The training continued but Dean understood that he needed to control his own anger.

Because everytime he lost it. Ash lost it with him.

But amidst all this, he was more conscious now. Making sure to be more aware of when his anger spiked and when he needed to pull back.

But he also noticed that it was just Ash that reacted to these anger spikes. The wind sprite was totally unreactive.

Was it because they didn’t have a true bond yet or maybe because it wasn’t his soul that summoned it in the first place?

Too many questions, but Dean realized he would discover them, the more he practiced or learned.

After thirty more minutes, he called it a day as both creatures dematerialized.

He looked at his surroundings and the cage wasn’t in shambles but it was close. The ground was cracked, lines of damage stretching all the way to the walls.

And the On-lookers had all left to do their own things. Still feeling the effects of the attacks from Ash and the wind sprite.

Dean decided to rest a bit. He sat and rested his back on the walls of the cage.

Before long, a familiar sound rang in his head.

Ding!

And with it came a series of notifications from the ever watchful summoning system.

[ You have completed several self imposed objectives]

[You sparred with your summons]

[Rewards: 1500EXP]

[You improve coordination between your summons]

[Rewards: 2000EXP]

Dean looked at the orange interfaces and nodded with satisfaction. This was good progress.

A few more experience points and he would be able to rank up his levels really soon.

While he was making sense of everything. A new interface appeared with deep orange texts.

[New system interface Unlocked: Bond Growth]

Dean leaned in but before he bothered to read, all the information he needed came pouring into his mind.

The reason this interface was unlocked was because of his own visible efforts of unintentionally trying to improve the bonds between himself and his summons.

This tracking interface was the system rewarding his intent.

Dean opened the interface.

[Bond Growth - Ash: True Bond Unlocked]

[Bond Growth - Wind Sprite: 8%.]

[Bond Growth - Earth Elemental: 0%.]

Reading through, Dean paused at the earth elemental for a few more seconds, his thoughts were blank.

"Might as well, give It a try," Dean encouraged himself as he got back to his feet while grunting.

He’d determined that if the wind sprite was 8%. Then summoning the elemental for a few seconds and at least getting it to 1 or 2% wasn’t going to get him witch hunted.

With a small circle forming in front of Dean, the ground rumbled as a hulking mass of earth and soil rose from the earth itself like it was always there.

But even as the creature stood like a mindless humanoid, its instability was painfully obvious as cracks began spreading across the ground.

He sighed deeply, as the creature disappeared in motes of brown light. He needed to understand this one but in the right conditions.

By the time he left the training grounds, it was almost empty.

He was feeling sore and had a lot on his mind. There was Astrea, Ymir, Marcus but most importantly, he rubbed his stomach.

Food...

Reaching for his bag pack, he brought out two 50 quid notes as he headed to the cafeteria.

Passing through a corridor between two buildings, towards the main path. He was barely halfway through when everything went black.

It was as if something had isolated his vision from reality. Dean held his chest as his heart rate increased.

"What the hell...Am i having a heart attack?"

<><><>

Bam!

Dean felt the impact, right in his lower back, the kick from behind caused him to stumble forward with hands flailing before falling down.

Yeah, it was definitely not a heart attack. Someone was jumping his ass.

Dean immediately reached for his face, trying to pull off whatever was on it.

But it was to no avail. what he felt was slippery and slimy and it kept tightening as if it was alive. Perhaps it was.

’A summon,’ Dean thought. ’Something that fucks with vision.’

Since he couldn’t get it off, Dean instinctively activated Hermit’s eyes, he needed some form of vision.

As soon as he activated the ability, the complete darkness became blurs. This blurs were like shapes merging with one another but it was better than nothing.

Suddenly a shape hovered over him, it was moving in fast.

Dean didn’t linger. He rolled out of the way as something slammed into the ground where his head had been.

The ground cracked and splintered even as Dean struggled back to his feet.

On his feet, he looked from left to right but this creature whatever it was on his face compromised his vision even more. He couldn’t see any faces or details.

’Ash’ Dean thought. I gotta summon Ash. He was taking a slow breath to calm himself and concentrate, when he got the air knocked out of him.

The hit was right on the kisser, forcing him to grunt in extreme pain as he felt his chest about to explode.

The fist of his assaulter drove straight into his solar plexus. Shutting down that portion of his body for a second or two as every muscle spasmed.

Before Dean could go down, a hand held him upright even while his knees were giving up.

The hold came with a gentle voice that Dean wouldn’t forget in the long run.

"Special Delivery from Vanessa. Welcome to Franseint."

The whisper was followed by an outbreak of laughter but, Dean couldn’t respond. How could he? He would at least be able to put the voices in his head together first, for him to do that.

And right now. The voices were quiet with only one left.

’Who the fuck is Vanessa,’ he gasped as he fell on one knee, still grasping at his chest with his lungs working over time.

Dean didn’t know where but could feel another attack coming in. ’Yeah I’m fucked.’

Then... it went quiet. The laughter silenced. The attack never happened.

What followed was a ruckus.

Clicking sounds followed with slashes and crashes with some screams in between.

Dean was still struggling for air when he began hearing pleas from the voice from earlier.

"I didn’t know he was yours," the voice said in panic.

"Mercy please, I didn’t know," the panic became desperation.

After that, silence took over again as Dean was finally just able to inhale properly, grinding his teeth.

Without warning, Claw marks flashed in his vision.

They were fast and precise, easily tearing off the creature that clung to his face like nylon.

Light and air entered into his eyes and lungs. Dean sucked it in, ignoring the pain that came with it.

He looked around to see bodies littered around.

Some cracks on the ground and walls.

Then he looked up.

"You?"

A/N: If you’re enjoying this, please your support and gifts are my inspirations. Thanks ...