Serene’s POV

This was going to be harder than I had anticipated. He was merciless and cold-hearted and I was going to get a taste of that pretty soon. But I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of thinking I was overwhelmed by him.

"By all means, training is supposed to be rigorous. You believe I have been picking flowers in the institute?" I gave him a challenging look.

"Considering you haven’t even scratched the surface of the immense potential you hold. I would say it seems like that." My face turned red at his words. Why does he vex me so much?

"We will find out soon what I have been doing. Care to duel with me?" I challenged him.

"By all means, I have chosen the perfect spot for you where we will practice every day. If you would follow me," he grabbed an extra sword from his wall and headed out. I followed behind but he slowed down and let me catch up.

He took me to the lake with Crystal Trees. "Why here?" I asked eyeing him. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"Because you like this spot and it’s relaxing." He threw the sword towards me which I caught. He pulled out his own from the scabbard and faced me. Like his wings his sword was golden-blue and it was magnificent to look at with all those intricate designs and a huge golden crystal embedded in its

forte.

I pulled mine out from the scabbard and took a stance. While I chose a back stance he went with a long stance.

"No magic," I warned him.

"No magic," he repeated.

I attacked him first which he fluidly dodged with his sword and pushed me back. He attacked me with a vertical cut that barely missed my stomach, the attack was so fast that I had no time to defend myself. The tip of his sword grazed my dress as I jumped back.

Is he being real right now? Attacking me so fiercely with a real sword. But he took no heed and rotating at 360 angles he aimed the next attack at my arm. His lightning-fast movements made it impossible for me to dodge his onslaught. He was much faster and more skilled than Zilver and Zeph. I doubted even Sarim Sensei could match his speed and I knew he was holding back for my sake.

The edge of his sword scraped my arm and it began to bleed. I squealed in pain and clutched my arm.

"Are you being serious right now? It was supposed to be a duel, not an injury contest. Keeping in mind the fact we are using real swords." I couldn’t believe he injured me on purpose.

"Real fights happen with real swords, not wooden ones. And if you are gonna cry over small injuries, forget about becoming stronger. You need to be tough, wounds are an integral part of training. Only through blood and sweat, you will reach greatness, Serene." I noticed he had dropped princess from his speech, he took me as a student now. Besides, he already told me he won’t show me any mercy so what was I expecting?

"Fine," I got ready to face him ignoring my bleeding arm with my sword raised. This time he tried an upward thrust toward my other arm but I was ready for him. I brought my sword down just in time to block his attack but he changed his stance midway and instead went for my neck.

I prepared myself for more pain, ’thud... thud’ my heartbeat was going crazy. But his sword halted at the edge of my neck. I could feel the cold pointed edge of his sword on my skin.

"You lose," he said dryly and removed his sword. I heaved a sigh of relief, this was embarrassing.

I dropped the sword and inspected my wound, thankfully it wasn’t deep. He stepped forward and took out a small vial from his pocket.

"May I," he asked for my arm. I let him take it.

"What’s that?" I inquired pointing to the vial in his hand.

"You are not the only one with access to special healing potions." He popped open the vial and poured a few drops on my wound. The silver liquid fell like teardrops and instantly began to heal my laceration. It was like seeing magic happen, I wasn’t sure mine was as effective as his.

Within seconds my wound was completely healed leaving no mark behind.

"Wow, that’s one magical potion you have. Where did you get this?" I looked at him in astonishment.

"I didn’t steal it if that’s what you are wondering." I felt like punching him right now.

"That’s not what I meant, why do you always assume the negative from me, Kilamin?

"Kilamin Sensei, isn’t that how you address all your teachers? That’s how I want you to address me when we are training." There was a hint of a smile on his usually expressionless face, an evil smile. He was enjoying it too much while leaving me utterly annoyed.

"Kilamin Sensei," I replied between gritted teeth.

"Now that we have settled how you are going to address me let’s discuss your training sessions. Your sword skills are below average, I am not sure what they have been teaching you for the past six months. So we will have to practice that more." He was straightforward as always. I opened my mouth to protest but he continued.

"How many powers have you unlocked so far? Did you unlock a new power at the institute?"

"Two and no."

"Just two, Serene you have the potential to unlock at least 4 powers. You are filling your mind with useless stuff like romance and boys. When your whole focus should be on your training and unlocking new powers." My mouth flew open at what he had just said.

"Stay out of my private life." Anger seeped up on my face.

"They are ruining your focus, you are distracted around them. I have observed how that’s affecting your growth as a Fae. Besides romances outside one’s kind never end well." I had heard enough.

"SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP."