20 Respite Of A Spear Boy Maybe?

(Scathach POV)

I lost control of myself and lost control of my strength.

I had committed the greatest taboo of a warrior and of a queen. I allowed my emotions to sway my fight, and thus, I nearly killed him after such a fantastic battle. 

Who would have guessed that this child would lead me to feel so alive, yet now he sleeps in one of the beds in the castle with his body undergoing some type of change?

I can see his body attempting to adapt to the energies of Gae Bulg, and the injury from my weapon was slowly fading. His injuries began to heal as the red energy flowing through his veins disappeared. 

Every cut and bruise faded as if they were never there, but he still did not wake up after five days of rest.

That feeling of emptiness returned greater than ever with each day he remained in that bed, and without the emotions I once felt, the victory felt ever more hollow. 

Let it be known that this child bested me by the rules of the duel as he made me leave the circle, but he would most definitely have lost the fight. Yet even as his heart was pierced and destroyed, he forced his body to rush forward to win, and in my shock, I could not move.

And as I was pushed out of the circle, I saw him fall on his back with a smile on his face that wreaked of contentment and satisfaction. I could even see him almost laughing as he fell.

I lost a duel. By a technicality, but I still lost, and so this child is now my student. I do wonder if I will be able to teach him, as a small part of me wishes he could simply rest here forever, but that line of thinking is ridiculous. Every bird needs to spread their wings and leave the nest sometimes.

So, as I entered his room, I saw his form had finished its change as his muscles became more defined and his features much more mature, as if his body was somewhat aging physically to keep up with his increasing strength. 

When he arrived here, he seemed like a healthy 12 to 13-year-old child, but now he had the musculature of a 16-year-old, and he even grew a couple of inches.

(For reference, Scathach is 168 centimeters or five foot six. Fully grown Cao Cao is 177 centimeters or five feet ten inches. By the way, after three months, the MC is now 14 years old, and he is currently five foot three inches tall, so he is slightly taller than average.)

Placing a hand on his forehead, I noticed that his body temperature had become stable, and the color had returned to his face. I breathed a small sigh of relief and then proceeded to look at his spear, which had not de-summoned yet. As I looked at it and saw the power running through it, I was tempted to pick it up but knew it would not work for me.

Although even with its user unconscious, I could sense the weapon's loyalty to the child, which surprised me as it seemed as if he only unlocked it recently, yet the weapon felt almost angry at me for what happened. But what made it more Curious was the fact that it was not the spirits within that were doing this but something else, something older.

Walking over to the spear on the nearby table, I gave a slight nod and said, "I am sorry for what happened during the fight as I lost my composure, and I did not mean to injure him so. I will train him and ask if you did not release your presence whenever I am present."

The statement made the weapon somewhat retract its power but still felt present, as if it was a loyal soldier guarding its master or something more. 

Returning to the child's side, I placed a hand on his open palm and simply felt the presence of another. It was nice. The last person who came here died before even reaching me, and the others did not survive a week here.

"It's funny as I can't keep calling you a child anymore, so disciple will do…For now." After saying that, I walked out to continue my practice and read the training areas around the castle.

(I do hope I am doing this character at least somewhat decently.)

(Cao Cao POV)

As I sat within the spear space and focused on my recovery, I tried to converse with Cato and Celestine, but the former was nowhere to be found, and the latter seemed almost lost, as if they saw something impossible. I left them to their own devices as I saw that they were in their own minds and did not want to pry.

So I waited and trained within the spear space, yet I could not shake the feeling that I was being watched by something. I could not see nor sense it, but it was there.

But I did not let some paranoia stop me from training as my fight with Scathach revealed so much, from various inefficiencies in my stance to the way I almost telegraphed my moves in that battle. The process involved training in the ways of Yu and Seol and trying to combine their spear arts with thrust, strike, and cut with the spearmanship of untraceable trajectory to make a new style of spearmanship.

The strength lies in its ability to adapt while remaining simple to the common eye but holds the strength to sever cause and effect, and maybe when Scathach trains me, I will learn to use better the instant death/causality effect that Gae Bulg has. My archmage essence was able to learn it, but the energy is missing something.

It may be some kind of magic I am missing or an aspect of understanding I am lacking, but with my survival and victory, my life is safe for now.

So I sit here after training with my various spear styles. While I have unlimited potential, my talent may be lacking, so I looked into my LP stores, and after my five days of unconsciousness, I had 7,901,400 LP, but then my essence gave me a boon.

