The other side of the spirit world gate opened and everyone walked out into the same room they always arrived at whenever they crossed.
Those that had never been to the spirit world before, had their mouths hanging wide open. The large grand spiral staircases that led in different directions, the large red and gold doors, and the statues of knights holding sabers on both sides of the door, was shouting royalty and luxury.
"This place never ceases to amaze" Clark said before turning to the new people that had joined the group "Stay close. We don't want you guys getting lost"
"Y-yes sir" Giselle murmured but the others only nodded their heads
"I wonder where we should head to now. I thought Dante would be here to welcome us" Sloane said and then, the doors in front of them, opened
"He would have come, but he sent me instead" Tory said as she walked in through the door with several maids "Come with me. My sister just gave birth"
"Lady Virginia...just gave birth?" Sloane repeated as she dropped her duffel bag. Even Nathan was so surprised he dropped his
"What did you just say?" Nathan asked and Tory smiled
"Leave the stuff with the maids" Tory said "Let's go and see them. My sister really wants to see you, Sloane"
Leaving their luggage with the maids, everyone left the room with Tory leading the way. They scaled a few stairs and took some turns before at the end of a hallway, a familiar large gold door stood tall in front of them.
The door was slightly opened and the sound of joyful conversations and loud laughter could the heard. As soon as Tory pushed the door open and entered inside with Sloane and the others, all eyes fell on them.
Dante, Rielle, Zoe, Tilly, two maids, Virginia and the baby were all in the room. It looked like Dante and his wives were having an argument while the maids were cleaning the baby. And when the others entered, they had all stopped what they were doing.
"Oh. Nathan, Sloane, you and your group have finally arrived" Dante said "I was wondering how many more days I'd have to wait"
'Isn't that the man that casually talked to the king and queen like they were on the same level?' Timothy wondered but when he looked around, he could already guess why
"Dante, we came as promised and that's what matters" Nathan said before peeking at Virginia who only smiled "But, you seem busy"
"Well-"
"Sloane, can you come here for a second?" Virginia asked as she sat up
Sloane took long strides and sat by her bedside when the maids handed the baby over to Virginia
"Congratulations on the baby" Sloane said politely "I didn't know it would be born so soon"
"There's no need to be too humble, Sloane" Virginia said as she wanted to hand her child to Sloane "Can you carry Zel for a while?"
"I-" before she could even complain, Virginia had already placed the baby in her arms
"It's thanks to you" Virginia said "If not for you, my son wouldn't have been born. Male elves are very rare. As such, when one is born as healthy as Zel, there's a reason to celebrate. Thank you for putting your life on the line for the sake of another. You'll surely make a great queen one day"
"Thank you" Sloane said
"And now that that's done with...." Virginia started as she got out of bed "...we can get back to the training plan" she stood up and dressed her gown
"Virginia" Dante said "You're meant to rest"
"Your majesty, you just gave birth" Allen said worriedly
"I...don't think you should be moving around like that" Mackenzie pointed out
"Doesn't that hurt?" Giselle asked
Rielle did some checks here and there on Virginia before sighing "Are you sure about this?" she asked
"Zel was born healthy and my magic power is back to tip top shape" Virginia said "I've also healed my own body. So I should be fine both physically and mentally"
"Even if you're fine. Most of us aren't" Jerald said
"Some of us didn't get some good night's rest before rushing here" Brianna complained
"It's what happens when you don't sleep early" Sloane said coldly as she handed Zel over to the two maids who left the room with the him, immediately after
"Nathan, help us out" Allen said
"You seem to forget that before she's a friend, she's the queen and our boss" Nathan said "I can't do anything about it" he shrugged "Plus, with that attitude, how do you expect yourselves to get stronger. Weren't you the ones that readily skipped school to piss me off?" he taunted "Take this as payback"
"Fine" Allen and Jerald shouted "Let's get to training"
"It seems like everyone is pumped up" Dante murmured "Oh well, let's head to the field" he said as he snapped his fingers and a giant magic circle appeared under their feet. It lit up and disappeared and everyone had been teleported from the room.
******
Out on the field, a giant magic circle appeared and after it disappeared, Sloane and the others were standing there. The boys had their clothes changed to gym shorts and tank tops while the girls were wearing sports bras and leggings with a jacket.
Dante and his wives were several meters away from them. With Rielle dressed in a lab coat and holding her book and pen while standing next to Dante. While Zoe, Tilly, Tory and Virginia were sitting on chairs that had sprouted from the ground; away from the action.
"How come the girls get jackets and we don't?" Jerald asked
"You're a man. A little cold won't do anything to you" Dante said before pointing at Nathan and Allen "Try to be more like them. They built their bodies like armoured tanks"
"Whatever" Jerald let out
"Alright. Boys on one side and girls on the other" Rielle said while staring at them. They looked at each other before following instructions. Rielle nodded her head in approval "Good" she said, before opening her book and leaving it floating in place
"I warmly welcome you all to the training field" Dante said "Due to your body compositions, the field had to go through some adjustments, to match your needs"
"On this field, you will be able to train to your heart's content" Rielle said "Unfortunately for some, extra training lessons have been added, after observing your personalities. The four areas listed before, will still be taught to you. However, the extra training lessons are the main focus" she stared blankly at them "It allows us to know the areas you specialize in"
"But, you know, your parents still want you to be up to date and knowledgeable" Dante sighed "There's a library inside the palace. Feel free to use it"
"Lastly, before we start, you.....human" Rielle said while pointing at Priya "You're meant to be an assistant researcher to that boy. Right?" she pointed at Timothy
"Yeah" Priya answered
"Get your butt over here. You can't participate in this training session, yet" Rielle said firmly and Priya instantly rushed to her side "For now, just accompany me in my research" she said before remembering something and reaching into her pocket, she brought out a pair of white gloves "Put these on"
Priya took the gloves and stared at them, before putting them on. She instantly yelped, as she felt some needles, impale her knuckles inside the gloves.
"What the hell?" Priya shouted "What are these for?" as she tried to remove the gloves
"You can't remove those. Once they're on, they're on" Rielle said "It will only come off when the crystals imbedded inside the knuckles of the gloves, run out of magic" she said "You're a human who is fighting alongside demons. You'll need to be on equal footing with them. The gloves will be feeding you magic particles through your knuckles and if you're lucky, it will produce a single magic circuit in your body. And you can then, take the gloves off if you want"
"Yes" Priya said as she stopped trying to remove the gloves but still rubbed the area around her knuckles
"Now that that's over, we can get on with our training" Dante said "Today's training is....hand to hand combat"