Zatiel gave Vania a moment to analyze his words before launching himself back into the fray. The Neo-Demon always attacked directly and never moved away from the woman's line of sight.
The Fourth Princess used all kinds of spells to improve her battle power and break her opponent's rhythm, but nothing worked. The bone sword always found a way to neutralize every obstacle on its path and reach Vania from an impossible angle.
The power in the bastard sword was constantly redirected away from the Neo-Demon's path. When the weapons clashed, Vania always felt that she hit nothing, and Zatiel used the impulse to strike from a different path.
Even though her energy pool was diminishing fast and wounds were accumulating in her body, the Fourth Princess did not lose focus for a single moment and graved every move of Zatiel in her mind.
The Neo-Demon was displaying a battle style that anyone with a sword and a powerful body could deploy, and Vania knew it would increase her battle power if she learned some of it, even if it was just its most basic elements.
Flashes of inspiration appeared in Vania's eyes from time to time. However, she would need a long time before she could fully comprehend them. Zatiel's battle style was one formed after millions of battles in the Abyss, and although he was showing the most basic parts of it, they were still too much for Vania to learn in this fight.
The fight continued for a little more than three hours before Zatiel finally ended it. The Neo-Demon was a little tired due to the physical effort, but his energy pool was full, and in minutes he would be at his peak again.
Vania, on the other hand, was exhausted, and her energy pool was dangerously low. She was forced to use spells and the full might of her energy to keep up with Zatiel. Despite that, in the end, she was not able to land a single blow on him.
The difference between their martial skills and technique was too great.
"Here ends the first lesson. What I did could be described as using softness to overcome hardness. You were not only stronger than me, but thanks to your spells, you were also faster. Nonetheless, I still overpowered you with ease. The reasons are simple; you lack skill, you don't know how to make your weapon and body act as one, and you are full of openings." After giving a summary of the battle, Zatiel made a drop of blood rise from his index finger, and a stream of consciousness emerged from his head.
The drop of blood and the stream of consciousness reached the Fourth Princess' heart and head. Purple flames inundated Vania's body, healing it and recovering her energy pool, but she was too focused on the information in her mind to notice the state of her body.
Vania felt a stream of information appear on her mind. It had all the theoretical knowledge behind using softness to overcome hardness, along with Path Techniques that center on fighting opponents that are physically superior.
"I can try something that will grant you a lot of time for training, but you will have to turn down your soul defenses. You don't have to worry about me doing something to your soul. You are too weak to be useful to me, and I cannot hide anything from your brother in his Inner Law Dimension, but the decision is yours." Zatiel spoke in a relaxed tone, and it appeared he did not care if Vania accepted his proposal or not.
Despite her carefree attitude, the Fourth Princess was not stupid. Allowing access to your soul to another person was dangerous, but after thinking for a moment and seeing that her brother nodded, she was confident she would be safe.
After having Vania's approval, Zatiel put his hand over her head and used his Rebirth Eye again to put her consciousness in the Rebirth Nightmare.
Vania was startled at first when she noticed that she was once again in the purple dark plane. However, she calmed down after noticing that there was no monster and her memory was clear.
"Time in this place runs much faster than in the real world. Improving your centers of power is not possible since you are just a physical representation of your consciousness. However, there is no problem with training martial skills or learning theories behind techniques."
Vania heard that Zatiel's voice coming from the sky. Without wasting time, she adopted a meditative position and went through the information in her mind.
She spent the first three months in silence, going through the knowledge and techniques until finally opening her eyes.
'I need my weapon to put into practice what I have learned.' The moment Vania thought of that, the bastard sword appeared in front of her.
Vania was surprised for a moment, but she just accepted it. She took the sword and began to display all kinds of impressive techniques.
She practiced on her own for the first two months. After she learned the basics of using softness to overcome hardness, she thought of enemies with whom she could train, and the world around her transformed into a desolate place full of vicious demons.
The demons attacked like crazy killing machines. Vania was forced to respond with all of her power, and soon a chaotic battle filled the plane. An advantage she noticed was the fact she did not get tired in this place and could fight without stopping. That was something very useful since no matter how many demons she killed, more appeared.
The demons were stronger than her, and they attacked in packs of ten. Once she made a mistake or her rhythm broke, she was crushed. Every time her body was destroyed, she would reappear and immediately be forced back into the fray.
Zatiel was thoughtful and did not make her feel pain, but seeing her body being crushed under the demon horde still affected her a little.
The Fourth Princess battled against the demonic horde for a little more than two years before the purple plane began to tremble, and she was pushed back to the real world.
The moment she opened her eyes, everyone felt a massive change in Vania's temperament. Her aura was sharper and dangerous. Of course, it could not compare with the one of Ezequiel and Heinz, who had experienced true life and death battles.
Gabriel's eyes narrowed when he detected the drastic change in his sister but relaxed the next moment when he noticed the naive light that was still present in her eyes.
Vania took a moment to adjust herself and looked at her surroundings before focusing on Zatiel, who had his right eye closed.
"How long has passed?"
"A little more than ten minutes."
The Fourth Princess was shocked when she heard that. Being able to display such a godly ability with the power of a Rank 4 life form was incredible, even for someone like her whose father could equal the might of a Being of Laws.
However, Zatiel was disappointed and a little frustrated when he saw the limits of his Rebirth Nightmare. The Sage could make someone experience a lifetime in his dream dimension in a couple of minutes, while he could only extend ten minutes into a few years.
'I need more practice and fully excavate the potential of my Rebirth Eye. At least the offensive might of my Rebirth Nightmare is not weaker than his dream. I wonder where that creature originated.'
Zatiel had chosen to erase the Sage at the first chance he got since it was the only entity in a long time that succeeded in making him feel danger and almost defeated him.
The incarnation he captured in the Beta Heavenly World did not have true memories, and although he could have used it to try and figure out the origin of the Sage, that would have taken too much time. The Neo-Demon was not willing to give him the chance to put countermeasures against his plan.
The Neo-Demon shook his head and threw those thoughts away. He stared at the Fourth Princess that was waiting for his instructions, but after analyzing the condition of his body, he shook his head.
"I have overused the power in my right eye and need some time to rest. I will impart the other two lessons when I go to the Scientia Kingdom to take the test."
Although Vania was a little disappointed, she did not dare respond to her teacher and limited herself to nodding.
Zatiel glanced at the Second Prince, and this one waved his hand immediately, pushing everybody out of his Inner Law Dimension and back to the magic tower.
"We have fulfilled the goal of our meeting. A message will be sent when the trial is ready. See you soon, Master Demonologist." Gabriel spoke, and after bowing, he teleported along with his sister.
