Here's the next chapter. Throwing a guy who never really trained or fought before into a place messed around by Ares would be suicide, so here's some quick training. I think I'll have about 2 more chapter at most, and we'll then move to the 1st Kingdom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Veri: “You….this….”

Veri was too stunned for words, as her sudden return to form left her incoherent. Itsuki looked at her with a big smile on his face, since her normal composure was all but lost.

Itsuki: “Hehe, surprised aren’t you? I used my Music Creat-pwakkk!”

A fist clad in steel smashed right onto Itsuki’s skull, inflicting a large amount of pain on his head.

Veri: “Are you a dumbass! Since you caught me by surprise, I couldn’t suppress my aura in time, so Ares could have sensed it! Sigh….you’re lucky I’m only at 10% strength right now. Since my aura is still relatively low and we are located in Demeter’s domain, Ares probably will assume it was Demeter’s aura.”

Slowly, tears began to fill Veri’s eyes as she began to sob with joy.

Veri: “ *sniff* But thank you Itsuki. I honestly never thought I would see my valkyrie form again. *sniff*”

Itsuki: “Owww….you’re welcome. Maybe you could be less violent next time? Anyway, I think…that’s my limit…for now.”

With a thud, Itsuki fell onto his knees, clearly physically exhausted. Only 10 seconds had passed, but his body ached all over as though he just ran a marathon sprinting. With another flash of light, the valkyrie was no more, and a foot tall pixie was in her place.

Veri: “I see. You developed a new skill and were able to restore my form for a limited amount of time. Well, now it’s even more apparent that you need training. Quickly, adopt a mediation form, and listen and absorb the musical essence around you. You can regain your vitality faster that way.”

Immediately, Itsuki crossed his legs and began to listen intensely to the sounds around him. The rippling of the water nearby, the chirping of the birds, and the rustling of the grass began to form a distinct melody, soothing his soul. In turn, his body began to relax itself, and his strength returned. After meditating for half an hour, Itsuki jumped up and stretched his limbs.

Itsuki: “Man that felt good. You weren’t kidding when you said the musical essence of the world could nourish you. Though, I am pretty hungry right now.”

Grabbing an apple from a nearby tree, Itsuki sunk his teeth into the juiciest apple he had ever tasted! Its aroma and flavor were leagues above the supposed organic apples back on Earth. Truly, the powers of a goddess’s blessing could not be underestimated. While he enjoyed his snack, a little pixie was staring at him in shock.

Veri: “I’m super impressed at how quickly you were able to recover. Most normal people would take at least a day to recover from that sort of fatigue, while the most gifted conductors took 3 hours!”

A sadistic smile appeared on the pink haired pixie’s face.

Veri: “I guess that means your training can be even tougher than I expected. I enjoyed having my body back, so I’m going to whip you into shape so that I can stay out longer. Prepare yourself Itsuki

A half eaten apple tumbled to the ground, as Itsuki couldn’t stop himself from trembling.

Itsuki: “Aw crap. What have I gotten myself into?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Veri’s initial training regimen was 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and 10km of running a day. Seriously? Did you learn that from back on Earth? If so, I swear I better be able to one punch everything after this. Every day, my legs were shaking out of pain, and my arms groaned in agony. Veri was always there to haul my butt off the ground when I fell and kick me back into motion. Probably due to all of the pain, I didn’t notice my muscles becoming more and more defined. Every break, Veri made me meditate to regain my lost vitality. It seems my natural affinity to musical essences sped up my recovery rate, but Demeter’s blessing played a major factor as well. With the blessing in her domain, recovery was twice as fast as normal. I thought Veri had a well-planned training menu for me though. For a battle junkie valkyrie, her plan was quite simple. Overtax my body, empty my vitality reserves, and force my vitality pool to increase. It truly felt like I was ripping myself apart only to piece myself back together. When my body slowly began to get used to the training, Veri then doubled everything…when will it end?

My only solace was when I got to stop training momentarily and play with my lyre. It let out a beautiful sound, and I plucked away at it in pure bliss. Ah, I decided to play a sound I remember hearing from an anime I watched. This soothing plucking sound, I could just sit here and play for hours….huh? Hello little fox. Oh and you too little puppy. Now there’s a rabbit and a cub. Did my music attract them? Well, I guess it’s alright. Let’s just keep playing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VMK2srfhGU

After three months of basic physical training had passed, I can keep Veri summoned in valkyrie form for 1 whole hour! A great accomplishment right? Eh…did I hear wrong? Sword training with Veri?

Veri: “Like I said, for the next 3 months, we will spar to give you combat experience. I only have 10% of my strength right now, so it should be easy. Let’s see how long you can last.”

Veri, using her exquisite sword skills, cut down a tree in an instant and fashioned two wooden swords for training. Picking up the sword and activating Legato form, I stand firm, ready and excited to show the fruits of my efforts. The signal is shot, and I raise my sword….eh? My head is stuck in the ground? What just happened?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile

Demeter watched the crystal ball in her room of the young man in her forest. After trading so many stories with his mother Anna, Demeter gained a soft spot for him. He pushed himself beyond the normal limits of man, never giving up or faltering. When he began to play the lyre that she gifted him, his sound reverberated throughout the forest. It was a simple melody, but it was beautiful. Even the animals gathered around him as he played. It’s been 3 months already since he has been in the forest. She never gave anyone permission to be in her forest before, let alone her blessing. His presence filled the emptiness in her heart from Persephone’s departure 3 months ago. How strange the forest looked despite winter beginning! It seemed as though the forest was frozen in eternal spring. If a friendly goddess were to ask why I am feeling ok despite Persephone’s absence, what should I say? Because the boy is like a godson to me? No…I’ll just say it’s because Veritas is there. Yes, that’s exactly what I’ll say.

At the top of Mount Olympus, a messenger stood before the God Ares.

Messenger: “Oh Ares, god of war and battle, I have news to report.”

Ares: “Speak.”

Messenger: “There was a spike in energy in Demeter’s forest. It was not very strong, but it could be worth looking into.”

Ares: “Forget it. That hag is probably upset that her daughter has to go hang with Hades at this time. More importantly, what have the others said about the creatures they promised?”

Messenger: “They have started creating stronger monsters just as you asked. So far, the strongest is the A class beast, Hydra.”

Ares: “Good….the humans can’t get complacent. It’d be too boring that way…”

Ares looked out the window and down to the weak creatures known as humans.

Ares: “Your world was too peaceful brother. Allow me to wash it in blood. Haha..hahaha..HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This chapter looks pretty short, but the word count is the same as last chapter you know! I guess since there's less dialogue, there's less spacing. Anyway, I hope everyone gets the reference I made in regards to his training schedule. I wanted to make sure the training segment wasn't merely chapter on chapter of physical exercise and the like, so I wrote it like this to speed it up but allow for ample amounts of entertainment. We also get a glimpse of the enemy, Ares. All comments and constructive criticisms are welcome. Thanks for reading!