After the meeting was over, the group returned to Velouria's castle and sat down to relax.
"Master, are you sure it's okay to let them do as they wish in the Abyss for now though? The Eclipse God didn't seem to be joking when she was asking you to prove yourself." Allura asked while eating some cake.
"It's better to play along for now. And they're not wrong in the fact that we don't know what the Will actually wants. So far, it simply seems to be acting on a whim. Even the act of making me the Goddess." Velouria shrugged helplessly.
"Do you think it's planning on opening new paths to other realms? Aside from the Surface and the Abyss, we know that there are realms where the Outer Gods reside." Nyer asked curiously. He was currently sitting on the balcony away from Alice since she was uncomfortable with his presence. Even though he didn't know why, he'd respect her choice.
"Possibly. And to be fair, in the beginning, it had a hand in opening the pathway between the Abyss and the Surface. The pathway couldn't be opened from just one side, both sides were needed for it to happen." Velouria nodded.
"So it must've wanted something with the Surface."
"It's a good chance to figure out the motives behind this realm. Though I think the biggest winner out of all of this is Alice." Kaden chuckled while turning to Alice who was hugging a large bottle of mead with her entire body.
There was a goofy grin on her face while she drank from another bottle.
To compensate Alice for suddenly pushing her into the spotlight, Kaden brought her several bottles of Ayrian Mead since she didn't get to drink it last time.
But seeing her reaction towards the drink, it seems like she was happier with the mead than she was with getting training from the Apostles.
"True. How often do you even see a person get trained by 1 Apostle never mind all eight of us." Allura nodded her head while Alice zoned back in after realising they were talking about her.
"Do you think they'll even try hard enough in the training? I think they'll probably dismiss me with some random information." Alice asked.
After all, for all they know, she was part of Velouria's family. Trying their best to train her would be akin to shooting themselves in the foot after their show of hostility from earlier. But as Nyer mentioned, they could be looking down on her since she's weak and choose a hard to understand subject.
"They won't show you the best but rather some foundational knowledge. Probably something hard to comprehend but could still be considered to be easy." Nyer added.
"The Commander is right. Each of the Apostles have their own specialisation. Honestly, me and Kaden are considered to be jack of all trades kind of fighters. I'm a hybrid while he's able to mimic casters." Allura said while pointing her fork at Kaden.
Alice had noticed this as well. Using his power of Shadows, Kaden could easily copy and recreate any casts done by the opponent and even add more onto it.
"Preservation and Protection are annoying to fight against since they have very good control of the space around them. I've fought them here and there, but it's never been a serious fight. However, even then, I would rarely get a hit in." Allura groaned.
Her attack is not a sure hit type of attack. While it was good against raw defences, there was still a chance that her attack would miss if they dodged at the right time.
For the Apostles belonging to the Sun God, they were surprisingly, her worst match-up.
"Spirituality and Immortality have a wide variety of combinations for their casts. They're sneaky with laying traps too. Though if I'm being honest, I didn't have much trouble against them, unlike Lua who can't fight neither Protection nor Preservation." Kaden chuckled while poking Allura on the nose causing her to stick her tongue out at him in annoyance.
"I haven't seen you fight yet so I can't say much. But if I take what Lua and Kaden have said at face value, War and Famine may be your best teachers." Nyer smiled.
"Oh? Why's that?" Alice glanced over curiously.
"Because they're instinctual fighters. They use everything and anything at their disposal, making the most out of the battlefield. Whether that be using their opponent's weapons against them or the environment. They're extremely perceptive of any signs of weakness you show and they'll bite down without release.
"Fighting them is absolutely brutal if you're not prepared." Nyer laughed as he unbuckled some of his armour and revealed his chest.
Several deep ghastly cuts could be seen clawing down from the right shoulder.
"Famine's authority is annoying to deal with. Any wounds dealt by them become extremely hard to heal. This was the best we could do for me. One moment of weakness was all it needed for them to end the fight between us. Of course, I managed to get a hit back but unlike their hits, mine could be healed." Nyer explained while putting his armour back on.
