Some time later...
BOOOOOOOM!!
The sound of a devastating impact echoed across the plain.
Mio was sent flying like a ragdoll, crashing violently into the rubble of a mountain that had been destroyed moments earlier. Her body rolled for several meters before stopping, leaving behind a trail of overturned earth.
"Ghh…!"
She spat out a stream of fresh blood, her body trembling. Her black sports top was torn in several places, barely covering her generous bust and revealing purple bruises spreading across her soft stomach and ribs. Her leggings were also shredded around the thighs, with deep tears exposing pale skin marked by bruises. Panting heavily, she tried to support herself with her arms, but her strength failed her.....
A few dozen meters away, the cause of all that chaos stood still.
A colossal giant over four meters tall. Hyper-developed muscles and bulging veins covered his entire body, as if he were a statue of pure incarnate fury. His long wild black hair flared like dark flames in the wind, his red eyes shone with murderous madness, and his open mouth, roaring savagely, revealed sharp fangs. He wore thick ancient metal bracers and anklets, along with a skirt made of dark metallic plates that barely covered his powerful thighs. In his right hand, he wielded a gigantic club-sword made of irregular stone and metal, with serrated edges that looked capable of splitting the world in half.
It was a perfect replica of Berserker; Heracles....
"MIO!!" Maria screamed in despair.
The succubus immediately raised her hands, unleashing a barrage of violet spells; bolts of energy toward the monster. However, the giant spun his colossal weapon with absurd speed, deflecting every attack as if they were mere mosquitoes. The explosions illuminated the battlefield, yet failed to leave even a scratch on him.
Then he disappeared.
Whoosh!
Maria barely had time to blink. The monster reappeared right in front of her like a black blur, his colossal fist slamming into her abdomen with brutal force. The girl was launched to the opposite side of the field with a sharp scream, rolling violently across the ground.
"M-MARIA!!" Mio shouted, her voice hoarse with concern. She desperately tried to stand, but her legs trembled and she collapsed to her knees again, coughing up more blood.
In the sky, Ravel activated her Phoenix flame wings and rapidly ascended, her face filled with determination.
"Get away from her!!" she shouted, conjuring several golden fire spheres and spears of intense flame that shot toward the giant.
The spells hit directly… but the monster did not even flinch. The flames dissipated against his skin without leaving any marks. He roared savagely, bent his powerful legs, and leaped like a living missile.
BOOOOOOM!!
He appeared above Ravel in an instant. The colossal punch descended like a divine hammer, striking her directly in the back. The blonde girl was hurled downward with unbelievable force, crashing into another hill and partially destroying it in an explosion of dirt, rocks, and dust. Her fire wings flickered and vanished as she fell face-first to the ground, coughing violently.
The giant landed with a thunderous crash that made the earth tremble, resting the club-sword over his shoulder while roaring toward the sky, his red eyes glowing with pure fury.
Alear watched everything from afar, his arms crossed and a calm expression on his face.
From his perspective, the three of them still possessed a considerably low level of strength, and the best way to understand their limits was to place them against an opponent who was clearly superior. Any minimally sane person would probably question his sanity for throwing the three of them against a Berserker right from the start, but in his defense, he genuinely believed he was being a good teacher. After all, he had learned this method directly from . Besides, that Berserker was merely a cheap imitation and absurdly weaker than the original.....
It was surprising that the three had even managed to last a few minutes.
A few minutes truly did not seem like much, but it had already been enough for Alear to analyze various details regarding each of their strengths and limitations.
Mio, for example, possessed genuine talent. She knew how to use several different types of magic and, more importantly, her latent Demonic Power was absurdly high, so high that, in terms of raw quantity, she was already close to the level of a Super Devil. The problem was that she could not control even a real fraction of that power.
He suspected that Wilbert had performed some kind of ritual before dying to transfer his own demonic power to her, creating an almost paradoxical situation. It was as if Mio were slowly assimilating that monstrous amount of energy as her body and soul strengthened over time.
That was why she still could not use [Gravity Magic] efficiently.
Most of the time, the power simply spiraled out of control or consumed too much energy to produce proportional results. And interestingly enough, it was precisely during moments of extreme danger that she managed to use that magic in a way much closer to ideal, as if her instincts themselves forced her body to access a greater portion of that sealed power....
Maria was not far behind in terms of potential either. Her Demonic Power was already comparable to that of a High-Class Devil, and she also possessed good affinity with several different forms of magic. The most interesting thing, however, was her ability called [Succubus Form], a transformation that basically caused her body to assume a more mature and developed version of itself. In that form, Maria became even more voluptuous than Mio herself, while her physical attributes increased drastically, especially her speed, strength, and endurance.
The problem was the enormous energy consumption.
She simply still lacked the control and reserves necessary to maintain that transformation for long periods during real combat. It only took the Berserker landing several consecutive hits on her for her stability to completely collapse, forcing Maria to lose her [Succubus Form] before she could even use the full potential of that transformation....
Lastly, there was Ravel. Among the three, she was probably the one who relied the most on her own [Immortality], something that ultimately made her actions reckless without her even realizing it. Ravel fought like someone accustomed to believing she would always survive in the end, lacking the caution necessary to understand that the regenerative trait of the Phenex family was not absolute. After all, if her Demonic Power were completely exhausted, she would truly die just like any other Devil.
