Techniques

"I'll train you"

This was the first thing the strange woman said to Persephone the moment Damian saw them. She was a tall woman with stark white hair and black eyes. Her hands were on her hips and she was staring right at that stunned Persephone.

"S-Selena?"

Ah. So this was Selena. Damian watched the woman carefully and immediately decided that there was no way she was related to Persephone. For one thing, she was smiling.

And…. well, that was more than enough reason in Damian's opinion.

The woman looked away from Persephone once he made his presence known and smiled at him as well, "Hello," she said, "Are you a friend of Persephone's?"

Damian nodded, "Yes, I'm Damian. Her teammate"

Selena's eyes lit up, "Oh! That's great! I'm Selena, Thalus' girlfriend"

Damian's brain screeched to a halt. He could almost feel friction burns inside his head.

Did this wonderful, amazing woman just say she was Thalus' girlfriend?

You must be joking.

"T-Thalus' girlsfriend? A-Are you sure?"

Selena scowled and Damian realized that his question might've been a little rude, but she shook her head and smiled again.

"I see you've also been a victim of his… attitude. Sorry for anything he might've done to you"

Damian looked at Selena in disbelief. Did she just apologize? For something, she didn't even do? This woman… was PERFECT! How in the world did she end up as that bastard's girlfriend!?

"I can almost read the disbelief on your face," Selena said with a laugh before turning back to Persephone, "So, will you like me to train you?"

Persephone shook herself out of her shock, "A-Are you sure?"

Selena smiled, "Meet me in the downstairs training ground in thirty minutes." she said before she began walking off, "Don't be late"

Damian was still completely stunned by the woman. He looked towards Persephone nad it was like she read the unasked question on his face.

"Y-Yes," she said, "She really is brother's girlfriend,"

"HOW!!?"

-----

The downstairs training room was a large square room that stretched two hundred meters on each side. There was an artificial stream flowing across one side of the room and a couple of benches beside the door on the other side.

Damian and Persephone came into the room together and saw Selena sitting in the middle of the room. There was a stick in he hand that she kept nibbling on while looking through her phone. Once she saw them she froze.

Persephone laughed, "I won't tell," she said and Selena sighed in relief.

"Thank you. I hate when he breathes down my neck because of these things"

Damian looked towards Persephone curiously nad Persephone shrugged her shoulder playfully. She wasn't going to tell him. Damian laughed at her playfulness. At least she was no longer feeling bad about yesterday.

"Okay," Selena said while clapping her hands to get rid of any crumbs. Damian went to sit down on one of the benches and Persephone moved to stand opposite her, "Are you ready?"

Persephone nodded seriously.

"Create water," Selena said.

Persephone brought her hand up and water began swirling into existence from the atmosphere, there was a tsk from Selena and Persephone looked towards her in surprise.

"I don't mean from the atmosphere," Selena said, "I said create water from your Karma,"

"Eh? B-But…"

"Persephone. Don't you know how to do it"

"I-I always thought we used the water from the eh atmosphere"

Selena shook her head. How in the world had this girl survived till now?

"Persephone, let me ask you something. How do you think the children of Zeus create lightning? Do you think they rely on atmospheric changes?"

"I…I'm sorry,"

"You didn't do anything wrong," Selena laughed, "come on, try it again"

Selena watched Persephone as she took a deep breath and then tried again. This time, rather than the water coming into existence slowly, it burst to life around her hand and made her jump back in surprise. Selena sighed in exasperation.

'Was this the reason why Thalus asked me to help her? Because her method was similar to mine?' Selena thought while smiling sadly, 'Why can't he just be a little more honest with himself?'

Persephone looked towards Selena, and when Selena nodded, she smiled.

"That was very good, Persephone. It is always easier to use your Karma to create water, especially in a fight. The enemy won't wait for you to start making water from the atmosphere"

Selena held up her hand.

"Now that you've learned how to bring the water out, It's time for you t hone your Karma control. In a fight, if you bring out too much Karma or too little, you probably won't like the outcome. I cant teach you everything, that's for Olympus to teach you. But I'm going to beat the basics into you"

Damian perked up from the bench. Did she say beat?

-----

'Damn,' Damian thought, 'Talk about a beating.'

The next few minutes consisted of Persephone spamming water shields over and over to try blocking the punches Selena kept throwing. Selena had told Persephone she wouldn't be pulling her punches and that she should try creating the strongest shields she could.

But Selena was a B-class while Persephone was a D-class, so her punches hurt like hell.

SLAM!

Persephone flew back from the punch and hit her back against the wall of the training room. Damian winced. That had to have hurt.

"Ready to give up?" Selena asked while rolling her wrists around. She hadn't even broken a sweat yet.

Persephone, meanwhile, looked like a breeze could take her down. She forced herself to her feet slowly and held her hand up to create another shield.

"Uh… Maybe you should take a break -"

"Damian!" Selena shouted at him, forcing him back to his seat, "This is her fight, let her decide"

Persephone breathed in deeply and held onto her wrist tightly, "I-I'm ready!"

Selena smiled and charged.

-----

It wasn't until an hour later that the two women finally stopped their spar. Well, Damian thought it was more of a beatdown, but Selena had insisted it was a spar. Persephone was lying prone on the floor and Selena was kicking her lightly with the tip o the boot.

"Are you still alive down there?"

Persephone groaned.

"Ah, you are. That's good"

Damian leaned back in his seat and simply watched the two of them interact.

Selena folded her hands, "You did far better than I thought you would. I'm actually impressed. I don't think I've seen anyone learn anything that wasn't a technique this fast."

Oh, yeah. Persephone had said something about these 'techniques' before, right?

Damian stood up and moved towards them, "Uh, Selena," he said, making her turn towards him, "What exactly is a technique?"

Selena rose a brow in surprise, "Are you serious?" she looked down at Persephone, "Is he serious?"

Persephone turned over and leaned her back against the wall o the training room, "H-He's a newblood," she said.

Selena nodded, "Oh, I see. Well, how about a demonstration."

PHWOOMMM!!!

Damian's vision blurred into a sea of white and he stumbled back till his back hit the wall. He looked from right to left, trying to see what was going on.

"This is my technique,"

He heard Selena's voice from…everywhere.

"It's not the most elaborate of abilities and the explanation for it is pretty simple,"

The air cleared and Damian saw Selena standing in front of him again.

"Did you disappear?" he asked

Selena chuckled, "No, I didn't. All I did was release mist," Selena held up her hand and a trail of mist began to swirl out from her palm, "I can create a monumental amount of mist. It was a bit of a letdown when I realized it was my technique, but once I found out that I could still see, even when the mist-covered everything around me, it became so much more"

"Woah, so you're like a ninja?"

Selena shrugged, "I guess,"

Damian then scrunched up his face, "But how do you realize when something is your technique? Is there like a trick to it?"

"You'll feel it,"

Damian looked down at Persephone, "What?"

"Y-You'll feel it," Persephone repeated, "Like it always been there,"

"What Persephone means is that gaining your technique is like gaining an extra limb all of a sudden," Selena said as she poked Damian's chest, "You won't be able to use it perfectly at first and it'll get better with time, but it's still your limb and you'll instinctively know what to do with it"

Damian hummed. He didn't really get it.

"For example, take my mist. I know I'm not the only one in the faction that can create mist. I think everyone can do it. But when I knew it was my technique was when I was in danger and created enough mist to cover an entire room. I know it sounds strange, but there was really nothing more to it. I just… knew,"