Training

"So to sum it up, Bruce passed the selections and is now a Contractor, a demon appeared in BB hotels, Jack also passed the selections; Kando is running for president, and... Mary cheated on me?" Aiden asked gloomily.

"Yes," Amanda answered, and the atmosphere turned silent.

"Hu," Aiden let out a breath as he closed his eyes, he could accept the rest of what Amanda said.

But the fact that Mary cheated on him hurt him a lot, why didn't he notice it earlier, the luxury clothes the fewer visits, the unanswered calls, and even the way she acted were all hints.

Opening his eyes again Aiden shoved the feeling of regret, pain, and self-blame down his stomach; one would be surprised at how quickly he got over it.

Noticing Aiden's downcast demeanor Amanda sulked, "Brother Aiden, the pretty lady that followed you here escaped from a terrorist organization with you?" Amanda asked trying to change the subject.

She gave Aiden a once over and before he could reply she darted in.

"What kind of terrorist organization is that, they got you contracted and even trained your body to this extent, maybe I should get kidnapped as well," Amanda said trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah," Aiden chuckled nervously while feeling amazed at how gullible Amanda seemed.

"You are fluent in Yapanese I see," Landon yelled in Aiden's mind, that fact that Aiden could spout such nonsense with a straight face seemed to bother him.

Aiden on the other hand felt bad lying to Amanda but he couldn't just tell her that he was transported to a separate dimension through death, where he died one hundred thousand times before finally escaping, she would think he was nuts.

With a scoff, Landon said, "At least you should have come up with a believable story, though you managed to fool this girl your story can't fool people in the know, and when the dots don't add up they're gonna ask questions."

Ignoring Landon Aiden commented, "But I can't say this enough Amanda this is a really great place, Bruce must have spent a lot of money on this," he said looking around.

"Yeah, Bruce spent about 1.3 million creda's to buy this house," Amanda said, "1.3 million!" Aiden yelled in surprise.

"Yeah moving to Twilight City is expensive," Amanda chuckled, the home was good, and it was a piece of land in Raindrop estate, buying property here was expensive because of one major thing, security.

The Raindrop estate was not too far from the Silence headquarters, they also had the headquarters of minor Contractor families nearby, so if a rift ever appeared here it would receive the fastest response.

It could be said that this was one of the safest places in the seventh shelter.

Honestly, Aiden was a bit surprised when the cab drove into the raindrop estate, "so why didn't you change schools?" Aiden asked feeling a bit unsatisfied.

Since they didn't lack funds why didn't Bruce just put Amanda in a school with better security?

"He tried but I refused, all my friends are in Twilight City's residential college so I don't want to change schools yet," Amanda muttered.

Thinking for a bit Aiden said grimly, "Is it because of that boy, Edward was it?"

At the mention of Edwards's name Amanda seemed a bit nervous, "It's not just that. Besides Bruce has already approved so it's none of your business."

"Be careful," Aiden finally said after giving her a long stare.

"I will," Amanda replied.

"You guys can stop eavesdropping now," Aiden suddenly yelled loudly and the door slowly opened.

Amanda's friends could be seen walking into the living room with Whisper following closely behind.

There were Sarah, Mark, and Edward, with Whisper following closely behind.

Of course, there were also a few other students from Amanda's school who tagged along.

They seemed to want to celebrate the fact that they survived a demonic encounter and also use the opportunity to get to know some powerful Contractors.

Some students and even male teachers had approached Whisper but she was colder and didn't answer any questions a few minutes ago she lifted a student by the neck all because he pestered her.

As a result of that the students had learned to avoid her.

Seeing her friends walking into the room with guilty expressions on their faces Amanda smiled.

"We didn't hear anything, the door was too far away," Edward said as he scratched his head.

"Yeah," Sarah echoed as she asked, "Besides what are you guys talking about, are you guys planning to elope or something, the fun is outside."

Aiden didn't worry about the students overhearing his conversation with Amanda, he was certain that they didn't hear anything, he made sure to keep his voice as hushed as possible, but he couldn't be too sure about Whisper, she was an advanced human after all.

"I'll go get some drinks to celebrate, I'll meet you guys outside," Amanda said as she left after being dragged outside by Sarah.

The group drank as they engaged in small talk, it was mostly Amanda's friends asking Aiden questions that he avoided answering, Sarah on the other hand was quite daring in her attempts to flirt with him.

Whisper who was on her own most of the time didn't respond to any of their questions instead she just stood in the corner with a can of beer in her hands.

Everyone had long since noticed that Whisper didn't like to respond to anyone so they left her alone, after all, she was also a Contractor.

Remembering what happened previously Aiden smiled.

(A few hours ago)

After he had killed the demon some idiot turned on the school sirens inviting the police and a small Contractor family.

However upon reaching the scene, they noticed that the demon had already been dealt with, as a result, the police left immediately after identifying the dead.

The Contractor family on the other hand stayed behind, the group of seven seemed to notice that Whisper and Aiden didn't belong to any family yet so they tried to recruit them but after being flatly rejected they also left.

