“I want you to keep swimming,” Emela’s mother said, leaning on the post at the front of the boardwalk. “I will not be holding too much back, so if my attack hits you, it will hurt. The goal of this punishment is to keep moving in high-stress environments using any means at your disposal.”

Noelle would know about moving in high-stress environments. Damn worm excrement. I wish my sword had at least grazed her.

“Focus!” her mother snapped, narrowing her eyes. “Get ready. I’m starting now.”

A block of ice—smaller than the one she’d used to launch her and Nyx—shot forward from a post on the boardwalk, moving towards her at a good speed. But she could dodge it—it was not so fast that she couldn’t react.

Her legs kicked out, splashing to the side, dodging the block of ice. It streaked past her, splashing into the water. She noticed another one. Jerking to the side, the block of ice snipped by her.

“Don’t forget,” her mother said, “you need to use any means at your disposal.”

“I’m such an idiot,” Emela said. Her hand reached out, slapping the water’s surface—keeping herself clean wasn’t all her special ability could do. An icy chill rushed from her hand, seeping into the waters.

Icicles snaked through the water, cracking and holding the water in place. In seconds, a disk of ice had formed on the lake’s surface. She grunted, hoisting herself up, rolling onto the disk and scrambling to her feet.

She jerked to the side, an icicle narrowly missing her head—was her mother trying to kill her? From the corner of her eye, she spotted Nyx moving through the water. Calm. Cold. Practised. She moved through the water with barely a ripple—if Emela didn’t know any better, she’d assume Nyx was showing off.

Another ice block barreled towards her—faster than the previous. Hopping to the side, she cursed as her foot slipped, forcing her to her knee. The disk cracked underneath her, its surface crunching and splintering. But it held.

By the Great Lake, this isn’t going to last. I need to do something.

She shivered, watching as another ice block formed from the post of the boardwalk. Her mother could definitely do this for a while. She had more than enough mana to do so. The only saving grace was that she wasn’t within her orbit. Frontal attacks would be the least of her worries then.

She dodged another ice block, taking care to observe the area—it would be a waste of mana to continually enhance herself so she could dodge ice blocks. But perhaps offence could be a suitable solution. She channelled her mana through her body, flowing the moves of Frost Ice Dance—a battle technique still struggled to fully grasp, only being proficient with the most basic moves.

She swivelled on her heel, dodging an ice block. With the momentum, she shot out an arm and crunched it into another block, shattering it. Her eyes went wide as the chunks of ice splintered to the ground—that could have gone horribly wrong if her mother had used more mana to strengthen it.

Alright, now if I can keep this up, I should be able to build a few more platforms and get Nyx some footing.

She caught a glimpse of the girl from the corner of her eye. She continued to move through the water with practised ease, but she would no doubt falter, eventually. Dodging another ice block, Emela pumped mana into her leg, leaping into the air—she just needed one more platform for Nyx and then the girl could hold out a little longer.

“Nyx!” Emela yelled, falling towards the water. Before she hit the surface, she activated her special ability again. The icy chill exploded from the soles of her feet, through her shoes, and rushed onto the water’s surface, freezing it immediately. She slammed onto the newly formed disk with a crunch, swivelling as she dodged another block of ice.

The disk had formed relatively near to Nyx—it was as close as she could get without freezing the poor maid in its path. The speed that Nyx had would more than allow her to make it onto the disk, and as she dodged another ice block, Emela noticed she was doing just that.

“I’ll keep the ice blocks off you,” Emela said, swinging her fist forward and smashing it into an ice block. It exploded into shards, like broken glass, tinkling onto her ice disk and sliding off its side into the cold water. “Just focus on getting yourself up here.”

Nyx ploughed through the water, and in moments was on the disk, sliding to a stop next to Emela as she shattered another ice block.

“You’re doing well,” her mother said, sending another block her way. “But let’s increase the intensity a little—don’t need you getting overconfident after all.”

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Emela’s lips tightened at her mother’s words. It was already intense as is. A dull pain would shoot through her hand every time she smashed a block—the ice forming slowly on her knuckles didn’t help that fact.

I just need to hold on. I can do this.

Energy rushed to her feet as she pushed off the disk, sailing through the air—Nyx now had her own platform; Emela didn’t need to share. She landed on her disk, grunting as the ice groaned beneath her weight.

Emela gasped as two blocks of ice shot towards her from two separate posts—Was this how she increased the intensity? Emela lashed out, crunching one to splinters, staggering as the other slammed into her shoulder. She screamed, stumbling back but staying on the ice.

“Keep focused, my child. I will have to punish slip-ups,” her mother said, directing four more ice blocks at her and Nyx.

