Chapter 37: Nieth’s Eyes

Members of the Second Squad gathered in the courtyard for new training in front of the Eighth Squad. Standing before them, Odom and the four behind him said, “We’ve seen how you all fight. My squad members and I will choose who we want to train.”

Delia stepped forward, saying, “You really amazed me. I was stunned by all of you…” They all looked at each other… Then she raised her voice, “How stupid you are!”

They exchanged puzzled looks, so Delia went on, “Not a single one of you—not even one—used Nieth’s Eyes! Why?”

Mika said, “Why would we, lady? We already know everyone’s souls here.”

Delia replied, “Oh my God kid. The god granted you beauty and powers, but forgot to give you a mind!”

Mika’s eyes widened in outrage, “What?”

Delia asked, “Did I speak in some complicated language? I was saying…”

Mika shouted angrily, “I got what you meant, woman!”

The others around them laughed. Delia paced in front of them, “Nieth’s Eyes, you handsome fools— they’re not just for seeing soul colors. You carry the eye-power of a leader of the Lights! Do you know what this means? You have eyes that see your surroundings from every angle. You have powers that human bodies can never reach! Or you thought you became stronger because of that stupid bald Boja’s training? Never… never!! engage in combat without opening Nieth’s Eyes above your heads!”

They all looked deep in thought. Delia sighed, cracking her neck, “Seems I’ll have to show you…” A circle of extra eyes opened around her head, alongside her normal pair. She turned to Odom and asked, “May I choose now?”

Odom nodded. Delia flashed a wide grin, turning to the Second Squad and pointing at Inini, “I pick that lunatic.” Then she gestured at Mika, Seeta, and Fojta, “And you three… Try to impress me enough so I’ll remember your names, got it?”

Mika said, “For some reason we always end up with nutcases.”

Exyra stepped forward and pointed to Sabana, Ayk, Riz, and Andra, “You four will be with me.”

Tetyas, smiling, stepped up and gestured at Florin, Rifa, and Ino, “Hello, I’ll be training you. Try to stay alive!”

Novanos came forward quietly, “Ren, Heemi, Noel, and Sol… you’re with me.”

Tetyas teased, “You already memorized their names? How pretentious, Novanos!!”

Novanos responded calmly, “I’m going to train them and lead them down the road of death personally. I should at least know their names. I’ll try to learn as much about you as I can and tell about you to those who will come after you, like I did for my previous comrades.”

Mika muttered to Seeta, “I guess the crazy woman’s still better than that gloomy guy, anyway…”

Rin said, “Are you just training us out of pity, then?”

Novanos asked, “Why?”

Rin fumed, “Because you think we’re not strong enough to stay alive?”

Novanos answered in a calm but chilling tone, “We’ll all die, Ren. Whether you’re weak or strong… the timing of your death might change based on your strength, but nothing else.”

Rin looked at him, astonished, then mumbled, “Oh…”

Odom said, gesturing at Nier and Elir, “That leaves you two with me.”

Delia said to her new group, “Alright, we’ll start the training right here. We’ll see who’s worthy of me remembering their name… let’s find out now!”

Seeta asked, “What’s our training?”

Delia replied, “Oh, about that…” She suddenly drew her weapon and shouted, “Attack me with everything you’ve got!!”

Fojta exclaimed, “All at once?!”

Delia laughed, “Don’t flatter yourselves just because you beat each other, girl! Yes, all at once, at your full power!!”

Mika, feeling excited, said to Seeta, “You heard the commander, Seeta!”

Delia grinned, “Commander? I like the sound of that, boy! Come on—attack your commander!”

All four charged at once. In the lead were Mika and Seeta, while Inini vanished from sight, reappearing at Delia’s left a moment later. A few seconds later, Fojta arrived on Delia’s right. But Delia’s weapon moved swiftly to parry all their attacks, with tremendous force.

She started by blocking Mika’s and Seeta’s weapons in a single strike, using her right arm to deflect Mika’s weapon hand and shove him backward, then kicked Seeta in the stomach to force her away. Next, she turned to Inini, parrying her weapon and hurling her back. Then she looked at Fojta with a wicked grin, “You’re far too slow.”

