The next morning Sky woke up early and touched his bandages feeling no pain and finally being able to move the way he would like he took his shirt off and unraveled them. Once he unrolled his side he saw that there was a large slash scar there, going from his shoulder blade to his pelvic bone from where Capricorn had struck him. The attack from the other hero on his chest had healed nicely, leaving only five small dots where the holes once were.
He redressed himself and found his way to the giant arena in the second nest. The arena looked to be a replica of the one in Hero's Stronghold. From the outside it was made of a beige stone, having large arches where people could enter from and staircases leading to all the seats. Once there he could already hear banging and clanging. Intrigued by the sound he walked inside and onto the sand pit to see Lea sparring against a mechanical practice dummy made of wood.
Sky watched with interest as Lea leapt to the side, and grabbed the retractable spear on her back, allowing it to extend while tapping her wrist, suddenly having a shield form. She charged the dummy, who held two daggers in its hand, and pushed it back before the dummy started spinning and twirling. Lea caught the better of it, jabbing at it mid spin then slamming her shield into, knocking the daggers out. The dummy rolled backwards, using the momentum to stand up.
Immediately Lea closed in and stabbed. The dummy leapt to the side and grabbed what seemed to be a metal rod in its back. Sky watched as he realized he'd seen the movements before. Just like Lea's, the rod extended into a dull spear then the dummy tapped it's wrist creating a shield and charged her.
"Beautiful ain't it?" Blitz walked up next to Sky. "That thing right there took me months to understand but now that it's created, training has never been so efficient, nor better."
Sky realized he was talking about the dummy. "What is it?" He asked.
"As you can see, it's a practice dummy, made to watch and learn as you learn, grow with you, becoming the shadow you never thought existed," Blitz explained, "The perfect training partner, you!"
"Does everyone have this?" Sky asked.
"Well, the thing is it's extremely difficult to make, so only the masters have it." Blitz explained, "To train the other fighters we do group training every three days and allow them to train alone in whatever way they see fit on the remaining."
Sky nodded as he turned his attention back to Lea.
"Hey Lea, training'll start soon, we gotta go!" Blitz shouted.
From the pit Lea nodded, suddenly stopping all movement and standing still with her arms to her side. The dummy suddenly froze, dropping its weapon and stiffening up. Sky watched as she grabbed the inanimate training partner and took him into the storage room.
After a while, the two had left, leaving Sky alone in the large open space. He leaped down into the sand pit and found where Lea had placed the target dummy looking at a stuffed one nearby with a target on its chest. Sky then brought it outside and placed it in the center of the arena and stared at it and started thinking out loud.
"Striker and Bahrny… I wasn't able to keep up with Bahrny and barely managed to do so with Striker… but with Striker I wasn't thinking of levels, just letting it all out." Sky scratched his chin.
"Atlas said the bare minimum I need to be is fast when fighting giants… but there are also more things out there…" Sky said to himself as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the sword.
He studied the blade and his own reflection. "No matter how comfortable I get I don't think that I'll ever be able to use a sword like either of them." He said, "And worrying about this blade will slow me down."
"If there was something lighter that I could use with ease… that'd be much better…" Sky murmured.
As if listening, the blade morphed, changing form and shape as it slid around Sky's knuckles, leaping to his other hand and sliding around the other hands as well. In a matter of seconds Sky had a pair of metallic knuckles that now sat on his fingers.
"Well, this helps, I guess." Sky said.
"Before anything I should focus on speed and being able to grow the levels out…" Sky said to himself.
He spread his legs shoulder width apart and stood tall. "Thunder God: Level Two."
The glow had returned enveloping his body. He quickly bounced on his feet before running around the arena and slamming a fist into the dummy, sending it flying into the far wall leaving a dent.
"Power increases as well…" Sky murmured.
He watched as the dummy unfolded itself and once again resumed the standing position.
"But I lack weight…" Sky said.
Suddenly the memory of Striker flashed in his head.
"If throwing a ball does that, what if I punched with it…" Sky murmured.
He quickly ran to the dummy and fixed it, moving it back to the center. This time Sky imagined he was holding the ball in both hands. Once again he quickly ran around the arena and leaped towards the dummy, slamming his hand into it. This time Sky could feel his hand tearing through something.
Faster than before the dummy flew backwards, creating a larger dent than before and this time staying broken. Sky squinted thinking still.
