As we continued our routine, we learned a few things about our...sadistic instructor...
Surprisingly enough, Leiso was actually over 1,500 years old. She had mastered hundreds of types of martial arts and was highly experienced with all kinds of melee weapons.
She also taught me how to properly fight while dual wielding swords and other types of close combat weaponry. Not that I didn't know how to use a sword, of course.
Using two at the same time was much more complicated than using just one and a shield.
Later in our training, I had become very adept at martial arts and Leiso helped me develop a style most suited for my offensive disposition. Isabella had taken to a more defensive and counter attack based fighting style.
Leiso took a special approach to dealing with Isabella's naturally high defense and fought using steel gauntlets she summoned herself.
The first time she punched Isabella directly, she broke her hand. Iris had to come by and fix it for her and she made me regret laughing.
I got to test the steel gauntlets for her.
Our sparring matches were usually done on the sports field. Some of our new friends would watch in awe. Even Emily would come by to see. She was actually pretty nice and became good friends with Isabella. Still, no one dared to laugh when Leiso beat the crap out of us. Otherwise they would be the objects of her wrath.
Some of the guys at the academy really liked Leiso. They repeatedly called her cute, adorable, and shouted her name affectionately.
However, Leiso did not appreciate it at all.
Even if Leiso was attractive, she was a demon on the battlefield.
She made all of them regret their behavior by forcing them to do work out routines under the pretense of "punishment for interfering with an on-duty Enforcer".
They collapsed after she worked them half to death and decided to stay mostly quiet.
Mostly...
Some of them actually enjoyed being stepped on and treated like dogs by her for some reason...
They and the rest of the students were only allowed to watch as long as they weren't a distraction.
Speaking of distractions, the news media companies continuously tried to interview us despite being told not to make contact by Iris herself. The rumors of two new Enforcers had spread quite far and Iris wanted to keep our images off of the media.
The less information available to the Overlords, the better.
I was shocked to learn about the moving images within small boxes or other such devices. Apparently this sort of thing was as normal as night and day.
In the meantime, I also became quite familiar with the various types of ranged weaponry made by the military. Sadly, I still had yet to fully grasp energy weapons. They were too complex for someone from such a primitive world to understand easily.
The concept of firing a non-physical substance that wasn't magic sounded utterly absurd to me.
In all honesty, I kind of enjoyed using guns quite a bit, however. It was nice to be able to effectively eliminate targets from range without worrying about them hitting me back for the most part. And since I was branching out, I decided to learn a few new skills.
The two skills I learned were called 'Fusillade' and 'Blast Barrage'. Like with all of my skills, I upgraded them to their final form and maxed out their levels in training.
Speaking of which, we were allowed to train our skills up to their maximum power while hunting monsters.
We occasionally went out to hunt monsters with our bare hands as well. The monster population of Ignitus, while threatening, usually avoided towns and cities because of the defensive weapons deployed in case of attack. Not to mention, Enforcers and Attendants with their Aspects.
Still, people were instructed to stay out of the wilds.
At one point, Leiso took us to see Carlos and Yakon.
Yakon had apparently endured horrific torture at the hands of Carlos for information on the Abyss Engine as well as the current state of affairs of Nexus. Mostly in regards to technology and weapons development, of course.
Carlos could manipulate blood. He would reverse the flow of it or stab someone internally for a truly terrifying form of torture.
And no one was permitted to bleed to death unless he said so.
I empathized with Yakon. Not because I felt sorry for him, but because I knew what it was like to be locked in a dungeon and tortured.
"If you understand true pain, why would you experiment on helpless civilians? I torture you because I need information that you are unwilling to give. Which of us is the real monster?" Carlos said at the time.
It was the most I had ever heard him say. He didn't usually talk a lot.
Yakon was persistently stubborn on not saying anything. Although Carlos still made some progress with him.
Dante tried to inform Nexus that we'd captured Yakon, but they never responded.
