Shane hesitated as he stood at the edge of the cliff, looking down on a wide valley. He was in an unknown part of the wilderness of Serene Cliffs. Strong winds were blowing in the entire valley, a far cry from the name of the place. There were no signs of life around. In the valley below, all Shane could see were grassy patches with sharp spikes of rock or huge rock mounds that appeared every few meters. The sides of the valley walls were sheer, save for this cliff that jutted out slightly. It was probably the only entrance and exit into this place. And a well-hidden one too. It had taken Shane quite some time to find this place, even when he had directions and a map.
Shane took out a thick coil of climbing rope and made a loop, circling it around a weirdly shaped rock that could act as the anchor. It was a long way down, and he had no intention of jumping straight down even if he had All Might. Once he had tugged a few times on the rope and made sure it was secure, Shane stepped to the edge of the cliff and abseiled down the valley. A sudden gust of wind, stronger than what he had been experiencing so far, took him by surprise and he stopped for a second before continuing on down.
With his back to the valley and his eyes on the rope, Shane never had any chance for resistance when he was just swiped off his rope and into the air. All he remembered was the sudden fear when he was displaced and then blacking out from the abrupt change in G-force as he was brought to zoom around in the sky at differing altitudes.
Shane woke up, eyes open wide in shock when he remembered his last snip of consciousness before he blacked out. Like a cobra, the blonde mage snapped out of his sitting position and got into combat mode. His right hand reached up to his back, searching for Breaker but finding nothing. He gave up after a few empty grasps and quickly assumed an unarmed combat position. White steam began to emanate from his skin, as he felt power course through him. Before he knew it, a gust of wind swept him from the back and he was thrown to the front. He rode the momentum and rolled to his feet, quickly spinning around and rising in a low position, his body bent. And his blood ran cold.
Standing in front him, a menacing smirk on her face was Adrasteia as he had been told. But what he had not anticipated was the raw sense of primal danger that she exuded, so much that everything in Shane was telling him to run. Even with All Might activated, every voice in his mind was screaming for him to run and run and run. She stood in front of him in all her intimidating glory, in her armored figure, obviously crafted and customized to accentuate her figure.
Two large wings swept upwards and to the back from her blood-red helm. Her body armor was equally red as well, gleaming in the near-darkness. Her limbs, armored as well, were silver. A sword was sheathed on each of her waist, an impressive appearance made even more daunting by the flowing black cape behind her that seemed to alternate between dark grey and black with each swish. She was a warrior-goddess. Adrasteia, goddess of the hunt.
“You came here seeking me, am I not correct?” She spoke in a smoky voice, a mocking smile on her face. Shane remained silent, eyes still wide as he tried to digest the situation he was in. Even he had sought out this exact scenario on purpose. Without a single indication, Adrasteia disappeared and reappeared where Shane had once stood, now hanging from her grip on his neck, one meter above the ground. The panic was indescribable.
She was tall, standing at three meters. Shane looked into her eyes, and the longer he looked, the more he felt he would fall into a nightmare of chaos. He gulped, tried to gulp, and then tried to speak.
“Yes, Lady Adrasteia. Acaelus pointed me to you, hoping that you would impart to me your Sky Demon Slayer magic.”
“Ahh, that lowly mortal… How many hundred years has it been…” Adrasteia said slowly, as she licked her lips, her eyes looking beyond Shane’s for a few seconds before suddenly jolting back and locking onto Shane’s. Shane could see that the warrior-goddess was pondering, thinking hard on Shane’s words. And no doubt how her relationship with Acaelus came into play. Her grip had loosened, still managing a firm enough grip that Shane was still hanging by his neck, but not enough to strangle him. He was still able to breath, albeit laboriously.
“I owe him… And I guess you are how it will be paid,” Adrasteia sneered as she looked at Shane. “So be it.”
With a light flick of her hand, Shane was thrown back into a wall. As he crashed into the wall, his head jerked upwards and only did he notice where he was. It was a room carved into rock, fashioned from a cavern. It wasn’t just a crude hideout.
