Eris agreed to come on one condition, that I talk with Tessa. Her voice sounded annoyed and I thought it related somehow to Tessa and the drama our sparring match produced. I let her know to get ready and that I would take care of it. It took Eris getting all worked up to recognize that I shouldn’t let emotions like this get in the way of interacting with one another.

I went to find Tessa and found her together with Seric, already getting a head start on his physical training. They both got up mid-stretch after spotting my approach.

“I’m sorry, Master!” Tessa immediately bowed avoiding eye contact. Seric swiveled his head at both of us confused about the current mood.

“It’s not your fault Tessa. It’s something I need to learn to control. Are you feeling better now?” The incident occurred two days ago but remained fresh in my mind.

“I was scared that you hated me.” Tessa maintained her bow.

“That would never happen from something like that.” I didn’t want to carelessly toss out the word never but for this situation, it seemed alright. Tessa still kept her head lowered to the ground and it was beginning to worry me.

“I apologize for avoiding and going through Eris to speak with you. I thought it best to give you some space.” It was awkward remembering her terrified expression and hard to confront her about it. I wanted to explain that to her though failed to open up any further.

“I owe my life to you and Eris. Please use me to train your new ability. I don’t ever want some power to control my feelings for both of you.” Tessa stopped bowing and stared into my eyes.

“You don’t have to force yourself. It’s my intention to train it and I still have to continue everyone’s training eventually.” She either blanked on the reply or chose to ignore my words and kept with her defiant stare.

“...Uh, right now?” I gave in and asked, only to receive an immediate head nod from her. “Yes, master. Please start now before you leave.” Her insistent urging proved successful.

“Seric, come with us. You’ll need to look after Tessa once we finish.” I led them both to one of the private breakout rooms. If we were going to do this then I needed someone to take care of Tessa when we left for the underground black market.

I had Seric close the door and wait outside until we finished. Tessa took a stance, waiting for me to begin.

“Make sure to avoid initial eye contact and get used to it by averting your gaze every now and then.” It sounded like I was prescribing her medicine and the instructions that came with them.

“Okay, I’m ready!” I waited a few seconds and thought about the sensation from last time. All I did was become serious for a simple spar and it got me questioning the outcome of adding murderous intent into the mix.

To proceed in baby steps I started with wanting a casual spar, getting into a proper stance. Nothing happened as expected and I offered a reminder before ramping it up. “Remember don’t come forward. Just do your best to resist the power.”

It was silly of me to think there was some kind of increasing lever I could control. It was either all or nothing and I might as well start with the same level of tension previously.

I started thinking about beating Tessa in a fight while not taking a single hit from her. ‘...Nothing’s happening.’

I really wanted to avoid the next step and thought about things that upset my mood. Ranging from little things like stubbing my toe before acquiring the ape cores pain resistance and the incident with Vera getting hurt from the hunters.

The memory of blood all over Vera’s face triggered the fear ability.

Tessa’s jaw clenched and her legs trembled like they were going to cramp from just a single glance. “That’s it, you’re doing great.” I focused on retracting my anger by thinking of the bullet train ride with Eris. The relaxing trip to Avalon and the sight of her overindulging in sweets.

That seemed to do the trick. Tessa maintained eye contact easily but still made sure to not let it turn into a staring contest. Just like that, we repeated the process for twenty minutes until Eris contacted me saying everyone was ready to go.

The results of our training made it so Tessa could withstand approaching me, though still a long way from actual sparring. I on the other hand learned how to activate the ability without having to rely on various memories. It was easier to activate than turn off and learning to control my emotions was key to improvement in the future.

“That’s enough for now. Thanks for helping, Tessa.” Her clothes were drenched in sweat, even though an hour's workout session barely exhausted her.

“I want to go with everyone.” We met up with the others when she mentioned wanting to tag along.

“You’re in no shape, you can hardly stand as it is.” I was confused about her reason for wanting to join us when it looked like all she wanted to do was find the nearest bed to fall into.

“Volatis gave you a task, to train Seric. You can come next time.” Eris intervened in the conversation. Her tone of voice was serious with no room for arguments.

“Yes, sis.” Tessa relented and Eris gave the signal of let's go by looking at me. There was something eating away at Eris, she wasn’t acting like her usual self today or maybe ever since her trials.