Other than that, Isabella and I had truly become accustomed to life here.
Today, we planned to speak with Iris about her progress. She had something important to say regarding mine and Isabella's relationship.
We approached her throne in the Torantis Enforcer HQ. This one was much more extravagant.
She seemed to be bothered by something.
"Lady Iris...you called us here? Is everything okay?" Isabella said.
"Ugh...weirdo... Why does he keep doing that...?" Iris mumbled.
"Hey, Iris?" I said.
Suddenly she looked up at us and her expression softened.
"Oh...sorry! I didn't see you there!" She said.
"What were you talking about?" Isabella asked.
"Oh. Just my friend. The dragon god, Johann. He's...kind of weird," she said.
"Weird? How?" I asked curiously.
Dragon god? Maybe he knows about the water dragon...
"Well, he's really...touchy. Dragons like him make friends with people and get super close. Then they want to hug you and kiss the top of your head and stuff. It's weird..." Iris said.
Kind of sounds like he's being romantic, but what do I know?
I wasn't sure how to react. The idea of a nice dragon was completely alien to me. I looked at Isabella and she shrugged.
"Lady Iris, what's a dragon god?" Isabella asked.
"That's...well... I mean it's obvious, right? He's the god of dragons. Johann and I have been friends for thousands of years."
"Is this Johann in love with you or something?" Isabella asked.
Iris' cheeks flushed red and she looked away.
"D-don't be ridiculous! Johann isn't interested in that sort of thing! He just says that dragons are like that with people they care about...is all..." Iris said.
"Dragons are weird," I said.
"No. HE'S weird! Still, Johann is my bestest friend in all of creation!" Iris said proudly.
"I guess that makes sense..." Isabella said.
"Anyways! I called you two to speak about your relationship and powers," Iris said.
"Very well. Let's hear it," I said.
"I understand you two love each other very much. I don't have a problem with this as long as it remains professional during work. There is, however, another problem. You two plan to have children someday, right?" Iris said.
Isabella's face flushed slightly as she peered over at me.
"We do. Once we're ready for it, of course!" She said.
I smiled at Isabella.
I promised you kids before the battle of Geldekairn. I intend to make good on it.
"That is...unfortunate. It means you have a decision to make."
"What do you mean? Is there a problem?" I asked.
I was starting to get a bad feeling about this...
"Basically, manifesting a divine Aspect places someone in a state of forced impotency. In other words, once you obtain that power, you will no longer be able to have children. Forever."
Isabella dropped to her knees.
"What!? Why!? Why can't we have children!?" She said.
"Let me put it this way... Imagine if someone like Leiso tried to fight an army while carrying a baby... Yeah, unlikely, but still. Or if Gavin was constantly worried about his kids at home and couldn't do his job correctly. Also a bad example... Lastly, even if it were possible, the incredible power within you would kill the baby anyway. You would just be getting pregnant to have a miscarriage every time. And that's no way for a woman to live."
I couldn't imagine either of them wanting anything to do with romance, to be honest. Especially not Leiso.
Even so, she had a point.
"Basically, you two must decide if you want to have children or not. If you do, I'll return your soul fragments, remove your honorary status, and maybe let you join the military. If you choose to abstain, then nothing changes. If you need a little while to think it over, I understand. I'll be here waiting for an answer," Iris said sadly.
After that, Isabella and I returned to our temporary room at the HQ to talk in private.
"I'm sorry, Isabella... I promised that-"
"Please don't apologize to me, Mizik. I know what you said... I don't think you understand how badly I wanted to bear your children... But...we have a job to do..."
"Yeah...we have to avenge Avernia. It would be irresponsible of us to have kids instead of saving our home."
"No, Mizik. It would be selfish. It would be like saying that our happiness is more important than the lives of everyone in that world. I want to be happy with you, but a child would remind me of our failure to save everyone. I want to cry so badly right now, but I have to be strong."
