Two weeks had passed since the factory raid, and Kaelen was starting to feel like an actual warrior again instead of a desperate man clinging to a cursed sword.
The difference was training. Real, structured, relentless training.
Every morning began the same way: before dawn, in the open space of the warehouse's main floor, with Ronan as his instructor. The former Shadow Hunter was a brutal taskmaster, pushing Kaelen through forms and techniques that had nothing to do with Soulrender's shadow magic.
"Again," Ronan commanded, watching Kaelen move through a defensive sequence for the dozenth time. "Your footwork is sloppy. You're compensating for the wound in your ribs, which means you're developing bad habits. Fix it."
Kaelen reset his stance and tried again, forcing his body to move correctly despite the lingering pain. The cultist's dagger wound had healed mostly, but the muscle remembered.
"Better," Ronan conceded. "But still not perfect. The moment you rely on the sword to cover your weaknesses, you're not wielding it—it's wielding you. Understand?"
"Understand," Kaelen gasped, sweat dripping from his hair. They'd been at this for three hours, and his muscles screamed for rest.
"Good. Now fifty more repetitions."
"You're sadistic."
"I'm thorough. There's a difference." Ronan moved to demonstrate a variant of the form. "In real combat, you won't have time to think. Your body needs to know what to do automatically. Muscle memory is the difference between life and death."
So Kaelen repeated the forms, again and again, until they felt natural. Until his body moved without conscious thought, flowing from defense to attack to defense again like water.
After the physical training came the magical control exercises with Lia. These were different—more mental than physical, requiring focus and precision instead of sweat and pain.
"Feel the sword's presence," Lia instructed, sitting cross-legged across from Kaelen in a clear space marked with observation runes. "But don't engage with it. Just... acknowledge it exists. Like being aware of your breathing without controlling it."
Kaelen tried, closing his eyes, feeling for Soulrender's consciousness. The blade sat on the floor between them, dormant but aware. *Hello, wielder,* it said pleasantly. *Come to chat?*
"Just observing," Kaelen said aloud.
*Boring,* Soulrender complained. *We could be hunting. Absorbing. Growing stronger.*
"Later. Right now, we're training."
*Also boring.*
Despite himself, Kaelen smiled. The sword's personality had become more distinct over the past two weeks—sardonic, impatient, but oddly principled about keeping their partnership agreement. It still hungered for power, but it had stopped trying to overwhelm Kaelen's will during every fight.
Progress. Slow, but real.
"You're smiling," Lia observed. "Good conversation with the cursed blade?"
"It's complaining about being bored," Kaelen said. "Apparently training doesn't count as quality time."
"Soulrender has opinions on quality time. That's... either encouraging or terrifying." Lia's diagnostic runes circled Kaelen, checking his shadow corruption levels. "Scars are stable at twenty-nine. No progression, no regression. The absorption strategy is working."
"How are you doing?" Kaelen asked, opening his eyes. "With the life-force drain from the purifications?"
Lia hesitated, and in that hesitation, Kaelen saw the truth. She was pushing herself too hard, burning too bright, determined to keep him stable no matter the cost to herself.
"I'm fine," she said finally.
"Lia."
"I'm *managing*," she corrected. "The Shadow Hunter network's research has helped. There are techniques to minimize the drain, ways to draw on ambient magical energy instead of purely personal life force. I've been implementing them."
"But it's still costing you."
"Everything costs something, Kaelen." She met his eyes. "This is what I chose. What I'm still choosing. Every day."
"You shouldn't have to—"
"Don't," Lia interrupted. "Don't tell me what I should or shouldn't do. I'm not some fragile thing that needs protecting. I'm a rune mage, a researcher, and someone who decided that keeping you human is worth the price. Respect that decision."
Kaelen wanted to argue, wanted to insist that her life was worth more than his cursed existence. But he could see in her expression that arguing would only insult her. So instead, he said: "Thank you. For choosing this. For choosing me."
Lia's expression softened. "You're welcome. Now, let's try something new. Active resonance training."
"Which is?"
"You channel a small amount of shadow energy. I channel purification runes. We see if we can get them to work together instead of canceling each other out." She began tracing patterns in the air, blue light gathering around her fingers. "In theory, if we can achieve resonance, we might be able to create hybrid techniques—shadow power guided by purification, reducing the corruption cost."
"In theory?"
"I've never actually tried this with a live Forbidden Blade wielder. Master Elena's notes suggested it was possible, but..." Lia shrugged. "Science requires experimentation."
"Comforting," Kaelen said dryly. But he drew Soulrender and carefully channeled a thread of shadow energy, as thin and controlled as he could manage.
Lia's purification magic met it halfway, blue light touching black shadow.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then the two energies began to spiral around each other, not fighting, not canceling, but dancing. The shadow became less hungry, less corrupting. The purification became less harsh, less draining. They found a balance, a middle ground.
Kaelen could feel it—a new kind of power, hybrid and strange. Not overwhelming like pure shadow magic, not limited like his normal sword techniques. Something in between, sustainable, almost...
The energies detonated.
Both Kaelen and Lia were thrown backward by the magical backlash. Kaelen hit the floor hard, his ears ringing. Soulrender clattered across the room. Lia's defensive runes had absorbed most of her impact, but she looked dazed.
"Well," she said eventually, "that was informative."
"Did we just almost explode?" Kaelen asked, checking to make sure all his limbs were still attached.