“So I guess you will teach me your Sky Demon Slayer magic?” Shane asked apprehensively, as he got up to his feet, the top of his head only reaching up to Adrasteia’s waist. The goddess smiled cunningly as she walked back to the opposite wall, and sat down on a throne. Similarly carved out of pure rock. Her swords were removed from her waist, set down against the side of the throne. She evaluated Shane with her eyes again before posing him with a dilemma.
“I demand a price. A source of strength for another source of strength. In return for my Sky Demon Slayer magic, you will forfeit All Might,” the warrior-goddess spoke, every word as clear as possible. “Yes, I don’t only know Acaelus. I know Harrdun as well, the Ironfist he was called. Tell me. Will you give up All Might in return for this?”
-----
“Serene, you’re up,” Adrasteia called out from her throne. A faint smile shaped her lips, the warrior-goddess leaning her face on her right fist which was propped up on the armrest of her throne of black rock. This was supposed to her newest disciple’s final test, to see if he would be worthy to leave her side and walk out into the world, as one who bears the Sky Demon Slayer magic taught by the warrior-goddess herself.
Shane stood with his back slightly bent, his hands on his hips as he watched Erin pick up her sword from the ground and walked away from the battle zone. Erin had been his second opponent, her abilities and strength putting her somewhere in the middle ranks of the fifteen elite Demon Slayers serving under the warrior-goddess Adrasteia herself. And now he was getting his breath back, as well as his calm, before facing off against Serene. She was the third strongest among the fifteen.
The Shane standing in the battle zone now was no longer the same Shane Stern from three weeks ago. No more was he the muscular blonde mage of Aurora. He had shed most of his muscle, retaining a more athletic frame now, carrying only lean muscle. However the most intriguing change in him was his eyes and his hair. His left eye, to be exact. A long scar, ran vertically down the middle of his left eye, from his forehead to his cheek. A training accident. And yet, he wasn’t blinded. Instead, his left eye was now red instead of his original blue. At the cost of ten years from his lifespan, Shane had unhesitatingly accepted Adrasteia’s to repair his eye with a magical one. The most striking indication of the cost he had paid for his eye was his hair. His hair was now a shifting combination of silver and grey, the color of steel. And he looked visibly older, at least 27 years old.
The moment Serene stepped into the battle zone, a square platform set in the middle of a large cavern, she was gone. Shane only saw a sudden gust of wind where she once stood and barely evaded in time, using the power of the wind to enhance the height of his jump. It was the same as his previous spell, Burst, except that this was a wind variant. He had also named it Burst. A piercing lance of wind thrust through where he had once stood, aimed for his chest. Shane’s eyes widened at the sight. Serene was not holding back anything.
Still in the air, Shane angled his body and created a small platform of air just beneath his right feet and kicked off towards Serene at breakneck speed. Wind gathered around his legs as he flew, finalizing into a downwards kick. “Sky Demon Slayer Eagle Stamp!”
Serene didn’t miss a beat as she pulled the tower shield from her back and held it in front of her. Shane’s kick made contact with the tower shield, and made a back flip as he landed on the ground. To the others, the attack may have failed but he had achieved exactly what he wanted. With the momentum from his flying kick, Serene was thrown off-balance despite blocking the attack. Seizing the chance, Shane lunged forward, his body low to the ground with his arms stretched behind him, his fingers held together like a knife.
The moment he was within striking range, Shane skidded to a halt while swinging his arms forward in a cross. Blades of wind had been gathered around each arm as he charged, and now released simultaneously, bombarded Serene and the area around her with a “sphere” of cutting wind. The female Slayer let out a surprised yelp as she chose to abandon her shield and escape the small area enveloped by the cutting wind blades.
