Dredd distributed water flasks full of healing water to the lot of them. After allowing them all a short pause to rest, he called Yui up once more, repeating the training. Elania came after her, but Damien wasn’t called up again.

Despite Henry’s muttered complaints, he was fine with that. Dredd was a powerful opponent, but training against a mortal wasn’t what he really needed right now. The Professor had probably come to the same conclusion, and he let Damien sit aside and work on his own while he trained the girls.

Once it’s time to start sparring with the Corruption, I’ll step back in. It’s probably better to give Yui and Elania more time with Delph anyway.

“I never got to win,” Henry grumbled. “Boring. It would take all of a few minutes for us to fight him again. He’s just scared.”

I highly doubt that’s the case. If you want to fight him so badly, you could probably just ask. I doubt he’d say no.

“Bah. That defeats the point. I’m not complaining because I actually want to try to change anything. I just want to whine.”

A chuckle slipped out of Damien’s lips before he could restrain himself, and he was punished by the smug emotions that entered his mind from Henry. Shaking his head, Damien pulled out a small sheaf of paper and started to draw runes on it. His companion formed a small, floating eye beside him and joined him in looking at the paper.

“Still working on the tracking spell for the Corruption Seed?”

“Yeah,” Damien replied aloud. “I got wrapped up with Nolan’s business, and I haven’t had a great chance to work on it afterward. We’ve got roughly three weeks to get this dealt with, which should coincide pretty well with the end of training.”

“Lucky us,” Henry said. He studied Damien’s work for a few moments, only glancing up as Dredd yanked Elania’s feet out from under her and threw her across the clearing. She slammed into a tree with a loud crash. Henry rolled his eye and looked back down at the spell Damien was working on.

***

In that manner, three days passed. Dredd brought them all tents and food instead of letting anyone return to Blackmist. That was perfectly fine with Damien, though he was starting to run low on paper to work with.

For every meal, Dredd distributed some of the driest, least tasteful jerky that Damien had ever eaten. Paired with the healing water that, while incredibly beneficial for taking care of wounds, tasted just about normal, it made for some very boring meals.

Luckily, with a little extra help from Henry, he was able to finalize his tracking spell on the night of the third day. Technically, he could have collected Dredd and Delph to go handle the Seed right then, but they still had a fair amount of time to work with, and as strong as it was, some training against the stronger members of the Corruption would be useful. As the fourth dawned, Damien pulled Dredd to the side before he could start their training.

“I’ve got the tracking spell worked out,” Damien said. “We should be able to locate the Corruption Seed whenever we’re ready. There are still about three weeks until we need to deal with it, right?”

“Two to be safe,” Dredd replied. “Well done on the spell. What are you thinking on handling it? Finish training, or fight the Seed first?”

“I wasn’t expecting you to ask that,” Damien admitted. “I suppose it depends on if your training will actually be helpful for me or not. If it’s nothing more than beating on a Corrupted monster, we might as well go now. But, if you’ve got something useful to show me, then I suppose we should do that first. I don’t want to take risks against a Corruption Seed.”

Dredd gave him a one-shouldered shrug and adjusted his weight to lean on his staff. “We might have been taking care of the small Corrupted monsters that have been popping up, but this is your – and your companion’s – fight. Delph and I are just here to help. We aren’t as involved as you are, so you should make the final calls.”

“Does Delph see it that way as well?” Henry asked, forming a mouth in Damien’s shadow.

Dredd rolled his eyes. “Delph is Delph. The moment you tell him that spell is done, we’re headed out to get killing. I wouldn’t recommend letting him know until it’s time.”

“Good idea,” Damien said. “I’d feel bad about keeping things from him, but…”

Dredd gave him a knowing nod. “You don’t have to finish that one, I know all too well. He’s a difficult person. Effective, but difficult.”

Elania’s tent rustled behind them as she pulled herself out, desperately trying to tame her unruly hair. Yui emerged a moment later at the noise, not looking much better herself. They both saw Damien and Dredd watching them and raised their eyebrows in unison.

“What?” Elania crossed her arms.

