It smells like smoke. You can't see much...but one thing is certain, everything is surrounded by flames. It looks like all this happens in an underground room, because you can't see the sky, and there's nothing on top of him that would make him think there's a roof over there. In one corner of the room stood Zeke, wounded, unconscious and under a pile of burning wood. At one point he woke up but he couldn't realize what was happening, everything seemed so confusing to him.

"Whe...Where am I? *cought*\, *cought* there's fire everywhere...what is happening?... Ahh! My head hurts...where am I?"

But Zeke's thoughts were interrupted by a loud sound. A hand had passed through one of the walls of the room, then a figure that looked like a tall, strong man passed through the wall, destroying it.

A deep voice uttered the following words:

"Did you think you could hide? I had higher expectations of you Zeke...but you disappointed me... get ready to die now!."

Then the stranger pounced on Zeke, and with his sword he stabbed him in the chest causing him an unimaginable pain. A lot of Zeke's blood started spilling on the stranger's sword. As the seconds passed, the pain Zeke felt grew greater as he began to scream in pain.

"AHHHHHH! *cought* *cought*".

As the blood flowed from his wounds and mouth, the following thoughts crossed Zeke's mind:

"How...how did I end up here?...what did I do wrong?...when everything started to go wrong?" then he made a small pause, a memory rose from the darkness of his mind and made him smile:

"Oh...I remember now, it was that day..." that was what Zeke had thought.

And this is where the story begins. It's 8 am and the pleasant, warm breeze could be felt outside even if it was an hour so early, you guessed it, summer was just beginning. Zeke just woke up and going through his morning routine, he prepares to go to university.

"My name's Zeke, I'm an 19 years old student and my life is not that interesting to be honest...I finished high school last year and now I started university, and like I said, nothing interesting happens. I don't have any friends but that's not a problem, I enjoy my time alone. I'm that type of person that likes to be alone most of the time. It's not that I'm anti-social, I don't have any problems talking with peoples, but I don't see any enjoyment in that, so I prefer being alone than with other peoples. Right now I'm going to the university where I'm a student, but where I also work part-time. I have been living alone since I was 14, the high school and the apartment where I live have been paid from the money I earned over time. I worked for a long time as an assistant plumber, and I was always attracted to the technical branch of things, I always liked to learn and understand things, I met many people with whom I can say that I did not dislike I spend my time. One of them was my former boss, whose name I can barely remember, but that's not important, it's important that he put me in touch with the director of the technical university in the city where I currently live. A very good university with very nice teachers. My schedule is quite full, during the school year, which starts in September and lasts until mid-June. I am a student and an employee, from 8 am to 2 pm I usually have classes, then in the afternoon from around 5 o'clock until 9 pm I'm at school repairing various things that break down in laboratories. And during the summer, I usually only go to work from 8 to 12, only this time I approach the final exams, and the teachers often take classes during the summer vacation, courses that I also enrolled in. , so yeah... my schedule is pretty busy. I am a pretty resourceful person, given the fact that I have been living alone for so long, I have learned to handle almost any situation, and I know how to do anything. The money I earn is not very much, but it is enough to cover my monthly expenses, and I have quite a few advantages as a plumber at the university. All the teachers know me, and most of them behave very nicely and respectfully with me, because I in turn treat them the same. I am a very hardworking person, during school I struggle to be a top student and graduate from university, I will find some work in a bigger city, and as an employee, I try to do my job as well as possible. and learn as many practical things as possible that will help me in life"

Once in front of the university, Zeke was getting ready to enter the gate, when suddenly he heard a familiar voice shouting at him.

"Ohoho, Good morning Zeke! How are you buddy?"

