Training Complete and a Rival

Its been roughly a year since I started training under Alice-sensei learning the way of the sword. o be honest, I didn't expect that I would be here this long, but I didn't want to leave until I had complete mastery over the blade.

Yue mostly contented herself with the creation of new potions and researching magic, which was her pastime apparently, or whenever she wasn't lounging about in my shadow, napping. She would store all of her completed potions and magic scrolls in our storage rings and I would use [Creation Magic] or [Metamorposis Magic] to break down any failed experiments into their base ingredients/components so she could try again.

Recycling is important.

Anyways, thanks to my [Polymath] Intrinsic Skill, I can consistently learn everything that Alice was able to throw at me. I became much more proficient with all forms of combat and even gained battle experience when I hunted monsters and bandits in the nearby areas. I sharpened my abilities further in magic and I even achieved a few Extra Skills.

The most important thing, however, was the fact I was able to utilize [Creation Magic] to create new Skills. Due to the True Nature of [Creation Magic] being absolute control over all inorganic matter and the fact I could limitedly control magic to create my own enchantments, I figured out that I could probably create new skills using it and I was right... sort of.

It did take over six months in [World Sage]'s thought acceleration and analysis in order to achieve, but I am now able to convert my magicules into newly gained skills. To create a new Skill does take time proportional to how powerful the new Skill would be and nearly five times the amount of magicules it would normally take to acquire that same skill organically, but it is still a massive achievement for me.

On average, it will take me a month to create and compile Unique Skills and a few days for an Extra Skill. For common skills, it only took a few hours.

Needless to say, I was quite overpowered, though my magicule reserves stopped growing once I reached the natural cap for humans. I needed to wait a little longer for me to awaken as an Enlightened Human since I was still biologically 15 and the minimum to evolve was 16. This actually worked out well for me, since I could use up the magicules creating Skills then raise my limit back up to the cap, effectively giving me a very brief window in which I could infinitely gain new skills, even though it took me time to actually create those skills then regain my reserves.

Another roadblock I had was that the maximum amount of Unique Skills someone of my level was able to acquire was only three. I used my last Unique Skill, for now at least, to create [Aegis] which acted as my own 'Ultimate Defense' ability combining dozens of Resistance Skills and a [Multilayer Barrier]. This would protect me from pretty much all attacks from people below the level of Demon Lord Seed which was Special A rank in the future but with today's adventurer guild rating, 'Advanced Grade'.

'Even with all my overpowered abilities, I still needed to wait due to rules imposed by the Voice of the World.' I thought as I sparred with Alice again.

She had been training me particularly hard these last few weeks due to me learning all of her non-rapier arts and now I didn't have anything left to learn from her. We only sparred to give me more experience.

*Clang!* *Clash!* *Clang!*

As I swiped my blade across her mid-section just enough to cut her clothing in her stomach but not injure her, Alice jumped back and looked down at what potentially would have been a certainly mortal wound. She looked back at me, seeing I was perfectly fine and not even sweating while she was panting heavily. She sighed a bit before sheathing her rapier.

"You really have improved Shiki... I don't think I'm able to keep up with you anymore..." Alice said with a bit of disappointment in her voice.

I smiled and looked down at my straight blade. The once pristine and perfectly balanced blade had been beaten down, knicked, dulled, and re-sharped so many times over this past year that it had lost almost half of its original mass and was slowly shrinking. My enchantments could only go so far with how much I used it. I had to get a new weapon soon.

I looked back up to Alice and smiled while sheathing my weapon. "Thank you for the compliment Sensei!"

She smiled and closed her eyes. "Geeze, don't get ahead of yourself brat. If I were in my prime I would have been able to take you in four-no-three moves." She said as she secretly cursed getting older.

I smiled a bit at her comment before I gestured back to her small home. "Shall we go back inside? I'll cook." I said.

I don't mean to toot my own horn, but due to my [Polymath] skill and my previous experience with cooking I've become a master chief capable of rivaling even the likes of Gordon Ramsay or Soma Yukihira.

Alice smiled a bit while looking off into nothingness, drooling a bit before shaking her head and composing herself. "Ahem! That would be lovely. I always enjoy your cooking. Your food is the stuff of legend." She says.

"Food!" Yue yelled as she jumped out from my shadow and wrapped herself onto my back before biting into my neck without a care in the world.

"Ow! OY! Don't just drink my blood out of nowhere!" I said to her, though she ignored me and continued sucking away. Alice laughed at our comedic display as we began walking to the small cottage.

...

