Sora flew back and crashed into the wall—again. Jubelle, Julius and Levi cringed from the seats in the training room.
'Anything I try he gets the upper hand on me. If I try being defensive, he pounces. It's been three days straight and I haven't won a single match,' Sora thought angrily.
"Match Bishop!" Xavier shouted. "You're getting better each time you fight Sora. Remember, once you get to the SSS class, there is no real measurement tool within the group. For example, Pride and Wrath are only SS ranked but thoroughly beat your party. Why do you think that is?"
"Because Azazel is SSS ranked and his demonic art allows him to transfer his power to any person he wants. How does he have such a large supply to give away though? Jubelle asked Xavier.
"What type of being could grant him limitless power, on a regular basis, without killing him?" Xavier asked.
"Well, it makes sense that he has a god or goddess with him," Sora said as he switched his armor, gauntlets and boots using his dimensional void. "We should try and find out which one and kill her too. A god or goddess can die, I remember that much from my studies."
Sora equipped two claymores from his dimensional void. "Alright Bishop let's do this. No holding back!" Sora shouted.
Bishop growled fiercely and as soon as Xavier started the fight, Bishop took to the offensive. He jumped at Sora with massive speed and went in for a swipe with his right arm.
"Shield of Lockheart," Sora shouted.
"System, teleport me behind Bishop. When I go to strike, immediately cast Lockheart slash on his left leg. It should knock him off balance."
Expecting Sora to use his ability as a shield, Bishop slashed at Sora, who was no longer there. Sora got a clean cut on Bishop's leg with "Lockheart Slash." While Bishop was off-balance, Sora shouted "Divine slash! creating two more slashes into Bishop's leg. Black blood smeared the white floor.
Sora teleported to Bishop's right leg, unleashing a barrage of attacks with his claymores.
Bishop yelped in pain as he swatted at Sora. Sora teleported away just in time. He watched Bishop use his hand to completely heal his wounds.
'If I could only use my damn eyes!'
Sora refused to use his eye abilities unless he was in a private training session.
Sora was now able to freeze time for one minute with two people in it. His illusions also worked on everyone in his party aside from Celeste; however, Levi broke out of a few of the illusions using his mental fortitude to "force himself out," after realizing he was in an illusion. Levi wasn't able to break out of any painful illusion, just the "positive" based illusions.
Sora was confident he could defeat Bishop by using his eye of Chronos. Even if Bishop could somehow "unfreeze time," Sora knew he'd catch him off guard enough to have his blades at Bishop's neck.
Now fully healed, Bishop began forming a ball of fire in both of his hands, which was something Sora had not seen.
'Guess it's time to try out some new god magic,' Sora thought with a huge grin.
"System, when the two fireballs get near me, use Divine reflection!"
[Divine reflection cast. Double the number of fireballs are returning toward your foe at twice the speed they were sent to you at.]
The four fireballs crashed into Bishop, sending him flying through the wall of the elven training hall.
"Match, Sora!" Xavier exclaimed.
"That's our King!" Levi shouted excitedly.
"Nice one Sora! I guess I wasn't the only one holding a trick up my sleeve. What spell is that? I've never seen anything like it! Xavier, can you heal me please? I'm pretty spent. That was our 15th match today!" Bishop said.
"Thanks Bishop! It's a type of god magic I learned while doing personal training. It's called divine reflection. It doubles the amount of damage my attacker uses and reflects it back at twice the speed," Sora said proudly.
"That is a nice spell indeed. Maybe one unique to yourself, Sora. You have the heart and passion of a true warrior," Xavier said confidently. "You never back down and learn from the fights you lose. Keep that positive spirit and I know you and your party will do great things."
"Thank you, that means a lot, especially from you," Sora said excitedly.
"I must take my leave. I am meeting my wife for dinner," Xavier said politely. "Great progress Sora! Although you are young, you learn quickly and accept constructive criticism very well."
"Thanks, your Majesty," Sora said with a bow.
"Bishop. Thank you for your assistance. All of you enjoy the rest of your evening," Xavier said and left the training room.
*****
After Xavier left the room, Sora asked Levi and Bishop to hang back for a moment. Jubelle took Julius to go grab something to eat and Levi and Bishop were curious as to why Sora wanted a private moment.
"Hey system, what spell allows us to speak without being heard by anyone else?"
[Lockheart's whisper.]
"Can you cast it on the three of us?"
[Lockheart's whisper is now active. Only Bishop, Levi and you can hear this conversation.]
Sora finally broke the silence.
"Sorry for being so secretive. Bishop, your brother once did me a very kind favor for freeing him and allowing him to rest in Paradise. I want to share with you something because I feel like your brother would want you to know."
"What would you wish to share and why not tell the Elven King and Queen?" Bishop asked curiously.
"I will when I feel the time is right. I feel a connection with you through your brother and feel that I can trust you with anything," Sora said calmly.
"I feel this connection too but why is Levi here?" Bishop asked with a confused expression.
"Do you remember the Steele family? Levi is a member of that family, and I need him for the demonstration," Sora said with a smile.
"Why didn't you mention that sooner?! It's a pleasure Master Steele," Bishop said excitedly.
"The pleasure is all mine! You look so much like your brother and one of these days you'll have to kick my ass in a spar!" Levi said with a laugh.
"Anyway, I want you to show you the ability of my right eye. Talk to you a bit, Levi," Sora said as he thought 'eye of Chronos.'
Bishop stroked his mane as time stopped. Levi stood still with a big smile still on his face.
"You can freeze time? That is probably the strongest magic I've seen on Exteria. How long can you hold it for?"
"Around one minute right now with 3 people and myself in the space. I train everyday with Celeste and try to push as far as I can," Sora said calmly.
"Thank you for showing me. Had you used this, you surely would have defeated me rather easily. Can you combine your two eye skills yet? Freezing someone in time in a memory loop is a tragic fate," Bishop said nervously.
"Not yet. Also, I've never considered using my eye to freeze someone in time. Hopefully I never have to do something like that," Sora said somberly.
"Well, your secret is safe with me. Would you like me to help you train with it?" Bishop asked eagerly.
"That depends. Are you willing to join my party?" Sora said with a giant grin.
"Hm," Bishop said with a long pause. "I'll think about it and give you an answer before you leave."
"Perfect," Sora said as he thought, 'release.'