(Presently)

Slowly the sun came down, and the group lay wasted in the living room.

Some of the students had left though but everyone that remained where fast asleep.

Everyone except Aiden that is, the beer had no effect on his body, to him it tasted more like a spicy kind of water, looking at Amanda and her friends Aiden smiled.

They had been too excited, but who could blame them, after all, one of their own narrowly escaped death, and not to forget the people that died.

Everybody seemed to avoid the topic, but the people who died all had a family of their own as well.

"And now I have their souls, ha-ha," Aiden chuckled slightly, but the chuckle was a sad one.

He sounded like the devil, is this the price for his strength, having to live on, knowing that his strength came from feasting on the soul of the diseased, what made him different from the demons he so hated?

Although he knew he was wrong he couldn't stop now.

Slowly Aiden stood up and silently left the room, walking outside under the cover of night he could see the silhouette of a woman leaning against the wall.

"Took you long enough," she said expressionlessly.

"Whisper" Aiden thought, before saying, "shall we?"

The duo seemed to be heading somewhere, the wall didn't pose a problem, as advanced humans they climbed over the fence quite quickly, and in a few minutes, they were outside the estate.

The streets of Twilight City were still lively even though it was ten already but Aiden didn't mind he preferred the lively atmosphere.

"Why did you leave?" Whisper finally asked after a while.

Thinking about it Aiden wasn't really sure why he left, no that wasn't it, he was absolutely sure why he left.

"It was my dream to join the Silence with my best friend."

Aiden finally said pausing before continuing "But after coming back to the shelter I didn't take the selections too seriously, all I had to do was pass, but now hearing that my best friend came out as the best among all other Contractors lit up the competitive spirit within me, I can't possibly come out average."

"So you're doing this for your pride?" Whisper asked.

"It's not only for my pride, we have to climb up the ranks and quickly, it's the only way to get any information about my sister," Aiden replied.

Beforehand Aiden had already told Whisper everything about himself, she even knew about that strange place so she didn't seem surprised at all when he talked about his sister.

They had planned to stay for at least a week before leaving for the woods, but it seems that plans changed.

Unbeknownst to Whisper there was also another reason Aiden left early, "the souls of the diseased are on my shoulders, but I won't stop consuming souls, no I can't, I have to get stronger to achieve my goals, the least I can do is, train as hard as I can, I have to keep on improving."

********

"We've been doing this for hours, can we please stop now?" Gold said as he stared at the woman in front of him with a fearful glint in his eyes.

he was in a spacious room illuminated by white neon lights.

"No-no this is your punishment, Alex," a familiar voice sounded out, standing in front of Alex was a woman who looked like a model.

With a physique any woman would want she stood at an acceptable 5'9" and captured the hearts of men with her alluring purple eyes.

Her long hair was tied together into a ponytail, but she looked quite different, in the sense that she wore baggy black pants and a crop top that stuck to her alluring body, it was caviar black in color giving her a youthful allure much different from her usual cold demeanor.

The bandage wrapped around her left arm was much more visible and could finally be seen in full, all the way from her shoulders it went down wrapping itself artistically around her fingers.

Strangely the white bandage seemed more like a fashion statement on her.

"Whoosh!"

The sound of the air tearing sounded out, Alex blinked and Lotus was gone "bullshit," he cursed, as he crossed his arms.

Immediately a golden glow erupted from his body, and an armored giant with crossed arms appeared around him like a sort of barrier.

"Bang!"

A solid bang sounded out, the noise filled the room making it tremble.

In mid air few meters above the ground Lotus had placed a solid punch on the golden giant's head, how she reached it was a mystery.

After a solid second gravity seemed to comprehend what it was and set in.

This forced Lotus down as she landed lightly on the ground her feet making a minimal amount of noise.

A normal human would have broken something or at least experienced some pain if they fell from that high, but Lotus wasn't a normal human.

"Crack!"

A loud crack sounded out similar to the sound of glass cracking, immediately "shatter," the giant shattered turning into thousands of glowing particles revealing Alex who stood in the middle of this room panting.

His shirt was stained with sweat and his hands trembled a little.

Walking towards him Lotus said, "I thought we've already been through this, to minimize cost and power outage you have to find out where your opponent is going to attack from, then defend by concentrating a small amount of aura in your arms and then using it to block."

Alex didn't reply for a while but he eventually said, "I didn't know where you would be attacking from, and b-besides the amount of power you put in-"

"Thud!"

Before Alex could finish speaking he fell to the ground with a thud, he fainted.

Shaking her head Lotus said, "I only used that amount because you cowardly discharged all your energy at once, any more and your lifespan would be the price, I hope Aiden will be more interesting." Lotus said as she walked away.

Gold's contract was a first-generation contract where he would have to use his vitality in exchange for using a small amount of his demon aura.