Fojta, scowling, struck with all her might, but her blow never even touched Delia, who grabbed Fojta by the back and tossed her aside. They all landed on the ground, shocked by Delia’s speed. Mika gasped, “Impossible… I couldn’t even see her hands! She’s too fast…”

Delia laughed, “Come on— is that all you’ve got?!”

Mika, picking himself up, said to Seeta, “Spread out! Don’t attack all from the same spot!” They nodded and scattered across the courtyard. Delia remained where she was, unmoving. Inini dashed at top speed from behind her, but Delia simply turned her head, wearing a scary smile, and before Inini could even swing her weapon, Delia’s sword rose to parry it. She then slammed the pommel into Inini’s stomach.

Delia turned to Seeta—Seeta didn’t even see her coming, “No way… I couldn’t—” Delia’s powerful strike cut her off, sending Seeta flying into a wall with a crash. Mika yelled, “Seeta!” He rushed at Delia, but she was already behind him, shouting, “Too slow!” She knocked him away as well.

Fojta lunged toward Delia, who jumped high overhead and struck Fojta mid-air with a blow to the chest, “You too!” Standing there, Delia wore a grin before shouting in anger, “What’s wrong with you idiots?! How did you even get into the army at this level?!”

They got up, aching, and Mika asked, “What are you, woman? You’re not human…”

Delia crouched, “What do they feed you in Bial to make you this dense… Why didn’t you use your Nieth’s Eyes?!”

Seeta, bringing out her extra eyes and clutching her head, said, “It hurts if we keep them open for too long.”

Delia said, “Then get used to it! Nieth’s Eyes—the eyes of the god’s soldier—can see the soul of whoever stands before you, their aura. You’ll see it move before the body does, letting you control the battlefield!” She raised her weapon and smacked Fojta, who was approaching from behind, “Fojta, falling, muttered, Guess she’s right…”

Seeta asked, “But how?!”

Delia pointed above her head, “You have to learn to see with these eyes as if they were your real ones—see through them instinctively!”

Mika growled impatiently, “What’s that even supposed to mean?!”

Delia shrugged, “No idea!”

Mika snapped, “Some teacher you are!”

Delia cracked her knuckles, “Come on! We’ll keep fighting until you can do it!” They pulled themselves off the ground, Delia standing ready in the center…

Exyra sat before Riz, Andra, Ayk, and Sabana, who sat on the ground trying to concentrate and meditate. Ayk opened his eyes wide, sweating profusely, pain etched on his face. He looked about to stand.

Still with her eyes closed, Exyra said, “It’s fine. Try again. Fighting isn’t just physical—you fight with your mind, too. If you fall down in a battle, do you stop fighting? Do you surrender? Then why would you stop now?”

Ayk grimaced, “Every time I try…” He held his head, seeing swirling auras in different colors—red, white, black—dancing before his eyes. It hurt his head! He saw the faces of Bial’s people, their red souls turning black. Opening his eyes, he saw Sabana in front of him with a black aura, then it switched to white. He recoiled, alarmed, slamming his eyes shut again, “I can’t focus!”

In a strong, stern voice, Exyra said, “You all have to empty your minds! Clear them of everything! Make room for your abilities.”

Riz complained, “What are you talking about, lady? I can’t concentrate with the loud noises around us, so my mind’s scattered!”

Exyra said, “You think the battlefield will be quiet, girl? You think the clashing of weapons and your comrades’ screams will be peaceful??”

Sabana’s entire body trembled, and her unsteady smile faltered, “Yeah… if only their voices would quiet down a bit…”

Andra opened his eyes in annoyance, “Why are we doing this? What kind of combat training is this?!”

Exyra, still with eyes shut, shouted, “Come here! Attack me!”

Andra said, “What?” She repeated, “Attack me!” Drawing his weapon, Andra quickly approached her, but suddenly stopped in his tracks—something forced him to freeze—then he fell to the ground. It all happened so fast. What had happened? Why was there a weapon pinning his clothes?

