139 Sona's Thoughts after Two Weeks of Training

Land of Shadows, Dun Scaith.

Two weeks have passed since James, Sona, and their peerages arrived at Dun Scaith. In that two-week period, all have them have been through the most brutal training of their short lives, by supernatural standards. Although their training has been brutal, Sona, her peerage, and James' peerage were all left a bit terrified by the level of brutality James and Cu Chulainn had to endure in their training.

For example, to push their demonic energy's strength and control to the next level, they were all forced to balance themselves on a spike with the demonic energy they could wrap around the tip of their finger. With a duration of at least twelve hours, they were forced to make the demonic energy coating as thin as possible. If not, they would fall on the spike.

James and Cu Chulainn, on the other hand, had to do this training with magical seals that increased their weight by half a ton on each limb. On top of that, Scathach would hit them with the blunt side of her spear at irregular intervals.

"Now I understand why Michael asked the two of them how it is that they are still alive." Genshirou said with fear on his face. "I would have died in the first week if I had to go through this."

"Really?" Mizore asked. "I thought you would make it easily, with your desire to reach for things that you shouldn't touch."

Genshirou frowned at the insinuation. Then, he stole a glance at Sona, who was watching James and Cu Chulainn train.

"How long have they been going for, anyway?" Tsubasa asked.

"The last of us stopped six hours ago." Momo replied. "That was Sona-Kaichou, and she went for a total of fourteen hours and twenty-three minutes."

"So, they're both coming up on twenty and a half hours?" Ruruko asked in amazement.

"That sounds about right." Tsubaki replied as she watched Cu Chulainn.

"Why do you guys look so calm?" Tomoe asked the members of James' peerage. "Isn't this insane?"

Ayame, Shuna, and Shion also shifted their attention to the earlier members of James' peerage to hear their answer. They, too, have only visited the Land of Shadows once and have yet to see Scathach train James and Cu Chulainn.

"Until you see those two spar with Master Scathach, you aint seen nothing." Dante replied as he leaned against the castle wall. "They aren't near death yet, so they're fine."

"You mean, Lancer was serious when he said that he was unsure if had died before?" Genshirou asked with fear in his tone.

"Yeah." Mizore, Moka, Dante, Lady, and Flora replied with lifeless eyes.

And like that, another thirty-seven minutes passed. With his demonic energy flickering dangerously and his body shuddering, it was obvious that Cu Chulainn was on his last leg. However, the determination to last even a second longer was burning brightly in his eyes.

*Thump!*

At that moment, when Cu Chulainn lost concentration for a moment due to energy exhaustion, Scathach's spear landed on Cu Chulainn's left shoulder.

"Gah! Shit!" Cu Chulainn cried in pain as he fell off the spike.

Seeing that Cu Chulainn was done, everyone's attention turned to James.

"Damn it!" Cu Chulainn muttered as he laid on the ground completely out of energy. "How does he stand those blunt strikes for so long?"

"He uses a miniscule amount of energy to defend the spot where the butt of my spear will land." Scathach replied without taking her eyes off of James. It seems his energy manipulation has increased greatly since the last time you were here."

"Are you serious?" Cu Chulainn asked as he went slack jawed. "I would have never even thought to do that. And how is he maintaining for that long while using energy like that?"

"Don't forget, James' imagination and critical thinking skills are greater than yours, my idiot disciple." Scathach replied. "Your raw physical strength outclasses his by quite a bit, though."

"Well, I guess that makes sense, I use a heavier weapon than he does." Cu Chulainn said, trying, and failing, to nod in agreement.

Just then, Scathach felt that James limit was also approaching. So, she swung her spear shaft at James' right arm. The arm he was using to support himself on the spike.

To her and everyone else's surprise, however, her spear did not connect with James' arm. Instead of being struck, James used his finger to push from the top of the spike and let the spear shaft pass below him. Then, he landed on the spike once again. Unfortunately, this maneuver would lead to James exhausting his energy even faster.

"How the hell did he do that?" Dante asked. "Isn't he already exhausted? I mean look at the puddle of sweat under him."

"Seriously, that was unreal." Genshirou said in awe.

'I guess that's why he's with Kaichou.' Genshirou thought to himself with a bit of depression.

After that, another six minutes passed. By now, James was wobbling like Cu Chulainn had been before he was knocked down by Scathach. Also, like Cu Chulainn, the determination to continue was burning in his eyes. However, determination alone was not enough to keep him upright.

*Thump!*

Although his concentration did not break, James was too tired to withstand another strike from Scathach's spear. And when he was hit, James was thrown off the spike and lost consciousness before hitting the ground. And with that, the training for today was over.

"You've all done well." Scathach said as she slung her spear over her shoulder. "You should all get some rest. Tomorrow will be a day of sparring for all of you, except James and Setanta."

Nodding in response, everyone began to stand. Then, Sona and Moka walked over to James and picked him up. After that, everyone made their way to their rooms, while Sona and Moka helped James into his room, changed his clothes, and put him in his bed. After putting James to bed, both girls gave James a good night kiss then exited the room.

"James has told me about his training with Master Scathach in the past, and this is worse than what I imagined." Sona said as she and Moka made their way back toward their own rooms.

"I know what you mean." Moka said. Then, after a yawn, she continued. "I don't know how many times I've wanted to die while training with Master Scathach."

"I can relate." Sona said with a small smile. "But the growth I'm feeling makes all the pain worth it. It makes me feel like my dream is becoming more and more possible to attain."

"Your dream?" Moka asked curiously. "Can you share? Or is it a secret?"

"It's no secret, but I know that a lot of the upper-class devils in the Underworld would scoff at it."

"Oh, then that makes it even more important." Moka said with a blood thirsty smile. "Like James, nothing would make us, the members of his peerage, happier than sticking it to the higher ups."

Sona giggled at Moka's reply. She knew that James was fed up with the way the Devil Council had jerked him around. She was also looking forward to the day when James could openly laugh in their faces. And if the rumors about James' promotion were true, that day would not be too far off. Unfortunately, even Sona was unsure about the veracity of those rumors. Serafall was staying unusually tight lipped about the subject. Sirzechs would not tell Rias about it either. This led the two Pillar House Heiresses to consider that the news was either really good or really bad for James. There was no in-between.

"I hope those rumors about James' promotion are true." Sona said Then she yawned.

After a few minutes, Sona and Moka reached their rooms, which were across the hall from each other.

"Well, good night, Sona." Moka said before opening her door. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, but tomorrow's sparring session will be nuts."

"I know." Sona said tiredly. "I never expected that all our sparring sessions would be against Master Scathach and not each other."

"Well, without seriously injuring us, she can push us to our limits the easiest." Moka said, with her bedroom door, now, wide open. "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay, good night, Moka." Sona said as she also began to open her bedroom door.

Then, Sona and Moka both stepped into their bedrooms. After closing the door, Sona wanted to immediately jump into the bed and travel to the land of dreams. Unfortunately, she was uncomfortable going to sleep covered in dried sweat. So, she walked into the bathroom in her room and began to undress. After she was out of all her clothes, Sona cast a simple cleaning spell and folded her clothes. Then, she turned on the device that mimicked a modern shower and stood underneath the flowing water. Even though she could also use a cleaning spell to clean herself as well, Sona enjoyed the feeling of taking a shower. It was much more relaxing.

"It's already been two weeks." Sona said as she enjoyed the warm water that flowed down her skin. "In just two weeks, I'm getting close to the peak of high-rank. I know that exhausting one's demonic energy and letting it refill makes the capacity increase slightly, but wow."

As Sona spoke to herself, she poured some of the body wash she brought with her into her hands. Then, she began to rub her palms together and create lather.

"I never knew that strengthening the body had such a large effect on demonic power capacity though." Sona said as she washed her body. "But I guess that makes sense, demonic power is stored in the body."

As she ran her hands over her slender body, Sona continued to think about all the things she has experienced in the last two weeks. There have been seven days of sparring and she has been beaten unconscious four times. She has been taught several new power usage methods. She has also learned several ways that she could improve the magic circles she uses to cast her magic. Even though devil magic is used with imagination, using magic circles to shorten the casting process is quite common among devils that rely on magic to fight. And Scathach's vast magical knowledge has helped her improve greatly.

When her hands reached down to her most intimate area, though, Sona could not help but exhale a sigh.

"Even though I'm glad that I'm getting stronger, it's a real torture that either me, James, or both of us are too tired to be intimate." Sona said to herself with a slight blush. "Oh well, we'll have to just make up for lost time when we're done training with Master Scathach."

After that, Sona finished her shower while having some racy thoughts. After getting out of the shower and drying off, Sona put on some light clothes to sleep in. Then, she climbed into bed and crawled under the covers. Now, lying in bed, Sona felt her eyelids growing heavy, rapidly. Then, before falling asleep, Sona had one last thought.

'I hope I can stay conscious after tomorrow's sparring session.' Sona thought as her eyes closed. 'And if I go first, I might have enough energy to have some fun with James at night. Hee-hee'

Meanwhile, in the throne room, like always, Scathach was sitting on her throne with her spear resting against the armrest.

"The talent of those children is much higher than I thought." Scathach thought aloud. "I hope James or Setanta can fulfill my wish. I would love the opportunity to continue those children's training."

Unknown to Scathach and all the sleeping youths, those youths all shuddered in their sleep at that moment. Scathach continued to think alone in her throne room.

"Especially that girl, Tsubaki, I would love to make her into the next Warrior-Queen." Scathach said with a slight smile on her gorgeous face. "If she can gain greater mastery of her naginata and her [Sacred Gear]. What was it called again? [Mirror Alice]? The ability to reflect attacks at double their initial power is quite the ability. Even though there is a cool-down to summon each mirror, the girl can already summon three at once. If she can increase that number, she would be a force to be reckoned with."

Then, Scathach smiled as she thought about the possibilities.

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