Training Days

"How are we gonna go back?" Mera says.

"It's easy," Maya says. She extends her hand outward toward an empty area. "Gate."

A small door appears out of nowhere, forming from small bits and pieces of debris. A giant skull rests upon it. It opens to reveal a wall of fire.

"This is pretty unknown because no one really tells you about it, but you can go back to previous layers using this. The prerequisite to use it is clearing sloth." Maya explains.

"Wow, that's convenient. But why go back?" Mera asks.

"Because gluttony has more space and there are more creatures to fight, we'd be very limited in our training here," Maya says. "Alright, C'mon let's get going, we're burning daylight."

Maya picks up Seiren and tosses him into the gate.

"You don't have to throw me!" Mera says, as Maya picks her up.

Maya smiles.

She chucks Mera into the gate as well, then follows after.

The advocate stands there, gritting his teeth, as he can only watch them leave.

This better be worth the trouble, I'm dealing with. The advocate thinks.

"Get those Low-class demons in here! And have them start rebuilding immediately! Kill anyone who protests." He shouts.

Seiren rolls through the other side, hitting against a rock and laying on his back.

That hurt. Seiren thinks.

Seiren hears a distant screaming, as Mera flies through, landing directly on him. The two of them ended up at a distant, and unrecognizable part of the forest. Behind them was a giant impromptu wall of rocks each the size of a building. They seemed as though they were painstakingly laid so as to prevent one from going further.

"Geez, why is she so rough..? You okay?" she asks, looking up at him from his chest.

"I'll live." He says.

I don't know how much longer with her lying on me like this. He thinks.

Hmm… Seiren's more muscular than I thought. Mera thinks.

Maya steps through the gate and stretches her arms out.

"Am I interrupting something?" Maya asks.

"No!" They say simultaneously. Then scramble to get up.

"Good." Maya says. She takes a quick look around their surroundings. "This is a surprisingly good area to land in. I can't even count the times the gate dropped me in a demon nest."

"And you just threw us in?" Mera questions.

"Sorry, it slipped my mind. Now that we're here, there are a few things we'll need to go over."

"Like what?" Seiren asks.

"There are 3 main things that we're going to train here," Maya begins, holding up 3 fingers. "Regeneration. Ability. And combat style."

"Regeneration is something we can train?" Mera says with audible confusion.

"Yeah, but It's incredibly gruelling, so you'll need to prepare yourself mentally. The more you subject your body to harm, it'll start to get faster at recovering from those injuries." Maya says.

So she's gonna beat the stuffing out of us over and over…? Seiren thinks.

"How long does it take you to recover?" Mera asks.

"Depends on the injury, if my heart got ripped out, maybe 5 seconds. But, something superficial maybe 2 seconds?" Maya says.

Mera neutral expression flips and she suddenly becomes energetic.

"30 seconds! It's been taking us an hour or so!" Mera exclaims.

"That just goes to show how much effort you guys are gonna have to put in. Wrath is only pitting you against each other, but when you finally go against stronger demons they won't wait for you to heal up." Maya says.

"So, when do we start?" Seiren asks.

"Right now." Maya says. She pulls back her fist, as if to give them a heads up. "Are you ready? Who's going first?"

"I will." Seiren says as he steps in front of Maya.

"Alright, here it comes!" Maya says.

Maya launches her fist like a cannonball and strikes Seiren in the dead center of his stomach. His body lets off an cacophony of cracking noises and Seiren is sent flying backward into the boulder from earlier. Seiren's body lays draped over the boulder like a sheet. Maya pulls her fist back and stands back in her normal position.

"Seiren, you okay there…?" Maya calls out.

However, there's no response back.

"He's gone." Mera says.

"Yeah… Hopefully, I can get you guys to stay conscious while regenerating today." Maya says. "Alright, Mera it's your turn."

Mera sighs.

"Alright, give me your best shot."

Maya punches Mera as well and leaving her with a similar fate to Seiren. She falls into a pile of grass beside Seiren's boulder.

"Now, then all I have to do is wait." Maya says.

