“Ok, now the both of you will face each other. Be sure to go all out.” Charles said.

“You actually want us to fight each other seriously?” Ray asked.

“Yes, don’t worry it’ll be a light sparring, to see who you two do against each other. Nothing to worry about after all you already know how your body can heal you two faster than regular humans.” Charles reminded them. “Now get in position, Eda you stand over there, Ray to the other side. I’ll decide when the two of you can stop.”

Ray, and Eda stood where Charles told them too, they faced each other, while Ray was nervous, Eda seemed ready to go. They both waited for Charles mark.

“Begin!” Charles yelled.

Ray put up his hands, Eda was already running towards him. As Eda got close she threw the first punch, Ray blocked it, throwing one of his own, but Eda managed to catch it, bringing him closer to her. He lost his balance when he was face to face with Eda, when Eda punched him in the cheek, Ray stopped himself before he hit the ground, and tried to swipe Eda's feet. Eda jumps, dodging it, and jump on top of Ray, raising her hand to hit him.

“That’s enough!” Charles commanded.

Eda slowly got off Ray, and extended her hand towards him. Ray took it, standing up he dusted his clothes.

“How was it Ray?” Charles asked.

Ray did a thumbs up sign, he rubbed his arms where he blocked Eda punches. “Did you really have to hit me that hard?” He asked Eda.

Eda look uncomfortable for a second, before shrugging her shoulders. “Charles did say we had to all out.”

“But-”

“I did say that Ray,” Charles told him. “This is what the two of you will be doing from now on until you can summon your mark, as well as the meditating, you will see for yourself the more you manage to cover your body with your energy, the stronger you two will be. Hell, even an unmarked hybrid who can freely control their energy can move fast enough that even regular train knights will have a tough time keeping an eye on them.”

“Are you able to keep track of them?” Ray asked.

“Can’t say for sure, the last timeI faced a hybrid was about thirty years ago.” Charles revealed. “Now then let’s do it again.” Charles quickly said, before they could ask more questions.

They continued to fight until it was almost sunset. As Charles led them back to the cottage, Ray rubbed his injuries. He had the most bruises, he barely managed to hit his sister.

“I get to shower first, since I’m the one with the most bruises.” Ray announced.

“That’s fine, but don’t expect me to go easy on you. We have to get stronger remember.” Eda said.

“Yeah, I know.” Ray said, as he rubbed his face.

“Both of you be quiet.” Charles whispered to them.

They did as they were told, slowly approaching the clearing where they lived, and saw two people waiting in front of the cottage.

“Ok, they haven't noticed us, you two will wait here, I’ll check what they want, once it is clear, I’ll wave at you, do not move from this place.” Chalres ordered. They both nodded their heads. Charles went back around entering the clearing from another entrance.

Ray, and Eda, hid the best they could. They saw Charles approach the man, and woman. After they were talking for a few minutes they finally left. Charles stood in front of the cottage making sure they didn’t come back. He looked at them and waved his hand. They got out of their hiding spot, and ran up to him.

“Did something happen?” Eda asked.

“It’s fine, just something going on in the village. Nothing to worry about, now get in.” Charles said, as he opened the door for them.

Ray and Eda wanted to ask more questions, but Charles was motioning them to go inside the cottage.

“Let’s go Ray.”

“Right.”

***

March 07, 1409

After another six months had passed, Eda and Ray finally managed to fully control their energy. They pushed their bodies as hard as they could. Soon they both stood in front of Charles, ready for their final lesson.

“You both did well, after a year you both managed to complete basic knight training, and call forth your energy. Something regular knights take years to master.” Charles told them as he was resting his hand on top of their heads, ruffling their hair. “You two should be proud of your progress.” He said with a smile.

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“Yes, it was only because of your guidance we managed to get this far.” Eda told Charles.

Ray nodded her head, agreeing with Eda.

“Now then, let’s see if you two can manage to cut down the tree. The goal is for your energy to cut at least halfway into the tree. Now who wants to go first?” Charles said.

“Can I?” Ray asked.

“Sure, I’ll go next.”

Ray stood a couple meters from the same tree Charles tried to cut down all those months ago. He raised his left hand while concentrating, he focused his energy to the top part of his hand, trying to summon all the energy he could muster. He saw his hand being slowly covered in a black aura. When he felt his hand shaking trying to leak out the energy. He did the same motion as Charles did. He took a step forward and diagonally sliced his hand towards the tree. They saw a pure black scythe heading straight to the tree until it made an impact.

[Thud!]

The energy made a loud sound as it hit the tree. Air being blown out from the direction Ray hit the tree, after the wind had settled, Charles walked to the tree inspecting it. He could clearly see the damage Ray did to the tree. The tree was cut diagonally, while the edges didn’t cut too deep into the tree, the middle part of his energy managed to cut halfway into the tree.

