"Shut up." Malece snapped and flicked her wrist at Simon's face, impacting it but not leaving even the faintest of marks.

"We have 15 minutes until I have to go see Dahlia. Do not dare to waste a minute." 

"Forceful, doesn't this bring back memories?" Simon chuckled.

"Yet here we are. You still have not forgiven me, have you?."

"I have, I have. I took out most of my frustrations last week, but you don't really seem to mind at all. It is impossible to humiliate you without making Dahlia mad. So I have given up." Simon licked his lips as a s.h.i.+mmer sparked from his left eye.

Other end of the room:

"He's doing something… I think he is hugging her from behind." A very well hidden Mark and Simon commented simultaneously.

"That doesn't seem right. Master is obviously giving mistress a ma.s.sage. Don't you see his hands stroking her waist?" Mich.e.l.le commented as she got out a telescope and began viewing more closely.

"Don't they hate each other? I thought the guards said something about them not being in the best of terms." Mark spoke at a quieter volume as he tried to peer through the telescope.

"I heard that Dahlia has been making them more friendly lately. It was something about shared responsibility bringing people together." Simon interjected.

"Oooh… Master and Mistress are-"

"NOT YOU TOO!!! GET OUT OF HERE AND DON'T LOOK!" A very exhausted Lenn, who had just finished chasing off Tyrone and Jack, had finally come back, only to find more kids watching.

"FEEL THE WRATH OF MY UNLIMITED FLIP FLOPS!!!" Lenn this time grabbed a hug bathtub full of flip flops out of nowhere. He then proceeded to furiously throw them all at the kids and chase them off again.

Back to Simon:

"The kids were watching." Simon said plainly.

"Well there is nothing left to watch now. I have to go and talk to Dahlia." Malece said as she got up.

"Tell me, what do you think of me?" Simon asked as he sat down on the throne and placed his chin on his palm.

"My favourite person." Malece smiled and left.

"Still? Weird." Simon pondered on his actions up until now.

He had spent most of his time with Malece being indifferent and cold. He never expressed any outward affection towards her and always viewed her as an animal. He treated her like how a person would treat a c.o.c.kroach. Whenever she wanted to apologise, he would simply wave her off and ignore her.

He had spent roughly 2 and a half years like this. Not once did he give her the affection she so dearly wanted, and not once accepting her apologies. One would think Malece would give up after such a period of time. However, she persisted and kept on trying to win him over.

Simon was just one devil, so why did she care so much? It could have been some twisted sense of responsibility. However, it was clearly not the case. She came to the realisation only moments after she had finished the deed that she was not only Malece.

Some millenniums ago, she was 'Pink', or so that was what she heard in her scattered dreams. These fragmented dreams imbued a sense of affection for the person she had victimised. While originally guilty, she also began to long. 

But that is a story for another day.

Next day:

"Good morning everyone!" Simon called out to the kids.

"You must be wondering about what to do after yesterday's events. Well I am glad to say that you have all exceeded my expectations. As a reward, you can ask for one thing so long as it is reasonable."

Jack instantly shot his arm up with an expression of certainty.

"Jack, what would you like?"

"Master, I want to learn how to use a dagger!" Jack shouted with pa.s.sion as he stood straighter than a ruler.

"Oh? Sure you don't want to learn the sword or the bow? Maybe the gun?" Simon asked.

"No! I want to use the exact same weapons as master! I want to become invincible using master's techniques." Jack confirmed.

"Sure you don't want to learn how to use a sword? Daggers get boring after a while." Simon yawned with tiredness clearly displayed in his expression.

"Fine, teach me the sword please!" Jack bowed respectfully and clasped his hands.

"Good. I just so happened to have created a new technique, come here and take it. I guarantee that you will be satisfied in training this. One hour of training this sword technique equals three hours training any of those standard 'legendary' tier techniques." Simon scoffed as he held out a violet coloured book.