Retreating, Serene looked down at her arms and body to find small cuts ruining her training outfit and small wound along her arms. Shane had actually reduced the power of the “Swallow Slash: Storm” spell, or it would have devastated her even more. However, she didn’t know that. Throughout the two months of training, she hadn’t seen Shane use this particular spell before. Adrasteia wasn’t a conventional teacher. Her method was to allow her disciples to understand the concept of the Demon Slayer magic. How her disciples would then use the magic would be all their own, including creating their spells. The warrior-goddess would simply provide pointers.
Furious, Serene began to channel her magic power across her entire body. This was probably the one spell that all of them would have in their arsenal, in direct reference to Adrasteia’s spells. Fierce gusts of wind began to whip around her body, kicking up loose stones all around, before finally settling down. A layer of faint white wind was covering her entire body, and at the same time causing her long hair to flap wildly behind her.
When Shane had seen Serene used her “Ode to Battle” spell, the former had quickly activated his own version as well. Every one of the sixteen disciples had their own method of activation, but the ultimate results were the same. The level of finesse and control, however, differed. Shane’s in particular, was much more crude. Creating two spheres of wind in each palm, he then proceeded to close his hand into fists, as if to crush the wind spheres. Beginning from his hands, wind began to accumulate around his entire body as well. He hadn’t yet named this spell.
Serene had completed her spell first and was the first to charge. At absolutely blinding speeds, she appeared in front of Shane with nothing but a roundhouse kick aimed at his chest. Shane took the hit without any chance to dodge. Shane flew backwards instantly, almost flying out of the battle zone had he not created a barrier of wind behind him the moment he was launched, slowing himself down, just enough for him to drop back down at the edge. His breath was quick and ragged, the kick having taken out everything from his lungs. He grimaced slightly with every breath, from the cracked rib. Or ribs. Plural.
Serene smirked slightly, but she wanted to end it quickly. As Shane was still winded, she held her hand up in the air, fingers bent like claws and raked downwards in Shane’s direction. Four blades of vertical wind trailed behind her fingers and flew fast towards the kneeling male. Gritting his teeth, Shane retaliated with a backwards sweep of his left hand, similarly sending out four blades of wind but horizontally. The blades of wind met in the middle of the battle zone, the convention of differing air currents creating a blowback in the opposite direction. It was only a slight disturbance to either fighters as the returning gust of wind was diffused by their armors of wind.
Standing back up, Shane took a deep breath through his nose and ignoring the pain in his ribs, charged forwards at Serene. To the onlookers, it seemed as though the two of them were blurry flashes of shape and color. Serene had the same idea as Shane. Instead of fighting head on, the two of them twisted and turned within the battle zone, each trying to outmaneuver the other in terms of speed. For five long seconds, the two of them continued moving swiftly through the platform, their melee attacks missing each other minutely as they continued their “dance”.
In the end, it was Shane that conceded first. His mastery of the armor of wind wasn’t as high as Serene’s and he was forced to stop moving around. Seeing the opportunity, Serene pounced on Shane as if a predator, her arms outstretched as she rocketed towards him. Shane knew it was one of her strongest moves. Once within striking range, he knew Serene would clap her hands together and buffet him within a tornado of slashing air currents. He could even see her almost smirking, as she watched Shane’s helplessness. She was truly a battle maniac.
Still under the effects of his unnamed armor of wind, Shane sidestepped at the last minute just as Serene’s hands were closing in for the clap. Serene realized it too late and watched in dismay as Shane pulled back his right arm and thrust it forward, palm open, at Serene’s side. A powerful gust of wind was thrown out, powerful enough to completely engulf her entire being and throw her out of the ring. The winning blow.
Letting out a huge breath, in relief, Shane dispersed the wind surrounding his body and immediately dropped to the ground on his buttocks. His arms were stretched to the back, palms firmly planted in the ground and his entire weight rested back. Serene stood back up from the ground with a very pissed off expression on her face but kept her silence. She had lost after all.
Adrasteia watched with an approving smile and nod of her head. “You’ve earned your right to leave this place, Shane. But always remembers. When you became my disciple, you took your place as one of us. That mark proves it. You may go tend to your earthly matters in Fiore, fight demigods with Acaelus, but always remember that there will be a day when we will call upon you to fight with us.”
