To

Shadow made discarding years of built-up habits sound easy, but it was actually quite an arduous process. He had to run through a series of mental and physical exercises to prepare for what he was about to do.

This wasn't a technique taught to everyone, and he was the only one to have completely mastered it.

Most people would need weeks to even months to break major habits, while professionally trained assassins could bring that number down to days.

Shadow could bring it down to minutes.

{Alright, I'm ready}

[You get more and more interesting by the day]

{Is that a good thing?}

[I'm not sure]

Shadow wasn't going to spend too much time contemplating her words. Once Lohita showed up, he began to breathe in and out slowly, calming and emptying his mind. Pinpointing habits he needed to get rid of, and keeping what might give him an edge over other dragons.

Once he was sufficiently poised and ready to go, he took a deep breath and collapsed.

'Master! Are you ok!'

He could catch Lohita attempting to sprint at him.

'I'm fine, stay back!'

He didn't need any help, everything was still well within his control. The reason he collapsed, however, was he deleted all of his walking habits that would hinder his draconic progress either now, or in the future, causing his brain to lose the ability to send certain signals since it was like he never learned them.

Generally speaking, no one can accomplish this feat since once brain cells are converted into a certain kind to fit the memory and usage that you needed them for, they can never be changed. You may forget or the connection may become weak, but as long as you don't have certain diseases, they won't change or die, they live alongside you.

This, among other things, made him an especially deadly assassin, being able to delete his memory of certain things within minutes worked exceptionally well during interrogations, he couldn't be caught. He had many nicknames because of this, one of them being the Synthetic Assassin, but he never bothered paying attention to what people called him.

His favorite nickname was Theo used to call him. His "Ace in the hole," at least, it was his favorite nickname.

[How did you do that]

{Family secret}

[Now is not the time to joke. You just accomplished what would be impossible even using all of the mana in the entire world]

{Mana?}

[Don't play dumb, who are you, or what are you? Are you one of the Kings, did you intercept my mana to take control of this body?]

{Who am I? Earth's greatest assassin: betrayed and forced into a new life in a new place, I'm just here living my life}

[Your words contain no lies. But that still doesn't explain how you did that; family secret just doesn't cut it]

{Why not? We all have our secrets, don't we, Aariv}

[What are you implying with that statement]

{Nothing that wasn't said, now can I finish what I was doing?}

[Yes, I apologize for the interruption]

Shadow didn't delete anything that could help him in his newfound lifestyle, but rather anything that could potentially get him killed. For example, he didn't remove his knowledge of moving around and running, but he did get rid himself of the notion that to walk, he must move one front in front of the other since walking became more complicated than that upon gaining more legs; he now had to put one leg in front of the other and alternate on the other side in a mirrored fashion to make a step.

He erased the idea that he used his arms, now absent, to balance his body, and rather practiced using his tail to steady himself.

Even exercised the belief that his center of gravity is being supported by one limb, but instead both the front and hindleg of each side.

It took almost 20 minutes for Shadow to become accustomed to moving again, the longest he's ever taken; being a dragon was just so much more complicated than being a human.

'Alright Lohita, start with slow movements but overwhelm me the entire time. Make quick and decisive strikes towards vital areas with the intent to kill, ensure I can barely resist and most importantly, keep your guard up.'

That last point was crucial, he dearly hoped she would remember it.

'I completely understand Master, I shall follow your words down to the vowel.'

{No need for that}

[You asked for this]

{I dislike you, sometimes}

Once Shadow felt like he was mentally ready for what was to come, they began.

At the start of the spar, Lohita stood 50 feet away from him to allow him sufficient space to operate, a needless sympathy since she was upon him within a second.

From 50 feet to enough space to lock eyes, within that timeframe equated to around 34 miles per hour, which was roughly the speed of a normal wolf, clearly, she was severely holding back.

But that didn't stop her from sending out a flurry of paws, all aimed at decisively ending the battle with a single attack.

Shadow's brain melted away all thoughts that weren't focused on this fight. Working his dual thought pacing into overtime and his body at peak fighting capability. He sunk into a cold indifference, a fighting machine. Feeling void of emotion was something he hadn't felt in a while, a fight so dangerous, it awakened old habits, past mannerisms, and survival instincts.

Now the only goal in his mind, eliminate the threat in front of him, under any circumstances.

Lohita was relentless, never ceasing her fire, never slipping up, unending and unchanging, at least she was.

After around an hour of defending himself from his new subordinates' powerful strikes, she slipped up, she lost focus, that was all the opportunity Shadow needed to block a hit with his own attack and send her staggering off balance and gift her with a blow aimed at severing her life.

Likely remembering her master's words, Lohita wouldn't be taken down so easily.

She fast fell to the ground, rolled as quickly as she could, stood up, and deflected the incoming attack into the ground before pinning her master to the ground with her jaw.

Lohita kept him there until his aggressive squirming finally came to a stop and she heard a familiar voice.

'You can let me go now.'

Once she let him go, she could also glimpse the aftermath of the attack she deflected.

It pierced directly into the ground, up to his cubiti. There were no cracks, no spreading damage, nothing. His attack was meant to be decisive and kill her on contact.

She finally understood why he said to be on guard. He could kill her at any turn, despite being much weaker.