Instructor Drako begins Raynare's hellish training.

Drako and Raynare separated from Baraqiel's group, as they were to have specialized training. For this, Drako had asked Azazel to use a specific training room.

The place where Raynare and Drako arrived was a single empty room, painted completely white. Once the door they entered the place closed, it seemed that Raynare and Drako had entered a different dimension.

"What are we gonna do here, Drako?"

Raynare asked Drako, who was inspecting the room.

"Not bad. There is some sort of magical barrier surrounding the room, and its function is not only to protect against damage. It also blocks out any sound that wants to come in or out."

Drako was muttering to himself, it didn't seem like he heard Raynare's question.

"Drako... What are we gonna do here?"

Raynare asked again.

"Huh, you want to know? But... wouldn't that ruin the surprise I have in store?"

Drako's half-smile gave Raynare creeps.

She thought she could escape Baraqiel's infernal training if she went with Drako, but she had a feeling that the dragon's training would be far worse than this.

Until now, Baraqiel's training consisted of running until Raynare's body couldn't take it anymore. After that, his training was focused on the Spears of Light.

The training with the light lances was divided into two phases.

The first, Raynare trained her skills with the spear. That is, she trained her skills as a lancer.

The second, she trained her ability to create multiple lances of light. This ability was the same as her uncle had shown in the confrontation with Kuroka. Raynare also could create multiple Light Spears, but they were nowhere near the number her uncle could create.

According to Azazel, Raynare's uncle could create hundreds of spears if he prepared himself beforehand. That is, he could not create them immediately, but he could if he took some time. Anyway, Raynare's uncle was a fearful opponent if he prepared himself enough. Especially since his spears were more powerful than normal ones. Drako was sure they could hurt him even with his [Aigis].

Raynare's growth potential was far greater than her uncle's. The flame she could use, [Holy Flame], is the same flame that the Archangel Uriel possesses. And obviously, they're far superior to what her uncle could use.

Just with that, Raynare has the potential to reach the same level of power as her grandfather or even surpass it.

Add to that the unknown Sacred Gear that she possesses.

According to what Drako had discussed with Azazel, Grigori had used his instruments to measure the quality of Raynare's Sacred Gear. Drako was surprised that Grigori had instruments that could do something on the level of measuring the power of Sacred Gears. Still, it made sense considering that this organization took Sacred Gear users to strengthen itself.

In Azazel's words, Raynare's Sacred Gear was on the verge of destroying the measuring device. In other words, it was a Sacred Gear of the highest level, but it was not a Longinus.

It would be at the level of Sacred Gears like Forbidden Balor View and the Four Fiends. These are Sacred Gears that can be considered Longinus with just one push, but they haven't crossed that barrier yet.

Initially, these Sacred Gears should not be able to cross that barrier at any time. But because the God of the Bible was dead, the system that kept the Sacred Gears in order doesn't work 100% because Archangel Michael can't make it work perfectly.

Now, a little push can make these Sacred Gears step forward and evolve. So, these Sacred Gears have the potential to be considered Longinus.

Both Azazel and Drako were confident that more Sacred Gears of that level would appear in the near future. In fact, Drako was aware that Gasper Vladi's Sacred Gear was going to start being considered as a Longinus after the spirit of the evil God Balor awakened his consciousness.

(Drako has only read up to volume 21, but Aeon Balor is not considered an official Longinus until volume 25)

"For the time being, I'm going to ask you to sit down."

Drako pointed to the center of the room.

"It's okay."

Raynare nodded and did as Drako had asked. He did the same and sat down in front of Raynare, about two or three metres away.

"Do you know what this place is?" Drako started the conversation with this question.

"This is the place where Azazel and Valina train."

"That's right. This is the only place in all of Grigori where Valina and Azazel can train without alerting the rest of the living beings that are nearby. Azazel offered me this place when Valina and I had the duel, but it's too small for me to fight with all my strength. Here you can use all your strength without being afraid to destroy the place because the barrier that protects this room can withstand attacks from Maou Class, even if it's only a few."

Raynare was confused. What Drako's information just gave her was something she already knew.

"Which means I'll be able to use all my strength, and no one will be able to hear your screams for help. From today on, only you and I will know what's going to happen inside this room." Drako said bluntly. No emotion could be appreciated by his tone of voice.

