Chapter 4: Midnight Training
...
By the time I was finally sent home, I looked like a complete wreck. Again. I barely had the energy to make myself a chicken dinner, though it still came out fantastic. Even so, I felt like absolute shit the entire time. After eating, I forced myself to do the dishes before dragging my aching body upstairs.
Halfway up the stairs, I briefly considered scrapping my plan altogether for another day and just collapsing into bed, letting sleep drown out the pain. But I soldiered through and made it to my room anyway. There was something I wanted to test.
I sat down on the floor and settled into a meditation posture. When I woke up that morning, I hadn't just felt stronger and more energized. Every ache from the previous day had vanished completely. And according to my canon knowledge, Luka was capable of healing his wounds through meditation.
In the games, Alice once told Luka a story about a fallen angel who could instantly heal her injuries simply by meditating. She said it as a joke at the time, not believing a human was capable of doing it, but Luka wasn't a human, was he? He managed to do it himself, and now it's my turn.
The idea had merit. Even with my angelic powers suppressed by the keepsake ring, I could still let my power leak out without any visible side effect. I was already using my abilities in my human form, even if only a little, so there was no reason healing via meditation wouldn't work. I'd literally done it yesterday without realizing it. Nothing should be different now.
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes, ignored the pain, and focused solely on healing. Slowly, I felt the aches and bruises throughout my body begin to fade. When I opened my eyes and stood up, I checked myself over. Every wound from the training was gone.
I pumped my fist into the air. "Fuck yeah. Wolverine, baby!" I cheered. I have a healing factor now!
That alone was insane. In the games, this ability had saved Canon Luka's life countless times. The ability was so broken that Tamamo, a Heavenly Knight herself, outright called it cheating. I honestly couldn't disagree. Luka had survived fights that should've killed him or at the very least injured him to the point of not being able to walk purely because of this ability. And now I have it too. I was absolutely going to abuse it.
After calming myself down, I grabbed my regular sword and drew it from its sheath. I wanted to test it one more time. With a wince, I made a shallow cut across my palm. It stung, but I sat back down and began meditating again, focusing on the wound. When I opened my eyes, the bleeding had already stopped, and my skin had closed itself shut.
…Gross. But also sweet.
With that confirmed, I started thinking about the limits of this ability. Canon Luka had endured extreme burns, deep cuts, and worse, yet recovered from them simply by resting overnight. While I was grateful to have something like this, I had zero interest in testing its absolute limits. Even if I had a healing factor, I could still feel pain. I've seen Redo the Healer, and I'm not going through that hell. Still, it was one hell of a card to have for my future journey and training arc.
Feeling refreshed, I blew out the candle and went outside with my sword tethered to my belt. I felt light and energized, like I'd just woken up rather than fought all day. Feeling great, I planned to explore more of my angelic powers.
I quietly made my way out of the village. The guards didn't patrol Illiasville all together at night. Only one kept watch at a time, rotating every hour. All I had to do was wait until one of them was done with their shift and slip.
Crossing the village border, I reached the treeline. The night was calm, and the clouds parted, letting the moonlight spill through the sky. "This world really is beautiful. I wish my family could see it." I thought with a sad smile, but I shook my head and continued onward.
I knew it was risky to go out alone, but I wanted to do this. Plus I wasn't all that worried. Monster sightings on the Ilias continent were rare, and I had my trusty sword. I also brought a knife with me, just in case.
I kept walking into the forest until I stumbled upon a particularly lovely area. It looked like something straight out of a fairy tale. It was spacious and surrounded by dense green trees covered in moss. An open grassy space bordered by the large boulders and rocks scattered across the ground and near the water. My eyes were drawn upward to the wide waterfall cascading down between the cliffs and feeding into a clear pool below.
"Perfecto." I smiled as I settled down on a boulder near the water. I pulled a book out of my bag along with a feathered quill. An effing feathered quill. God, I missed pencils and pens.
Moving on, the reason I was going out of my way to do this out here instead of in my room was because of yesterday. It hadn't exactly been quiet. After the commotion, several villagers had come to me asking if something had happened in my house. They claimed they'd heard strange noises, and one person even said they saw a bright light coming from my window.
