Tomás was stuck inside a wall of the astral plane of Atena again, again because he was thrown like a doll by the all-encompassing goddess of war, the Warrior herself. He lost count of how many times he repeated the motion of getting out of the stone bricks' embrace, so he kept getting up every time with a feeling of déjà vu about the experience. But he also felt himself stronger.

  After the one hundredth death, which didn't take long, Tomás began feeling himself sturdier, with him resisting the Warrior's strikes like he was becoming a hammered piece of steel, but also his strikes doing genuine damage against her projection, but still far from bringing her down like she was doing with him. A testament to this was the fact that his Presence didn't completely vanish when she crushed him against the wall just now, with him being fairly intact after the collision. Still, the difference in strength was too great, with a three hundred potential victories for Atena to zero for Tomás. He didn't understand why she thought he was a good sparring partner, as he was barely putting up a fight.

  Tomás appearance also changed. Instead of the initial full plate armor that Atena put on him before they started fighting, Tomás was clad in his usual kit, much more open to strikes and less protective than the suit of armor, but much more probable for him to use outside of the astral plane he was in. His weapon, since it was destroyed, also changed to a fire axe and was being reformed back to it each time it got destroyed afterwards, and it happened a lot of times.

  Tomás stood up with help of his weapon, his Presence restored after some seconds of rest. Atena was standing across the room in her usual challenging stance and calm demeanor, her sword balanced on her shoulders and her armor spotless, the closest Tomás got to hurt her being a strike she blocked with her arm, which the armor disappeared. She was still fairly untouched by the humble soldier.

  Tomás watched her, studying the possibilities of attack, weighting how he could sacrifice himself to get a little closer to a serious strike, but it didn't matter how much time he looked at the goddess, he couldn't find a single weakness on her stance that otherwise would look relaxed. But, as he was about to step forward to attack as usual, something stirred her usual nonchalant attitude and Atena looked up from side to side, trying to identify a thing Tomás couldn't see. She sensed something that Tomás senses let escape and that worried her.

  "Okay, my dear punching bag," she said, still looking up, "I think we can still do this one more time before they-"

  Tomás strike cut her short of what she was saying but didn't catch her unprepared, as the Warrior simply blocked his attack with one armored hand. Pulling his axe back to him, Tomás struck again, this time aiming directly at the blocking arm, causing the armor there to disappear in a mist of Presence.

  "Using your enemy's distraction to go in and capitalize an attack.", the goddess said, looking at her now unarmored arm. "But cheap and simple tricks don't work on a enemy that is much stronger than you, don't forget that. You have to strike hard, like you mean it."

  "But... I mean it... so fucking... much...", Tomás said with his teeth gritted. Struggling against the strength of just one arm of the deity, Tomás pulled his weapon back again, applying even more Aura to it than the two previous strikes, the thing now emitting an almost white-hot glow that made him look away, preparing to strike.

  After some time experimenting during this sparring match, Tomás discovered that his Aura was a little wrong for some reason, something that probably got to do with the black sludge that civilian took out from him during his first aid after the school battle. The correct order of color for Aura was with a brownish red in the beginning and more white colors, such as yellow, in the end, not the contrary, so, something was deeply messing with his body. It took some time, and a beating, to teach Tomás that, a thing Atena enjoyed. He also learned that, although his body Aura was still in a third stage of energy it could generate, a dark cherry color, for objects, the colors meant how much they could endure of strengthening, and, as it was happening now, white hot meant it was at its limit and about to break.

  Tomás swinged his axe at the Warrior in the same way a lumberjack would when cutting a tree, a horizontal slash of devastating consequences if it connected with its target. Sensing the danger or simply playing with the man in front of her, Atena didn’t block with her arm this time, instead dodging the attack to the side. Tomás’ strike met just empty air and left a after image that suggested an incredible charge in the air on that place. Atena moved to strike Tomás while he was open to attack, motioning a vertical slash that would cleave him in two. Recovering from his failed attempt at attacking, Tomás raised his left arm to catch the strike, a very foolish move against such a foe, so the cut went down to his elbow, bisecting the hand and forearm in two almost symmetrical parts.

  As the Warrior grinned at Tomás for his foolishness, Tomás grinned back, pulling his arm and locking his foe’s weapon inside his grievously wounded arm, strengthening the body part with as much Aura as he could gather. Atena tried to pull her weapon back, but, to her surprise, the weapon didn’t come free from the grasp of Tomás’ gruesome and improvised mordhau. He motioned an overhead strike that hit Atena on the left shoulder and only stopped down to the middle of the it, breaking her clavicula and scapula in a single motion. Trying to pull his weapon free to keep attacking, Tomás noticed that his weapon was stuck in the same manner that he just did, inside a wound. Letting go of the weapon, he went in, punching barehanded the enormous and armored adversary.

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  Tomás’ punch was the strongest strike he could remember sending at someone, strengthened beyond his own limits with all the Aura he could safely muster in his own body, he felt his muscles full of power and his bones shaking with all the energy flowing through them. He was faster too, closing in his fist in a fraction of a second to send the attack in. But, when the fist connected to the Warrior’s face, all it did was become a mist of pulverized Presence and a destroyed arm.

