The Prince of Demons

Nil

Pure agony. Every fiber of my being was screaming at me from the repeated spars with Nautilus and Sizal. I definitely should’ve thought of using to deflect attacks sooner. are not as strong, but Lords could you cast them fast. I mean, they could be strong, but for fast, quick spells they were great. More accurately, they could be cast quickly with little . I should’ve tried moving with that marionette technique a lot sooner; I was starting to get alternating between the better. Having no walls is nice. Luna was next to me, her face looking how I felt. We both stood up, with both of us freezing after moving even a little. Lords above; I was trying not to cry from standing up. Luna and I struggled to even get ready to face the day. Egoff eventually came to check on us and chuckled as he saw us shuffling around. Why am I so sore? I had done intense physical activity before, but this was a new level of soreness.

“C’mon. Time t’ eat.” Egoff told us. We both looked at him, trying to find the ability to move.

“We’re trying.” I gasped. Even talking hurts.

“Are ya sore?” Egoff taunted with a smirk. Dilwaul.

“Just a bit.” I retorted, trying to reach the doorway. Luna was staggering behind me, also moving like a zombie.

Existence is pain. It took us easily ten minutes to shuffle our way to the mess hall. Quite a few of them were smirking and laughing as we crawled towards the table. Ailla and Lilas were all smiles as we sat next to them. I saw a weird glass of something being served with our meals. What is this? I took a tentative sip and nearly spat it out. What the forl? It tasted like olives mixed with vinegar but had this bizarre tartness. Ailla and Lilas were chuckling as Luna and I were gagging from the taste.

“What’s that face?” Lilas taunted. I will slap you.

“The taste.” I grumbled. At least breakfast was easy to eat. Luna took a sip and her eyes were watering.

“Really? I thought moltaug tasted amazing.” Ailla teased. Is that what this is?

“What’s moltaug?” I inquired. I never thought something could taste worst than .

“A drink designed to recover your body and muscles.” Ailla informed me. Was it designed to taste bad? You could probably choke a maggot with this sludge.

“It’s effective. It just, tastes bad.” Luna added. Her face looked like she was having flashbacks.

Have you had this before? I inquired. Luna gave me the most forlorn stare.

You have no idea. When trying to build muscle and physical condition fast, moltaug and healing allow you to. It’s not as good at building flexibility and endurance, but we won’t be sore. I hoped I wouldn’t have to do this ever again. Luna cried. It’s convenient, but why did we have to do this type of training?

Any idea why Nautilus is making us do this? I checked as I choked down more moltaug. How does it taste so bad? I missed meals back at the castle.

I think it’s more of a side effect of fighting and climbing back up for nearly entire day. Luna sighed. I wonder what torture is in store for today.

“It’s okay you two, it’s only a few weeks of sailing before we reach Speranza.” Ailla informed us, giving us a smug smile.

“We then have to reach Umbra.” I grumbled. I’m not entirely sure who is after Luna and me, so I’d like to keep the number of people down.

“Don’t worry ya grublins, I’m gettin’ ya there.” Nautilus chimed in. It does feel nice having someone like Nautilus helping. Ailla and Lilas are helpful, but they’re not her.

“Lilas and I will also assist, as I imagine Nautilus might have a few challenges once we reach land.” Ailla assured us, looking completely fine.

“Like what?” Nautilus checked with a confused expression.

“Someone is a wanted pirate, I am not. I am a foreign dignitary which also helps, as they are clearly wanting to reach their home without going through the army in Speranza.” Ailla explained with a smile. That’s definitely helpful.

“Ya right.” Nautilus conceded with a shrug.

“Can we go sightseeing after we get them home?” Lilas requested, looking excited.

“I could help that be arranged.” I offered. I do want to thank them all properly.

“That’d be amazing!” Lilas chimed, doing excited little fist pumps.

“Now, ya two grublins, it’s time fo' today’s lessons.” Nautilus stated with a smile.

Luna and I barely got up. Our bodies wept at us as we tried walking to the deck. Please not more combat training. Please not more combat training. We realized it was only Nautilus on the deck with us as everyone was doing their jobs. Huh; I’m not sure if that makes me feel better or not. What was she wanting us to do today?

“Lad, we’ll start wit' ya because it’s easier. Ya gonna learn to that so it’s not leaking constantly.” Nautilus snapped at me. What?

“That’s possible?” I asked. Why did Nez not mention it?

“Quite. I’ll show ya once, then ya going t' keep doing it till ya get it right.” Nautilus informed me. How bad is this going to be?

