After having lunch - or rather, after Ling Xin, Axilia, and I had lunch since Lorelei and Yami didn't eat human food - Yami slipped out of the house again to go to the same cape he had fought me and lost. As I was curious, I followed, leaving Lorelei behind with the girls.

Once I arrived at the cliff, I found Yami in the horse stance once again, breathing even and eyes closed. His form was far from ideal, but it was the thought that counts. He was definitely doing a lot better before, and even after several minutes, he did not begin sweating.

Huh. Not bad, kid.

Deciding it was about time to show him something else, I stepped out of the shadows of the trees. Yami, noticing me, immediately raise his guard and narrowed his eyes, but didn't break his stance.

"... What do you want?

"

"Woah, no need to be so hostile,

" I said with a smirk.

"If you're going to train, don't do it with anger in your heart. If you don't want to do this, don't.

"

"I do. And I'll beat you, one day, when I get stronger.

"

"Good. I'll be waiting, then.

"

I walked over by his side, then got into the same horse stance as him. Seeing this, he looked at me up and down, confused.

"... It's been a while since I've last done this,

" I said in a perfect horse stance, far better than Yami's.

"You've... trained like this before too?

"

I chuckled.

"Of course. Otherwise, I wouldn't have asked you to do the same. I have experience doing the same thing myself. Training for hours every day and night, whenever I had spare time. I would go without eating, without drinking water. My mind was focused solely on training my physical body and training my physical body alone, and nothing else really mattered. Want to know why?

"

"... Why?

" Yami asked after a while.

After a short silence, I continued.

"... Would you believe me if I told you I once was magicless?

"

He blinked.

"Magic... less?

"

"Yeah. You know? This power I use?

" I ignited a flame in my hands, attracting Yami's gaze, then put it out again.

"A few years ago, I never had it. All my peers, everyone else in the Realm I came from... wielded this power. It was like common sense, an integral part of life. Yet it was something I didn't have.

"

"Wha... you were... just an ordinary human with no powers?

"

I nodded.

"Mhm. Surprised?

"

"...

" Yami didn't respond, but his expression clearly hinted at he was.

"But you know... despite that, I never gave up. Rather than wallow in despair, I used any free time I had to perfect my physical body and stamina. That way, when one day, I did receive magic, I could have an edge over the other mages who never even bothered training their physical bodies since they relied on magic so much.

"

"... Sorry,

" Yami said all of a sudden. I looked to him, eyebrow raised.

"What for?

"

"I... I originally thought of you as an arrogant, annoying person. But now I see... you were once just like me.

"

"Nah,

" I said with a light chuckle.

"What...?

"

"I'm far more handsome than you. Always was, and always will be.

"

"W-Wha-!

"

"We may have started from the same playing field, but you'll never be able to catch up to me,

" I said.

"Unless, of course, you can prove me wrong.

"

"Tch... I take back what I said. You're arrogant after all!

"

I shrugged and stood up straight, exiting the horse stance.

"Arrogance is confidence until someone can prove otherwise. Remember that. So, be arrogant if you want to. As long as you have the skills to back it up, anyway.

"

With that, I left, having achieved my goal. Through this short but meaningful conversation, I established some sort of a pact with Yami, but also made him hate me more at the same time. I would love to be all friendly and nice with him, but unfortunately, that isn't my personality, and I need him to hate me to fuel his motivation to get stronger. Just Lorelei isn't enough to spur him on.

Yami is quite the headstrong kid, not wanting to admit his own faults or take any insults lying down. He will prove himself at every opportunity he gets, but I have to drive into him the lesson that brought upon the failure of so many great heroes in mythology and the past - hubris.

I will first let him build up his confidence, then crush it beneath my feet. Let him become arrogant. Let him hate me. And then, show him who's boss. It was cruel, yes, but necessary if I wanted to discipline him into being my pawn.

Once he beats me, he will lose motivation to keep getting stronger. I can't let that happen, so I have to crush him over and over again. He will never catch up to me, and that was the truth. Because while he was training and getting stronger by the day... so was I.

"Oh, by the way,

" I said, suddenly stopping and turning back around.

"Your stance... kind of sucks. Go lower, until your thighs are nearly perpendicular with your upper body.

"

Yami did as told, but not before shooting me a hateful glare. I was originally planning on teaching him something new today, but given his current attitude, he was unlikely to be willing to absorb anything further I tell him. It was best to give him some time to cool down first - and besides, some more foundation never hurt.

Before I left, I set up an invisible barrier around Yami, just in case. It would prevent any wild beasts from getting to him, and also prevent him from accidentally falling off. He was essentially locked into a cage without even realizing it, but I'll come back later to disable it and retrieve him for dinner.

And after dinner... it'll be time for some carnage.

*****

I spent the rest of that afternoon refining pills. I went to go see Ling Xin's godfather for some materials, which he reluctantly gave to me after I offered him a million or so mordai. That number was nothing to me now anyway. That old fogey could take that money and do whatever the hell he wanted with it.

Yeah, I could buy my own alchemic materials, but really, I wasn't an expert on which ones were good and such. The quality of the materials greatly affected the quality of the resulting pill, so if I was given a bunch of horrible materials, I doubt even I could make a Golden Pill, and even if I could, it would still be nowhere near as good as the other Golden Pills I've refined in the past.

Before I knew it, the sun was about to fall, and it was roughly around time for dinner. I managed to refine a couple dozen pills, but I wasn't planning on auctioning them. I specifically made this batch for the girls back in the Living Realm, to help them get stronger.

After getting Yami from the cliff, we ate dinner. Ling Xin and Axilia have been working together with the cooking lately, which both made the food taste even more delicious than before and also saved me the trouble of having to judge whose cooking is better.

Once we were done eating, I stood up from the table and wiped my mouth, then glanced at the clock.

"Alright... the meeting is scheduled to happen in about 5 hours from now. Everything's already set up and we have the plan all layed out, so... I think I'll go take a nap.

"

"Seriously...? You never take naps, though...

" Ling Xin frowned in confusion.

"So? I can't start taking naps now?

" I scoffed.

"Don't worry, I'll wake up an hour before the meeting occurs. We'll be fine.

"

"If you say so...

"

I headed up the stairs and into Axilia's room, then sat down on the chair and closed my eyes, resting my head on top of my arms. Since my clothes weren't clean and I didn't want to take a shower right now, I didn't sleep on the bed.

"Thank you, master.

"

Hm? What for?

"Lorelei is not stupid. I can tell you are purposely taking a nap to allow me to feed on your dreams.

"

... Tell Yami to come here too. He has to be starving, after such a long day. Oh, but don't tell him I'm doing this to feed you two. I need him to continue to hate me, after all.

"... Very well, master. Lorelei will bring him here.

"

Saying this, she, in her fox form, hopped off of my shoulder and trotted along out the door to bring Yami here, while I sighed and went to sleep, thinking about the other girls back at home.

I wonder how they're doing... and I also wonder if time here in the Death Realm passes the same way as in the Living Realm. In the Void Realm where we cultivated for 3 years, that was only equivalent to 3 days in the Living Realm, but...

I hope they are doing okay.. I really do.