Jack ran to Simon and s.n.a.t.c.hed the book with great antic.i.p.ation of things to come.

"Thank you master! I will train the… Void Sword Technique with all of my heart!" Jack yelled as he knelt down and bowed his head.

"Relax… relax… As your master, I have your best interests at heart." Simon smiled.

"Now then… I have 69 more techniques left over, you all can scramble for them. I will just watch over here and take a nap with Dahlia." Dahlia appeared from behind Simon's legs and firmly held his leg with one arm and a huge pillow with another.

"Papa! I want to sleep~ Mama says she can't stay with me right now, so you have to do it!" Dahlia commanded as she pointed at him like a superior would to their subordinates.

'I wonder who she got that from?'

"Okay, Papa will sleep right next to you. Please don't cry." Simon a.s.sured her with a warm and scared smile.

"Good! Make sure not to snore! I heard these big sisters and brothers snoring from the other end of the house! They are so loud that I could not sleep! If you snore, I will cry." Dahlia yelled.

"Okay… okay… Papa won't snore, just come over here and we can use the wall to rest." Simon carried Dahlia over to the other end of the room and tried rocking her to sleep as any other parent would.

"If anyone makes noise and wakes my Dahlia up, I will personally spank everyone until your b.u.t.ts become purple." Simon glared at the kids before they began scrambling for techniques.

"Make sure you remember-"

"WAAAAAAAH WAAAAAAAAH!!!" Dahlia woke up.

"PAPA!! I WANT TO SLEEP!! WHY ARE YOU SO NOISY??! WAAAAAH!"

10 minutes later:

"Finally." Simon managed to get Dahlia to sleep again. This time, he used a non-audible way of communication to direct his disciples.

He twirled his fingers in the air and wrote a glowing message using his power. Sort of reminiscent of those glow-up signs you would see at night time when you go home from work.

(If the technique is compatible with you, there should be a green glow when you touch it. If the technique is not suitable for you, then there will be no glow. If it is fated for you, the technique will glow orange and fly into your face like a rabid dog.)

Simon finished writing and went to sleep.

"Hmmm… Master has obviously left every single one of us a fated technique. This must be a test to check whether our perception is good enough to remain as his disciples!" Simon yelled.

"SHUs.h.!.+" Every single kid shushed him and there was no longer and sound.

"..."

"I think this is a trial too. The first part of this trial is obviously whether or not we can work as a team to find our fated techniques together. The second part must be whether we can train it to a satisfactory degree before master wakes up. He is obviously putting pressure on us by forcing us to practice quietly and learn the art of silence. This is probably because it will help us attune to the techniques with a great degree of focus and it will also teach us the value of peace…" Mark whispered.

"Master is probably not even sleeping right now. It is a ruse to keep pressure on us because we won't know when he will wake up and check our results. I have a feeling that Dahlia is also secretly awake and is part of the plot. Master is a genius and his daughter is a monster. I really look up to her." Sam interjected.

At this point, all 70 disciples were huddled up in one corner of the room, discussing how they would attempt to clear the 'trial'.

"If my predictions are correct, master's first warning will be at the 10% mark. My guess is that he will roll over to his side and groan once." Sienna rubbed her chin as she began thinking intensely.

"Uurggh…" Simon rolled over to his side and groaned.

"Sienna was right! s.h.i.+t, we need to start organising the techniques and picking through the correct ones straight away! Master is not letting us relax on this trial. Do not even think about disappointing Master." Tyrone quietly yelled as he approached the pile of techniques and startled handing them out.

"Now pa.s.s them around and if it glows orange, keep it." Tyrone whispered as he started the train.

"Tyrone is a genius!!" Simon yelled.

"Simon! Shus.h.!.+ None of us wants master to punish us until our b.u.t.tsbecome purple!" Jack appeared from behind Simon and gagged him with his a napkin.

"Phew… Dahlia didn't wake up."

"WAAAAAAAAH!"