Maya spends the time waiting for Seiren and Mera by doing some rigorous exercise in the mean time. Pushups, pullups, situps, burpees, squats and even deadlifting dead trees nearby. Whenever either of them would awaken, she would go and hit them again each time with a different attack. Sometimes with a deadly kick or a powerful toss. As the hours flew by their sunlight began to dwindle. Darkness began to settle on the flora in the environment, and a faint light shone in the sky, coating everything in a thin veil of white. Seiren and Mera recover from their damage and manage to stand up after their 6th regeneration.

"Let's keep going." Seiren says.

"Yeah." Mera agrees.

As he and Mera walk over to Maya and her campfire, they similarly begin to move sluggishly. Their vision continuously flashes in and out, mixing the flashiness of the flame with their repeatedly darkening sight. Lightheadedness begins to fill their heads as they find it hard to move.

"What is this…?" Mera questions as she reaches toward the fire.

"I knew this might happen soon. The two of you should remember this feeling very well. This is called 'Tapping out'. When you regenerate too much in a short period of time, it puts a heavy strain on your body. This makes it harder to do just about everything, so even if you can regenerate this is why shouldn't abuse it, because then you become a sitting duck." Maya explains. "In about 5 minutes you should be feeling normal again. And after an half an hour, your regeneration should return."

So we really have to be careful. Even if we're somewhat immortal, we're not unstoppable. Seiren thinks.

Mera manages to roll over somewhat onto her back to breathe easier.

"I've been thinking about this for a while now, but why didn't you finish off that advocate earlier. To me it seemed like you were more than strong enough, plus he was taking advantage of you. So why did you let it go?" Mera questions.

Maya pauses for a moment, staring into the glow of the flame.

"It wasn't worth it. But, not in the way you might think. Advocates at their core, are extremely expendable. The devil always has another lined up." Maya explains. "He did take advantage of my weakness, but thats the nature of this place. Any weakness you show will be used against you. It was my own fault for being vulnerable in the face of my enemies."

"That's fair." She replies.

Seiren sighs.

"How do you know so much about hell?" Seiren asks.

"Well, a lot of it comes from experience." Maya pauses. "But I also learned a lot from my fiance."

"You did?" Mera asks.

"Yeah. Nette was… adventurous to put it lightly. She was willing to tread where no one had before. Always testing her own knowledge, she dedicated quite a bit of her time to learning how everything worked. We often got dragged along whenever she was curious about something. I can't even count on both hands the amount of times we got into to trouble, but we always pulled through." Maya chuckles.

Seiren and Mera just silently look at Maya with downcast expressions.

"Hey! Stop that! It's sad that everything ended up the way it did, but all I can do is press on." Maya says. "I wasted a lot of time, but now I can finally make some progress."

Seiren slowly rises to his knees.

"I had been thinking of this for a while..." Seiren says. "Why doesn't everyone team up?"

"Like teaming up with everyone to beat the devil?" Mera asks.

Seiren nods.

"I admire the thought, but it would be very hard. It's impossible to know someone's true intent, we could fight our way to the devil only to beat him and have to fight another because they wanted the devil's power for themselves." Maya explains. "That being said, I trust you two. You guys helped me, which isn't something someone selfish would do."

Seiren finally rises to his feet first. He dusts off his clothes, then grabs Mera, and brings her over to the camp fire. He sets her down in front of a large boulder that she leans back against.

"Thanks." She mutters.

"No problem." Seiren says. He takes a seat at a nearby log and sighs. "So how much longer will we keep up this training?"

"After your regeneration comes back, I'd say another day at best, then well be moving on." Maya says. "If we have time after all your trainings, we'll take a stop somewhere else to do something about your clothes."

They look down at their over dirt-stained clothing with numerous holes and tears.

"Yeah, these aren't going to work anymore…" Mera says.

It's a miracle these clothes still cover as much as they do. She thinks, staring down at the holes in her shirt, and jacket.

After waiting through the time needed for their regeneration to return, they continued with their training over and over until another sunset passed by. Seiren and Mera sat near the campsite after finishing their last regeneration of the training. Maya walks over to them.

