WiH: Chapter 18 — The Hero Trainer (Patreon)

I raised my hands.

“Wait! There’s no need to fight! I have not come here to battle. I seek only your guidance, your expertise! I wish to learn at your feet, to understand as much as I can from you!”

Her laughter rang out, musical but chilling. “All devils speak so smoothly,” she said, each word dripping with amusement, “yet none possess valor.”

Before I could react, I felt myself ripped upward, pulled by some invisible force, my body twisting and snapping against walls.

I gasped, blood spitting from my mouth as I was hurled through stone. When I landed, I was outside the castle entirely, sprawled on the jagged ground, dazed and furious.

I had barely seen it coming.

A cold clarity hit me; if I wanted to survive this, I could not hold back. Not even a fraction. I drew deep into my demonic reserves, summoning the full breadth of power a Satan-ranked devil commands.

The land shivered and groaned as I expanded my aura, reinforcing my senses with layered magic, my muscles taut and burning with enhanced strength, my reflexes sharpened to preternatural speed. Every spell I layered on myself increased my resistance, speed, and precision. I had to be faster, stronger, smarter.

Laughter carried across the ridge, echoing even though she was hundreds of meters above me. I looked up. There she was, perched like a predatory goddess, her bloody spear glinting in the dim light of the Land of Shadows. “This will be more fun than I thought,” her voice carried even though I felt no magic from it. Then she leapt from the castle, descending like a storm, runes spiraling along the tip of her spear.

The ground beneath me cracked and slipped open as she descended. I jumped instinctively, just clearing the jagged stone fissure as stones fell hundreds of meters into the rift.

I surged outward, opening my arms and bending the air itself into slicing waves that crashed toward her like tidal surges. My favorite air scythes flew towards her.

The ground split where they hit, but she moved like smoke, twisting once, stepping aside, her spear impossibly slicing through the waves as if cutting silk with a speed that defied imagination.

“Impressive,” she said calmly, her tone even, her gaze steady. “But power without control is nothing more than noise.”

I shifted tactics, summoning sigils in rapid succession, unleashing torrents of fire, gravity distortions that bent the terrain violently.

And still, she moved without hesitation. One moment she was here, the next behind me in a blur. I reacted, teleporting, leaving a decoy to explode in her face, but when the smoke cleared, she was gone. I twisted midair as her spear thrust toward me, narrowly avoiding it.

Her own runes began to appear, flowing from the tip of her spear, weaving into mine, reconfiguring them mid-flight.

I felt them alter the structure of my spells, collapsing and redirecting them before they could reach her. My frustration flared; I shifted to rapid teleportation, kinetic bursts, trying to catch her off guard. Every maneuver was anticipated, every strategy neutralized.

She closed the distance effortlessly, each spear movement surgically precise. Thrusts disrupted mana flow, parries carried embedded runes that nullified my offensive spells outright.

I gritted my teeth, and I poured massive amounts of energy into a space distortion until space collapsed into itself. A black nothingness started to appear as light stopped being able to leave the event horizon. The fifty-meter-wide black hole started to swallow everything around it, and the winds started to pick up as the land of shadows bent towards the hole in reality.

I pointed my hand and, with exertion of will, released the massive reality-bending attack.

She paused only briefly, tracing an intricate circle beneath her feet.

The Land of Shadows itself answered her call.

My spell froze midair, held rigid, then crumbled into harmless light.

All that energy for nothing?!

She commended my ingenuity but told me bluntly, “You lack rhythm, instinct, and restraint. That is the art behind combat.”

Then the world exploded under my feet.

Fire roared up around me as everything detonated in perfect chaos. I was bathed in fire, and stones hit me and threw me from side to side as I flew up. I was only alive because of my shield spells, but the explosion did not seem to stop.

I drew on the void within the shadows, and the fire started to be consumed. After it was gone, I was singed and bleeding.

When the flames receded, I saw I was standing in a kilometer-deep crater, the earth around me scarred by runes she had inscribed while dancing around my attacks.

She had full control of the battlefield.

I exhaled slowly, conceding the truth: she dictated the flow. I stopped my attacks and took a deep breath, letting my mind settle. Two can play this game.

I began tracing massive rune circles across the crater. Larger, slower, more methodical than before. I poured power into each line, weaving layered illusions and sensory triggers. If I could not win with powerful attacks, maybe tricks might work better.

She watched, unimpressed, her expression flat.

Finally, she moved. Spear tip cutting through the air, faint runes left in her wake. She pierced one of my circles. The runes reacted, collapsing, only nothing happened. My illusion held, layered to trick even a god of war.