"Will Bravery not permit you to let out your frustrations on me?" I asked.
Isabella stopped for a moment.
"She says...that as long as I don't let it affect me afterward, it should be fine..."
I opened my arms to Isabella and hugged her tightly.
I held her against my chest as she cried for a while.
Truthfully, I wanted to have children with her, but it wouldn't be right. The Black Ooze might've been capable of escaping Avernia just like we did. What would happen if it followed us?
We could lose everything again. And there was no guarantee that we would escape this time...not with a child by our side, anyway.
If we were to get stronger, we would have to forsake the joy of parenthood. We would never have a legacy between the two of us.
But just as well...
We would be made immortal. Having ultimate power to destroy our enemies while never growing old and feeble.
We may not have been able to have kids, but we would always have each other. To me, that was more than enough.
Once Isabella had calmed down, we went back to Iris.
"We will press on. We won't worry about having children and instead will become Enforcers," I said.
"I'm glad you came to that decision. I really think you two can protect our world. Please, forgive me for doing this to you."
"Don't worry about it. We'll manage somehow. Although, I have a question. Have any of the other Enforcers had children in the past?" Isabella asked.
"Everyone except Carlos has experienced parenthood before they became Enforcers. Their decendants still live on to this day. Although, Dante has trouble keeping track due to him being over two thousand years old. Leiso keeps in loose contact with her decendants, though."
"Leiso!? She had a family!? That monstrous woman!?" I said aloud in shock.
"Why, yes. She did. She had a husband that she loved very dearly. To this day she hasn't let him go and constantly refuses the advances of any men that propose to her. She also had a brother and a sister. Both with weird names like hers...I can't remember. You should try asking her!" Iris said cheerfully.
"Would she...tell us...?" Isabella asked hesitantly.
"I don't see why not. She doesn't have anything to hide and her memories aren't terribly painful for her. She loved her husband more than anything. It does her good to remember him, sometimes... That girl is way too serious..."
"She's kind of scary..." I said.
Leiso wasn't horrifying like the shadow dragon or anything, but if I had to personify fear, it would be her.
"Ah, you overestimate her. Leiso is a hardened war veteran, but she's still a woman. Beneath her rough exterior, she's actually very sweet. I recall the days in the past where she was all lovey-dovey with her husband! Makes me wish Dante would notice me..."
LEISO WAS LOVEY-DOVEY!?!? LIKE ME AND ISABELLA!?!?
"I don't believe you, but we will ask her about it. Anyways, can we ask you about our Enforcer Aspects?" Isabella said.
"I intended to mention it to you, yes. I will not be able to tell you what these Aspects are until they have fully manifested, but what I can tell you, is what types of Aspects they will be," Iris said.
"Very well. What are they?" I asked.
Iris cleared her throat.
"First, you know what the different types of Aspects are, yes?" Iris asked.
"For the most part. Although I'm not sure how an Ultra Aspect works..." I said
"Understandable. Truthfully, very few people understand Ultra Aspects. They're incredibly rare and grant immense power. Currently, only two people possess one. Dante with The Reaper, and Overlord Kazuma with The Demon."
"One of the Overlords has one?" I asked.
Iris nodded sadly.
"Kazuma is the reason Nexus is under their control. He fought Dante and the other Enforcers at the time to a standstill by himself. He's that powerful. Since then, he has not left Nexus."
"Ultra Aspects must be incredible," Isabella said.
"Yes. An Ultra Aspect is a conceptual power. It grants you the abilities of whatever the concept is. This means that you can essentially have multiple abilities from a single Aspect. They are the ultimate power obtainable by an Enforcer or an Overlord. The problem is that they are a one in a trillion find for anyone...until now, that is..."
"Until now...?" I asked.
Iris nodded with a deadly serious expression.
"I say until now, because yesterday when I checked your powers...well... Both of you will be receiving two Ultra Aspects each."