Shadow Slave: Flaw of Gods.

A week had passed since Nephis forcibly made Veil her student.

At first, Veil expected that there would be many other students besides him, but apparently, she hadn't made the same offer to anyone else. Perhaps there was a reason why she chose to train him specifically. Maybe he shouldn't have tried so hard during their first training session?

Veil sighed.

Several things had happened over the past week. First, as he had wanted, he trained during the day and studied at night. It turned out that he was a complete novice in martial arts—Nephis had drilled that fact into his head, both figuratively and literally.

Second, there was a moment when he almost defeated Nephis—and it wasn't just by accident! Though it was unlikely he could repeat what he did then... and frankly, he wasn't planning to, as it had been too dangerous for his health.

Third, he managed to talk to the guy who had caught his attention. Of course, the guy had given him a strange look, but in the end, he agreed to talk.

It turned out his name was Sunny. And, as Sunny later explained, this wasn't their first conversation.

But let's take it from the top.

Their first lesson, as promised, was set to begin at five in the morning. After studying all night, Veil made his way to Nephis's room at 4:30.

Fortunately, he hadn't forgotten about her offer to train together. At the time, he had still been adjusting to his body, so any physical limitations hadn't been a problem.

When he knocked, Nephis opened the door—covered in sweat and dressed in black training gear. To be completely honest, he preferred this look to her usual one.

He immediately shook off those thoughts. They greeted each other, and Nephis asked him to wait for a bit.

A minute later, he heard the sound of water splashing on the floor. Veil blushed. Was she taking a shower?

In truth, he wouldn't deny that part of him wanted to sneak a look using his ability, but his better judgment quickly dismissed the idea.

Ten minutes later, she emerged into the hallway. She was now wearing a white training suit, with headphones around her neck. Her hair looked soft and slightly damp, and she smelled like flowers. In her hands were two water bottles and a towel.

Nephis apologized for the wait and gestured for him to follow her.

The problem was, Veil had no idea where they were headed.

As it turned out, they were heading toward the academy's exit. After passing through the gates, they walked along a path leading to a lake. He hadn't even known there was a lake here. In fact, it seemed like this was the first time he had ever seen one—or at least as far as he could remember.

Veil started to ponder.

"Hey," he finally said.

Nephis gave him a questioning look.

"When did you find out there was a lake here? We've only been here for two days."

"Hmm, after you left my room yesterday. I went to look for a place we could go, so I asked Instructor Rock."

Veil nodded in understanding. That explained why she hadn't told him where to go.

Their footsteps crunched over the damp grass, where dew was beginning to form. The sun was just starting to rise.

Veil took a deep breath—the air was fresh and alive. It was a hundred times better than the air in the outskirts.

He smiled. Maybe things weren't so bad after all.

"Don't fall behind."

Veil looked at Nephis. She was already standing at the top of a small hill, where a stunning view stretched out before her.

"Alright."

He climbed after her. When he reached the top, he gasped. It was the most beautiful sight he'd seen in a long time.

A small forest surrounded them, with this hill as the only high point. At its base lay the lake, offering a view of the city where the night lights still twinkled.

It was surprising that all of this was part of the academy. In the places he'd been before, every hectare of land was prized. Humanity had long since seized control of nature, leaving only small remnants behind. Almost all other parts of the planet, except for Asia and Antarctica, had been overrun by monsters from the Dream Realm. Forests accessible to humans remained only here. Antarctica was simply too cold for habitation.

Because of this, people weren't afraid to pollute the planet, knowing there were still untouched territories beyond this continent. Nature's ability to restore the atmosphere still surpassed the rate of pollution.

After taking in the view for a while, Nephis turned to him.

"Are you ready?"

Veil looked at her with determination.

"Yes."

***

Nephis pondered for a moment before she spoke:

"Mastery of combat can be divided into two aspects. One is the body, and the other is the mind. Training the body is not easy, but it's straightforward. All you need is repetition and experience. In battle, everything happens too quickly to constantly consider every detail. Therefore, your technique must be ingrained in your muscles and bones until it becomes almost instinctual."

She paused.

"You can achieve initial results through repetition. Then it must be reinforced with experience. The more battle experience you have, the deeper your body will absorb the technique. There is no other way. A thousand hours of training cannot provide the same effect as one real battle. Only someone who has survived countless fights can truly master their body."

She was teaching him technique, mastery. She was teaching him to fight.

"Training the mind, however, is not simple at all. Once you reach a certain level of mastery, the real battle happens in the mind. The outcome of the fight is often decided before the body even moves. And to master the mind, the first step must be understanding the essence of battle. Yet very few truly understand it."

She sighed and then looked him in the eye.

"What do you think is the essence of battle?"

Veil thought. Such a simple yet difficult question. He looked at her and answered with maximum seriousness, based on his experience:

"I forgot."

She gave him a strange look and then shook her head before answering:

"The essence of battle is killing."

"At the core, it all comes down to this: you are trying to kill your opponent, and they are trying to kill you. In the end, one of you will die, and the other will become a killer. Everything else is irrelevant."

"Style doesn't matter. Weapons don't matter. Reasons and goals don't matter. The only thing that matters is being the last one standing. Therefore, everything you do in battle should serve one of two purposes: either killing your opponent or preventing your opponent from killing you."

Nephis lowered her eyes.

"If you can understand this, you will have enough clarity to master the mind."

Veil thought. It didn't make sense, but he didn't dare argue.

Veil gave a sad smile.

"That's too cruel."

"The world itself is cruel."

Veil nodded gloomily, understanding that it was true. But then he looked at Nephis with the determination that always defined him. He had his own goal.

"How do I become stronger?"

