Chapter 9: Training with Karthus

Damon ran into the Training Room #7, the time at exactly, 4:00pm.

The training ground was a huge white and black room. The room had a variety of features such as numerous training appliances. The room also had various features such as Gravity Manipulation, Mana Regeration Deterrent and more.

Currently, Damon could see Karthus and his various collegues whom were assigned to train him and Karthus had already arrived. Karthus was wearing his Military General Uniform, a red and black uniform with black shuriken marks dotting around the design and the Demon Sigil branded noticably on the front of the top. On Karthus' arm was a 5 star logo that proved his rank as a General.

The various other subordinates were wearing the same Uniform but with lower rank stars than Karthus.

Killian was also in the room, ready for training, but instead of his standard butler uniform, he was wearing an all black combat outfit dedicated for training. Damon walked up and stood alongside Karthus, looking at the various soldiers in front of him who would be training him in combat for the foreseeable future.

"Hey Brats, I know you all know me so I'll skip the boring introduction. These people behind me are my men, and we will be responsible for whipping you weaklings into shape. Grand Marshall has given me full power to make sure you're strong enough to survive out there. Get ready because my training is not soft at all," Karthus and his crew laughed as they began the training.

Little did Damon know how tough this training would be.

*****

"Huff… huff…"

The heavy sound of panting echoed in the room as Damon and Killian continued their training. Killian and Karthus were currently lifting Mana Enchanted Barbell's that were increadibly heavy.

Since the beginning of training, Karthus and the others had focused on intense physical training. The Gravity Manipulation feature of the room was quickly activated, and Karthus increased it up to 20x ( 20 times ) the normal gravity. Not only that, weight inducing braces were put on each of Damon's and Karthus' arms to make their bodies even heavier.

Before this, Damon and Killian were made to run for 1 hour around the room. As they ran, the gravity increased more and more until it reached this level. Then Damon had quickly moved to pushups, situps, squats and various basic exercises before he reached the current moment.

"-GRRRR! -GAAHH!" A loud grunt escaped from Killain's mouth as the barbell fell onto the ground, exhaustion washing over his body.

"Is that all you can do? Now that you idiots have awakened, your bodies can take in more Mana, and your bodily strength can increase even without breakthroughs. Physical Strength is your foundation. Without high enough physical strength and stamina, how can you battle for long periods of time in the battlefield. Abyssal Monsters wait for no-one." Karthus roared as he gazed at Damon and Killian who had fallen over.

In truth, Karthus was incredibly impressed with Damon and Killian's persistence and ability to continue their training. He was incredibly talented when he awakened, and had a natural physical strength gap with Killian due to Killian being an Elf, yet Karthus knew he wouldn't have lasted as long as Killian.

Karthus simply acted incredibly tough on Killian and Damon to draw out their talents. He knew a Golden Generation was coming and wanted his Young Master to be as strong as possible. So, he wants to be able to provide the most effective training she can.

While this was Karthus' most difficult and grueling method of training, it also provided the highest results. How does he know that? Because Grand Marshall Sapphire had trained him in this exact same way, building up his bodily foundation, combat instincts, mana control and mana regeneration before helping him increase his cultivation.

"Alright, that's it, yall can stop now." Karthus said, allowing Damon to finally stop. Damon collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily.

"You have 5 minutes of break. Once it's done, pick a Weapon." Karthus said.

"Weapon? What are we gonna do now?" Killian asked curiously.

"For the final part of training, you will be fighting a soldier." Karthus said.

"AHA…Eeh… What?" Both Killian and Damon said aloud in complete shock. All of these soldiers were at least 6 Major ranks ahead of Damon and Killian, and would effortlessly be able to kill the duo.

"Don't worry, they won't be going at full strength. These spars are to train you both in Combat Instincts and effective Mana Control." Karthus said as he moved towards Damon and Killian, removing the weight bracelets.

5 minutes passed and Damon stood across from a solider. This soldiers name was Anivia, a female Demon who had been enlisted for over 50 years.

"Let us begin!!!" Karthus roared and signaled the start of the battle.

The battle had begun, yet Anivia had not released her aura, or else Damon would of been locked in place due to the Aura Suppression.

Damon had seen that Anivia had not moved from her spot, and so he decided to make the first move. Damon walked towards Anivia slowly in a standard combat stance. Damon had already taken advanced weapons training when he was younger before he awakened his mana and so he was very comfortable wielding a sword.

As Damon moved closer and closer to Anivia, he suddenly dashed forward, his sword in his right hand slicing fiercly through the air towards Anivia's neck while his left hand held a dagger flashing towards Anivia's stomach. Damon knew one of the earliest lessons in combat was attack decisively and from multiple angles, and he went for the kill.

Damon wasn't going to hide his powers in this battle. There was no use as Anivia was infinitely more powerful than him and fighting at full strength would allow them to access his combat instincts better and train him more effectively.

