The next morning in the backyard of the Lysandros family.
In the middle of the forest, a young boy with dirty blond hair could be seen walking through the woods with big steps full of ambition and determination on his way to practice.
Erwin had just entered the area and the first thing that caught his attention was the view of Cassian, sweating all over his body, doing push-ups with a large rock on his back.
Due to his excitement and nervousness, he didn't even notice the abnormal wood splinters and branches in the surrounding area or the web-like cracks on the stone floor. luckily, Erwin didn't know about the explosion that happened yesterday in this area. Otherwise, he would be even more tense than he was at the moment already.
He watched this bizarre spectacle for a few seconds, looking dumbfounded, before reluctantly deciding to approach him.
The sun was hardly visible as it was still very early in the morning, usually at this time he would have been busy helping his father prepare breakfast, but since he had decided to practice with the young master he managed to sneak out of the house before his father was able to catch him, knowing his father he would have absolutely refused him such an activity.
"Wait a minute! Where the hell did he get that huge rock? There shouldn't be any rocks of that size in this area?" He asked, perplexed. He has lived here for most of his life and he can say with a clear conscience that he knows the area quite well, but this is still something new for him.
"Sir, I am ready for training!" he announces with a broad voice full of motivation.
He waited nervously a few steps away from Cassian. He had approached him with full confidence. However, he was still nervous to disturb his master in the middle of something.
Unfortunately for Erwin, Cassian seemed to ignore him as he continued to do push-ups with a blank look on his face.
He debated for a moment whether or not to approach him again, but just a few seconds before he could make up his mind, he heard the gruesome sound of something breaking.
Crack!
"Sir!!! YOUR ARM!" Erwin screamed in panic at the sudden sight of Cassian's broken arm, but before he could worry any further, his young master was suddenly engulfed by a white fire that covered his entire body.
"HOLY SHIT! He's on fire!" He shouted even more horrified as he started to search for something to put out the fire with a look of panic on his face.
"WATER! WATER! DAMN IT, WHERE´S THE WATER?" He shouted as he ran hysterically around the training ground.
"HEY! Just calm down, you idiot!"
but before Erwin could almost fell over in a panic, he suddenly heard the soft and somewhat to him angelic sounding voice of Cassian
He immediately turned back to Cassian, his eyes wide with concern as he examined his body in great detail, worried that he might have suffered some kind of injury. But to his surprise, everything was all right with him, even his arm, which had been broken just a few seconds ago, had healed again.
"Hey!...why are you looking at me like that...you do know that your own mana can't hurt you?" Cassian explained to Erwin with a look of pity.
"Ah!...I'm sorry, I forgot...but that still doesn't explain why your arm got healed," Erwin replied, looking embarrassed. To Erwin's knowledge, mana couldn't be used for healing.
"Don't worry about it... I'm more surprised that you're here so early," Cassian said as he got up from the push-up position, letting the stone on his back fall to the ground without a second thought. Erwin could tell that Cassian had no intention of saying anything about his suddenly healed arm. Since Erwin is still a servant of the family, he couldn't ask even if he wanted to.
"Um... I was too excited to wait," he said with a sheepish smile on his face.
"Well, whatever... let's just get started," Cassian ordered, heading for the spar weapons a few meters away from the training area.
"Yes,Sir!"
Erwin followed behind him, smiling excitedly.
They arrived in front of a flat field of grass on which there were various wooden weapons lying around in antiquated barrels.
"Wow!...I should have paid more attention yesterday...well, just pick a weapon you think you can handle best...or you can use no weapon...whatever suits you best," Cassian said, observing the weapons on the ground with a sharp look. He had been afraid that he would have to ask his parents for new equipment, but luckily the explosion yesterday had only slightly scattered the barrels.
"Uh... okay, I will," Erwin said, nervously befor searching through the old barrels for a suitable weapon. He searched for several seconds before pulling a wooden spear from one of the barrels.
With an unsharpened point, it was about 3 meters long. It was in good condition, Although the wood was a bit damaged.
"Hmm...a spear is a interesting choice...is there a reason?" Cassian said in a calm tone of voice before he started walking back.
"Yes Sir, my mother used to use a spear as a weapon...I was allowed to watch sometimes...it was really impressive," said Erwin, sounding a little sad, as he started to walk behind him. His mother died eight years ago, but he could still remember his mother training every evening, even if it rained or stormed, she never missed a day of practicing with her spear. Maybe that was one of the reasons for his desire to be stronger, especially with a spear.
"Hmm is that so... the death of a loved one is one of the many reason for people to seek power...but unfortunately it takes more than willpower to become stronger." Cassian said before he lifted his knee and turned his body 90 degrees, suddenly sending a side kick at Erwin with great speed.
"Shit!" Erwin yelled as he barely managed to block the kick using the spear, but he was still thrown back a few meters.
"Oh wow! You blocked that, impressiv!" exclaimed Cassian with an amused smile.
Erwin watched him for a few seconds, shocked, before he began to groan in pain and his whole body began to shake.
"Why are you doing this?" asked Erwin, sounding desperate, barely able to get himself to stand up again. He raised his spear to attack position, although he had no idea why Cassian would do this to him, but he wouldn't go down without a fight.
"Hmm... why do you look so surprised... the fastest way to get stronger is in a fight... and nothing helps you more than a fight against a superior opponent," Cassian declares with a devilish grin.
"What~ this is unfair...I don't even know how to hold a spear properly!" Erwin cried out in annoyance at the situation, he could hardly believe that he would have to fight on the very first day of the training.
"Hahaha... don't worry, after a couple of beatings you'll be learning it just fine!" Cassian declared with a boastful laugh as he walked over to Erwin with a steady stride.
"Shit!" Erwin cursed under his breath as he prepared for a day of pain, but his heart was pounding with excitement, even if he wasn't aware of it at the moment.
As he prepared himself, his hand gripped the spear with all its power.
He took small steps towards the demon in front of him, something he would probably regret tomorrow.
-----