Shane looked at the new mark on his left shoulder, the mark of his new allegiance and then towards Adrasteia, he merely nodded.
Shane took out a thick coil of climbing rope and made a loop, circling it around a weirdly shaped rock that could act as the anchor. It was a long way down, and he had no intention of jumping straight down even if he had All Might. Once he had tugged a few times on the rope and made sure it was secure, Shane stepped to the edge of the cliff and abseiled down the valley. A sudden gust of wind, stronger than what he had been experiencing so far, took him by surprise and he stopped for a second before continuing on down.
With his back to the valley and his eyes on the rope, Shane never had any chance for resistance when he was just swiped off his rope and into the air. All he remembered was the sudden fear when he was displaced and then blacking out from the abrupt change in G-force as he was brought to zoom around in the sky at differing altitudes.
Shane woke up, eyes open wide in shock when he remembered his last snip of consciousness before he blacked out. Like a cobra, the blonde mage snapped out of his sitting position and got into combat mode. His right hand reached up to his back, searching for Breaker but finding nothing. He gave up after a few empty grasps and quickly assumed an unarmed combat position. White steam began to emanate from his skin, as he felt power course through him. Before he knew it, a gust of wind swept him from the back and he was thrown to the front. He rode the momentum and rolled to his feet, quickly spinning around and rising in a low position, his body bent. And his blood ran cold.
Standing in front him, a menacing smirk on her face was Adrasteia as he had been told. But what he had not anticipated was the raw sense of primal danger that she exuded, so much that everything in Shane was telling him to run. Even with All Might activated, every voice in his mind was screaming for him to run and run and run. She stood in front of him in all her intimidating glory, in her armored figure, obviously crafted and customized to accentuate her figure.
Two large wings swept upwards and to the back from her blood-red helm. Her body armor was equally red as well, gleaming in the near-darkness. Her limbs, armored as well, were silver. A sword was sheathed on each of her waist, an impressive appearance made even more daunting by the flowing black cape behind her that seemed to alternate between dark grey and black with each swish. She was a warrior-goddess. Adrasteia, goddess of the hunt.
“You came here seeking me, am I not correct?” She spoke in a smoky voice, a mocking smile on her face. Shane remained silent, eyes still wide as he tried to digest the situation he was in. Even he had sought out this exact scenario on purpose. Without a single indication, Adrasteia disappeared and reappeared where Shane had once stood, now hanging from her grip on his neck, one meter above the ground. The panic was indescribable.
She was tall, standing at three meters. Shane looked into her eyes, and the longer he looked, the more he felt he would fall into a nightmare of chaos. He gulped, tried to gulp, and then tried to speak.
“Yes, Lady Adrasteia. Acaelus pointed me to you, hoping that you would impart to me your Sky Demon Slayer magic.”
“Ahh, that lowly mortal… How many hundred years has it been…” Adrasteia said slowly, as she licked her lips, her eyes looking beyond Shane’s for a few seconds before suddenly jolting back and locking onto Shane’s. Shane could see that the warrior-goddess was pondering, thinking hard on Shane’s words. And no doubt how her relationship with Acaelus came into play. Her grip had loosened, still managing a firm enough grip that Shane was still hanging by his neck, but not enough to strangle him. He was still able to breath, albeit laboriously.
“I owe him… And I guess you are how it will be paid,” Adrasteia sneered as she looked at Shane. “So be it.”
With a light flick of her hand, Shane was thrown back into a wall. As he crashed into the wall, his head jerked upwards and only did he notice where he was. It was a room carved into rock, fashioned from a cavern. It wasn’t just a crude hideout.
