New Trainers?

The next morning, Makoto, Ryu, and Chihiro went to train as usual. They warmed-up, had a simple sparring match, and went to take a quick break. And while they trained, Makoto did his best not to spill the beans about what the Apex Master had said.

                            「The Abyss King you've seen up until now is a fake.」

Makoto knew that the Apex Master was the oldest Paladin still alive, and that he had fought many Abyss Warriors when he was younger. And to top it off, those Abyss Warriors he fought were high-ranking Abyss warriors; that meant that they served the Abyss King directly. So there was no way, by any means, that what the Apex Master said was wrong or fake.

                      「If you find anything out, you must tell me right away.」

'I know that,' Makoto thought to himself as he walked to his room in the Tower.

                                          「You can't tell anyone about this.」

'I know that I can't tell anyone,' Makoto thought, starting to get worked up about it.

                                               「Not even Ryu and Chihiro.」

"I KNOW!!"  He screamed at the wall.

Then he was quiet.

"S-sorry," he said. Maybe to the wall.

... And then Ryu and Chihiro walked by.

"Uhm, Makoto?" Chihiro asked. "Are you OK?" Makoto looked at the brothers for a few seconds. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said to them, forcing a very obviously fake smile.
"No you're not," Ryu said, crossing his arms. "You just screamed at a wall. Again."
"Wait," Makoto started, "you... heard that? W-when I screamed... that day... in the Apex Palace?"
Ryu nodded.
Makoto covered his face in embarrassment. "Well," Ryu continued, "is there something you've been keeping from us?"

Makoto held his breath. He wasn't expecting that. He had thought that Ryu wouldn't notice, or that he would assume that it was just stress. But he seemed to know that something bigger was being kept from him.
"I-It's just stress and stuff," Makoto said, feeling smaller suddenly.
"Yes," Ryu suddenly replied. "It is. It's stress from keeping some big secret."
Makoto's heart started beating faster. 'Oh no,' he thought. 'I can't tell them, the Apex Master told me not toー'
"The Abyss King mmfff," Makoto stopped himself before he could say anything too bad by covering his mouth with his hand quickly.
Ryu and Chihiro looked at each other for a moment, then back at Makoto. "I-I uhh... can I tell you somewhere else...?" Makoto asked in a whisper.
Ryu and Chihiro looked at each other again, then looked back at Makoto and nodded. "Alright," Ryu said.

When the three of them had gotten to an area where no one could overhear their conversation, Makoto began.
"The thing is," he started, "Takeo said that the Abyss King we had seen was a fake. Well, uhh...

                                                             He was right.
                                                The Apex Master told me so."

Ryu and Chihiro just stared at Makoto with wide eyes. "Wait a second," Chihiro said. "I thought that Takeo was just trying to stall!!"
"Apparently not," Shiro said, walking by. "SHIRO" Makoto shouted, obviously surprised by Shiro just appearing out of nowhere.
"But," Shiro said, "all's not lost; as my father used to say, dies non finitur donec noctem advenerit."
Ryu's expression went from shocked by Makoto's words to unamused. "I assume you're whole family knew Astrian?" Shiro chuckled and said, "I suppose you could say that~"
"Well, we have a lot to do, now that we all know this. In fact," Shiro said with a grin, "I know someone who can help us train."