Even so, aside from that recklessness, Ravel proved herself extremely intelligent in combat.
She was the one who coordinated Mio and Maria throughout practically the entire battle, analyzing the Berserker's movements and organizing the actions of the three efficiently enough to prolong the fight for several minutes. Her manipulation of flames was also quite decent, far more refined than he had initially expected, especially in terms of control and attack precision.
But putting that aside, Alear continued observing the three fighting for a little while longer.
Maria rolled across the ground before staggering back to her feet, her entire body aching and her light pink shorts nearly destroyed from the previous impacts. Her violet eyes were filled with panic and irritation as she barely dodged another horizontal swing of the Berserker's colossal sword.
"Alear-samaaaa!!" she shouted, her voice mixed with desperation and indignation. "Are you trying to kill us?! This isn't training, it's an execution!!"
The Berserker roared violently and charged again. Maria barely managed to leap aside, feeling the pressure of the strike pass so close that it tore her clothes even further.
At that same moment, Mio raised her trembling hand and fired a black-blue lightning bolt toward the giant.
"Maria, watch out!!"
The spell struck the Berserker's shoulder, drawing his attention for a brief moment and creating the distraction Maria needed to gain distance.
Alear, who had been observing everything with his arms crossed, finally sighed before snapping his fingers.
Snap.
The Berserker froze mid-motion. Soon after, his gigantic body began dissolving into particles of pink light, slowly disappearing into the air as though he had never existed.
Silence returned to the vast plain.
The only thing that could be heard was the heavy breathing of the three girls.
Maria immediately collapsed into a sitting position on the ground, panting heavily.
"You sadist…" she complained between breaths. "You really wanted to see us die…"
Mio and Ravel were also at their limits. Their bodies were covered in bruises, small cuts, and impact marks, while blood discreetly trickled from the corners of their mouths.
Alear merely let out another calm sigh.
"It wouldn't be training if I went easy on you…" he said simply while raising his right hand, causing a soft pink glow to spread through the surroundings. "Besides… I would never let you die."
A wave of warm energy enveloped the three girls simultaneously.
He had used [Status Recovery] directly on them.
Within seconds, every bruise disappeared, the cuts completely closed, the bleeding stopped, and even the extreme fatigue was erased. Their bodies returned to perfect condition almost instantly, as though that brutal battle had never happened.
Mio blinked several times while touching her own stomach and thighs, clearly surprised that she could no longer feel even the slightest trace of pain.
Ravel, meanwhile, slowly flexed her fingers, amazed by the absurd speed of the recovery.
Maria still remained seated on the ground. She raised her gaze toward Alear with a complicated mixture of resentment, relief, and exhaustion.
"…You're a horrible teacher, you know that?" she murmured, although the tail discreetly swaying behind her betrayed that she was not truly angry.
Alear merely smiled faintly upon hearing that, without showing the slightest disturbance.
"You still have no idea how terrible I can be as a teacher…" he replied calmly.
The next instant, using [Transposition], he disappeared from where he stood.
A pink distortion briefly appeared in the air before he reappeared in front of Mio, who was still kneeling while catching her breath. Alear then silently extended his hand, naturally helping her back to her feet.
His pink-magenta eyes met hers directly and calmly.
"Mio… you did very well."
The girl blinked, clearly surprised that he had started with her.
"Your Demonic Power is monstrous..." he continued calmly. "Greater than that of most high-ranking nobles. The problem was never quantity… but control."
He paused briefly before continuing:
"In moments of desperation, when your instincts take over, you naturally manage to access a much greater portion of that power. That means your body is already capable of using it. Your mind simply still cannot keep up."
Mio's fingers slowly clenched.
"We'll work on that over the next few days."
She lowered her gaze for a moment before looking back at him. Her pink eyes shone with shame, gratitude, and silent determination.
"…I don't want to continue being someone protected by others…" she murmured quietly.
"Then work as hard as you can to make sure that doesn't happen!"
Mio nodded with determination....
Alear observed her face for a few seconds before stepping back and turning his attention to the other two.
"Maria, your versatility is excellent, and your [Succubus Form] possesses absurd potential...." he explained calmly. "But you waste far too much energy trying to keep everything at maximum output all the time. Learn how to manage your resources better."
Maria puffed her cheeks slightly, though she seemed to listen to every word with genuine attention.
"Ravel...." he continued shortly after, turning his gaze toward the young Phenex girl. "Your strategic ability is probably the best among the three of you. You were the one coordinating the entire battle almost by yourself. But stop blindly relying on the immortality of the Phenex family."
His expression became slightly more serious.
"One day, that recklessness may truly get you killed."
Ravel stiffened slightly upon hearing that, but still nodded silently.
After that, Alear began explaining in detail the strengths and weaknesses of each of them, precisely pointing out where they needed to improve. From that moment onward, the group training quickly transformed into something far more brutal: an individual training regimen completely tailored to each girl's talent, limitations, and potential.
Over the following hours, Alear literally extracted every gram of their potential through methods that would probably make even proud. There was no room for rest, hesitation, or complacency. Mio was forced to control her own Demonic Power under constant pressure, Maria had to learn how to manage her energy while fighting at her physical limit, and Ravel was placed in situations where blindly depending on regeneration was no longer an option.
By the end of it, the three of them had improved tremendously in an absurdly short amount of time.
But they also became slightly traumatized by Alear's concept of "training."
__________________
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