(Ch 37)New Style

Faith hadn't been ready for that bombshell, pestering his mother the entire night for details like the gender and when it was due. He learned that apparently, the pregnancy period of demons and humans was remarkably similar, or at least when they were half-dragon and that the gender was a surprise.

Faith didn't forget to send a few disapproving looks at his father who was too busy being terrified of the looks Eshir would send him while Faith wasn't looking her way. Alzeor just wanted to be a loyal husband and good father, he felt he was most defiantly failing at both.

Like that Faith's days continued as normal if you didn't count the silver lump of fur that would smack him awake every day out of "Boredom". Faith didn't slack on shadow magic training anymore, his control and overall magic capacity increasing by the day as Ervis continued to beat the living shit out of him for combat training.

'I still don't know what you do' Faith would think a lot during this period, staring down at his own shadow.

He just couldn't figure it out, no matter how much he experimented.

Like this, 8 months past and the day for Faith's new sibling to arrive was fast approaching.

'Faith get up, get up, get up' Luna nagged while Faith rolled over in bed to try and escape her.

'Five more minutes.' He mumbled internally through their telepathic link.

'But you have training with the elf today, last time you were late he tried to make me join in. I'll bite your arm off if he tries to make me practice with you again,' Luna said, smacking him once again with her silver paw.

"Fine!! I'm up," Faith shouted annoyed he couldn't get some extra sleep.

It didn't take long for Faith to bath himself and get adorned in his normal cotton shirt and silk vest, letting a shrunk down Luna into his vest pocket. With Luna he no longer needed a wake-up call from Sapphire, leaving the maid free to attend to other things in the morning.

On the walk to the training hall Faith stole a bowl of soup and bread from the kitchen staff, snacking it down as a pseudo breakfast when he spotted someone he did his best not to forget. It was the girl who had sent him a hateful gaze, then attacked him during his trial.

Faith hadn't told anyone else about those events in the forest mainly because he wanted to deal with them himself. They had attacked him so they were his problem, though it should be mentioned that his draconic pride was one of the main sources toward's this thought process.

As much as the girl taller than himself, with silver streaks along her pure black hair tried to ignore him as they passed each other she couldn't help but steal a glance. She immediately regretted it because Faith was starring back at her, no kindness in his expression.

'Fear'

An unbearable fear took hold of her body freezing her in place as his now slitted pupils starred right back at her.

"Know your place" were the only words Faith spoke before continuing forward to his training session.

Faith wasn't one for flexing his status as the crown prince or even caring about it in the first place. In his mind, it was more of a hindrance then anything creating a divide between him and potential friends.

The words he spoke weren't meant to echo the divide between them in pure nobility status, no it was the divide between them on the food chain. Faith was not only a demon but also a dragon and quite a powerful one at that, the girl that had tried to attack him was quite frankly beneath him.

'What do you reckon Luna, think she'll bother us anymore?' Faith asked rather proud of himself.

'Faith she's a ten-year-old child and I think you just introduced the fear of death to her, if she doesn't stop then she's braver then I give her credit for' Luna replied smirking a little while gazing back at the girl still frozen in place within the castle halls.

Getting to the training hall wasn't hard and many of the occupants were already used to seeing the crown prince. After all, Faith had been going there almost every day for close to two years so it wasn't a surprise that the regulars knew him.

"How's the little shadow heathen doing?" Ervis asked when Faith arrived at their usual training area.

"I wanted more sleep but Luna can be rather spastic in the mornings" Faith mumbled wondering whether the price for his familiar was sleep instead of blood.

"I'd count your blessings Faith, it's rare for anyone among the Light-dark or Dark-light races to even get a familiar, let alone a Rexel" Ervis stated, grabbing a sabre from the wall of assorted weapons.

Both Faith and Ervis had a personal version of their respective weapons but there wasn't much point in using them during training and Unlike Ervis, Faith's wasn't enchanted with a self-repairing function.

"Wait do Light-dark also practice the familiar forest trial? I thought the forest was in demon's territory, peace between races hasn't gone that far to overstep territory boundaries yet, has it?" Faith asked.