"This person is Mr.Herrler, the physics professor at my university, he's a very nice man. His white hair began to make its mark on his image. Even though his hair began to turn white, his baldness was the aspect that stood out the most. He might seems old, but he's not, he's almost 50 he could have been my father, in fact he is like one to me. Mr.Herrler is a very nice person, his gentle face and the way he talks to people are 2 qualities that differentiate him a lot from other people. Whenever he shows up at school, he wears an elegant suit with a black tie and a rather expensive watch, which made him look like a successful businessman. But the most important aspect was the unmistakable smile on his face, every time I saw him he smiled, he was always happy, and he always instigated others to be the same."

"Not as good as you seem to do Mr.Herrler!"

"Hahahaha, why do you say that? what makes you unhappy?"

"I'm not unhappy, I just have a lot to do today, and I'll be home late again."

"Well how so?"

"Well, Mrs. Hawkins asked me if I could fix the movie projector in the movie theater, it broke down a few days ago, and no one had taken care of it yet. And I can only start work after I finish today's classes..."

"It really looks like you're going to have a long day"

"I know... Anyway what do you think of the improvements I've made to the electricity generator? Consumption should be much lower now"

"Yes, indeed this was a very helpful improvement that you've made."

But after saying that, Mr. Herrler stopped for a few seconds and said to Zeke with a serious face.

"Zeke.., you always work so hard and help everyone, and yet you don't want your merits to be recognized, why so? I never see you going out with other young people of your age or at parties, you could even make a girlfriend given the fact that you are a very charismatic and smart guy, and look instead of doing all this you waste your time helping an old man like me."

"Stop talking nonsense Mr.Herrler, I do what I do because I want to do it, I'm glad that you and many other teachers recognize my work, it's enough for me, as for the party phase and a girlfriend... I don't have time for that now, I have a little more work to do until I can find a job, more stable job and only after that will I start thinking about finding a life partner."

"As you wish, however do not forget that the years of youth are fleeting, you do not want to waste your precious time later complaining that you did nothing during this time."

"I will consider what you said, Mr.Herrler, thanks for the advice!"

"Anytime young man"

After this discussion ended the two had said "good bye" to each other and headed towards classroom. The day went normally for Zeke, nothing had changed, the classes were as boring as usual, it was very hot outside, as on most summer days, everything was normal, as usual.

After finishing the classes, Zeke goes to the locker room, changes his clothes, after which he starts working in the laboratories. Zeke was working and he didn't realize how time had passed, that it was already evening and it was time to go home.

"It's getting dark outside, I should hurry up and go home" that was what Zeke thought.

As he changed in the locker room, Zeke began to hear a strange sound coming from the upper floors, but he didn't pay much attention to it, thinking it was probably the rusty pipes that made that noise. After taking all his things, he heads for the exit.

As he walked down the main corridor, the strange sounds persisted, and began to be heard louder and more aggressive, as if... these sounds were closer to him. Zeke panicked a little, believing that a thief had entered the school, even so, it was his duty to notify the police as soon as possible about this case. As he took his phone out of his pocket, a fierce roar, unheard of by Zeke, was heard from the floor above Zeke.

Then the sound that made Zeke run as long as his legs held him to the exit was the following, a girl's voice shouting:

"I CATCHED YOU! YOU'RE DEAD NOW!"

As Zeke ran away scared and more confused by what was happening, on the way out he heard several loud sounds from the upper floor, in addition to those that had already frightened him.

Even so, Zeke's escape to freedom was interrupted when the ceiling began to crumble and a girl with dark purple hair, an unimaginably beautiful dark purple color, with a matching dress with a wonderful pattern of stars on it, with two sharp horns, and two black winks falls in front of him. She seems injured.

Zeke was now even more confused, but by the time he realized what was happening, the girl was already attacking, she grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against a wall, then asked him:

"Who are you!? I thought nobody was at school at this hour!"

"Who am I ? Who are you? What are you? And what are you doing here?"

"It doesn't matter what I do here, if you don't get out of here fast you'll die"

But before either of them could say anything else , they were interrupted by the roar of a creature that came down through the hole in the ceiling.