For the first time, I saw a flicker of surprise in her expression, a rare glimmer of respect as she was blown away by a space distortion behind the illusion.

She planted her spear, and runes surged outward, overwhelming my network in seconds.

The land itself obeyed her, nullifying everything I had woven. She was the Queen of the Land of Shadows, and it showed. I wondered if this was how gods domains felt.

Then she blurred.

She closed the distance in a heartbeat, thrusting her spear. I barely dodged, a nick across my arm, the weapon slicing through the reinforced threads of my suit. She kicked, sending me flying, and I used space distortion to teleport out of reach.

Scathach smirked. It was small, almost imperceptible, the kind of smile a predator gives when the hunt begins again.

Then her hand moved. In a single, fluid motion, she hurled her spear… not at me, but to the side.

My instincts screamed, and augemancy flared within me, flooding my mind with impossible clarity. The world slowed to a crawl. Every grain of dirt, every flicker of magic in the air stretched into stillness. My brain ran a thousand calculations in the space of a heartbeat.

The spear wasn’t aimed at me.

Its trajectory was angled away, far from where I stood.

I traced the vector in my mind, line by line, until the realization hit like a hammer.

It was heading straight toward the rift.

Toward the base.

Toward Valerie and Meredith.

“No!”

I was already moving.

The world blurred as I folded space and appeared beside the spinning spear, heat rippling through my body as the air screamed from its passage.

Too late.

It had already passed me, faster than my sight could truly follow.

I teleported again, ahead of its path, materializing between the weapon and the rift, my hands already moving in layered gestures. I poured everything into the shield.

Impact.

The world vanished in light and pressure. The ground erupted, the air cracked open, and the sound hit like a mountain collapsing.

My barrier shattered instantly. Pain tore through my ribs, blood filled my mouth, and the blast hurled me backward through heat and smoke. When I hit the ground, I slid through burning dirt until the crater’s rim stopped me.

My vision swam. Everything ached.

The spear was embedded deep in the earth before me. I started to heal myself as fast as I could. Half of my reserves were already gone. I had poured a quarter towards that shield…

I looked back toward the rift. I had stopped it. Barely.

I forced myself upright, coughing, every nerve on fire. Scathach stood at the edge of the crater, her silhouette framed by the red light of the abyss. Her eyes gleamed with faint amusement, perhaps even satisfaction.

I needed to end this…

I began calling forth a massive reality slash when her voice cut through the air like steel.

“Stop.”

I froze, mid-incantation. The demonic power stilled.

“I shall train you,” she said simply. My heart froze. “…And the two women waiting for you across the rift, too.”

I blinked, dumbfounded, staring at her…

What?

That had come out of nowhere, I thought we were in a fight to the death here!

Or, well… I could admit I planned to send a Reality Slash and then retreat through the rift before closing it. It was clear that she was playing with me more than anything.

I had never felt so outmatched in my life, not even Tsufaame had made me feel like this. It was like trying to stop a river with my own hands.

“What?” I repeated out loud.

“You have heard me.” She said in a calm voice, still standing at the edge of the crater. “I will train you.”

Her expression was calm again, unreadable. I forced myself to breathe evenly before I spoke, though my ribs screamed with every inhale.

Some type of attack that managed to do that… it reminded me of my reality slash. It had clearly cut through the shields and then exploded.

“Why did you change your mind?” I managed to ask, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.

Her gaze flicked toward me, and for a moment, I thought she might just ignore the question. Then she leapt down into the crater in one effortless, fluid motion. The landing barely stirred the dust. She reached for her spear, pulling it free from where it had been embedded, and turned toward me with that same calm, detached authority.

“You showed valour in the face of death,” she said. “And I think you have potential.”

She took a few steps closer, the weapon disappearing from her hand again as if it had never been there. I hadn’t even blinked; one microsecond it was there, and the next it wasn’t. “You also showed something devils rarely do. You cared more for others than yourself. Empathy, in a devil…” Her tone shifted, quieter now. “That is rare.”

My answer came as a cough that brought up more blood, I was more hurt than I first realized, and as the adrenaline went away, the pain started to hit. The world tilted, and for a moment, I thought I would pass out. Then two shapes blurred into the crater, Valerie and Meredith.

“Master!” Valerie dropped to her knees beside me, her hands already glowing faintly as the Grail’s light began knitting my wounds together. The air around me shimmered, and I could feel the pulse of that relic doing its work in my body.

Meredith lifted her hand and layered shields around us, summoning the radiant blade of her Sacred Gear. “Stay back,” she warned, eyes fixed on Scathach.