"You guys did an awesome job! That level of pain isn't so easy to triumph over, so that's one more hurdle you've overcome." Maya says.

"I feel as though I may never mentally recover from this." Mera says with a hint of exasperation, after leaning over.

"At least it's over." Seiren says with a sigh

That was literal hell. Seiren thinks.

"The next part isn't as hard as the last. I need to get a good assessment of your combat. Unfortunately, that fight I had against the two of you wasn't too good an indicator, plus I wasn't all there mentally, so it's a bit hazy." Maya says. "So you'll be fighting me again, and we'll also see how far you've come with your regen at the same time!"

"Are we really just gonna be getting pummeled by Maya this whole time?" Mera whispers to Seiren.

"Seems likely." He sighs.

Feels like we've been playing Night Souls, this whole time. He thinks.

"Alright, this time I'll give you both the first move." Maya says.

"Mera, are you good to fight?" Seiren asks. Recalling the events of their earlier fights.

"I think I can manage," Mera says.

Is what I said, but can I do it? Why do I feel so hesitant? I'm not afraid of guns or even using my ability, but that man's face keeps flashing through my head over and over when I think about fighting. Seeing Maya's struggle helped me to realize I can't dwell on these emotions. I need to be moving forward, not looking back. I need to get to the root of my feelings. Mera thinks.

"Seiren, Maya. I might be spouting some random nonsense during this training, but please don't pay it any mind." Mera says.

Seiren nods.

"No problem." Maya says.

Mera aims her finger gun at Maya.

"I spent all this time feeling so alone. Friends and people I didn't know would all treat me differently after it happened." Mera says. She starts running forward, tears welling up in her eyes. "I couldn't bear it anymore! I had no choice but to put up walls! No choice but to reject people before they could reject me! All because of one home invader?! It shouldn't have been my fault in any capacity! I was just a kid!"

Seiren simply listens to her. Mera jumps into the air, firing bullet after bullet at the ground below. Dirt and dust clouds are kicked up.

This is just me throwing a tantrum… Yet, the weight on my shoulders is lessening. Mera thinks.

"It was completely irrational, why was I considered a murderer by those around me for trying to protect my own mother?! And the worst of it all was the way she looked at me. The way she treated me afterward. She cared so much more about public opinion than her own daughter's suffering!" Mera exclaims.

Mera emerges through the dust cloud and collides with Maya. The force has them both slide back through the terrain. Maya stops the momentum, using her brute strength, and looks at Mera's tear-covered face.

"Listen, Mera. No one can blame you for what happened. When you sought support in the form of your mother, she left you to fend for yourself mentally, and emotionally. You're a very strong woman for being able to hold out as long as you did." Maya says.

After taking some time to compose herself, Mera wipes the tears off her face and stood beside Seiren with renewed vigor.

"I know I wasn't the most useful during the latter part tournament. But I'm gonna do my best to start pulling my weight." She states.

"It's about time." Seiren says.

"Huh?" Mera says questioningly.

"Joke. It's a joke." He says with a smirk.

"Since when did you start making jokes?" Mera questions. She grabs Seiren and starts playfully messing up his hair.

She was abrasive at first, and kind of annoying to deal with, but after working together with her and learning more about her, she isn't that bad. Seiren thinks.

"I knew you'd overcome it." Seiren says.

Mera stops when she hears him and smiles.

"You know it!" She says.

It seems like they're getting closer to one another. They need to keep building up their connection, it will make them much stronger when they begin coordination training. Maya thinks while observing them.

"Alright, are the two of you ready to fight me?" Maya says.

"Yeah." They respond in unison.

Yet again, they readied themselves to fight Maya. As the fight began, Seiren and Mera charged in. Merely 5 minutes later, Seiren and Mera were on lying on the ground defeated at Maya's feet.

This might be worse than I thought. Maya thinks, with her hands on her hips.

Despite how many battles they've been in, they don't have a good grasp of their abilities. It might be that they don't fully understand how they should use them. Maya thinks.

"Alright, let's move onto stage two." She says.