  With her uncaring and bright lit eyes, Atena looked down on Tomás destroyed form and said “Was that all you could-”

  Tomás cut her short again, locking his destroyed right arm over her neck and leaning in for a headbutt, colliding his brow against Atena’s armored face one, two, three times before his face lost all form and shape, looking like a mass of disfigured Presence. All Tomás did was cleave his axe on Atena’s shoulder and hurt himself with uncaring want for violence.

  With Tomás still clinging to her neck, Atena dislodged his axe from her shoulder and, with a swipe from her left hand, sent the man flying and sliding like a banana peel over the marble floor, with his axe quickly following. He slowly reshaped himself, and, when his face reshaped itself enough for his face to be seen, a joyous laugher could be heard by the incredulous Warrior.

  “You laugh, but that was… impressive, to say the least.”, said Atena, stretching her shoulder, now unfazed by the attacks. “You attack like a madman. If I was any other opponent, I would rather not fight a foe like yourself for risk of losing more than I would gain. You are unpredictable. Who would think about using your own members as sacrificial pawns for a simple strike?”

  Tomás stopped laughing at the floor and picked himself up, getting ready to attack again, saying “And all that for what? Short on two arms and a destroyed face? That didn’t hurt you in the slightest. And now I ask you again: Why me? Why spar with a man untrained in the use of melee combat?”

  The Warrior pondered thoughtfully for a second and finally said “You could hear wiser words from other gods, gods of magic and contemplation that are far smarter than me, but hear this: not everything in life has to have a reason, young Tomás. I can do what I want because I am a god, the ultimate personification of freedom. I don’t need a reason, I just am, and, by being, I want fulfilment.”

  “That doesn’t answer my- “, Tomás tried to say.

  “But answering your question, you are not a strong warrior, but you will be, someday, simply because you exhibit all the characteristics of a good and capable warrior.”, Atena said. “You sacrifice yourself for others; you use your head in a fight, sometimes literally; you want to learn how to fight better each time you fight and give everything you have to become stronger. But, more importantly, all of this make you my Avatar, want it or not, and that is enough reason for me to want to fight you.”

  “What?”, asked Tomás, dumbfounded.

  “Don’t worry, that doesn’t put you in any obligation with me, nor I will use you as a vessel, so relax. You are simply the embodiment of my aspects so I have a special connection with you.”, said Atena.

  Tomás was silent while he took it all in but finally was able to say “But how? I am just a man, I never thought of grand battles or wielding a weapon to battle, even after I joined the Army.”

  Atena was walking towards Tomás now, taking her helmet off, he now seeing her face after so many times the two fought. She had black hair and a skin tone close to olive oil, with her face exhibiting the traces of a Greek woman, with a strong nose and a serious brow, her lips like that of a classic statue. Her eyes, making justice to the flames Tomás was being able to see from her helmet, were two balls of fire that burned brightly and fiercely. Tomás couldn’t say she was beautiful, but he found her gorgeous in her own way, but he quickly snaped out of his thoughts when he noticed her talking again.

  “I am in various aspects of life, young one. When you toil the earth to make agriculture, you honor me with your sweat. When you are sure of your capabilities, you honor me with your confidence. When you aim to improve your body, you honor me with your perseverance. All of these are things you already did, even before the Awakening came. But now, let’s get you ready to go back to the real world. The healers are about to bring you back to the world of the living again.”

  “What? How much time has passed?”, Tomás asked.

  “Outside? Roughly two days. You are still not one hundred percent, but they took good care of you, but you should still rest a little, you broke a lot of bones my good boy.”, said Atena, patting Tomás in the head. “You did well ad will continue to do well, I am sure of it. Now, focus on me and don’t forget what I am about to say.”, Tomás nodded, so she continued. “Remember to train your Aura and don’t go drinking evil dragons’ blood again, that thing doesn’t do good to you, and, whenever you need a sincere confidant, just enter deep Concentration and call me and I will answer in the best of my capabilities.”

  “Okay. That’s it? Anything more?”, said Tomás.

  “I am not good with motivational discourses, so bear with me. You are doing just fine, just don’t disappoint me.”, said Atena.

  Tomás body started dissolving and loosing form, floating up and away from the Warrior while he watched the goddess waving goodbye to him, saying “And remember young Tomás: kill them with kindness, but kill them nonetheless, that will do you wonders.”

  Tomás’ vision became blurrier and blurrier, with more and more difficult do see anything in the astral plane. When he came to himself, he was now looking to the roof of a hospital room, with a doctor throwing a flashlight on his eyes. The doctor was saying something he couldn’t make out, but after some seconds he understood it: “Tomás, can you hear me? Are you alright?”

  Tomás senses were fumbled, the light was making him irritated and he could not move some of his members. He preferred to go back to the astral plane taking a beating from the goddess and loosing unilaterally.

  “Tomás, can you hear me? Are you alright?”, the doctor said repeating the question.

  Tomás tried to say something but his mouth was too numb, but the sharp ears of the doctor captured the unintelligible sounds. “What did you say, Tomás? Can you say it again?”

  “I said ‘Turn off the light an let me sleep’, asshole”, Tomás said, angrily.

  The medical team was flabbergasted. Their most critical patient simply woke up and insulted them. The doctor was not having it.

  “Listen here you piece of shit, we saved your life, you can’t treat us like that.”, he said. “I should have- “

  The doctor was cut short by a loud snore from the wounded man. Silvia suppressed a snicker behind him, just like the rest of the nurses. The man was alive and well, indeed.