The creature was very large. It had the strength of a wolf, but something like that seemed torn from a fairy tale, or rather... from a nightmare, it was a creature in the shape of a wolf, with large and sharp fangs, which could have been pierce any living being and leave it breathless in just a few seconds. The criminal intent could be felt by anyone in the vicinity of the creature. The situation has become dangerous for Zeke... too dangerous to stay there.

Frightened, but with a shred of courage left in him, Zeke asks the mysterious girl:

"Wha... what is that?"

"An Hals" (=Hallow) the girl answers.

"Hals? What is that?"

But the girl did not answer, rather she told him in a very serious and menacing tone:

"There are things in this world you shouldn't know about, human."

The two's conversation was again interrupted by the creature rushing to attack them. Taking all the remaining power, the girl draws her sword and blocks Hals' blow. However, this was not strong enough to stop the attack, so the girl was thrown with a crushing force directly into Zeke, and both were thrown out of school, on the main exit.

After a hard blow, Zeke gets up rubbing his head and says:

"Ah!... that hurts" but fortunately there was no serious wound.

The mysterious girl also stood up, she was in a much worse state than Zeke was, she was holding a sword that emanated a strange energy, it looked like an authentic katana from Japan.

Zeke cared little for her so he asked her:

"Hey, are you alright?"

But the girl did not answer in a very pleasant tone:

"Tch! take care of your business, and get out of here until I think of killing you before Hals does it"

"Hey, hey, don't be so rude, I'm already in this, even if I will try to run, this creature will probably follow me, you don't look like you are in a good condition"

That was one of the talents that Zeke had, since childhood Zeke was always very good at strategy games, he always managed to read the field, the opponent, and he managed to make an attack plan to win, only this time the stake was his life itself, so he couldn't afford to make mistakes.

"So? How can we stop it?

"There's no 'us', I can handle this, now run away if you don't want to die"

"Hm, after the blow you just got, I don't think you're able to say that."

Then the girl rushed over Zeke, approaching his face, looking him in the eye and saying:

"Do you want to die human?!"

But Zeke is not intimidated by the girl's words, and responds in a calm manner.

"No, I don't, that's why I asked what's the plan"

"..."

Then Zeke grabs her hand and tells her:

"Hurry up! I don't think we have much time left."

Then the girl gave in to Zeke's requests and pleased him.

"Ok fine, I'll regret it later, but who cares. We have to say an incantation now, after I say my part repeat what I will tell you, understand ?"

"Understand"

The girl grabs Zeke's hands and after that she began to say some words that sounded very strange, they seemed as if they came from an ancient language or something. Zeke starts repeating after the face, and after about 20 seconds the two finish.

This was the triggering moment.  Something inside Zeke was beginning to feel different. A great heat began to come out of his body, Zeke felt that he could move much easier but an unimaginable pain began to take over his body. Zeke begins to sweat, breathe harder and eventually fall to the ground in pain.

"AH, ha, ha, ha"

He begins to breathe harder and harder.

"Wha...what have you done to me? It burns me inside"

But the girl was much more shocked than Zeke was, fear and amazement could be read on her face.

"I can't believe it worked, I could swear you would die"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU COULD SWEAR THAT I WILL DIE? What have you done to me?!"

Even so, a smile began to appear on her face

"Hm! Let's say you were lucky this time."

But despite what she said, that was actually what she was really thinking:

"I can't believe this works, he should be dead now!"

"Anyway we'll talk about that later, we have more important things to do now"

Then he tells Zeke the following:

"Anyway we'll talk about that later, we have more important things to do now"

After that the Hals comes out from school. It looks as menacing as before.

"Holy...it's much bigger then I thought" said Zeke.

"I've told you there are things in this world you shouldn't know about"

And rightly so, Hals was really huge, his bloodshot eyes now looking at the two of them, ready to tear them apart.