"Alright then, I'll get right down to business then. Shiki, do you remember what I told you when I took you in for training?" Alice said as we sat in the living area after filling our bellies with food.

I straightened up from my leisurely posture and looked her in the eye. Yue also emerged from my shadow and took a seat on my lap which kinda killed some of the tension but at least she was listening intently.

Alice twitched a bit before she sighing and continuing. "I know you've heard that I retired, though I'm not sure you know WHY I retired." She said.

The both of us nodded.

"What do you know about the Vampire by the name of Julius Alucard?" She said.

"I know he is a powerful vampire and someone who is rumored to be on the verge of awakening as a Demon Lord," I said, not letting Yue's story slip through my lips.

"Yes, that's what most people know about him, but that isn't all...

As the Local Knight Commander of the kingdom and the Strongest Knight in the land, comparable even to the Seven Luminaries of Ruberios, it was my job to hunt the monsters who targetted the kingdom, so when I heard of Vampire attacks in the outskirts of a small remote village, I immediately requested to be dispatched. The crow prince Percy was hesitant to send me, despite my power. He kept saying that something felt off to him but no one thought it was anything more than his feelings for me flaring up.

As we were childhood friends, I would often advise and protect him and he would use his pull as royal heir to keep me near his side. I knew he had a crush on me, even at a young age, but I only saw him as a brother. However, despite his meek nature, he had fantastic intuition. Whenever he said he had a bad feeling, he was usually right. I should have listened to him, but at the time I thought he was simply being his usual worrywart self and being overprotective.

I should have been even wearier when the Seven Luminaries agreed with me to go. The Seven Luminaries, top executives within the Church had started becoming more and more involved in the affairs of the Knights in those years. The prince's father, King Landon, was a fanatical supporter of the church and was easily swayed by the Luminaries' 'council'. He also encouraged me to go and investigate at their behest.

If I were smarter, then I would probably have realized that it was a trap all along, but I was young and thought it was nothing more than a nuisance for them that they didn't want to deal with themselves. Plus, my absence would allow for the prince to focus on his duties rather than try to court me further, so I left.

Another female knight named Leona and I arrived at the small town on the border with Ingrassia and Ruberios a few days later. What we didn't know, however, was that we were walking into a den of monsters. When we arrived at the town, not a single person was in sight. A town of over five hundred and not one watchman, late-night courier, or official.

At first, we thought everyone was simply hiding inside their homes, terrified of the Vampire menace lurking in the area, but we couldn't have been more wrong. As we explored, the stench of blood hung heavily in the air. It turned out that the entire population had been consumed for use in some sort of blood ritual.

We found out that the local lord had made a pact with Julius to turn himself and his trusted subordinates into vampires. All Julius asked for in exchange, would be that they would lure us there. The ritual was used for the transformation and the story of the vampiric threat we received was of the lord himself and his subordinates.

Unfortunately for him, he attempted to use his new power to personally kill us. The fat slob thought the power-ost alone would be enough to overcome two trained knights. He had no technique or training, having been a fat, lazy, and useless lord. He instantly became proud and arrogant as soon as that tiny amount of power went to his head, ordering me to submit to him and allow him to violate me in return for my life...

That night, Leona and I slew several lesser vampires. Just as we thought it was over..."

"Julius attacked," I said interrupting her pause.

Alice nodded before looking at the floor, though her mind was wandering somewhere else. "He defeated me and Leona in short order. We were knocked unconscious and tied up. Unfortunately, in addition to their blood-sucking ability, vampires have a very strong libido..."

"He didn't..." Yue said in horror.

"He violated Leona and then fed on her. I watched as she shriveled up into nothing but a mummified corpse..." Alice said with tears in her eyes while clenching her fists.

"I would have followed her if not for the intervention of the current Pope Louis Valentin, I too would have met the same fate... I don't remember most of the battle after that point as I was too weak from our previous engagement to follow such a high-paced clash, but I can say that Julius was driven off even though Pope Louis was injured." She said.

"After that, I couldn't believe what I learned. The Pope was a Vampire too. Now I had my suspicions that vampires were more prominent in Ruberios than in other countries, but what happened next was too much for me... He brought me before the Goddess, or I guess I should say, Demon Lord, Luminus. She told me everything.

She told me that I was a target of her Luminaries due to my relationship with the Prince getting in the way of their plans. They had leaked my information to the vampiric public. I have hunted hundreds of vampires in my time, so when they learned of this I, of course, was targeted.