“So I guess you will teach me your Sky Demon Slayer magic?” Shane asked apprehensively, as he got up to his feet, the top of his head only reaching up to Adrasteia’s waist. The goddess smiled cunningly as she walked back to the opposite wall, and sat down on a throne. Similarly carved out of pure rock. Her swords were removed from her waist, set down against the side of the throne. She evaluated Shane with her eyes again before posing him with a dilemma.
“I demand a price. A source of strength for another source of strength. In return for my Sky Demon Slayer magic, you will forfeit All Might,” the warrior-goddess spoke, every word as clear as possible. “Yes, I don’t only know Acaelus. I know Harrdun as well, the Ironfist he was called. Tell me. Will you give up All Might in return for this?”
-----
“Serene, you’re up,” Adrasteia called out from her throne. A faint smile shaped her lips, the warrior-goddess leaning her face on her right fist which was propped up on the armrest of her throne of black rock. This was supposed to her newest disciple’s final test, to see if he would be worthy to leave her side and walk out into the world, as one who bears the Sky Demon Slayer magic taught by the warrior-goddess herself.
Shane stood with his back slightly bent, his hands on his hips as he watched Erin pick up her sword from the ground and walked away from the battle zone. Erin had been his second opponent, her abilities and strength putting her somewhere in the middle ranks of the fifteen elite Demon Slayers serving under the warrior-goddess Adrasteia herself. And now he was getting his breath back, as well as his calm, before facing off against Serene. She was the third strongest among the fifteen.
The Shane standing in the battle zone now was no longer the same Shane Stern from three weeks ago. No more was he the muscular blonde mage of Aurora. He had shed most of his muscle, retaining a more athletic frame now, carrying only lean muscle. However the most intriguing change in him was his eyes and his hair. His left eye, to be exact. A long scar, ran vertically down the middle of his left eye, from his forehead to his cheek. A training accident. And yet, he wasn’t blinded. Instead, his left eye was now red instead of his original blue. At the cost of ten years from his lifespan, Shane had unhesitatingly accepted Adrasteia’s to repair his eye with a magical one. The most striking indication of the cost he had paid for his eye was his hair. His hair was now a shifting combination of silver and grey, the color of steel. And he looked visibly older, at least 27 years old.
The moment Serene stepped into the battle zone, a square platform set in the middle of a large cavern, she was gone. Shane only saw a sudden gust of wind where she once stood and barely evaded in time, using the power of the wind to enhance the height of his jump. It was the same as his previous spell, Burst, except that this was a wind variant. He had also named it Burst. A piercing lance of wind thrust through where he had once stood, aimed for his chest. Shane’s eyes widened at the sight. Serene was not holding back anything.
Still in the air, Shane angled his body and created a small platform of air just beneath his right feet and kicked off towards Serene at breakneck speed. Wind gathered around his legs as he flew, finalizing into a downwards kick. “Sky Demon Slayer Eagle Stamp!”
Serene didn’t miss a beat as she pulled the tower shield from her back and held it in front of her. Shane’s kick made contact with the tower shield, and made a back flip as he landed on the ground. To the others, the attack may have failed but he had achieved exactly what he wanted. With the momentum from his flying kick, Serene was thrown off-balance despite blocking the attack. Seizing the chance, Shane lunged forward, his body low to the ground with his arms stretched behind him, his fingers held together like a knife.
The moment he was within striking range, Shane skidded to a halt while swinging his arms forward in a cross. Blades of wind had been gathered around each arm as he charged, and now released simultaneously, bombarded Serene and the area around her with a “sphere” of cutting wind. The female Slayer let out a surprised yelp as she chose to abandon her shield and escape the small area enveloped by the cutting wind blades.
Retreating, Serene looked down at her arms and body to find small cuts ruining her training outfit and small wound along her arms. Shane had actually reduced the power of the “Swallow Slash: Storm” spell, or it would have devastated her even more. However, she didn’t know that. Throughout the two months of training, she hadn’t seen Shane use this particular spell before. Adrasteia wasn’t a conventional teacher. Her method was to allow her disciples to understand the concept of the Demon Slayer magic. How her disciples would then use the magic would be all their own, including creating their spells. The warrior-goddess would simply provide pointers.
