Nick yawned and stretched as he woke up, opening his eyes to a welcome sight. He was back in his old room, he had finally been able to go back to his old room near the end of last night. They took their sweet time finding a guard to stay with him and escort him at all times. Marshall had visited him yesterday as well to tell him that his teacher would be coming today, he was to report to him at one in the afternoon.
Nick was slightly nervous, he had no clue what this man was like. For all he knew this man could be even more brutal than Kane and Rolfe combined. He couldn't imagine someone who is a fourth demon would be too gentle when it came to training. Though, at the same time, he is the only person with demon blood that the royal guard will allow in the castle. Maybe he isn't too bad?
He let out a deep sigh, he knew thinking about it wouldn't do him any good. It isn't like thinking about it is going to change his situation. He slowly got up and got dressed, he was just glad that he didn't have to wear those prison clothes anymore. He changed out of his pajamas into shorts and a hoodie with no sleeves. I wonder if I can get the tailor to make me some new clothes, these are a bit tattered.
When he left his room the royal guard escort was already there waiting for him. He went about his usual routine, taking a bath, eating breakfast, going to the gym, and then eating lunch. Just like the day before, when he went to dinner, he was kept away from everyone else. Nobody else knew why Nick needed an escort, but nobody bothered to question it either. He didn't mind, he never really talked to anyone besides Alyssa anyway.
Speaking of Alyssa, he had not seen her yet either. He had hoped to at least see her at the gym once or twice but he had not even caught a glimpse of her since his imprisonment in the castle. He had three working theories. Either she was questing, she was disgusted that Nick was part demon and wanted nothing to do with him, or her father forbid her from going anywhere near him. He just hoped it was the first theory.
After lunch he did not have much to do so he just decided to work a bit on controlling his demonic energy before his official training began. He had gotten a bit better at it in the short time he had, he could now control it for almost a full minute. It may be only a forty second difference but to him it was monumental. He was sure his soon to be instructor would not find it too impressive, however. He was a quarter demon, he could probably control it as freely as Nick could now control his mana.
He spent some time on controlling his demonic energy before he looked at the clock and saw it would be twenty minutes until his training. Plenty of time to get there still, but he should get going regardless. Wouldn't want to make a bad impression on his first day. Though, for some reason he expected he had already made a bad impression before even meeting. He knew it was most likely his nerves talking.
It only took him about fifteen minutes to reach the room, there was a royal guard stationed outside the door. Guess they don't trust this guy as much as they say. Either that or he is here for me, but I imagine this guy could handle me if I got out of hand. He is a quarter, after all. I can hardly even be classified as part demon.
As Nick opened the door to the room he began to look around, there were two people inside a mostly empty cobblestone room. Marshall was leaning up against one of the stone pillars in the room and he was talking to the person who he assumed was his instructor. "Ah, he is here... I thought he was still a while away." The quarter demon said.
He had long black hair that was partially tied back and short brown horns that still tapered to a sharp point. They stuck out of his forehead above his bright red eyes. I guess red is a pretty common eye color among demons. If not the only eye color. "What do you mean?" The prince asked.
"I could sense his demonic energy. It was so minuscule that I expected him to still be quite a ways away. Why was I called here to teach this child to control his energy? He could hardly even be classified as a demon. It is a miracle he can even summon demonic energy at all."
Even though Nick was currently being insulted he was glad that the man seemed rather reasonable. "You are the only one we trust who is part demon. We need your help to teach him how to control it so he isn't an danger to anyone. We don't want him to go out of control."
The demon scoffed. "Out of control? Anyone less than one sixteenth can't actually go completely out of control unless they are a descendant of a strong greater demon. I doubt this kid could lose control even if he was a descendant of the demon king." He looked towards Nick with a disapproving look as he spoke.
I guess it shouldn't surprise me that the demons have a king. Every system has to have a hierarchy of one kind or another. I just hope I never have to meet the guy, I'm guessing he is probably not too fond of hybrids like myself and this guy. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Nick." Nick held out his hand as he approached.
The quarter demon roughly shook his hand. "Well, I will tell that to the royal guard captain and my father, but we still need you to teach him how to control it just to ease everyone's minds." The prince shot the quarter a look that said 'just do your job'.
"Fine, I will teach the child. It shouldn't take more than a month until he is able to fully control his demonic energy."
"I can keep it summoned up to a minute currently. I just learned how to summon it a few days ago." He said in hopes of impressing his new teacher.