"And what's stage two?" Mera questions, struggling to her feet in exasperation.

"Simply put, we're gonna go over your abilities together," Maya explains.

"Alright," Seiren says.

"Sure," Mera adds.

Maya pauses for a second as if slightly perplexed.

"I guess I expected you guys to be a bit more hesitant?" Maya says.

"Why would we be? Our lives are on the line." Mera says, extending her arms in an outward gesture.

"Some people are just too prideful to accept help," Mera says.

Mario was like that back in the day. Maybe things could've… I can't think about that now. Maya thinks.

"In any case," Maya says to refocus herself. "Let's begin. Hell Flowers usually fall into three different types. Elemental, Astral, and Physical. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, but Elemental is a bit different. Elemental types don't have one overarching weakness like the other two, but instead, each element has its own innate strength and weakness."

"Ah, so could lacking a source to use for your ability be one such weakness?" Mera asks.

"That's right." Maya says. "There aren't many natural sources of water in hell, so it makes it difficult to use. Probably the hardest."

"I'll make it work." Mera says, pointing her finger gun in the air.

"Shadows are much easier to use because they're everywhere. And naturally, it's an incredibly fast element." Maya says. "Unfortunately, I don't know much about spears. So there's not a lot that I can teach you in that regard, however…"

Seiren tilts his head slightly.

"It seems like you have a natural affinity for it." Maya says, eyeing Seiren up and down.

"He's done a few moves that surprised me too. He just has these moments where he knows exactly what to do." Mera adds, placing a finger on her chin.

"I'm not sure how it happens. When I'm in the heat of battle it just flows." Seiren says. "It's like an instinct I guess."

"An instinct huh? Well, it's kept you alive this long. But just know that instincts can be exploited." Maya says.

"I'll keep it in mind," Seiren says.

Maya walks over to Seiren.

"When it comes to the two of your abilities, always remember creativity is your greatest asset."

They nod.

"What's your type, Maya?" Mera asks.

"Oh, I almost forgot! I'm a physical type. Physical types typically have one or more aspects of their bodies enhanced. Mine is strength and regeneration. My soul continuously generates large amounts of energy to fuel my strength and healing. Our weaknesses are usually our stamina. Although, I guess I'm a bit of an outlier in that regard." She explains.

"And Astral types?" Seiren adds, taking a seat on a nearby log.

"Although our abilities weren't made to combat one another, they are the most dangerous type, if you do go up against them. They have both some of the simplest and complex abilities of all. Worst of all, they are capable of attacking the soul directly, which could mean death for any of us. Although it's an exceedingly rare type." Maya explains.

Mera winces after hearing the info.

"Do they have any weaknesses?" Mera asks.

Maya looks up at the darkening sky.

"Nette was an Astral type and through observing others like herself, she discovered their only weakness comes from the deep-seated obsessions that they hold. They vehemently seek out their deepest desires. Nette was a psychiatrist, so she dedicated her life to learning more about the people around her. She believed her obsession with learning about others lead her to gain the ability to use telepathy." Maya explains.

"Wow." Mera says. "Judging by that, was she the one to come up with all of these classes?"

"Yeah, she used us as a baseline, then branched out to compile information." Maya says.

Seiren leans back.

"I appreciate all the information you gave us, but how does that help us fight demons? Unless…" He begins.

"...It's all connected." Mera finishes.

Maya smirks and even lets out a little chuckle.

"Very perceptive of you. You're right. The devil created these abilities. But of course, he needed a baseline for them. So naturally, he used the demons. Demons have similar classes to ours, but they're born with them." Maya explains. "From the next layer onwards, we'll only be fighting demons with abilities like ours. That's why learning your opponent's class, and quickly making a strategy is key. That was gonna be a lesson you were supposed to learn on your own." Maya states as she plucks Seiren in the forehead. "You revealed my curriculum early."

Seiren's head nearly flies off his shoulders from Maya's herculean strength, but he manages to hold on, despite falling onto the dirt, in pain.

"Now then, let's finish your training!" Maya shouts.

Mera excitedly throws her fist up as Seiren struggles to get up.