Villain: The Play of Destiny

Keith really thought that Celine would eventually get tired of all this training, but for the next two weeks, she was invested in it just as much as the others if not more.

All of them were possessed by it. Though Minami, Yingying, and Iseul were behaving as normal, the rest considered it an opportunity that they had to make the most of.

They realised that once they returned to Sameran, he would be busy spending time with everyone and overseeing the arrangements of the Opening Ceremony of Noxville. With all the work at hand, he would not be able to train them all.

Venessa could not stay in Sameran for long as Essra was nearing their first Space Expedition, and she had to be present here in Space City for the next few months. So, spending time with him after Noxville's Opening Ceremony was not possible unless he decided to return here with them.

But from what they had learned from Minami, Keith had some plans, and they did not want to make things too hard for him.

Once Keith realised how serious everyone was, he focused on their training, and it was not a boring fortnight that he spent with them. It was never a dull day when they were together.

He had lots of fun with them, and every night, he either accompanied Celine or Sibyl to their rooms or spent those nights with Venessa.

One night, they even held a story-telling session, where they listened to Minami narrate a story out of the storybook Keith had gifted her recently.

For their meals, everyone took turns preparing them, and mostly, it was a group affair as they all prepared them together.

It was a family time that he dearly cherished, and so did the rest of them.

And today was their last day at Essra as they were to leave for Sameran in the evening.

Everyone was gathered in the training room on the 97th Floor right now. Though this place had been reinforced with runes by Amelia, it was not as strong as that of the Training Chamber in their Noxville Castle. Therefore, during their training, they restricted themselves in combat without any offensive use of Aura.

Keith trained them all in hand-to-hand combat, and he was very impressed by how much Celine had improved in the last three months. And since Venessa was insisting on being trained in Sword Art, he made the others join the lessons too.

Something that everyone learned in the last few days was that Celine was not comfortable wielding blades. She felt very unsafe with them and was actually repulsive to the idea of cutting someone with her blade. Strangely enough, she was fine pummelling someone with her fists and kicks.

Though her fears were groundless, Keith did not force her to wield any blade and instead made her wield a staff as a practice substitute for a sword or a spear.

It was something she was very comfortable with, and she even developed a liking for it as she learned its basics.

Celine spun around with her staff, which she had coated in her Pinkish-Aura, reinforcing it, and relentlessly attacked Keith, who was blocking her attacks with his bare hands.

The rest of the ladies were sitting against the walls as they watched them spar, and recovered their breaths.

Only Venessa was up on her feet, and she was in another corner, working on her sword form with absolute seriousness.

A loud clap sounded out in the room, and the girls giggled when tears brimmed in Celine's eyes.

"Keith!" She admonished him for slapping her ass so hard, but he was unapologetic and did it again a few seconds later when she dropped her guard.

However, rather than throw a tantrum, she only became more serious and tried her best to not allow him to do it again, which impressed him a lot.

As Celine became more serious, he decided to take their spar to the next level. He suddenly retreated several metres away and conjured up an army of dozens of small beasts of Darkness, sending them her way.

She was a little terrified when she found herself surrounded by so many terrifying creatures, but then she braved up and valiantly fought against them for the next hour.

There was simply no end to these creatures as Keith just kept sending them at her, and they were not exactly harmless as her clothes had been torn and shredded from several places, and her skin bore some claw marks as well as some bite marks where those creatures had managed to catch her by getting past the Aura that guarded her body.

Since she was still a step away from True Profound Realm, she could not coat her entire body with her Aura at the same time, and she paid a price for it.

However, all these marks were very shallow and were nothing more than scratches. So, they could be healed in no time at all.

Just went she was completely depleted of all her strength and staggered on her feet, the lunging creatures of Darkness all evaporated out of existence.

Keith walked over to her and helped her sit in a meditative position, and then he energised her Aura Nodes a little to help her heal.

