Lazar had thought about his strengths and weaknesses.
It emerged from this reflection that his main asset was obviously the Energy Slash, since without using it, he had killed only 3 monsters in a fair fight.
His most obvious weakness, on the other hand, was harder to determine. He had to analyze his fight against the Beta who had managed to injure him to put his finger on it.
'There was such a gap between his strength and mine that every time I tried to block him, I had the feeling that my blade was going to steal from my hands.' Lazar thought while staring at his hands in frustration.
His grip wasn't the only problem. In fact, for Lazar, the whole handling of 'Hate' had to be reviewed, using his sheath in combat couldn't solve everything.
Beeing skilled with edged weapons as a whole is one thing, but still there are some that Lazar feels more comfortable with than others and in this case, his profficiency with his blade was way inferior compared to what he could do with a knife.
The combat knife was his weapon of choice for close combat and although he tried many other edged weapons to be versatile, he hadn't trained with any other more than a tenth of the time he had spent with knives, 'That's probably why the gods wanted to give me a dagger at the beginning of the Apocalypse...' As he saw it, giving him a blade was a miscalculation on Death's part.
It was no coincidence that Lazar killed so few monsters without using any skills.
Beyond the numerical advantage his opponents had most of the time, it was also because he wasn't confident in his ability to fight in close combat that he avoided it since he was able to use the Energy Slash.
According to what Lazar understood from the description of his gloves, the improvement of the transmission of energy from his body to his weapon would somehow improve his use of the Energy Slash.
As for the improvement of his grip and the maneuverability of his blade, they would help him to develop his fighting style.
[You bought the Gloves of the Disciple of Death, they were automatically stored in your inventory]
[You have spent 300 contribution points, your new balance : 7 contribution points]
In conclusion, the reason why Lazar didn't hesitate to buy the gloves instead of saving his contribution points for something else, was that it was simply what he needed most.
He looked toward the patio door; Amandla had left it open behind her.
He headed there and before going inside he took one last look at his garden, 'It doesn't matter, I was going to burn it down along with the rest of the house anyway.' He relativized when he saw the deplorable state of what used to be his place of relaxation.
Back inside, Lazar spotted Amandla at the end of the corridor. She was on one knee, facing the front door.
The growing noise of a screwdriver in operation that he was hearing as he got nearer and the fact that she was holding the doorknob made him think that she was either taking it apart or putting it back together.
Amandla didn't turned around but she knew Lazar was here, she just hadn't forgotten that he had a rather... indecent outfit, "So... You've managed to defeat him?" She asked a bit mockingly.
Lazar didn't react, nor did he bother to answer, he halted at a chest of drawers a few steps behind Amandla and pulled open the first drawer from the top.
There was a lot of stuff in it, but since he himself had put away what he was looking for only two days ago, he found it easily.
It was Lana's medallion, it was made of silver and a Celtic spiral was engraved on it. From what she had told Lazar, it had been made on the initiative of one of her ancestors in the early 19th century, after her family migrated to the United States.
The purpose for this medallion was that the next generations of her family would never forget their Irish roots and since then, it had been passed down from mother to eldest daughter in Lana's family.
"What is it?" Asked Amandla, intrigued by the metallic rattles she heard behind her.
"Personal matters." Answered Lazar coldly while putting away the medallion.
Amandla tilted her head to one side, 'Well, that's something. He didn't tell me it was nothing... Did he finally trusts me a little bit?'
"I'll be back in a few minutes." Declared Lazar as he left for the nearest bathroom.
"Okay."
Upon arriving in front of the mirror, it was difficult for Lazar to tell himself that the reflection he was seeing was his own.
He had reached about 1.80 meters, his muscles had become intimidating and his face was more angular, which in no way had detract from his charm.
Contrary to what Amandla had said, his eyes were completely normal, so he opened the bathroom door and shouted to Amandla, "There's nothing wrong with my fucking eyes!"
The response came quickly in the same form, "Mine are back to normal too! But earlier, your eyes were almost totally black, believe me!"
'Totally black? Another thing I inherited from Death...'
Lazar closed the door and continued to look at himself in the mirror to get used to his new appearance.
'What the...' When his gaze landed on the tears of his clothes revealing his abdomen, he understood that his body had undergone more important transformations than he thought.
He ripped what was left of his t-shirt to shreds and got confirmation of what he thought he saw, 'I don't have my scars anymore.'
He turned around to see if those on his back had also disappeared and he observed that there was also not a trace of them.
The transformation had maybe healed his body, but feeling like you no longer recognized it was a very unpleasant sensation.
He sighed and thought about making the clothes in his inventory appear, they materialized in his hands and he set them aside.
'I'm not Irish, but well...' He took a deep breath, pulled Lana's medallion out of his pocket and put it around his neck against his military plates.
...
After 5 minutes, Lazar came out of the bathroom with his new clothes on. When he arrived near Amandla, he saw her open and close the front door successively, probably to test its solidity.
"I'm not half naked anymore, you can turn around." He said.
She did as she was told and looked him up and down with a satisfied expression, "You have good tastes." Then her face closed, "However, your transformation is going to be hard to explain."
"Explain to whom? The Major?" He said, raising an eyebrow, "Fuck him, I won't bother to explain."
"It's up to you." She responded with a mischievous smile.
"Looks like you're finished." Everything Amandla had taken to repair the door was stored in the box at her feet.
"Yes, but as you can imagine it, it's way more fragile than before."
"That's okay, thank you for that." Said Lazar in a calm tone on his way up the stairs.
"What are you going to do?" If he went upstairs, it was certainly not to go to sleep knowing a little the guy.
"I'm going to practice."
'Practice?' Wouldn't it have been better to go outside for that?
Amandla, from her side, returned to the garden, 'I'd better follow his example...'
...
Lazar sat cross-legged on his bed and closed his eyes to be more focused, 'First step, make the energy circulate in my body.'
...
9:30 pm
...
There was only a faint crescent moon to enlighten the night.
Sullyvan couldn't help but scrutinize every nook and cranny around him for fear of being took by surprise and tear to pieces by one of the creatures that had massacred his men in the afternoon.
Yet he knew that this was the last place it could happen since he was walking towards Lazar's house.
He was about to ring the bell but the front door opened wide before he did.
All the lights were off in the house, but Sullyvan could see that the person in front of him was neither Lazar nor Amandla.
"You are... Who are... Did we..." Stammered Sullyvan, not knowing what to do with this information.
The person seemed to ignore him and turned behind her, "He's here!"
Sullyvan came to his senses since he had just recognized Lazar's voice, "What the hell happened to you?" He asked incredulous.
"Don't you know what his a growth spurt?"
'A growth spurt! He is kidding me?!'
Amandla soon arrived, "What are you waiting for. Let's go."
She passed between Lazar and Sullyvan and went directly to the back of the truck that was parked in front of the house with the engine still running and the driver waiting for them.
Sullyvan followed her example and Lazar did the same after closing his door.