"Do you know what you have to do?" asks the girl.

"Theoretically yes, practically I hope I'm wrong. How am I supposed to defend this thing?"

The Hals began to run towards the two, the intention to kill could be read in the creature's eyes. Zeke's feet trembled with fear. He knew what was going to happen if he didn't win the fight. But what could he do? from an ordinary day in the life of a young man Zeke now stands in front of a demonic creature who wants to kill him. He is afraid... but he knows he can't let fear end his days now.

The girl approaches Zeke and whispers in his ear:

"Feel the power, let it to take the shape of a weapon, feel it... feel how it flows inside you, imagine your energy taking the form of a weapon...and unleash the power!"

After that, something unbelievable happened, a sword takes shape in Zeke's hands. It's a katana, similar to the girl's, a katana so sharp that it could cut even the souls of those who look at it. So majestic and elegant...yet so deadly. Zeke's feet stopped trembling at the sight of the sword in his hand. Zeke took a deep breath, took an attacking position, and said:

"I'm ready"

"I'm counting on you" said the girl.

Zeke starts rushing toward the Hals with so much confidence this time. The Hals raised his claws and launched a powerful attack on Zeke, but Zeke stops it with a counter attack. Zeke's katana and Hals's crawl hits each others in a powerful impact that creates a wave around them. Both exert a lot of power to push the other but their power levels seem to be equal. Zeke begins to lose power by being pushed down and falling to his knees, but his willpower is too strong to be defeated here.

In his mind, Zeke was thinking the same thing:

"I can't lose here!"

With a rage power Zeke pushes back the Hals going to pounce on it. Gathering all the power flowing through him, Zeke manages to launch one last powerful attack by beheading the creature. After that Zeke falls to the ground relieved that the fight is over. The girl start to approach him and said:

"You're quite an interesting human, aren't you ?"

"The name's Zeke, nice to meet you"

"I'm Yuki"

You're quite an interesting human, aren't you ?"

"You said that before"

"Because you are, a normal human should be dead after that spell, who exactly are you ?"

"I've told you, my name's Zeke, and I'm just an ordinary human"

"Either way, let's leave these details for later, we have much more important things to discuss."

"Right, now what exactly are you Yuk...."

"Anyway, I'm tired let's meet again tomorrow and discuss everything, shall we ?"

"Haaaa? are you serious?"

"I always am"

"Ok...as you wish, we'll meet again tomorrow then"

"Bye bye"

And then she disappear into the darkness, but poor Zeke...he still has so many questions about what happened, but he just has to wait until the next day to get the answers he's looking for. Troubled by all that had happened, Zeke finally decided to head home. On the way home, Zeke tried his best to understand everything that had happened, but in vain. Hals? Powers? A katana summoned by nowhere? A girl fighting these monsters? What does all this means? many questions, few answers. After a seemingly endless journey, Zeke finally got home. He was so tired that in the first second when he sat down in bed he fell asleep.

It's morning. Zeke had been awakened by the sound of an alarm that seemed to be repeating for some time. Of course he was late for classes. Without thinking twice, Zeke put on the first clothes he had found in the dressing room and went to university. As he hurried to school he felt that he was being followed, but he did not pay much attention to this feeling because he was already quite late. When he finally arrived in front of the university, guess who was waiting for him there, of course, it was Yuki. She wore a knee-length purple dress with a very simple and attractive design, perfect for the season they were in, accompanied by a pink purse and a straw hat that protected her from the strong light outside.

"You're late" she exclaimed. "And you look horrible, what actually are you wearing?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I've told you yesterday, we have so much things to discuss, now let's move"

"I can't come with you now, I have classes today, I've never missed school"

"Oh c'mon, otherwise our reservation will expire"

A little confused, but still curious, Zeke decided to follow Yuki.

"Oh man... Mr.Herrler will kill me" Zeke thought to himself.

