Thalso was seated in Flow position as always, unmoving, like a statue carved from shadow and steel. Whether he was even looking at them or not was a mystery.
They all lowered their weapons and waited.
"It’s hard to know if he’s even looking at you," Kaedros muttered, wiping sweat from his brow. His sword was in his right hand, so he managed the motion with minimal strain.
"Yeah," Taria agreed, tilting her head up toward the dim, shadowy ceiling. Her spear rested lightly against her shoulder, its tip pointed toward the dark. She couldn’t say why, but she knew, knew, she was getting stronger. Even if she couldn’t measure it.
"I’m sure he heard me," Rauk added, voice edged with frustration. "I don’t mind the pain. I just want to know why. Why this? Why ?"
Then, without a word, Thalso rose.
It was fluid, seamless, like liquid metal folding upward into the shape of a man. His armor gleamed faintly in the dim light, helmet still in place, unreadable.
Kaedros stiffened. Was Thalso going to reprimand Rauk? That wasn’t a smart move especially with their mana still sealed. Not that Kaedros could have done much even if it wasn’t.
He opened his mouth to speak maybe to defuse it but Thalso beat him to it.
"I suppose... you’re right."
The tension shattered instantly, replaced by confusion.
"What?" Rauk blinked, taken aback. "Wait, really?"
"You wanted to understand the reason for this training," Thalso said. "I told you it was for strength. But from your perspective... it looks like labor. That’s my mistake."
He took a step forward. "But you must learn, to see past what’s in front of you. You have to make use of every opportunity, even when it doesn’t look like one. Have you not noticed the changes in your bodies?"
Rauk frowned. His body had hardened, sure. His strength had increased. But nothing major, nothing dramatic.
Kaedros thought the same. His human form had definitely become stronger physically but beyond that?
"What changes, exactly?" Kaedros asked.
Thalso turned toward him, and even through the helmet, the weight of that gaze could be felt. It pressed down on him like judgment.
’..how can I train you to be battlemages when your physical foundations are this weak?..’ Thalso wondered silently. ’...especially you a Dragon...what happened to your body?..’
At least Nyra had found the stones that could reinforce their lacking bodies. They’d need those soon.
Still... the one who stood to gain the most from all of this wasn’t Kaedros or Rauk.
"I guess I can feel... something," Taria murmured, frowning slightly. "I don’t know what, exactly. I just... feel different than I did last week."
Her words were uncertain, but Kaedros nodded. He’d seen the change too. Taria moved differently now. Held herself differently. Like someone who knew her weapon and herself.
And since they’d entered this place, she’d finally received the training she always deserved. Kaedros was grateful for that, even if she couldn’t see it herself.
"It does make sense," Thalso said suddenly, his voice almost excited. "You’re a warrior. Physical training brings out your best. Of course you feel it."
Taria nodded. "I feel the changes... from the inside."
"Good," Thalso said to her, then turned to address all of them. "Do you know why I ask this? Because you thought this was only physical labor. But I’ve been a warrior for years and true technique is only born through long, relentless training."
’.but we’re mages... or at least of us..’ Kaedros thought.
Even though he was a Noble Dragon capable of both physical and magical combat, Kaedros still preferred casting over warrior techniques. Sun and now shadow, light, fire, those arts were where his soul sang. Not in brute force.
Thalso had said he wanted to turn them into battlemages, but Kaedros wasn’t sure that idea would succeed. Not entirely. It was already obvious that Taria was a warrior at heart. She endured the longest, her heavy spear dancing for hours when they were already on the floor gasping.
She was evolving, and fast.
Besides. Didn’t he also say their core was already patterned in some way and with the Flow, they could use the pattern to take in more mana and advance?
Kaedros and Rauk, by contrast, were far more comfortable with magic manipulation. Still... Kaedros couldn’t deny the idea had appeal. There was power in strength. In merging physical might with magical force.
But if he had the choice? He’d still rather throw fireballs than swing a sword.
Not that Thalso was giving them a choice.
Taria nodded again as Thalso continued to talk about the value of training, how it would bring out their potential and refine every layer of what they could be.