Exyra… when did she draw her sword and strike him so that it pinned his clothes to the ground? She stood up, still with her eyes closed, and Andra noticed a single open eye on her neck. Exyra said, “You must create space in your mind for Nieth’s Eyes… to be able to fight with them only that’s what we are learning here.” She finished by pointing to his head.

Andra got up, stood there for a moment, then returned to his place, sitting with the others in annoyance.

Novanos addressed his group, “I know your morale is low. You think you can’t grow stronger because you’re human. But please remember, the ones who defeated the Lights in the first place were humans. Humans have countless hidden strengths that set them apart! Those same things made them the god’s favorite creation.”

Rin scoffed, “Like what?”

Novanos replied, “Like your ten senses!”

Rin stared in astonishment, “What—ten?”

Novanos explained, “Sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing, sense of balance, sense of pain, sense of time, sense of temperature, sense of pressure—plus your sense of the space around you. Humans can harness these senses and interact with the surroundings around them to control the battlefield.”

He closed his eyes, “I can feel the air moving around you when you move… I can sense the change in air pressure, and shifts in temperature…”

Sol interrupted, “Wait…”

Heemi asked, “You… are you… human?”

Novanos opened his eyes with a smile, “I can hear your heartbeat. We humans can harness our bodies and everything around us to dominate the battlefield… to see the future… predict an enemy’s moves. That way… you become… unbeatable.”

Rin muttered, “I thought there was no human in the eight squad..”

Novanos answered, “Our leader Odom sees the potential in people.. These are his standards for his squad..”

Rin’s eyes lit up with determination, fists clenching excitedly as he thought… a human can be as powerful as Lights?

Tetyas stood in front of Ino, Florin, and Rifa, looking bored, “I don’t get how you can’t use your Eyes. They’re right there on your heads—how can you not know?”

Florin protested, “Wait, you dumb commander, we’re human!”

Tetyas still looked disinterested, “Humans descended from the Lights. You still have Nieth’s Eyes in your bodily and nervous systems. You’ll struggle more to use them, but… you should be able to harness the power of the Ten Eyes by making use of your body. They exchanged glances, and Tetyas handed out blindfolds, “Nieth’s Eyes can see in all directions—so can your body. You can sense changes in the air around you when an enemy moves. You can hear their heartbeat and breathing. You can sense their balance to know which direction they’ll attack from, and how strong they’ll strike. I can sense all that on top of using Nieth’s Eyes. So I’m not saying you’ll be as strong as me… But… it’ll be a lot harder for anyone to beat you.”

Tetyas faced them as they tied on their blindfolds, grinning ominously, “You ready?!”

Everyone paused in their training, watching those two as they trained: Odom stood there, and opposite him were Nier and Elir.
Elir stood still in the center while Nier moved gracefully around him, striking at him from every angle with his weapon. Both of them were extremely fast—Nier seemed to float around Elir, while Elir’s eyes swiveled in all directions, easily deflecting Nier’s blows.

They went on like that for a while before Elir shouted, “Stop!”
Nier came to a halt, his pale face dripping with sweat. He caught his breath, smiling, “That was fun! We haven’t trained together in a while!”

Elir said, “Take a rest first, then we can continue.”

Delia and her group were watching them. Mika blurted, “How—”
Delia muttered irritably, “Why is Odom’s boy learning first?! You’re making me look bad!”
Fojta shouted, “You’re a terrible teacher! All you say is ‘focus, focus!’”
Mika laughed, “Yeah, I agree with the one-eyed girl!”

Fojta glared at him angrily. Delia sighed, “All you have to do, you idiots, is to stop using your original eyes. Stop seeing shapes and sizes. Stop seeing bodies. Don’t focus on my features—focus on my aura.”

The four of them activated their eyes. Delia went on, “Don’t watch my arm as it moves. Look at how my aura moves. Do you see it?”

Seeta clutched her head, “I see it, but… it vanishes so fast. I can’t focus on it!”

Delia insisted, “Hold on to it! Forget my features and form—just watch my aura!”