“Nothing,” Damien replied.

“Did we miss something?” Yui asked. “Or did you finally decide to join into the training so Elania and I can get more than a few minutes of a breather before Dredd starts stripping the bark off trees with our faces again?”

“I believe it was clear that this particular exercise would do little to aid Damien,” Dredd said. “It would be a waste of both his and my time, which is far better spent – as you put it – stripping the bark off trees.”

“He’s right,” Elania said, rubbing her shoulder to try to work a bruise out of it. “I’d rather get the training if Damien doesn’t need it.”

Yui let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah, I would too. I’m just complaining, ignore me. I already ate breakfast while pretending to be asleep so Dredd wouldn’t bother me. I’m ready to start.”

Dredd cocked an eyebrow and looked to Elania, who reddened.

“I did the same thing.”

“Brilliant. What about you, Damien?”

“No need,” Damien replied with a shrug. “I’m not really all that hungry. Are we changing up the training?”

“We are. Both of you have improved significantly over the last few days, and I believe we are ready to move up to the next stage. If you have noticed, both Yui and Elania have been holding their own against me during our matches.”

“I haven’t been paying much attention,” Damien admitted, looking from one girl to the other. “But… how? I didn’t see you teaching any new spells or special fighting techniques. Three days shouldn’t be enough for all that much development.”

“The lack was not in ability, but in knowledge,” Dredd replied. “Granted, there is a lack of ability too. I cannot fix that quickly, though. What I can fix is fighting sense and having a better grasp of their own talents. Typically, this comes from repeated battle experience. You and Henry have spent more than enough time fighting for your life, which is why there was little I could provide to aid you.”

“Huh. Fair enough, then,” Damien said with a shrug. “Time to fight the Corruption, then?”

“Quite,” Dredd agreed. He tapped his staff against the ground. A ripple of red energy spread out from it, washing over the clearing and lighting up the Corrupted monster where it stood, chained, at the corner of the clearing.

The camouflage covering it faded away, evaporating into the air and revealing the rocky giant. Delph tapped his staff on the ground again and creature groaned, slowly rising to its feet. Standing fully upright, it was nearly three stories tall.

Uncomfortably long arms with large, stumpy fingers hung at its sides, and both its hands and feet were tipped with huge claws. As far as Damien could tell, the claws were entirely pointless – getting hit by anything that large would probably crush someone, sharp or not.

“So… what’s the exercise against this?” Yui asked, swallowing as the huge monster stared in their direction, flat black eyes dripping green acid.

“You will be doing the exact same thing that you practiced against me,” Dredd replied. “Only, this time, the consequences will be considerably more important. I will stop it if it looks like you are about to die, but I will not move in any other situation.”

“You sure you’ve got enough healing water for this?” Elania drew Ether into herself, glancing from Dredd to the Corrupted monster.

“Quite,” Dredd replied. “As before, you will have five minutes to fight. Your objectives are twofold. First, you are to avoid dying. Second, you are to attempt to restrain the Corruption’s connection to the Ether. It will be temporarily restored while you fight.”

“Is that wise?” Yui asked.

Dredd pierced her with a flat stare. “You will need to be able to perform actions such as this on the field. It will never be safer than here. Better to learn now than too late. Your comrades lives will depend on it.”

Yui flinched. Dredd’s gaze didn’t waver until she gave a mollified nod. When she did, the man’s eyes softened.

“Fear is good, Princess. It shows you that you still have something to live for. Only when the fear is gone are you truly in great danger. Control your fear. Harness it. Emotions are guidance, not orders.”

“Man, I bet you wish Dredd was the guy that taught your class,” Henry said in Damien’s head. “He sounds so wise and all-knowing.”

Put ourselves in Yui or Elania’s place for a moment. Look at that thing. It’s one of the biggest Corrupted monsters we’ve seen, and it’s the first one they’re ever going to fight. Do you really think they’re very pleased with his brilliant words right about now?

Henry cackled. “Don’t care. Let’s go show these kids how it’s done.”

