It had been two months now that Azaroth had been captured and turned in to become a Hound for the Inferno Legion. A daily routine had formed around him.

First, when he woke up he would wash up, put on his uniform then go downstairs for breakfast, usually, he would meet Kael sitting at the table with a cup. Azaroth still hasn’t found out how Kael drank with his mask on.

After he and his "pack" had breakfast they would put the tables away and do light stretches to prepare for the day’s training.

Their training for now includes weapon fighting and essence training. Their essence fighting is hand-to-hand combat but with essence-covered hands. Or feet.

They can now cover part of themselves with energy and fight with their weapons at the same time. It didn’t do much unless you put it on your feet or punched with it, covering your hand with energy and using the same hand to swing your sword just meant your sword would fall faster.

Kael had promised they would start seeing progress soon enough when they advance to initiate level and start using full body cloak or when they can warp multiple parts of their bodies in essence energy.

Kael had been fighting them every day since the first day he did so and he had started taking dark joy in seeing them all sprawled on the floor, bruised and tired.

They had turned it into a game, though a game that gets you beat up. The game was that you should cover the area Kael targeted with his punch, kick, or chop.

Or Kael punched you in the stomach and before the punch landed you should have covered your stomach with essence. Easier said than done since it was not easy to call and quickly warp essence around a body part.

And Kael didn’t hold back his attacks. Well, maybe he did hold back since he hadn’t attacked any of them with essence covered fist or kick. Healers had to be called on occasions where ribs snapped, shoulder got dislocated or jaws got loose.

Even though Kael didn’t attack them with energy-covered attacks he was naturally much stronger than them. Awakeners got stronger and more fit the higher they advanced Kael was no exception and he was peak Survival rank.

Catena and Alex focused more on this hand-covering essence.

Catena would use it to spin his chain faster or to draw a target he had tangled with the chain. He also had to use essence to control the mechanism of his chain. The chain was now around his waist with the spiked ball on his right and the smooth on the left.

Since Alex swung heavily with his long sword he focused all his essence training on his hand. He couldn’t put essence on both hands unfortunately and that made his swings unbalanced and sometimes went wild.

Stallus was all about speed. Her essence was always on her right feet and she would hop and fleet around the training room dodging attacks.

Azaroth had expected her to put it in her hand for better piercing but retreating fast was important for light weapon users.

Azaroth himself was good with his sword. The sword was lighter than a long sword that he could use with one hand and much heavier than a saber so he could still slash with it. So he also focused his essence on his right hand.

Kael had made their training harder by commanding them to always put a thread of essence in their weapons. Always. Even when they were training or practicing.

After the morning training, Kael would give them two hours to have quick snacks and recover their lost essence.

After that they would train till the moon was out then dinner, Kael would leave them then.

Catena and Alex would retire after dinner and Stallus and Azaroth would start their extra training.

They wouldn’t speak with each other in their respective corners, the only sound was their whooshing weapons and feet tapping the floor.

They thought that he called her off and Azaroth liked it that way. Although the others could be useful for him Azaroth didn’t care enough about them to speak to them.

He got all he wanted by observing them.

Stallus always went up before him and Azaroth would do some more training before returning to his room where he would start harvesting essence for the next morning.

Sometimes he would enter a semi-consciousness state and fall into darkness where the red eyes would be waiting for him and he would harvest essence and start another training.

His training was just a little bit different here. Azaroth would start with a light stretch even though he didn’t seem to be tired anytime he was there. Even if he was so tired in ’real life’ all of it would wash away immediately he entered his ’mind’.

Then he would proceed to essence training. It was far earlier with his chaos core, the energy came easy and he could warp it in his fist or his leg faster. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Oh! You are getting good at this! You can now change it from your hand and leg smoothly, this will help you greatly when you have enough essence to cover more body parts." The eye said today as it focused two burning red eyes on Azaroth.

Azaroth sighed and wiped the sweat from his brows. It takes massive amounts of willpower and concentration to keep the essence together and not drift away.

"I didn’t notice at the crypt then but this is hard to do," Azaroth said.

The eye chuckled. "Adrenaline and the fact that you didn’t know what you were doing then. It’s easier if you don’t know how difficult something is. You won’t know you are doing something you shouldn’t have!"

Azaroth sighed again. "There it goes again sprouting nonsense in a bid to act smart."

The eye snapped. "I will let you know! I am the most learned and....."

Azaroth didn’t hear as he was being forcibly removed.