The two then left for the place Yuki was talking about. They stopped at a terrace not far from the university.

"And what exactly are we going to do here?" asks Zeke.

"I've told you, we have things to discuss, you don't understand in what position we are now"

"We?"

"From the moment I give you my powers "I" has transformed in "we", and to be honest, you are much more competent then I initially thought".

"Am...thank...I guess. Ok, so if we are here to discuss first I want you to answer my questions"

"I understand that you are confused at the moment, but listen to me first, there are more important things that you need to understand, after which I will answer the questions you have, if you have any more questions."

"Ok..." said Zeke, half-mouthed.

"As I said you yesterday, my name is Yuki, I'm a demon from Hell"

"Wait ,wait ,wait, wait... u mean Hell as Hell or...?"

"Listen to me, I'll explain everything to you, just be patient. Yes The Hell as Hell, as you humans already know there are three realms where life exist, Earth, Heaven and Hell. On the Earth you humans live, on Heaven there are beings you know too well, angels, and in Hell are us, demons. The creature that you killed last night was an Hals (\=Hollow) a race of soulless creatures that lives in Hell, and somehow they end up here, on Earth. I've come here with a mission, to exterminate the last piece of Hals that still exists on earth, because they feed on people's souls."

"Ok, I think I understand quite a bit, but I still have questions"

"And what would these be?"

"Hell first, you said you are a demon right? but you still look like a normal human being"

"And how would you like me to look? there are few things that differentiate us demons from you humans".

"As would be?".

"Well, first of all we demons have wings, you humans don't, you can't fly you have to use your feet if you want to move somewhere".

"That's why cars were invented" said Zeke jokingly.

"Yeah but still, it's boring, it's easier just to fly where you want to"

"If you say so".

"Anyway, that's not the only thing which sets us apart from you. For example, you humans have just one heart, we have seven"

"Oh yeah, I think I've read this in a book, but I thought it was just fiction".

"Well, it's as real as can be. And there are other things, like you humans cannot control the magic energy around you, or you humans can fall in love , you can cry, we demons can't do such a thing"

"Wait wait wait, magic? like in the science fiction books with fairies? and why you guys can't cry?"

"You could say, magic is a resource that civilizations in heaven and hell have been using for millions of years, while you humans still struggle to explain everything by "rational methods", as for why we can't cry, it's simply because we don't have a soul, we can fell emotions such as happiness, sadness, joy, pain, but only at a very low level compared to you humans, that's why reactions such as crying are foreign to us."

"Ok I understand more now, but it still takes me a long time to process, the spell that you cast last night made me a demon now or what? I can use magic? Or what was with that katana?"

"No, the spell I used last night didn't make you a demon, but as you can guess yes, the spell I used last night was a "transfer spell", now you have some of my demon powers, which allows you to use magical energy. And don't be ridiculous, humans can't become demons, there is no spell that can do that"

"Ok I get it, so... what are we going to do now?"

"Well, it's very simple, we need to find out how Hals are coming to Earth and prevent this from happening again. The longer it takes to find the entrance and block it, the more people will lose their lives, so we have to be fast"

"Ok, and how are we going to do that?"

"Well first, I saw that you know some moves with the sword, you're quite talented ,but you still need training".

"I practiced Kendo for eleven years, that's why I know how to use a sword, but yesterday was the first time when It felt so intense...I felt that I could die at any time..."

"That's why you need training, to become stronger and to be able to survive next time you'll face an Hals" said Yuki with a very serious face. "That's our two main goals, to prevent the Hals from coming to Earth, and to make you stronger to be able to do that".

"To understand that my chances for a normal life are gone" that was the only thing that Zeke though of after talking with Yuki.

"Anyway, that was all I wanted to say, we can start training tomorrow, now take some free time to calm your thoughts. If you need something you can always call me or text me." to which Yuki held out her phone with her contact information.