I placed a weak hand on her wrist. “Stop. We won’t be attacked.”

Scathach approached slowly. I wondered, through the haze, if she kept the spear in a pocket dimension like my own. Her eyes moved over Valerie and Meredith with quiet curiosity.

“You two feel strange,” she murmured. “Like devils, yet… not entirely.”

That caught my attention. I realized then that she truly had been cut off from the world for centuries. “You don’t know about the Evil Pieces,” I said, half to myself.

Her brows drew together slightly. “Evil… Pieces?”

“How long,” I asked, “have you been without contact from anyone outside the Land of Shadows?”

She looked away for a moment, eyes unfocused, and then began to list names and events. “A few magi stumbled here… three, maybe four centuries past. I killed them. Some fae wandered in from the borderlands; they were entertaining for a while… before I killed them too.”

Each memory ended the same way, and I could only sweat slightly at the casual tone she used. She went through monsters, humans, and the occasional misplaced fae.

Every visitor she mentioned was dead.

And yet I stood here, still breathing.

“Why me?” I asked.

Her eyes met mine again, sharp and deliberate. “I have already told you. You have potential. Even if your skill in close combat is pitiful, your magic is exceptional. I think I can learn as much from you as you will from me.”

She stepped closer. Meredith’s barriers flared instinctively, but Scathach walked through them as if they were mist.

Meredith sputtered, eyes wide, but Scathach’s attention was already on her.

“Your name,” she said.

“Meredith Ordinton,” Meredith replied, forcing composure back into her voice.

Scathach nodded slightly, then turned her gaze to Valerie.

“Valerie Tepes,” Valerie said softly, her tone cautious but polite.

Scathach studied them both, then smiled faintly. “I can sense powerful weapons of YHWH in your souls.” Her expression hardened. “And you don’t even flinch at His name.”

I couldn’t help but smirk. “The world is different now. We are some of the few devils untouched by His presence.”

She tilted her head, intrigued.

“Devils are rebuilding,” I continued, summoning a small cluster of Evil Pieces from my ring. They hovered in the air before her, glowing softly. “After the Great War and the civil war that followed, the Evil Pieces were created to restore our numbers. They allow us to reincarnate others as devils.”

Scathach snatched one from the air, turning it over in her fingers. “So that explains what I sense. The energy is… divided.” Her eyes turned toward Valerie and Meredith. “The vampire and the human were reborn by your hand.”

“Correct,” I said.

Her attention flicked back to me. “Then what were you?”

“I’m a pureblood,” I said, “but born of a succubus. They’re a race the Leviathan line engineered to fix our fertility problem. Their blood runs in me, which makes… certain things easier.”

Scathach looked toward the horizon, the glow of the rift casting long shadows across her face. “The world truly has changed,” she murmured. “Perhaps it’s time I see it again, after training you, of course.”

Then her eyes sharpened, and she turned toward Valerie and Meredith. “Show me what you’ve got.”

Meredith blinked. “Now?”

Scathach smiled, her spear reappearing in her hand like a whisper. “When else? Time is a luxury, and you’re wasting it.”

I stepped back, still weak but amused, watching Meredith’s expression as she raised her sword, and Valerie’s shadow began to lengthen behind her. The Queen of the Land of Shadows radiated danger and elegance in equal measure, and I couldn’t help the small grin tugging at my lips.

They needed to feel what I did.

To face that overwhelming force, that impossible skill.

This would be fun.

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It was not fun, not at all.

Scathach had tested both Meredith and Valerie so thoroughly that even with the Grail’s power, they barely lasted an hour.

Their limbs trembled, their magic was nearly dry, and their minds were frayed from the constant pressure of her killing intent.

I had thought I was safe just observing, but then she decided to demonstrate a “real” attack and planted a spear in my leg.

That had hurt. I had felt pain before, but this was something else. Every nerve screamed, and for a brief instant, I thought my leg had ceased to exist.

Valerie had rushed to me instantly, her healing light wrapping around the wound until it closed, but I caught the faint frown on Scathach’s face as she watched.

That look told me everything; the instant healing privilege was not going to last. If she had her way, the next lesson would come with all the pain included. I could already tell that was her kind of teaching.

Still, I would not complain. I had come to the Land of Shadows to learn from one of the greatest warriors in history. If I cried about pain now, I might as well leave. Strength came with scars, and this was the price of power.

Right now, though, we were in what passed for her relaxation chamber, a large, rune-warmed pool. The water eased the pain in my body, though it did little for the embarrassment of having been skewered like a fool. Meredith had her head leaning back against the rock edge, her auburn hair unbound and damp, while Valerie floated lazily near her.