Raynare's body shook. It seemed her instincts had alerted her correctly, as this training was going to be much harder than Baraqiel's.

Raynare felt nauseous just thinking about it.

"Drako... I'm not feeling very well, I'm going to go to the bathroom for a moment." Raynare said as she got up.

"You better not move if you appreciate your life."

"Yes!"

Hearing Drako's cold voice, she did not hesitate to obey him.

"From today, I want you to come to this room every day at 9:00 a.m. Until lunchtime, you and I will be in training. In the afternoon, your routine will be the same as it used to be. Do you understand?"

"Yes!"

Raynare sat back down and looked in the direction of Drako, who was sitting right in front of her. He had his eyes closed and seemed to be meditating. She cherished the idea of escape, taking advantage of the fact that he was not looking, but dismissed the idea as she thought she would die before she could get one or two metres forward.

Drako opened her eyes, fixing her gaze on Raynare, and spoke.

"I need everything you can tell me about the incident that happened 10 years ago, where your parents died."

Once again, Raynare shook slightly.

"I... I told you, didn't I? I'm not ready to talk about it..."

"It doesn't make sense for you to keep running from your past, Raynare."

Drako didn't look away from Raynare's eyes at all, so she looked away when she couldn't stand that intense look. She felt that Drako wanted to reveal all the secrets that were hidden in Raynare's soul, although that was not far from the truth.

"I really... I don't remember very well the details of what happened that day. I was very young, and I seem to have hit my head when I became unconscious. Maybe that blow is the reason for my lack of memory."

Raynare explained why she couldn't talk about what happened in the past. So far, so good, or so she thought.

"Because of the barrier around this room, I can't use Senjutsu as much as I wanted to. Still, it's more than enough to be able to read your emotions. You... are lying."

"Ugh..."

Actually, Raynare wasn't lying at all. It was true that she hit her head as a child, causing her to lose much of the memory of that event. However, the dreams she had been having lately had caused her to remember every detail of what happened that day.

But, even if she did remember, Raynare didn't want anyone to know the truth about what happened that day. She had murdered her own parents, so she was nothing but worthless garbage.

"You're not gonna talk, huh. It's okay, you don't have to right now. Don't worry, you'll talk sooner or later."

Drako stood up and waved for Raynare to do the same.

"What are we going to do now?" Raynare asked with a bit of insecurity in her voice.

"Fight."

"Are we going to fight..."

Raynare didn't finish asking her question when Drako shot at her. The fallen angel could only see Drako's cold eyes before she felt her feet leave the ground.

An intense pain burned from the centre of her stomach, where Drako's fist had connected. A sour-tasting liquid ran up Raynare's throat and-

"Guaah!"

-she puked it up.

"If this was a mission, you'd be dead by now. Your reaction times are lousy. Come on, get up!"

Raynare only had time to cover her head with one arm when Drako's kick came.

Bang!

Her back hit the wall.

She didn't know how she was conscious, let alone how the bones in her arm weren't broken. If that kick from Drako had hit her head, Raynare could have died.

Having learned his lesson, Raynare got up as fast as she could and created a lance of light. Drako wasn't going to let Raynare take a second to breathe, so she had to act almost on instinct. If Drako was going to attack head-on, she was simply going to aim her spear forward. If he didn't stop or duck, the spear was gonna go right through him.

Crack!

But nothing was going to happen positively for Raynare on this day. Drako lunged at her, just as Raynare expected, but the spear did not go through her skin. The spear broke into small pieces on contact with Drako's skin.

The new skill Drako obtained after fusing a Noble Phantasm with his own body, [Aigis: Divine Scales of the Nephalem Dragon], makes any attack that does not overcome Drako's defense completely neutralized.

In other words, even if Raynare manages to hit Drako, no attack from her will hurt his skin. At best, she'll get her clothes torn off. Of course, Raynare does not know this, as it is Drako's best-kept secret, and he had no intention of letting her know it either.

"You managed to react in time, I'm impressed."

It didn't look like Drako was mocking Raynare with those words. He really thought the first day was going to consist of him beating Raynare unconscious.

That was Drako's plan.

He had seen in numerous animes how the characters got a power-up in life and death situations. So what better way was there to get Raynare to unlock her powers than by subjecting her to life and death situations daily?

"Come on, this is far from over."