Damien couldn't sleep, but he was seen by the nurse overseeing the infirmary. He had been beaten pretty badly.
"You're lucky they weren't trying to kill you" the nurse looked at him sympathetically. "Well I can't do anything for the sore muscles, I can heal the injuries however."
"I appreciate whatever you are capable of." Damien replied tiredly
The nurse surveyed his body before beginning. He has a few cracked ribs, a broken arm, three fingers on his left hand were shattered, and his right ankle was fractured. "Tsk tsk, you shouldn't keep fighting when injured like this, it could cause permanent damage if left unattended for too long."
"What am I to do if I'm in a life or death fight then? Just run and hope I'm not killed?" Damien turned his head to the side bitterly. "I thought I was ready."
"You will be soon enough." The nurse hovered her hands over his body "Fallen Stars Light." Damien felt a warmth spread throughout his body. He could hear the crackling of bone as they were set back into place, the pain it brought was excruciating, but he just gritted his teeth and endured it.
"There's no need to put up a tough face shadow walker, I know my healing style is painful but it also strengthens your bones so they'll be harder to break the next time. You are in good hands."
"How much time will I need to fight again?" Damien wasted no time after the pain faded. It only took a couple of minutes for him to feel the pain subside. He was physically able to see the bruises fade and the bones reset through the process. His face no longer felt swollen and even some of his fatigue receded.
"You need to rest for the night and you can start again in the morning. I don't want to see you back here again tomorrow"
"Don't worry ma'am, I don't intend to come back." Damien replied "if my body had been at a hundred percent I wouldn't have kept losing so bad. Unfortunately it couldn't keep up with my thought after so long"
Damien remained laying there for the rest of the night. He couldn't sleep so his mind wandered. "I wonder how much time passes differently in the trial than it does in reality?" As he was thinking he felt something within him changing. Like he had opened up a piece of him that wasn't there yet, he just had to do a little more to access it completely.
"I can feel it, there's something right at the top of my fingertips, I just can't grasp it yet. Is this what Uncle Tep was explaining? Am I close to finishing my trial?"
Dawn approached as Damien groped for that fleeting feeling inside him, his frustration building as it stayed right outside of his grasp. Instead of waiting in the infirmary any longer he decided to train. He jumped up to his feet and stretched. several pops of stiff muscles and bones from laying down for a multitude of hours greeted his ears. "Oooooh, that feels good."
He rushed off to the dojo, he was met with silence as he reached the sliding doors of the dojo and he took a moment to appreciate it before walking in. He immediately walked to his left where the rack of practice swords was held.
"Now all I need to do is consolidate the two styles I've been learning, one here from the trainer and the other I've been learning in my soul from Tepmin and Tessa's training.
He grabbed one of the swords and got into a stance, slightly different from the one he had just been learning. And he closed his eyes allowing his body to flow between the two styles so he could connect strikes from each together to create a more fluid style. He had been too stiff because he had to originally put the first style to the back of his mind to learn the second one. Now he could bring them both to the forefront and play on the strengths to reduce the weaknesses.
As he continued he viewed the moves of both in his mind connecting like stars in a constellation. The two combat styles started to flow more smoothly becoming symbiotic of each other.
He didn't know how long he had been practicing, he didn't know how long the others had been watching. His eyes closed he could picture the whole dojo and where he was in tandem to the walls, the rack, and the center of the room. He heard them come in but he didn't care he just kept going. His mind and body hitting a state in which his focus was ascended.
Finally he felt the connection of another weapon against his own. His ears switched as he listened, his breathing steadied and he spun. Allowing the momentum of the opponents swing to propel him around. He heard the wind whistle slightly behind his head as he had his back to the enemy. He leaned his head forward and crouched in his turn, pivoting his other leg allowing him to spin faster. He kicked his pivoting leg out bringing him lower as he felt the sword pass over the back of his head. He heard a gasp as his attack passed the opponents guard. His attack hit and he heard the breath leave his opponents body, yet he followed through with his swing and he knew his opponent was done. The next second he felt the pressure on his sword leave as his opponent was lifted off their feet and flung away. He stood up straight as he heard the crash of his opponent hitting the wall.
Damien opened his eyes to see the others staring at him in surprise. He turned to see Xavier sprawled on the floor against the wall, from the looks of it he was knocked out cold. "Yo what the fuck was that?!" One of the other trainees spoke up.
"Oh, I couldn't sleep after the nurse saw me so I came in here to train until it was time to start the day." Damien shrugged. "also I think I'm ready to start the gauntlet seeing how as I already bested one."
"Yeah we can do that in a minute, what I was saying is what the fuck was that move."
"Oh that came from the first style I'd been learning mixed with some of the footwork I've learned here."
"It seems that you might really be ready." Sera had just walked into the dojo a smile on her face.
"Everyone grab a weapon. You will come at Damien like so. There are nine of you left. He will face two, then three, then four. In order of weakest to strongest. You already know who you are."
The rest of the trainees sighed in unison. Despite knowing their own place it was still humiliating to have it called out so blatantly like that. Regardless they all grabbed themselves and the first two stepped forward.
A brother sister duo who worked very well in tandem. Despite them being weaker by themselves their teamwork was probably the most seamless of the group as they were raised up together and had been fighting together for ages.
"Well shit, I just had to open my big mouth" Damien thought before getting into a defensive stance.