Celestial University: A Bully Romance

Chapter 44: Last Prep

The hound watched him make a slide with his shadow, reforming it into a platform to help them roll back to the Bistro.

"Found one in the alley," weaving his hands to help walk up while the little hellhound looked around.

"Hey, not in the main hall, the night shift is going to happen soon," Madam yelled. "Upstairs, both of you!"

Sehki and the hellhound matched whimpers. The latter sprung high enough for the young prince to scoop him up as Damcoles led them to the medical cabinet upstairs. They added anesthesia to the hound's leg, massaged Sehki's legs, and brought them to his temporary room.

"There's pills in your bag for flatulence control. Let them eat it so they don't make fireballs when they have to go," not sure who put them in there.

Sehki fed it to them, letting them sleep, hoping they'd be okay.

"Kicked out of your home too?"

The dog nodded.

"Yeah, me too. My brother always wanted a puppy."

Elaine walked in, giving them the option to sniff her mouth. They immediately jumped, sliding over to Sehki's bag.

"It's one of us? But all of us were together."

"No," alarmed. "Calypsa had my bag. Either she got it from someone who attacked me, or Twin Dust was her. She's working for the heirs and the Astrovoids? Why?"

"She's been on your mind a lot huh."

He pouted. "Elaine!" He took a deep breath. "I need to head back to Celestial. I let her mess and toy with me without learning why and she knew I couldn't do anything about it. It's time to take saving our people seriously," petting the hound.

"Oh. Everyone's starting to get used to you being here. Not gonna name them?"

"Hmm, how about Damien," wiping the sauce off their face. "It feels ominous," watching its frightful face shine, "yet fitting."

"I like it. Get some rest, and thanks for earlier," leading to them exchanging smiles.

The next morning, Madam found Sehki rising up with Damien, kicking the air.

"Don't strain yourself," only to see him taking off the bandages.

"Super itchy. I can't waste anymore time."

Nodding, she ordered him to try and control her movements like before, yet, she continued to move all over the place. Unable to tag her for a minute, he resorted to grabbing and tossing whatever was around to extend his shadow, only to roll away from a rubber chair.

"Your opponent won't stand still. Recovered or not," forcing him to block her from behind, "always keep your guard up," spreading a heat blast he covered with shadows to counter.

Annoyed, he hopped over to the rack and threw all the weapons in the air. She danced, dodging their descent with finesse and force to flip over him, but in quick thinking, his shadow picked up a wooden rapier, knocking her blade out of her hand and allowing him to catch her.

"I did it!"

She seemed stuck for a while, but his control grew slippery as she fought over control of her legs.

"You only trapped Twin because you borrowed everyone else's amount of magic. Keep building your strength up, or-"

"Use it as a brief trap and strike fast," firing a kick that barely pushed her. She laughed as he flailed from the pain, even as Damien laughed at him.

"Told you that you needed to heal. But when your shadow controlled Elaine, you could use those thoughts, right?"

"Well yeah. It's a bit of a mental strain, but if I switch between my hands and brain," listening to her ideal for a better fighting stance, "then I can fight while being stationary!"

"Try it!" She dashed at him with pure strikes, while his silhouette acted as he would, swinging its fists and legs to block, but was getting pushed back.

"Block by striking and weaving your hands for follow ups," about to slide towards his body. He responded with his fist sliding towards her arm while his shadow's palm thrusted her slightly back. "Good, same thing with its legs."

When she ran on the walls and jumped off the rack, he made a flying kick shape to counter her, throwing the mattress to make the shadow large enough for the kick to pivot her away.

"Better. My furnace gets stronger the more heat is in the room. Block and fire back," launching home shots. His shadow struck some down, but she weaved others around to target his body from behind. He barely flicked them away, sweating while weaving his hands to keep up with her volley.

As days past, he went to accelerate his growth with Madam's suggestions and creativity:

Cleaning plates while his shadow weaved water from the sink for Nikki to rest the food.

Controlling a person to save their drink from falling.

Kicking up a falling plate back to the table.

Holding his fireball for longer durations of time to heat up food while Asa leads customers to the bathroom.

Trying to walk with Elaine's melting ice packs around his soles to heal faster.

His shadow lifted crates and supplies alongside Damocles while borrowing Bridget's lightest weights.

Learning how to coat parts of his body more consistently from Rachel, comparing his shadow to the different fluids she paints across her plump skin with different customers during foreplay.

Forming his shadow into shapes similar to class, with Madam considering he'd work on flight while Diaz suggested flapping his wings like the Corvus he fought earlier.

Racing with Brent to see if his shadow could plant plates faster than he could.

Improving his gripping and swinging strength alongside the shadow's control with Vicki's pole training.

Stirring cups with Nikki's drink counterpart Dane to improve his air training

Maintaining human and shadows hands with Kurenai's Crux wings as a guide to tend to collecting and hurling menus at good accuracy. 

September was only a few days from ending when his legs recovered well enough Madam offered rounds of sparring that left him needing water each time.

 "Give it all you got!"

"Right!"