Death... and me
chapter-280

*Bang!*

Suddenly, Julio was sent flying back like a cannonball.

In the exchange just now, Julio thought he had blocked Roan's skills perfectly. He even prepared a follow up since Roan's sword was locked with his spear. But he didn't expect Roan's body to rotate all of a sudden and use his leg to send him flying!

"You fixed the spin of your hands while brandishing the spear. That was very good. Still, you kept paying attention to my weapon alone. Did you forget that I have a body? Use everything available to you, don't forget it."

*Cough... cough...*

Julio then vomited some blood as he got up. Nevertheless, he was happy. For Roan to praise how he used the spear correctly was quite a big deal. After all, Roan rarely ever let out a compliment.

"Thanks. I'll think more about it."

Most of the girls looked at Julio with some envy in their eyes. Especially Lenna, who was always together with him.

"Hmph! I will definitely get him to recognize me next time."

Julio shrugged his shoulders.

"So what? I got it now. Hahaha!"

Lenna was also not in great shape either, showing that she also had her 'special time' in the arena with Roan.

Roan ignored their conversation and looked at the small crowd of girls. It was then that his eyes paused on Calina.

"You are the new girl everyone was talking about, right? Come up already."

Calina nodded as she took a deep breath. She was trying to act as if she didn't care about the training. However, after seeing how Roan didn't hold back at all, it was quite hard to keep her composure.

"I'm Illia. I just joined the Blue Orchid Faction."

Roan shook his head in response.

"I don't care. Come at me already with everything you got."

Calina couldn't help but get angry.

'When will this idiot start to treat me like a princess? No, he wants me to be the empress, couldn't he be more gentle then?'

Unfortunately for her, that was just wishful thinking.

Calina then concentrated on the spar as Water Element gathered around her. It was a lot stronger this time since she recovered the Yin Energy she lost against Valeu. The temperature dropped as she initiated her attack.

'Southern Ice Wave!'

A wave of Water Element that froze the air came from Calina, covering Roan's surroundings. That was one of the applications of Yin Energy and Water Element, attacks of the Ice attribute.

Roan wasn't using his White Star. Instead, he kept the same wooden sword as always. Because of that, he had no support from the Light Element since Rean was also not around. Still, Roan had no need to suppress his cultivation since Calina was in the same realm as him.

'Death Style, First Movement Form, Shadow Steps!'

Roan then became a shadowy blur as he sped up to Calina. Shadow Steps was a skill that Roan came up with during the Profound Abyss. To be more specific, he learned the principles behind it during a fight against one of the Decaying Demon Beasts.

The Decaying Demon Beast was called a Shadow Kurian. It was a type that looked like a humanoid but walked with four limbs. Most of its body was made of Decaying Energy. The impressive thing about it was how it could merge with the Decaying Fog in the surroundings, making it almost indistinguishable.

Roan became quite interested in that ability, so he and Rean didn't defeat it straight away. Instead, Roan had Rean work with him to lock the Decaying Demon Beast down. It forced the Demon Beast to use that ability several times in a row during the battle.

Finally, Roan noticed that it wasn't really merging with the Decaying Fog, but the Decaying Energy in the fog instead. Decaying Energy had a small concentration of Yin Energy in it, which Roan used to analyze the bests' movement. Finally, he came up with the idea of using his own Dark Element to fuse with the shadows around. It was easier said than done, though. Only recently was he finally able to use it, and this was his first time trying it in battle.

Roan's Spiritual Energy covered his body to fend off the freezing energy as he appeared in front of Calina like a ghost.

'Death Style, Third Form, Three Claws of the Dragon.'

Of course, Calina was still a princess who received top-notch training.

As soon as the three swords appeared, a sphere of water appeared around her body.

'Water Prison!'

'Reverse!'

The Water Sphere then instantly expanded, forcing Roan to recall his attack. Right after, several spikes came from above, aiming where he was exactly.

'Glacial Icicles!'

Roan looked at that and gave a slight nod.

'Now that she has recovered all of her Yin Energy, her attacks became a lot better. Changing her attacks into solid ice also increased the attack power. However...'

'Death Style, First Energy Form, Shadow Bind!'

