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"I-If I can even touch you... tch, are you looking down on me?!" The boy yelled in rage, clenching his fists tightly.

I scoffed. "Is that even a question? Of course I am. But trust me when I say you won't even be able to touch me, no matter how hard you try."

I reached into the Space Locket that hung around my neck and casually pulled out a warm cup of tea before slowly, calmly, taking a sip. The boy, seeing how carefree I was, couldn't take it anymore and roared before charging directly towards me.

"I'm going to punch that stupid face of yours in!" He reared his fist back, preparing a punch. "HYAH!"

"... Hmph."

Level Two Space Magic — Blink.

Teleporting backwards in an instant, I avoided his attack with ease and continued sipping on my tea, all while remaining seated.

"H-Huh-?" The boy, not expecting this, lost his balance from his own momentum and toppled over. "W-Whoa- oof!"

"Come, try again," I taunted, voice remaining monotone. In situations like this, staying calm was more infuriating for the other person than acting all smug. 

"D-Damn it...!" The boy pushed himself off the ground and came at me again, this time with a kick.

Once again, however, I merely 'blinked' away, confusing the hell out of him.

"What the hell...?!"

He picked up some gravel and dirt from the floor and threw it at me, as if that was going to stop my teleporting, but needless to say, it didn't work. Not even a speck of dust got on me, and definitely none landed in my tea.

Taking another sip, I let out a deep exhale and glanced at him.

"Done?"

"Not yet!"

He leaped forward and attempted to punch me again, but I sighed.

"... You don't learn, do you?"

Level Two Space Magic — Blink.

Instantly, I teleported backwards once more, rendering him out of distance to reach me.

Or so I thought.

He hadn't been trying to punch me just now. He was actually taking off his jacket and using it as a weapon. Now, with his extended range...

"..." 

"Ha! Got you!"

Just the tip of the jacket barely scraped against my knee. Blinking a few times, I closed my eyes and stood up.

"Well... I applaud you for that. It's definitely not how a knight would try and win fights, but I'll give it to you since it's just like something I would do, heh."

"So, you acknowledge my strength now?"

I nodded. "I acknowledge your strength, yeah. I acknowledge it as being very weak."

"W-Wha-?!" He cried in surprise, confused and shocked at my response.

"Dude... all you did was touch me with the tip of your jacket. It wasn't even enough to tickle. You expect me to call you strong?"

"Tch, fight me properly then! I'll break your spin-"

"Don't... say that," I said, hurriedly interrupting him before he could finish his sentence.

"What... why?"

"Because... well, I have a tendency to do the same thing others do to me or threaten to do to me, amplified thousandfold. In other words, if you threaten to break my spine, I might end up shattering, rebuilding, then shattering your spine again about a thousand times over."

"H-Huh...?!"

"Now, save the trash talk for after you win. Come at me."

Now that I was actually standing, I could properly move around. Of course, I still wasn't trying at all in this fight, but I had to at least make it seem like I was putting a little bit of effort into it just to keep him motivated.

"HYAH!" He lunged forward and attempted to punch me, but I easily sidestepped it and tripped him over.

"Oof!" He fell over, planting his head face-first into the ground.  Ouch.

"What are you doing?" I scoffed. "You think I'm just a training dummy that's going to stand there and let myself hit you? Speed up, little guy."

"Not done yet!" He yelled, picking up a fistful of sand and launching it my way.  Trying to blind me? Not a bad premise, but...

Level Three Gravity Magic — Handheld Singularity.

I opened one palm, revealing a black hole attached to it. All the sand was immediately sucked into the singularity, and even the boy himself was unable to escape.

"Wha- ngh...!"

He desperately tried to claw his way out, but I walked closer and stepped on his back, forcing him to the floor, defeated, as I closed the black hole.

"Is that all you have?"

"Tch..."

"Hm? Is it?"

But to my surprise, he said...

"... Yeah."

"...?"

"I said yeah, so take your foot off of me already!"

Blinking a few times, I finally came back to my senses and stepped off of his back.

"My bad, I just didn't expect you to say th-"

"HA, GOT YOU!" 

The boy suddenly leaped up from the ground the moment I took my foot off, turning into his fox form and attempting to claw at my face. My eyes widened in surprise, and realized it was too late for even me to dodge.

L-Level Three Time Magic — Chronofreeze!

Instantly, all time stopped, and the boy's claws froze inches before my eyes. Slowly backing up, I safely got out of the danger zone and let out a sigh.

"... Good grief. That was closer than I expected."

