NOCTEM

Fallen shadow god battle art

"That's enough, go get some rest."

Eren, who had been watching Nox train for hours, feeling satisfied, suddenly found it appropriate to allow the kid to have some rest.

Nox dropped the training sticks, letting out a tired sigh he glared at Eren.

His face remained impassive as he didn't utter so much as a single word, yet within his mind, he was raining an onslaught of curses, all aimed at the wizard.

'Damned demon... This isn't training, it's torture, I.. I can't feel my hands.'

Eren had woken Nox up in the middle of the night, instead of the usual assassination attempt he usually tried, this time he had woken Nox up to continue his training, although the young child was expecting his eccentric teacher to attempt something crazy, he didn't expect to continue the daunting and pointless task of swinging wooden sticks around so early in the morning.

When he started, the sky was dark and eerily quiet, he had done it the entire day once again and now it was currently nighttime.

His body was aching all over, as even walking felt like a chore, his legs wobbled whilst his hands twitched and shook violently.

A step more and he might have probably collapsed from fatigue. He quickly took a seat on a log, his shoulders slumping mildly while he watched his teacher conjure a flame spell to make a campfire.

An awkward silence befell the two of them, teacher and student both staring blankly into the luminous flames cackling in the cold embrace of the night without uttering a single word.

After a while, Eren decided to break the silence, his voice was somewhat distant.

"I asked you to get some rest, tomorrow's training will be a very tiring one for you."

Nox almost let out an annoyed huff, barely containing the scowl that crept up his face.

"Since when has training been any less tiring?, It's all the same, besides.. thanks to you, I think I've developed insomnia."

Eren could only let out a subtle smile.

"Tomorrow will be a different one, that I can promise you... You'll train till every single bone in your body, as well as your muscles gets damaged, broken down and reforged."

He lingered for a bit before adding.

"After all, the techniques I'll be teaching you from tomorrow are all battle arts of the fallen shadow god."

Nox couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise, while the witch had added the word ' fallen', the being in question was still a deity... And as per the rules the supreme beings which were also known as gods, imposed on the lesser plane, no mortal was allowed to learn the battle arts of the gods except they were variables known as the gods vessels.

Despite being baffled, Nox couldn't help but ask his eccentric teacher a few questions, while others might have been eager to learn something as broken as a fallen god's battle art and techniques, he himself didn't find it quite appealing for different reasons but the most important reason why he didn't just accept it was the fact that he could die just by attempting to learn it.

"Aren't we forgetting the fact that it's the battle art of a god, and a fallen one at that, without restrictions, I'd be a fool not to think of potential death as a possibility while learning it."

Eren sighed and then his lips curled up into a smile, which for some reasons Nox found to be creepy.

"You're a smart kid, but little one if I may ask.. what makes you think that you might die while learning it?."

Nox's face contoured into a frown as he spoke.

"I'm sure you know this and maybe you're deliberately trying to kill me by using training as a cover, it's the battle art of a 'god', it wasn't created to be used by mere mortals."

Eren chuckled.

"Oh little one, how lowly do you think of your bloodline, who said you were a mere mortal?, A part of your bloodline, from your mother's race to be specific, is well known for being immortal. The only method to kill them would be by damaging their heart beyond repair or completely erasing them from reality."

He lingered for a bit and then stared at the night sky wistfully.

"When I first found the scroll in which the fallen shadow god battle art was written down, inscribed on the scroll as ancient runes, I was also of the same mindset as you, and as it turns out.. you're actually correct when you say that mere mortals couldn't learn it and would actually die in the process."

"W.. Wait, you mean..."

"Yes, without sufficient preparations any one who attempts to learn it would literally die."

"Sufficient?.." Nox couldn't help but ask.

He didn't understand what the witch was trying to say.. first, the witch had confirmed that one could actually die by attempting to learn it, but it seemed like there was a big flaw in Nox's thinking.

While the witch had said a mere mortal would die while attempting to learn the fallen shadow god battle art, he didn't say how.. he also mentioned that without enough preparations, one would die by just trying to learn it, this got Nox thinking..

'If he wants to teach that to me, then that would mean he had made the appropriate preparations to ensure that I don't die right?... Or is it something where the odds of me surviving are only a fifty percent chance? But if I could learn something as powerful as a fallen god's battle art then that would be a massive power up for me to use against those bastards if I ever come across them.'

The eccentric witch spoke again, this time gazing directly at Nox.

"Yes, it's not that a mere mortal can't learn something as powerful as the battle art of a god, it's just that the fallen shadow god battle art in question is an accumulation of various battle arts of other gods, demons and ancient races with intense power alike that the shadow god had battled throughout his entire life, so learning something like that would not only require a long time, it would also require the body of the person learning it to be so flexible that it would seem that the using it would practically be formless."

At this point, Nox had gotten a grasp on the reason why a mere mortal attempting to learn the battle art of the fallen shadow god, would eventually die. It was because the life of a mortal would practically be over before they'd eventually be able to learn it, and if in extremely rare cases one should survive, then their body would have been too old even be able to carry out mundane tasks, much more fight.

Nox hesitated for a while, he couldn't still believe what he was hearing, there were a lot of questions going through his mind, and he still had his doubts.

'How am I any different from the rest?'

'How long will it take for me to be able to learn the fallen shadow god battle art?.'

'No before that, is it even possible for me to learn it?.'

He couldn't stop the array of thoughts flooding his mind. Eventually after lingering for a bit and calming himself, he spoke up with a little bit of hesitation.

"Is it even possible for me to learn something like that? How do you intend to teach it to me? And how long do you think it'll take for me to learn it?."

Eren shrugged.

"Yes it's possible for you to learn it, I dare say no one is more fit to learn it besides you. And to answer your second question, I will be using my magic on the runic scroll to turn every instruction there into an entity to spar with you and also teach you the battle art of the shadow god."

He lingered for a bit then leaned closer which brought his face into view as the glow of the campfire gave a bit of lighting to the location they were currently residing at.

With a wry smile, he spoke

"And to answer your third question... You would have fully mastered the battle art of the shadow god in less than a year."