Now, the sounds I could've explained somehow. But the light—that would be tricky, but somehow my brain managed to come up with a believable explanation on the spot. Looking back on that moment, I do admit it was weird. I don't remember ever being that quick-witted in my past life. Was my brain being influenced by my angelic side? Ever since arriving here, I felt… sharper. Smarter. In my previous life as Syrus, my memory had been terrible. Now I could recall events from my childhood, as well as memories from Lukas's childhood.
That was precisely why I brought the notebook. I needed to document everything. "First things first. Strength." I wrote the word down before standing up and walking toward another boulder. The one in front of me was enormous, easily twelve feet across.
Cracking my knuckles, I closed my eyes, pulled my arm back, and punched it with everything I had. The sound of stone cracking echoed through the clearing. Slowly opening my eyes, I pull my fist away and inspect the damage. A small fist-sized hole had formed in the boulder where I'd struck it with crack lines spread around.
"Nice." I quickly wrote down my findings.
Based on the damage and the size of the rock, I estimated my strike output to be somewhere around 4000 to 6000 newtons of force. That was more than enough power to break bones with.
"It's good… but nowhere near enough." I muttered, jotting down the numbers with a grin.
Moving on to the next test, I wrapped my arms around the boulder. Taking a deep breath, I braced myself and started pushing. From my rough estimate, the thing had to weigh at least 180 pounds—probably more. Back in my past life, that would've been my absolute limit, and even then it would've hurt like hell. But things are different now.
I dug my feet into the dirt and pushed harder. The boulder shifted, scraping across the ground like a farmer's hoe. Ok, that sounded wrong. Eventually I stopped and stepped back to observe my work, measuring the distance from where it first was to now. "Ok, it's about five meters."
Next would've been the running test, but I skipped it for now. It was better left for tomorrow in the village. It was easier to measure there than in the woods.
I spent the next two hours running through a series of physical tests. I began by marking the starting point for my vertical and long jumps with a line in the dirt. After a few attempts, my vertical jump landed somewhere between twenty-eight and thirty-four inches. That was already brushing against elite Olympic levels, by my estimate. As for my standing long jump, it came out to around nine feet nine inches. So close. I tried pushing it to ten feet, but after ten more attempts the strain in my muscles forced me to stop and recover through meditation.
Next was push-ups. I could proudly say I'd more than doubled the amount I used to do in one sitting. I managed around ninety-eight before my arms started screaming at me to stop. Thereafter, I moved into upper-body trials with pull-ups, which ended with a sweet sixty-nine. Nice.
After that was the plank test. I exceeded my old record by eight minutes with almost no trouble. My core stability felt solid. I managed to push it to nine minutes before stopping to meditate.
Then came agility ladder drills and directional change drills. Thanks to Luka's fit body, I felt incredibly light on my feet. My hip rotation was tight, my steps efficient, and there was almost no wasted motion. The drills also helped me evaluate my coordination and awareness while multitasking.
By the time I finished everything, I sat back and reviewed my notes. At that moment, I was at the highest level of human performance. Maybe brushing against superhuman territory when it came to strength—but only briefly, and only when pushing myself to the absolute edge. But somehow I felt the numbers weren't right, like they didn't match what I displayed this morning.
With the physical tests out of the way, I moved on to the last thing. My brain. I wanted to see if being inside Luka's Nephilim body had affected my intelligence at all.
"So how do I test that?" I scratched my head. Eventually I settled on math. In my previous life I'd been average at best when it came to mathematics and algebra, so it was a perfect baseline. "But what to start with… hmm," I thought for a moment before snapping my fingers. "Oh, I got it."
Using a stick, I wrote a simple equation on the dirt. Solve for x: 5x + 7 = 27.
I ran through the problem in my head. "It's four!" I came up with the answer. "No way—I got it!" I smiled ecstatically. I solved it in under a minute.
To be sure I really became smarter, I kept going. I wrote down more equations, gradually increasing the difficulty. Algebra turned into more complex problems like geometry, and soon I was testing myself with even harder questions. Twenty minutes later I leaned back and admired my work.
I'd solved every single one. This was fantastic, but at the same time it also raised a new question. Why?