"That solves the power and heaviness but speed still remains the issue…" Sky looked down at his feet.
"And if I run around this much, I'm quickly going to tire myself out." Sky said, realizing that was what Atlas had been saying back then.
Then Sky remembered his fight with Bahrny, thinking about how Bahrny had never run but rather leaped or thrown his body forwards with a powerful step.
Sky stretched his legs out and lunged forwards a few times before attempting a powerful push with his first step. Once he did, he saw that he had covered the distance that would have taken him a couple steps with a singular one.
"And if I grow the levels out that'll become larger too, increasing speed…" Sky said as he resumed a wide legged stance.
"Thunder God: Level Three." He said as a heaviness started settling on his body.
The cloak grew quieter and closer to his frame. Out of curiosity Sky tried making it larger and more violent, and immediately it responded, growing and spitting out more lightning. Despite it being stronger, the cloak wasn't making Sky any more tired than normal.
Once again Sky corrected the dummy and this time took a few steps back. He then pushed off powerfully with his first step, overshooting the dummy entirely and nearly tripping. Once he had recovered he turned around and tried again, this time tightening his hand into a fist while still remembering the weight of the attack from before. As soon as his fist connected with the dummy, the sand below their feet started flying up, creating a cone through which the impact exploded, imprinting it in the ground.
Sky smiled, immediately after he could feel his muscles cramping and a heavy weight bringing him to the ground.
"Even a simple punch is too much for my body in level three." Sky murmured as he wheezed for air.
He then reduced the cloak to level two and began training the first step followed by punch until nightfall when he couldn't anymore. Slowly he made his way back home, and saw the food on the table. Too exhausted to eat it he fell onto his bed and collapsed. When he woke up it was early morning.
Like yesterday he found his way to the arena, despite all his muscles being sore he once again placed the practice dummy in the spot from the previous day.
"WOAH! WAIT!!" Blitz shouted.
Sky stopped and turned to him, he was carrying a dummy in his arms.
"I saw you training yesterday, seemed intense so I didn't disturb you, but thought that if anyone could use a shadow, it would be you!" Blitz smiled and pointed.
"Here ya go, just bow to turn it on and either pass out or stay absolutely still to turn it off!" Blitz beamed, "I'd recommend the latter though!"
As quickly as he'd come, Blitz disappeared, taking Sky's old dummy with him. Sky stared at the dummy, it seemed to look exactly like him, frame and all, except for the face which was a simple circle with a hand drawn smiley face. Sky looked at it's fingers and saw metallic knuckles, similar to his own.
Listening to Blitz, Sky bowed and immediately the dummy hummed to life. It studied Sky for a few moments before Sky realized it was waiting for him to show it what Sky knew.
"Thunder God: Level Two!" Sky said.
Very quickly after the dummy mirrored Sky but unlike him it didn't have a glow. Sky smiled, thinking he had an advantage he leaped forwards, doing what he had practiced yesterday and drove a fist into the dummy's stomach. He watched as the dummy dug it's feet into the ground, allowing itself to slide only a few feet backwards.
Sky's eyes widened at how easily it had stopped such a powerful impact. Before he knew it the dummy leaped forwards as Sky had done and drove its punch into Sky's stomach, sending Sky rolling on the ground, further than he had sent the dummy.
Not even giving him time to think the dummy leaped again. This time Sky quickly rolled to the side and avoided the attack before punching again, the dummy absorbed it and punched back. The barrage between the two continued until they finally pushed each other off.
"AAAAHHH!!!" Sky shouted as he leapt back into the action.
Standing high up in the stands was Atlas. To his right were Elsa, Blitz and Rune while to his left were Faust, Silk, and Lea. Standing behind were the three moons.
"He's barely able to avoid those attacks." Rune said.
"I've never seen someone so clumsy before." Nebula smiled.
"He'll need to experience real combat too." Silk whispered.
Lea watched him and smiled. "He will, soon enough." She said.
"If he ever needs extra lessons I'll be glad to teach him some!" Faust punched her hand with her fist.
"I can help too sometimes!" Elsa joined in.
"The start of a legend and the end to an ancient tale… This is where it all begins," Atlas said, "His starting line."
The nine of them watched as Sky and the dummy ferociously traded blows back and forth, destroying the sand pit and each other. Even without Atlas' words they all felt the same way, they knew this was the start to something amazing, to something they'd been waiting for this entire time.