Mika studied Delia’s black aura intently until her features faded, but before he could focus, her aura rushed at him, raising an arm. He parried it, but then her aura disappeared from in front of him, and he failed to block her punch to his face. He fell, and Delia held out a hand to help him up, “Okay, you’re starting to get it! We’ll keep going! I’ll beat you senseless until you master it.”

All four looked weary, especially Inini, who stood clutching her head as the extra eyes on her face appeared and vanished. They gathered around Delia again to continue training.

Ayk closed his eyes, imagining a blank white space in his mind as Exyra told him, a place where he could put Nieth’s Eyes. But each time he shut his eyes, that pristine white space overflowed with shifting, multicolored auras—the echo of weapons clashing rang out, turning the space a dark red. He opened his eyes in panic again, the flickering auras before him unsteady, forcing him to close his Nieth’s Eyes.

He glanced beside him, seeing Sabana gasping for breath, telling Exyra, “Exyra… Do you think this exercise is right for me?”

Exyra opened her eyes, “I was going to leave you with Tetyas or Novanos, with the other Iron Hands. But I see in you a strength equal to the Black Wings, so I want to train you with them.” She shut her eyes again, “But if you want to join the others, you can!”

Sabana’s body dripped with sweat, trembling. She squeezed her eyes shut once more. Riz groaned, “The more I try to focus, the harder it gets! My brain hurts!”

Exyra said, “It’s alright… It won’t happen all at once. Focus on a small box—store Nieth’s Eyes in there. We can enlarge it day by day!”

Tetyas stood before his blindfolded team and said, “You can’t see me, but you can feel me.” He moved around, “Can you hear my heartbeat? Can you guess how fast I’m walking from my heartbeat’s pace?” He stopped in front of Ino and, before touching Ino’s shoulder, said, “Can you sense my body heat?”

Ino’s body flinched in alarm, and he said angrily, “No, I can’t feel any of that!”

Tetyas moved to Florin, “You have to feel me—your opponent—everything about me: My heartbeat… my temperature… my breathing!”

Florin whispered to Rifa, “Isn’t that kind of… intimate?”

Across the courtyard, Novanos and his team repeated, “You must use your ten senses to figure out your opponent’s moves by sensing your environment. Everything is important—every sound, every shift in air pressure, every vibration in the ground. Focus on them… so you can predict an enemy’s moves before they reach you!”

Heemi asked, frustrated, “How, when the battlefield is full of noise? How can I focus on a twig or the wind? If I lose track of the enemy, I’ll fall!”

Novanos said, “You’ll learn to sense the enemy’s moves before they hit you—that’s what we aim for.”

Noel stood silently, head bowed, listening to Novanos. He asked, “What’s wrong, Noel?”

She answered, “Commander Novanos… can a coward who ran away from the battlefield really stand beside you and learn today?”

He smiled, “Yes. You’re still here, aren’t you?”

Noel’s eyes welled up with tears as she looked at him and their team.

The sun went down, and night settled over the courtyard. Most of them were either panting or sprawled on the ground in exhaustion. Fatigue showed in their hollow eyes. Training was over for the day. The leaders announced the end of training, and everyone began heading inside… except Elir. He remained outside.

Odom said, “Training’s finished for today.”
Elir insisted, “I didn’t learn anything today anyway! I’ll keep doing my own training!”

Nier said, “You need rest, Elir!”
Elir replied angrily, “No!”

Odom asked, “Will one more day really make a difference?”
Elir looked at him in surprise. Odom continued, “Haven’t you been training the past three weeks? And you still can’t turn into a Light again?”

Elir’s eyes widened. Anger flared on his face. Nier murmured, looking at him, “Elir… is that true?”
Elir didn’t answer. Odom said, “Your power’s amazing. Even with no sleep or rest these past few days, you don’t look weak at all. But…” He started walking away, “But seems it’s not enough. After all, your friend’s already died once, hasn’t he?”

Elir’s face showed terror, and Nier shouted, “It wasn’t Elir’s fault!”
Odom moved on without looking back, “We will continue training tomorrow. Get some rest!”