I breathed deep and fast. While I really wanted to take it under my control, it wasn't easy fightning against one of the best hunters alive.
"Enough."
Edward said while putting his sword to his sheath. His movements were so efficient and smooth. Even with Hawkeye fully use, I couldn't grasp them fully. Feeling tired, I sat down.
"You are leaving Turkey tomorrow, right?"
I asked between my breaths.
"Yes."
His voice was colder than usual. Probably because even though I trained with him for a week, I still couldn't use mana.
"I unlocked it. I felt it. Why I can't use it? Does it has some kind of special key?"
Despite making me feel like loser, I asked. He was despite all his shortcomings, one of the strongest humans. If I wanted to get stronger I needed his advice.
"Having the tools necessary for doing something doesn't give you ability to do that thing. You have two arms to use a sword yet, you can't."
"Yeah… Wait. I know how to handle swords!"
He just couldn't stop a minute without taking jabs at me. Spending one week with him, I should be used to it but I still replied.
"You know how to wildly swing a sword. A wild animal just relying on its body."
I crossed my arms.
"I am a Sharpshooter, not a Swordsman. I only learned the basics."
His eyebrows were raised. I knew what would happen when he made that expression. He was going to mock me.
"Basics? Art of swordsmanship doesn't have a basics like yours."
"Can you just give me some tips?"
"Burn. Freeze. Rush. Waves. Blow."
"Ummm… What?"
He pulled his sword in one smooth motion. He slowly moved his sword in air. Despite slowness of his sword, winds generated by it made me take a one step back.
"Eastern martial arts usually takes inspiration from nature. By looking at nature, one could see and understand what is inside of themselves."
He kept slowly moving his sword in air. The more he moved the more I thought his movements as "dance".
"Humans are not capable of using mana by themselves. Even with Gifts, we are copying monsters, animals and nature."
He pointed his sword towards me.
"You are not a human anymore. You don't need to look outside. You just need to look inside. What is inside of you?"
"Depressio-"
I quickly moved out of his swords way. I jumped back.
"You seriously swung it with killing intent!"
"Of course I did! You seemed to still haven't learned your lesson!"
I couldn't even crack a joke! After getting my ass handed to me for another 30 minutes, we stopped. He pulled a blood bag from his bag of holding and threw it to my face. I was able catch it. I stared at the small bag he was carrying. A bag of holding. A magical item that allowed people to carry huge amounts of items without their weight. Of course that was only if you are rich enough. Goverment also utilized containers in dungeons for mana stones and monster parts. Though I doubted they were as high level as Edward's. Only high quality ones had both huge space and weight reduction capabilities. I didn't even had a personal low quality one.
"Before you go I want you to answer the question you been avoiding. What were werewolves doing here? The one in Dire Wolf's Nest and here? They must have a goal. And don't give me the "You will learn later." bullshit."
Edward sighed.
"We don't know. We just knew that they will be here. But I can guess why the werewolves you fought were here."
My healthy eye was widened. Will I finally be able to learn more?
"They were turned, just like you."
"What?"
Thinking back, it wasn't a big suprise. I already understood that vampires and werewolves were nemesises to each other. If vampires could turn humans, it wasn't suprised that wolves also could so it.
"Wolfgang probably turned some random people to throw us off his trial."
Wolfgang was the name of the werewolf at the Dire Wolf's Nest. I already was able to took it off Edward's mouth. Despite that I felt a lump stuck in my throat.
"Random people? We fucking killed normal people!"
Edward looked at me tired eyes. From his eyes, I understood that he was also unhappy.
"Just like you cannot disobey Elizabeth, they also couldn't. Also their transformation was… Not every human can be fully transformed like you, without any side effects. Even if they could, I doubt that Wolfgang actually gave the same attention and care when he was transforming those people as Elizabeth did."
"Elizabeth gave attention and care? Only thing I can remember is intense pain!"
"Trust me, she did."
She did or she didn't. It didn't mattered. I have to find a way to get out of her control. I can't let my heart soften against her. Only after I got out of her control, I could look at her in a positive light. Though, I doubted that we could be friends if I actually managed it. Elizabeth could see it as a threat or betrayal. I shook my head. I could think that after I get out of her control.
"He knew that we were close to him. So he transformed others. When someone is transformed by someone, they carry a similar presence as their Origin. He was able to trick us like that."
"Wait. Does that means…"
"Yes. But it is more than just presence. Power. Skills. Mana. All traits existing in Elizabeth's blood is currently in you. That's the reason she has high expectations. You are what vampires calls as "First Generation". Your power is just behind Ancestors."
I wasn't able to fully understand what Edward was saying.
"Ancestors. Are those vampires that other vampires originated from?"
Edward shook his head.
"Strongest and oldest vampire bloodlines. They don't carry a single drop of human blood. Peak of a race that above humans in every way."
He pointed me.
"And you are just a single step below them."