Soon after recalling all of the new info, Solaris drifted off into the sweet embrace of sleep.
The next morning, Solaris slowly opened his eyes, finding his room normal as it always was, still on edge from his many years in his old home. Solaris still checked his room in the morning, sitting up, Solaris stretched his arms and yawned, before standing and walking into the bathroom.
After getting ready for the day, Solaris dressed himself, grabbed his sword, and stepped out of the room.
Looking around Solaris, didn't see Ember as he usually did, before remembering that he had been in a coma for 3 months and probably was no longer used to the schedule they had been using before the fight with the demon.
Upon reaching Ember's door, Solaris knocked on the door, and soon after, a tall man with brown hair and tan skin answered the door.
"You ready to go?"
Solaris inquired
Blinking a few times, Ember looked a bit confused before realizing what he was asking.
"Oh, I thought you'd want a day off or something."
"No, I feel great, I want to... no, I need to train, I need to be stronger."
"That thing seemed not to have as big an effect as the other one. I didn't find you crying in a corner this time, at least."
Ember smiled mockingly, causing Solaris to grimace.
"I'm not too sure, but I have felt a bit different recently, maybe I'm just getting used to it."
"Sol, let me tell you, you never get used to it."
This comment seemed to tense up the air, putting both of them in a foul mood.
Soon, Solaris found himself outside the room, waiting for his mentor to get ready for the day of training. He wanted to learn more about using his blade and maybe his mark.
Having some free time to think, Solaris started to recall the battle with the lust demon, as he did a thought breached his mind.
How did I win?
Just as he was about to expand on this thought, he noticed another person in the hallway.
It was Selen, wearing a very similar dress to the one she wore on that fateful day at the school. Noticing his gaze, she looked at him and said without any emotion.
"So you think I'm hot?"
Solaris choked on the air, leading him to cough at this out-of-pocket comment. After a few moments, he looked back at Selen, who now had her hand on her hip, looking at him coldly.
"WHAT??!"
Solaris said back in a surprised and almost angry tone, he of course did, but to say something so bluntly and out of nowhere caught him very off guard.
"The demon you.. Killed, Sami nicknamed it a lust demon, so I'm led to belive its because you think of me in a lewd way. Am I wrong?"
Selen replied with a cold, emotionless look in her eyes.
leaving Solaris at a loss for words, he wasn't sure how to answer this conundrum, if he said yes shed think he was a creep; if he said no, then he was a liar and cruel. It was a lose-lose situation. leaving him to decide to go with the former, at least she would know he's honest.
"I mean, I suppose you're not exactly wrong, but I don't know if that's the real reason why she nicknamed it that."
Walking over to him she looked just slightly down and met his eyes. Hers were still cold and emotionless blue that they always were, and his were flustered and slightly scared green that seemed to come out when she was around; she was, after all, a seasoned demon hunter, and a very cute one at that.
"perv,"
She said calmly, before pinching his cheek.
WHAT!!
It was far from a playful pinch; it hurt Solaris a great deal, leading him to curse out.
***
Solaris brought the sword down onto the training dummy that Ember had set up. It was made of wood, making a good practice for attacking the skin of lower-ranked demons.
After the fight with the demon, he had learned not to fall so easily, and some more basic strikes, yet he was still very far off from being a good, or even just okay.
His skills, to put it lightly, were very subpar; every strike he landed barely even chipped the dummy, and the locations that he hit were much too random. Half the time, the blade of the sword would miss, and the flat end would be all that hit. Due to this, a thought flashed through his mind every so often.
How did I win?
How did I win?
How did I win?!
HOW DID I WIN!!
The joy of winning the encounter had long since faded, and now only rage and confusion remained. Solaris was terrible at fighting; he could defend, but any attacking was almost out of the question. Yet he landed multiple strikes on the demon. He couldn't figure out how he did, and any answer he thought of just raised more questions.
Then he had a thought.
His blade paused, and his eyes lit up. As they did, they looked around and locked onto Selen and Ember, who had been watching him train in the ruins. After a moment of thought, he called out to them.
Soon, Ember was standing across from Solaris with a weapon in his hands, or more specifically, a demon mark.
He had nicknamed it the Raidus Gladius; it resembled a small straight sword made out of bone.
Although demon marks were black, white, or gray on the skin, most took a different color on the outside.
Soon, both Solaris and Ember were facing each other in a duel.