Taking over the Abyss

18- Can I offer you a nice berry in this trying time?

Very quickly, you fell into a new routine. Early in the morning, Diluc would teach you self-defense. Every now and then he'd go a bit more in-depth, teaching you how to make use of your surroundings. That part came easy to you, mostly since you relied on running around as a Mage. The harder part was Diluc teaching you hand-to-hand. It wasn't that you were bad- you were new, so obviously you weren't some martial arts master- but it was more of the fact that Diluc felt no need to hold back and would often completely kick your ass.

His reflexes, you learned, were also off the charts. During one of your training scuffles, you accidentally discovered how to activate the dual blades after blocking a kick from Diluc. The incident nearly caused you to stab yourself in the face, but Diluc had zoomed away before the blade had fully formed. As such, Diluc adjusted your training slightly to include making use of your Abyssal Blades, instructing you to hide them as a last resort. Using them felt alien to you, no doubt you could eventually do the spinny beyblade attack if you believed enough.

Before noon, your training with Diluc would end and you would go to have Rosaria teach you next. Her instructions were fairly basic, with her clearly relying more on instinct and experience. She knew what she was doing, and even without any formal training of her own was able to give you pointers and help you not look like an idiot swinging your polearm around. Rosaria also made sure to imprint her street smarts onto you, Although, she did make you do stuff for her as per your agreement, which usually amounted to you doing her chores for her. You didn't mind, your stamina was monstrous, and it felt nice to put it to good use.

Your nights consisted of either going down to the Angel Share and getting free drinks from Diluc, all the while hanging out with Eula and Amber if they were there (and dealing with an annoying Venti begging for drinks), or doing your own training in your room. You had your Abyssal Sorcery and your Hydromancy, and you didn't want it to go to waste, so you mostly practiced by yourself. There were a few times where you asked Leiptr for assistance, but he sucked up to you too hard, so you weren't sure if he was hyping you up or genuinely impressed with your progress.

A little over a week had passed without any incident. Except today. Today, Rosaria decided she wanted to teach you about weak spots on the human body. It's just that the two of you needed a volunteer. Given by how Rosaria was constantly glaring at something over your shoulder, you had a feeling that said volunteer had already been found. The makeshift wooden cross that had several ropes waiting to be used didn't exactly paint a good image in your head.

"W- wait!" Albert cried, thrashing around with little tears in his eyes as he was dragged by the collar, "I was just passing by! Honestly! I- I just had to drop something off! For my w- wife!"

"I hope it was divorce papers," Rosaria snapped, continuing to drag him towards you. You looked around nervously, worried about getting caught by any of the other nuns. Your sentiment was not shared by Rosaria, as she quickly began to tie Albert to the cross. She wasn't going to crucify him in public, was she...? "Now then, stay here and let me do my thing for a while, and I won't tell Barbara you were stalking her again."

Albert hiccupped, watching helplessly as he was tied to a cross by Rosaria. Although her promise clearly brought him comfort, you could tell pretty easily that she was lying through her teeth. Barbara was going to hear about this, regardless. With the volunteer business done, Rosaria directed her attention back on to you, pleased to see that you weren't extraordinarily horrified by her actions.

"Now then, what I wanted to talk about was weak points. Knowing your enemy's weak spot is half the battle," Rosaria began, jabbing her gloved finger around various points to properly demonstrate, "Here's one, there's another, and another one's here, this one is a personal favorite of mine, and around here is where the heart of somebody with a conscience would beat."