"Technically, the magic exploded. We just happened to be nearby." Lia got unsteadily to her feet, already analyzing. "The resonance was working—I felt it. But we pushed too hard, tried to maintain it too long. Like overloading a circuit."
"So it's possible, we're just bad at it."
"Essentially, yes." She offered him a hand up. "But now we know it can work. That's progress. We just need more practice, better control, and probably safety padding."
Ronan appeared in the doorway, alerted by the explosion. He took in the scene—scorch marks on the floor, both Kaelen and Lia disheveled—and sighed. "I'm gone for twenty minutes and you two try to blow yourselves up. Am I going to need to supervise all your training sessions?"
"We were experimenting," Lia said defensively.
"And learning," Kaelen added.
"Sure. That's what we'll call it." Ronan crossed the room to retrieve Soulrender, handling the blade with careful respect. "Speaking of learning, I have news from Selene. She's identified three more corruption sites ready for cleansing. Also, there's been movement on the Marcus front."
That got both their attention. "What kind of movement?" Kaelen asked.
"The bad kind." Ronan set Soulrender on the table. "Shadow Hunter intelligence suggests Marcus has narrowed down the location of one of the other Forbidden Blades. Hearteater, specifically. He's mobilizing resources toward the coastal region—searching the Deep Ocean."
"He's actually going to find it?" Lia asked.
"Maybe. Maybe not. The ocean's vast, and Hearteater has been lost for three centuries. But Marcus is thorough and patient. If anyone can locate a Forbidden Blade, it's him." Ronan pulled out a map, marked with various sites. "Which means we need to accelerate our operations. The more corruption we clean up, the less power Marcus has to draw on for his search."
Kaelen studied the map. Red marks indicated corrupted sites—seventeen originally, but several now had cross-marks indicating they'd been cleansed. "We've hit five sites in two weeks. At this rate..."
"At this rate, it'll take two months to clean them all," Ronan said. "And Marcus doesn't need that long. We need to increase frequency. Hit two, maybe three sites per week instead of two or three every two weeks."
"That's a lot of fighting," Kaelen said. "A lot of corruption absorption. Can Soulrender handle that much intake?"
*Can we?* The sword sounded almost offended. *Wielder, we were made to consume shadow energy. The more we absorb, the more refined our power becomes. We could cleanse every corrupted site in Aethor and still hunger for more.*
"The sword says yes, enthusiastically," Kaelen translated. "What about me? Can I handle that much intake without losing control?"
Lia's diagnostic runes appeared again, circling him. "Your threshold should be fine. As long as you're absorbing ambient corruption instead of using the blade's core power, your Scar count stays stable. The risk isn't corruption—it's exhaustion. Physical, mental, and magical fatigue."
"So we need to pace ourselves better," Kaelen said. "Work smarter, not just harder."
"Exactly." Ronan tapped several points on the map. "These three sites are close together in the merchant district. We could hit them in a single night operation—in, absorb, out, minimal engagement. Quick and efficient."
"When?" Lia asked.
"Tomorrow night. Selene's already scouting the locations, identifying guard patterns and weak points." Ronan looked at both of them seriously. "This is the escalation phase. More operations, higher risks, better coordination required. Are you both ready for that?"
Kaelen looked at Lia, who nodded. He thought about Marcus, about the Shadow Lord, about innocent people being used as pawns in a game they didn't even know was being played.
"Ready," he said. "Let's hunt."
The rest of the day was spent in preparation—studying maps, reviewing tactics, maintaining equipment. As evening fell, Ronan left to coordinate with other Shadow Hunters, leaving Kaelen and Lia alone in the warehouse.
"Want to try the resonance experiment again?" Lia asked, eyeing the scorch marks from their earlier attempt. "With safety precautions this time?"
"Do you think it's worth it?" Kaelen asked. "The hybrid technique?"
"I think if we can master it, it changes everything. Shadow power without corruption cost? That's not just useful—it's revolutionary." Lia's eyes lit up with research fervor. "Plus, it would prove that the Forbidden Blades aren't inherently evil. Just tools, like any magic. It's all in how they're used."
"You really believe that?" Kaelen asked. "That Soulrender isn't evil?"
"I believe evil is in intent, not objects," Lia said. "The sword was made as a weapon. Weapons can be used to protect or to harm. You're choosing protection. That matters."
*She's wise, for a human,* Soulrender observed. *We like her.*
"The sword likes you," Kaelen said, smiling slightly.
"The sword has good taste," Lia replied. Then, more seriously: "I mean it, Kaelen. What you're doing—learning to control this power, using it to help people, fighting against the corruption instead of giving in to it—that takes strength. Real strength. Don't let anyone, including yourself, tell you otherwise."
Standing there in the quiet warehouse, with evening light slanting through the high windows, Kaelen felt something shift. This wasn't just partnership. This wasn't just a rune mage helping a cursed wielder survive. This was... something more.
Something he wasn't quite ready to name, but definitely felt.
"Same to you," he said quietly. "What you're doing—burning yourself out to save someone you barely know, standing with me when everyone else would run—that's strength too. Don't forget that."
Lia held his gaze for a long moment, and Kaelen could see the same unspoken understanding in her eyes. Then she smiled and stepped back, professional again.
"Alright. Let's try that resonance experiment one more time. And this time, let's not explode."
They trained into the night, failing more than succeeding, but learning with every attempt. And somewhere in that warehouse, as shadow and light spiraled around each other in careful balance, two people learned to trust each other completely.
Because trust, in the end, was the only thing strong enough to stand against the darkness.