Volition

The Premier, the Crown Prince, and the Lord Commander's personal squire all gathered in the training hall for a special practice. The three of them were childhood friends who finally reunited after a while.

“Reflecting upon yesterday’s incident, I judged that there was a skill I wanted all of you to learn. I’m pretty sure you’ve all learnt it back in the academy, but I just want to test how well you master it.”

The three of them looked confused. They still didn’t know where the conversation was going.

The Lord Commander suddenly coated one of his hands with fyx. He then closed his eyes, trying to concentrate. Suddenly, the colour of his aura turned turquoise, a very distinct colour that was not a typical colour for a fyx energy aura.

“This is medix. It is a subcategory of fyx, also known as ‘volition fyx.’ It is a more advanced technique for fyxie. Most people use medix defensively, but those who truly master it can also use it for offence. That is what I’m trying to teach you today.”

The Lord Commander then taught them how to activate and manifest medix energy. He reminded them about the subject that they learnt in the academy, which they forgot already. Although they did learn it during their time in academy, unless they were an Exorcist, there was hardly ever any chance for them to use it in real life, outside of class. After not having used it for the longest time, the Lord Commander did them a favour by rekindling that unused skill.

medix is a type of energy that was mostly used for defensive purposes. It could be used as an extra coating to protect certain body parts from damage. It could also be imbued it into a weapon for stronger durability, or even used to exorcise ghouls and monsters. Yet, it was mostly known to heal someone by accelerating their metabolism for a quicker recovery process.

Unlike fyx, medix required a certain prerequisite for it to be activated. The basic premise of medix was “to protect loved ones from harm.” To activate it, the user must first evoke a positive emotion. This emotion could either be hope, willpower, or love.

Haneul, Yujin, and Xiaohui did their best in activating it. Just as expected, the Premier, who was the most talented person in the room, activated it in no time. He then started manifesting the aura and flowed it all around his circulatory system. The Lord Commander was not surprised by this at all, as he was used to seeing him being such a quick-learner. Meanwhile, Xiaohui and Yujin were astonished. They got frustrated seeing Haneul already figured it out on his own way before they did.

Soon after, Yujin and Xiaohui followed his steps and were able to manifest medix on their own. After all of them had the flow of their medix energy stable, the Lord Commander proceeded to the next agenda.

“Very well. We will now try sparring while using medix. I want you to refrain from using your fyx skill and focus on fighting with medix.”

The Lord Commander commanded the three of them to fight against him all by himself. He then prepared himself by manifesting his medix which radiated through his whole body.

After discussing a plan, the three of them then started getting into position.

The first one to attack was Yujin. Yujin threw a punch at the Lord Commander, which he easily dodged. The Lord Commander swiftly grabbed his wrist and threw him in the other direction, sending him flying to the other side of the hall.

Next up was Xiaohui. Since he was a Knight–– unlike the other two who were Sorcerers–– he used his photon spear and swung it to the Lord Commander. Xiaohui imbued his medix into it, making his spear emanate a turquoise aura. The Lord Commander drew his photon sword and clashed it with Xiaohui’s, holding off his attack.

While Xiaohui was keeping the Lord Commander distracted, Haneul came from the right side of the Lord Commander to attack him. He threw a strike towards his face, packed with medix energy.

The Lord Commander swiftly put some force and pushed his sword against Xiaohui, making him lose his balance and fall to the ground. The Lord Commander then reached out his hand to catch Haneul’s fist.

Seeing that the Lord Commander was about to touch him, Haneul smirked. He got a trick up in his sleeve that he thought could work against him.

The Lord Commander then accurately grappled Haneul’s fist with his hand, stopping him from attacking.

Haneul was flabbergasted. He didn’t expect him to be able to do that at all. Xiaohui and Yujin were also shocked by the scene.

“You can....touch me?” Haneul said, horrified.

The Lord Commander then threw Haneul to the same spot he threw Yujin, crashing Yujin at the end of the hall. The three of them had trouble in landing a hit on the Lord Commander.

“I forgot to mention, medix is also effective against Transflages as well.”

“!?”

Transflage was a unique ability to turn one’s body into an element, in this case, turning one’s body into light. This resulted in the user becoming intangible, an extremely potent defence mechanism. Haneul was one in a million people who happened to be a Transflage. All his life, he thought he was invincible by being gifted with this skill. Today, he learnt that he was not so invincible after all.

The three of them then continued their training, getting familiar of fighting with medix.

Meanwhile, after sunset, there was a mysterious shadow lurking around the palace. Since it was dark, nobody noticed any movement of the shadow. The shadow then entered the Advisor’s room who was still unconscious.

There were guards on stand by in front of his room. However, inside the room, there was nobody but the Advisor. After having entered the room, the mysterious figure then appeared from his shadow. It stood tall beside his bed and approached him, trying to do something evil to the Advisor.

In the meantime, Xiaohui, Yujin, and Haneul had been training from noon until the evening. It was now about sunset, and yet, they had not landed a single hit on the Lord Commander.

“Alright, everyone. That’s enough for today. We will continue our training tomorrow.”

The Lord Commander wrapped up the training for today and allowed them to have dinner.

The three of them then went back to the palace to have some dinner. On the way, Yujin just realised something.

“Wait. Does that mean I’m staying here for the next few days!?”

“It seems so,” Haneul answered.

“I didn’t even intend to come here if it weren’t to check up on you after the attack during the festival in the first place!”

“Well....at least we can spar together like we used to, right?” Xiaohui added.

The three of them crackled and laughed together. They reminisced the past while walking towards the palace.

Suddenly, Haneul sensed something from the bushes. He turned his head, trying to see what was out there. He then shouted at it.

“Who’s there?”