"Ok, thank I will contact you in case something happens". said Zeke with a voice in which you can feel doubts about what Yuki was saying.

After that the two exchanged contact details after which they said goodbye. After Yuki left, Zeke realized that he had missed the entire physics class, fortunately Zeke could come up with an excuse that Mr. Herrler would have believed and spared Zeke, but bad luck had made it so that when Zeke left the terrace, Mr. Herrler was passing by on his way home, and he sees him. Mr. Herrler is a person very close to Zeke, a reliable friend, the relationship between the two being more inclined towards a father-son type. Given this fact Zeke has a great respect for Mr. Herrler, so he would have preferred not to lie to him.

"Good morning Zeke, how are you buddy? You missed the class this morning"

"Mr.Herrler, I'm sorry... I had something very important to do, I promise it will not happen again"

"You don't have to promise me anything." then Mr. Herrler approached Zeke and put his hand on his shoulder. "When I was young like you I did the same things, so I understand how you feel"

"I doubt you understand... " said Zeke on a sad tone.

"Zeke... since you came to our university you have always been alone, it never seemed like you were interested in having relationships with young people of your age, you always sit alone during breaks or you are in a laboratory helping a teacher, but even then you don't let them to help you, you're always work alone. Many times I was worried about you, and I would have liked to help you somehow, to be able to do something for you, but every time I've tried, I couldn't get past the shell you wrapped yourself in. Zeke... listen to me, don't be afraid to trust other people, we are not creatures made to live alone, don't be afraid to trust someone else but yourself, don't be afraid to ask your loved ones for help when you need it and feel that the situation is beyond you."

"I...I...I will Mr.Herrler, thank you" said Zeke in a much happier tone.

"That being said...who was that beautiful girl you was talking to? She's quite pretty" said Mr. Herrler in a laugh.

"I just met her, I know very little about her, but it looks like we're going to spend a lot of time together from now on"

"That's how it is in the beginning, that's how love works" said Mr.Herrler smiling .

"Wait Mr.Herrler, it's not about that, it's much more complicated than something so simple."

"Oh, do you think love is that simple?" asks Mr.Herrler amazed.

"Yes, I think it is, if you love someone you will do good things to him and treat him well, otherwise you will treat him with contempt, beat him and threaten him if he does not do what you want".

"You're talking about other things now, aren't you?"

"..." murmured Zeke.

"Love is much more complicated than it seems, it is not something you can explain in words, it is not something that is based on reasons, but rather on feelings. However, I'm glad you took a step forward Zeke, I'm really happy for you."

"I've told you Mr.Herrler it's nothing about love, it's much more complicated"

"Ok, Ok as you say buddy" said Mr.Herrler laughing. "you'll have to recover today, you can ask a colleague to give you the notes".

"I prefer to take them from your office, as usual" said Zeke smiling.

"As you wish".

After which the two said goodbye and resumed their activities. However, as Zeke headed for college, the feeling that someone was following him had worsened, but as before he preferred to ignore this feeling by saying that it only seemed to him. But the truth is, in a remote building, someone was really following Zeke. A tall man holding binoculars in his eyes, looking at Zeke, had appeared.

"So the demon girl has friends now?" he said in a very menacing voice.

After class, Zeke headed home. Nothing interesting happened, as always, school was something really boring for Zeke. He was still immersed in confused thoughts and feelings. Fortunately, Mr.Herrler's speech made Zeke feel very good, but at the same time it raised even more questions for him. In his mind Zeke was still thinking at these words "don't be afraid to trust other people, we are not creatures made to live alone, don't be afraid to trust someone else but yourself, don't be afraid to ask your loved ones for help when you need it and feel that the situation is beyond you."

"If everything were so simple, things are much more complicated than you think Mr.Herrler..." that was what Zeke was thinking.

