Chapter 8 - New training

Akio swiftly eats up, as he somewhat returns to his full strength, as Alex then tells him that they should waste no more time, pointing at somewhere in his backyard.

"Alright."

Alex then walks towards it, and Akio asks if their sparring shall begin here, with Alex asking him if he's dumb.

"Why would I want to ruin my beautiful backyard?"

Meanwhile, the only 'beautiful' thing in Alex's backyard, except for the uncanny amount of grass, would be the flowers, but suddenly, Alex places his hand on the ground, gripping something. Akio's initially a bit confused, but all becomes clear when he pulls his hand upwards, opening a trapdoor.

Akio's a bit shocked, but Alex tells him to get in, noting that all of their operations will happen in here for a bit. At that point, Akio starts to question Alex a bit, but Alex tells him to get in now, since they're risking being found by The Dark Wizard.

"I'm one of his top targets, y'know."

"Oh, yeah."

Both men jump into the trapdoor, as Alex opens the lights, revealing a very technologically advanced base just below his house.

"Alright, we'll be training here. Head to that room."

Alex points at the general direction of what appears to be a training room, and Akio heads there, as the former prepares himself, taking a certain great sword from the wall. Alex looks at it, and he almost tears up, as if feeling nostalgia from even gripping the sheath, containing this great sword.

At this point, Akio asks Alex what the hell's taking him so long, causing Alex to scream out at him.

"Y'know, preparing to train someone after decades isn't easy!"

"Alright, alright."

Afterwards, Alex takes a few more seconds to just.. admire this great sword, one which has gotten him through many adversities, and the one weapon that started it all. Alex reminisces at the time where Theos I first found him, honing this very sword.

"Oh. Are you Alex, the blacksmith?"

"Yeah. Do you want me to make you anything? I don't hold my title for no reason, y'know."

"Ah, maybe later, but first, I have a prospect for you."

The seemingly young Alex looks up to see Theos, as his eyes widen.

"Would you like to become a Shining General?"

And right after that, all was history. Alex stood by Theos' side forever, feeling like he owed a debt to him, the man who changed his life, and thus, Alex remains a Shining General to this day, but he'll never forget what Theos gave him.

"Take this, Alex."

"The grail of Eternal Youth? Why me? I, no, everyone decided that you should drink it!"

"No. My days under the Sun are numbered. You, however, not only deserve to live on, but you can do great things."

"But.. why me? The others..!"

"I talked with the others beforehand. All of them wanted  you to drink it, and they knew well that I would never take it."

"In that case, I..--"

"You'll drink the grail, and live on, Alex. Without you, I don't think that the future generation will ever be able to defeat The Dark Wizard. Your discipline and guidance are what is needed for victory."

"I see. In that case, I shall drink it, and honor all of you. I won't let you down, Theos."

"I know. The spark that I saw in your eyes back then showed me the truth."

"Alright. To The Shining Generals!"

Alex raised the grail up into the sky, before drinking the holy crimson liquid inside it, as a new rush of energy flowed through his body. Theos asked him how he felt, but Alex simply stated that there was after the initial rush, there was no change.

"I see. In that case, please make great use of your new ability, Alex."

"I will, for you."

The two men fist bumped, and afterwards, Alex's flashback cuts off, but it goes to another scene. In front of him, Theos' dead body stands there, with blood having pooled around the corpse. At that moment, Alex would only see red, as he mindlessly charged at The Dark Wizard.

"Damn you.. Gawain!"

"Hm, it appears you know me by my first name. How interesting. You're Alex, yes?"

The enraged Alex gives the excited Gawain no response, instead unsheathing his great sword. Gawain confirms this man to be Alex, as he would never be able to mistake the Mythical great sword known as 'Omega'.

Gawain is quick to dodge Alex's first three slashes, but the fourth one cuts him in half, though the wizard is obviously unaffected. Not interesting in Alex, or the other Generals, for that matter, though, Gawain punches Alex in the gut, absorbing some of his energy, while also forcing him to fall unconscious, throwing him back.