“Damien, will you and Henry start?” Dredd asked. “You’ve got experience handling the Corruption already, so hopefully watching how you go about this will be beneficial for our other students.”

“Good timing. Sure,” Damien said, rolling his shoulders and gathering his Ether as he walked toward the giant.

“I will release the restraints on the monster for five minutes,” Dredd said. “I believe this will be a fairly trivial task for you with Henry’s aid, so I would like to offer to spar your companion while you fight. I believe that should make it more entertaining for all of us.”

“Oh, now I know you’re the better brother,” Henry crowed, rising up from Damien’s shadow with a flourish. “You’ve got this, Damien. Just don’t make it too fast, okay? If I don’t get any time to play, I’m going to go kill some goats.”

“Wait. Isn’t that dangerous?” Elania asked nervously. “What if Damien gets hurt?”

Dredd’s lips peeled back in a dry smile. “Doubtful. Are you satisfied with this, Damien?”

“Fine with me. Get it on with before Henry pops the blood vessels in his eyes from excitement.”

Dredd gave him a sharp nod. A flash of red lit the clearing as the runes on the collar faded. The chains holding it down dimmed, fading away and freeing the monster’s arms and legs. It took a step, crushing a tree beneath a massive foot, then threw its head back and let out a roar.

“Time’s on,” Dredd said.

Damien didn’t need to be told twice. He Warp Stepped into the air and landed on the monster’s shoulder. On the ground, Henry summoned a pool of darkness around himself and Dredd before sinking into it and vanishing from view.

A second roar split the air and the Corrupted monster lurched, raising a hand to grab Damien. He Warp Stepped again, this time appearing on top of the monster’s head. Damien extended his net of mental energy.

To properly split the monster apart from its connection to the Ether, it would be easiest to do it all at once. And, to do that, he needed to know where all of the connections were. The monster batted at him, but its size proved to be a disadvantage.

Damien was just far faster than it was. He flickered to the ground, quickly tallying up the strands of energy that the monster had extended into the environment to feast from it. Several more attacks from the giant crashed into the ground, missing and finding nothing but dirt and trees.

A blanket of darkness washed over the world and Damien cursed, Warp Stepping reflexively as he lost sight of his opponent. He Warp Stepped several more times, just to make sure the creature didn’t land a lucky blow on him.

The darkness vanished and Damien’s eyes widened. He teleported again, narrowly avoiding a cumbersome hand as it whistled through the air, nearly catching him. Evidently, this monster didn’t use its sight to hunt.

I wonder if that’s the Corruption giving it that trait, or if that was just natural. Considering its got eyes, I’m going to lean toward the former.

“Don’t do that again, Henry!” Damien yelled, Warp Stepping up to the top of the monster one more time. He did one last count of the dozens of strands of Ether extending from the monster, then sent out his own mental energy.

Without Henry’s help, it was considerably harder than he had expected. A blow nearly caught Damien, but he teleported out of the way while keeping his hold on the mental energy tight. Slowly but surely, he gathered all of them up, pulling the strands together and, with a final tug, ripping them free of the giant.

A groan ripped out of its mouth and the red runes on its collar flared to life. Chains erupted from thin air, binding it and slamming the creature back to the ground. It twitched, then remained still. Damien released his grip on the Ether he’d liberated from the monster, and it slipped back to its normal state.

“Well done,” Dredd said from behind him. Damien turned to see a long, jagged cut running along the professor’s face and down his chest. Dredd took a long drink from a flask of healing water and capped it. “Your companion is… capable.”

“You should have used your Full Manifestation,” Henry said with a smug grin.

“And you shouldn’t be using that darkness spell when I’m trying to fight something,” Damien said, walking up and jabbing Henry in the chest. “That nearly got me swatted.”

“Whoopsie,” Henry said. “Noted.”

“Ah. We’ve learned something,” Dredd said, putting his hands together. “Good.”

“Yeah, yeah. Can I get a go at the Corruption too?” Henry asked.

Damien rolled his eyes. “Let’s save it for the people that actually need the practice. We’ll go again once they have. I’ve got some ideas I want to try, though.”