Rebirth Of The Bastard Spirit Summoner

"Pacing around isn't going to help him complete the challenge, miss." Said Altaic as he watched Jade walk around the water shore.

Jade bit her finger as she stared at Stark.

They had been doing this for more than a week now, the same repeated process that almost got Stark killed each time.

She should have been used to it, but today was different…

Stark had stayed in the water for far longer than before, not just that, something was terribly wrong with him.

His eyes had rolled to the back of his head, leaving only the whites and he had a deranged smile on his face, his fingers still tightly clasped together.

He was unconscious, and yet he was still training.

"This is madness, I'm going to pull him out." Jade began walking towards him when the old man held her shoulders.

"He is in a period of enlightenment, stopping him now will only do more harm than good. Are you ready to take responsibility for costing him a week of training?"

Jade frowned and slapped his hands away in annoyance. The old man had put her in a position where she could not do anything.

She knew how much Stark had strived so far, how greater his hunger for power grew each day.

It was subtle as he was not the showy type, but it was there. It showed in the way he relentlessly trained, the nights he would nearly bleed out while training in the inner world…

She knew this, that was why she could do nothing but watch.

Alaric watched as Jade's shoulders slumped down in defeat, then he glanced at the water, his gaze hard.

'I'm sorry, but I can't let you interfere.'

Nothing would bring him more joy that passing on his techniques and so it did not matter how far he had to go.

Even if he were to die…Like the many others before him, Alaric would move on. Repeat the same lines, make the same bets…

And get a new student, until he could finally rest easy, knowing his techniques would live another century.

'Good luck, Stark. You must be confronting her now.'

She only came around when people tried to cheat the process of normal awakening, just like he had made Stark unknowingly do.

You see, Inner Energy was connected to the very world and as such there were beings that could feel when this energy was destabilised.

Such occurrences would attract them, people such as herself.

'The Demon of Change.'

•••

"What's up Vee?" Stark asked, staring at the woman in front of him.

The woman returned his smile and placed her head on his lap. "It's been a minute hasn't it, Addie?"

Stark laughed dryly. "You even say my name the way she did, too bad, you're not her are you?"

The creature in the form Vee leaned back a little and frowned. "I'm afraid I'm not the one you are looking for."

He smirked and glanced around the space.

'What the hell is going on?'

One moment he was in the middle of an intense training session and the next second he was surrounded by a lake of blood.

Even the waterfall coming down on him was Jo longer water, but icy cold blood, so cold that it 'burned' his skin.

He felt far weaker than before, and it was as though with each passing second he inched closer to death.

"You aren't saying anything…" the woman said cutely, placing a finger on her lip. "Have I offended you by my deceit?"

Stark shook his head slowly, his darkening eyes staring at her. "No, I stopped believing in fantasies a long time ago."

This caused the woman to laugh, and for a second he saw a glimpse of the vile creature that hid underneath the guise of his betrothed.

"What happened? Failed a nation? Got betrayed by the people you slaved for? Stabbed in the back by your best friend? Which one was it?" She asked, a hint of curiosity in her voice.

'Is this an illusion?' Stark wondered.

It was unlikely…

First of all, even if he was imagining things and although he missed Vee terribly, he doubted his mind would think this up.

There was the possibility that someone skilled at using illusions was around, only that that was not possible either…

Trying to get past the old man to interrupt his training was an automatic death sentence, even a paragon would not leave unscathed, if they would survive.

'Then what is this?'

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" He asked, his voice scratchy.

The woman frowned playfully because he had ignored her question but answered anyway.

"My name is Change. As to what I'm doing here…"

She began slowly walking backwards, the blood sloshing past her thighs.

'Isn't this pool very deep?'

He was sitting on a rock, that was why he was not sinking and yet she was walking as though the water was merely shallow.

"You called me."

Stark rose a brow, the action taking more energy than he had expected. "What?"

"Well not directly, the right thing to say is that your efforts called me."

She smiled, folding her hads behind her back and skipping around like a young woman in love.

"Inner energy is a funny thing you know? There is a reason inner energy became less desirable over the years and why magic is preferred."

Stark was getting tired of her strange antics. He would ask her a simple question and she would drag her answer like a fantasy author trying to fill up his word count.

Yet he decided to play along with her.

"And why is that?"

She suddenly stopped skipping and smiled, a second later—she was right in front of Stark.

Her gem like green eyes had vanished, replaced with eerie red orbs and out of her teeth, two elongated fangs stood out from the rest.

She placed a finger on Stark's neck, tracing a small line from his neck up until she reached his jaw.

Then she spoke, her breath steamy.

"That's because you might just summon a demon, dear."