"If you want to settle this, come and find me."

Afterwards, through the decades, all of Alex's comrades had been killed in battle, but they left behind their successors. Alex, however, abandoned them, leaving only a legend behind, with few having set out to find him, including Theos II, and now, Akio.

Finally, Alex's flashbacks stop, and he heads towards Akio, wiping a few tears of anger, sadness and joy off of his face. Akio starts to become excited, having realized that he'll be sparring against the legendary Alex, the second ever Shining General.

"Are you ready, Akio?"

"Yeah."

Akio takes his battle stance, and his incredibly excited persona reminds Alex of Theos II, Akio's predecessors, and of course, Theos I. This excitement, alongside the battle stance, cannot be mistaken anywhere else.

The battle begins, and Akio pulls no punches, pulling out both of his swords, charging at Alex. Alex grabs Durandal with both of his hands with seemingly little difficulty, as he tells Akio that his grip and strength are far too weak, thus making his attacks feel slow and sloppy.

"If you want to become better, resonate with Durandal. Fight with it as if it is an extension of your body. Put all of your strength into both of the swords. Also, take this advice from me, who made the two swords."

"What?"

"You're open."

Alex punches Akio in the face, due to the opening that was created from Akio's confusion."

"Wait.  You made Durandal?"

"Yes. What about it?"

"I thought that it was Roland who made the two swords?"

"Ah, Roland. No, I made them for him. What the hell have you been taught?"

"I guess that the information is a bit wrong."

"Indeed. Anyways, do you understand your mistakes now?"

"Somewhat."

"Good. Come at me again!"

Akio does so, as this time, he's able to cut Alex, who commends Akio. Akio, however, is not done. He actives his Burning Sense, pushing even further, as he appears behind Alex, ready to cut him in the back.

Thinking he's outsmarted the strongest of them all, Akio goes on to attempt to cut Alex, who, in less than a second, unsheathes his great sword, blocking Akio's swords.

"Not bad, but still, not good enough."

Meanwhile, Akio's amazed, seeing the Mythical Omega for the first time. Alex, noticing it, tells Akio not to get distracted by a sword, and to correct this flaw.

"Alright."

Swiftly, Akio falls back, and he raises both of his swords into the sky, with Alex making an educated guess on what he's trying to do. Of course, Alex, just to make a point, charges in, cutting Akio's stomach deeply, indicating that Akio's leaving himself open whilst trying to call upon his weapon's power.

This also ends the match, with Alex having gained a reasonable idea of where Akio's power stands, but as he goes to get a healing injection or something, he notices the wound he inflicted upon Akio glowing orange.

Within seconds, the wound's healed, but Akio's still unconscious. Of course, Alex knows well what this is, but he's confused.

"How does Akio have this power? His fire magic hasn't.."

Alex stops distracting himself, having almost gone back on his own lessons, as he picks up Akio, taking him to another room in the base, which looks like your average hospital room. It takes a few hours, but Akio wakes up, confused as to what had happened.

"Simple. You left yourself open."

"I see. Did I do well?"

"You were just above average. Come on, Akio. You are the son of Theos II, and the descendant of the legendary Theos I. You  cannot be this weak!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

Akio scratches the back of his head, getting up normally. He asks what the next part of training is, with Alex revealing that he hasn't planned anything.

"Gah, who cares? I'll think of something."

Both men go upstairs, with Alex having activated an invisible barrier around the house, masking their magic energy.

"Why.. couldn't you do that earlier?"

"I forgot to do it. I'm still over a few centuries old, y'know."

"I see."

Afterwards, Alex comes to the realization that they're out of food. He tells Akio that he'll stop by the store to pick up some groceries, but Akio volunteers to do it himself.

"If you insist. Here's the list. Be sure to come back before long, though."

"Alright. I'll see you later."