From what I knew, Luka wasn't particularly brilliant. He wasn't dumb, but he definitely wasn't some young Sheldon either. "Maybe he was always this smart and just hid it." I muttered to myself, though I didn't really believe that. If that were true, he would've figured out how full of shit Ilias was years ago.
'Or it really is just my power.' That was my best guess. Things had been getting stranger ever since I started tapping into them. The surge of strength earlier today suddenly disappeared mid-fight. The sharper memory. The faster thinking.
That said, I still don't think it takes a genius to figure out that Ilias was a lying bitch. I mean, destroy all monsterkind? Even if monsters were hostile toward humans, genocide didn't exactly strike me as something a benevolent goddess should be promoting… Okay, maybe that was a bad example. Mythology back on Earth was chock full of terrible gods doing terrible things to people. Here's a better one. Ilias had her own commandments, and they went like this.
First, thou shalt not have intercourse with monsters. Second, be dutiful in your prayers. Third, point your sword at the Goddess, and thou shalt cry. Fourth, thou shalt not rely on other gods. And fifth, thou shalt not disgrace the Goddess.
Nowhere did it say anything about protecting the weak, avoiding murder, seeking peace, or showing kindness or forgiveness. All her commandments, minus the first one, are all about her.
"Talk about self-centered!" I say through gritted teeth as I rub my head with my fingers. I felt like I was this close to an aneurysm.
Shaking my head, I get my mind away from my short rant and focus on the last thing I wanted to test before calling it a night. I returned to the same rock I'd been using earlier and slipped into a meditation posture. Just like before, I focused inward and searched for the warm golden fire I'd felt within myself.
It didn't take long. I called for it to appear in my palm. When I opened my eyes, I smirked. "There you are." The familiar golden flame flickered gently above my hand. Unlike yesterday when it had appeared as a sphere, it now looked like the same flame I saw in myself.
From what I've seen yesterday and this morning, control seemed to depend on certainty and command. If my intent was vague, the power could spiral out of control and could literally blow up in my face.
That wasn't happening again, not on my watch. This light was my power, and it was going to learn to do what I say. "Become a sphere."
The flame immediately folded in on itself, compressing until it formed a small glowing sphere the size of a marble. "Back to flame."
It reshaped itself instantly, returning to its previous form. "Okay, good… let's try something else. Pyramid." The light shifted again, forming the geometric shape with precision.
I continued experimenting with different shapes. I began with 2-D, like triangles, rectangles, squares, and circles before I moved on to three-dimensional shapes. I made cones, cubes, cylinders, and even a dodecahedron.
Picturing them in my head was a piece of cake, and my light powers responded in kind, with no problems occurring so far.
Despite all the shaping tests, nothing particularly hazardous was happening. That might've been because the construct was still small. If its size determined its output, then it made sense nothing unpredictable had happened yet.
So I decided to test that theory. My expression grew more serious as I looked down at the flame in my hand. "Sphere." The flame swerved in itself to become what I wanted. "Now… grow larger until you're exactly ten times your current size."
The sphere began to expand.
The orb of light listened to the first half, growing to the size I had pictured, but it didn't stop. It kept swirling and getting larger. The air around me began vibrating intensely as the sphere kept expanding, its glow becoming brighter and brighter. Oh hell no.
"You will listen to me, you little shit! Stop! Now!" My voice deepened as I barked the command, surprising even myself. My right eye faintly glowed as I glared down at the orb. As if frightened, the light immediately froze in place. The vibrations in the air ceased.
"Do as I say and shrink back to the size I originally wanted." The sphere obeyed again, shrinking down along with its brightness. "Good. Now we're getting somewhere. Now let's take it back to the top. Grow further until you become the size of a baseball, and you better listen." I pictured the image in my mind, the intent that I wanted behind it, while also reminding it who was in charge so it wouldn't get other ideas.
I watched in intrigue as the orb became the size I envisioned. The air around began to vibrate softly, but this time it felt different. I was in control. I held the reins. "Time to see what kind of firepower I'm working with."
I stepped back and took the stance of a baseball pitcher before throwing the glowing sphere toward the nearest boulder. The ball of light shot forward at incredible speed, and the moment it made contact, the boulder exploded into a violent shower of dust and shattered rock.
BOOM!
"Oh shit!" I stared in disbelief as the dust slowly cleared. When the smoke settled, the boulder was left half-destroyed, chunks of stone scattered across the ground.
It had done that much damage, and it was only the size of a baseball! Again, oh shit!
"So that's the power of my light… this is incred—whoa!" All of a sudden my legs felt weak, and I nearly fell before catching myself with my hand. "Okay… that was weird." Getting up, I checked myself, but I don't see any outward problems, only a slight weakness in my body. "Did I go overboard with all that practice?" I muttered. Maybe I had used more energy than I realized.
"Guess it's time to head home." Before calling a night, I wondered if meditation might help fix this. Thinking it was worth trying, I sat down and went into meditation. Within moments the fatigue faded away, and when I opened my eyes again I felt completely refreshed.
"Cheating." I smirk as I call forth my power. I should really give it a better name than just my power. Something to do for later.
Golden flame in my hand, I continue experimenting. "What to start with?" I played with the flame for a moment before an idea came to mind. "Knife." The golden flame stretched and narrowed, transforming into the shape of a thirty-centimeter double-edged dagger.
Curious, I bent down and picked up a small rock before attempting to slice it. To my surprise, the blade simply phased through the stone like air. "What?"How could my power explode a boulder but fail to cut a tiny pebble? "Maybe it's about intention… or maybe I need to put more juice into it."
Trying out the first theory, I glance at the glowing dagger and say, "Become sharp enough to cut this pebble in half." With the intention firmly set in my mind, I make a second cut. The pebble split cleanly in two without any resistance and fell out of my hand. "…Damn, that's sharp."
My gaze shifted between the glowing dagger and my finger. Dare I? "Don't slice off my finger." I told it very clearly as I pointed the blade to my finger.
Slowly I brought it closer until it grazed my skin, then carefully dragged it across my finger, leaving a small cut. My eye twitched slightly as a few drops of blood leaked out. "Ouch…" It stung a lot more than I expected. If I had to put it into terms, it was like being cut by metal that had been near a stove.
"That's enough of that." I sat down again and meditated briefly. A moment later, the cut had already healed completely.
Turning back to the dagger, I continued experimenting. "So, this can get really sharp when I want it to be, but it can also pass through solid objects… but what if I do this?" I picked up another pebble and pushed the blade straight into it. Instead of cutting, the dagger phased through the stone until the tip poked out the other side.
"Now become sharp again." The moment I gave the command, glowing golden lines spread across the surface of the rock, and a second later, it crumbled apart into small fragments. "Whoa." No way that just happened.
"How about this?" I picked up another pebble. "Become blunt." This time when I struck the stone, the blade bounced off it like two solid objects colliding. "That's what I'm talking about." That meant I could switch my light between lethal and non-lethal uses whenever I wanted, which was perfect. Having options like that was going to make things a lot easier down the road.
"Become a sword." The handle in my hand lengthened as the knife stretched outward, forming a blade that grew until it reached roughly twenty-four inches in length. In seconds it became a double-sided, one-handed sword of light. The weapon shimmered faintly, its edges burning with a soft golden glow.
Too excited to wait, I hurried over to the nearest boulder and raised the sword above my head. "Hyaaagh!" I brought the blade down in a hard vertical slash.
For a moment, nothing happened before the top half of the boulder slowly slid off before tumbling to the ground with a heavy thud. "Kick A!" I grinned, staring at the perfectly cleaved stone.
This light power of mine was seriously dangerous. It could become intangible one moment and in the next become sharp enough to split a massive rock like a hot knife through butter. I didn't even want to imagine what it could do to a human body.
I stare down at the glowing weapon in my hand. I shiver a little at the thought. "I'm going to have to be careful using you." After a brief pause, I nodded to myself. "Gotta keep practicing.'
The sword shrank back into a flickering flame in my palm. For the next hour and a half, I experimented, shaping the light into all kinds of different shapes and forms, finding out what it could and couldn't do. By the end of it, I'd learned that my light could form into whatever I wanted, limited only by what I could clearly picture in my mind.
