Leon’s entire body was covered in sweat from training. He’d been back from the Royal Archives for several hours, and he’d spent just about that entire time in hard training. From the events surrounding the vampire Bran to everything he’d learned from Antonius, Leon had more than enough motivation to completely immerse himself in training and reach with all he had for the sixth-tier.

To that end, he’d been filling his body with lightning magic and trapping all of it within his bones. His magic body still lacked everything below his hips, but if he were to try and form all of what was missing at once, then he’d probably injure himself. Consequently, Leon estimated what he felt was a safe amount, then pushed himself slightly beyond that, which amounted to his right leg from hip to knee.

Lightning surged through his body, concentrating in such large amounts around his right leg that his thigh sparked and crackled with lightning magic. But with so much magic flooding through him, there was no way that Leon could simply sit and meditate; instead, he grabbed a training spear from the wall and began to practice. He had decided that he was specializing too much in his sword and bow; when he was training with Artorias back in the Forest of Black and White, his father had him train in several different common weapons so that he was at least familiar enough with them if circumstances ever forced him to use them. This was a practice Leon had let lapse ever since coming south, and he decided to pick it up again, even if his family’s longsword and his bow were still going to be his primary weapons.

And so, for hours, Leon swung and thrust the training spear while he channeled his magic and let it do its thing. Fortunately, Elise’s training chamber had been extremely well built, and numerous enchantments fortified the place against elemental magic. It wasn’t perfect and Elise’s servants would undoubtedly need to do some cleaning and maintenance when he was done, but Leon was at least confident that he could use his magic without fear of irreparably destroying the place. So, he used his fire and lightning magic with relative abandon; his training wouldn’t be complete without at least some practicing of elemental magic.

When he finally took a break, he realized just how tired and exhausted he was. He almost felt like he had just fought a battle, his exhaustion was so complete. He quickly returned the spear to its rack after wiping it down and sat down at the edge of the training area.

The entire room was essentially a dojo with a wooden platform raised about a step above the stone floor, weapon racks filled with training weapons of all kinds lining the walls, and wash basins near the door to wipe away sweat.

The stone floors weren’t particularly comfortable, but Leon didn’t care and sat down anyway to rest and think. He still channeled magic into his leg to continue building his magic body, but the intensity was brought way down while he rested. As he sat there, his thoughts drifted, and something occurred to him that he had been quietly curious about for a few weeks, now.

[Xaphan,] Leon called out in his mind.

[What?] the demon answered, the irritation in his voice almost tangible.

[Just thought that you’ve been extremely quiet, recently,] Leon said.

[What about that has been any different from the past year?] Xaphan asked.

[Just figured now that you’ve got three tiers on me, you’d start talking again.]

[Oh? Did the little boy miss me?] Xaphan asked with a condescending tone as if he was asking the question to a young child.

[Not really, but I would’ve thought that you’d be more talkative anyway,] Leon answered.

[Well, I suppose I could grace you with the pleasure of my conversation,] Xaphan said. [Is there anything in particular you wanted to know, or did you just disturb my meditations to wonder why I’m not disturbing you instead?]

[I had a couple questions, if you would indulge me,] Leon said.

[I guess I am in an indulgent mood, so go ahead.]

Leon quickly relayed to the demon all that he had learned from Antonius about how the descendants of the Sacred Bull could stimulate their blood and give themselves a few minor bullish traits.

[They… can do that?] Xaphan asked in shock. [Are you sure you didn’t just hear things incorrectly? I mean, I know you humans aren’t the most attentive, but even still, you couldn’t have heard something that wrong, could you?]

[I heard everything correctly, demon,] Leon said through clenched teeth. [I take it you’ve never heard of something like this before?]

[I’ve definitely heard of people attempting it, but never of anyone actually succeeding!] Xaphan said. [No one really knows why a beast that’s possessed of enough power is able to transform into a human, and by all the Gods and Devils I have no idea why they would even want to in the first place, but as far as I’m aware, it’s impossible for their descendants to do the reverse. They’re human, through and through, and no Inherited Bloodline will change that. I suspect that there may be some other kind of shenanigans going on with the Royal Family in this Kingdom if they possess a technique like the one you described.]

[Really…] Leon muttered, slightly crestfallen. [But others have tried to do that reverse transformation, right? But none succeeded?]

[None that I know of, at any rate,] Xaphan said as his tone turned more thoughtful. [All right, I suppose I can admit that I’m not exactly a specialist in this regard-]

[Wow, to admit such a thing must crush your heart, demon,] Leon quipped.

[- but I will say,] Xaphan continued, ignoring Leon’s interruption, [that it might not be impossible. That being said, I can’t imagine that the Lords of a backwater Kingdom in the middle of a backwater plane found a way to do what those powerful clans in the Nexus and elsewhere time and time again failed to accomplish. Though… I suppose that if you get enough monkey’s together, they could do just about anything, so…]

[So such a transformation could be done, then?] Leon asked.

[Maybe, and I certainly have no idea how it might be accomplished. Maybe ask your Ancestor when you get your magic body.]

[Mm, passing the responsibility on to the Thunderbird, just what I’d expect from you, demon,] Leon said with a provocative tone.

[Asking the Ascended Beast about Ascended Beast matters is not ‘passing responsibility’, it’s telling you to consult someone with more damned knowledge about the subject!] Xaphan retorted.

