Training 3

Sefir woke up to his alarm going off beside him. Rubbing his bleary eyes, he lugged himself out of bed and turned off his alarm. Changing out of his pajamas, Sefir glanced outside his window, it was still dark outside. If one checked the time, they would see that it was 5 am in the morning.

Yawing, Sefir stretched and removed the cramps in his body while going on his daily routine.

Readying up in 10 minutes, Sefir headed out, closing the door on his still-sleeping roommate.

'Looks like he went out again,' Sefir left with a thought in his mind. Icarth current state said it all. Crumpled hair, a hastily put-on shirt, and healed cuts and bruises from his fights. Icarth's rejuvenation was indeed monstrous if he could heal from deep cuts and wounds, but it was far from perfect.

Scarring was inevitable in the process of healing. One day, Sefir had gotten suspicious and lifted Icarth's shirt while he was sleeping. There he found a patchwork of scars ranging from small to big, the largest being a purple line running from his left shoulder to his hip.

Sefir did not know where Icarth disappeared to each night, nor did he pay attention to it. All he knew was that Icarth was working like crazy.

When your roommate works like an insane person, some of that motivation is transferred to you as well. In the end, Sefir didn't bring up this topic with Icarth, he only tried his best to let Icarth sleep as much as he could until there was actually something important that needed his attention.

Now back to Sefirs training. Currently, in an open courtyard in the back of the dormitory, Sefir finished the last of his stretches. It was still pitch black outside, limiting his vision drastically. But for what Sefir was about to do, he didn't need to see at all. He just needed to feel it.

He closed his eyes to avoid distractions and to stop wasting energy trying to adjust to the dim light. Exhaling, Sefir activated his gift.

His gift was unique, unlike the other flashy gifts like Shui's or Ica's, Sefir's gift was an internal one. Invisible Universal energy slowly pooled around him, flowing into his body through his pores at a snail's pace.

«Martial Body» was Sefir's gift. He had to strengthen his skills, instincts, and body to fully utilize his gift.

This gift wasn't considered useful at all by many people. The effects of the gift were limited to slightly boosting the comprehension of the martial arts that he practiced and a slight increase in the instinct, skill, and body technique required to use the martial arts.

Even his parents didn't have faith that Sefir could get this far with such a crappy gift. But here Sefir was, in one of the best academies for students in the known world. He didn't care for the pity directed towards him or his gift. He would show them. He would prove to them that he could do it too.

Clearing his head of all distractions, Sefir went through the motions of the martial arts that he was practicing currently.

"Spiral Snake"

It was a martial art that focussed on the flexibility of the body and how to redirect force back at the opponent.

Going through the motions was not enough to practice this martial art. One had to channel the inner universal energy and move it towards joints to strengthen them to sustain the extreme positions required by this art. While doing so, the universal energy would strengthen the martial art indirectly resulting in an explosive result.

Time flew by and soon it was morning. Seifr finally opened his eyes, satisfied with his session. He had finished around half the strengthening and stretching required to practice this martial art.

Most of his joints burned in exhaustion, as he cooled down by doing a last few stretches. While he would finish the strengthening part of the martial art soon enough, Sefir couldn't take it to the next level. That's because he needed to get a feel for the universal energy around him and learn to control it first. The "Spiral Snake" martial art required the control of universal energy so as not to break his joints while using it to fight.

Wiping off the sweat accumulated on his body, Sefir jogged back to the room, determined to wake up Icarth for class in the morning. It was going to be Biology of Beasts, and if Sefir had an inkling that it would be greatly helpful for Icarth in the long run. Just a hunch on his part though.

-----

In a dimly lit room, a couple of hooded figures sat at a table. One of them had laid out a couple of reports on the table, at the front of the reports, Icarth's face could be seen along with a description of his life at Nova Academy.

"....in the end, he is just a boy studying at the academy." No 2 finished his explanation of all the details in the case file.

"...what was he doing that night?" The leader of the group asked pointedly.

"...he usually goes to train at night in the forest and returns by dawn.' No 2 answered without leaving any detail out. In the end, it looked like Icarth wasn't as sneaky as he thought he was...

"...How valuable is he?" The leader asked after musing for a bit.

"Alone? Not worth it at all. But after a lot of searching, I found out that he is the younger brother of the Huntress."

"Oh? Anything else?" The leader asked, his interest peaked.

"He has a twin sister who attends the same classes as him." No 2 replied while pointing to a picture of Emmia beside Icarth.

".... usefulness?" The leader questioned.

"Zero. She can't be used as anything except for a hostage. At least the brother knows how to fight." No 2 answered with a scron-laden voice.

Going silent for a minute, the leader sunk deep into thought.

Taking this opportunity, another voice spoke up. "Leader, I have a candidate that could be helpful in capturing one of the twins."

"Speak," the leader ordered.

"He is a student in the same class as the twins and I believe that he could help in obtaining the twin sister as a hostage."

"And I can try to obtain the brother." A gruff voice interjected as well.

"Fine, No 4 and No 5, that will be your mission. Get me those twins." The leader demanded.

No 5 nodded and No 4 said, "It will be done."

"Where is No 3?"

"She is carrying out her duties undercover." No 2 answered diligently.

"Ok, what is the status of the central plan?"

"It's going smoothly, the higher-ups in the academy had noticed the accelerated growth of the hounds as we predicted."

"....Make sure to proceed as we planned."

"Yes."

"And where is the wildcard that the Boss wanted." The 'leader's' voice dipped as he mentioned 'the boss.' It turns out that the supposed leader was not the actual head of the operation. That was reserved for someone else. Someone far more sinister.

The entire atmosphere in the room became tense as a sensitive topic surfaced.

"....she had yet to arrive." No 2 answered hesitantly.

"Try to get into contact with her. The boss requires her presence." The 'leader' snapped in frustration. The wildcard that his boss was obsessed with was notoriously hard to work with.

"No 1, please calm down." No 4 tried to soothe him.

No 1 fell silent. That outburst was indeed unnecessary. Taking a deep breath, he pushed down his worries.

"Fine, disperse for now. Make sure you all stay undercover and inconspicuous. We can't let this plan fail at any cost."

Unbeknownst to the twins an unseen danger was approaching, biding its time and ready to strike them when they least expected it. In the end, this was one of the many trials that Icarth and Emmia would face in their rocky journeys.