- Lucifer -
Lucifer and Elijah were standing next to the training ground as it was being repaired, with Lucifer giving Elijah instructions on how to properly cover his hands in mana.
"Picture your mana like it's a tub of water in front of you. Imagine yourself putting your hands into the tub and the water staying on them like gloves."
Lucifer covered his hands in fire briefly and showed the absence of damage to Elijah.
"You won't be immune to damage, but any added defense is a good thing.
Elijah pictured what Lucifer was saying. He covered his hands in mana and proceeded to try and shock himself.
"Mmph!" Elijah shocked himself and tried to hold his yell in.
"This takes time," Lucifer reassured. "It's one of the fundamentals of lightning magic. Learning this first makes everything else easier."
Lucifer knew how dangerous lightning magic can get. He didn't want Elijah to repeat old mistakes.
Elijah, frustrated, decided to speak his mind.
"No offense to you, but wouldn't learning this from someone who has the same affinity be better for me?"
Lucifer's eyes narrowed with judgment.
"Possibly," His tone was sarcastic. "If you'd like, I can hire someone to teach you. It would only be incredibly expensive and less reliable, but I'd be willing to compromise."
Lucifer took a breath to calm himself.
"I've taught, seen, and fought every kind of magic there is. Everything I tell you is from the perspective of lightning mages. I would never teach you the same way I would a fire mage."
Elijah lowered his head and apologized. He had gotten overly familiar with Lucifer and forgot about the gap in their experience.
'I know if I had some young kid telling me I was teaching him wrong I'd be upset.'
Elijah closed his eyes and pictured the tub again. He felt the flow of mana around his hands and while maintaining the feeling he attempted to shock his fingers. He didn't feel the familiar pain this time. He opened his eyes.
"I did it." He sighed.
"Good," Lucifer complimented. "Now repeat that until you can do it without thinking. Muscle memory applies to magic as well."
As Elijah was attempting to repeat the success, Lucifer would test him on knowledge of the upcoming territories.
"What should you avoid saying in the Lycan territory?"
"Dog."
Elijah was slowly getting more consistent with the coating, and Lucifer's questions were getting more difficult.
"What are the best ways to dodge each basic magic."
"Watch the palm for lightning and fire. Track the eye movement of earth and water. Wind often comes out in lines, so put minimal movement into avoiding the slashes. Illusion magic is either memory or pain, depending on the type."
"Good. Any questions?"
Elijah had been so focused on answering correctly and keeping his hands safe that for a moment he couldn't think of anything until he remembered what Peter had told him.
"What's martial magic? I've read a little about it, but I forgot to ask Lao back in Hydern."
Lucifer looked puzzled. He knew the answer, but he wanted to avoid encouraging Elijah to learn it.
"Martial magic is something healers often pursue. It's a form of magic that comes from decades of practice. It involves controlling your magic in a way that gives you short boosts of power."
Elijah didn't understand why Lucifer had hesitated to tell him. He had no interest in learning the techniques.
"Why does it take so long to learn."
"Continue your practice," Lucifer motioned his hands "I want to see if you can do it properly while listening to me explain."
Lucifer wasn't overly familiar with martial magic but knew enough to give an educated guess. He waited for Elijah to begin before speaking.
"The time commitment comes from requiring the ability to fully feel the mana in one's body. Most beings can only tell when they're full, empty, or about to be empty."
Elijah shocked himself again before Lucifer could continue.
"Go again. You can feel the mana on your hands but think of the concentration it takes just for that moment. You can imagine the complications with having to control your entire body's mana flow."
Elijah was keeping his focus on his coating this time. He stopped shocking himself, regardless of whether Lucifer was speaking or not.
Lucifer was impressed by the progress and decided to keep ramping up the training.
"Now I want you to do ticks, but this time I want you to increase the power of the electricity without hurting yourself. It'll be difficult, so I'll go get Lao."
Lucifer left to grab Lao and found him talking with Death.
"If you see her again I really want to thank her for what's she done," Lao said to Death.
"You know how difficult it is to pin her down. I know she usually travels in the north, but I only see her when she wants me to." Death replied.
"I'm having Elijah train stage two ticks and want you on standby for healing," Lucifer interjected.
"Of course." Lao left to join Elijah in the training area.
"Is this about "The Saint" again?" Lucifer said the name in a mocking tone.
"Yeah." Death sighed. "I think he's been considering his own mortality lately. He wasn't usually so persistent before."
Lucifer was upset to think that any member of the team was questioning their safety more than usual. They had been through so much that he might have taken their mental toughness for granted.
"Well if you see "Saint" again I'm sure it would only be a bad sign," Lucifer said.
"I know that," Death rubbed his index with his thumb. "Speaking of missing beings, have you thought about where Cytus might be?" He asked carefully.
Lucifer's face scrunched for a moment.
"He could be in Lycan territory or R'lyeh. Either choice is awful for us, but with the angels help maybe we'll be able to find him soon."