[Mmhmm,] Leon hummed. It was a perfectly acceptable explanation in his mind, but it wasn’t going to stop him from giving Xaphan grief over it, given the demon’s pride. Just as he thought he could hear Xaphan’s fire explode in anger, though, he said, [Anyway, there’s something else I wanted to check with you.]

[What… is it?] Xaphan asked furiously and clearly through clenched teeth.

[Well, I was wondering how easily I’d be able to use your power if the need arose. I know that you managed to reach the eighth-tier thanks to those gems, but I don’t think I’d be able to handle that kind of power.]

[I don’t think you could, either,] Xaphan replied. [When you were a third-tier mage and I had fifth-tier power, you could only call upon my strength three times before losing all use of your arm. The difference between the fifth-tier and the eighth-tier, though, makes that previous difference look like an ant compared to a Kingdom. If you were to try to call upon my power, I wouldn’t be surprised if your arm exploded before you got even a single blast off, though you’d be in so much pain from the attempt that I doubt things would progress that far.]

[Glad you told me that before I tried anything,] Leon griped.

[I believe I did, in fact, just do that,] Xaphan responded.

[Only because I had to ask!]

[I would’ve told you if you had tried to call upon my power! Probably…]

[Really? Really?]

[Yeah, I’m about ninety, maybe eighty percent sure about that. But you weren’t using my power anyway, so what does it matter?]

[It matters because I don’t want to have my fucking arm explode!]

[You say that like it’s more than a minor inconvenience! Oh, wait a minute, you’re so weak that it is more than a minor inconvenience!]

[You’re really pushing it, demon,] Leon growled.

[Look, just don’t call upon my power if having your arm blown off is such a big deal! You know, just stay the course!]

[I’m only refraining from using your power because I don’t want to get seen by someone like Adalgrim who can identify demonic power. If I wound up in a terrible position where my power wasn’t enough and no one was around, then I probably would’ve tried to use your power!]

[And now you won’t, saving you the loss of the arm,] Xaphan smugly replied.

[I swear I’m going to kick your teeth in the instant I can access my soul realm, demon,] Leon bitterly spat.

[Promises, promises,] Xaphan said, provoking Leon’s ire even further and absolutely reveling in it.

Just then, Leon heard the sounds of approaching footsteps, and he gladly took the opportunity to not speak with Xaphan anymore. He’d barely gotten to his feet when the door opened and Elise stepped inside, made eye contact with him, and smiled.

“Heard you got back before me,” she said as she stepped into the training chamber.

“Didn’t have much to do today,” Leon responded as a smile of his own appeared on his face.

[Ugh, if you two are going to be all lovey-dovey, then I’m out!] Xaphan proclaimed as he immersed himself once again in his healing meditations, much to Leon’s relief.

“Kind of expected you to be here, didn’t know you were busy doing Heaven’s Eye things,” Leon said as he and Elise quickly gave each other a hug and a kiss.

“I didn’t know I’d be busy, either, but my mother wanted me to meet with some blood priests who stopped by the Tower. Couldn’t get out of it, otherwise I’d have waited for you to get back.”

Leon nodded and filled her in on just about everything he’d learned during the day, from the investigations into his family conducted by the Royal Family to the potential for transformation in his blood.

“Hmm,” Elise said as she sat back and absorbed his story. It took about half an hour to tell, and both had retired to her sitting room to relax, though Leon changed out of his training clothes first. “Let’s start with the easiest things to take care of, how about I take a look at that map?”

Leon agreed and handed over his edited map from the Cradle. He was sorely tempted to give her the unedited version, but he decided at the moment not to. ‘Best to keep that one just to me, for the time being,’ he thought to himself.

“And the sigil?” Elise asked, and Leon handed over a copy of the sigil he discovered from the plans of his father’s old destroyed villa, the only thing he felt that could potentially connect with his mother, though he couldn’t know for certain.

“I’ll have Heaven’s Eye look into both of these and get back to you,” she said. “And I’ll make sure it’s discreet,” she continued with a wink.

“If you didn’t say it, I would’ve,” Leon replied, agreeing wholeheartedly that all of these matters couldn’t be looked into too openly without exposing everyone involved to far too much danger.

Elise’s smile turned seductive as she put the papers that Leon had just given her away. He didn’t need to guess what she wanted now, especially after just finishing up her work.

“Now that all that business is over with…” Leon said with a leading tone as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, “is there anything else we can do to fill the time?”

Elise’s smile grew even wider as Leon took the initiative. She was extremely surprised, as for him to do so was a rare occurrence, but she was also greatly pleased with this turn of events.

“Oh, I don’t know…” she said teasingly. “How ab-“

Before she could finish her teasing, though, one of her servants knocked on the door of the sitting room and loudly called through the door, “Lady Elise!”

“Damn it all,” she muttered while Leon glared at the door in irritation. “What is it?”

“The beastmaster you sent for yesterday has arrived!” the servant replied.

The two lovers sighed, but Anzu was still in the stables and he had to be tended to.

“No helping it, I guess,” Leon said with a sigh of resignation. He loved that griffin, and the thought of delaying Anzu’s check-up with the beastmaster in favor of his and Elise’s own pleasure never once crossed his mind.