Ariel arrived at the hospital and quickly found Quint.
"Don't accept the challenge!" said Ariel as she rushed into Shay's hospital room.
"We've already agreed to accept the challenge," responded Quint while staring at her with resolve.
"I see, but you know there will be a trap! Going there recklessly will be suicide!" retorted Ariel.
"Not exactly," said Shay as she sat up in her bed, "We got some good information about the Imperials. Apparently there's a maze there that we would've gotten trapped in, but now we know how to get through it. We know how strong our opponents are. And we know that they're planning on using us as an example to anyone that may try to stop them. We'll kill them one by one and demoralize them and push them into a corner."
"I don't think that's enough to actually defeat them. I mean look at you, you're hurt pretty badly. So you think that seven days of training will suffice?" asked Ariel.
"It will," answered Mary with certainty, "As a matter of fact, Quint and Simone come with me. I'll show you the importance of controlling your spiritual energy. We should leave Shay to rest and Lucas to his mother."
Ariel stood there and thought to herself, "What should I do now? She clearly has more influence than me."
Mary interrupted Ariel thoughts by stating, "Have a little faith in you demon hunter. They didn't teach you that?"
Ariel looked surprised by what she said and said, "Ok, but if they're not ready in a week, I won't allow him to leave."
"Fine," said Quint as he headed out the door with Simone and Mary.
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Joan and Tupp walked the halls of the fortress, discussing the strategy for when the demon hunters arrive.
"Keep an eye on Sahro. He's rash and might do something stupid," said Joan.
"I will, but I don't think that he'll go against you. He's mostly just ready to be free of this place and getting a little impatient," responded Tupp as he looks at the ceiling.
"I can't be sure of that. Just report whatever he does to me and only me. No one else needs to know that I'm watching him. I don't want everyone else thinking that there's infighting here, it's too late in the game for that," said Joan sternly as she continued to walk slowly.
"I understand. Niko will keep an eye on him, he's the best at surveillance. For example, look up," said Tupp while pointing to the ceiling and smiling.
Joan looked up and saw Niko crawling on the ceiling, following them. "Humph, you trust him to get the job done?" asked Joan.
"Of course, he only allowed you to see him because I gave him the signal," answered Tupp with confidence.
"Alright then. Now on to other things. When those children arrive, members of each faction will give them a proper greeting. Make sure those guys are all low class, we just need to wear them down from there. Got it?" asked Joan.
"Got it!" responded Tupp.
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Mary drove Quint and Simone to the outside of the city, a few hours away where the mountains were. During the drive Quint and Simone spoke mostly to each other, smiling and laughing while Mary would occasionally sneak a peek at them. When they arrived to their destination, they exited the car. The scene was pretty serene. They were at the base of a mountain with a thick forest behind them.
"This is perfect!" said Mary as she unsheathed her sword. She then quickly turned around and cut a boulder in half. Quint and Simone jumped back, being on guard because of their previous encounters with her.
"Calm down. I'm not going to strike you. I just wanted to give you a demonstration. Did you see the effort it took to cut the boulder? Now, watch this," said Mary as she visually surrounded her sword with electrical energy.
Quint and Simone watched with amazement. Quint immediately thought that he should get a huge sword and use it in battle. Simone just wondered how this could help her in battle.
After a few seconds, Mary pointed her sword at an even bigger boulder. She then slowly pressed her sword through it. The blade went right through without any effort, like a hot knife going through butter. She then increased her energy output and caused the boulder to explode.
"See the difference? How you apply your spirit energy to your body increases your physical limits and can give you different abilities. My electricity send bolts of lightning through whatever I come in contact with. Quint, you've already been using this technique, amateurish of course, but you have it down without even knowing what you're doing," explained Mary while sheathing her katana.
"Oh, my Fire Fist Technique!" said Quint while looking at his right fist, "Amateur?! I thought it was pretty awesome!"
Simone put her head down and thought to herself, "How would my body respond to having the Being's energy going through it? Will I ever lose control?"
"Yes! Amateur! Even though I wasn't there, I could tell that you were wasting energy. An expert Fire Fist Technique doesn't have flames dancing around them. A well trained one compresses their flames, thus increasing their explosive power and conserving energy," said Mary condescendingly.
"Mary, how do we do it?" asked Simone.
"Hmmmmm…. She actually wants to get stronger. She has the best chance of defeating those Imperials herself and doesn't even know it," thought Mary after hearing Simone's question.
Mary walked closer to Simone and reached out her hand. Simone stared at it intently. Mary's hand started to glow and then a ball of yellow spiritual energy appeared.
"First, gather your energy into your hand. This is normally the easiest place to do it for most people," said Mary with a smile.
The ball of energy then slowly entered Mary's hand. Her hand now glowed yellow.
"Then you fuse your spirit energy with your hand. This technique alone will increase your physical abilities," said Mary as she clenched her first and punched the ground, shattering the ground around them.
Quint looked at her with amazement as he was knocked down due to the ground giving way to Mary's punch. Simone just floated above ground so that it wouldn't affect her.
"Now, apply your individual power and..." said Mary as the yellow energy in her hand transformed into electricity.
"Ok, I got it!" said Simone excitedly. She then poured energy into her hand and a ball of pink and purple energy appeared. After that, she fused the energy with her hand and walked over and punched right through a tree. She began panting and sweating profusely.
"That's good, but don't try the next step, it's way too dangerous. Get used to applying your spirit energy to your body," said Mary.
"Ok," agreed Simone as she almost collapsed.
"She actually got it on the first try," thought Mary, "She has a great talent for this. I can't wait to see how strong she becomes."
Quint and Simone then began training at the bottom of the mountain.