"Feel the darkness around you," Midnight spoke as she used the sword she had picked up from the shelf and slashed at Zaroth's right leg.
"Make it submit to you, make it surround your body," she went behind him, made her fingers longer, and pierced his side.
"Use your eyes to pierce through the darkness," she spoke as she took a step back and let Zaroth collapse on his knees. She waited a moment for the room to heal his injuries.
"Is… this the way you vampires learn your skills?" he asked between ragged breaths as he stood up.
"Yes, we also have a fast regenerating ability, but considering that we are in this room that does basically the same thing, you will not learn it here," she answered, not stopping her attacks.
'This hour is going to be long,' Zaroth thought as he tried his best to command the darkness.
*****
"And that is an hour," Midnight spoke as she turned the switch to activate the gems on the ceiling and lit the room again.
She shifted her gaze to Zaroth, who was laying on the ground, bleeding profusely. "Good job. It may seem pointless now, but with time, your body will naturally get used to this."
He took a moment to recover, then stood up with a grunt. "If this is in the name of strength, so be it."
Midnight scoffed at his words. "You can try to learn the skills outside battle, but keep in mind that unless you are in a dangerous situation like now, it will not have much of an effect."
He nodded at her words.
A moment later, the door to the room opened, and Roderic came in. "Your hour is over," he spoke coldly and then exited the room.
It seemed that Elysia had instructed him on what to do, and thankfully, the man didn't ask any questions.
Walking slowly, Zaroth approached the door.
"Now that it's over, I'm going to sleep," he muttered under his breath.
He needed as much rest as he could get. This training wasn't a joke.
Midnight threw him a glance but didn't say anything.
'He didn't complain once during the whole training… I guess he is serious when it comes to getting stronger,' she thought, and before she realized it, her lips had curved into a smile.
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Finally reaching his expensive bed, Zaroth collapsed on it and glanced at the ceiling. The room was pitch black. But for a moment, it felt like he would be able to see past the darkness.
He tried to move it and wrap it around his body. It didn't work, but he could have sworn that he felt the darkness tremble slightly, almost like it moved under his command.
A smile found its way onto his face before he realized it.
It was going to take a long time, but he was progressing.
He was getting stronger.
*****
With a grunt, he stood up from the bed. There were no wounds on his body, but he was beyond sore. He just wanted to sleep forever.
"No point in complaining," he muttered as he quickly ate his breakfast that Luna had made and went outside.
He was in the lecture room, listening to the lesson Elysia was teaching.
Zack wasn't with them as today was his fight in the tournament, so he was probably getting ready.
This was one of the rare instances where Zaroth found it hard to focus. Despite Elysia teaching the lesson, his thoughts were solely on Midnight and the two skills he was training to learn.
The first thing that he had to acknowledge was that Midnight had become more powerful and beautiful at the same time. Remembering her explaining how vampires get stronger, it was pretty safe to assume that she had drunk the blood of a lot of humans.
But there was something that didn't make sense, Elysia knew that Midnight was a vampire and yet didn't stop her from attending the academy.
Zaroth suspected that Elysia had warned Midnight to not kill students or she would be done, but if that was the case, the question arose, From where did Midnight find humans to kill and drink blood from?
Maybe these humans were with the Emperor, so the Chairwoman would purposely look the other way if Midnight attacked the forces of the Emperor?
Yet the question remained, Who were these people? Zaroth knew the only people that worked for the Emperor were David, the salesman, and that thing that wore human skin. But he doubted that Midnight would have attacked them.
'So maybe the Purifiers?' That was the only conclusion he could come to. But at the same time, that theory had flaws. Namely, the Purifiers were supposed to be a third party, not working for either the Emperor or Elysia. So killing them would not benefit the Chairwoman in any way, as her goal was to weaken the Emperor.
'Or maybe they teamed up against Elysia?' That could also be the case.
It was also worth mentioning that Zaroth didn't really know why Midnight had infiltrated the capital in the first place. If it was just for killing humans and getting stronger, she could have gone into any small city around the Empire and picked off the weak humans one by one… or maybe she wanted stronger humans, which could only be found in the capital?
Shaking his head, Zaroth dismissed the thoughts. He had to focus on the lecture, as Elysia had warned them earlier that a test would come soon, and this one was supposedly harder than the last one.
*****
Sitting on the ground, Zaroth closed his eyes, waiting.
A few minutes later, the doors opened and Midnight walked into the room.
She raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You're here early."
He paused for a moment before replying, "I didn't want to keep you waiting."
"Sure, sure." She sighed as she went to turn off the light, but before she could, Zaroth's words stopped her.
"There's something that I wanted to ask you for some time now. I've avoided the issue for as long as I can, but I can't anymore. This information could be very important in the future."
His eyes narrowed like a hunter's and glowed with a menacing green light.
"Midnight… why are you here in the capital? What is your goal?"