"Damn, this might take longer than I thought." The quarter face-palmed and sighed. Needless to say it was not the reaction Nick had hoped for.
"Didn't you expect me to have no experience? Why would it take longer now that I have experience?"
"You can only keep it up for a minute? I've known a lot of hybrids in my days but even most of the children are able to keep it summoned and under control for half an hour in the first couple of days of learning."
"Well, maybe it is because they are children. Children learn a lot faster than adults."
"You are a child."
"I'm a teenager..."
"That is a child to us. Most hybrids begin to learn around age twelve."
"I'm fifteen so they are still younger than me..."
"Enough excuses, I'm going to have to work you a lot harder if you are this inept."
It was a bit of a blow to Nick's slowly growing pride to hear this man call him inept. He has been told by everyone since coming here that he is talented, but to this guy he was so bad at controlling his demonic energy that he was completely inept. "Alright. Then, should we get started?" Nick asked, sighing.
"Yes, the sooner the better. Stand over there." He pointed a few yards in front of him. Nick followed his direction, standing where he is told. "Alright, now summon your demonic powers for as long as you possibly can."
He took a deep breath and focused on summoning his demonic power. After a couple of seconds he felt the familiar feeling that let him know that he had successfully summoned the power. He looked to the man, his eyes now glowing red. He then looked to the prince who was wide-eyed with an amused look. "What, is that it?"
"Tch, what do you expect? I don't have much demon blood so I'm not going to have horns like you."
"That is enough lip out of you, boy." The man's eyes began to glow brighter and Nick could feel a chill go down his spine. He was also feeling something else, something he had never felt before yet he knew exactly what it was, killer intent. Without another word the quarter demon shot forward at blinding speed and threw a punch. Nick barely had time to react, using his forearm to block the blow.
He could feel the bone in his arm crack as he flew backwards into a stone column. The impact knocked the wind out of him as his eyes grew wide in rage, becoming brighter. Nick stood back up and ran towards the man, throwing a strong punch toward the man's nose. Unsurprising to everyone besides Nick the man dodged it with ease. In retaliation he grabbed Nick's wrist and threw him across the room into a different column.
Nick was in too much pain to get back up, he could feel his demonic energy fading. "Such a weak child."
Nick gritted his teeth, standing back up as his eyes regained their red glow. He could feel himself becoming stronger as he ran towards the man at full speed. The man's eyes grew wide at Nick's rapid approach. Not even Nick would be able to believe his speed if he wasn't so consumed with rage. All the pain he was feeling previously was also gone.
He threw another punch at the man's face, this time he barely avoided before planting a solid punch in Nick's gut. He let out a cough and fell to his knees in pain. His eyes were growing brighter out of rage but this pain was too intense to simply ignore. "I see... Interesting."
Nick raised an eyebrow at the man's words, the glow from his eyes fading as they changed back to brown. "Interesting? What is?"
"It seems there is more to you than I previously thought. When you became even angrier I could feel a spike in your demonic energy, but unlike other demons that spike didn't go away completely after you calmed down a bit. In other words, you seem to have quite a bit more demon in you than your energy originally lets on."
As Nick thought about it Azara had said something similar. That she felt that he had a bit more overall demonic energy after his near death experience. "There also might be a bit of problem with you losing control, but probably not in the way the royal guard thinks." This caused both the prince and Nick to look at the other man with a confused and slightly worried expression.
"What do you mean?" They both asked in unison.
"Well, put simply, it is possible for him to lose control. But he would only lose control against the person he is fighting, which isn't necessarily a bad thing unless you plan on taking someone alive. The same thing happens in humans, though it is a bit worse in some demons. Especially young demons. Originally it didn't seem like he had enough demon blood for it to matter, but it seems I was mistaken."
"It is truly strange." The man continued. "It seems this kid has a bit more demon blood than I would have thought, but it is really unusual for demons to not be able to sense another demon's full 'power' for lack of a better word. When other demons sense me they should be able to sense that I am a quarter immediately, that shouldn't change no matter how much of my power I bring out. It is different for this child."
"Well, what does that mean? What percentage of demon am I?"
"Truthfully I have no clue. Though it is unlikely you are anything above a thirty second demon."
"Huh..."
"Though this just further proves how truly inept you are, your demon side is not even fully manifested." The man chuckled, Nick just gritted his teeth in annoyance.
"Whatever. Let's just continue with the training."