This resulted in chronic fatigue for Gold, but it wasn't a problem as vitality could be recovered, but if Gold used more than he was given access to he would have to use his lifespan instead, and the effects were permanent.

***********

The next morning Aiden and Whisper faced each other in the sunlit clearing of the woods.

They had arrived last night after taking a taxi to the outskirts of the city and walking here on foot.

Immediately they arrived Aiden had impoliticly asked Whisper to be his sparring partner.

Aiden had confidence in himself and wouldn't ask that normally, at least no normal human being could hope to defeat him, and demons below threat level eight were a liability to him as well.

The demon he fought back at Amanda's school was one of the stronger demons at threat level six, so Landon estimated that his strength was around threat level eight or nine.

Whisper on the other hand was stronger than him in strength, stamina, and agility the only way he surpassed her was through speed and perception.

Aiden didn't believe that her strength was too far from his, after all, he had his soul armor, well he was wrong.

After Landon advised that Aiden fight with Whisper to hone his skills he started out trying to go easy on her, but suffered defeat after defeat, and even after using his soul armor to surpass her in strength he still got beat.

They had been fighting since last night to the early house of the morning, and they were currently still going at it.

The air was thick with anticipation as they circled each other, their eyes locked in a fierce exchange of determination.

Aiden, his muscles rippling with power as black veins could be seen in his two arms.

His soul armor gave him an advantage in sheer brute force, but Whisper, a lithe and agile combatant had higher strength in everything else except for perception.

She also had an arsenal of fighting experience that she obtained from the last seed of fear's memory.

She was terrifying, but Aiden wasn't discouraged, with a sudden burst of speed Aiden lunged forward, his fists like sledgehammers aimed at Whisper.

She gracefully sidestepped her movements fluid as she expertly avoided his heavy blows, her martial powers were evident in her graceful evasion.

Their dance continued "Whoosh, whoosh," Aiden attacked punching in rapid succession.

He didn't dare to kick because anytime even one of his feet left the ground Whisper went for his unbalanced lower body.

After evading all his hits Whisper suddenly struck back like lightning.

"Bam!"

Her attack connected but Aiden shook it off, he could tell she held back, but Whisper didn't stop, her attacks were precise and calculated.

As Aiden punched she followed the rhythm of his movements moving even closer to him, Aiden felt frustrated even at such a close distance he couldn't touch her, but compared to yesterday he was doing better.

He adapted from copying and learning some of Whisper's attack patterns, easy right?

Not in the slightest, Whisper weaved through Aiden's punches "Bam, bam," two light hits landed on his back, testing his defenses.

"You've got power My Lord, but it takes more than strength to win a fight," Whisper lectured with a wry smile on her lips.

Aiden didn't answer as he turned around trying to grab her but Whisper ducked effortlessly, her agility allowing her to slip behind him.

Sensing this Aiden turned around attempting to grip her again, but she delivered a swift kick to the back of his knee, causing him to stagger.

As he lost his balance Whisper held onto his left arm and Aiden felt his world turn he was flung over her as he hit the ground, "bam," a muffled bang sounded out as dirt and rocks flew.

"You see, it's not all about strength my lord," Whisper explained as she circled him, "it's about fitness, timing, and strategy," she darted in.

Aiden stood up quickly trying to create some distance, but Whisper moved executing a rapid series of strikes that targeted Aiden's vulnerable spots with precision.

Aiden was injured as scratches and cuts filled his body, but these cuts were healing rapidly.

"You have 67% of your total soul energy left, your soul energy is reducing," Landon reminded as Aiden fought.

As he spared Aiden finally understood what the soul energy stat in the book gave him, it healed his injuries.

Whisper moved again, but this time Aiden noticed something, he had seen this attack before.

She would run straight forward and attack directly, while leaning backward rapidly, using this knowledge Aiden attacked.

"Bang," his hit landed hitting Whisper with a mighty uppercut that sent her staggering backward, "strength has its advantages too," Aiden muttered.

Whisper regained her balance whipping the blood off her lips, she held back but Aiden didn't, "how was that fair?" she thought as she narrowed her eyes in concentration.

Moving closer to him she feinted left and then swiftly changed direction, launching a spinning kick that connected with Aiden's chest.

"Bang" he stumbled backward, his breath coming in heavy gasps, "that hurt," he thought.

But as Aiden moved Whisper followed, "Swoosh" Her legs swept the ground brushing Aiden and sending him to the floor, but Aiden didn't relent.

As he fell he caught onto Whisper's arm dragging her down with him.

"Thud!"

The both of them fell with Aiden taking most of the blow, Whisper was now on top of him.

"Why did you have to drag me with you?" she asked as she sat up.

"I don't know," Aiden said with a smile as he darted in, "but I like how this turned out."

Whisper felt confused but she quickly realized what he meant.

Suddenly Aiden sat up staring straight at her with a taunting smile on his lips, Whisper sat on top of Aiden, her legs spread in a kneeling position.

Realizing the situation Whisper wanted to get up but Aiden held onto her thighs firmly pushing them down.