Then, after some thought, I smirked and picked  him up in my arms, then walked over to the cliff and held him by his neck. Not tight enough to choke, but not soft enough to let him fall down either.

Time will begin moving again now.

As time began to flow once more, the boy found himself hanging at the edge of a cliff, held within my arms.

"W-Wha-?! How is this possible?! I was about to scratch your eyes out, then...HUH?!"

"... A tricky little gremlin, aren't you?"

"H-Hey! Let me go!"

"Then again... it is something I would do," I chuckled, recalling the fight I once had with Mei Mo's knight, where I had once contemplated playing dead as a strategy. Speaking of... where the hell is he? He should've been in the Fortress, but I never saw him there...

After some thought, I lowered him and set him onto the ground away from the cliff.

"Get up. It's time for you to get some training."

"Training...?" He scrambled to his feet in his human form.

"Yeah. From yours truly."

"Hell no! I don't want to get trained by you!"

"Well, whether you like it or not, you'll have to beat me one day if you want to be considered strong enough to protect Lorelei," I said. "Me teaching you is a good opportunity for you to find out any possible weaknesses I have, y'know?"

Hearing this, he reluctantly agreed.

"... Fine. But you better be careful — one day, I'll become strong enough to kick your ass!"

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now, copy my movements."

I got into a horse stance, something I've perfected over the years of my physical body training done before I awakened my magic. The boy, in his human form, did as told and mirrored my stance.

"Good. Now, stay there for an hour."

I stood back up straight and smiled, walking away.

"H-Huh?! Hold it! I gotta do this for an hour straight?!"

"Mhm," I said, turning back around. "What, you thought training was a fun and easy thing to do? Think again. Also..."

I leaned in to his ear, then whispered:

"Lorelei is watching."

"...! His eyes widened in disbelief.

"If you don't believe me, that's fine, but on the off-chance that she is there... I wonder what she would think of you as if you just gave up from a little hard work like this. Why would she want a knight who would turn tail and run as soon as danger strikes?"

"..." This caused the boy to fall silent, and I slowly backed away and turned around to begin walking away again.

"Good luck, Yami. I'll be back in an hour to pick you up for lunch."

"Yami...?" He frowned, confused.

"Your new name," I hollered without bothering to turn around. "Don't like it? Too bad!"

"Wha... what about... Bob...?"

I disappeared into the woods, and Lorelei climbed onto my shoulder once more. I raised an eyebrow as I walked.

You're really not going to stay here and watch?

"Why would I, master? Just as you said, he is my kin, nothing more. Lorelei needs not stay here and watch him train, unless master wishes for Lorelei to do so."

Nah, it's fine. He'll be alright. I set up a Metal and Sound barrier before I left. No beasts or anything can get to him. It's also in preparation for tonight.

"The prince...?"

I nodded. Yep. Just an annoying, jealous child I have to shut up. Don't worry, you won't have to do anything... is what I'd like to say, but on second thought, your powers over the soul are going to come in handy. You can detect people, correct?

"Yes, master. Please don't be troubled over using me. Lorelei is at master's service."

I see... well, later tonight, I'm going to need you to detect certain people, then tell their locations to Ling Xin and Axilia. Should be easy enough, right?"

"Yes. Lorelei only regrets not being able to do more."

It's fine, it's fine... once you've fully recovered, you'll become an incredibly strong asset to me. Your time for repayment can come then. Also... what's with the sometimes third-person, sometimes first-person speech? Is that how you usually talk, or...

"Yes. Does it bother you, master? Lorelei can change if so."

Nah. It's fine. I was just a bit confused, that's all. If anything... I think it's kind of cute.

"..." 

Lorelei didn't say anything, but I did see her beautiful white fox tail wag left and right happily in response.

*****

Exactly one hour later, I returned to the same cliff to pick Yami up. He was still in the position I left him in, sweating buckets and entire body trembling, but he held up nonetheless.

Seeing this, I couldn't help but smile. This kid... he was quite the annoying brat, but he was loyal to Lorelei at the very least. He had a good heart, the guy. All that was needed to perfect him into a great warrior was the proper harsh discipline.

Throughout that hour before lunch, we discussed various plans on how to defeat the prince. A certain item I obtained from the auction would turn out to be the core of the plan, something I hadn't even though of myself. Ling Xin and Axilia weren't just good-looking and great chefs, but they also were quite clever when the need arose.

All the traps and setups were in position.. All that was left was the execution—both of the plan, and of Prince Auldren.