“She’s brutal,” Meredith muttered, voice hoarse but steady.

Valerie nodded quickly. “Brutal doesn’t even begin to cover it.”

Meredith turned toward me, squinting. “Did anyone else see her smile when she stabbed you? She’s insane.”

I let out a slow breath. “I was a bit too busy screaming to notice much of anything.” My leg still ached, phantom pain lingering even with the healing. “But yes, she can fight. And that move you pulled, removing the concept of time from those pebbles to block her spear? That was impressive.”

Meredith smirked, flicking her wet hair back with mock pride. “Well, someone had to stop her from turning us into shish kebabs.”

Valerie rolled her eyes. “You call that stopping? You delayed her for two seconds.”

And that was longer than it really lasted…

Their bickering faded into the background as my mind slipped elsewhere, back to the fight.

It had shown me too much, every weakness I still had. My power was overwhelming in raw output, but power alone was not mastery. I could throw mountains of energy, but what good was that against someone who could slip through every attack like smoke?

Scathach had been faster, sharper, and impossibly composed. Even when I flooded the field with destructive spells, she dismantled them like she was untangling a string.

Against weaker opponents, my magic was decisive. Space manipulation could tear through almost anything; it was an instant victory against the average Joe. I am against that mobster and against many low and middle-class monsters. They never stood a chance. But against people like Tsufaame, Dulio, and now Scathach, brute power was not enough. They adapted. They read me. I always won by overwhelming them with variety, not by precision.

My arsenal was wide, but not deep.

I needed techniques that demanded focus, that forced even the strong to respect them. My void magic through shadow manipulation worked well for that, and my Reality Slash could end most fights, but I needed more.

I needed refined killing tools, spells that could distort entire rules of existence, that could erase counterplay. Saphyra Lucifer had her Power of Destruction, which could encapsulate matter and dissolve it by pouring energy into it. Serafall could freeze time itself for everyone but her. Ruor said she had done so against Greyfia. Ajuka could unravel the logic of any spell with his Kankara formula. Even Falbium’s barriers were said to be inviolable. I wanted techniques like that, several of them, ones that would make even gods hesitate.

But it wasn’t only about raw might. I needed to strengthen my base, my foundation. I had been proud of my close combat and speed, but compared to Scathach, I was a toddler waving a stick. I had never felt so slow, so transparent.

My thoughts broke when the door slid open. And Scathach entered the same room we were in, carrying something.

She wore only a towel, her long purple hair loose around her face.

I tried not to stare.

Meredith failed miserably, eyes wide and mouth slightly open.

Scathach’s gaze settled on me. “Come here.”

I stood and walked out of the water, approaching her. She approached with a handful of metallic bands, etched with small shifting runes. Without a word, she attached them to my wrists, ankles, and torso, then snapped her fingers.

The effect was instant. It was not weight… it was resistance, constant and omnipresent. Every muscle fought itself. Blinking required focus. Breathing felt like lifting stones. Even swallowing burned. My body trembled from the sheer effort of existence.

I fell to the ground with a gasp.

“Do not be a child,” she said, and kicked me lightly in the side.

I forced myself up, shaking, sweat already beading on my forehead. She smiled faintly, satisfied. “Good. You will wear these for a month.”

A month. Perfect. Torture it is, then.

I forced myself to breathe slowly as Scathach turned away, unbothered by my struggle.

Her gaze turned sharp again as she gestured for Valerie and Meredith to come closer. “You two, as well.”

Meredith blinked. “Wait, what?”

Before either of them could protest, Scathach retrieved two more sets of runic bands from nowhere. She snapped them onto their limbs with effortless precision, then flared her mana. The runes came alive, glowing faint crimson before sinking into their skin. Valerie gasped, muscles locking as she tried to move, and Meredith swore under her breath.

“This is absurd!” Meredith muttered, trying to raise her arm. “I can barely move!”

“That is the point,” Scathach said simply. “You have relied too long on the convenience of your magic. Now you will remember that flesh and steel matter just as much as power and spellcraft.”

She turned to me first, her expression unreadable. “Zyras,” she said, “you are remarkable. In knowledge, skill, and raw power, you could already match many lesser gods, perhaps even some greater ones. Your magical structure is refined, your control near-perfect. Even the divine would hesitate to meet you in a contest of pure might.”

I felt Valerie’s eyes flicker toward me, a flicker of pride hidden behind her calm expression. Meredith looked impressed despite the strain in her limbs. I only nodded slightly. She would know. She had fought gods before.