[+1,000,000 LP for surviving Scathach's challenge, +1,000,000 LP For Winning The Challenge Fight, +2,000,000 LP For Becoming The Disciple Of A God Slayer, + 1,000,000 LP For Surving A Fight Against A Satan Class Opponent. (You Did Not Lancer Ga Shinda Yet. Good Job.)]

And with that, my LP had risen to 12, 901,400 and somewhat ominous comment aside; I decided to use them to buy two things I had forgotten or overlooked those skills: Magic and physical/pain resistance. 

Both skills were 500,000 LP each, and after doing so, my recovery seemed to become faster as my body was able to expel the instant death energy from my body, but I did notice a scar in the form of a spear tip on the area near my heart.

It did provide some relief from the pain as the once-aching pain became more muted, and while I would rather not have my pain nullified, I did want to suffer from less pain. My new physical resistance also helped my healing factor as it improved my body's state and made it much more durable as now, even without haki, I could tank hits from low to peak ultimate class beings with ease.

Sighing in relief, I continued my meditation within the spear space as the presence watching me seemed to be observing me in a way like a curious child. But that, again, may just be my paranoia speaking and focusing on other things. I looked to one defense that had my attention.

Conceptual defense, and with a cost of five million LP, would give me a way not to get dicked down by dxd conceptual bullshit, and being the guy with little self-control I am, I bought it and watched as the LP drained away.

I could practically hear the LP-draining noise from YUGIOH when the numbers went down, and I could feel physical pain at it. Was it dramatic? 

Yes, yes, it was, but it was the principal that mattered, and with that, my LP had gone down to 6,901,400. While it was still a lot in comparison to when I first arrived, my LP was still cut in half.

That LP is now gone, reduced to atoms and skills.

But on a more positive note, I could feel the change this defense had as it felt like the universe was more soft. If that made any sense, the weight of this universe was slipping off, the stronger I became. Now, I would not need to worry about conceptual abilities like penetrating or reducing affecting me at higher levels.

Seeing that the space was becoming more cloudy, it seemed like I was waking up, and after the space went dark, my eyes opened again to a room within Scathach's castle. After checking my surroundings, I found the God Slayer standing at the doorway, leaning on the closed door. Her eyes, a mix of interest and a small bit of relief revealed so much.

Regardless, the moment was interrupted by the woman asking, "I see you have decided to wake disciple. Now, how are your injuries?" Standing up, I noticed that I was in new clothing with the new threads being a body suit similar to hers, and after using Life Return to check my condition, I noticed something interesting for later, but overall my body was fine.

In fact, I felt stronger than ever thanks to my zenkai boost. The power flowing through my form felt almost infinite.

But I knew better as similar to Gojo when he fought Toji, I was riding a high, and I needed to come down, so while the strength remained, the feeling subsided as reality set in, and I responded, "I'm all right. But how should I address you? Teacher, a Ms. or Mrs.? Or something else?"

The woman seemed to ponder it as she said, "What about mistress?" The comment almost made me smile as I said, "While I am a fan of that title, I'm not much into addressing someone like that in a more serious tone."

The woman then seemed shocked with a faux hurt expression as she said, "My disciple is already being rebellious. Is this how Chiron felt when he tutored Heracles?" Shaking my head at her theatrics, she then stopped and said, "Simply master will do for now, at least."

After saying that, she proceeded to have a small smile on my face that promised many different things, to say the least, with the look in her eyes not helping the situation. 

She then approached me and said, "I would congratulate you for completing the challenge, and while you technically lost the battle, you want in the fight, and as promised, I shall train you. Since your body may still be recovering, we shall begin tomorrow, and I hope you are not late lest the punishment is a bit severe."

The woman then disappeared as if she was never there. I sat back down on the bed, looked at the spear on the table next to me, and reached out my hand to it. 

The spear flew into my open palm, and once it reached me, I truly felt complete in a way. It is by no means a spiritual dependency, but it's kind of like having your favorite item next to you. While it doesn't do much, every little bit helps.

The spear seems to react to this thought as I feel an almost smug form of satisfaction? Like a person smiling with their eyes closed and their chest puffed out. I truly do need more sleep.

So, resting my eyes, I laid back on the bed and, for the first time in a while, had a night without pain or fear.

Or the same nightmare.

But who knows? Maybe the training will make things easier. 

It can't be that bad, right?