The onslaught continued for a while. She used Snow Rabbit Step—a movement technique she had used since she started cultivating, and thus the one she was most proficient in having reached adept level—to dodge, while her mother continued to assault them with wave after wave of ice blocks.

Eventually, her mother smiled. Emela heaved, her chest rising and falling in rapid succession. Her once neatly tied twin ponytails were now much looser, and her fringe was stuck to her forehead with sweat. Twirling her wrist, her mother cast her gaze behind Emela.

“Darling,” she said. “Do you know why I brought you down here and didn’t do this on the lake upstairs?”

Maybe you didn’t want to embarrass me in front of the family. You know, being a decent mother for once.

The look on Emela’s face and her trembling jaw must have said enough. Emela’s mother cocked a smile, glancing at Nyx. “Do you know?”

Nyx, as expected, said nothing. Her cold blue eyes just sparkled as she kept them focused on Emela’s mother. The woman raised a neat brow and looked back at Emela—the look in her eyes was one of amusement and some interest.

“I would like to introduce you,” she said, “to Brutian. I’m sure you will grow fond of him.”

Emela glanced back—narrowly avoiding another ice block. The water further out bulged as something moved towards her. Fast. Small waves rippled off its form as it bee-lined for her.

You have to be bloody joking.

Emela looked at the water, at the icy waves that rocked against her floating ice disk—she was still shivering; falling back in would only make things worse. She glanced back at the form that was barreling straight at her.

Ah, crap.

She leapt into the air—no mana added to her jump. Not that it would really help; she was going into the water no matter what happened. The creature slammed into her ice disk, shattering it like a snowflake on the water’s surface. Splashing into the water, her hands splayed out as she tried to swim to the surface.

She hoped that the thing wouldn’t come for her, but with her mother involved, she couldn’t put it past her. A figure moved in the corner of her vision, and she snapped to it. Brutian, from what she could see in the cold murky water, was big.

It seemed to be an enormous fish, black with deep blue lines running along the side of its body. Emela swam up, her fingers clawing through the water, propelling her forward. Eventually, she breached the surface, the low cave light filling her eyes again.

The stale smell was a welcome one even though she hadn’t been gone for too long—for it was a far sight better than having her nostrils filled with water. On the boardwalk, her mother locked eyes with her, smiling as she sent another ice block her way.

Could she not even wait a moment? She just sprung a monster on me. What is wrong with this woman?

Emela splashed to the side, dragging herself through the cold water with all the strength she could muster—which wasn’t much. She was reaching her limit, and it was as if her mother could sense it, like a shark playing with its food.

From the corner of her eye, she spotted a figure being thrown into the air. Nyx, from what she could make out through the splashing, sailed through the air before crashing into the water. Brutian moved on after smashing the ice disk she’d been standing on.

Emela clenched her jaw, wanting to bite the damn beast as it swam by—not that her teeth would do anything to a creature like that. Beasts didn’t use the same system of cultivation as humans did, but if she had to guess, it would be somewhere around higher levels of the Gravity Forging realm.

The way it broke her ice disk like it was nothing at all. That told her all that she needed to know. She reached out an arm, tearing through the water as best she could towards Nyx. Now that the ice platforms were done—creating another in such a situation would be pointless—the creature could attack from anywhere. It would be best if they could cover each other’s backs.

Emela moved forward, sloshing through the water towards Nyx. Finally, she arrived at the maid’s side. Nyx floated with the same ease as usual—not surprising, but what she did notice was the twinge in her brow. Nyx, for the most part, didn’t show much emotion, especially in battle, so this was something.

It seems even she’s being put through the wringer by this ordeal.

Emela jerked to the side, narrowly avoiding a block of ice. Nyx did the same, diving underwater before popping up a moment later. Emela’s body was heavy; each move felt like lifting heavy wooden trash found she used to find in the dump.

“I don’t know what to do, Nyx. I’m sorry I got you dragged into all this.”

Emela’s body became weightless as she soared into the air, screaming—if she could call the rasp that she let out a scream. Brutian, the damn thing, had exploded underneath her. She fell through the air, amidst the laughter of her mother, standing on the boardwalk watching on.

The beast launched Nyx into the air a moment later. Emela put her hands out front, shielding her face with her arms as she smacked into the waves. Pain exploded in her arms as she fought back a scream—drowning and fighting for your life was not a good combo, and she would not last long.

A form—no, Brutian—barreled from the murky depths, smacking into her with its weight. She tumbled head over heels, fighting to keep the air in her lungs as her whole body thrummed with pain. How was this even fair? Her mom had said this was to toughen her up. It felt more like a beating.

I suppose that this is technically a punishment, but I feel like this is going a tad bit too far.

She swivelled in the water, her ponytail whipping into her eyes as she searched through the depths. Emela needed to find the thing; if it hit her like that again, she was not sure if she could hold on to consciousness.