"So if you can only learn one thing from these three, I'd say War and Famine suit your style the most."
Nodding her head, Alice couldn't help but feel as though she had the wrong idea about Nyer this whole time. Not even she knew why she was scared of him but she couldn't deny that he's helped.
Hesitating for a moment, Alice turned to him once more.
"I… Haven't gotten training from you yet. Allura showed me how to attack, Kaden showed me how to optimise my usage. Are… You able to train me as well?" Alice asked as Nyer paused in surprise, pointing at himself.
As for Allura, she wanted to shed a tear and say look at how Alice had grown. From being scared to death of Nyer to asking him for training.
Looking over to Velouria for permission and seeing her nod his head, he smiled and turned back to Alice.
"Sure, I can teach you. I'll teach you how to stand your ground in this world of talented monsters like Lua and Kaden." He grinned while giving her a thumbs up.
"Master, you don't mind if I monopolise her schedule for a while right?"
"Go ahead. I'll let you know when the other Apostles are ready for their training sessions." Velouria nodded with a smile.
"Wait we're going now?" Alice blinked her eyes as Nyer flashed next to her and grabbed her shoulder.
"Of course, no time to waste." Nyer laughed deviously while Allura and Kaden made a praying motion.
"Wait, why are you praying." Alice shivered.
"The Commander trained me and Lua, that's all you need to know." Kaden smiled.
At that moment, Alice paled, realising that it was very possible for Kaden and Allura to get their violent training tendencies from Nyer.
"Is it too late to say no?" Alice forced a smile while Nyer didn't say anything.
"Kaden, send us to the Hell Gate."
Nodding his head, Kaden snapped his finger as shadows wrapped around Nyer and Alice, sending them away.
"How well do you think Alice will do?" Allura asked curiously while Kaden thought for a moment before shrugging his shoulders.
"She'll probably hate us for letting her train with the Commander. At least we're gentle with our training." He shivered.
While he and Allura hold back and let the other adapt to the training, Nyer goes all in. To Nyer, the best way to teach how to fight is to get beaten up until you're about to die. Literally.
It is on the edge of life and death will your body and mind try its best to find a way out. A path to victory. By constantly honing into this state, you learn skills and movements unique to your physique for the highest chance of survival.
Before they became Apostles, both Kaden and Allura received brutal beatdowns to the point they couldn't move for days had it not been for Healing Blood.
Watching Kaden and Allura dread about their training days with Nyer, Velouria chuckled while closing her eyes.
'Cayla, can you go help Alice out? Since you're connected to her in the future, she needs to get used to using you more often.'
[Are you sure Master? I don't want to leave your side when the other Gods are here.]
'Don't worry, they won't pull anything until we find the Will. This is the perfect time for you to help Alice.'
Watching the wisp of energy travel towards Hell Gate, Velouria smiled while looking over to Allura and Kaden.
"I have something I need the two of you to do for me."
This was going to be her last and final gift to Alice.
Falling through the sky once more, Alice had expected herself to be in free fall yet surprisingly, Nyer carried her in his arms and made a gentle descent.
Without the threat of falling to her death, she took this time to look at the location known as Hell Gate.
A landscape of black and red, clashed violently across a border while flashes of lightning decorated the sky.
Across the land, countless scars were left by the previous battles while Nyer looked at this with a tinge of nostalgia.
"This used to be a farmland but then I fought Famine here. Never recovered since and now it's called Hell Gate." He explained while Alice froze up.
"Mnm. Those scars in the ground are left by my attacks while the sky and the clashing of energy were left by Famine. This will be the perfect place to train since no matter how much damage we do to the surroundings, this place is already f*cked up so no one will care." Nyer reassured with a grin.
But these words send warning bells off in Alice's mind.
'What kind of training requires us to reshape the surroundings?!?!'