image [https://i.imgur.com/Zovhfdj.png]
Solana, Sitri, and Carmen made their way to an empty field just outside of the Boundless city. Once they were settled, Sitri instructed Carmen to stand opposite him.
“Alright, time for you to enter your Boundless form.” He said while removing his jacket.
“Uhh, yeah about that. I don’t think I can transform on command.” Carmen replied with an awkward laugh.
“You can’t be serious…”
“It’s true. Her emotions need to be toyed with in order for her to transform.” Solana chimed in.
“I see… Well, that won’t do. This training will be impossible if we have to irritate you every single time.”
Sitri palmed his forehead as he let out a big sigh, feeling that he was wasting an incredible amount of his time. Carmen simply shrugged her shoulders at Sitri’s statement, having not a single response to give him. He eventually collected himself and walked over to her. With his right hand, Sitri placed two fingers on Carmen’s temple and placed his left hand over her chest.
“This might sting a bit.” He said before forcing out his Core Energy.
Carmen immediately felt a painful jolt of power enter her body. With each passing second, her head pulsed as Core Energy radiated in every direction, causing Carmen to scream out. Just when the pain became too much to handle, Sitri’s energy ceased completely. He removed his hands and backed away as Carmen dropped to her knees, panting heavily.
“W-what did you do to me?” She asked, struggling to even think straight.
“I realigned the connections within your strand. It should give you easier access to your Boundless abilities.” Sitri replied.
Carmen began to feel a tingling sensation throughout her body, feeling oddly similar to when Raeliana adjusted her in Siestro. She looked down at her fist and clenched it tightly, noticing the new surge of power coursing.
“Try transforming now. Tap into your Dark Affinity and visualize your Boundless form.” Sitri said, walking back to his original spot on the field.
She got to her feet and closed her eyes, focusing her senses together. Moments later, her shadow began pulsing and growing outward until it rose upwards. The ink-like fragments of her shadow rotated around Carmen’s body as her Resonance level climbed to new heights.
Once her Core Energy hit its peak, A bright flash of white occurred and Carmen’s transformation was fully underway. When the light faded, Sitri and Solana could see Carmen standing in all of her Boundless glory.
‘Oh my, this child is more impressive than I thought. Maybe this won’t be a colossal waste of my time.’
Sitri smirked as he admired Carmen’s pure white hair and black horns, finding her new form to be both elegant and fierce. When her Core Energy stabilized, Sitri stepped forward and assumed a fighting stance.
“Prepare yourself, child. Our training starts now.”
Before Carmen could assume a stance of her own or summon her Manifest, Sitri dashed towards her with his fist reared back. His punch collided with her arms as she quickly shielded herself, just barely blocking in time. Despite her quick defense, the visceral impact knocked Carmen off of her feet and sent her careening backwards.
Carmen crashed into the ground, ripping up the soil until she eventually caught herself. When she looked up, Carmen saw Sitri’s leg racing towards her face. She couldn’t react in time as his leg blasted across her forehead, knocking Carmen even further back.
‘What the hell!? Why does my gravity field not work on this guy? I can’t even follow his movements.’
No matter what Carmen tried, she couldn’t keep up with Sitri at all. His attacks seemed completely immune to her gravitational defense and his speed was otherworldly. She desperately wanted a brief moment to get her offense going, but Sitri wouldn’t allow for any kind of retaliation.
After multiple knockdowns and stray blows to the face, Carmen was fairly bruised and battered. Even though her power had increased tenfold, she still seemed as weak as a kitten compared to her opponent. She eventually dropped to one knee and panted heavily as Sitri raced towards her location.
Just as his fist approached, the right side of Carmen’s shadow shot upwards and solidified, blocking his attack mere inches from her cheek. Having finally stopped his oppressive offense, Carmen glared at Sitri with an irritated expression. However, to her surprise, he simply smirked with great amusement. Then suddenly, a massive rush of black ink emerged from Carmen’s shadow, causing Sitri to leap backwards. Once it settled down, black ink stained the ground and swirled around Carmen as she got to her feet.
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“Ah, there we go. Do you finally feel that rage and overwhelming sense of irritation rising inside of you? That feeling of ‘if I don’t act now, I’m going to lose.’ ” Sitri asked as he crossed his arms.
Carmen simply nodded her head in response.
“Good. Never forget that feeling. This is what you’ll need to tap into if you want to maintain your Dark Affinity's form.”
She cocked her head to the side as she pondered his statement.
“What do you mean by maintaining your Dark Affinity's form?” Carmen asked with a curious tone.
“Unlike the other eleven Affinities, the Dark Affinity needs to feed off of emotion in order to reach its full potential. Core Energy alone is not enough to strengthen it.”
“So I have to get mad and stay mad if I want to use the skills from my Dark Affinity?” Carmen wondered as she looked down at her swirling shadow.
“No, child. Rage and anger, while incredibly effective, is just one of many emotions we feel throughout our day to day lives. As long as you’re able to visualize that emotion and remember how it felt, you’ll be able to harness your Dark Affinity to the fullest. It’s that simple.”
Sitri stepped forward and looked over at Solana before pointing his finger at her.
“Just look at us for example. Do we seem angry or overly emotional right now?” He asked.
Carmen looked towards Solana as well and shook her head.
