-that black ball of death descending-

"What?" I breathed out.

"You heard me loud and clear. Had you been a fox, you would have suffered far less than you already have."

"That doesn't make any sense!" I argued. "I ran out of strength back then, the Greed had drained all of it from me. That's why I..." That's why I failed. I wasn't strong enough.

She shook her head. "Even though it was your first awakening of Greed, you still could have won the fight based on pure instinct."

"I was acting on pure instinct. I remember that fight very clearly. I let go of everything that made me human."

"But you were still making calculations like a human. You weren't reacting. When a fox hunts, sure we calculate how we want the hunt to go before we take that first step from the shadows, like most do if you want to increase your chances of success. But once we leave our cover, there is no time to think while chasing our prey. There is no way to calculate the hundred and one ways a hunt can go, or you'd spend most of your time with the what ifs and by then your prey is long gone."

I furrowed my brow. "I think I understand what you're saying." I'd hunted enough times to know what it felt like, the thrill of the hunt and only the singular thought of catching the prey. "But a fight is not a hunt. You need to be thinking ahead of your opponent so you can counter their next attack."

"Again, you're not human," she grounded out. She shook her head. "A broadening of the senses, a reaction to the events around you without conscious thought. There's no point in me trying to explain it. You'll just have to feel it in a fight and hopefully the concept is able to penetrate that hard head of yours."

"It's not my fault that you seem to think I'd failing at being a fox when that's all I've been this entire time."

"Enough," she groaned, pawing at her face. "Hopefully, having the full force of Greed has woken back up the fox side of you. You'll thank me when it happens. Right now, all this is doing is giving me a headache."

'You and me both,' I grumbled. How in the world could I make such a difference in a battle with instinct when I'd already been using instinct to fight? I shook the thoughts from my head. No time to dwell on it, I'd have to figure it out on the run.

I had no idea how much time had passed with the perpetual darkness outside but it was probably time for me to leave. I got the answers and the power that I needed.

I bowed to the fox. "Thank you for everything you've done for me, Greed, but I have to take my leave now. Greed as it is now isn't going to stop those demons."

"And once you defeat the demons?"

"Huh?"

"Why just stop at the demons? Why not conquer all?" She walked around me, tails caressing my legs. A shudder ran up my spine, and I felt my senses expand and the Greed bubble up.

Yes, I could do that.

"All this strength and you want to use it just on those demons. There's kingdoms waiting out there you know?"

I salivated at the thought. Conquering them, sitting the throne, the images were vivid in my mind.

"It is our right, as Greed. We could rule over them all."

The growl that came out of my throat without warning had her chuckling. My hand flew to my neck. The sudden thought of tearing her throat out for asking to share and the rage that accompanied it faded away, my senses returning to normal.

"Oh well, it was worth a shot." She walked away and I had a feeling that I had both just cheated death and passed a test.

She leapt nimbly onto her dais and stared back down at me, this time without the contempt written across her features. She even had a smile.

"A word of warning, Estra. Greed is not merely power. It is an awakening of your true nature. The power helps to attain your real goal – total power. The more you tread this path and the more you delve into it, the more you'll find that your hunger cannot be satiated easily."

"If that is the price I must pay to keep everyone safe in this coming war, then I'll wear the burden gladly."

She bowed her head to me. "Then go forward, Fox of Greed."

I thanked her with another bow and ran back the way I'd come. A pinprick of light I'd never noticed before shone like a beacon as I entered the original chamber. I jumped at it.

I landed back in the darkness beside Jenna, startling her. The glow of sunlight at the cave entrance blinded me for half a second before the soft lights of floating crystals filled my vision.

"You did it?" she asked, surprised. I didn't need to ask how she could tell, I was practically vibrating with power now.

I gave her a sly grin. "What did you expect? I am a greedy fox after all."

She looked over my shoulder as if she could see back to Greed's cave. "That easily? The last to go in never came back out."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Obviously they were too weak," I said matter of factly. My nose itched and I rubbed it before I realised that what tickled my nose was a familiar, unwelcomed scent.

Hendrickson stepped out of the gloom. He saw me and his step faltered slightly. His eyes widened; I narrowed mine on Jenna.

