Chapter 445 444: Training In Earnest



Kat PoV

Anput helped me to my feet as Jahi finished up her own spar, the Jackalkin and I walking over towards the sprawled out Demoness with a bruised knee and cheek.

The skin was turning a deep purple already, so I knelt beside her and rested my hands atop her body, letting my Water Mana flow through me into her.

Keeping the healing magics soothing was easy enough, and she breathed out a sigh of relief as the pain was washed away, alongside with the decrease in her mobility.

The other Knights all strode forwards as well when they saw Lady Fenryas take a deep breath, her eyes resting on Jahi for a moment before looking out towards the rest of those gathered, her silver eye narrowed.

"Some of you are in dire need of some training. Others have barely managed to scrape by. Just a few of you showed some improvements. That is to say... all of you have been slacking, and all of you will be here from two hours before sunrise to two hours after sundown. Any time later and you give me 15 minutes for every minute late. Am I understood?"

All the Knights shouted out their understanding, which made the Demon Wolf grin before she barked "Alright! Chordeva, Belian, Grendel, Vivian and Xietian! Divide the rest of the Knights amongst yourselves and begin spars! Rendalla! Take the Squires and tutor them! One at a time, all at once, I don't care, just spar!"

The Knights she named all stood up and saluted before moving off into different directions, their peers following behind them.

"Now, as for you three, let's see some more of your fundamentals, hmm? To start..."

Lifting up the remnants of Jahi's weapon, Lady Fenryas mended the blade using her magic before handing it to her, saying "The two pups against you, brat. I want to see how you deal with those of the same level as yourself."

Folding her arms, she stepped back and leaned against her scythe, watching as Jahi stood up and hefted her blade, glancing at Anput and I.

My mate grinned at me as she morphed her rod into a short spear, her intention obvious.

Nodding at her, I unsheathed my daggers once more before staring at Jahi, waiting for the signal.

When she lowered herself into a stance, the Demoness waited for us to begin the match, her eyes narrowed as she prepared herself.

With a deep breath, I launched myself forwards and crashed my daggers down into her great sword, surprising her with my frontal assault.

Before she could react, Anput rushed in behind me and arced her spear around my body, stabbing towards Jahi's abdomen.

The Demoness was caught off guard by the sudden onslaught, barely managing to twist her body out of the way before pushing me back, using her superior strength to create distance.

She blocked a second thrust from Anput before dashing forwards, her blade cleaving down towards the Jackalkin's head.

As it was about to connect, Anput rolled away and Jahi was sent off balance as I kicked her in the side, opening her guard up for a followup slash with my two daggers.

I left behind two small gashes in her side as she tried to twist away once more, but it was barely enough to lessen the damage I dealt.

With some damage on the Demoness, I leapt back and avoided the retaliation blow she sent my way as Anput moved forwards to attack as well, keeping the pressure up on Jahi.

Her spear clanged against the Demoness' blade harmlessly a few times as she tried to sneak past her guard.

During that, I slipped behind the Demoness and rushed forwards, my daggers raised as I tried to plunge them towards her shoulders.

Jahi growled as she pushed Anput back and stepped into the free space, avoiding my attack and slashing her blade back towards me.

Rolling under it, I was about to lunge back at her when Anput landed a solid blow on Jahi's ribs, smacking her with the haft of her spear before shifting it into a rapier, a storm of silver thrusts shrouding the Demoness.

Anput stood just to the side of me, blocking my route to Jahi's chest, so I took a breather before launching myself back into the fray.

We lost ourselves to the spar, Jahi evenly matched with us as she began to fight with more and more finesse and power, relying on her defensive capabilities to score hits via ripostes and blocks.

I don't know for how long we sparred, but it eventually came to an end when I overextended on a single thrust, giving Jahi an opening to smack my ribs with the flat of her blade and knock me down, leaving just her and Anput.

While Anput certainly tried to put up a fight against the Demoness, her ability to shift styles didn't matter when Jahi could block most of her attacks with ease, all while dodging the others.

Anput went down to a well placed punch to the cheek, dropping to the ground before freezing as Jahi leveled her blade to her throat, ending the spar.

We were all dripping with sweat, and a few of the resting Knights nodded in appreciation of our spar before focusing on their peers once again.

Lady Fenryas chuckled as she approached us, nodding as she said "Not too bad. You each have some damn good endurance - sure that comes in handy at night - and your basic techniques are polished. Could always be better, but for a first time display... not too bad, whelps. Now, let me observe your skills once more."

What followed was hours worth of sparring and physical exercise as the Demon Wolf got us all into a rhythm, demanding we push our bodies to the absolute limits on this first day.

By the time we finished, everyone besides Lady Fenryas were panting and covered in sweat, each of us exhausted from the sheer amount of work she put us through every single second we were here.

No breaks longer than a minute or two, and certainly no more breaks than one an hour...

By the time the sun had set, we were still inside the training grounds for another hour and a half when Lady Fenryas decided to be merciful, calling the first session short on account of us needing to settle in to the Palace.

That, and Lady D'Arcon showed up as well, giving us all some healing as she cast an AoE healing spell and relieving us of our aches and pains.

Though, of course, Lady Fenryas didn't truly want that, but the Light Magician / Priestess just gave her a look, which made her roll her eye.

"Fine, fine! Whatever... Even though the pain should teach them something..!"

Letting out a huff, she approached the white clad woman before smirking, licking her lips as she fondled the woman's rear, her silver eye shining with a lecherous light as she towered over the holy woman.

"You and I are going to have some fun tonight, Arc... I've been rather... stimulated, so you wouldn't mind relieving me, would you? Just like we used to?"

Her red veins pulsed quicker as she stared down at Lady D'Arcon, who shivered.

Before she could reply though, the Empress opened the gate leading into the training grounds and sighed, staring at her black skinned lover as she said "Fen, what did I say about harassing Arc? Did I not make myself clear last time?"

Lady Fenryas' grin widened, and her eye sparkled with mischievousness as she only took more liberties with Lady D'Arcon's body.

"Mm~? No, no I don't think you did? I seem to recall being given permission to do as a I pleased though..."

Sighing again, the Empress just reached forwards and took ahold of Lady Fenryas' arm, as well as Lady D'Arcon's as she said "Then I shall remind you. Everyone, you are dismissed."

The Marquess chuckled as the two women were pulled away by the Empress, most of the Knights grinning at one another as they took note of how easily Lady Fenryas' got pulled away, her bushy tail wagging slightly.

"Well, you heard her! Let's go get something to eat and get some rest! Two hours before dawn we meet back here! Go!"

Anput, Jahi and I all exchanged tired looks before dragging our feet towards the door, joining the rest of the Knights in a slow march to the kitchen to get something to fuel our bodies before getting some much needed rest.

Some rest that I needed the System to wake me from so that we would make it on time - because I certainly wouldn't be able to wake up in time on my own...