Vanessa was close to her mansion, her hands clenched around the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles paled.
’Great, just the first day and you’ve drove him off.’ Her thoughts spiraled as the car rolled through the quiet streets. ’He probably had enough money to book another place by now. I should’ve known... Should I keep aside the training materials I set?’
Her chest tightened with guilt.
She had been so excited when she realized that someone else carried the same ideals as she did — reviving the Old Era of Awakeners, restoring glory to humanity but even she had to admit today had gone terribly.
She had promised Lucius alone time, promised to show him sights in the city. Instead, Rita had inserted herself into everything, annoying, abrasive, and as usual, unrestrained.
’If it was me, I’d leave as well...’ she admitted, overthinking the way she always did.
But before the spiral could consume her further, something shimmered beside her. T
he air warped, folding unnaturally, and Lucius suddenly appeared in the passenger seat, his hand clutching his chest, sweat dripping down his face like he had just finished running a marathon.
"Hey..." his voice came out breathless, "Please don’t let me meet Rita again."
Vanessa blinked in shock, nearly swerving the car.
He looked like he had just escaped a nightmare. In truth, teleporting across vast distances with unstable mastery of space had been overkill, but panic had driven him to flee.
Who wouldn’t flee with their nuts on the line?
"Huh? I wanted to invite her over—" she began, but Lucius quickly waved his hands in front of her face, cutting her off.
"While I know you guys are pretty cool friends and all," he said, voice trembling with sincerity, "please, for the sake of my mental health, at least wait until I’m gone before you invite her."
And he meant every word.
He had just seen what Rita kept hidden beneath the saintly mask: a factory of broken men, stripped of dignity and used as her toys, bleeding and screaming.
She wanted to add him to that collection? Wanted to rip him apart and keep him as her personal plaything?
No redemption could wash that away.
She wasn’t eccentric.
She wasn’t misunderstood.
Rita was pure evil.
Officially.
"O-okay..." Vanessa faltered, sensing the absolute seriousness in his tone, "but are you still staying?"
Lucius leaned back against the chair, chest finally rising and falling more calmly. "Where else do I have to go?"
Her heart leapt at the answer, relief spreading across her features like sunlight breaking through a storm.
"I apologize for what Rita did today," she said quietly. "It was my fault the towel fe—"
"It’s not your fault," Lucius interrupted sharply. "I didn’t mind being punched into the wall."
Internally, he screamed: ’I DID MIND IT!’
His ribs still ached from the impact.
"If anything," Lucius continued aloud, adjusting his cap with mock seriousness like a certain Pokémon trainer, "it opened my eyes. There’s a massive gap between me and the opponents we’ll have to face if we want to bring back the Old Era of Awakeners. I need to get stronger. So, right as we get home, could we start sparring?"
’Sounds like just the amount of cringe she likes,’ he thought. Truthfully, he needed this training more than anything — his Space affinity remained unpolished, and his Wood mastery wasn’t at the level where he could weave it properly into battle.
To advance his arsenal, he had to be thrown into real pressure.
Vanessa’s lips curved into a proud smile. "I’d be happy to oblige your request. Not like I had any preparations made beforehand..."
’Uh-huh.’ Lucius didn’t buy the casual act.
She absolutely had something set up.
...
By the time they arrived, it was late afternoon.
They walked through its halls until Vanessa pushed open the double doors of the training chamber.
Lucius froze. His own one-bedroom apartment’s training space was laughable compared to this.
Here, compartments were neatly organized, walls lined with racks of weapons, and in the center stretched a vast sparring field large enough to host a small tournament.
"That’s where we’ll spar," Vanessa declared, her confidence returning the moment she stepped inside her domain.
Her tone shifted, smooth and commanding, as though the battlefield gave her strength she couldn’t find in casual conversation except business talks of course.
She moved to a side table, lifting a small ring from its velvet box.
Walking back, she caught his hand before he could protest and slid the ring onto his finger.
Immediately, Lucius’s knees buckled. The floor rose to meet him as though an invisible giant had pressed its hand against his shoulders.
His body screamed, every bone suddenly heavier, every breath a task. He barely caught himself before collapsing.
"That," Vanessa said coolly, "is a gravity artifact. It emulates up to three times normal gravity. This should be enough for the first phase of your training."
Lucius’s mouth fell open. "FIRST PHASE? ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME, WOMAN?!"
But all that came out was a strangled groan as he struggled to stand. His muscles protested violently, as though chains had wrapped around his frame.
Vanessa raised a brow, watching him tremble. "If you can’t handle three times gravity, how do you expect to withstand the techniques of awakened enemies who can crush you with a thought? This is the bare minimum, Lucius."
’Bare minimum, my ass!’ he thought, gritting his teeth as he forced himself upright. Sweat poured down his temple. His body screamed, but he refused to let it collapse.
He tried to summon space, bending it to shift his weight, but the oppressive gravity destabilized the spatial threads.
Space needed more focus than anything and he couldn’t focus while being pushed into the ground.
Vanessa folded her arms, a faint smirk tugging at her lips. "Good. Don’t rely on tricks. Strengthen your fundamentals. Sometimes you need to endure with your body."
’I should have gone with my gut feeling and lazed around for the rest of the day,’ He thought as he followed Vanessa slowly toward the training field.