บท 54: Chapter 54 Training the mind, courage and spirit

Three days had passed since Paige went to take care of Sheldon and Missy in Washington DC; the days had swiftly gone by.

During this period, I spent my time looking after Tonks, who had a cut on her body, and tending to Leonard, who was getting accustomed to wearing the mask that resembled Bane's mask from The Dark Knight Batman. I still needed to tweak her appearance, but for now, it sufficed.

In the sky, amid the clouds, the hissing of an eagle could be heard, searching for prey among the trees. It soared high, its eyes scanning relentlessly until they dilated, fixing on prey three kilometers away, then flying towards it.

Two hopping rabbits near their burrow were searching in a nearby bush. One suddenly stopped, raising its ears.

Before it could realize and flee in the opposite direction, a blur passed by at an extremely rapid speed. The rabbit, previously searching for food in the bush, vanished from the sight of the other rabbit, causing it to panic and dart towards its burrow. But before it could enter and alert the other rabbits, another blur, similar to the last, snatched it and disappeared without a trace, leaving the forest quieter than before.

In the sky, two eagles firmly grasped their prey in their talons, still struggling, before flying in a specific direction.

At Connor's house, Connor sat with closed eyes, pressing two fingers against the right side of his right eye. Two eagles flew in through the open window, each carrying an animal in their talons.

Opening his eyes, Connor looked at his two eagles. Although eagles were solitary hunters in nature, due to his natural affinity and eagle eye training, this was possible. The bond between Tonks and Connor proved stronger than that of Andromeda and Connor.

Looking at the two rabbits he had brought, Connor stood up, grabbing them by their ears and placing them in a cage, awaiting Leonard's arrival.

Some time later, the doorbell rang downstairs before the door swung open on its own. Over the days spent coming and going from Connor's house, Leonard had been given a key to Connor's house to avoid leaving something important to answer the door. Thus, it became a habit for him to ring the doorbell to announce his presence and walk right in.

Upstairs, Connor, seated and observing two animal species, smiled with a sinister look before rising and descending the stairs, preparing for another training session with Leonard.

The previous day had been rainy, so Connor had prepared a special army terrain for Leonard to navigate, including mud and rope jumps, taking advantage of the rain's opportunity.

When Leonard was physically and mentally exhausted from Connor's shouts and the prepared course, Connor signaled for Leonard to stop and approach him before speaking.

"Leonard, today I've prepared something special for you," Connor said, pointing behind him to two boxes covered with a tarp.

At this moment, Leonard felt a bad but justifiable premonition, knowing that nothing from Connor was good, especially something special for him.

"And what would that be?" Leonard asked cautiously.

"A little gift," Connor replied with a smile before unveiling the contents of both cages, revealing two animal species that immediately tried to attack each other—one attempting to flee.

In one cage were two considerable-sized pythons attempting to attack the other cage, while the other contained two rabbits cowering, seeing two predators.

Leonard was surprised and horrified, wondering what Connor might do with him and these animals.

As Leonard's mind raced through all the possibilities, Connor threw a hunting knife towards Leonard.

"So today, you will be the hunter and learn how one behaves upon seeing prey. Do you see how the snakes behave when they see the rabbit?"

"Yes," Leonard replied hesitantly, and Connor continued, "At this moment, we can categorize Leonard (the rabbit) and Bully1 (the snake)."

Leonard felt as if he were being mocked but continued listening.

Connor then grabbed the python in his hand, which promptly bit him, but he ignored the pain, pulling the snake from its cage. With the snake wrapped around his hand, Connor demonstrated to Leonard.

"The python is a non-venomous snake; it hunts its prey and wraps itself around it using a technique called constriction, suffocating and immobilizing its prey, just as it's doing to my arm right now," Connor explained while showing the snake constricting tightly around his arm.

Connor continued, showing the rabbit's terror as it tried to escape and hide, attempting to appear smaller to avoid detection by the predator.

