My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 133: New Possibilities

Time passed quickly for Kace and the others. They had fallen into the same routine day after day. Kace had come along by leaps and bounds under Dao's tutelage. Going so far as to even consider him as a personal friend now. Today marked their final training session together. After this, he would be in Sonja's hands.

This session was not to train him in any techniques. It was to gauge how well he could hold his own in battle. Throughout this time with Dao, he had also been instructed on how to use his skills more effectively. Well, ignoring his Hexblade skills as these would be left to Soja's teachings who knew them better.

As the two faced off Grugda, Sophia and Sonja stood by the side in anticipation of a good match. Sonja merely wanted to know if he had reached the required standards for her to begin her sessions with him. 'Hopefully, he'll put on a decent show.' She mused, she had become bored of waiting for this day.

As Kace bowed to Dao, Sylvan took his weapon form within his hand. Dao, however, was barehanded as usual. Except for a single difference. His hands were wrapped in flowing blood. Kace had never seen him using this before so he could only assume it was some kind of skill that the vampires had.

'You ready for this partner?' Kace asked Sylvan with confidence.

'Do you really have to ask?' Sylvan was as equally excited to test his full capabilities against a worthy opponent.

Sonja stepped forward and gave the pair a stern look. She was resigned to be the referee for this match. Dao was restricted from using his full capabilities, however. He was only allowed to display his abilities at a level that matched what she intended for Kace to have achieved within this period.

"This may not be a fight to the death, but I trust you both shall treat it as such. If required, I will prevent a lethal blow and call an end to the match. So you should hold no reservations and aim to kill each other. If there is no clear victor within ten minutes, I shall pass judgement on whether you pass or not Kace." She gave him a look that said if he failed then he could forget about her training him.

'I won't fail here!' He swore to himself as he resolved to go for the kill at any opportunity.

Dao merely nodded his head in agreement with Sonja's declaration. 'Now, let me see how far you've truly come!' He smirked, he knew better than anyone how good he should be by now. He had put his all into his training. It was in his group's best interests for Kace to be as strong as possible.

"With that out of the way. Begin!" Sonja quickly disappeared back to the bystanders as soon as the last word left her mouth.

Kace immediately used Stampede to close the distance. While mid-charge he cast two Ice Spears to either side of Dao to seal his movements. Sylvan suddenly had a black fog emanating from his body. This was another of Kace's skill's taking effect. Cursed Weapon!

He knew that to close the gap between their respective experience, it was essential to handicap Dao in as many ways as possible. As he continued the charge, he noticed that Dao paid no attention what so ever to the Ice Spears. Keeping his focus fully on Kace. Excellent, just wait to see what I have planned for you!

He swung the stave at Dao with as much force as he could muster. Much to Dao's confusion. Since he was actually still barely out of reach. 'What a rookie mistake! To misjudge distance and timing! My god! Have I wasted my time with you!' Dao was devastated with the blunder of his pupil's. 

As the stave passed him by, he slid towards Kace who had left himself wide open. At that moment, he suddenly got the feeling of being a rabbit that had walked into a wolf's den. Kace was wearing the biggest smile on his face that Dao had ever witnessed. Suddenly his sense warned him of imminent danger coming from behind.

As he swung his fist behind him, the swirling globe of blood surrounding his fist turned into a sharp blade. What it connected with surprised him. Dancing in the air before his eyes were long purple vines. When he traced them back to their origin, he discovered that they had come from the stave in Kace's hands.

'What a cheeky brat! He never did this during our weapon training sessions! What else has he been hiding?' Dao could not help but smile at this development. It would certainly make the fight more entertaining. His senses suddenly warned him of something else that was dangerous coming from Kace's end. 

Not wanting to take any chance he leapt into the air and backflipped over Kace's head to escape the encirclement. Kace cursed as Dao had just blindly avoided his Silence skill. 'It's not that easy to get away!' Kace grinned like a madman. Once again using Stampede in the process.

Though this manoeuvre only served to confuse Dao was still mid-air. It was the perfect chance to take advantage of his vulnerable positioning. Yet, Kace was actually charging in the wrong direction! He had aimed his charge off to Dao's right side, and he had no idea what he was up to.

This was what Kace wanted if Dao knew what he was up to he would try to stop it at all costs. While his charge was still in effect, he shot a Spider Thread towards the ceiling. Using the thread, he managed to divert the trajectory of his charge to circle around Dao! It had always been a pain to Kace that Stampede was a linear skill. But Dao's teachings had opened his eyes to new combinations that could change that.

As he circled around Dao, who had just landed softly upon his feet, he could only smile. His throat began to glow with liquid fire as he faced his friend's exposed back...