No longer supervised by Trixan, Narvari chose to train in Rahsun Garden, a place that now reminded her of Pheera.

The atmosphere in the garden soothed her senses. That, coupled with the sweet fragrance of flowers, put her mind at ease and made it easier for her to focus. In the next six days, after much toil and sweat, Narvari’s sacros wielding improved to seventeen minutes. Still, she knew she had a long way to go. She couldn’t slack off at all. Trixan would not start training her in sacred combat if she could not wield her sacros for thirty minutes.

Narvari’s routine was the same every day. She would wake up at 5:00 am, do a thirty-minute physical exercise to unwind her muscles, then train her sacros for the next one and a half hours. At 7 am, she would take a shower, have breakfast at 7:30, then start her training in the garden at 8 am until 12 pm when she broke for lunch. She would get to training again after lunch until she retired to her room at 3 pm when she was free to do whatever she wanted till the next day. Then the cycle repeated.

This routine went on for twelve days. On the thirteenth day, while training her sacros by the lake in Rahsun, Narvari’s body couldn’t go on anymore. She stopped her watch and then fell to her knees, breathing heavily as sweat drenched her.

Once she regained her breath, she looked at her stopwatch to see how long she had wielded her sacros. Narvari grinned widely. Forgetting how exhausted she was, she gave a loud victory shout.

Forty-seven minutes. She could wield her sacros for forty-seven minutes nonstop.

I surpassed my goal.

It had taken her thirteen whole days to reach this goal. She had exceeded the goal she set for herself. But even then, Narvari never thought it would take her so long to do this. She fell on her back in contentment, smiling at the gray skies above her. She closed her eyes, a big smile on her face.

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“Well done, my dear,” said Trixan after Narvari showed her progress in sacros training in the Elder’s office. “I am so proud of you.”

“Thanks, Trixan.” Narvari smiled. “So when will we start sacred combat?”

“We begin in three days.”

“But why not tomorrow?”

“Training is important. But so is resting, my dear.”

Narvari grumbled in exasperation.

Trixan chuckled. “I don’t think I’ve met any rookie with your enthusiasm for training.”

“I’ve been doing it all my life.” Narvari shrugged. It was no big deal, really.

“That does not surprise me at all.” Trixan nodded. “Anyway, just because you’re about to start sacred combat does not mean you have to discard your sacros training. You must keep at it. As I said, you won’t start missions unless you can wield sacros for an hour.”

“I understand,” said Narvari. She grinned. “I have another goal.”

“Do you, my dear?” Trixan leaned back in her chair.

“I do.” Narvari paused. “You said Pheera could wield her sacros for sixteen hours after training for three months. That means that she must have improved at the rate of approximately one hour twenty minutes every week.” Narvari shook her head in disbelief. “Compared to Pheera I am slower than a sloth.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Trixan smiled. “My dear, it is not as simple as you make it sound. There are a lot of factors that go into how fast a vanquisher progresses. It is never a good idea to compare your progress to others.”

“Well,” said Narvari stubbornly, “the point is that I feel I can do better than I am doing now. I set a goal of thirty minutes in two weeks, and I surpassed that.”

“What do you have in mind then?”

“Six hours,” she said, opening her palm. “By the end of the next two weeks, I will wield my sacros for six hours.”

All Trixan did was study Narvari quietly without any reaction. Finally, she smiled.

If there was one thing Narvari loved about Trixan, it was Trixan’s complete trust in the strength of her vanquishers. Narvari would not disappoint her.

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Three days passed rather slowly. But it passed, and that was all Narvari cared about. After all, it was time for sacred combat to begin.

On the first day, Trixan taught her that sacred combat involved the seamless combination of sacred energy, vaz, and a mystical form of martial arts practiced in Agon. It was similar to Ntunomi, as that also required the combination of guns and martial arts. Unlike guns, however, vaz directly ran on sacred energy, and in the case of savaz, it ran on sacros. Without stamina, one could not last in sacred combat no matter how skilled one was. It was no wonder Trixan had insisted that Narvari mastered her sacros first.

After all the hard work in mastering her sacros, Narvari could actually tell the difference. She no longer had problems with her breathing and she felt stronger than ever. But as skilled as Narvari was in Ntunomi, even to the point of being called lethal by Dawuli, Narvari learned to her horror that she was far slower in summoning her savaz than she was in loading six guns in a row.

For her first lesson, she had to learn to gear up quickly without losing momentum in a fight. Trixan would punch or kick Narvari when she was a second too late to gear up upon Trixan’s command. The Elder did not hold back at all. Several thousands of kicks later, Narvari had her savaz in Trixan’s face before the Elder could punch her back into the wall.

Narvari grinned. She was getting tired of being a human pinata.

“Good.” Trixan nodded. “Let’s go again.”

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“Today, you’re going to fight me,” said Trixan when they met on the second day. Narvari shivered with excitement. She had always wanted to know exactly how strong this woman was.

“You are free to wield sacros,” said Trixan. “However, do not use savaz until I give the word.”

“You want me to only gear up when you say so?”

Trixan nodded. “Just like yesterday, when I say, ‘up’, gear up immediately. But this time, my dear, shoot me.”

“What?” Narvari gaped like an idiot.

“If you’re a second late in gearing up, you’ll do a hundred pushups while wielding sacros.” Narvari gasped but Trixan only smiled innocently. “Now get ready, my dear.”

Narvari assumed a battle stance and her sacros overflowed from her body. She glared at Trixan, not in the least about to hold back.

Trixan’s expression was that of nonchalance. “What are you waiting for? Hit me.”

Narvari frowned. This woman was taking her too lightly. With her black and red sacros flaring around her, Narvari sped towards Trixan in a flash. She was already standing in front of the Elder, her fist ready to crush Trixan’s throat. But with a palm, Trixan blocked Narvari’s punch while her other hand shoved Narvari in the chest. Her touch was gentle like she hadn’t touched her at all. Yet the force that came from that push was enough to send Narvari skidding backward like a car out of control.

“Up,” Trixan said.

Narvari somehow managed to stop herself from tumbling to the ground while gearing up at the same time. She aimed her savaz at Trixan. Narvari’s eyes widened. Where the hell was Trixan?

“Too late.” Trixan’s voice came from behind her.

Narvari turned around, her eyes widening. “How did you — “

“Not the point here, my dear. Hundred push-ups now.”

Narvari pouted. While her sacros burned around her, she went on the floor and did the pushups. Two weeks ago, she would never have been able to even do ten pushups while wielding sacros. But here she was doing a hundred of them like she was merely drinking water. She was indeed growing stronger. As soon as she did the hundredth pushup, Trixan sent a powerful kick toward Narvari’s face.

Jesus Christ. This woman didn’t come to play.

Narvari’s body reacted instantly. She arched her upper body and flipped back. Then she lunged toward Trixan.

“Up.”

Not halting her momentum, she summoned her dual savaz and fired them at Trixan. Narvari screeched to a halt, watching in panic as the sacros from her savaz raced towards Trixan like wildfire.

Isn’t she going to move out of the way? Was she really going to kill the Elder?