The Married Life Of Immortals

Once Bane had finished with Senior Bai, and Mizuage, he left with Wei Nam Lee. The two of them headed to the training hall, but when they arrived, Wei Nam Lee stopped.

"I think I am going to go do some more studying. Master Mizuage gave me a ring full of books, so I am eager to check them out," Wei Nam Lee explained, and Bane smirked.

"You don't want to come see my fight with Ezio?"

"You mean the one sided beatdown you're about to receive? I would prefer to see it when you stand a slight chance of winning," Wei Nam Lee laughed, returning Bane smirk.

Bane clutched at his heart in mock pain. "Your lack of faith wounds me, Brother Wei! I thought you would be rooting for me after all the body-tempering you have been putting me through!"

Wei Nam Lee laughed again. "It's been only a few days, and you already think you can beat someone like Ezio? We still have many more months of tempering before you are even going to be ready for the pill. Even after that, you are not likely to even make him break a sweat."

Bane rolled his eyes. "I know he is strong, but this body tempering thing isn't all I got going for me! I have my weapons, and mana veins now, so I should at least stand somewhat of a chance, right?"

Wei Nam Lee could only sigh and shake his head. "Goodluck."

With that, Bane was left standing alone outside the training hall.

'He is not wrong. You are a sheep that dreams it's a wolf while walking to slaughter. Even with everything you have learned, these people all have had lifetimes to hone and perfect their skills. To say that you could defeat even the weakest person here would be an insult to everyone's years of effort and hardships they went through,' Eve scolded, but Bane wasn't having any of it.

For him, if it was anyone else, Bane wouldn't be acting this way, but something about Ezio just rubbed him the wrong way. Even if he couldn't beat the assassin, he wanted to try his very best to prove that he wasn't some push over that would constantly take his shit and abuse. It almost felt like standing up to a bully. Though, Bane wasn't sure who would be considered the bully at this point after his stunt this morning.

Bane drew a long breath in, and then smacked his cheeks to bring his focus back to the here and now. He was done thinking about this.

As Bane walked into the training hall, Lysia stopped him.

"Why did you piss Ezio off? You know that nothing good can come from this, right? The only thing you are going to learn is just how bad your body can hurt without dying!" Lysia scolded him, and Bane could only sigh.

"Don't worry about it. This is between me and him," Bane said, and walked past her. He didn't want to tell her that it was partly her fault for not explaining everything she did to him when she expanded his mana base. Though it was mostly his fault for opening his mouth about Ezio to Morgana, none of it really mattered in the end to Bane. He had a bone to pick with Ezio, and the feeling was mutual.

Lysia facepalmed, but there was really nothing that she could do. "Don't cry to me when I come over to heal you after. All I will say is I told you so."

Bane smiled at this. "Great! Knowing that you will come heal me after means I really don't have to hold back with that little prick! Even if I lose, I will teach that runt some form of respect!"

“Ugh! You are such a man. Didn't Bai Xiao Ming teach you to be more respectful and to use your words to sort your problems?" Lysia complained, making Bane laugh.

"My words start more problems than sort. Plus, you and I both know that Morgana and Ezio will make a good couple. If I gotta beat that into him in front of everyone here, and take an ass whooping at the same time; sure, why not? Better than listening to him be so damn uptight everyday when I go train with the girl he likes! Full grown assassin my ass! He is just as much a child as his body makes him out to be!" Bane raged, and Lysia started to laugh at him.

"So you actually told her for him? I thought you were stupid, but this is something else! You had better hope there is enough of you left for me to heal when he is done with you! I heard whispers this morning when I went for breakfast with Nina, but I didn't think you were that stupid. Color me surprised," Lysia said with a bemused smile that made Bane toss his hands up.

"Fine! No one has any faith in me! I will show you all! I haven't been sitting on my hands for the last month!" Bane shook off Lysia's warning with a determined set to his jaw. "I know I'm not at their level yet, but if I keep thinking I'm already beaten, I'll never improve."

Stepping into the training hall, Bane found it already bustling with activity, but the moment everyone noticed him, they all stopped what they were doing.

"Here we go again," Bane sighed as he started to stretch out while walking to the center of the training area.

"You came."

Bane had been stretching his arms over his head, but he had felt something Bane could only describe as a bloodthirsty aura. It was hard to describe for Bane, but he knew whatever came from that direction would not be good for him. That was the same moment he heard Ezio's voice, so he summoned only Yume, and then rolled forward, leaving an illusion of himself where he stood.

In the next second, the illusion vanished as a metal dagger held Ezio pierced through it from the back. The Assassin was wearing blood red bandages this time, his costume actually making sense to Bane for once.

"You’re really shitty at greetings, aren't you? What have you been doing since we last talked?" Bane after getting to his feet, and summoning Kyōka to his other hand. "Did you just come here and brood? Or was all this time spent preparing for that half assed sneak attack?"

"Shut it! You don't know me, nor do you have any reason to meddle with my life!" Ezio snapped, rushing at Bane with dagger slashing.

Bane parried and blocked the strikes, but Ezio was clearly better than him. Still, Bane didn't plan on giving up, and tried something new. Bane commanded water mana to flow into the veins of his eyes, and suddenly, Ezio's movement's started to slow. Soon, Bane was able to keep up with Ezio, strike for strike.

"You think that a trick like that will work with me?" Ezio roared, noticing the small blue glowing veins in Bane's eyes.

Suddenly, Ezio vanished, and Bane was barely able to get Kyōka and Yume up to his side to block the strike as the assassin seemed to appear from thin air. The moment that their blades clashed, Ezio vanished again.