All of a sudden, several shadow-like vines materialized in mid-air and locked the Glacial Icicles. It was really hard to believe that. After all, Calina had summoned over 10 Glacial Icicles at once. Of course, Roan was able to bind all of them just as they were about to reach him. Just how crazy was Roan's control over his own element to do such a precise movement? Not to mention that he was doing it while her Southern Ice Wave was active!

"If they were Water Icicles, I wouldn't be able to bind them."

Calina looked at Roan with a surprised expression. Unsurprisingly, she quickly recovered and continued.

"I'm not done yet."

Water Element began to converge as she prepared her next attack. As long as she could keep Roan far away and her Southern Ice Wave active, Roan would eventually run out of energy. However...

"No. It's already over."

Roan's voice sounded just beside her ear, which sent a chill all over her body. Calina tried to cast another Water Prison around herself, but it was too late.

*Bang!*

With a kick, Roan sent Calina flying out of the arena. Calina didn't understand what happened. Roan was several meters in front of her, holding the Glacial Icicles with his Shadow Bind. But suddenly, he was behind her. How did that happen?

"The Water Prison in reverse was a good choice. You really forced me to retract my attack. However, you grew complacent, certain that I had fallen into your scheme. Because of that, you didn't even notice when I used my technique to fuse with the shadows and left that clone behind. Your Spiritual Sense was focused entirely on that, leaving an opening on your back."

"Your mistake was not only that, but the fact that you didn't have a countermeasure in case you were ambushed is also a problem. Can you guarantee that you are fighting a single enemy? You fight using Spiritual Energy Skills, no weapons included. Naturally, you have nothing to help you defend against a sudden close-range attack. You are also losing a good opportunity since you could use it as bait to get rid of the enemy."

Roan then went back to his position before saying.

"Come up again. Your techniques are a lot more variated, so I need some time to devise something for you. Especially since you are not a weapon user."

Calina gritted her teeth and got up again. This time, she would not commit the same mistake. Yet...

*Bang!*

She was sent flying out of the arena even faster than before.

"Are you taking me for an idiot? To think you would try to use the same Water Prison trick in front of me. Ridiculous!"

This time, when Calina used the Water Prison and Reverse, Roan used his Shadow Bind to lock himself in place. Calina didn't think that Roan would take the Water Prison's Shock head-on, so she was taken by surprise once again. That was more than enough for Roan to send her flying once more.

'What kind of monster is he? He only needs to see it once and can already make my strategy useless.'

Still, Calina had a lot of pride as the princess of the empire. She once again ignored the pain and went up the arena.

*Bang!*

"Again!"

*Bang!*

"Again!"

*Boom!*

"Again!"

Even the girls and Julio outside were already feeling pity for her. For some reason, Roan seemed to be paying a lot more attention to this new girl. Well, most of them thought that it was because of her cultivation and talent, which were obviously the best between them all. Even Amanda lost to Calina when they sparred for the first time.

It wasn't before Calina was sent flying seven times that she finally couldn't stand up anymore. Roan really didn't care about genders. He always kicked at the best possible point that would assure his victory. That meant that even Calina's chests had a foot mark on it. Well, they weren't that developed due to her age anyway.

"That's enough."

Calina was the last girl in the group today, so Roan came down from the arena right after. He then went to a corner where there was a table and began to write something on a paper. A few minutes later, he gave it to Calina.

"I'm very sensitive to Yin Energy, so I can tell that you also rely a lot on it. I marked here the mistakes I noticed you doing while controlling the Water Element and Yin Energy. Also, the problems in the path of meridians that you used. Pay close attention to it during this week. I left a few things that I think might be of good use during your Yin Energy and Water Element cultivation. Try to follow this training schedule and tell me next week if it worked."

It's not that Roan didn't want to devise training for Calina before. However, she had told him that she needed time to recover her entire Yin Energy. Only then would she be able to show her real potential. Roan was waiting to see her fighting with her full potential. He had to admit, the training she received before from the Imperial Family was quite good.

After that, Roan turned around and left. But not before leaving a warning through Spiritual Sense Message.

'This is just the start. If you really want to become a candidate for the throne, things will only get harder. You better train since your life truly depends on it.'

He would not hold back. He could not hold back. He will make Rean, Malaka, and Calina's life as hard as possible to squeeze out all of their potentials. But it was then that he thought.

'Now that I think about it, I don't remember the last time Nightingale complained about training. Oh well, that's even better.'