I began with simple tools. Hammers, wrenches, pliers, and the like. Once I got the hang of that, I moved on to different kinds of swords. Longswords, rapiers, claymores, and even katanas. I tested them out to get a feel for them, and like what happened on my trip to the village blacksmith, I handled them like I already knew how to use them. Not only that, I also learned that whatever construct I made from my power can be as light or as heavy as I'd like. That in particular was a great discovery.
After that, I pushed into everyday life objects. I made chairs, tables, and other pieces of furniture that you would see in anybody's house. I even tried sitting on one of the chairs. It wasn't uncomfortable at all. Instead, it felt warm and soft.
Then I got a little creative.
I went on to making animal constructs like deer, birds, butterflies, and whatever else popped into my head. The best part is, any constructs I made floated in the air, so that was fun.
From everything I'd tested so far, it seemed like there were no real limits to what I could build with this power, only my imagination.
"I'm basically Green Lantern," I chuckled to myself as I watched a glowing bunny hop lazily through the air. "Or, to be more specific… I'm a Yellow Lantern." I snorted and, just for the hell of it, I posed, making a ring of yellow light on my left hand, and rose my arm in the air.
I then recited the Yellow Lantern oath. "In blackest day, in brightest night, beware your fears made into light. Let those who try to stop what's right burn like my power. Sinestro's might!—Pff, hahahahahaha! Oh man, I'm such a dork!"
I kept laughing until my sides started to ache. "Okay, okay, stop… I've got to stop—whoo." Still chuckling to myself, I walked over to the river and splashed some cool water on my face.
"Now where was I again?" I looked back toward the glowing rabbit still floating lazily in the air. "Oh, right." I raised my hand and made it stop. The rabbit dissolved instantly in a sparkle of golden light.
Cracking my knuckles, I summoned the golden flame again. It flickered for a moment before slipping back into my palm. I turned toward the treeline and extended my hand with my palm closed. Slowly, I opened it.
A bright beam of light burst out of my palm like a flashlight. "That'll be usefull." I muttered, turning it off again.
In a world set in medieval times, something like this was going to come in handy. Now if I had a phone, a TV, and everything else that made life comfortable back home, I'd be set. Maybe if I ever ran into Tamamo early, she could figure something out. She was one of the smartest people in this world, after all. A thought for later. For now, it was back to training.
I continued getting accustomed to my light magic. From now on I was going to call it that. I created various weapons, not just swords this time. I made bows and arrows, spears, axes, and even shurikens. That last one took a lot of trial and error. If I made them too sharp, they sliced clean through the targets. Too blunt, and they just bounced off harmlessly.
Yeah… I was going to need more practice.
"Man… this is getting fun." I pointed my fingers like a gun and aimed at the battered boulder that had become my practice dummy. It was already riddled with holes and cracked chunks from all my earlier tests, but the thing had held up like a champ.
"Pew pew pew." Small sparks of light shot from my fingertips like bullets, striking the boulder. I made sure they didn't actually do any damage and just played around with it for laughs.
"Watch out, you varmint. The sheriff's in town. Bang bang!" More little beams of light fired from my fingers like a Star Wars blaster. The difference was that, unlike stormtroopers, I could actually aim. "Pew. Pew. Pew. Pew. Hahaha."
I laughed for a moment before shaking my head. "Alright, I should probably stop before I get too carried away."
Blowing lightly across my fingers like a cowboy, I dusted myself off and started gathering my things. It was getting pretty late, and I'd already written down everything I'd learned tonight. All things considered, the session had been incredibly insightful. I was definitely coming back tomorrow.
Before leaving, though, I stopped and raised my hand again. There was one last thing I wanted to try.
Golden sparks flickered across my palm like they had earlier that morning, and a small glowing sphere appeared. During my experiments tonight, I'd started to understand a few things about how my power worked prior to it manifesting out of me. The golden flame was basically my energy in its purest form. It was raw power without any shaping or intention behind it. What I was doing now was the opposite. I was giving the energy form right off the bat.
"Grow and expand."
I lifted my hand, and the orb began to swell rapidly. It went from the size of a marble to a baseball to a basketball and kept going from there. The air around me started to shift and vibrate as the light intensified. I could feel the warmth spreading outward while the environment itself seemed to react.
Small rocks on the ground slowly slid toward me. The nearby trees creaked softly as their branches swayed in the pull of energy. "Seriously… am I making a fucking sun right now?" I muttered as the glowing sphere continued to expand, its brightness steadily increasing.
