39 Chapter 39 - Soul Sword

Dante

I was back in Alucard's castle which was found in a part of purgatory that wasn't in the real world, in the middle of a desert. It looked like a mirage, surrounded by mist and it reminded me of the castle in my dreams. They even looked the same, old and in a state of decay.

I had become a constant visitor. In purgatory where time was non-existent, I could stay for hours without breaking my daily cycle. I asked Alucard if I couldn't just stay and train for a long period of time to speed things up.

"It'll break your mind." He replied. "It's not just disorientation, we're talking about insanity. To venture from one plane to another is to take that risk. Unless you're an angel, a demon or an immortal, time is not your friend."

So I had to settle for a few hours in purgatory every day. Alucard seemed to sense when it was time for me to go home. He told me it had something to do with my movements. When I became sluggish and my reflexes began to dull, he'd send me home. Travelling from one plane to another was the first thing I learned, the most crucial skill and Lucifer taught it to me. It simply consisted of generating and recreating the energy vibrations in purgatory. He told me that each plane had this distinct signal, one only needs to learn to tune himself to it.

At first, I feared that I'd be transported to other places if I fucked up but he assured me that this wasn't going to happen. I'll just end up in limbo floating around like an air balloon.

Where angels and demons have their own source of energy, I also had mine. Tapping into the source, I simply generated the same frequency and create a portal towards purgatory.

The first few days, Alucard concentrated on studying the source of my power. He said that this was the most important thing for me to learn.

"Not knowing where your power comes from is dangerous not just for you but for everyone around you." He told me while we were in the courtyard facing one another.

I asked him how he intended to teach me.

"The last time we fought, you created dark spheres of energy. I wasn't able to study them since you were hurling them at me." He said thoughtfully. "Perhaps you could create one for me?"

I looked at his face and saw that he was serious. "Alright but don't blame me if it explodes. I hardly understand how they work."

I concentrated and imagined the energy traversing from the source, letting it through and minimizing the resistance that seemed to limit the flow. After a few seconds, a dark sphere appeared hovering a few inches away from my chest. It didn't move, it just stayed there frozen in time.

Alucard stared at the pulsing sphere of dark energy in front of him, curiosity etched on his face.

"Do you feel it?" He asked me.

"Feel it?"

"Can you sense it with your mind?"

Now that he asked, I became aware of the sphere's presence in my head. "Yes."

Alucard seemed to be deep in thought. "Can you make it move?"

"Of course I can, remember when we fought?" I told him and immediately made the sphere circle around us.

He nodded approvingly. "You seem to have not forgotten the sensation of using it. That's good."

He backed a few paces. When he was satisfied he motioned at me. "I want you to hurl it at me." His voice rang in the yard. "Give it all you've got."

Understanding how it functions and how to tap into the source to generate the dark sphere, almost came naturally to me. I realized however that it wasn't like that. If Alucard didn't beat me half to death and forced me to surpass what I considered to be my limit, I wouldn't know the things I knew now.

Concentrating on the distance and the speed at which I felt was enough to hit him, I projected my will on the sphere. It responded without hesitation. With blinding speed, it hurled itself towards Alucard. I thought that it would hit him but at the last second, he dodged it, moving sideways. The sphere exploded and blew a hole in the wall.

He approached me and shook his head. "It looks like we'll have to practice somewhere else. At this rate you'll wreck the whole castle."

"So what do you think?" I asked him.

"The thing you call the source is the essence of your soul." He explained. "You are tapping at the center of your existence, your self."

"You lost me there."

"You are expressing the essence of your soul." Alucard said in hushed tones. "The dark sphere, the veil, all of it is a product of your soul expressing itself, materializing your will. It isn't however just your soul's essence that you're using. For you now have Death inside you, and his force and power is mixed in with yours."

"It sounds so complicated."

"It is complicated." Alucard agreed. "Even I cannot fathom as to how you are able to do what you do. But that is how it works and you must try to understand it and in the end simplify it. You cannot expect everything to be handed to you, that is not the way of things."

**

We were in a sort of training yard. Alucard was holding two practice swords. He held one out to me.

"What do I need this for?" I asked.

He didn't answer the question. He merely swung at me with the other sword and before I knew it I was on the ground, my head ringing. I looked up at him.

"What the hell?!"

"We are here because you need to learn to temper not just your power but also your physical body." He gestured for me to get up. "The mind and the body needs to be in constant balance with one another.

I gathered myself and we stood facing each other.

"Now what?"

"Now I'll teach you how to use a sword."

**

I considered my visits to Alucard's castle as a sort of ordeal. Every session, I would learn something new but the price I had to pay increased. When I asked him if he had a name for the swordfighting style that he was teaching me, he only shook his head. "As long as your enemies lay dead, it doesn't matter. "

"This method of fighting is something I taught myself." He explained to me. "It needs no fancy name as long as it's effective. It focuses on killing, as efficient and as quick as possible."

**

"Did you design this to fight supernaturals or humans?" I asked while Alucard demonstrated to me the first set of movements.

"Humans are unfit even for practice." His crimson eyes glowed with humor. "When I was young and new to this world, peace was non-existent. Every creature, from all planes of existence, fought. Even now we still continue to fight."

"I don't see you waging war." I commented.

"No, the war is within me. A constant battle, asking for the reason of my existence."

After that he said no more.

**

Alucard told me that the style can never reach it's true potential if taught to humans. It focused on utilizing speed and strength, combining it with what Alucard calls the "essence of the soul". In my case, it's tapping into the source of my power.

Before I could start combining the sword and the soul however, I had to learn a dozen movements. Alucard would have me practice them all day. With the time we had in purgatory, it felt like eternity. Each set would be different and before I could move on to the next set of movements, he'll have me repeat the previous set, and the ones before that. This went on for what seemed like months.

When he was convinced that I could do all the movements without error, we started to spar. He did this by matching his strength and speed to mine. At first, it was easy, I could see his movements clearly and the amount of time I invested practicing the movements he taught me seemed to paid off. They became reflexes; Attacking, parrying, defense, and counter-attacking .

But gradually his speed and strength increased and I had trouble keeping up. Again and again we did this until my body could adapt. He did this repeatedly on a daily basis until finally, we stopped.

"Your body has reached its limit when it comes to physical strength and speed." He told me when I returned the next day. "Now, you'll have to learn how to fight like a supernatural."

"Essence?" I asked.

He nodded. "This is something I cannot teach you or rather I will not teach you. You understand your power better than I do. You alone can grasp your own limits. You must innovate for yourself."

"How?"

He smiled. "Lucifer told me you love reading. Use your imagination, it is the fuel to the creation of something new, the seed that will help you express yourself more."

"In other words, you're leaving me to my own devices." I sighed.

"You can't expect me to teach you everything."

"Fine."