However, something inside Zeke made him feel good when he thought of Mr. Herrler. That image of Mr. Herrler in the mind of Zeke, an old man with white hair and his little baldness that stood out, a gentle face full of the emotions of long-gone youth, with his glasses whose thick lenses stood out, that elegant suit he always wore inside the university to give a pleasant feeling of a responsible man, passed through life, to those around him. All of this made Zeke think of one thing:

"Mr.Herrler really is a wonderful person, I hope he will live a long life full of happiness."

However, all of Zeke's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his phone notification. He had received a message from Yuki stating: "see you tonight", and after that, a strange thought crossed Zeke's head, were Mr. Herrler's words "that's how it is in the beginning, that's how love works". Zeke blushed and thought in his mind:

"There's no way".

And right after he remembers what Yuki said "we demons can't feel what you humans call "love", because we don't have a soul"

"That's right, that was what she said, anyway this doesn't bother me too much, I'm used to be alone, there's nothing new. Most likely she wants to start training"

And then Zeke texted her "ok, see you tonight". A few hours passed and the time for the two to meet arrived. It was about nine o'clock and being the spring season outside there was still little light and a pleasant warm breeze could be felt in the air.

"You're late" said Yuki.

"You could have told me the place and time where you would like us to meet, not just take me by surprise. I don't think it was so hard to tell me to come to the forest near the city at 9 o'clock, luckily I can feel your presence due to my powers and I finally found you."

"Instead of making excuses you should learn how to apologize"

"This girl..." Zeke had thought, making a very irritated face.

"Anyway, let's say I forgive you this time too, so? are you ready?"

"Ready for what?"

"For your training you idiot" said Yuki a little angry.

"Oh yeah, you said we'll start to train soon"

It seems that Yuki has thought of all the details in advance. The forest outside the city was a perfect place where they could train quietly without being disturbed or seen by anyone. They did not endanger any human life and could train quietly, a very clever idea.

"What else did you think?"

"Nothing, nothing, I'm ready, I thought that's why you texted me. So what do we start with?"

"Well, first of all I need to tell you more about the Hals"

"There's still more?" asked Zeke a bit surprised.

"Yes, you still have a lot to learn. What you need to know is that there are different species of Hals, some stronger than the others, and in order to differentiate them from each other we would assign to each one a rank E, D, C, B, A and S, E being the weakest and S being the strongest. The one you defeated two days ago was a C-rank Hals..."

After that Yuki had taken a short break and made a serious face.

"But don't get ahead of yourself, just because you defeated a C-rank Hals doesn't mean you're as strong as one, understand?"

"Yes Mrs." said Zeke rhetorically.

"Good. It's good that at least that's what you can understand." said Yuki rolling her eyes.

"What kind of brainless monkey do you think I am?"

"Definitely a very stupid one". Yuki commented as she folded her hands across her chest.

"Ahh.." sighed Zeke. "Shouldn't we start training instead of insulting each other?"

"It is true that practice helps you learn easier, but without a proper theory you will not understand much, so be patient and listen carefully, after I used the transfer spell, you received some of my powers, that means I can no longer fight like I fought before, I can no longer use close-combat spells or summon weapons. These are spells that you will have to master as soon as possible if you want to have at least a chance of survival against the higher rank Hals. That's why we should start with the spell of summoning, without your sword you are a bit useless on the battlefield to be honest."

"Thanks for the compliments."

"There were no compliments"

After which Yuki stops making a serious face.

"If you can't even summon your sword you'll die on the battlefield before you realize it."

"..."

"Well, now that I'm done with the introductions I should explain how the magic of summoning the sword works. You should view your sword like an extension of you arm, a part of yourself. Swords made in Heaven and Hell are different from those made on Earth. They are created from magical energy meant to help the possessor become stronger. A sword becomes stronger the stronger its possessor becomes, if a strong sword is wielded by a weak possessor it will not work at full capacity."

And then Zeke interrupted her.

"So... if the swords made in Hell are made from magical energy that means I can use spells on them?"

