Damien was dripping in sweat his body saturnine and weak. For the last six hours he had been combat training. The practice sword felt like a block of iron, so heavy his arm trembled just from holding it. He was pushing on that point of muscle failure. There was no hiding from it. His mentor meant to break any thoughts of quitting out of his system. He wanted him to work as a well oiled machine even when his body was past his limit of breaking.
Despite this being a fake body he felt every ache of every muscle, every pull of every tendon, every rip of every cell. Currently he was in a Japanese style dojo, there were 9 other warriors in training, he being the only non daemon. He was facing off against a young daemoness at the moment. Her face was devoid of fatigue, there was no sweat, no lapse in judgement. He had found no openings in her defense. He was completely and utterly losing.
"H... How... Are y.. you... Not... Tired" Damien managed to gasp out as he tried to catch his breath.
The young woman chuckled "well for starters I've been doing this since I was little, and for second I'm not wailing about like a fucking barbarian. Use your train you buffoon."
Damien looked at her miserably "I can't help it, we've been training for hours Sera."
"In war do you think that you'll only be fighting for a few hours?" Sera barked back. "No I'm times of war you will be fighting and killing for days, if you can survive. You will be fighting when your body is so tired that muscle memory is all that is left. My job is to sear the combat not just into your mind but into your tiny baby arms before you exit your first trial. You are not to leave my care until you can defeat everyone in this dojo including myself."
Damien fell into his back, his exhaustion almost taking him straight into unconscious when he hit the floor a little too hard. "We've been doing this training for days though." He insisted.
The rest of the class snickered, he glared at them before Sera quieted them. "Just remember this shadow walker is not but a year old in his physical body it would be wise not to laugh at a being who could possibly end your life with a thought by the age of five let alone several decades old like some of you."
The snickering died down quickly as several of the trainees put their heads down in shame. "Needless to say he needs to survive his first Soul trial to get to that point though." Sera smiled, her fangs putting a seductively devilish spin on her face.
"I don't like that look when any of you deamons make it" Damien muttered under his breath. He picked up his tired body his practice sword barely lifting enough to get in a defensive stance. His muscles were screaming at him to stop, his tenacity however kept him from giving up.
Sera nodded in approval before attacking first. "Remember to keep your guard up, always look for an opening of any kind." Her first blow shattered his defense and he took an agonizing step back. She pounced on the opportunity going for a deep lunge and that's when she made her mistake. She lunged to deep and lowered her guard. He stopped his back step and immediately pivoted to her right letting the training sword graze his shoulder. He ducked low and pierced forward, his sword coming up under her arm and stopping below her chin. Damiens breath caught in his throat. In the last four days he had been sparring for around sixteen hours a day and this was his very first victory attack. His eyes lit up, "the training is finally paying off."
"Alright looks like we're finally getting somewhere with you" Sera looked at him with pride. "Again."
After trouncing Damien another 30-40 times in the next several more hours, Damien collapsed. He could no longer use his body the way he wished, he was beaten black and blue and his muscles were so worn and torn that he couldn't feel his arms or legs. He was totally and utterly spent. It was a miracle he retained his consciousness at this point.
One of the other trainees lifted him bodily off the floor of the dojo. "I'ma take this oversized potato to the infirmary" the young man snickered as he practically skipped out of the dojo. "Be back quickly Xavier" Sera's voice carried down the hallway that Xavier was practically sprinting down. Every step jostled Damiens weak body causing stifled groans of discomfort and pain.
"Put me down man, I... I think I can walk."
"Too late bud." Xavier giggled wickedly
"Heeeee- Oof"
Xavier had flipped Damien off his shoulder into a large bed in the infirmary. "When you get back to training tomorrow the real trial starts." Xavier winked and disappeared.