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Sekke placed Lolopechka carefully on the ground.
The Heart Kingdom queen, still flustered by her thoughts, was unable to maintain balance and held onto Sekke.
"Why are they after you?" asked Sekke.
"We don't know. They suddenly came attacking us out of nowhere. If not for Lord Exodia sensing them almost immediately, Lolopechka-chan would have been kidnapped," explained Undine and took Lolopechka from Sekke, much to the queen's disappointment.
"Hmm...considering the timing, it has to do with the advent of Qliphoth," muttered Sekke in a serious tone.
Lolopechka and Undine turned serious at those words.
"If that's the case, they will surely come to take you once again."
Undine looked at Lolopechka in worry.
Lolopechka, on the other hand, was more worried about her kingdom's safety. The spirit guardians were away on training, and the remaining forces were clearly not enough to defend against the Dark Triad.
Sekke thought for a while and took out his communicator.
"Marx responding."
"Marx, the Dark Triad, attacked the Heart Kingdom once again. They are targeting Lolopechka."
"What?"
"It was the third member of the Dark Triad, Zenon. For now, I have repelled them, but they will most probably attack her once again. Is the meeting still ongoing?"
"Yes, we got sidetracked by your sudden departure, but it continued smoothly after a while."
"Is Lord Julius there?"
"I am here Sekke-kun. All of us are listening," said Julius in a serious tone.
"I am thinking of staying here to keep her safe. Considering the timing, they definitely want her for the advent of Qliphoth," said Sekke.
Julius and the rest of the attendees looked toward Nacht, the one with the most information.
Nacht frowned on receiving the information. He had no idea why the Dark Triad were targeting the Heart Kingdom queen.
"The documents I saw there had no mention of the queen, but your guess might not be far-fetched," said Nacht.
Julius nodded. "Stay there, Sekke-kun. Please update us if anything else comes up. Do you want us to send reinforcements?"
Sekke looked at Lolopechka. She was the queen after all. He had free permission from her to move in and out of her Kingdom at will, so he didn't think much of staying there, but others were a different case.
"We can use some hands at a time like this," said Lolopechka in a determined tone.
Sekke nodded and spoke, "Can the Black Bulls that are there be sent here? I promised Gauche to train him."
"I will inform Finral and ask him to reach you as soon as possible," replied Julius.
"Sekke, don't forget. We are launching our attack in three days. You are also a major factor in the plan. Be prepared," said Nacht in a serious tone.
"I- no, the Black Bulls will be there," replied Sekke in a serious tone.
Nacht nodded and explained what went down in the meeting to Sekke before ending the call.
"So the time is finally here..." muttered Lolopechka in a serious tone.
They have been preparing for the attack for a long time now.
"No time to rest, Lolopechka. Get to training. You will be joining the fight there, too. Leaving you behind is reckless now. They are clearly targeting you," said Sekke in a serious tone.
"Huh? Me too?" muttered Lolopechka in disbelief.
"Yes."
Lolopechka looked at Sekke's straight face and then looked towards Undine. If she too went to the Spade Kingdom, then who would protect the Heart Kingdom?
"Lord Sekke is right. It was a different situation before, but now that they are targeting you, staying near him is probably safer. You alone won't be able to protect the Kingdom anyway," said Undine bluntly.
Lolopechka looked at Undine with an annoyed look. She was clearly mocking her.
"An angry Lolopechka-chan is cute as well~" said Undine with a smile.
"No slacking off. Since Noelle is not here, and the other black bulls are not back yet. I will solely focus on training you. Prepare to cry," said Sekke with a smile.
"...Undine," called Lolopechka, asking for help.
Undine nodded, grabbed Lolopehcka and dropped her in Sekke's arms.
Lolopechka looked at Undine with a betrayed expression, though she promptly forgot that when she noticed Sekke's face directly in front of hers.
'...Maybe it won't be that bad to have his attention solely on me during training.' thought Lolopechka as she averted her eyes with a blush on her cheeks.
...She was wrong.
Sekke might be an easygoing person most times, but training himself and others, he took extra seriously.
"Haah!!!" yelled Lolopechka and gathered mana once again.
Soon, an army of sharks made of water started to form around her.
Her grimoire flipped again, and the sharks started getting bigger and bigger.
More pages flipped, and the shapes of the sharks got even sharper, making them fly around her at great speeds.
Mana method arrays started forming around the sharks.
Lolopechka finally raised her staff and pointed it towards the thick, giant bronze wall.
[Water Magic: Killer Shark Invasion]
All the sharks launched towards the 100m thick bronze wall at an incredible speed and started tearing through it.
An instant later, the bronze wall was destroyed.
"13 seconds to cast. That's barely an improvement from 15!!! Again!!!" yelled Sekke.
"Yes!!!"
Lolopechka wanted to cry. No one in her life had been that strict with her.
"Lord Sekke, maybe we could go a bit ea-" said Undine.
"Huh?" Sekke glared at her.
"Lolopechka-chan!!!! Work harder!!!! I believe in you!!!!" shouted Undine, instantly switching sides.
Lolopechka glared at the traitor and vowed not to talk to Undine for a whole day.
Undine floated closer. "If you want to direct your anger, do it towards Lord Sekke… though I guess you can't, considering how much you like him," she teased.
"W-w-wha—?! What are you talking about?!" Lolopechka yelped, forgetting her vow instantly.