Anivia carefully dodged Damon's strikes by backstepping, however Damon wasn't holding back, he slashed his dagger throughout the air, and sent a slash of jet black demon flames hurling towards Anivia's location.

Anivia's eyes slightly widened at seeing this. For most awakeners, it would take over a week to even tap into their element, let alone having good enough Mana Control and elemental mastery to effectively employ their element in combat, yet Damon had already done that 1 day aftering awakening. Anivia marveled at his talent.

Anivia quickly moved her sword, slashing harshly at Damon's Black Flames, hitting the point where the Mana Concentration in the flames were weakest and dispersing Damon's attack. However, Damon had to keep Anivia on her toes, a slash came towards Anivia's neck and she flew back, avoiding the attack.

Anivia immediately went on the offensive, dashing towards Damona and slashing at Damon. Damon counterattacked quickly, clashing swords with Anivia, yet he could feel himself being pushed back due to the physical strength difference between the two.

Anivia started attacking Damon more and more vigorously, her angles changing fluidly and her attacks getting fiercer and fiercer. She fluidly changed between the Fire and Darkness elements like a master and pushed Damon back further and further, leaving him only hanging on in the battle.

Anivia dipped in and out of the shadows, slashing at Damon ferociously like a deadly assassin, her attacks coated in flames.

~SLASH~SLASH~BANG~BANG~

Damon hurriedly dodged two of Anivia's fierce strikes, yet two more came out of no-where, and Damon could barely see the attacks. Thankfully, Damon's <Eyes Of Oblivion> could see the flow of mana, and Damon managed to spot the flow of Mana in Anivia's flamed-coated-attack, just barely clashing with her and defending himself once again. The sword's force pushed Damon back and broke his stance, causing him to lose his balance slightly.

"What happened? Is this all you have?" Anivia mocked Damon as he kept striking him, Anivia's ruthless attacks were not helping Damon at all. And he was barely relying on the <Eyes Of Oblivion's ability to passively see the Mana Flow to defend against Anivia's attacks.

Damon jumped back and looked at Anivia in annoyance at her mockery.

"If you want to see it that much, I will show you," Damon thought as he unleashed all of his Mana Aura and Aether, going all out.

Damon leapt at Anivia fiercly, channeling Mana into his legs to give him for speed. Damon's sword and dagger slashed across the room, jet-black demon flames enveloping them and blazing across to Anivia. Damon's Aether channeled into Sealing Formations, chains made of Aether appearing and flashing towards Anivia. Damon's eyes turned blood-red, and flames danced in his air as he attacked as fiercly as he could.

Anivia licked her lips at charged back at Damon, impressed at Damon's ability for a newly awakened. Anivia slashed her sword, cracking the various chains sent towards her. Before the various chains could reform, she unleashed her own Spirit Power, directly overpowing Damon and restricting his ability to use his Aether effectively for attack.

Next, Anivia smashed Damian's flame attacks before swinging her left foot fiercly towards Damon's flame enveloped hair.

While it was a simple movement for Anivia without enhancing her speed and power with mana, to Damon, even with his <Eyes Of Oblivion> and battling at full power, it looked like a flash.

-WHOOSH!

Damon could barely react to Anivia's kick. He gathered all his remaining Aether and created a defensive barrier enveloping his body.

-BANG! -CRACK! BOOM!

Instantly, the barrier defending Damon broke and a shockwave of Aether spread across the room, making it shake. Anivia didn't stop there either, slashing at Damon and cutting him fiercely across his arm, blood pouring out of the wound.

Damon didn't let this stop him, using a basic illusion spell to create illusions of various daggers and slashed his sword towards Anivia's vitals, all of the various illusions slashing towards Anivia as well. Damon was hoping to confuse her to land his attack.

Anivia smiled and noticed that Damon's attacks always forced her to counter it, as they aimed for vital parts of her body. She acknowledged his skill, yet sighed at his inexperience.

Anivia swung her hand and punched the sword attack Damon was attemting.

~BOOM~

An implosion of dust occured as Damon was sent flying backwards, crashing into a wall as he panted heavily, blood seeping from his wounds. Damon coughed up blood and looked towards Anivia who was looking at him with a smirk on his lip.

"You are strong, but too inexperienced. Your attacks are good against anyone at or beneath your Realm. Yet, too obvious and predictable in an ever changing battlefield. You always attack the same spots, and seem too reliant on various attack styles to ever take change. Also your Mana Control is too crude to effectively use an Illusion bait attack, as anyone with better Mana Control can easily sense which one is real." Anivia said.

Damon looked down at the ground with annoyance. He knew he'd have to go back and train in the <Divine Combat Technique> to ever have a chance of beating Anivia even if she suppressed her realm. He was simply too inexperienced and hadn't awakened long enough.

"Training's over. Go to your room and take the bath that I had a maid prepare for you. Do not take any potions or herbs to aid in your recovery. This is to train your Mana Regeneration and Natural Healing Factor. Potions corrode these if used too much." Karthus said as he walked up towards Damon, stretching out his hand and pulling the young demon up.

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