"...And now," Thalso said, voice flattening, "I want you to fight me."
It was as if he’d just revealed something monstrous. Fight him?
They had never seen Thalso fight. But from the very first day they laid eyes on him, they knew instinctively that this man was not someone you crossed. He was a wall built of storms and blood.
They all unconsciously took a step back.
"Well, Rauk," Taria said, flashing him a sly grin. "He wants to fight you since you’re the one who kept asking if the training was useful!"
She slipped behind Kaedros, leaving Rauk exposed.
"What? You’re not leaving me to face him alone, are you?" Rauk said, half-laughing, but Kaedros saw the worry in his eyes.
Kaedros wasn’t afraid Thalso would kill them. No, that wasn’t the danger.
The danger was worse...survival. Thalso could leave them broken, in so much pain they might wish he had killed them. He’d done it before, after all. The shadow blade ordeal still haunted their bodies.
Thalso chuckled, a dry, scraping sound. "You’ll all fight me. Together."
A portal shimmered open beside him. From it, their old weapons clattered onto the metal floor.
"You’ll use those," he said, pointing. "Put those heavy things down."
Kaedros picked up his old short sword and blinked in surprise. The weapon was light. Feather-light. So light it almost didn’t feel real.
Taria gasped, spinning her spear in her hand. "It’s like holding air..."
"Finally!" Rauk grinned. "I can swing with one hand again!" He gave his longsword a practiced, elegant arc.
Then, from the still-open portal, a final weapon floated out, a short sword identical to Kaedros’s, hovered before Thalso.
The portal closed. Thalso didn’t touch the weapon right away. He simply stared at it.
Kaedros couldn’t see the expression behind the helmet, but something passed through the air like a ripple in still water. Loneliness. It was so strong, so palpable, that Kaedros felt it sink into his bones.
Why does he look at that sword like that?
Then Thalso reached out.
His fingers hesitated before finally grasping the hilt.
Two things happened instantly.
First, it felt as if the entire Castle turned to look at him. A crushing pressure, like a cosmic eye, pressed down on them. The air turned thick and heavy, and their hair stood on end.
Second, the chains wrapped around Thalso’s body suddenly writhed. They tightened, coiling until his armor groaned beneath the strain, and then stilled.
The oppressive feeling also vanished.
They could breathe again and didn’t feel as if they would die the next instant.
"What... was that?!" Taria gasped. She looked toward Kaedros and Rauk, but they weren’t paying her any attention. Their eyes were locked on Thalso.
She followed their gaze and froze.
Thalso was hunched forward slightly, sword clenched tightly in his hand. But it wasn’t his posture that chilled them.
It was his aura. His baleful aura.
As one, the trio stepped back.
His black armor had turned pitch black, and a dark energy oozed from him. Not overwhelming like the Chef’s, it wasn’t a flood. It was a blade. A thin, precise, merciless blade aimed directly at their souls.
It was killing intent so sharp, so direct, that they stopped breathing entirely.
Kaedros began sweating. He’d done that a lot lately in this cursed castle.
Was Thalso possessed? Was this a transformation? Should he call out? Try to disrupt it?
His vision blurred from lack of air. He could see Rauk and Taria shaking. They were going to pass out. Or die!
"Stop!" Kaedros shouted, the word cracking like a whip in the air and filled with an authority that shouldn’t be there.
Thalso’s head snapped up. Slowly, he raised his sword.
Kaedros raised his own without thinking. His posture wasn’t perfect, his stance was raw but everything in it screamed defiance and his eyes narrowed. In that instant, he seems like a Monarch scolding his subordinates.
Thalso paused... then bowed.
"Of course," he said, voice grinding like a blade dragged across stone.
In that instant, the aura vanished. Gone, as though it had never existed.
But the rapid gasps from Taria and Rauk proved otherwise.
Kaedros kept his eyes on Thalso as the others caught their breath. He had almost feel a something flowed out of him as he issued the orders.
The chains around Thalso pulsed. The darkness flowing from his armor seeped into the chains until his armor turned light blacl once more. But the black lines of corruption remained across the metal. Deep, like scars that wouldn’t fade.