✦ Chapter 37 — Training with Laei~!
The end of the First Realm glowed in the distance like a promise. The air was still—too still.
Laei stood between them and the gate, her hands behind her back and her feet slightly apart. Puff lay nearby, now fully awake, though still looking as lazy as a beast his size could manage.
"You need a Mythical Beast to pass," Laei said, her voice soft, yet firm. "I'll let you borrow Puff. But not unless you prove you're ready."
She paused. "You'll fight me."
Vexi blinked. "You're like... ten."
"Vexi you can't talk—." Jio almost spout out but Havella grabbed his shoulder making him look at her, Havella shook her head.
"I'm not," Laei replied flatly.
Puff let out a lazy yawn that shook the ground. His eye cracked open.
"I'll hold back," Laei added, expression still blank.
Jio stepped forward first, rolling his shoulders.
"We fight together?" Havella asked.
Laei nodded. "Yes. Show me who you are now."
They took their positions instinctively—Havella in the center, Vexi to the side, Jio in front.
Laei raised one hand.
BOOM.
The air split. A pulse of null-force erupted from her small body, warping the space in front of her. The ground turned crystalline for a brief moment, then shattered into silver dust.
"Move!" Havella shouted, her hands glowing red.
Laei disappeared.
CRACK.
Jio blocked her strike mid-air—barely. The ground under his feet cracked in spiderweb patterns.
"Fast," he muttered.
Vexi snapped her fingers and threads of fate shot toward Laei, weaving probability anchors into the ground—but Laei walked through them like they didn't exist.
Havella raised her arms. Red lines of theft carved the air as she tried to steal Laei's momentum, energy, speed—anything.
For a second, Laei paused.
Vexi took the chance and slammed both palms to the floor. A rune of life paths spread in a flash—splitting the battlefield into possible outcomes. Havella followed, launching forward with her cloak twisting around her like a blade.
"Double steal: speed and perception!" she shouted, landing two clean hits.
Laei flew back—and landed gently. Her dress didn't even flutter.
Then her eyes glowed.
Time condensed.
A full second stretched into twenty.
Jio reacted. His aura flared—a dense void shield of compressed willpower wrapping around his fists. He ran forward, each step shaking reality beneath him.
Laei caught his punch with one hand.
And then launched him into the air with a flick.
He twisted midair, landing feet-first against a tree, rebounding back with a roar. He used Theodora's Iron Spiral technique, body spinning and forming drills of kinetic energy around him.
But Laei was gone again.
She reappeared behind Vexi—two fingers raised, tapping the center of her back.
Vexi gasped as her threads of fate broke in her vision.
"No!" she snapped, and time spun back briefly—using a fragmented rewrite of her personal timeline to restore the threads.
"Sloppy," Laei said. "Fix that."
Havella raised her hand high. Her body glowed dark red as she invoked the theft of concept.
"I take... your balance."
Laei staggered—slightly.
Vexi grinned. "That worked."
But then Laei shifted into a new stance—her body motionless, yet everywhere. Six afterimages blurred around them—each one phasing in and out of visibility.
"She's splitting time concepts," Jio said, wiping blood from his lip.
"I'll burn them all," Havella growled.
She slammed her hands into the ground, activating her Rift Collapse Mark—a technique stolen from a war general during her trial. The field shattered. The afterimages flickered violently.
Vexi closed her eyes and snapped. A web of shared destinies connected the three of them together.
"Full focus," she said. "One shot."
Jio inhaled deeply. His fist became a point of void.
Everything stopped for a heartbeat.
Then he moved.
One punch.
A line of force so sharp and precise it cut sound itself.
It connected.
Laei caught it—barely. Her feet skidded back. One finger trembled.
She blinked.
"That's enough."
The three of them stood, panting. Jio's arm was trembling. Vexi's threads were frayed. Havella's magic pulsed erratically.
"You pass," Laei said.
Puff yawned again.
"You may share Puff."
They all slumped to the ground, exhausted.
Laei sat cross-legged. "You've improved. You understand yourselves more. And now… Puff will walk with you."
Vexi groaned. "You're terrifying."
"Thank you."
Havella looked at the beast. "How does he fight?"
"He doesn't," Laei said. "He just shows up. That's usually enough."
Jio sat in silence, still catching his breath.
Laei glanced at the gate.
"Next realm waits. You're ready."
---
End of Chapter 37
---