14. Marking Morgiana.

│1st Person POV of Meliodas│

[Underworld Realm, Valefor Territory, Valerfor Lord's Mansion…]

"So, what is this special gift you have for me?" I heard Morgiana ask as we reached the training grounds.

Facing her, I said with a smile, "It is something that will increase your training efficiency as time passes."

Her eyes sparkled with anticipation as she exclaimed, "Really?"

"Really really!"

I answered with a chuckle.

This girl has become a training maniac since she started training her body to become stronger. She trains for almost 12 hours daily now.

And this is after attending various mandatory classes like history, politics, dancing, etc. that all Noble Young Devils are required to learn.

"Now stay still. I will be marking you with a sigil. The sigil has some neat functions, one of them being able to increase the rate at which you grow stronger.

"Although you will have to train hard for that, I don't think you have a problem with that, right?"

"I don't." She answered while staying completely still as I took her right hand in mine.

With a thought, I completed marking her with my Essence of the Binder.

Similar to my parents and their Peerage members, her mark will also manifest on the center of her chest.

However, different from them, I only gave her the Essence of the Blank. And her Blank Essence is stronger than what the others have.

I refrained from giving access to the Archmage Essence, because of how abnormally strong her Power of Destruction is.

I can't even analyze it with her Clan Trait being sealed by Ajuka. I didn't dare to mess with the seals on the off chance I made a mess of things.

The Blank Essence is enough for now.

Anyway, after I discarded the loyalty and command function of the Essence of the Binder, I remarked, "It's done now."

Looking at Morgiana, I saw that she was blushing red and her attention was focused on our hands.

'What? Is she… Is she getting embarrassed about hand holding now?'

Throwing that thought at the back of my mind, I said to her, "You now have the sigil on your chest. And you can make it invisible with a thought.

"If you want to check it out, do so while changing into training clothes, alright?"

She nodded without saying anything.

Then, as I withdrew my hand from her, she practically fled into the women's changing room.

Shaking my head, I started heading toward the men's changing room. It was time for our usual spar.

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│3rd Person POV│

In the women's changing room, Morgiana was standing in front of the mirror while looking at her right hand with a blush.

'When he held my hand so tenderly, my heart itched with a pleasant feeling. Is this what they call love? Kyaa~~!!'

There was a reason behind Morgiana's braindead thoughts.

A few days ago, she found a collection of romance novels in her mother's private library while snooping around.

Even worse, there were Japanese romance novels in the collection and Morgiana just so happened to pick up one of them.

She really believed that holding hands was something that mostly lovers do after reading the novel.

"We are already engaged. So, it's alright for us to hold hands, right?" Morgiana mumbled in a low voice.

While she was getting lost in her nonsensical thoughts, she heard a shout.

"Morgiana, are you done changing yet?"

Startled, she shouted back, "I am almost done."

Then, she proceeded to quickly discard her dress and don her training clothes.

With how frequently she visits the Valefor Mansion to train, Grayfia and Mariana decided that it would be better to keep a set of her training clothes here instead of visiting while being adorned in training clothes.

After that, she quickly made her way back to the training grounds.

When she arrived, she saw that Meliodas was already there. Though she was slightly weirded out when she noticed that he was wearing a blindfold.

She couldn't help but ask, "Why are you wearing a blindfold?"

She saw an infuriating grin appearing on his face as he answered, "Well, I am much stronger than you and I don't want our spar to be a one-sided thrashing. So I thought of giving myself a handicap."

Morgiana's face turned red again, this time in anger.

With anger seeping into her voice, she said, "Is that so? Alright then."

"Hahaha~! Relax, Mori. I was just joking. I am actually training for a special technique called Observation Haki. This basically gives me an extrasensory perception. Fighting with a blindfold gives better results."

Her anger cooled down slightly after hearing the explanation. However, it didn't completely disappear.

"I am not going to hold back." She declared.

Meliodas just gave a small smile in response as he beckoned her to attack.

The next moment, Morgiana shot forward, covering the distance between them within the blink of an eye.

Closing in on Meliodas from his left side, she unleashed a powerful right-handed punch, putting her entire weight behind the attack.

Just as her attack was about to connect with Meliodas' left cheek, he leaned back slightly, avoiding the blow with a hair's breadth.

While Morgiana was surprised that he dodged her punch, her recently developing instincts warned her of an incoming danger.

However, before she could react to the warning, she felt a devastating blow to her stomach.

Argh——!!

She couldn't help but let out a pained grunt as she kneeled on the ground while holding her stomach.

"You were so sure of your attack connecting with me that you didn't even have a follow up move. You also didn't guard yourself in case of a counter-attack."

Morgiana heard Meliodas chid her while she was still wheezing from the blow.

A few seconds later, she stood up again as the pain faded into a dull throbbing.

Taking a deep breath and calming her emotions, she took a battle stance while declaring, "I will not make the same mistake again."

"I know." Meliodas responded simply before he once again gestured to her to attack.