Lucifer walked off, leaving Death to wonder about enemies and allies.
- Death -
'I want to enjoy this amicability while it last.'
Death often thought of Sangmara as a prime example of proper human integration into the Otherworld. The vampires enjoyed human blood, and the humans enjoyed money, creating a smooth relationship between the two races. He wondered if part of the friendliness stemmed from how vampires were treated in some northern parts of the world.
'Nothing like a common enemy to bring people, or beings, together.'
Death decided to make a call to Heaven and went to find Mira to see if she wanted to join him.
Mira was talking to Gwyn in the garden of the castle. Death immediately started worrying but realized if she had said anything inappropriate the vampire Queen wouldn't have hesitated to propose a fight.
The two had been talking about Death. Mira wanted to know more about his strength.
"Sorry, but out of respect for the duel's code I can't tell you anything he wouldn't want you to know, which means you should ask him yourself," Gwyn said dismissively.
The duel's code was an unwritten rule that powerful gods who fight each other don't share information about their opponents with others. It was one of the few things in this world that had a majority agreement among deities.
Death made sure the two knew he was there before they continued anymore.
"I was going to call Heaven and ask if they've deployed any soldiers."
"I'll join you." Mira thanked the Queen for her time and went with Death.
Death still found Mira's presence annoying, though he didn't show it, but made sure to still check up on her when she wasn't with him. He didn't want her doing something reckless. He called Michael and asked if Heaven had deployed any soldiers to the north.
"I've sent Ezekiel and four others to help track down Cytus. I told them to check in Lycan territory, then R'lyeh. If they don't find him in either of those two places I told them to do a general sweep of the territories."
Michael was thorough when it came to hunting down enemies. It was one of the main reasons Death didn't want him involved in the resistance case.
"If I get any new information I'll tell you right away." Death said.
Death actually liked having Michael's support on this. The angelic leader was often, and still is, apathetic to human issues, so he and Death rarely worked on anything together.
Lucius and Gwyn had insisted that the group stay until sunrise. They wanted them to be as well prepared as they could be for the territories ahead.
Death and Lucifer were hesitant but decided that maybe it would be a good idea if they wait until Heaven's assistance was closer. Cytus had already slowed them down once with his attack, the last thing they wanted was him showing up again at a terrible time.
Later on in the night Death and Lucifer had a practice match together that the group, along with Gwyn and Lucius, spectated. Death was given the handicap of not using his scythe.
Lucifer's fire magic impressed Lucius.
"I don't know who taught him, but they must be world-class," Lucius said.
"Jealous of an archangel dear?" Gwyn asked
What Lucius was more impressed by was Lucifer's ability to weave fire magic without hurting himself.
"No. I can only imagine the kind of misery someone would have to go through to learn that."
- Cytus -
(About two days after the group leaves Sangmara)
Cytus was sitting up in a bed in a dark room. The man from before came into his room and Cytus started to question him.
"I'll ask again. Why are you helping me?" Cytus said in a threatening tone.
Cytus's injuries were still too severe for him to leave. His leg and exposed ribs had been mended, but his hand was still missing most of its skin. The man had been giving him information in regards to the angels that were sent after him, but nothing else.
"Tell me who you are!" Cytus yelled, getting out of the bed.
The man pushed his palm towards Cytus and slammed him into the wall with a blast of wind.
"I want to help you help me." The man spoke softly. "We both want Lucifer dead, and I believe you can accomplish that if you just be patient. Your healing will be finished soon, and then we can begin moving against Lucifer once more."
Cytus had cracked the wall when he hit it. He wanted to kill the man in front of him, but understood he was in no shape to do so.
'I'll fucking kill you when this is all over. Your body might be more suited to me than this one.'
Cytus laid back in bed and turned towards the man.
"How do you plan on handling Death? Unless you're secretly Odin I don't think you and I can win against that monster."
Cytus had mostly pushed Death out of his mind. He didn't want to consider the possibility of having to fight him.
"Lucifer and his group don't know about me. Once they have a clear indication of where you are, he'll come running. He'll leave Death to watch over the lessers and fight us on his own. The real trouble will be avoiding the angels' interference. At least that's one plan."
Cytus was somewhat impressed by the knowledge of the man but still didn't trust him.
"One plan? Also, why do you want to hide your identity from me?"
The man laughed.
"That is the same as asking my name. You don't trust me and I don't trust you. I have high expectations for you though, and hope that you will at least cooperate long enough for Lucifer to be put down."
Cytus wanted to argue. He wanted so badly to charge the man and reveal who he is, but he knew that would put his own life at risk without purpose. If Cytus was going to risk his life he would do it killing Lucifer.
The man walked out of the room, assuring Cytus that a healer would be in shortly. As the man walked through the halls of the building he pulled out an echo and called someone.
The man and the voice exchanged information with each other before the man put the echo back in his pocket.