"FOR HIS OWN GOOD, MY ASS!
YOU ARE SICK!
AND YOU NEED HELP!"
Evelyn screamed in intense anger.
If any member of the Enclave had seen the way Evelyn was speaking to Vivienne, they would have forgotten how to breathe, some would have actually run away, but Evelyn—
She did not care.
She stepped in front of Lucian, her body trembling in anger. She too was terrified, she had heard how scary Vivienne was, but she still placed herself between Vivienne and Lucian, ready to protect him even at the cost of her life.
For the first few seconds, Vivienne stared at her in silence.
Then, her face became colder.
"Then what would you have me do, girl?"
She spoke as she started walking towards Evelyn.
Evelyn flinched.
"Pat his back and praise him while he defeats Lesser Demons? Tell him everything will be fine? Let him walk into the next battlefield with a power he can neither call nor control?"
Evelyn’s mouth opened, wanting to say something, but no words came out.
Vivienne’s voice became even colder.
"And I need help? Who exactly do you think can help me? Those comfort merchants you people call therapists these days?"
Evelyn gulped.
"What will they do when a demon stands in front of them? Talk to it? Ask whether it had a difficult childhood?"
"..."
Evelyn couldn’t say anything.
She only watched as Vivienne got closer and closer.
That was when Vivienne stopped just a step away from Evelyn and—
"Be mindful of your words, girl."
She spoke in a truly threatening tone that made Evelyn tremble nonstop.
"I put up with you because the boy likes you.
Do not mistake that for permission to teach me how to do things."
Vivienne looked down at Lucian.
"He chose this life where he needs to constantly better himself. He chose a life where he stands in front of supernatural monsters who will tear him apart if he shows even the slightest moment of weakness."
Her eyes then returned to Evelyn.
"And you chose to stand beside him."
Evelyn gulped.
"Understand the world you entered before you open your mouth. Understand the kind of life he has chosen before you decide to spend the rest of yours with him."
Evelyn clenched her hands as her eyes turned wet.
"I understand that he is hurt."
She spoke in a hoarse voice.
"No."
Vivienne shook her head.
"He is not hurt.
He is bleeding.
And trust me when I say it—
That is not the same thing."
Evelyn stared at her.
Vivienne raised her hand, red threads slipped from her fingers and wrapped around Lucian’s broken legs, forming a plaster just like she had done before.
Then, with her eyes still on Evelyn, Vivienne spoke in a cold, frosty tone.
"Now, you either help me heal him, or you can get out of this place.
I do not wish to waste any more time on you than I already have."
"I..."
Evelyn’s arms trembled, she was overwhelmed and afraid, but even then, as she saw Lucian lying on the floor, she looked back at Vivienne and—
"I’ll do it."
"Good."
Vivienne nodded.
"You have two hours."
"W-Will that be enough...?"
"If you two do not waste time on your shenanigans like you did before, then yes. Two hours are more than enough."
She spoke in a strict tone as she turned around.
"I want to see him standing on his two feet when I return."
Vivienne commanded.
"Y-Yes."
Evelyn nodded and Vivienne finally left the Hall, making Evelyn let out a relieved sigh. Then, she turned back to Lucian. For a moment, she only stared at his face. Then her eyes fell on the blood around him and she emptied her mind.
She needed to stop thinking and help him first.
So Evelyn prepared herself.
...
Vivienne barged into the Hall exactly two hours later.
"Awake?"
She asked, looking at Lucian.
"Yes."
Lucian smiled lightly. Vivienne did not fail to notice that his smile was a little off. That made her nod inwardly, it was good that she had chosen this training, Lucian needed to strengthen his mind. He had collapsed far quicker than she would have liked.
Of course, ’what she would have liked’ was something that no other hunter would even think of reaching.
Heck, even well-trained hunters would collapse quicker than Lucian did simply because no hunter today ’trained their mind’.
Who in their right mind would purposefully force themselves to revisit their traumas? And for what? To create resistance to mind attacks?
That was a foolish approach.
You did not continuously slice your body with a sword and heal it again to ’develop sword resistance’.
You protected yourself with Armour.
Just like you protected yourself from mind attacks using Artifacts.
Only a lost cause like Vivienne believed in forcefully ’strengthening one’s resistance to illusions’, and since Lucian was now stuck with her, he would very quickly understand why most beings avoided her tutelage at any cost.
"Are you prepared to continue?"
She asked, looking at Lucian.
"I am."
Lucian did not step back.
Stronger.
He needed to get stronger in order to tear that bastard apart.
Vivienne liked the shimmer in his eyes.
Her eyes then fell on Evelyn, who was standing beside Lucian and—
"Leave."
She commanded.
"I’ll call you again when you are needed."
Evelyn’s body flinched, her eyes, however, showed strong determination and—
"I want to stay here."
"No."
Vivienne denied it instantly.
"I do not have the time to chat with yo—"
"I won’t say anything."
Evelyn spoke up.
"I will only stay and watch in silence.
You told me to understand the world Lucian is part of, for that, I need to understand how he trains, I need to see what he is willing to go through to get stronger and...
And I need to strengthen myself."
She spoke as she clenched her fist.
"I realise that I cannot keep panicking every time Lucian is hurt, I need to keep myself sane so I can help him as efficiently as possible.
So please...
Please let me stay."
She bowed her head.
Vivienne stared at the girl for a moment, then—
"Whatever."
She snorted, allowing her to stay.
She did not know why she couldn’t seem to refuse her.