Similar to before, she opened with a right-punch. This time, she didn't freeze up in surprise when he deflected her attack with the back of his hand.

She used her change in momentum to swing her body further to the right, using her right leg to generate power as she launched a kick at Meliodas' head with her left leg.

Meliodas effortlessly caught her left leg, however, Morgiana didn't let it stop her as she used his firm hold over her leg as a pivot to generate momentum for a powerful kick with her right foot.

Meliodas released her before ducking to avoid the blow.

The red-haired girl's momentum inadvertently caused her to show her back to Meliodas, giving him an opening.

Seizing the opportunity, he swiftly struck her back with his palm, sending her tumbling through the air.

Once she reoriented herself, Meliodas complimented her, "That was much better. Keep this up and you may reach my current level soon enough."

Morgiana didn't know whether to be happy or angry after hearing his 'praise'.

Shaking her head, she decided that she didn't want to think about it for now and jumped back into action.

Their sparring continued for hours as each of them dedicated to honing their respective skills to the limit and beyond.

=+=+=+=< Scene Break >=+=+=+=

│1st Person POV of Meliodas│

Although I am sure that I have said this before, I will still say it again, "Blank and Archmage for the win."

It's only been about a month since I started learning Observation Haki and I have already completely mastered its four basic techniques.

In the previous year, apart from the Shadow Clone Technique, I have refrained from learning skills/spells/techniques from other worlds.

I decided that haphazardly learning things from various worlds wasn't the right move. So I dedicated most of the previous years to learning and practicing everything I read about in our Library.

Things like how to better utilize our Clan Traits, Touki, Senjutsu, a few Buddhist techniques I found in one of the Buddhist texts, Onmyōdō practiced by the five Principal Clans of Japan, etc.

Only after I raised my proficiency in using them to a high enough level did I start learning things from other worlds to complement my current skills.

The first thing that came to mind was Haki from the world of One Piece.

It was one of the most versatile powers that scales with the user.

I started with Observation Haki and found that it complements my Senjutsu Sensing ability quite nicely.

Another benefit of the Blank Essence is that I don't have to participate in a life-or-death battle to advance my mastery of Haki powers.

I just have to keep using them again and again in various situations and they automatically grow stronger without stumbling upon a single setback.

The rate at which my Observation Haki is growing, I think I will unlock Future Sight in the next few days.

My Conqueror's Haki is at the level where I can easily unleash it whenever I want and target only specific people in my range.

It hasn't yet grown strong enough to deal damage to physical objects, but I know I will reach that stage and beyond soon enough.

With the help of my Shadow Clones, my Armament Haki is coming along nicely as well.

I don't use it while sparring with others as no one among my usual sparring partners is strong enough to take an Armament Haki enhanced hit from me.

So, to train it, I cover myself with Armament Haki and let my Shadow Clones have a go at me, with their own attacks being enhanced by Armament Haki.

This way, I am increasing both the defensive and offensive aspects of my Armament Haki.

Anyway, as I entered the living room alongside Morgiana, I saw Mother and Grayfia chatting with each other while enjoying some tea.

"How was your spar, Mori?" Grayfia asked once she noticed us.

Morgiana hopped to her mother's side as she answered, "It was the same as always. Even while Meliodas was fighting with a blindfold today, I couldn't land a single hit."

Her voice was filled with frustration and most of it was directed at herself.

"Oh? Fighting blindfolded you say?" Grayfia said while directing a curious look at myself.

Catching her meaning, I started explaining about Haki and its various types. I had no problem sharing this knowledge with her. She will be my future Mother-in-law after all.

When I finished speaking, Grayfia remarked, "So it's basically weaponizing your willpower and using it in different ways."

"In simple terms, yes." I responded.

"Would you mind if I try to learn this technique myself?" She then asked.

I answered with a shrug, "I don't mind. I wouldn't have shared the knowledge if I didn't want you to learn it. You can also share this with Father-in-law and his Peerage.

"However, please refrain from sharing this skillset with the Gremory House members just yet. I may use this as a bargaining chip in future negotiations with them."

Grayfia nodded, accepting my request.

"Hey, I am also a Gremory. Mother will have to break her promise if she wants to teach me and I definitely want to learn it." Morgiana chimed in with an indignant expression on her face.

I smiled at her while saying, "And I will be the one to teach you. This way, Mother-in-law will not be breaking her promise."

A thoughtful look appeared on her face as she seemed to mull over my words. Then, she questioned, "So, what do I have to give you in exchange?"

I was surprised for a second before letting out a small chuckle.

"Hmm… I can't think of anything right now. I will tell you later, okay?"

"Okay." She nodded happily and I couldn't help but shake my head.

As expected, Grayfia twisted her ear slightly in the next moment as she scolded her daughter.

Then, she gave her an impromptu lesson on what she did wrong and how she should respond to a similar situation in the future.

My Mother and I just enjoyed the show with a smile on our faces.

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A/N: Next chapter will include another Time Skip.

That's all for today's A/N.

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