Alex waves Akio goodbye, smiling lightly, as if he planned for this to happen. Afterwards, Alex goes to watch some TV, waiting on Akio to return. After two hours later, the door opens, and Akio has return, looking a bit tired.

"It appears as though someone's not keeping up with his training."

"I know. Had I been able to train during my search for you, I would be able to return faster..."

"It's alright. Leave everything on the table. I'll sort them out later."

"Okay."

Afterwards, Akio goes back up to his room, sharing no other words with Alex for the day, as he falls asleep immediately. Within his sleep, however, Akio sees a few more 'precognitions'. In one of them, he sees himself, though enveloped in some form of darkness, with tears dropping on some unrecognizable woman's chest.

Within seconds, however, the flashback cuts off as soon as this dark Akio lets out a giant roar. Akio wakes up in the real world, only to see that it's 9 AM, and with Alex knocking on his door violently. He gets up, opening it, asking Alex if they're finally ready to continue their training.

"Yeah. Get ready, or else we'll be late."

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

Now a bit confused, Akio equips his battle suit, as he and Alex leave soon after. Alex takes Akio to an unknown place, but through a suspicious route, making Akio doubt him. No more than thirty minutes later, however, they reach that place, and Akio asks Alex if he's serious.

"Yes.  This is where we will be training for the next few years. Get in."

Akio heads towards the half-opened door, which reveals nothing inside of the building, but as he enters, everything changes. As he walks forwards, he's slowly enveloped by a white light, which passes through him as he moves.

The more Akio enters the building, the more it changes, and as he finally enters fully, what he thought would be a run-down warehouse was an incredibly-advanced facility. Its size was orders of magnitude larger than what you would see from the outside, and even so, it's not even remotely the same.

Alex laughs, entering, and Akio is confused.

"Where's the warehouse..?"

"Come on, Akio! You can't be serious. Even my house would be better than that piece of junk. Anyways, welcome to your new training area for the next few years, as I mentioned earlier."

Afterwards, the two head in, and Akio meets other five teenagers. They all introduce themselves, and Akio does too, but the six, alongside Alex, go to a round table in the middle, where five other adults are.

Within seconds, the adults, which are apparently the 'teachers' of the six students are arguing amongst themselves, and Akio is able to get some more information out of their bickering. Apparently, this is some 'challenge' that's been going on for a while, where these six would find and train their own students, and they're former Shining Generals?

Akio's confused, but he doesn't question it much. After the six teachers stop bickering, they explain to the six students that they'll be training under them for the foreseeable future, during which time they'll learn to hone their magic, strength, and they will go under missions, so as to become even more powerful, or master pre-existing powers.

The last part was directed towards the girl with the black hair, named Kurayami, who obviously had some amount of (visible) scars around her body. Those activities will be pushed to the side for now, however, as first, they shall gauge the six students' strength by having them fight with each other.

Meanwhile, Alex thinks highly of himself, saying that Akio is the strongest of them all, causing the other five Generals to ask him how strong this child is.

"Stronger than Theos."

This one sentence was enough to shock the Generals, but the other five students did not know of Theos yet. Akio's eyes widen at what Alex said, and he headbutts him, being unable to think clearly.

"Stop lying!"

Alex scratches his head at that moment.

"You didn't let me finish."

Afterwards, Alex gets up, placing his hand on Akio head.

"This one has potential that  far surpasses that of Theos. Of course, he has a very long way to go if he even wants to be compared to his dad, but I think that Akio can do it."

Akio is a bit embarrassed, but the Generals are impressed. The students, of course, are oblivious to the implication of what Alex just said, and thus, they don't care, but that Kurayami girl is staring a bit too intensely at Akio.

Afterwards, the small meeting ends, and the table disappears, as the middle of the building turns into an arena. The six teachers ask the students who wants to fight first, and Alex thought that Akio would be the first one to volunteer, but surprisingly, he did not even raise a muscle.

