"So you are saying that after killing your parents and second uncle, he came yesterday to tell you that he wasn't the one who killed them?" Raphael asked Alex who nodded in reply. "I still don't get it," Raphael mumbled. How can someone who brutally killed his family turn again and deny killing them? "Then, why did you fight with you?"
"I seriously don't know," Alex muttered.
"So what are you going to do then?" Raphael asked him.
"I have to find out the truth but that will be after I am through here," Alex replied.
"That sounds okay," Raphael agreed with him.
"Right now, we need to focus on the mission ahead. Remember what Derek said, we have to get prepared for that day," Alex said.
"Then let us go and join the other students in the practice hall, we should be able to learn more moves from them," Raphael suggested and after Alex had agreed to it, the two of them got up and left the place.
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After practicing for the whole day, Alex and Raphael returned to their separate rooms. The others might have been satisfied with the practice but Alex was not — He was not satisfied with the practice and wanted to practice more.
Not just the regular practice they were having but the one that involved the use of his demon powers. The other students weren't aware of the Dean's plan so they all thought it would be just the regular sports event they were all familiar with. As such, they focused on training their physical strength and nothing more.
But since he, Klein, and Raphael are involved, they are required to train not just their physical strength but their abilities as well. Ever since that day he had a fight with Damon, Klein had suddenly gone into seclusion but before doing that, he informed them that he wanted to train himself. Raphael had also told him that he would love to go somewhere secluded and practice his new demon abilities along with his innate ability — Innate abilities are the abilities people are born with. For example, Raphael's innate ability is curse speech which is the ability to produce words that can either be good or bad depending on the user's mood. While Klein's innate ability is flames — He can manipulate flames into different shapes and sizes. Also, his flames aren't just the regular ones but his has the ability to burn from the inside and then gradually spread outside until the object is burnt down to ashes.
Seeing how blessed these two boys were, Alex could not help but feel jealous. He not only had no innate ability but also lacked behind in many aspects. The kind of power he wanted was the type with the ability to cause a high rate of damage to his enemy. Just like that of Arthur's.
Thinking of all these, he sighed deeply as he went and sat down on his bed. He needed to do something to improve his powers but then, he hated asking for help from the only one capable of helping him, it's just that he always had this feeling that something would go wrong someday. However, he sighed and waved the thought out of his head. Whatever was making him scared could wait aside as he had a more important problem at hand.
With that in mind, he went ahead to consult Arthur. "Hey, Arthur, I need your help," he said as he released the barrier that separated him from Arthur.
"After many days, you decide to ask for help from me. I thought you could now live all by yourself after absorbing a little of my energy," as expected, Arthur taunted him. Alex was silent so he continued. "Can't talk again? Weren't you arrogant the other day during the fight with the monsters?"
"Can you stop teasing and help me?" Alex mumbled tiredly. "I agree I was wrong the other day so let it slide already," he added.
"It's easy for you to say, huh?" Arthur asked him and then continued. "Don't forget that I am the reason you are still alive today, your life typically is mine. Don't forget that!"
Alex fell silent. He could notice the anger in Arthur's voice and didn't fail to wonder why or what he was upset about — It shouldn't be because of what happened the other day, he was sure of that... So why is he?
"Arthur, I can agree with everything you say except for one thing. No one owns my life, it's mine and mine alone. You should rather say that your life is mine because without me, you would be long dead," he replied to the shock of Arthur. "If you not going to help me, it's fine, I can still manage on my own," he added and got ready to activate the barrier again.
"Hold on, I'll help," Arthur grumbled. "It's not like I have another choice... It was the decision I made right from the beginning, so I don't expect to back down all of a sudden."
"Now you are making sense," Alex said with a smile of satisfaction on his face.
"What do you want me to do this time?" Arthur ignored the look on Alex's face and asked.
"I want to improve my demon abilities, help me, anyhow," Alex replied.
"I can only help you absorb the energies of stronger monsters," Arthur replied. "You don't need to fight to defeat them, I'll help you in doing that so all you have to do is absorb their energy and turn it to yours."
"Okay, that will be fine," Alex replied and so Arthur took him out of his room, and in the next second, he saw himself in a desolate place.
"I'll take over your body for a couple of seconds and lure monsters out," Arthur told him before taking over his body. "Hmmm, he's pretty stronger than he was the day we met," he said as he explored Alex's body. As if coming back to his senses, he cleared his throat and became serious again. He closed his eyes as if about to meditate and immediately, the air around him changed. Soon, the cries of monsters were being heard, followed by their heavy footsteps. Arthur opened his eyes and when he looked ahead, he saw a group of monsters approaching him. "Their aura is pretty strong and dangerous, perfect for him," he muttered and began to approach them.
The monsters sensed the aura that was being emitted by Arthur and tried to run away but Arthur wouldn't let them do so and thus clicked his fingers causing them to abruptly stop. When he got to them, he smirked after carefully assessing their strength. "They will surely do," he mumbled and returned. Alex opened his eyes and seeing that he was surrounded by these huge monsters, became scared. "They are under my spell, you don't have to worry. Just hurry up and absorb their energies," Arthur said to him.
Alex heaved a sigh of relief and went ahead to do what Arthur told him to. He moved to the first monster and placed his right hand on it then closed his eyes. As he looked into his soul, he saw how the energy of the monster which was displayed as a dim blue light seeped out of the monster and flowed through his arm right inside his body. He wouldn't lie if he said that he didn't like the feeling he was getting, it was very relaxing and made him really energetic. He rapidly absorbed the energy and moved on to the next one — there were a total of ten monsters and one by one, he absorbed all their energies. Each one he absorbed its energy would die abruptly.
When he absorbed the last monster's energy, he closed his eyes to feel the energy inside of him. His lips stretched out into a smile as he felt an incredible surge of energy inside of him.
"I feel stronger," he noted, still smiling.
"With these added energies, I believe you will surpass your friends," Arthur said to him and he couldn't help but smile more at the praise.
"Let's head back to school," he said to Arthur.
"Okay!" Arthur replied and then took him back to his room in a matter of seconds.