Today, Alpha and Franky would go their seperate ways as Franky wanted to meet Elena instead of training with him and Harpocrates. Considering this matter a rather urgent one, him and Elena met at 7 am out on a field outside the city.

"So? What's so urgent that we have to meet this early in the morning?"

"You know why we're here! I wouldn't be so mad had you not made him a Dream Catcher!", yelled Franky.

"Come on… At least you can fight together now. We also have another member that's a part of our team, so-"

Franky transformed and drew his blade. Elena jumped back. Wearing jogging pants, she could remain flexible while in her civilian form. Unlike King, Elena can use her abilities without transforming. As a veteran, she had the upper hand in pure strength and strategy.

Believing that he can brute force his way through, King jumped after her only to end up within her domain. The two of them now were falling onto the sea below. Land was in sight but would take a good hour to reach by swimming. Elena gracefully floated down as King kept flailing around midair.

He threw his sword. That sword of his only bounced off Elena doing no damage to her.

With her eyes closed, she applied pressure to King. Tons of air lunched him into the ocean and forced him to the ocean floor. However, it didn't end there as she kept adding pressure.

Finally, she dragged him back out of the water with thread connecting her finger to his scalp.

"If you're gonna attack someone then at least make sure that you have a surefire way of delivering your first strike, okay?"

Dropping him off at the beach, the two of them landed as King caught his breath.

"You promised me that you wouldn't get him involved!", he shouted. "You're a fucking liar!"

"That's what you get for trusting me the way you did. I would have done it either way so there's that… "

"Why?", he asked her.

"Because it's fun. Maybe I can train you until you're capable of killing me. Then you can have your sweet revenge while I have my fun. How about that?" Mocking him, she simply damaged their “relationship”.

However, what else did he have to lose? Since he's never told her about Ben and never seen her express an interest in people that aren't Alpha, he can take up that offer of hers and maybe even show her true colors to Alpha.

"Fine…", he replied.

Something was off about her offer. A foul smell lied within his nose.

"But at least be fair enough to not drug me next time!"

Elena had used drugs developed with magic to heighten emotions. Though he only had a few whiffs, it was enough to prompt him to attack. His regenerative abilities allow for quick recovery. King generally took everyone he meets by surprise. His regenerative abilities are unmatched but everything else is just about average with a couple exceptions here and there.

"I've heard from Harpocrates that you struggle with using spiritual power. It leaves you incredibly vulnerable like with your run-in with Revelation. Instead of being blown in half, you could have lost a forearm sized piece of flesh instead of the entirety of your lower half. You would have wasted a lot less magic," stated Elena.

Though it was true that his ability was rather convenient as it gave him the capability to just tank pretty much anything, it still was a waste of time and magic. A few seconds are enough to deliver another blow that could kill him. A little bit more magic could be the difference between him harming an opponent and killing an opponent.

"So what? It's not as if I'm as much of a prodigy as Alpha. I can't just learn how to harden and infuse in a couple of days!"

"Because Harpocrates isn't the type of teacher you need. He works well with Alpha. You need something different. I'll keep looking until you can figure out what exactly you need. Then you'll progress just as much, maybe even more than Alpha!", claimed Elena.

Different students need different teaching methods. Alpha had a teacher with an ability not many were familiar with. Harpocrates utilizes clouds and fog different from simple water vapor. Few could actually help in understanding his ability. He still doesn't know what exactly makes his ability special but he made do with lots of hard training. Hyperion was just like that. Someone who wields pure light magic is rather unheard of. The last Dream Catcher capable of doing that died a few years ago. Marcela, Elena's mentor, was one that used pure light magic. Having someone that went through the same things as you did as a mentor, makes growing stronger far easier than depending on your own observations.

Elena and Franky, while not wielding the same abilities, still had things in common. Elena also was cruel enough to help him grow stronger through deadly situations. Battle, distress, and death may be the perfect fit for Franky. Growing through adrenaline and fear was something they considered and therefore will apply right now.

"Then let's fight! Just hand to hand, okay?"

Elena awaited the first strike. Letting this start off with hand-to-hand combat, Prometheia quietly observed the two of them. With Franky delivering the first strike with a gut punch, he gouged just how strong Elena is. Initially holding back, he realized that Elena is so much more durable than him. She didn't flinch at all.

"Would you prefer I did my best or that I hold back like I'm doing now?"

A fist to the chin slightly tilted her head back.

She retaliated by delivering the same gut punch he had used on her. He couldn't react in time as she somehow was a lot faster than him. With the belief that he's much faster than most, he was taken aback by the sudden blow.

Franky predicted the next punch. Believing that it likely will be a punch to the face, he tried countering by delivering a blow to the fist coming at him. Trying to hold her back, his fingers were broken as she broke through his defenses. With another punch she blew off his jaw.

Franky didn't care and simply regenerated as he kept going at it. Next up was a kick to the knee in an attempt to break it and have her fall over. She wouldn't budge and simply grabbed him as she buried her knee into his stomach.

Something ruptured within him and made him get on his knees. Tumbling over, he spat out blood. Though his mind should lie in protecting himself, all he could think about is ways to beat Elena in a fair fight. Getting back up and swallowing that blood of his, his body was back to normal.

His pain tolerance and his willpower are formidable but can only get him this far. Since he can't win anyway and since he can't harm her in any shape or form, he unsheathed his longswords. The two blades reflected that fury of his as Prometheia backed up.

"Go easy on him, Elena!", Prometheia demanded before the battle could commence.