"In nature, this is the way, but we're not in nature; external factors can change a similar situation. At this moment, this is it," Connor pointed to the silver hunting knife in Leonard's hand.

"And so, Leonard, what will you do? In this situation, you use everything possible and within your reach to survive."

"Before I begin, I must test you," Connor then grabbed the other rabbit, aggressively holding it by the ears and legs. "Cut off its head and remove its intestines," Connor instructed before continuing, "This rabbit represents you right now; now kill yourself to be reborn as a predator. Go on, kill."

At that moment, Leonard looked dazed at Connor, who was goading him to kill the poor rabbit (kill himself). Leonard looked into the rabbit's eyes, seeing nothing but fear.

In that moment, the knife in Leonard's hand began to tremble, his thoughts not aligning correctly, his mind conflicted, teetering on the edge between killing and not killing.

"Kill, Leonard, kill yourself, even a little girl can do it, you useless!" Connor screamed amidst the psychological pressure, and finally, Leonard made up his mind.

Raising the knife in his hand and placing it on the rabbit's neck, Leonard drew closer, seeing himself reflected in the rabbit's eyes.

Grasping the rabbit's head, Leonard decisively made a slow cutting motion across its neck, blood splattering onto himself as the rabbit writhed in agony.

"You can't even do this, you useless! Look how you (the rabbit) are struggling, suffocating in your own blood!" Connor yelled before drawing a knife from his waist and swiftly beheading the suffering creature.

"Well done, Leonard, well done, boy. I'm proud of you; at this moment, you are a predator; by killing yourself, you have become a predator, and predators hunt predators," Connor said, carefully placing the rabbit's carcass aside and retrieving the python that had been digesting the rabbit, now regurgitating it.

As the rabbit fell from the snake's mouth, Connor swiftly seized the snake's head, decapitating it and beginning to drink its blood.

With blood dripping from his mouth, Connor swallowed the blood, saying, "In Brazil's Amazon, some indigenous peoples have a ritual of drinking snake blood out of respect and to waste no part of the animal."

He then placed the snake's decapitated body next to the dead rabbit.

"Your turn, Leonard; show that you are the predator to Bully2 and do not be intimidated by her appearance," Connor said, pointing to the more agitated snake in the cage as he stepped back for Leonard to approach.

Leonard hesitated but had no choice as he approached, a natural fear lingering in his mind from bullies and wild animals alike.

As Leonard drew near, Connor on the side with a charming smile with blood dripping from his mouth along with his new scar, it made his smile scarier than anything

Leonard then approaches the Snake who sees him and stays on guard towards him, and then decisively Leonard attacks the jugular of the snake trying to restrain its head and is bitten in the process making him scream in pain in the process, and then he grabs the head of the snake and pulls towards himself the snake that was wrapped around his arm, he squeezed it making his hand start to go numb.

And then he looks for the snake's head amidst the body, when he finds it he tries to remove it, but it was biting so hard that he couldn't.

Taking a long breath to build up courage, Leonard takes the knife and places it between the snake's head and his wrist and pulls the blade, ripping off the head of the snake that was struggling on his arm.

His body, despite being lifeless, was still struggling and the snake's head was still biting him despite no longer having a body to support it.

And then Connor finally intervenes, taking the snake's head off Leonard's wrist and says "Very well now the final step has to be quick so as not to waste the blood" Connor says to Leonard who quickly places the decapitated snake's neck above his mouth and blood drips onto your tongue.

After a few seconds, Leonard quickly takes the snake out of his way and throws it on the ground and begins to vomit.

Connor, who was watching the scene, took the snake's corpse and placed it next to the others and then went next to Leonard who was vomiting and hitting his back, he said.

"Well done Predator, You are ready, you have overcome your fears, your mind is like stone and your heart will not waver anymore, My sincere congratulations, now all you need is a strong body that can keep up with your mind"

And then Connor gets up picking up the carcasses that were separated and takes them home thinking what he could do to eat them anyway.

You can't waste prey or disrespect

-End The Chapter-