“But,” she continued, her tone flattening, “you are slow. You lack experience in the chaos of battle. You think too much and move too little. You rely on your magic as a crutch, and that will kill you one day.”

That hit deeper than I wanted to admit.

“You will learn to wield a weapon,” she said. “You will learn to use your body as a weapon. And you will gain experience fighting me and your… peerage. Without magic and with the restraints.”

“Lovely,” I muttered. “Nothing like being beaten by friends to build character.”

Scathach smirked faintly. “Exactly.”

Her eyes shifted to Meredith. “As for you,” she said, circling her like a predator. “You are a mage as well, though your power comes from a different path. Your control is excellent, your sealing magic sharp. I can see the potential in your Sacred Gear; it resonates strongly, and you already understand the basic idea of temporal locking. But it is crude. You stop time for objects, not for battle. We will change that.”

Meredith frowned but listened closely. Scathach continued, “I will teach you runecraft to strengthen your seals. You will learn to weave time magic with precision. And you will learn to fight with the blade your Sacred Gear manifests as. If you cannot strike with it, all the time in the world will mean nothing.”

Meredith’s lips twitched into a grin despite the weight holding her down. “Finally, someone who gets it.”

Then Scathach’s gaze softened as she turned to Valerie. “You are different,” she said quietly. “Your strength lies in your body already. Vampiric speed and power are nothing to dismiss, but you have grown used to restraint.”

Valerie looked down. “I don’t like hurting people when I don’t have to.”

Scathach smiled faintly, almost approvingly. “And yet you will learn to do so anyway. You will train with twin daggers. Long enough to reach vital points, short enough to vanish in motion. You will learn how to use your speed not only to dodge but to strike. Your Holy Grail… that is something else entirely.”

Valerie blinked in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Scathach’s gaze became distant for a moment, her tone shifting to something almost reverent. “When you touched my soul with the grail, I saw it. The Grail is not only a tool of healing. It can twist fate itself, reshape souls, even unmake them or bring them to life. You have barely begun to touch its potential. We will explore that together.”

Valerie nodded slowly, her usual composure returning.

“Master Zyras has been studying the Grail for as long as we have been together. He is the one who modified it to be safe and as many ideas himself.” Valerie informed our new teacher.

Scathach nodded and looked at me. “You will show me your notes and explain all you know to me.” She commanded, and I just nodded.

She just broke every rule of mage relations with that, but what else could I expect? It would benefit me, so I would do it.

Scathach’s attention returned to the three of us, her expression turning sharp once more. “All of you have great potential. But potential is worthless without discipline. From this day onward, you will wake early, train until your bodies scream, and learn to fight until your instincts drown out your thoughts.”

Meredith groaned softly. “That sounds like hell.”

Scathach smirked. “Hell would be merciful compared to what I have planned.”

I exhaled through my nose, feeling the runes pulse again as my muscles strained even in stillness. “You really enjoy this, don’t you?”

“Of course,” she said, reclining in the water as if the conversation were casual. “Breaking down arrogance, reforging it into strength. Watching the weak suffer until they stop being weak. It is my craft.”

I looked at Valerie, then at Meredith. Both seemed a mix of nervous and determined.

And I could not help but smile.

“Fine,” I said. “Let’s see if your craft works on devils, too.”

Scathach’s eyes gleamed, and for the first time since our arrival, she smiled without restraint. “It will.”

Without ceremony, she let her towel drop and stepped into the pool, the water rising to her waist as she sank. Her hair clung to her skin, the steam tracing over her shoulders.

Well, both Meredith and Valerie were staring at her now… so it would not hurt anyone if I did so too, right?

Right.

When she spoke again, her voice was calmer, but curious.

“Every person who came to me had a purpose. No one seeks strength for its own sake. They came with ambition, vengeance, love, and fear. Tell me, Zyras… what is your purpose?”

Her eyes met mine, sharp and unblinking.

Meredith opened her mouth, perhaps to say something bold, but all that came out was an awkward sputter when Scathach stretched slightly, water rippling around her. Valerie coughed, hiding her face behind her hands.

Fuck she was gorgeous.

I dragged myself into the pool, each step deliberate under the strain of the runes. The heat soaked into my bones, and I let out a long breath before answering. “It’s a long story,” I said finally. “But to make it short… my father is an asshole.”

Scathach raised a brow, then chuckled softly, the sound rich and amused. “Ah, I have met many of those.”

I found myself smiling despite the pain.

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AN: Surprise chapter! I hope you enjoy it. You will get your normal chapter on Tuesday as always.