Kael did it several times through the hours, steadily increasing the essence pressure each time until Azaroth couldn’t tell when he stopped and when he started increasing pressure again.

Azaroth had since gotten used to the sudden jerking of his muscles, the way his joints locked together, and how he was left twitching each time after sessions of pressure on his core.

His small body had never sweated so much, his muscles had never relaxed and turned rigid the next moment from pain like this before. Azaroth’s uniform was torn with strips burned away, and his sword was no longer by his side.

His chaos core hadn’t been put through pressure but oddly enough it was...changing too. Just like his normal core was getting smaller, tighter, and harder like a shrunken tiger nut.

"Anytime now." He heard Kael mutter just before Alex grunted sharply in pain as Kael began another session on him.

Azaroth had heard Kael say this a few times from where he lay now and each time he wondered what he meant. Azaroth’s hair was filled with blood and sweat and his eyes were even redder than usual.

Then it happened. To Alex. Essence tore through the room with the sound of howling wind, the air tightened like the surface of a drum before relaxing again.

"Finally! Alex had advanced to Awakened Initiate rank!" Kael shouted. He walked towards the groaning boy and crouched beside him, he put his hand on Alex’s stomach and nodded sharply in approval.

Azaroth smirked mentally. So Kael was on to something after all? He wasn’t just spouting bullshit because he was angry and bored?

Azaroth zeroed in on his cores and he grappled them mentally and..... squeezed. At first, nothing happened, his cores stayed hard and small. Then a crack appeared on his chaos core, spreading rapidly like a spiderweb before his chaos core exploded.

The chaotic explosion caused his normal core to explode too, at least that was what it looked like to Azaroth. A mini explosion of red and white, invisible power that manifested outside himself.

Azaroth was lifted with a burst of energy then the room exploded with white light. It was as if a mini tornado of light had dropped in the room.

Wood and weapons were sent flying like toys, Alex, who had started getting up, was thrown across the room, and even Kael had to channel essence to stay firmly on his feet.

Azaroth floated in the air through all this, essence flooded him, flowing through all his veins like blood. His eyes widened, this energy.... it was the combined energy of the monsters he killed in the crypt!

He checked his core, there wasn’t much difference Azaroth could see only that it got a little bigger. Azaroth was gently lowered to the floor.

Azaroth’s advancement triggered the rest, Stallus’s and Catena’s advancement was less dramatic.

For Stallus, a light sound rang through the air like two crystals clicking together only it was loud and clear and resonated deeply before slowly dying away. Stallus’s eyes glowed and the blue in her hair burned with blue energy.

Catena’s was almost like his personality. The very air groaned and became heavy for a few seconds before returning to normal.

Alex groaned and crawled through the weapon rack he was thrown into. "Why should I always be thrown across the room? And I’m the only one....wait almost all my wounds are gone!"

It was true, Azaroth thought as he sat upright. His head had stopped burning and all the pains he felt from his muscles were almost gone. He felt... refreshed.

He couldn’t feel any essence in his body but he knew he was faster and stronger somehow. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Kael laughed, his laughter was less cruel this time. "This is what happens after every advancement! The essence enlarges your cores and reconstructs your body. Makes it stronger each time."

"Well, this is refreshing," Stallus said as she stood up. Her hair and eyes had stopped glowing.

Stallus kicked Catena. "Stop pretending you are sleeping, I saw your eyes open minutes ago."

Alex chuckled. "The pain must have washed his boredom away a little."

Catena grunted and rolled smoothly to his feet, he swung his right arm. "Saves me the trouble at least," he mumbled. His right dislocated shoulder had healed.

Azaroth noticed Catena was still the only one with a weapon on his body. Advantage of having your weapon tied to you, Azaroth thought.

Azaroth searched with his eyes and saw his sword under a half-burnt wooden pillar. He looked at the room, and it was a mess.

Since the training hall was made mainly of wood, half of the hall had burnt or become half-burnt charcoal. The dummies were nothing but jagged splinters and the floor had been ripped.

The wall was covered in burnt marks, and even the far ceiling wasn’t spared. A hole had been punched through the ceiling, probably by a fireball.

Azaroth wondered if it was worth it for the Inferno Legion and if it was worth it to them. Why?

Azaroth checked his cores next. His normal core was bigger than before and held more essence too. He felt the essence in his normal core, it was three times that of when he first became Awakened.

And his chaos core was half of his normal core.

"Congratulations to you all. Now, you can call yourselves Awakeners. The true training begins now." Kael chuckled at that as if all they had been doing till now was not "true" training.

Maybe it wasn’t, Azaroth thought. He had seen the way Kael played with them as if they were not even worth his attention. Azaroth knew Kael was not even using 5% of his power.

Azaroth saw a glimpse of power when he was with Evernight. He clenched his fist, that kind of power. What had Kael Hound called it? Yes, overwhelming power.

"What now?" Alex asked.

Kael sighed and looked around the room. "Well.....It’s evening already. Go upstairs, change, and freshen up. Food will be waiting when you come back."

Azaroth frowned as he discovered one of the dangers of putting pressure on your core that Kael didn’t mention. Overwhelming hunger.