Chapter 473: Training With Cain

Julius was slammed against the back wall of the training room. He groaned as he picked himself up and was forced to block Cain’s kick heading straight for his head.

Julius didn’t know if Cain suddenly started to feel competitive after seeing Duke Zenith and Vice Sect Leader Cassandra, but he noticed their spars had gotten a little more intense, which was saying a lot considering that they had already been going hard in the first place.

Julius sent a thick wave of flames at the man. While it didn’t do much, it at least obscured his view for Julius to reposition. Cain wasn’t using his domain, so it allowed Julius some leeway and gave him more opportunities to counterattack.

Unfortunately, Cain didn’t need to see where Julius’s exact position was. He just needed a general idea of it and sent a wide blast of kinetic energy at Julius. With an exasperated groan, Julius was once again knocked off his feet despite his best efforts to siphon the excess kinetic energy.

He was distinctly aware that he would have likely been heavily injured or perhaps outright killed if Cain had attacked him like this a couple of months ago. The fact that Julius was somewhat able to withstand the attack was a true testament to the progress he had made.

Still, it hurt like hell. No matter how much Cain “held back”, there was only so much Julius could do to defend himself. He felt several of his ribs, a few of his other bones, and a couple of organs get vaporized from the immense force rushing through his body.

It was only thanks to [Phoenix Renewal] that he wasn’t out of commission. Something that Cain was well aware of and took advantage of Julius’s regeneration powers. The man had already beaten Julius half to death a couple of dozen times in the past hour or two.

Julius was both thankful and resentful at how easily Cain was willing to rip him apart. What was more annoying was that Cain knew very well that Julius wouldn’t give up. Cain had quickly understood that it only took a few pokes and stabs at Julius’s pride for his stubbornness to last him through the training.

In fact, he was doing it again. Cain stood patiently as he gave Julius a challenging look, daring him to get up again. Almost taunting him to give up and take a break. And like the predictable creature Julius was, he staggered to his feet.

Thankfully, Cain was merciful enough to allow this. Julius took a little time to gather his breath as the rest of his wounds were healed, then quickly took control of his fire mana. The fire mana responded to his commands and formed into a thick rope. This rope wasn’t like his usual constructs, which were made up of hardened mana; this rope was made of pure blue fire.

He was beginning to see what Cassandra had meant about his fire not being as free as it should. It wasn’t to say that he couldn’t use his fire mana for constructs like his spikes, but he had so many other options at his disposal that it felt wasteful and almost downright stupid not to explore them.

It wasn’t like he didn’t have good mana manipulation skills. He should only be limited by his imagination. Furthermore, her advice about his fire being freer had really stuck in his mind.

Having precise control had always been his goal. He wanted to have complete authority over his fire, but perhaps he was holding the fire back. It might be better if he allowed his fire to have some leeway to do its own thing.

Fire was an unpredictable force of destruction, and by limiting what it could do, he felt like he was handicapping his own abilities.

The rope of fire flickered as the flames tried to burn everything within reaching distance. It took him surprisingly more effort for his mind not to instinctively hinder this reaction. Then, before he could lose total control of the whip, he flung it at Cain.

Cain didn’t bother to move; he simply stared at the whip and let it crack against his skin. The sheer heat of the whip was already much hotter than his usual constructs, but sadly, Cain’s body was much too robust to compare the actual difference. Not to mention, since the whip wasn’t a construct and made entirely of flames, there wasn’t much physical power backing it.

This meant the main, and really only source of damage came from the heat itself.

Regardless, Julius could already feel a distinct difference in the heat of his fire and the heat of his constructs. While clearly not a better offensive tool than his spikes, he could already see the possibilities. He would ensure that he continued to train this aspect of his fire. He would have to thank Cassandra once more when he saw her again.

Cain snatched the whip out of the air before it could hit him again and used a large burst of kinetic energy to annihilate it. Then, with a teasing grin toward Julius, he brushed his hand on the imaginary burn, as if he wanted Julius to know how easy it was for him to deal with his fire.

Julius gave the man a middle finger, letting him know how he felt about Cain’s taunt. Cain only smiled and then, in a blur of movement, disappeared from Julius’s sight. Thankfully, Julius was already quite familiar with dealing with the insane speed of Cain and was already in motion. He placed every defense available to him. Whether that was a barrier, a wall of kinetic energy, or a wave of fire, he used them all.

Cain shattered his barrier, overwhelmed his wall of kinetic energy with his own kinetic energy, and was completely unscathed by his fire. Julius did his best to dodge, but Cain was just too fast and slammed his palm into Julius’s chest, shattering his entire rib cage and sending him flying back like a rocket, burying him into the wall all the way on the other side of the massive training room.

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“Julius!” He heard Lily shout and run towards the crater in the wall, helping him down. She wasn’t the only one there watching him get thrashed. Christina had decided to stay and watch, and Derek’s cousin was mortified at what she witnessed. Her mouth and eyes were wide open as she watched him stitch himself back together.

She had insisted on watching, saying that it wasn’t fair that he got to watch her train and not the other way around. However, she had been weirdly silent since the start of the session.

He spat out a glob of blood and rubble from his mouth. “I’m good,” he wheezed out as his healing skill was already working overtime to heal him. He slowly peeled himself out of the wall and slumped to the floor.

While he was recovering, he checked his notifications.

[Inexorable Aura of Ruin lvl 16 -> 18]

[Sage of Savagery lvl 20 -> lvl 21]

[Absolute Spatial Perception lvl 10 -> lvl 11]

[Spirit Fortification lvl 3 -> lvl 5]