met her blade. They exchanged blows.
Azazul struggled to keep the sword in his hands. Each strike Sylvia delivered echoed through the blade and into his bones… but he held on. Sylvia was also far too fast. His counter was slow—Azazul went for a horizontal slash, but Sylvia deflected his blade and slammed her wooden sword into Azazul's side. He tried lifting his sword again, but Sylvia slashed at his right wrist—the one holding his weapon.
Azazul saw the attack coming, but he couldn't avoid it in time. Within a millisecond the wooden sword flew from his grip as Sylvia's strike dislocated his wrist. A sharp pain shot up his arm. Azazul grabbed at his wrist.
Sylvia placed her wooden sword under his chin and lifted his face. When his mismatched eyes met her scarlet ones… she kicked him hard in the chest. He rolled across the onyx tiles and slammed into the onyx wall.
"Well, my prince… I'm sorry to say, but your swordsmanship is terrible. But I'll fix it."
Sylvia turned to Rin.
"You two spar. I want to spot more weaknesses from both of you."
Rin took a wooden sword from the wall and walked over without saying a word. She lunged at Azazul.
Azazul tried to stay calm since Rin hadn't even made eye contact with him since yesterday. He lunged forward and met Rin's sword. Rin broke Azazul's defense and struck at his chest and legs. Azazul quickly shifted his feet and twisted his body, avoiding the blade aimed at his chest—but he took the hits to his legs.
He staggered and lunged back, but Rin lunged forward and thrust her sword toward him. Azazul twisted his body and spun 360°, launching off his right foot. He brought his foot down hard onto her left cheek, but when he landed, Rin swept his feet. Azazul fell onto his back. Rin jumped and kicked him hard in the face, stomping his head against the onyx tiles.
"Okay, that's enough!"
After a short pause, Sylvia continued:
"Both of you fight like amateurs. Rin… I expected this from the prince, but not from you. As a yellow core deity, you should be leagues ahead of him, but somehow you're still not good in a fight. Well… it seems I'll have to break you down."