Just like yesterday, I felt the familiar tingling spreading through my arm. Before it could build, I reacted quickly. "That's enough!"
The orb stopped expanding. The pressure in my arm faded almost instantly, leaving only a faint warmth behind. I let out a small breath and focused on the sphere now hovering in front of my palm. Now that it was stable, I could actually observe what it was doing.
Even stable, the thing was affecting everything around it. The nearby trees rustled and creaked as if they were leaning toward the light. Small rocks and loose debris on the ground slowly slid closer, drawn in like moths to a flame. The glow itself pulsed gently, bathing the clearing in golden light.
Honestly… this way of using my power was ridiculously destructive. I hadn't even fired the thing yet, and it was already messing with the environment. But that was fine. It meant I'd just have to learn to control it over time.
"Miniaturize." I told it calmly.
The glowing orb began shrinking, slowly compressing like a balloon deflating. I didn't rush the process. The last thing I wanted was to accidentally force it down too quickly and set off a miniature bomb in the middle of the forest.
After a few seconds, the sphere returned to the size of a small marble. Satisfied, I gave the final command. "Disappear."
The tiny orb flickered once before dissolving into faint golden sparks that faded into the night air.
"Man, I'm beat." I stretched myself as a yawn came over me. "Hmm, my hand still feels kinda numb." I flexed my palm a few times.
Closing my eyes, I slipped into meditation again, letting the familiar warmth spread through my body and repair whatever strain I'd put on myself. A moment later the numbness faded completely.
"All better." I stood up and began leaving. I'd been out here for close to four hours, so by my guess it had to be around midnight, give or take. This was very insightful, and I can't wait to come back tomorrow." I smirked to myself as I started heading home.
As I left the forest, I didn't notice the figure quietly emerging from the bushes. Someone had been watching me the entire time from the moment I got here. Hidden among the leaves, she had observed everything in silence.
She watched my retreating figure for a few seconds before tilting her head slightly with a finger to her chin. Once I was completely gone, she stepped out from the bushes and wandered toward the nearby stream. Each step she took was light and playful, almost like a child skipping along the ground.
Reaching the water's edge, she stepped into the stream with a soft smile as her tentacles swerved around happily.
...
..
.
***
Name: Luka Daystar Age: 14 Race: Human (Sealed Angelic Hybrid)
Items:
Name: Keepsake Ring Creator: Lucifina Function: Power containment & maturation regulator
The ring suppresses Luka's true angelic power, preventing premature awakening that would otherwise destroy his body. While worn, Luka operates in a safe zone, allowing extended use of a weaker version of his true abilities without backlash and longer duration. Removing the ring and pushing past limits exceeding a designated time will risk petrification. Removing the ring before maturation will kill him.
Name: Steel Sword
A regular steel sword gifted to him by his sword instructor.
...
Core Abilities (Age 14 – Suppressed State)
Holy Affinity (Innate):
Pure holy light energy of nearly infinite quantity. Gives strong resistance to corruption, curses, and mental interference.
Light Magic (Primary Ability):
Luka can generate and manipulate pure holy energy in the form of golden light. His light can shape energy into any shape or form limited only by his imagination. Light constructs created by him can become as lethal or nonlethal as he pleases. They can become intangible. (phasing through matter) and switch to solid impact instantly. Their weight and density are fully controllable. Constructs can float by themselves or by his command. Using too large of outputs can cause physical weakness, numbness, and fatigue, but can be fully recoverable via meditation.
Swordsmanship (Formless Style):
Adaptive, intent-based combat focused on timing and precision rather than brute force.
Weapon Talent: Can use any weapon he comes in contact, but true mastery still requires hard work and experience over time.
Meditation Healing (Active / Passive):
Luka can heal his body through focused meditation or when asleep. It instantly heals nearly anything from minor to life-debilitating major injuries as well as fully restores stamina and physical condition. Pain, however, is still felt.
Cognitive Enhancement (Passive):
Luka's mental capabilities are significantly improved due to his hybrid nature. He has a perfect memory, faster processing, learning speed, and above-average problem-solving ability.
Curse: ???
***