She offered me asylum but I refused. I wanted to hunt him down but Luminus forbade me from doing so. He was a Duke, and therefore, was exempt from punishment, only getting a slap on the wrist and a harsh reprimand. The look on Leona's face while she was violated and slowly drained of everything... I couldn't work for people that wouldn't punish his actions... so I left." She said.

I closed my eyes and began to think. 'Yeah, in this world, in this era, with nobles and royalty and knights, etc there is no way they could punish someone with the status of Duke for killing a simple human knight.'

"I see... so that's why mother didn't want me anywhere near him..." Yue said with a heavy voice.

I looked at Yue and then back to Alice. Her gaze was hardened as she looked me in the eye. "Help me get revenge for Leona and hunt down that monster!" She said with determination I haven't seen from her in even our most intense training.

"I swear it!"

...

(Yue POV)

I woke up later that night to have my favorite midnight snack. As I rolled over to hold onto Shiki I looked at his sleeping face. He was so handsome... His long black hair, his sharp facial features, narrow eyes...

It does things for me. 'I love him so much. I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him....' I think before giving him a soft kiss on his forehead. He stirs a bit and smiles softly...

'KYAAAA!!!!!!'

'Ok calm down Yue! Go cool off!' I thought to myself with a bright red face.

As I got up from the bed and quietly exited the door to our room, I looked over the cottage. A small home, not too big, not too small. Two rooms, enough for the parents and children...

I shake my head back and forth quickly. I need to stop thinking of this! I walk over to the cabinet and pull out a still-warm bottle of blood that Shiki prepares for me daily before bed so that I don't wake him up with my feeding. 'I love him!'

I open the front door quietly and step out front enjoying the late-night breeze. I look over to the garden. There is a nice tree there with soft soil that I like to lay under sometimes when I drink my late-night blood.

To my surprise, I see that Alice is sitting in my spot under the tree looking up at the moon. I walk over to her and sit beside her. The soil is still soft so it isn't an issue.

Actually, this spot is even better!

"Yue, I really hated you, you know," Alice said suddenly, temporarily shocking Yue.

"Is that so?"

"I know you don't particularly care about anyone that isn't Shiki but I feel like I have to get this off my chest," Alice said as she looked back to Yue, finally breaking her staring contest with the moon.

"..."

"I hated vampires, as a matter of fact, the first time I saw you I wanted to kill you so badly I listened to Shiki's request for training. I was planning to trick you both into trusting me before slitting both of your throats in your sleep."

"... What stopped you?" I asked.

"I don't know... when I looked at Shiki... something inside me told me to not do it. At first, I thought it was that I was growing old and getting soft. Then, as time went on, I thought it was that I was excited to have such a talented apprentice. I then convinced myself to use the both of you for my revenge, but even then I couldn't do it."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I said all that earlier but the truth is that I've grown fond of him. And you..."

I became slightly upset when she added "And you" like I was some kind of an afterthought so I pouted a bit.

"What I really want is for the both of you to not leave me. Isolation is... it isn't good for the grieving mind. It forced me to think on my failures repeatedly. Eventually, I came to think that I shouldn't be allowed any happiness at all. I was a failure after all. I failed to keep Leona safe. I failed to return to Percy. I failed to hunt the vampire, even after he became a fugitive... For years all I did was fail. Even if I failed with the smallest things, like burning my dinner or as I grew older and failed to get stronger, to get strong enough for my revenge... but then I met you and Shiki.

You were both so lively. I watched as you both failed repeatedly. Whether it was watching you fail in your bigger spells and having them blow up in your face or Shiki's repeated failures in the kitchen or with swordsmanship... Every time I saw you two failing I saw you getting back up and not letting it get to you."

I smiled thinking of Shiki's earlier failures in the kitchen then grimaced at the number of times an alchemical concoction literally blew up in my face. We were definitely still learning, especially in the beginning.

"The both of you have brought me out of this hole I was wallowing in for so long... and for that, you are precious to me. Yue, I cherish you." She said as she stood up and dusted herself off.

I looked at her with wide eyes before smiling to myself. "I see.. so you cherish us." I said happily.

"Oh no. I cherish you. I love Shiki." Alice said with a wide smile.

I froze and locked up.

"I hear men are fond of harems..."

"NO! Shiki doesn't need a harem!" I said quickly.

"We'll see... I wonder if I should ask him to use [Restoration Magic] on me to revert my age like he offered the first week I was training him. I was quite the looker when I was young, I'll steal him from you if you aren't careful." She said while winking at me and walking away.

'NO!!!!! I don't need a rival!"