"You're getting it very quickly brainless monkey. Yes it's true, you can use spells on weapons to make them stronger, but that's more complicated. For the time being, let's just limit ourselves to summoning spell."

Right after that Yuki stops for a second and realized:

"WAIT, we need to prepare your body first, I forgot".

"Prepare... my body?"

"Yes, we need to make your body stronger, if we don't do this, chances are your body won't resist a summoning spell and you can't summon your sword."

"And how are we going to do this?".

"By training, obviously".

"What kind of training?"

"For now, let's just do a normal training"

" By normal training do you mean the training that people usually do?".

"For now, yes ,let's limit ourselves just to this, 100 push-ups, 100 squats, 100 crunches and 10 km run, that should be enough, after that we can start the training for the summoning spell"

After that the two started the training. Nevertheless, at some point Yuki stops and screams:

"Get ready! I feel a Hals close..."

Taking a defensive stance Zeke asked:

"How strong it is?".

"It's seems like a D rank...Prepare yourself for battle! It's close..."

The danger could be felt in the air. A very menacing and dangerous presence was beginning to appear. From the shadows of the trees some bloodshot eyes looked at the two of them, after which a fierce roar broke the silence of the moment. A creature with the look of a massive lion appeared, but it was a little different, its claws looked more like sharp blades made to tear meat from enemies. It had a long tail like that of a snake and sharp teeth like those of a tiger. If you were to compare the Hals with something, I would say that its size was at least equal to that of a medium-sized orca. The intention of killing could be felt in the air, it was a very dangerous creature...

"Get ready! It'll attack soon!"

The Hals rushed upon them and launched an attack with its sharp claws, but fortunately Zeke and Yuki were able to avoid that attack.

"Try to summon your sword, I'll be dealing with it to gain some time, It's not an Hals that I can beat alone in my current state..."

"How I am suppose to summon my sword? You didn't teach me how to do it"

"Try to remember how you did it the first time"

Then Yuki rushed toward the Hals using one of her combat spells.

"Lighting Cage!"

*Note to the reader: "Lighting Cage" is a spell that creates a cage whose walls are made of electricity. This spell has a very good use in long-combat battles given the fact that you immobilize your enemy without putting too much effort.*

And with this spell Yuki was able to create a cage to hold the creature trapped. But of course Hals resisted trying to get out of the prison where it had just been caught. Using its claws to scratch the walls made of electricity, then forcing them by throwing itself into them, the cage seemed to begin to crack.

"Hurry up! I don't know how much longer I can resist..."

But no response... the silence behind her made her worry.

"What are you doing? I can't hold it alone for long"

But after that she felt it just for a second, a shadow had passed by her so quickly that she could barely feel it's presence. It was Zeke and he was heading for the cage where Hals had been kept.

"Release the Hals when I tell you!"

"Have you lost your mind, what are you going to do?!"

"Just do as I say!"

And that's how Zeke was now face to face with the creature's cage.

"NOW!"

"This is going to be a bad idea..."

And then Yuki released the spell and the cage broke. The Hals rushed towards Zeke and Zeke towards it as well. Then the Hals launched an attack on Zeke but Zeke managed to doge it.

"Take this!" screams Zeke with all of his powers.

Thereafter Zeke punched the creatures and due to his enormous power the Hals was thrown some meters back, but it didn't fall, instead it launches an attack on Zeke again, with it's long tail, throwing Zeke over Yuki and knocking them both down.

Yuki gets upset and screams at Zeke.

"Ouch... it hurts... why don't you listen to me? Why don't you summon you sword? I told you that I alone can't defeat that Hals at my current condition and your strength isn't enough as well! You need to summon your sword now! Weapons are much efficient then magic when you are dealing with Halses"

But Zeke's silence had made Yuki worry. Zeke looked straight into her eyes and told her.

"Yuki... I have to tell you something...I...I...I can't summon my sword"