"Ack!"

Nathan grunted as he was thrown against a tree. He was seriously regretting it now.

'Shit!'

He got up and dashed to the side, just in time to avoid another tree, which crashed itself against his former location, utterly wrecking both parties (trees) involved in the collision.

'F*ck! I shouldn't have gotten a teacher! Especially not a rook!'

It was well known that Evil Pieces gave enhancements to the user. The Knight would gain enhanced speed, the Rook enhanced strength and durability, the Bishop enhanced demonic power and magical abilities, and the Queen all three traits.

Nathan asked 'his' father for a trainer; someone that would hopefully encourage him to train his physical abilities. After all, it would be foolish to not cover all bases, or at least gain a solid foundation, right?

Yeah, it would. Nathan just didn't think that Sekezer would assign a member of his own Peerage, specifically his Rook, to be Nathan's trainer.

Nathan was snapped out of his thoughts as he hurriedly raised both his hands up to block a kick; something that he shouldn't have done, evident by the sound of his bones cracking.

The kick not only fractured his arm, but it also swept him off his feet, knocking him into another tree.

"Oops. You okay, young master?", the Rook, the one who injured him, asked Nathan in concern.

"Do I sound fine?", Nathan wheezed as he laid against his new, uncomfortable bed.

"Whoops. My bad. Let's get you healed.", the Rook shook off his mistake as he approached Nathan, who was laying on the ground, and picked him up on his shoulder.

The Rook's large frame easily covered Nathan, and together with Nathan laying on his shoulder, they looked like some sort of a comedic duo.

The Rook carried Nathan into the mansion, heading for a specific area- the servants' quarters, where Sekezer Agares' Peerage resided.

When they arrived, they were standing in front of a particular room. "Hey Lissara?", the Rook called out, knocking on the door with his free hand.

"What is it, Balher?", a serene voice replied.

Ignoring the tone, the Rook, now Nathan knows as Balher, replied to Lissara, presumably Sekezer's Bishop. "Young master needs healing. I beat him up too much."

"What?!", the formerly serene, now aggravated voice shouted, and the sound of objects clattering was heard by both men, before the door opened.

The source of the voice was beautiful, Nathan thought to himself as he gazed at the woman who was Sekirai's father's bishop. Her red hair and pointy hat made for the classic look of a witch, something that could be appreciated with the curves of her body.

Lissara took a deep breath as she looked at Nathan, who was… not in his best state at the moment.

"Haaaa…", she sighed as she beckoned the two into her room, "So tell me," she said as she directed Balher to put Nathan onto the bed, "Why did you beat up the young master?"

"He wanted someone to train him."

"... Did the lord put you up to this?", she exhaled as she massaged her temples.

"Yep."

"He chose the most ill-fitted for the job to train his son?"

"...Yep.", Balher knew to admit his flaws.

"Let me guess, you threw him around?"

The response was predictable.

Lissara sighed, before grabbing the staff that laid against the wall next to her bed, a wooden staff that was curved at the head, and it carried a green jewel.

The Bishop visibly channeled her magic into the staff, eliciting a green glow from the crystal, and she directed the energy that soon came out of it towards Nathan.

The energy accelerated Nathan's healing process, rather than healing it all instantly. That was quite fitting of an Agares' Bishop, Nathan noted to himself.

"He'll be fine within a few minutes, as long as you don't beat him again. Now, get out."

The two men were unceremoniously kicked out of the room, and Nathan, now standing by himself, walked away from the Rook.

As he walked away, he told Balher, "... We'll do this again tomorrow."

Balher grinned, "As you wish. Just be ready for another beating."

"Yeah, I will."

"FUCK! STOP THROWING TREES AROUND!", Nathan shouted as he dodged another tree. The 12th one, to be exact. "YOU'RE GONNA UPROOT THE ENTIRE FOREST!"

Balher, the culprit of it all, laughed as he picked up another tree, the 13th one, "Well, stop running then!"

"... Feel free to uproot trees." Faced with two choices, Nathan chose the lesser evil.

"Nah. I don't think I will.", After throwing his 13th tree, Balher stopped in his tracks to pick up another one, and cracked his knuckles. "Good luck, young master."

The good luck wishes was all Nathan got as a warning, because in the next moment, his vision was clouded by Balher's approaching fist.

Nathan instantly dropped to the ground, avoiding the blow that devastated the trees behind him, but he had no time to admire Balher's handiwork, as he was forced to dash away in the next moment, when Balher decided to drop kick him.