Franky used an upward slash to send Elena flying off her feet. It took his all just to get her off her feet. Immediately after, he jumped right after her to deliver another strike. He struck her down and dented her domain. Taking a couple of seconds to land, Elena already was back on her feet.

He had another card up his sleeve, his very own magic. He can create even more swords that can sprout from his palms. Though they were a lot more fragile, he doesn't usually doesn't use them to slash away at enemies. With grass within his hands, he dashed towards Elena and tried making her sneeze.

No reaction…

His plan was to have her open her mouth so that he can shove his hand down her throat and create swords she could suffocate on. Franky had to hopelessly watch her snicker at his attempt to take her out.

"Ruthless and “unfair”, huh? You go for weakspots like eyes, the mouth, the solar plexus… I believe you can be great fighter!", Elena said with a smile of encouragement. She knew that Franky only became a Dream Catcher out of the care of those around him.

"How about we go down memory lane a bit?"

Elena told her story, the story of an unfortunate child that was hated by life. Unfortunately, her life was full of tragedy and loss. Though, unlike Alpha and Franky, she doesn't get to start over. She can't run away from her past like they can with their parents.

She didn't become a Dream Catcher like they did. Elena was forced into her role when her and her parents were caught up in a domain. Flying over to relatives in the US, a lone Devil Seed released the Demon within and caught the plane they were on within its domain. Most of the passengers died on impact with the black and gooey surface of the domain. Few were paralized or injured so badly that they couldn't flee from their predicament. Miraculously, Elena was the only one to survive this incident as she watched others get devoured and forgotten. She had gained the ability to fight back yet left the people she could have saved behind.

Not long after that, while wandering the streets to walk towards her relatives to retell what she had gone through, she was picked up by a Dream Catcher, Marcela. She offered to take care of her for as long as she needs while also teaching her why everything went south and what she can do to prevent such things from ever happening again. However, tragedy would strike once again. Her mentor perished in battle and as such, Elena was left to fend for her own.

Shortly after that, she was trafficked to Canada and forced to partake in a secret government program with several other kids her age. Since no one was looking for her or missing her, she let this form of abuse go on. In there she made several friends and two people that reminded her of her niece and nephew. Escaping with her friends, she was forced to leave behind the two people that reminded her of family. Though she swore that she'll liberate them, she never got the chance to. Her friends would pass with a supposed gas leak when it actually was the emergence of a cluster of Demons. Her friends passed while she was the only one to survive.

Elena would move back to Germany and become part of a gang of five Dream Catchers that would gain its sixth member not long after. Sadly, even that would come to an end as she'd accidentally get in the way in a battle against another Demon. One of her companions would die as a result and the others would shun her for such a grave mistake.

After that she was labelled as a hopeless failure that can't accomplish anything in life. Had it not been for Prometheia, she would have lost it by then. However, the two could pull through and rise within the ranks despite the views her fellow Dream Catchers held of her. She had to endure it.

Now that she has the life of three rookies within her hands, she wants to do the best of her life and make sure that they don't have to go through the same things she did. Elena wants to raise them to a level where they can surpass her. After that she can move on and bid farewell to the life of the “cursed child”.

"Well… I think you should learn as we go. I'm sure that we'll make lots of progress as long as we train together!", she said rather overjoyed after that heavy story of hers.

Franky seemed indifferent and nodded.

"I guess I've achieved the effect I wanted to leave behind, huh?", she thought. Her intent lied in villifying herself to Franky and her plan seems to have worked.

Their fight turned into a sparring session. Now that he has calmed down, they can fight without mindlessly beating each other. Though she does intend to go harder on him from time to time to spice up things, she'll stick to simply sparring for now and pushing his limits without going overboard.

Franky wildly swung his arm for a right hook while pulling his still sheathed sword. The objective was to unsheath the sword while delivering another strike since his sword summonings are way weaker than the ones that came with his transformation. They merely were shards that he couldn't control.

His attack was blocked with a counterstrike. Blocking with her left while punching with her right, she delivered a strike to his stomach. The pain would fade shortly thereafter and as such, he could start anew.

Once again, he did the same thing as before but this time, she punished him even harder with a punch that went straight through him. Elena wanted him to try harder and actually use his head instead of using the same trick twice. Franky took note of wanted she wanted him to do.

This time, Franky jumped away as he tried to unsheathe his blade. A single air blast from behind sent him back down into Elena's fist. Though the attempt was a genuine one, she punished him just as hard as when he tried pulling the same trick twice. Some of the sand they were standing on rose a feet into the air.

She wanted him to do something entirely different and left behind a little hint. He caught on and stomped as hard as he can while delivering his right hook. Finally he unsheathed his blade and utilized an upward slash to cut at… nothing. Elena had maneuvered behind him by the time he unleashed his attack. Though his first attack did connect, the second one missed.

"That's good! Still, you're not the only one that can use the battlefield to your advantage. Plan ahead and make sure that they don't escape and deliver their attack. Plan beyond the first attack all the way up to the last with each strike! That way you'll always be a step ahead."

Her words of wisdom were heard and therefore are to be incorporated within his next chain of attacks. Before he could do so, he had to think of something that could hold her in place.

"Give me a second," he said as he stepped away. Testing his ability to unleash blade shards, he took in a deep breath and closed his eyes to concentrate. When calm and uninterrupted, the blades that came out of him were more akin to those of a proper sword. But he can't expect people to wait until he has unleashed his ability. His next plan won't work without the ability to perfectly create a sword.

"I guess we'll end the sparring session here and focus on releasing instead, huh?", Elena offered.

Franky agreed to end the sparring session here and focus his growth on other abilities.