“Congrats! You did it!” Charles said as he hugged Ray.

Ray hugged him back, and looked towards Eda. “Can you believe it? I actually did it.” Ray proudly said.

“Good job.” Eda walked back until she was in the same position as Ray, but facing another tree. Ray, and Charles stood on the side, while watching Eda concentrate. Unlike Ray, Eda was able to cover her whole body in a black aura. She raises her right hand, which seems to be shaking. Eda took a deep breath, she took a step forward, and made a horizontal cut motion with her right arm. A black scythe lik Ray’s but bigger headed towards the tree. As it hit the tree it made an even bigger noise.

[Creek!]

[Groan!]

They all looked at the tree, the top part of it was moving forward towards them. Suddenly a bunch of [Snaps!] and [Cracks!] came from the tree.

{It’s falling!...It’s heading right at us!} Before Ray could move, Charles grabbed him by the collar, and pushed him away.

Ray saw as the tree was heading towards the ground, Eda running towards him. The tree hit the ground behind her with a [Boom!] Both Eda, and Ray got on their feet, with Charles standing behind them.

“Wow.” Ray said dumbfounded. {I barely managed to hit the center of the tree, but she was already strong enough to cut one down, how? We both have been doing the same training, though I guess she pushes herself even more than I do, but why?} Ray thought to himself.

Ray, and Charles looked at Eda, who was just staring at her arm, her whole body was still shaking, suddenly she fell to the ground, and vomited. Charles walked behind her, putting his hand on her shoulder.

“Great job, but you shouldn’t waste all your energy in one attack, otherwise you leave yourself vulnerable.” Charles warned.

Eda was coughing. “Sorry, I just felt all this sudden energy, and I wanted to release it.”

Chalres looked at the fallen tree, it fell in the middle of the clearing. “Well done both of you, looks like I have nothing else to teach you. From here on out you two have to be on your own.”

“Wait! You’re leaving us!?” Ray asked suddenly, in a worried voice.

Charles simply smile at Ray, “what I mean is there is nothing for me to teach you two. I’ll still be living here, I just meant you two are responsible for your training, until you can make your mark appear… After that you two are going to have to leave and eventually start on some missions.”

“Even after we leave, we can still write letters to each other. Just because we are gone doesn’t mean we can’t keep in touch.” Ray said.

“Well we need to get permission first, but if we do, I’ll look forward to those letters.” Charles said, as he ruffled Ray’s hair.

“Right, how about when we finish with what our master has planned for us, we come back here, Eda and I.”

“Ray! Don’t make plans without discussing them first.” Eda scolded Ray.

“It’s fine Eda, if the two of you come back, let’s have a big feast.” Charles told them.

Suddenly Ray, and Eda’s stomach started growling, they looked at each other. Then they all started laughing. After they were done, they started heading back to the cottage.

“Let’s have a feast to celebrate you two passing your training.” Charles suggested, as they were walking down the mountain path.

“Yes!” Ray said cheerfully.

“Sounds great.” Eda answered.

***

After the three of them reached the cottage, and ate the feast Charles had prepared for them, they each went to their own rooms. Ray laid on his bed patting his stomach, and thinking about the past year.

{One year, It’s already been one year since we lost everything, how fast things change, I still wished I could sometimes go back, and enjoy what I had, but something like that would never happen. I wonder how long this mission Master Senya wants us to help with is going to take. Hopefully I can come back soon with Eda. No matter, we both have to survive this.}

Ray looked at his hand where his Master Senya turned him into a hybrid, and summoned his black aura over it.

{If the church never attacked the village, I wonder if I would still be planning to become a knight? Man, how things changed…nothing I can do about it now, I just have to focus on becoming stronger, even if I have to become…}

Ray soon fell asleep.

As they were done with the training Charles taught them. Ray, an Eda, focuses on fighting. They spar with each other as much as they can. Soon they each develop their own way of fighting, taking what Charles taught them, and changing it until they felt what works best for each one of them.

***

September 10, 1409

After six months of sparring with each other Eda was the first one to awaken her mark.

They were sparring in a dense part of the forest using the trees as footholds jumping at each other. Eda started to go faster than Ray could keep up, putting more energy into her punches. Jumping at Ray from direction he could barely react. Ray was doing his best trying not to lose his focus, and falling down, but all he could do was block her attacks, but her attacks kept getting stronger after each one.

Ray was in mid air when Eda dashed towards him, Ray got his hand up ready to block, but Eda grabbed his left arm pushing it upwards, and punched him in the chest, sending him flying until he hit a tree with his back. Ray gasped for breath, suddenly Eda appeared in front of him, her leg about to kick him in the cheek, beforeit managed to hit him, Ray saw a black line on Eda’s neck. He was amazed, and then she sent him flying towards the ground.