Sebas took the two of us to a training room that was in the church.

I'm on the ground with Haruki, both of us beaten up like never before.

We are breathing heavily, only clad in our underwear, our bodies covered in sweat and bruises. The bandage is still on my nose.

"I can't... ehhh... It's too... much!" I say, my voice breathless.

"You're... right Shoji... I also can't... it's... a torture!" Haruki says, covering his eyes with his arm.

"Oh come on, crying brats. I'm just doing what you two have asked me to do! Come on! Get up!" Sebas says, sighing deeply afterward.

I slowly stand up, pulling Haruki up with myself.

"Come on Haruki... we can do this... we'll catch him off guard and beat his ass..." I say with determination.

Haruki wipes the sweat off his face. "You're right, Shoji. We only need to land one attack..." Haruki also sounds determined.

"It's not that hard to strengthen your bodies with Vymir, guys! If you two do not learn this by the end of this day, then there will be no dinner!" he says loudly; his voice shows that he isn't lying.

We both stare at him for a second.

"We were never practicing fighting, nor any martial arts before, how are we supposed to defeat this goddamn priest!?"

"Can't you just show us how you do it, Father? I mean it would be easier for us, you know?" Haruki asks with frustration in his voice.

"No, because everyone needs to learn this their way, because everyone has a different kind of Vymir, based on their soul."

"Who even believes in the soul bullshit, huh?!" I ask, frustrated that I need actually to work once.

"I can kinda believe that, you know? I mean it hasn't even been a week and I'm learning something that I didn't think was even real to begin with. Also, I've met an angel and I will exercise a wild demon in the future." Haruki looks at me with this stupid childish look.

"Haruki... you really don't know what you're getting yourself into... you seem so happy, yet you're in danger... you really shouldn't do this... but why are you doing this?! Why is Hadeka Haruki doing something so stupid when he can have it all without risking his life?! For me... I only do this because I need to look after Kaori, I don't care what I need to go through, but I'll go through it just to make her happy..." I roll my eyes at him.

Without any warning, Sebastian runs up to us and smashes our heads against one another.

"Aghh!... Fuck you Sebas! Can't you see that we're in the middle of conversa-..." Sebas quickly cuts me off.

"If it was an insane demon instead of me, then the two of you would already be on the ground in pieces, stop beating around the bush and just do it! Break your limits!"

I fall to the ground, but Haruki is still standing, his eyes are wide open and his hands are curled into fists.

"Haruki...?"

"Oh? I thought that you'd be on the gro-..." A shiver runs down my spine and then Haruki punches Sebastian, straight into the gut with much brutality, cutting him off from finishing his sentence.

"Huh? What did just happen... did Haruki just do it? Huh? It was so fast... I can't even process it clearly... but that's... so..."

The priest takes a step back and coughs a couple of times. He then looks Haruki up and down.

Haruki doesn't say anything, he just looks at the priest with his eyes wide open.

"Feels good, doesn't it Haruki-kun? You can go take a shower and eat something, you pass." Sebas says calmly and spits on the ground.

Haruki shakes out of whatever he is feeling in this moment and he looks at the priest with confusion. "It felt... like I was able to do anything, lift mountains and even, but at the same time I felt a lot of anger..."

"That's good Haruki, that's good. Engrave this feeling in your memory, it'll help you strengthen your body in the future."

Haruki walks over to the priest and gives him a respectful bow. "Thank you so much, Father. Now excuse me."

"I wonder what he imagines, to just do the thing that we've been trying to do for hours so simply..."

"It's so easy for him... and that's so..."

"You see, Shoji? Haruki is very talented, I wonder why can't you do the same... after all similar people attract each other, and you two seem like you've been friends for a long time."

I curl my hand into a fist and I hit the ground.

"ITS SO FUCKING FRUSTRATING! I WANT TO BE LIKE YOU, HARUKI! I WANT TO ATTRACT GIRLS! I WANT TO LEARN AS FAST AS YOU DO! I WANT TO HAVE A SERVANT JUST LIKE YOU! SO WHY CAN'T I HAVE IT ALL IF YOU CAN, HUH?!"

I stand up from the ground as fast as I can, swinging my arms towards the priest, but he just keeps moving out of the way.

"Let me fucking hit you, Sebas!" I scream at him, but he dodges again and hits me in the gut.

I fall to the ground and he sighs again.

"You call this determination? I've seen many people like you, Shoji Nakamura... but do you know what I did with them?"

"Threw them out and never taught anything again."

I hit the ground, standing up again.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP! I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU, SEBAS! I'M DONE! I'M DONE BEING KNOCKED DOWN LIKE THAT!"

"Hoho... that's more like it, Shoji-kun."

I try to land an attack so many times that I can't even count. I've been knocked down over and over again, my frustration growing even more along with Sebastian's taunts getting even worse as the seconds turned into minutes and then into hours.

"Fuck you, Sebas!" I throw yet another punch, but after so much time, I'm even slower than a drunk bum. My body is all in bruises and I've even got a black eye.

He punches me yet again, but this time even harder than ever before.

I drop onto the ground, spitting out some blood, but this time I don't even move anymore.

"I give up..."

"Shoji, you know that you smell like a demon, Seraphina mentioned that earlier."

"I don't... give a fuck..."

"Do you understand what I'm implying, Shoji-kun?"

"The fuck... are you talking about... Sebas..."

"The demons might want to learn things about you."

"It can lead them to your house... to your family..."

My eyes widen as I understand what is he talking about. "Kaori..."

"Exactly. If you will not start to work on yourself and give it your best, then she will die, and her blood will be on your hands." He kicks my face softly.

"So stand up, and show it to me, show me what you're made of Shoji-kun."

"It's your last chance."

I bite my lip so hard that it starts to draw some blood.

I slowly stand up as still memories of Kaori's horrified face, covered in blood and tears are flashing before my eyes.

"He's right... I need to give my best, for my little sister... I can't let anything like this happen ever again... I can't let her cry like this ever again!"

Suddenly a purple magical string appears before my eyes. It looks like the one from the white realm, tho it's not black, but purple.

I take a long and deep breath as I close my eyes, grabbing the string with my soul itself.

My body suddenly feels so light and my mind is clear of even the smallest negative thoughts, almost as if I had reached eternal peace.

"So that's your answer, huh?" Sebas says, clearly disappointed, and launches his fist toward my face.

I open my eyes and everything seems to slow down.

"I see it... his punch... the direction... I just need to..."

Before the punch connects with my face, a shiver runs down my spine and I step out of the way at the last moment. I did it so fast, that it almost looked like my body turned into liquid.

"That's amazing! Woah! This feeling is better than a fucking orgasm!"

The priest's eyes widen in surprise, but it's too late for any reaction.

I punch him straight in the nose with all the strength I have left.

He doesn't even flinch back, nor even get hurt, but his eyes are wide open.

I start to feel very dizzy and my vision starts to get very messy. "Oh shit..." I collapse onto the ground, barely holding onto my consciousness.

He reaches his hand towards his nose and caresses it gently. He looks down at me in surprise.

"You pass, Shoji-kun."

A wide smile spreads on my face when I hear those words.

"What did you think... that I'm going to give up, huh?! It was all just bait to catch you off guard, haha~! I will... become, the fucking greatest, do you understand... me, Sebas~?!" I say loudly, but then I pass out again.

He looks down at me and laughs softly.

"There's a long spiky path before you, Shoji-kun. Tho you're a really interesting case, maybe even more interesting than our top knight..."

"You are something else, and I will be here to raise you from the bottom to the top."

"Tho it won't be easy for you, haha!"