Page 50 of Absolved In Death

You weren’t complaining earlier this morning. You’re an expert at being on your hands and knees now,I reminded her.You’ll see what we have planned.

I wanted to train Diana privately, but at her and Ares’ insistence, she spent the next three hours training in the open with the troops. I noted it made a positive impact on everyone’s performance. The troops loved to see her train, and gainedmorale. Diana would never admit it, but liked the accountability of having an audience. It pushed her to work harder.

She spent the bulk of the training session sparring with various opponents. She dodged high level attacks from multiple types of magics, winning the past four matches straight with an overall record of 8-2. Not bad, but not good enough if she wanted to destroy Red.

Her last opponent of the session was Lucifer himself.

“Are you ready to get your ass handed to you by your dad?” he asked her.

“Very funny. Hopefully you won’t fall and break a hip, old man,” she barbed him before engulfing him in flames. She didn’t even wait for the countdown to start the spar.

“Smart move—always be on the offensive. Battle isn’t fair,” he coached her.

He abandoned his fighting stance, standing idly several feet away from her. Diana buckled, falling to her knees and grabbing her head. Her face twisted in pain. Lucifer smiled, giving her a moment to adjust.

“Psychological warfare is fair game. You need to work on your mental shields,” he reprimanded her. He broke eye contact, and she sighed in relief. “I want you to attack me. Hit me with your best offense.”

Diana extended her palm, and an opaque, black smoke ensnared its way around Lucifer’s head, pouring into his mouth. When he started choking, he raised his hand to his throat as a red beam of light passed through it. He took a deep breath before shooting a bolt of magic at his daughter that hoisted her up in the air by one ankle, like a game trap and bound her hands together.

“Can you cast magic without your hands? Quelier said you cheated during your training session with him by playing dead. I want you to attack me without casting. Use your mind.”

She had done it before, but not regularly. The last time she did it, she was riding an emotional high and barely controlled herself. The longer she focused the more she strained, until her face started turning red from exertion.

Instead of forcing the magic out, envision it. Imagine it happening in real time, and keep your mind’s eye open. Relax, you look like you’re constipated,I linked her.

You’re emotionally constipated, asshole,she retorted. Despite her foul attitude, I noticed that she visibly relaxed, her face smoothing out. Her shoulders leveled out, and her jaw unclenched.

She was able to cast enough magic to break her bonds. Then she went back to casting with her hands.

She needs to master nonverbal casting. Work with her,Lucifer linked me.

I made a whole list of things she needs to work on. I’ll add it.

Diana improved every day, but she still needed to work on nonverbal casting, mental shields, and fighting in non-practice conditions. Real life fighting wasn’t like a sparring match.

Guys, I have an idea…I linked Ares, Az, Bash, and Mal.Meet me in the apartment after this training session, while Diana has dinner with Michael.

I had a whole plan on how to combine all of these areas of improvement into one mega training exercise.

Lucifer eventually beat Diana, bringing her tally to 8-3. I didn’t expect her to overpower the literal Embodiment of Evil—no one could in a one on one fight. But watching her practice fighting with him gave me ideas on things to teach her.

“Diana, I want you to meet me in the basement of the training center tonight.” She was in for the ultimate training.

“Um, why?” she asked.

“Training. I have an idea, and I think it’ll help with giving you more realistic situations to spar in. You need to be the best, and this will help you get there,” I explained.

I hated to play on her need to achieve, but this was life or death. Whether she faced Red one on one or not, she was putting her life on the line in this war, and we needed her to fight at the highest level for all of our sakes. I wasn’t sure how I would cope if she didn’t make it.

“Okay. But if I’m training during the day and at night, I want to sleep in a little bit in the morning.”

“Okay then, it’s a date. Enjoy your dinner with Michael.” I kissed her on the cheek, because showing physical affection made her happy. I took Az’s advice to heart, and judging by the blush that creeped over her cheeks, it worked.

I was the last one to fade to the apartment. The four most important men in my life were all sitting around the table, looking at me with varying looks of excitement and curiosity. I cast a silencing spell and tweaked the wards to temporarily keep Diana out, so she couldn’t drop in while we planned.

“Alright, men. I have an idea for a training exercise for Diana,” I announced.

“Training, ortraining,” Ares asked me, sporting an unhinged grin from ear to ear.

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