"Get rid of him or I will."

She ignored me. "We're in the Cave of Trials at the moment."

"If this is some stupid test for us to get all chummy, you're going to regret it. Because the only thing that's going to happen is that I'm going to rip out his throat!" My shout shook the cavern walls, sparks gathering in clusters around us. My senses expanded.

Jenna swung her staff at me and knocked me back with a bright burst of magic. That only infuriated me more but I realised quite suddenly that I couldn't attack her. Whatever that magic was, it had left me immobilised. Lucky for her.

"You're both in here to get stronger. You both have something you need to face for anything to get accomplished so I suggest that you figure out how to be beside each other."

"Our end goal might be the same but I don't need anyone," I said, "least of all the most pathetic excuse for a Holy Knight that I've ever seen."

Jenna sighed and shook her head. "Estra-"

"Don't 'Estra' me. I don't see why you are all so intent for me to get along with Hendrickson after what happened."

Hendrickson suddenly knelt on the ground and bowed his head to the ground. "Estra, I am sorry for all the pain I've caused you. There is nothing in this world that could undo the damage I have done."

Nostrils flaring – because really, that was all I could move in my current state – I did not advert my gaze when I said, "You can apologise all you want but I will never, ever forgive you. Even if you take your last breath in this world thinking we've become acquaintances, just know that for every second of every day, I hated you."

I didn't see the sorrowful face of the human before me. I saw the demon that he'd been, staring down at me haloed by the sun as he headed for Elizabeth and Meliodas.

-"Like lambs to the slaughters."-

Being murdered was a trauma no apologies could fix.

Silence reigned before Jenna sighed. "Can I have your promise that you won't do anything to him? I'll only release you when I have your promise."

"Hendrickson, continue on through to your challenge. I'll send Estra off to hers once you're gone," she said.

Hendrickson walked by, my eyes glaring daggers that he ignored.

"Listen, Estra. You have a lot of hate in you right now. I'm not saying it's not justified. But please be careful that it does not control your every action."

"The only thing driving me is my need to kill him."

"Want can be fuelled by hate, hate can be fuelled by envy, lust can be fuelled by pride. All the sins are congruous of each other. " She stepped forward. I flinched when she tapped her staff to my forehead.

A young, smiling Hendrickson with his arm over Dreyfus' shoulder filled my vision. I slapped her stick away and the image faded.

"He told you his story, did he not? You know already then that he had no choice in the matter. He did it to save his friend. Had you been in his shoes, would you have let the demon take over your friend or yourself?"

She had me there.

"He can't fix what happened," I whispered, shocked to realise that my voice held more sadness than it did anger.

She tapped her stick to my forehead and then stepped back. She must have seen what happened at Liones. She already knew, I was betting, but I think she wanted to get a first person vantage point.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you, I really am. Perhaps if you let him, he can try. He might not be able to fix the damage to where you two are best mates but there's no harm in letting him try to mend it so you two aren't at each others throats, is there?"

"I can never trust him," I admitted. "But... I won't jeopardise our mission just to kill him. And don't tell me that's not a good enough answer," I added when she opened her mouth. "That's the best you're going to get out of me right now."

She pursed her lips then waved her wand. My limbs tingled and I could move again. "I'll take your word because I know you won't risk letting your friends suffer merely for your own personal revenge."

"What's this training then that I am to do?" I asked to change the subject.

"Tests designed to help you improve. Gilthunder and Howzer have already almost completed their training."

"Do we have weapons?"

She pulled a stick out of thin air. It has white tape wrapped at the base of it. "No other weaponry can be brought in but you'll have an ash staff to assist you. They're protected from magical power. Their durability is guaranteed." She handed it over.

"It better not be easy. I gained all this power, I need a challenge if I'm to get stronger with it."

She directed me to where I had to walk. "I apologise in advance for what you'll be up against."

I turned back round to ask her what that was supposed to mean but she was gone already. I shrugged my shoulders and walked onwards, leaving the crystals behind. Soon, only darkness surrounded me. I'd taken about twenty steps before my vision was flooded with light.