"An embarrassed Lolopechka-chan is cute as well....but you need to understand that what Lord Sekke is doing is also important. We will be on the battlefield in three days. You need to become strong," said Undine with a warm smile.
"I know, but it's hard to get fast so quickly," whined Lolopechka.
"Think of it this way," whispered Undine. "If you exceed his expectations, he'll see you in a new light and praise you. You'll catch his eye even more."
Lolopechka felt like a devil whispered in her ear. She looked towards Sekke, who had already rebuilt the bronze wall and was waiting for Lolopechka to start.
She imagined Sekke praising her… then imagined more.
"Alright!!! You can do this, Lolopechka!!!!" declared the girl and started preparing her spell.
This time she did it in 9 seconds.
Sekke blinked in surprise and looked towards Undine.
"What did you do?" asked Sekke
"Just motivated her. On that note, Lord Sekke, might I suggest that you use the carrot and stick method? Make sure to praise and spoil Lolopecka-chan if she does well on training. She will improve rapidly," said Undine with a smile.
"I don't mind. I actually believe in that method too," replied Sekke and formed the bronze wall once again.
Undine smiled in satisfaction. Looks like the future of the Heart Kingdom will be great as well.
"Lord Sekke!!! This time it was definitely faster!!!" said Lolopechka with an excited smile.
Sekke smiled and gave a thumbs-up to Lolopechka.
"It was good. It is still 9 seconds. We are not stopping till you reach 5 seconds. You can do it, Lolopechka," replied Sekke with a smile.
Lolopechka nodded with a smile and got back to training. She will show everyone that she can do it.
Later that day, the rest of the black bulls came to the Heart Kingdom, and Lolopechka got some companions to share her struggles with. Though at the same time, she felt a bit displeased seeing that now she was not getting Sekke's undivided attention.
Still, she resolved herself to improve more than her fellow strugglers and shine more in Sekke's eyes.
The man in question was hovering around them like a drill sergeant.
Right now, he was training, Lolopechka, Gauche, Grey, Gordon, Finral, Vanessa, and Henry.
With him present, Henry was filled to the brim, so he could easily participate in the training.
Zora and Magna were doing something on their own.
"We are not front-line fighters..." muttered Finral in complaint.
"Say that to the guy who will take your life," replied Sekke, making the spatial mage shut up.
"Go easy on us! We just got up!"
"All of you are totally healed. No excuses. We need to pay those damn devils back for wrecking our base and kidnapping Yami-san!!! Don't you feel anger towards those f*ckers?" asked Sekke.
Finral and Vanessa gritted their teeth and focused on the task that Sekke gave them.
Gauche and Grey were practising seriously. Right now, their sole focus is on improving themselves.
Henry was drawing schematics for new HQ transformations.
Lolopechka was busy creating a few offensive spells and casting them quickly as well. He magic was troublesome as offensive spells needed a combination of multiple support spells and Mana method arrays, but among all of them, her magic was the strongest offensively. Even Noelle's water magic's power was inferior to hers.
Sekke looked at all of them with a smile and then towards his final student.
"My King!!! To be granted the honor of learning under your divine tutelage!!! A blessing from the heavens!!!" proclaimed Exodia dramatically.
"Stop being dramatic. You will need to learn to tone down your power!!! I am ashamed by the display you showed today. To not even take down an opponent of that level...I am genuinely shocked," said Sekke with a serious look on his face.
The spirit king was too strong for his own good. He was not able to tone down his spells enough to not let others get caught up in his attacks, and if that remained the case, then it would be an issue for him.
Exodia felt that the entire world around him had shattered.
He slammed his head on the ground.
"I have sinned, My King!!!! To have you feel disappointed!!!! I will end my life at this moment!!!!" yelled Exodia.
Sekke was about to speak, but Vritra materialised as his sacred gears.
"Exodia," called the dragon king.
Exodia didn't speak, ready to hear the humiliating words from the vile dragon.
"Was that the limit of your reverance for your king. I am honestly disappointed in you," said Vritra.
"You dare-"
"It is not that I dare. It is you who gave up on bettering yourself because of a failure," said Vritra, cutting Exodia's words in between.
"If you are not up to the level, then become better. Just like us, you too hold the title of the 'King'. Don't make light of that title. A king does not give up just because of one failure. He persists till he overcomes every challenge or dies trying," yelled Vritra.
A burst of mana shot out of the sacred gears, sending a shockwave in every direction.
The rest of the trainees looked towards Sekke and Exodia curiously.
"...My King, I apologise from the bottom of my heart for my words. Give me a chance to stand up to your expectations once again," said Exodia in a serious tone.
"Now, that's the pal who became my contracted spirit. Never speak those weak-willed words again. Understood?"
"Understood!" yelled Exodia and got ready to train.
Sekke smirked as the two of them vanished in a golden blur and appeared quite high up in the sky to make sure that no one got caught up in Exodia's spells during training.
Sekke started demonstrating the power level that Exodia needed to have under control.
Exodia knew that his king was someone beyond the common sense of the world, but he still had a hard time believing that his king was better at controlling Sun Spirit Magic than him.
After the explanation was over, Sekke got back, leaving Exodia in silence, so that the spirit king could concentrate.
Just like that, three days passed by in the blink of an eye, and the fated day arrived.