Once she had enough Aura in her body, she immediately started exercising the One-Fold Heart Pulse Technique, and after a few minutes, the marks on her skin visibly healed, leaving no traces behind.

The girls curiously looked at Keith, whose eyes were fixed on Celine. It was as if he was waiting for something, and it proved to be true when Celine's body started emanating a hue of her Pink Aura, and it was covering all of her body this time.

She had finally stepped into the True Profound Realm, and it brought a smile to everyone's face.

Celine was shocked when she opened her eyes after finishing using the One-Fold Heart Pulse Recovery Art, and then an excited smile appeared on her face.

"Keith!" She happily called out his name and then lunged at him, making him pick her up so that she could wrap her legs and arms around him and shower kisses all over his face.

"I love you!"

"Thank you!" He playfully replied.

"Mean!" She complained but then laughed merrily and captured his lips in an affectionate kiss.

The girls congratulated her on making progress, and she gave them all a big hug before obediently sitting down again to continue meditating.

It was Gina's turn to continue her training, and she drew her leaf sword at Keith with all the seriousness that she could muster.

"Come." Keith challengingly said but did not take out any weapon to spar her with. He dealt with her sword with his bare hands and continued toying with her for more than half an hour before stepping back and making her fight for her life against an army of creatures made out of Darkness.

Whilst she fought with those creatures, a little away from her, Sibyl was up against a Wolf made out of Amethyst Aura, which was Keith's Aura Soul Beast, but in a smaller form, and the silver-haired lady too was fighting for her life against it.

It was truly a marvel for those who were witnessing it for the first time. His Aura Soul could fight independently, and it was not clumsy but fought like a true beast, possessing intelligence, and was a real danger.

Celine watched Sibyl's battle with sparkles in her eyes, and Venessa too had stopped her Sword Practice and was watching very carefully.

Unlike the Mortal Gods, she would have to wait a long time to step out of her Primal Desolation. For her, it was not possible to step into the Martial Warrior Realm in this world, which meant her Aura Soul could not fight independently as Keith's could.

However, she was not dissatisfied with it or was in any rush. Staying in the Primal Desolation was not so bad, and though she could not advance in her Aura, she could work on making it more potent. And most importantly, she could spend all her time focusing on her Mana and Magical abilities, improving them.

Whilst others paid attention to both the battles or mostly on Sibyl's, Keith was solely focused on observing and gauging Ginara's battle and her battle instincts, which were impressively very sharp.

What impressed him the most was how efficient and aware she was with her Aura Reserves and did not waste any of it on something flashy or more than necessary.

When she managed to survive for an hour before her strength was depleted, Keith brightly smiled at her.

"Well done." He gently patted her head, making her blush, and then he helped her sit down to start on the One-Fold Heart Pulse Recovery Art.

Sibyl was still up against his Aura Soul, and she was hurt, bleeding from her left arm. However, she was still fighting with great focus, and Keith did not interrupt her battle.

Even though his Aura Soul could fight independently, it was his Aura Soul, and it could never harm the people he cared for. So, there was no danger to Sibyl's life.

The silver-haired lady continued battling against the invincible Aura Soul Beast, and when she finally dropped to her knees another hour later, spent of all her strength, the wolf rushed back to Keith and merged with him.

Her wounds were not mere scratches, so Keith helped her recover through the Two-Fold Heart Pulse. A technique that was the next stage of the One-Fold Heart Pulse, and a little more complicated. But its results were much better as well.

They had already missed their lunch today, and they did not have time to take a meal.

Everyone unanimously decided that they would have their meal after returning to Sameran.

An hour later, after everyone had freshened up, they left together for the Air Strip that was built a little away from Essra, and there the Demiliore Family's Private Jet was waiting to take them to Sameran.

Long gone was Celine's obsession with Cultivation, now, she wanted nothing more than to go home and see the other girls, and she could not stop talking about all the plans she had on her mind and wanted to work on once they reached home.