"So, how long have you guys been watching?" Leo asked.
"Not very long, actually," Lyla answered. She added with a smirk, "You accidentally wandered onto the wrong training grounds. This area is supposed to be for me, Jane, and Caspian—not you."
"Oh, I'm so sorry about that. I didn't notice," Leo said, looking a bit sheepish.
"Nah, no problem. Do you want to stay?" Lyla asked.
"Yep. I want to see just how much my Jane has outperformed herself," Leo replied.
Jane smiled, her eyes filled with determination. "I promise you, I will do even better."
Jane was currently holding a sword, dressed in red jeans and a crop top. She turned to Lyla. "So, Lyla, am I training with you first?"
"Yeah," Lyla nodded. "Caspian isn't much use with a sword; he's strictly a guns man."
Leo spoke up then. "Nova told me to tell you something, Jane."
"What's that?" Jane asked, curious.
"Well, she said that since you're already so skilled in sword combat, training against another person won't do much to increase your combat IQ or the precision of your attacks anymore."
"Then what should I do?"
"You'll need to be able to cut arrows in half mid-air," Leo explained. "And I don't mean one at a time. I mean cutting at least ten in a row."
Jane frowned. "How will that help me with precise cutting?"
"Every demon and beast has a core, except for spiritual beings," Leo said. "The arrows you'll be cutting will have a tiny bead hidden inside. Since you can't see the bead, we'll mark its location with a pen or some sand. You must cut that exact spot in half, and you have to do it by swinging your sword only three times."
Jane repeated the instructions, her voice skeptical. "I have to swing my sword just three times to cut ten arrows in half—whether they're flying horizontal or diagonal—and I have to hit the marked spot every time?"
"Exactly!" Leo confirmed.
"But that's impossible," Jane argued. "I'm only human. I haven't even taken the pills yet."
"Nova said that if you can master this now, then in your spiritual form, you won't even need to swing a sword to slice a high-rank demon—even if you're only using a middle-rank spiritual being pills."
Jane took a deep breath. "Then I will try my best."
Caspian raised his hand tentatively. "I have a question..."
Lyla reached over and pushed his hand down. "Just act cool," she whispered.
Leo noticed anyway. "What is it, Caspian?"
"If beasts and demons have cores, what about spiritual beings and angels?" Caspian asked.
"Well, that's a secret no one will ever tell you—not even me," Leo replied. "That's what Nova said, at least."
Lyla shrugged. "I don't really care about that. How do I start my own training?"
"Nova said you're already skilled enough that you don't need physical training," Leo told her. "All you need are emotions."
"Expatiate," Lyla requested, crossing her arms.
"Your maximum dark energy output depends on your emotions," Leo explained. "If you're angry, you release a red aura. But if you become cruel, wicked, and lose your emotions entirely, you will release pure dark energy."
"So my training is to control my emotions and learn to trigger that anger at the right time?" Lyla asked.
"I think so," Leo said. He looked around the group. "Shall we start now?"
"I'll be back in a minute," Lyla said, heading toward the exit.
Axiel, who had been standing so still he seemed almost invisible, finally spoke up. "Wow, wow, wow. I don't even know what to say. It's like I'm living in a fantasy world."
Leo smiled. "Well, that's what our lives have become."
Caspian chimed in, "So, what about me?"
"Oh, you?" Leo thought for a moment. "Nova said that if you're already a good shot, there's not much to do until you gain your power. Then you'll have to learn how to handle that kind of overwhelming strength."
[Few minutes later]
Ten guards entered the grounds following Lyla. They carried wooden arrows and ten crossbows. "There are a hundred arrows and ten crossbows here," Lyla announced. "That means they can only fire ten volleys, Jane. You only get ten tries."
Lyla waved a hand as she walked away. "I'm going to go check on my little sister."
Caspian followed her, leaving only Axiel, Leo, and Jane. The ten guards lined up, crossbows at the ready. Jane stepped forward, gripping her sword tightly. As the soldiers formed a horizontal line, Axiel whispered to Leo, "How is she supposed to slice through all of them if they're spread out? And with only three swings?"
"I'm surprised myself," Leo admitted.
"Be careful, Jane!" Axiel shouted.
"I'm ready," Jane said firmly.
Immediately, the soldiers fired. The arrows whistled through the air. Jane stared them down, her sword a blur as she unsheathed it. When the first arrow was only three inches from her face, she swung to the right, then immediately slashed back to the left. She was so focused on the targets that she almost missed one flying straight for her head. Luckily, it whistled past, leaving only a shallow scratch on her cheek before thudding into the wall.
"That was a great attempt!" Leo said, impressed. "You slashed six arrows in a row with only two swings."
He walked over to her with a smile. "Don't push yourself too hard, though. You almost got yourself killed."
Leo touched the scratch on her cheek, and it healed instantly. A soldier approached him. "Leo, Lyla is calling for you in the lab."
Leo turned to the soldier. "Let's go." As he started to leave, he called back to Jane, "Try using tactics! Remember, it's about IQ and precision!"
As soon as Leo was gone, Axiel shook his head. "This is insane. You're going to kill yourself."
Jane ignored him, her eyes fixed on the guards. "Again!" she shouted.
They fired again. This time she swung three times, but only managed to cut five arrows on the mark. Three others were cut, but not precisely. Jane looked up, undeterred. "Again!"
"Calm down, Jane," Axiel pleaded.
[10 minutes later]
Leo returned to the training grounds to find Jane panting heavily, drenched in sweat. He looked at Axiel, who held up his hands defensively. "Don't look at me! You're the one who didn't stop this crazy training."
Leo started to go to her, but then he paused. *She has to learn to survive without me,* he thought.
"Remember: IQ and precision!" Leo shouted from a distance.
Jane froze, the words sinking in. *I need to be faster,* she realized. *I shouldn't just wait for the arrows to come to me. I need to sprint toward them—cut them all in a single, fluid motion.*
"Again!" Jane commanded.
"This is the last one!" Axiel warned. Leo realized she was down to her final batch of arrows.
The soldiers fired. This time, Jane didn't stay in the middle. She moved to the side, waiting for the arrows to align in the air. Then she sprinted. She was a blur of motion. She missed the first two, but then she became a whirlwind. She cut the remaining eight precisely in a single slash. Even Axiel, who had a spiritual being within him, could barely track her speed. As she reached the end of her run, she noticed the first two arrows hadn't hit the wall yet. She threw her sword with incredible force, the blade spinning through the air and slicing the remaining arrows just before they hit the wall.
Jane collapsed from pure exhaustion. Leo rushed to her side, his hands glowing as he healed her. "You wanted to do it in one slash," he said softly. "You actually did it in two. And when the soldiers checked the arrows, the beads weren't just cut in half—they were pulverized."
Leo looked at her, a strange expression on his face. "How many times did you actually swing your sword, Jane?"
Jane smiled, knowing she'd been caught. "Ten times."
Leo and Axiel both froze in shock. Inside Leo's mind, Nova's voice whispered: *That was fast.*
To be continued...