Nixie narrowed her eyes at the charging army of Fox clones before closing her eyes completely. She took a long, deep breathe, feeling her heart pounding in her chest, before slowly opening her eyes again.

Gone was the army of Silver haired men, replaced with a vicious horde of blood red skinned Goblins, each of them foaming at the mouth and having eyes that twinkled with murderous glee.

Gritting her teeth more, Nixie stared down the same army that her father had once faced and leapt forwards. Letting out a mighty war cry, she thrust her fist into the first Hemogoblin, exploding its head and throwing its broken body back into the rest of the horde.

Of course, Nixie had never actually met a Hemogoblin so a lot of their features were exaggerated or simply wrong, such as their height or the fact they carried actual weapons in her imagination.

However what she had seen the videos of her fathers first appearance as Lord Corvus. When he faced down the Hemogoblin army alone. At least that's how she interpreted the story.

Details such as him not actually being alone, like having his Statues beside him, or the fact that it wasn't actually Seth in the suit but a puppet. Those didn't actually matter to her and so were tossed to the side for the better story.

In her mind, her father was the invincible knight holding the army at bay with nothing but his own fists. Which was exactly what she wanted to be.

Fists and feet flew, bodies exploded into glass shards or were simply launched across the room like ragdolls. With overwhelming strength and indomitable will, Nixie stood strong against the relentless horde, just like her father did.

But, just like her father, soon the unending numbers began to show their own strength. She could barely recover from her punch before she was beset by three more attacks. Her movements started to become sharp and minimal, correcting for mistakes as she went.

Her massive, haymaker punches that put her off balance were quickly substituted for sharp, quick blows that snapped out like a lunging viper. When she couldn't even recoil those punches fast enough, she would open her palm and use her fingernails.

In the last year they had kept their black colouration and grown harder. At a thought, she could elongate them into wicked claws, which she used to carve apart her enemies.

As her breathing began to grow heavy and ragged from the constant dodging, she started to mentally prioritise the blows that were coming towards her.

She had thick scales that covered the back of her fingers, her hand and her forearms as well as a few other random places on her body. They had been there since birth, but as she had developed so had they. Developing to the point that most weapons as the Transcendent level had issues getting a good enough purchase into her flesh to deal any real damage.

As Nixie fought, she learned to take some blows that wouldn't hurt or phase her too much, and only spent the energy dodging the ones that would be fatal or would hinder her movement. That is, the attacks that would be fatal if this really was the situation she was imagining.

It was a brutal, perhaps even cruel, training for someone so young. Seth felt that in his heart every time he heard her cry out or whimper in pain. It was an icy hand clenching his heart, squeezing the life out of him every time he heard the girl he swore to protect in pain.

But it was undeniable in results. Every bruise, every cut, every whimper. They were their own lessons, one that would remain with her so that when this became a real fight, she would know how to deal with it.

Pain was the most horrible, but effective tutor. Something that many in this world learned and understood. Even with societies built and civilisation appearing to be restored, they were still under the laws of nature. Adapt or die. Survival of the fittest.

However even with minimal dodging, and all the other quick lessons that she had learned from pain, there was only so much Nixie could do against overwhelming numbers that only climbed no matter how many she beat.

Not every fight could be won by simple brute strength. It was a lesson Seth wanted to teach her before her overconfidence got her killed. Whether she fell into despair, panic or simply went down fighting, Seth wanted to see what she would do and train from there. However what he got, even he was not expecting.

As one of the Fox clones flanked behind Nixie, it used the flying corpse of its brethren as a springboard to leap high into the air. He turned his sword down as he plunged through the air, aiming for a strike that would skewer her through the back.

A dozen more clones were baraging her from the front, keeping her hands busy. Whether she punched, kicked or flew, it was a death blow. So she did none of the above.

A ghostly tail that was long, scaled and had spiked ridges running down along the spine, manifested into the air. It seemed like an illusion, just an image of a tail that connected to Nixie's lower back.

However when the tail flicked and slammed into the assassin clone, that 'illusion' smacked him like a baseball and catapulted him across the room until he slammed into the ceiling on the other side of the colossal training room. You could almost hear an imaginary crowd cheering for the home run.

Nixie leapt backwards in the space she had created, spinning around and sweeping her spectral tail through the crowd, parting them like the ocean. With room to breathe, that is exactly what she did.

She stood tall and drew in a long, deep breath that inflated her lungs and puffed out her chest. At the same time, a spectral dragon's head appeared floating above her. It followed her movements, leaning back as she did, before they both leaned forwards and opened their mouths.

From Nixie's mouth, she simply exhaled a lungful of air. But from the ghostly dragons mouth, came a plume of pale blue fire that swept over the crowd of clones. They were engulfed in roaring flames as the spectral dragon spewed it out, tilting its head up to follow the path of their origin before ending on the mirror they all stepped from.

It bathed the mirror in flames, causing it to melt and warp, until it was little more than a puddle of shining metal that gave off nothing but warped and useless reflections.

The spectral body parts disappeared as Nixie hunched forwards, her chest heaving up and down as her breathing became heavy and ragged. Beads of sweat dripped down her forehead, adding to the river that was coursing down her back.

A sense of relief came when she felt something nice and cool pressing against her throat, that was quickly replaced with dread when she realised it was the cold blade of one of Fox's clones.

She snapped her head up in horror, staring at it in disbelief as it simply smirked.

"You lose."

While his reflection was letting off an air of calm coolness, the type that suited a refined swordsman, the real Fox was panting heavily as he sat against the centre column of the prison turned training room.

Although creating reflections of himself was the easiest option, making so many in such a tiny amount of time had completely exhausted him.

He raised his arm to wipe the waterfall of sweat from his brow, only to stop when he noticed the handkerchief being offered by Seth. He gladly took it and used it to mop up the mess on his forehead, but quickly looked up at Seth with a strange look.

"Are you crying?"

"I'm just... just so proud of her."

Seth whimpered, raising another handkerchief up to his eyes, dabbing at the imaginary tears that were forming at the edge of his metallic eyes. How could he not be proud after such a beautiful display? His girl really was the best around.

The fact that she was currently throwing a tantrum, stomping her feet and leaving perfect indentations in the floor while she did so, didn't change the overwhelming pride flowing out of his eyes.

"It's not fair! You cheated! I would have won if you didn't!"

The Fox clone glanced over at the two 'real' people that were supposed to be teaching the girl, both of whom were a mess in their own ways, and simply rolled his eyes.

"Stop that. Fairness has no place on the battlefield. Not a real one anyways. This isn't a game, this isn't a competition. This is life and death. That is what your father was trying to teach you with that.

Fairness is not going to be a factor. Do you think a monster will care about fair? Do you think they will play by the rules? No. So why should you? Fight dirty. Fight to win. Fight to live."

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