Alex woke up in high spirits while having a broad smile that was etched onto his visage. If someone were to walk in on him at that time they would have seen as if he had flowers surrounding him because of the serene aura he emitted. He opened his windows while humming a jovial tune.
"Nothing can truly spoil this day," a dreamy sigh escaped Alex's lips and his aura became brighter to the point it was blinding to look at.
"Good morning, Zein," Alex waved his hand eagerly
"Good morning, Alex," Zein responded in the same jovial tone that Alex used to address him but the expression on his visage was a sadistic smile that would put the most sadistic people to shame.
"If you are this jovial then you must be very enthusiastic for training,"
Once those words left Zein's lips all the color on Alex's face was drained at an instant causing him to robotically turn his head to see a broad sadistic smile. He decided to take off in a sprint in order to escape the clutches of the demon who wanted to disrupt his peaceful morning. During his sprint he felt as if the ground was removed from his feet causing him to look beneath him and see his feet were dangling in the air only to turn back and see a hand that had a firm grip on his shirt causing his line of sight to travel towards the owner of the said hand who still had the demonic smile that was stretching even further as he resisted.
"No matter what you can't escape your training,"
The gravity of the situation sunk in deeply in Alex's mind and he immediately knew that it was a lost battle as his head fell down in despair he let his arms and legs go limp resigning himself to his fate. Zein carried Alex all the way to their training site in the forest where he set him down in a rather harsh manner that caused Alex's head to hit the ground with a resounding thud causing Alex to rub his head in order to try and soothe his pain.
"It seems that you really don't want a student!" Alex pointed at Zein with his right hand while his left hand twitched in fury; like he could be a little bit more gentle; he is a child for earth's sake.
"Oops it slipped my mind on how to set you down," Zein shrugged his shoulders as if there was nothing that could be done about it.
Zein brought out a new set of weights that he casually tossed up and down as he caught them but the set of weights 'slipped' causing a small dent where they landed causing Alex's eyes to widen in horror as he shakily took a few steps back trying to avert the crisis he was in.
"Who said you could run?" Zein was immediately upon Alex placing each weight perfectly on each limb.
Alex's knees buckled up which made his body involuntarily bow under the pressure. Alex gained a disdainful look as his eyes as his mouth and eyebrow twitched rapidly.
'This senile old man is trying to kill me,' Alex thought as he saw his palms get dug deeper in the dirt.
"You look more fitting that way in that posture bowing to me," Zein laughed at the clear discomfort while ignoring the glare he received from Alex.
"I don't bow to anybody," Alex tried getting up only for the pressure to continue.
"Clearly you are doing that now and even better to a being who is clearly your superior," Zein's smug smile got even wider as he let out a mocking laugh.
"When I get out of here I will," Alex struggled to get out the words as the pressure was too much for his childlike body to bear.
"You will do what?" Zein's eyes were now closed to a crescent like shape as he radiated a smug aura.
Alex kept quiet as he knew that Zein had clearly won the fight but not the war as he could not do anything to him but he knew someone who could do a lot worse than he could imagine.
"Today's task is simple, try getting yourself to stand up without falling over," Zein was clearly amused by Alex's predicament as he let out a giggle once in a while.
"Are you senile? Are you trying to kill a child amid the increasing death rates?" Alex's eyebrow was twitching at an even faster speed than before, his irritation clearly being seen by the trees around him.
"Who knows?" Zein shrugged his shoulders as if the issue at hand could bother him any less.
Alex's irritation steadily grew as he tried to get up and each time was returned back to the ground even harder at each attempt of getting up. Zein removed some food from his pocket dimension causing Alex's stomach to grumble once his eyes lay upon the food. To mock him even further he took slow long exaggerated bites each time while chewing loudly and then swallowing as his face settled into a smug smile as his eyes landed upon Alex's struggling form. This caused Alex's eyebrows to twitch even further to the point it appeared like a blur.
'I will wipe that smug smile off his face,' Alex's defiance shone brightly like a raging torrent of flames.
Alex steeled his resolve and tried to get off the ground but failed once again to the point his whole shirt was drenched in sweat as he tried once again. Zein continued to bring out even more food causing Alex's ire to rise even more. Eventually after a few more tries he was seen laying in a small human sized crater that was created with each time that he was brought into the ground in failure of completing his task.
"It seems you are weak and I don't' like weaklings," Zein kept poking Alex's forehead to emphasize the point.
This sparked something as when Zein started to move away Alex started to get up his bones clearly screaming telling him to stop but he ignored their screams as he straightened his knees as he got up from the human sized crater. He then straightened his back and through sheer willpower he marched towards where Zein was before cocking back his fist and jumping to Zein's face level. The hairs on Zein's neck immediately stood up alerting him of danger; he decided to turn his head to see what was making his neck hairs to stand alert. Upon turning his head he accidentally put himself in the attack path of a tiny fist causing him to reel backwards.
"Congratulations but you seriously pack a punch," Zein was busy rubbing his cheek from the pain that assaulted it.
Zein turned to look behind and saw Alex wobble a lot before starting his descent towards the ground. Zein rushed towards him and picked him up before he fell as he quickly removed the weights.
"There, there kiddo," Zein looked at Alex unconscious form as he placed him on his back as he made his way back to the guild.
Alex's eyelids fluttered open allowing light to enter his eye and he felt that he was nowhere near the solid ground causing him to be confused. He turned his head forward and saw that he was secured on Zein's back and he was carrying him as they approached the guild.
"I see you are awake," Zein looked backwards upon feeling the shifting movements on his back.
Alex's stomach grumbled causing Zein to chuckle as they approached the guild hall.
"We'll get some food in order to make that roaring motor to keep quiet," Zein said while his eyes twinkled in mirth.
Alex didn't refute his words as he could not fire back a comeback to give a response towards what had been said concerning his stomach as his energy was drained from the training session they had earlier on causing him to settle for returning his head to settle on Zein's back.
Zein ordered for some food as he made his way towards his favorite spot in the guild while occasionally dodging the bodies that flew everywhere due to the brawls the adventurer's had across the guild. Zein set Alex down on the chair as he ordered for food to be brought towards his table. The food arrived causing Alex's mouth to salivate as he dug in to satiate his hunger.
"So you guys are back," Emilia made her way towards their table, her purple hair fluttering with each step she took.
"So how was training?" Emilia sat down as she ordered water for her to drink.
"It was great," Zein tried to steal some of Alex's food only for his hand to get swatted away by Emilia who levelled a glare towards him as he rubbed his hand to soothe it.
"It was not," Alex was immediately met by a hug from Emilia who was taking in his dirty appearance.
"Did he do anything bad to you," Emilia was busy trying to softly rub Alex's head but did not see the devious smile on his face.
"He never trained me, all he did was bully me," Alex let out some fake tears to further emphasize his point.
'In 3,2,1,' Alex thought as he felt Emilia let go of him.
Emilia took small strides towards Zein making her high heels hit the ground making an ominous sound that increased the amount of terror Zein was feeling. Zein stumbled backward as he backpedaled and his back hit the wall and forcing him to look upwards at Emilia who cracked her knuckles.
"Any last words," Emilia was stretching her body as she readied herself to perform the beatdown.
"Mercy?"
"None," Emilia immediately pounced on Zein.
And indeed there was none.