Furious, Serene began to channel her magic power across her entire body. This was probably the one spell that all of them would have in their arsenal, in direct reference to Adrasteia’s spells. Fierce gusts of wind began to whip around her body, kicking up loose stones all around, before finally settling down. A layer of faint white wind was covering her entire body, and at the same time causing her long hair to flap wildly behind her.
When Shane had seen Serene used her “Ode to Battle” spell, the former had quickly activated his own version as well. Every one of the sixteen disciples had their own method of activation, but the ultimate results were the same. The level of finesse and control, however, differed. Shane’s in particular, was much more crude. Creating two spheres of wind in each palm, he then proceeded to close his hand into fists, as if to crush the wind spheres. Beginning from his hands, wind began to accumulate around his entire body as well. He hadn’t yet named this spell.
Serene had completed her spell first and was the first to charge. At absolutely blinding speeds, she appeared in front of Shane with nothing but a roundhouse kick aimed at his chest. Shane took the hit without any chance to dodge. Shane flew backwards instantly, almost flying out of the battle zone had he not created a barrier of wind behind him the moment he was launched, slowing himself down, just enough for him to drop back down at the edge. His breath was quick and ragged, the kick having taken out everything from his lungs. He grimaced slightly with every breath, from the cracked rib. Or ribs. Plural.
Serene smirked slightly, but she wanted to end it quickly. As Shane was still winded, she held her hand up in the air, fingers bent like claws and raked downwards in Shane’s direction. Four blades of vertical wind trailed behind her fingers and flew fast towards the kneeling male. Gritting his teeth, Shane retaliated with a backwards sweep of his left hand, similarly sending out four blades of wind but horizontally. The blades of wind met in the middle of the battle zone, the convention of differing air currents creating a blowback in the opposite direction. It was only a slight disturbance to either fighters as the returning gust of wind was diffused by their armors of wind.
Standing back up, Shane took a deep breath through his nose and ignoring the pain in his ribs, charged forwards at Serene. To the onlookers, it seemed as though the two of them were blurry flashes of shape and color. Serene had the same idea as Shane. Instead of fighting head on, the two of them twisted and turned within the battle zone, each trying to outmaneuver the other in terms of speed. For five long seconds, the two of them continued moving swiftly through the platform, their melee attacks missing each other minutely as they continued their “dance”.
In the end, it was Shane that conceded first. His mastery of the armor of wind wasn’t as high as Serene’s and he was forced to stop moving around. Seeing the opportunity, Serene pounced on Shane as if a predator, her arms outstretched as she rocketed towards him. Shane knew it was one of her strongest moves. Once within striking range, he knew Serene would clap her hands together and buffet him within a tornado of slashing air currents. He could even see her almost smirking, as she watched Shane’s helplessness. She was truly a battle maniac.
Still under the effects of his unnamed armor of wind, Shane sidestepped at the last minute just as Serene’s hands were closing in for the clap. Serene realized it too late and watched in dismay as Shane pulled back his right arm and thrust it forward, palm open, at Serene’s side. A powerful gust of wind was thrown out, powerful enough to completely engulf her entire being and throw her out of the ring. The winning blow.
Letting out a huge breath, in relief, Shane dispersed the wind surrounding his body and immediately dropped to the ground on his buttocks. His arms were stretched to the back, palms firmly planted in the ground and his entire weight rested back. Serene stood back up from the ground with a very pissed off expression on her face but kept her silence. She had lost after all.
Adrasteia watched with an approving smile and nod of her head. “You’ve earned your right to leave this place, Shane. But always remembers. When you became my disciple, you took your place as one of us. That mark proves it. You may go tend to your earthly matters in Fiore, fight demigods with Acaelus, but always remember that there will be a day when we will call upon you to fight with us.”
Shane looked at the new mark on his left shoulder, the mark of his new allegiance and then towards Adrasteia, he merely nodded.