Nephis smiled at his resolve but then answered seriously:

"Veil, I can teach you to kill. I can teach you to survive. I can make you a nightmare for your enemies."

She paused.

"But I cannot teach you to be strong."

Veil didn't know it, but at that moment, Nephis thought: "In the end, even I can't call myself strong."

***

After several days of training, everything entered an automatic mode. Every action became mechanical, as if Veil's body moved without the participation of his mind. He had memorized all the angles and turns of the routes he took and moved with an empty head and absent gaze. He hadn't slept for many hours, and it seemed that this insomnia was draining all his strength.

Perhaps having the ability not to sleep wasn't such an advantage after all. He was so tired. He wanted to drop everything, fall to the ground, and just sleep, no matter what. The desire for rest was unbearable.

But Veil simply sighed heavily. Despite his exhaustion, he couldn't allow himself to rest. There were only three weeks left until the preparation for the Realm of Dreams, and every moment mattered.

"I promise," he muttered under his breath, "next time I'll be safe and able to rest as long as I want. No, even longer!"

His gaze fell on the calendar, and Veil swore softly. For now, rest remained a distant dream. All he could do now was keep moving forward.

In the meantime, his abilities grew. Every night he absorbed more and more information, and his reading and memorization speed became abnormally high. In one night, he managed to read and remember the content of ten books. The explanation was simple: Veil was only 13 years old, and his young mind absorbed knowledge like a sponge. And his status as a Sleeper only enhanced these abilities.

On autopilot, he reached the hill where Nephis was already waiting for him. Everything happened without conscious thought, and even their warm-up began as if on a rehearsed schedule. They did stretching and advanced warm-up exercises, finishing everything in thirty minutes—ten minutes faster than usual. Nephis corrected all his movements, fixing even the smallest errors. Veil memorized her remarks instantly, and his learning speed increased to an incredible level.

When they had half an hour of free time left, Nephis suggested testing his skills. Veil didn't care. He was so tired that he only dreamed of one thing—lying down and closing his eyes, even if his body didn't need rest.

They moved toward each other at high speed. Nephis used the academy's basic style. Veil, following her example, also switched to the basic mode. Her attack began with an attempted grab. He knocked away her hand that was about to grab him, but it turned out to be a diversion. Nephis used her body to block his view, and her left fist, swift and precise, was already heading for his temple.

His mind acted on autopilot, offering a mad solution. His exhausted mind didn't have time to reject the idea, and he started to act. His ability had several facets. It could not only enhance himself but also weaken everything he could establish a connection with. Whether he possessed a living being or an inanimate object, his influence remained unchanged. However, possessing Nephis would be useless—he was too weak to control her, so he decided to act differently. For a moment, his spirit left his body and possessed... Nephis's clothes. He used his power to weaken her training tracksuit, and it began to slip down.

He didn't even notice how, for a moment, he turned into a soulless tracksuit, devoid of nerves and feelings. His consciousness plunged into absolute emptiness, where emotions ceased to exist. Everything he knew, everything he did, obeyed one single goal—to win at any cost.

Veil returned to his body the moment her fist reached his temple. Pain flared brightly, but he didn't pay attention to it. For him, only he and Nephis existed. All other thoughts and feelings disappeared.

Nephis quickly noticed the problem with her clothing. Less than half a second had passed since the blow, but it was enough for Veil. He raised his leg, cutting through the air, and aimed a kick at her face.

But his calculation was wrong. At the last moment, she gathered herself, changed her stance, and deflected his attack with her leg. Veil lost his balance, and Nephis instantly struck him in the jaw.

The world plunged into darkness. He blacked out.

Before consciousness completely left him, Veil managed to think:

"Strange. That wasn't academy technique."

***

When he woke up, the world around him seemed blurry, and the only thing in focus was Nephis, sitting a short distance away on a cold stone. Through the noise of his own breathing, he heard her voice:

"Awake?"

Vale tried to concentrate, but his body was wracked with spasms, and his muscles refused to obey his commands. He barely clung to the edge of consciousness, not fully understanding what had happened.

Gradually, through the veil of pain and confusion, he realized that he had drained all his life energy—his essence was completely depleted. The reason he had lost consciousness wasn't just the blow to the jaw—normally, even if his body blacked out, his spirit could still control it. But today, the energy he had ruthlessly exploited had finally given out.

For the first time in a week, he truly woke up. He felt the full weight of days of exhaustion—endless training and nonstop reading. It all crashed down on him like an unstoppable force. It seemed that by subconsciously controlling his body, he had dulled all his sensations, turning pain and fatigue into a distant background.

Every cell in his body screamed in agony, and the pain he felt was foreign to him. He felt suffering in places where it seemed there shouldn't be any sensation at all. The intense strength exercises, stretching, and even overstretching his muscles for flexibility had left a permanent mark on him. Even his mind, normally devoid of sensitivity, seemed to suffer in torment.

Vale's condition was grim: his jaw appeared dislocated from Nephis's blow. If not for the injury, he probably would have been screaming in agony. Only muffled groans escaped his lips, and he couldn't tell if he was dying or if it would all pass—it felt as though his mind was unraveling.

In his pain, he had even bitten down on his tongue, and blood started to trickle from the corner of his mouth. Across the stone, an unfamiliar girl watching him raised an eyebrow warily, clearly worried about his state. But Vale, consumed by his own agony, couldn't think about anyone but his own survival.

He felt every scrape, every strike of fate—his body responded to even the faintest touch of pain. The amount of blood lost from his tongue was overwhelming; he was slowly choking on it, and the blood filled his lungs, leaving him unable to breathe.

Final thoughts flashed through his mind: "Is this it? Is this how my life ends?"

Just before consciousness left him entirely, he saw the unfamiliar girl rushing toward him, desperately trying to help.