The test: Part 2

Throughout the day, we chopped down trees for more wood while trying to incorporate new techniques. We were still unsuccessful in recreating the fire slash but we did manage to heat the blade up allowing for the trees to be cut in a single slice. When the sun's golden rays started to dissipate, we swapped to attempting the arrow again. Already, it was off to a very rough start as the arrow had exploded nearly instantly. It took till the third attempt to make a rough arrow. The energy it already had was unknown to either of us. Slowly and extremely carefully, Natsuki increased its power. I held the bow drawn back for nearly a minute while Nat increased the arrows power; however, the arrow had started to both grow and become unstable. Its shape had distorted and bubbled outwards from the intense pressure of the fire. Before it could destabilize, I shot it towards the treeline on the opposite side of the river. The arrow weaved between the trees before finally coming to a stopping hault against a tree. Upon impact, the arrows' devastation was released. The ensuing blast leveled a large portion of the trees on the opposite side of the river.

"Well, I knew it would be powerful but I wasn't expecting that." Natsuki said with her voice shaking. As she transformed back into a human, I stood frozen by the crater. I couldn't hear Nat or feel the wind from the shock of the blast. Slowly, I fell back to reality to find Natsuki shaking me from my daze.

"Hey, Earth to idiot. Can you understand me?" She asked while continuing to shake me. I slowly raised my hand to hers.

"You can stop now." I quietly said, lowering her hand from my shoulder.

My eyes were still locked on the crater that was left. The devastation of the arrow had caused the water in the river to flow away from it causing its levels to drop. The water flowed back through the river and into the crater forming a lake.

"I don't think it needs to be any more powerful." Nat said, walking over to the trees that we had chopped down. Slowly, I followed behind her.

"That power there is why it was seen as necessary to kill me. I have the ability to level entire civilizations in the blink of an eye and I can't really control it either. You are the first to ever be able to wield me without dying. I am a natural disaster waiting to happen. That's why they won't just let me live." She said before walking onto the house's floor.

"You aren't wrong. You do have immense power that could wipe away life like a fly but that doesn't make you some weapon or natural disaster. It just means you are a little different." I replied while getting onto the floor. She stopped speaking for a moment as I sat down next to her.

"Why do you risk everything you have for a cause that might not even be possible?" She asked quietly while turning to me.

"Because, you are different from so many others and it has brought you so much pain. Pain you shouldn't have to endure because you're different. I know the pain it will bring me to stand by you, but I don't care. You're family now, and I would risk my life for anyone in my family." I replied before giving her shoulder a nudge.

"What does that matter? You have more than enough of a chance to just leave and live a normal, much better life. Why waste it here with me?" Nat protested while curling into a ball.

"A normal life wouldn't suit me, especially now. It didn't suit me before, it doesn't interest me now, and it probably never will interest me. A normal life just isn't who I am." I replied while moving a bit closer.

"Even now, you are still so damn insane that I can never tell what you're about to say. You really are different from anyone I've ever known. Almost makes me feel not so alone anymore." She replied before laying on my legs with tears in her eyes.

"I get the you're not like anyone else line a lot. At this point, I've just accepted that I'm just not normal. I do prefer it that way though. Why be normal when you can have something unique about you for everyone to remember." I replied while petting her head. A smile started to slowly form on her face as she whipped away her tears and stared out at the river.

We stayed laying on the edge of the floor for around an hour before we decided it was time to get back to work. With what light the sun had in the sky, we chopped as many trees down as we could. The sun slowly receded behind the trees as we hauled the trees closer to the house. As the rays of light turned silver from the moon we started to debark and cut the tree up into planks that could be used. With every slice to the wood, its scent would fill the air. The scent was odd to say the least. It had a hint of lavender mixed with oak and pine. Before long we were both warn out and ready to rest. We climbed up onto the floor and fell asleep nearly immediately to the sudden darkness the clouds overhead brought. As the night passed over so did our worries. Upon waking, the sun was around a quarter way into the sky. Our worries would soon be back over us when we heard the sound of a blade being sharpened. Sitting up, we turned around to see Rosel sharpening her ax.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked, as Natsuki turned into a blade.

