Ven walked in the hallway alone, not knowing what to do. Since Kye came back, his relationship with the other had deteriorated as well. It wasn't noticeable at first, but as time passes, he was hanging out with them less, and they understood that something wasn't good with Ven.
Yugo, since he was the closest to him asked him what happened, but Ven decided to fake ignorance. The only thing he said was that he wanted to become stronger to protect Kye by himself. Thanks to that, the others didn't ask anything else since they thought that what he was doing was good. They couldn't hang out every time, after all. So they began to train a little during their own free time as well.
However, Ven just felt bad for saying that.
It wasn't that he didn't like Kye anymore. On the contrary, he was still considering him like a little brother. And the fact that Kye slowly went out of his comfort zone to talk to him who was purposely acting cold toward him made him smile internally.
But he couldn't help but think that his feelings weren't completely true. Kye had told them that since he now could control his energy, it wouldn't affect them anymore. But Ven couldn't help but think otherwise.
The blow he felt when Kye had told them the truth already pained him a lot. So he didn't want to experience that again. He trusted Kye a lot. But he didn't know if what he felt was true or not anymore. So he decided to distance himself from him, even though it was paining him even more.
But it was necessary since he needed time to think.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtSo Ven headed to the training room. Once there, he set up the training dummy at the highest level. He knew that he couldn't do anything against them, but he wasn't in the mood for anything else. So to clear his head, he wanted to be completely immersed in the fight.
Once the dummy activated, it rushed toward Ven at full speed. The latter already fought with this level of difficulty a few times already, so he knew that the dummy was fast. But it was still surprising him to see how fast it was.
Once the dummy was close enough, it swung its wooden sword.
Ven tried to block it with his katana, but the momentum it carried made Ven slide backward. And the dummy didn't let Ven recuperate since it rushed toward him even before he could recover his balance back.
Ven tried to dodge this time, but when he saw the sword moving way too fast, he tried to block it instead. But like earlier, he got pushed back. The dummy once again rushed toward him, but this time, Ven decided to use his ability.
He lessened the gravity of his body to move faster and see the movement of the training dummy more easily, before blocking it.
But this time, instead of being pushed back, Ven stood where he was when he blocked the sword.
It was only possible because he increased the gravity of his body at the perfect time.
And without any moment to rest, the dummy kicked him in the stomach.
"Shit!" Ven cursed out loud as he tried to dodge the training dummy's strikes. Thanks to his improved speed, he managed to dodge them, but at a skin length. It was so close that he could feel his skin getting hotter, even though the sword never touched him.
The fight continued like this for a long period. Ven tried to use his gravity to the fullest by either slowing down the dummy, or increasing his own speed, but he couldn't do anything. He was completely overpowered.
So he decided to give up to think a little about what happened.
'It's clear that my control over the gravity has improved. But I'm still using it too straightforwardly. I need help to improve my ability, but I don't wanna ask the others for what they learn in the ability class.'
Ven had more pride than once could think, so he didn't see himself asking anything from them. Even though he was close to them it just didn't feel right to ask.
In the middle of his thought, he suddenly heard footsteps coming from behind him. He glanced back, only to see the one he didn't expect to see.
"Hey Ven, how are you?" Kye smiled as he bend on his knees to be at Ven's eye level.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThe latter looked at his eyes for an unknown period, before finally answering. Though, with a monotone voice and an expressionless face. "Good and you?"
"I guess I'm fine as well," Kye smiled again, making Ven sigh internally. He wanted to pat his head but stopped himself quickly. Thankfully for him, Kye spoke again. "I saw your fight against the dummy."
"You were watching me?" There was finally a change of expression on his face. He was surprised, to say the least.
"Hmhm," Kye nodded his head. "I saw you earlier in the hallway, and wanted to hang out with you, but I got held back by some people. Then when I came into the training room, I saw you fight the dummy. And it impressed me how strong you were. The dummy was so fast that even I had a hard time seeing its movement, yet you always managed to parry its attack."
Ven looked away to not let Kye see his face. He was weak to compliment.
"Your mastery over gravity seemed to have improved a lot as well. So much that I'm sure you're the strongest student out there."
"*Cough cough*" Ven coughed when he heard Kye's last words. It was the final blow.
"T-thanks, I guess. … But anyways, did you come here to train as well?"
"Nope, I just wanted to talk to you. And I'm fine with watching you as well. I can learn a lot just by watching."
"Then if you don't mind, could you..."