Instead, Alex reluctantly asks two of the other students, Blaze and Aurora, to step up. Of course, the two nodded swiftly, as if wanting to be picked. Swiftly, the two take their places, and the others go up to the stands, with the students being quite curious to see the powers of their fellow 'comrades'.

Instantly, seeing that they're ready to fight, both Blaze and Aurora power up. It is revealed that Blaze's magic is flame magic, a 'stronger' version of fire magic, as his hair turn orange and white, his aura emitting an unnatural amount of heat.

Meanwhile, Aurora also powers up, and her hair, alongside her irises, change color, turning into uranian blue. Blaze is ecstatic, similarly to Akio, and he charges at Aurora, ready to have a fun fight. Aurora, however, creates a wall in front of her.

Blaze thinks its some sort of ice, so it was a dumb move, or so he thought. Instantly, he infuses his right fist with flame magic, ready to melt through the ice and land a good hit on Aurora, with Akio and the other students thinking the same. Next to him, two of the other students, Eldric and Apollo, are also quite interested in the fight now.

As Blaze's fist makes contact with the wall, however, his heat is reflected back, and he's confused, as suddenly, the wall contracts, being absorbed into Aurora's fist, as she punches Blaze in the jaw. Blaze is knocked far away, and everyone's shocked, including the teachers.

Finally, Blaze stops his recoil, and he laughs, saying how he didn't expect Aurora to be so strategic, a feeling that is shared amongst his 'comrades', and his teachers.

"Ah, don't worry. It's as simple as the fact that I am stronger.. Blaze, was it?"

"Yeah, but don't get ahead of yourself, Aurora."

Blaze raises his head.

"I'm still going to win!"

At that moment, Blaze's aura flares up, catching everyone by surprise. Blaze then charges at Aurora, who tries to use the same tactic as before, but she fails, as this time, Blaze is able to break through the wall, which she revealed was made of crystal magic, as he punches her in the face.

Before Aurora can get knocked back, however, she creates a wall to stop her recoil, as she kicks Blaze, who takes the kick, punching her in the stomach. At that moment, Aurora spits blood, and Blaze barrages her, leaving no room for Aurora to counterattack. Finally, Aurora reluctantly admits defeat, knowing well that she tried her best.

Blaze then extends his hand, allowing her to get up, and the two go back to the stands, as Eldric and Apollo then descend. Meanwhile, Kurayami is talking with the teachers, all except for Alex, who goes up to Akio.

"What's wrong, kid? You haven't showed any will to fight as of now. What happened to your dynamic spirit?"

"I don't know about that, but what I do know for sure is that I want to fight that Kurayami girl. Also, do you know why she has been looking at me with such intensity?"

"What if.. she likes you?"

Akio blushes instantly, and he grabs Alex by the collar, telling him not to spout out such bullshit out of nowhere. Meanwhile, Alex says that he'll be back, while Akio goes to Blaze and Aurora, saying that their fight was incredible.

Now that he looks at Blaze up close, though, he's red as a beet.

"Of course. That's the drawback of my flame magic. My body's temperature, at this point, has reached extreme levels. If I went any further, I could even risk my life.

"I see.. how interesting!"

Akio's absorbed in his discussion with the two, and all three of them lose track of the fight with Eldric. Meanwhile, Kurayami's talking with the adults, especially about the problem with her injuries.

In actuality, it looks like she herself is unsure about why they exist, and her teacher, Valeria, informs the other five in secret that Kurayami was an orphan when Valeria found her, and her mother had died in front of her.

"It is still unknown to me why that was, or what the source of her power is, for that matter, but Kurayami's a special case. Please take care of her."

The others nod, as Eldric and Apollo continue fighting. When Akio, Blaze and Aurora turn around, however, the fight had already ended, with Apollo barely being called the winner. Everyone's amazed, but the two return back to the stands, with Alex starting to talk.

"Now, the only two left are--"

Before Alex could even finish his sentence, though, Akio had already grabbed Kurayami by her hand, as they descend unto the battlefield.