"Your training seems a little normal. You've practiced a few new tricks yes but what would it matter if you haven't figured out how to fight yet. That Polymondane a few days ago was a good example. They are hunters, and dangerous killers at that. It nearly took you two out. Alce can kill them like they were a stray dog begging for food. If you really think that you can beat her or me, you're gonna need to know how to actually fight. Strength and speed will only carry you so far but knowing how to fight with finesse will keep you alive." She said, standing up.

"So what, you're here to lecture us or fight us?" I asked, readying Natsuki.

"I'm here to show the difference and level you'll need to achieve just to survive an hour or two." She said while changing her expression.

"If you're here for battle then can we please not do it on the new foundation. It's taken long enough to get it this far." I requested. Rosel only nodded before hopping down from the floor. Stepping down I could tell she was ready to kill us. My whole body was shaking from just her presence.

"Let us begin." She said, raising her ax. Quickly, I tightened my grip on Natsuki. From a far Alce was watching in a tree.

We stood still for a moment looking each other in the eyes. I became terrified of the results and forgot to breathe for a second. The moment I let my breath out, Rosel made her move. Quickly, she twisted her body while extending her ax's handle and swung for my head. As fast as I could, I moved Natsuki in the way to intercept but the strength behind the hit sent me flying sideways into the ground. Using the momentum of the ax, Rosel was already swinging it back down onto me. Just in the nick of time I was able to block it. The force behind the swing caused the ground to cave in, leaving a crater under me. Before I could even think, Rosel pulled her ax off of Natsuki and jammed the bottom point of the ax's head into my leg and pulled me in. Her strength made her feel almost comparable to Natsuki's causing me to go flying at her. While I was about to fly by her she caught me by my throat and slammed me back into the ground while closing her ax. Quickly, her ax came flying down at my chest. I was unable to shake her grip and I couldn't use Natsuki to block the hit. Just before the ax hit Natsuki quickly created a chestplate, blocking the hit. The blade had been stopped but it knocked the breath out of both me and Natsuki.

"See now? If it was the day you had to defend yourselves you would both die. Alce is faster than me and has more difficult moves to follow. You would die before you even blinked if she wanted it so." Rosel said, lifting her ax from my chest.

"How do you have so much strength? Aren't you human too?" I faintly asked.

"Finally he asks the golden question. I know you and Natsuki have already talked about how her ability somewhat works. It's her soul's ability. Everyone is different but still similar. Most people fall under a category of water, fire, lightning, or wind. There are, however, some outliers. These outliers are unique in their souls ability, for instance, your soul doesn't feel normal. You have some unknown ability that hasn't been figured out yet. Training your soul is different than training your body. While your body heals itself pretty quickly, a broken soul can take a very long time to heal. It also gets stronger similarly but differently. It's similar in the sense that you have to use it intensely to its limit to make it stronger, however, unlike the human body, your soul has no limit to its power. By training it enough you can increase most of your strengths as your body will have more power stored within. This is why Natsuki is so dangerous to wield. Her soul's intensity is already so massive from just being a titan that her soul alone could kill someone from just being in contact. With that being said, You still have no clue how to use your soul. Let's hope that changes soon or you won't last that long." Rosel explained before starting to walk away.

"Then how? How do I even begin to understand it?" I asked while trying to climb to my feet. "You'll know, if you and Natsuki ever actually reach total resonance." She said vaguely before walking away. When I finally got to my feet she was completely gone. Natsuki was still on the ground barely awake from the hit. Rushing over I heard her mumble something under her breath.

"Not even two minutes and we were destroyed? How will we ever survive for even ten seconds against Alce?" She faintly said.