"By the gods no. We may be entering an era of peace for once but that doesn't mean boundaries suddenly become less of a thing. Demons are already aggressive against others races of Dark-light, they'd never let thousands of children from Light-dark into their territory" Ervis chuckled finding the very idea ridiculous.

"No it's not that we have our own forest and our own customs for the trial" He added.

'So there's more then one, I wonder if they all have their own Adra?' Faith wondered.

'That's a scary thought' Luna replied finding the thought of more than one absolutely mortifying.

"Did anyone my age get one?" Faith asked, curious if anyone around his age could manage to get one. Faith had earned Luna's bond in a rather spur of the moment way so he didn't exactly count it as a proper success, he was interested if anyone else could succeed where he assumed he'd fail otherwise.

"Yes… there were a few around your age, my granddaughter contracted one in fact and I'm quite proud" Ervis said, a small smirk adorning his face as he lined up In front of Faith.

"Good on her" Faith said with a smile so honest it made Ervis question whether or not his pupil was really a demon. His gaze did contain a little pity though Ervis was unaware that it was actually for Krus who had failed.

The fear Ervis had that the boy was secretly a monster had all but disappeared. He didn't have a dark side and Ervis hadn't spotted a hint of malice or evil in him. Also, Faith was so stupidly good-natured at times that Ervis was honestly worried that the world might eat him up and not the other way round.

"Oh actually… there was someone exactly your age that got a familiar if I remember correctly from what Ivory told me" Ervis added, remembering the rather frightening tale.

"Oh really?" Faith asked, surprised someone his age had actually done it.

"Yes, from what I hear She's quite the monster, might even give you a run for your money," Ervis replied.

"I'll keep that in mind then," Faith said preparing his stance.

Throughout their training together Ervis had forced Faith to focus on the basics of combat and swordsmanship, often even abandoning the sword in favour of hand to hand combat. Ervis was a big believer in not having the right to wield a weapon if you couldn't defend yourself without it.

Thus Faith had been through multiple sets every day of endurance and weight training to bring his young physical prowess up to scratch. For a normal human child, this was an awful idea but as a dragon-demon hybrid Faith thrived in the challenge.

He'd basically beaten the basics of Hopes Respite into his body granting him an almost inhuman reaction speed to combat situations. One thing Ervis noted though was that Faith didn't seem to have much actual talent for it.

'His instincts are perfectly tuned for battle and that 7th sense of his whatever it may be gives him a pretty huge advantage but that's not enough' Ervis thought remembering all the training sessions and beat downs he'd given Faith. The beat downs were generally for real combat experience but also to tame Faith's pride.

'He lacks skill… no it's like there something else holding him back. His instincts are almost perfect but if he can't combine them with finesse and skill they become pointless against anyone that can. If he meets a powerhouse like himself in the future he's sure to die if I don't find some way to increase his overall technique, right now he relies on his natural gifts too much instead of pushing his actual skill higher,' Ervis thought worriedly looking at Faith.

The one problem he'd noticed was that when learning a type of swordsmanship style or combat technique Faith could replicate it but he couldn't make it his own. Faith lacked the abilities to weave all of his individual abilities together into a symphony of combat.

"Faith I think we should try something different today," Ervis said as Faith got into his normal stance, a mix of Ervis's own and Hopes respite.

"What do you mean?" Faith asked, slightly confused why they'd try something else when Faith was seeing improvement.

"You've been relying too much on your innate gifts and power letting them steer you while you copy techniques that aren't your own. You lack your own sense of self and rhythm. I want you to completely forget everything I've taught you for a second…. And just think for yourself" Ervis answered, raising his sword towards his disciple. He was the master and it was his responsibility to fix this problem.

"Follow your own style, react and fight how you feel the most natural" Ervis added, wanting his disciple to throw away all the techniques he'd been teaching that weren't fundamental. He had the basics now it was time for Faith to think for himself, as every true warrior would have to at one point.