“And yet, we have full command over our Dark affinity. This level of control is what I shall teach you. Now, prepare yourself, we will start our spar again.”
Sitri cracked his knuckles and assumed his signature combat stance, his short red hair swaying in the crisp wind. Carmen leaped backwards to create space between them and once her feet touched the ground, Sitri continued his assault. He dashed in her direction with that same, terrifying speed from before, his movement barely disturbing the terrain beneath his feet.
As he made his approach, Carmen's shadow quickly came alive, bursting outwards in all directions to block off any potential window of attack. The ink-like shadow violently swirled as it continued to grow, spreading like a plague across the grassy field. In quick retaliation, Sitri planted his foot into the ground and swiftly changed his direction, dodging Carmen's defensive maneuver with easy.
However, despite his seemingly inhuman reaction time, Carmen's shadow shifted to offense and chased after Sitri. The ground was painted black as the inky shadow skipped and raced towards him, swallowing everything in its path. Sitri increased his speed to outrun the voracious shadow and once enough distance was made between them, he stopped and turned around to face Carmen.
Sitri then balled up a tight fist with his right hand and proceeded to exert his Core Energy. His fist began to glow as a smoky black haze permeated from it, filling the air around him. Once he reached the peak of his power, Sitri punched the ground with incredible force. The terrain shattered in all directions as black, ethereal chains emerged from deep below.
The chains had a ghoulish quality to them, having the same eerie, hazy smoke surrounding them. Without needing a single command, they immediately took aim at Carmen, ripping up the ground and flinging large rocks along the way. Carmen's shadow swiftly retreated and created a large, black cocoon around her before Sitri's attack made contact. Her shadow stretched and flexed as it wrapped around her tightly, sealing her inside with a near perfect defense.
The rocks that eventually made contact were completely absorbed, disappearing into the inky void. However, Sitri's chains were unfazed. They surrounded Carmen's cocoon and squeezed it tightly, making a loud clinking noise as they overlapped one after the other.
When the final chain settled into place, Carmen began to notice that her shadow was shifting from its deep black color to an old and faded gray. It started to melt and drip away until Sitri's chain's burst through, collapsing her defense entirely. Carmen leaped upwards, dodging the chains just in time. Once she landed, her shadow began to reassemble itself and gather at her feet once more.
"Hmm, I must say, your Dark ability is quite impressive." Sitri said with a slight nod of approval.
"Yeah, but it kind of just does whatever the hell it wants. I don't really understand it to be honest." Carmen replied, watching her shadow continue to swirl in place.
"Well, most skills within the Dark Affinity have characteristics of either creation, destruction, or disruption and in some rare cases, like Lord Briddle's, it'll have the capability of doing all three. Your shadow seems to devour everything it touches, so you definitely fall in the destruction category."
"But if my ability devours everything it touches, why were you able to destroy it?"
"Because mine has disruption characteristics. Whatever comes into contact with my chains will wither and decay, dying away into nothing."
"Hmm, I see. So is there some kind of hierarchy or something between the three?" Carmen wondered, trying to understand her second Affinity as best she could.
"No, certain types are simply stronger than others. Creation beats disruption, disruption beats destruction, and destruction beats creation. Only the Dark Affinity has this type of distinction between skills and abilities." Solana chimed in as she walked over.
"Let me guess, your Dark Affinity is a disruption type as well?"
"Correct, but if I'm being honest, those rules don't really apply to me. My Manifest would cancel your abilities regardless."
"And that is what makes Master so amazing! She is the epitome of perfection! The highest being in all of the Boundless race! The most incredible woman to have ever-"
Sitri's unending praise was quickly silenced as Solana placed her finger over his lips. She shook her head and let out an annoyed sigh, feeling rather embarrassed by his words. Carmen chuckled at the interaction until she suddenly felt a surge of Core Energy rapidly escape from her body. She dropped to her knees and her Boundless form began fading away.
“Huh!? What happened??” Carmen asked as she panted heavily, wondering why she reverted back to her human form.
“Hmm, I figured this might happen. Seems as though you can only maintain your Boundless form for a short period of time.” Sitri replied, looking a little disappointed that this was the extent of her abilities.
“But why? I haven’t even expended that much energy.”
“I suspect it has to do with you being a half breed. You may have Boundless blood running in your veins, but your body is still very much that of a humans. You’re not built to withstand our level of Core Energy output for extended periods of time.” Solana casually answered as she crossed her arms.
“So what now? We wait until I can transform again?”
As soon as Carmen asked her question, Solana began to laugh as though she said something ridiculous. Carmen was perplexed by her reaction and wondered what was so humorous.
“Wait? Pfft, Oh honey, of course not. With or without your Boundless form, there’s still so much you need to learn. We’re on the clock here, so we don’t have time to wait.” Solana said, wiping a tear from her eye as her laughter finally ceased.
She then turned her attention towards Sitri and nodded.
“Sitri, you may continue. I’m gonna go stretch my legs for a bit.”
“As you wish, Master.”
Sitri bowed his head to Solana as she leapt into the sky, leaving him completely alone with Carmen.
Once Solana disappeared into the clouds, Carmen looked over at Sitri who was sending her a devious smirk. Chills went down her spine and she began to wonder what was in store for her during the next five months of Boundless training sessions.