Threads of the Soul

Chapter 483 - 483: Training without the Montage

Wielding Seth's spear, Ava swung and stabbed at the Hollows with a lot of energy, and very little skill. At one point she was even swinging it like a baseball bat. If it wasn't for her 'holy light' that had extended over and enveloped the spear, causing the Hollows to explode into screeching dust on contact, then she wouldn't have been effective in the slightest in combat.That's why Seth convinced her to reduce it. Not to remove it entirely, just focus on reducing it down to a small point. He wasn't going to entirely doom the fight for training, but he was going to use every opportunity he had.

His training mainly involved two things, having Ava focus her light on the very point of the spear, so that she couldn't baseball swing anymore, and then guiding her on how to hold and swing the spear properly.

Such forms had been burned into his mind in the first few days as he trained with his journal, and while it had proven invaluable for teaching his puppet army how to find, he found himself not using his own training very often.

Honestly, as dangerous as this fight was for him, it was kind of refreshing.

There was no danger in splitting his focus either. His attention was basically always split between five different things, at minimum. So having to focus entirely on a singular fight was starting to make his mind go wild from under stimulation.

Teaching Ava while fighting himself was helping that, and not hindering him in the slightest, even when it seemed like he wasn't paying attention.

In fact, as he stabbed his arm-sword into a Hollows heart, pressed his hand against its chest and activated the shocking rune on his palm, Seth's mind was already drifting off to think about what he would do afterwards.

He should probably train Woe too, since he was helping Ava. Woe was generally protected by the nature of his powers, but they couldn't protect him against everything. They might not be able to join Nixie's training sessions, but it would be good to bring them in to learn at their own pace.

He would need to have a discussion with Corvus about some mandatory training for everyone. Not military service, per say, but at least enough to protect themselves. He had wanted to create a city where that wasn't necessary, but that was the dream of an intentionally naive idealist.

Seth grabbed a Hollow's leg, dragging it off of a large bald man. Despite the size difference between them, the massive man couldn't shake the vice grip and unnatural strength of the skinny, soul sucking demon.

He dragged it off, just before it could start devouring the man's essence, before Seth sliced off its head and incinerated the corpse for good measure.

The Bald prisoner stayed on the ground, panting heavily as he stared up at Seth in fear and with expectation of... something. He didn't move, didn't even try to stand, for a few seconds. Long enough for Seth to frown and his eyebrow to start twitching in annoyance.

"What? What is it? Hurry up and move, I don't have all day."

He grabbed the man by his shirt, easily lifting the massive brute from the ground before setting him down on his feet and giving him a shove to get him moving. The Prisoner glanced over his shoulder a few times, before rushing off to follow the crowds.

"Why do you bother?" Hunter muttered as he lopped off a Hollows head with an axe attached to a long chain, which he was whipping around with surprising accuracy despite the crowds.

His face was odd, sporting an expression that was a mix of curiosity and disgust. As if two ideologies were fighting within him, with the older one gaining more ground.

"Why do I bother saving people? I thought that would be obvious, because It's the right thing to do. It always has been and always will be, nothing will change that. We have the power to protect those without."

"I understand that. What I meant was... Why bother saving these people? They are criminals. Murderers, thieves, literal monsters from other worlds. Why bother sparing the time and effort on them when they aren't worth it?"

Seth fixed the hunter with a narrow, complicated stare. It was a valid question, and one he had been asked many times by others, and had even asked himself on even more occasions.

"Because we have all become awful people to survive." He answered bluntly. He might have been talking about others, but it was something he felt about himself even more.

"We've all done something bad... left someone to die, killed another, whatever, in the goal of survival. Everyone deserves a second chance. Its what they do with it that matters."

Hunter pursed his lips, considering the words for a few seconds. He looked like he was going to say something, then changed his mind and considered some more. But before he could be given a chance to make up his mind, Seth had already turned away and focused back onto training Ava.

Leaving the hunter to consider his own life and the choices he had made to survive. After a few seconds, Hunter let out a deep sigh before swinging his whip-axe once again.

Slicing, dicing, chopping and crushing, they slowly but surely carved their way through the horde of Hollows and made their way deeper into the mine shafts. Eventually fighting Hollows that were mostly transformed prisoners and guards, with only a few ones that were dressed otherwise scattered about.

The problem came when they reached a split in the shaft. Corpses littered the entrances to either direction, as they had come from both when Seth's group arrived with their fresh and juicy souls. But only one led to their true origin, while the other was a diversion they had taken on their hunt.

The issue was figuring out which was which, and if they chose wrong how much time they would waste in the process.

Seth was glancing between the tunnels, trying to see if he could sense anything odd in either one, before he caught sight of something that gave him a moment of complete pause. His eyes narrowed as he stepped forwards, trying to get a better look down the tunnel and at the impossible sight.