Agonizing. I thought the moltaug was going to be the worst part of today. It felt like Nautilus was pulling my soul through my heart. I could remember when my family showed me or by helping flow my , and that was uncomfortable, but not like this. After an eternity of that, I felt it. The seemed to click, and my went ballistic. It felt like Nautilus unleashed a deluge from within me, as my flowed around me violently. What is happening? It stabilized suddenly, and everything just felt so still around me. Nautilus removed her hand from me, and it all instantly dissipated.

“Keep practicin’ that.” Nautilus stated. LIKE IT’S THAT EASY!

I knew protesting would yield nothing. How does she know this? Nez is pretty knowledgeable, but even he was stumped when it came to this blasted . I remembered her defeating the . And the fact she’s something called a which means she might have done it herself. Was Lux considered a ? Might need to ask Luna later. Luna was dragged away for whatever her daily torture was. I felt around me, trying to replicate what Nautilus did. To my great joy, I could sense the start of what she did. Maybe this won’t be so hard. What was the next step? Moving it through my heart, right? The instant I even thought of that, my entire body felt like I was trying to detonate my . That was beyond wishful thinking; how the hell did Nautilus do that? How was I supposed to do this?

I did an inventory of myself. Why did that feel like my were about to explode? I never overly noticed that the was part of me. I mean, it made sense. I carefully ran through my doing a small inventory on myself. That was as effortless as it should be. I began , feeling it flow with ease. What’s the difference? The didn’t flow at all; it just felt like my body was about to detonate. It also was agonizing as it flowed, but that might be a result of Nautilus making it flow. What do I do? I tried again. That’s fine. I tried starting what Nautilus did again. Okay, I can feel it. Let’s start small. I tried moving it around a little which felt like moving the ocean around us. Wow, that’s difficult. Maybe try taking a little away from it? That was instantly met with the sensation of my body protesting immensely. Why? Why is this so different? It felt completely foreign to me as I tried controlling it. I activated my , which instantly got a swift kick from Nautilus.

“Ya need t' not rely on that.” Nautilus snapped immediately.

“Yes ma’am.” I sighed, rubbing my head where she kicked.

Maybe I used it a bit much. It was just convenient, but something was bugging me. Why did the feel foreign? Wait, Utol gave it to me. I nearly slapped myself. I assumed like a it was a part of me; it’s not. It needed to be like a . That’s why it was painful. It also confirmed for me Nautilus more than likely had an herself. With my new perspective, I tried again; it was truly agonizing. Why did this hurt so much? The others weren’t nearly this painful. Was my approach wrong? It hurt when Nautilus did it, so it might just not be a painless process. I sighed. If I wanted to be able to deal with whoever was trying to kill Luna, I needed to be stronger. This currently held the record for least pleasant thing to practice since reincarnating. Not even getting hit by lightning repeatedly was this bad. I sighed as I attempted it again. I took several deep breaths, gritting through the agony.

About two minutes was my limit before I was gasping. I alternated five minutes of recovering, and two minutes of trying. It took about an hour before it felt like pins and needles were going through my body. My entire body was so uncomfortable. I was hoping this was worth the effort. It likely was. I practiced my and to give myself a break. Once the pain was gone, I tried again which felt like my soul was being eviscerated yet again. I tried enduring to five minutes, but at four minutes I had to stop. It took a lot of willpower not to start screaming obscenities. As I was suffering, I could hear Luna having about as much fun as me. Nautilus was a merciless teacher. To be fair, my uncles were not much nicer. It would be worth it in the end. If I wanted to be able to defeat opponents like that I needed to. If I wanted to be able to protect those around me, this was a necessary step. Just endure it. Just endure it. I tried the again. It felt like my soul was being dragged through a grinder as I attempted to properly bond it. I had to stop trying after a few minutes as my body felt like it was being shredded from the inside as each of my nerves seemed to ignite.

Was I doing something wrong? I didn’t think so. Nautilus was not one to spare the rod when something was wrong from what I could tell. This was going to be agonizing until it succeeded. What happened when you fully an ? I hoped this agony was worth it. I was kind of curious just how strong Nautilus was. According to Luna, she was able to defeat Grandpa Nil. On a side note, I needed a better nickname than Grandpa Nil. Maybe something like Papa? Definitely was not distracting myself from this torture. I took a few deep breaths, focusing on the ; I needed to get it to properly . As I felt around the , I realized it felt a little different. Wait. I was feeling it a bit better. Hours of effort and there was the most marginal of improvements. At least there was some improvement. Focus on the positive. We were sailing towards Speranza. We had several allies helping us. I was learning to this blasted . Hopefully things got better as we approached Speranza. I’d love to at least be back in the Empire.