Balher's kick carried so much force- so much force to the point that it shattered the ground into chunks, which found itself in the air, reeling from the force.

"Are you trying to kill me?!"

"Whoops. Guess I put too much force in that."

Balher laughed it off, before looking at the rubble in the air, finding himself with a new idea. A new idea that Nathan caught onto.

Balher decided to kick the rubble towards Nathan, who picked up his pace and continued running.

"Come on, lil' master. It's no fun being the only one attacking!"

Balher 'encouraged' Nathan to fight back as he continued launching rubble at Nathan, who dodged them with intense concentration.

When the last rubble ran out, Nathan replied, "I don't wanna die yet, so no thank you."

That was apparently the wrong thing to say, as in the next moment, Balher instantly reappeared in front of Nathan.

"Aw shucks. Guess I have to beat you up, then."

"Nah, no way.", Nathan said as he kicked at Balher, whose large frame made for an easy target.

Although the kick connected, it did little to no damage. It DID get Balher's attention. "Hmm? I thought you weren't gonna fight back?"

"I lied.", Nathan was no idiot to converse when a far superior enemy was right in front of him, as he took the momentary distraction as an opportunity to run away.

"Yeah, you sure did. Wanna end this now? I'm bored."

"What?", caught off guard by Balher's proposal, Nathan raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I'm bored. Don't wanna fight a one-sided battle anymore."

"... Okay. I have something to do, anyways.", Nathan thought for a moment before agreeing to Balher's proposal.

'That something is magic training… I've been neglecting it for the past days, because of my training with Balher…'

"Let's go then."

Balher turned around and started walking towards the mansion. Nathan followed suit.

That was when Nathan had a bad premonition. A bone-chilling feeling that scared him.

He looked up at Balher's face, only to see a smile on it.

Nathan instantly raised his arms, bracing for whatever damage that would come.

*CRACK!*

The familiar sound of his bones breaking echoed throughout the forest. No bracing could've prepared him for the incoming pain.

Nathan was instantly blown backwards, something that has become common in his new routine, and he skidded on the ground for a few seconds, before flopping in front of a tree.

"Sorry, I lied."

'You vengeful son of a bitch.'

"Let's continue the training." The grin on Balher's face was enough for Nathan to stand up and run away.

"Mmh. Not bad."

"Thank you."

Nathan was currently training, not with Balher, but with Sekezer. They were currently training his Power of Time.

Nathan created a time barrier, one that was much larger than what he started with a months ago. The purpose of this training was to slow/increase time in his barrier as much as possible.

"Alright. I'll shoot a fireball- one that should dissipate before it reaches its destination, which is the tree. Get ready to slow it down."

"Okay."

Nathan mentally changed the settings of the barrier to slow, and he channeled as much of his power into it as he could without breaking the barrier itself due to an overload.

Sekezer created a fireball, with much faster speed and proficiency than Nathan does, before launching it at Nathan's barrier.

The fireball almost immediately reached Nathan's barrier as soon as the spell was casted, a symbol of Sekezer's experience, something that Nathan appreciated.

As soon as the fireball touched Nathan's barrier, it began to slow down. It was so slow to the point that Nathan thought he had a slow-motion view.

Although it was slow, the fireball kept moving to its destination. Slowly but surely.

"Oh? Maybe my fire will make it there?", Sekezer said teasingly, while ruffling Nathan's hair.

"Nah, no way.", Nathan instantly rebuked Sekezer, before moving his arm off his head.

The father-and-son 'duo' looked at the fireball, which was still moving.

1 minute passed.

"Sh*t."

"Don't swear."

2 minutes passed.

"A little too intense for my taste."

3 minutes passed. The fireball was nearing its destination.

By now, Nathan was sweating. Both in concentration to maintain the barrier, and in nervousness that the fireball would reach its mark.

Luckily for him, the fireball dissipated, just an inch short of reaching its destination.

"See? The fireball dissipated before it hit the tree.", Nathan pointed at the fireball, which dissipated under his gaze.

"Good.", Sekezer ruffled Nathan's hair, "Well done. Now, let's go in. We still have to prepare for your birthday, after all."

'Right. Sekirai's birthday will be happening next week. I wonder… who are invited?

A/N: There's another time skip. A pretty big one, too. The reason for this one, is because I don't like writing training montages, they get boring for me as a writer, and probably for you guys too. I'll also do the weapons next chapter, if not, within 5 chapters.